Lifeboat Foundation

NGAD is the Navy’s effort to replace the Super Hornet. Note: It’s a completely separate program from the Air Force’s own NGAD—which recently designed, tested, and flew a secret new fighter jet—and will produce a completely separate plane. The two aircraft will almost certainly be quite different, with the Air Force’s jet more optimized for air superiority. It’s likely the two fighters, developed roughly within the same time period, will share much of the same technology.

The U.S. Navy elaborated on its plans to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, saying the service’s next strike fighter will “most likely be manned.” The jet will probably fly alongside robotic allies, and remotely crewed aircraft could eventually account for six out of 10 planes on a carrier flight deck.

“As we look at it right now, the Next-Gen Air Dominance [NGAD] is a family of systems, which has as its centerpiece the F/A-XX—which may or may not be manned—platform. It’s the fixed-wing portion of the Next-Gen Air Dominance family of systems,” said Rear Adm. Gregory Harris, the head of the Chief of Naval Operations’ air warfare directorate, during a Navy League event.

Continue reading “The Navy Reveals Plans for Its New Fighter Jet” »

The rotor blades on the Ingenuity helicopter were unlocked and the Perseverance rover’s arm was run through some checks in imagery acquired by NASA from Mars on April 8, 2021. Also, Perseverance captured a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter in April 6 imagery. Full Story: https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-unlocks-rotor-blades.

Credit: Space.com | imagery courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS | produced & edited by Steve Spaleta (http://www.twitter.com/stevespaleta)

Onboard, Arctic Owl is equipped with all the requisite gear for oceanic expeditions. She features a helideck and an 850-square-foot hangar to accommodate your choppers. She also sports garages port and starboard that can hold a U-Boat Worx NEMO submarine, plus other toys, tenders and equipment. These smaller vessels can be deployed via her two cranes at the aft.

The spacious vessel can sleep up to 10 guests across six staterooms, including two master cabins with panoramic views. There is also space for six crew. Elsewhere, Arctic Owl features a large swimming pool and lounge at the bow, along with a spa on the flybridge.

Needless to say, Arctic Owl can certainly soar. She’s powered by twin Cummins hybrid diesel-electric engines that propel her to a top speed of 18 knots and a cruising speed of 16 knots. She also offers an impressive transatlantic range of 6000 nautical miles—that’s New York to the North Pole and back.

These more efficient and durable power tools are invading the DIY market. So how do they work?

Lately there has been a lot of talk in the power tool world about brushless motors. While the technology isn’t new to tools, it has recently gained traction due to some high-profile releases by Makita, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and others.

“Brushless motors have been around since the 1960s, being used in industrial and manufacturing applications for [motors that drive] conveyor belts,” says Christian Coulis, cordless product manager for Milwaukee Tools. However, Makita was the first company to use them in power tools. “[It was] first in our assembly division in 2003 for the defense and aerospace industries,” says Wayne Hart, Makita’s communications manager, “and then again in 2009 when we released a brushless three-speed impact driver.”

Continue reading “What’s So Great About Brushless Motors?” »

Rare gamma ray bursts are helping astronomers decode the mysteries of magnetars.

Injection molded glass could revolutionize production of telecom equipment.

Rice University computer scientists have demonstrated artificial intelligence (AI) software that runs on commodity processors and trains deep neural networks 15 times faster than platforms based on graphics processors.

“The cost of training is the actual bottleneck in AI,” said Anshumali Shrivastava, an assistant professor of computer science at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering. “Companies are spending millions of dollars a week just to train and fine-tune their AI workloads.”

Shrivastava and collaborators from Rice and Intel will present research that addresses that bottleneck April 8 at the machine learning systems conference MLSys.

Automated matchmakers do what no human can.

Summary: A new blood test can distinguish the severity of a person’s depression and their risk for developing severe depression at a later point. The test can also determine if a person is at risk for developing bipolar disorder. Researchers say the blood test can also assist in tailoring individual options for therapeutic interventions.

Source: Indiana University.

Worldwide, 1 in 4 people will suffer from a depressive episode in their lifetime.