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Jan 13, 2021

New Horizons spacecraft answers the question: How dark is space?

Posted by in category: satellites

How dark is the sky, and what does that tell us about the number of galaxies in the visible universe? Astronomers can estimate the total number of galaxies by counting everything visible in a Hubble deep field and then multiplying them by the total area of the sky. But other galaxies are too faint and distant to directly detect. Yet while we can’t count them, their light suffuses space with a feeble glow.

To measure that glow, astronomical satellites have to escape the inner solar system and its light pollution, caused by sunlight reflecting off dust. A team of scientists has used observations by NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt to determine the brightness of this cosmic optical background. Their result sets an upper limit to the abundance of faint, unresolved , showing that they only number in the hundreds of billions, not 2 trillion galaxies as previously believed.

How dark does space get? If you get away from city lights and look up, the sky between the stars appears very dark indeed. Above the Earth’s atmosphere outer space dims even further, fading to an inky pitch-black. And yet even there, space isn’t absolutely black. The universe has a suffused feeble glimmer from innumerable distant stars and galaxies.

Jan 13, 2021

SpaceX capsule to splash down from space just west of Tampa

Posted by in category: space travel

The capsule will bring back science experiments from the International Space Station.


Tampa will take part in some Florida space history Wednesday night as the SpaceX Dragon 2 will splash down from space just west of Tampa Bay.

Jan 13, 2021

Google reveals sophisticated Windows and Android hacking operation

Posted by in category: mobile phones

The attackers used a combination of Android, Chrome, and Windows vulnerabilities, including both zero-days and n-days exploits.

Jan 13, 2021

Dr Halima Benbouza — Leading Biotech Development In Algeria For Health, Agriculture and Conservation

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, education, food, genetics, government, health

Dr. Halima Benbouza is an Algerian scientist in the field of agronomic sciences and biological engineering.

She received her doctorate in 2004 from the University Agro BioTech Gembloux, Belgium studying Plant Breeding and Genetics and was offered a postdoctoral position to work on a collaborative project with the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture in Stoneville, Mississippi.

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Jan 13, 2021

Flexible thermoelectric devices enable energy harvesting from human skin

Posted by in categories: energy, robotics/AI, wearables

A thermoelectric device is an energy conversion device that uses the voltage generated by the temperature difference between both ends of a material; it is capable of converting heat energy, such as waste heat from industrial sites, into electricity that can be used in daily life. Existing thermoelectric devices are rigid because they are composed of hard metal-based electrodes and semiconductors, hindering the full absorption of heat sources from uneven surfaces. Therefore, researchers have conducted recent studies on the development of flexible thermoelectric devices capable of generating energy in close contact with heat sources such as human skins and hot water pipes.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that a collaborative research team led by Dr. Seungjun Chung from the Soft Hybrid Materials Research Center and Professor Yongtaek Hong from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU, President OH Se-Jung) developed flexible with high power generation performance by maximizing flexibility and transfer efficiency. The research team also presented a mass-production plan through an automated process including a printing process.

The transfer efficiency of existing substrates used for research on flexible thermoelectric devices is low due to their very . Their heat absorption efficiency is also low due to lack of flexibility, forming a heat shield layer, e.g., air, when in contact with a heat source. To address this issue, organic-material-based thermoelectric devices with high flexibility have been under development, but their application on wearables is not easy because of its significantly lower performance compared to existing inorganic-material-based rigid thermoelectric devices.

Jan 13, 2021

Aubrey de Grey Longevity Q&A — The last 25 years, SENS, Longevity Escape Velocity, & More

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, cryonics, life extension, mathematics, neuroscience

Annotated!


Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is an English author and biomedical gerontologist. He is the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation and VP of New Technology Discovery at AgeX Therapeutics.
Feel free to ask any related questions that you want Aubrey to try and answer!

Continue reading “Aubrey de Grey Longevity Q&A — The last 25 years, SENS, Longevity Escape Velocity, & More” »

Jan 13, 2021

Rolls-Royce and UK Space Agency launch first ever study into nuclear-powered space exploration

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space

The UK Space Agency and Rolls-Royce are joining forces for a unique study into how nuclear power and technologies could be used as part of space exploration.

Jan 13, 2021

Elon Musk Donates $5 Million to the Khan Academy

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has donated $5 million to the Khan Academy, which offers free learning for students from kindergarten to the college level.

The donation was noted by Khan Academy founder, Salman Khan, releasing a short video on YouTube thanking Musk on Monday for the “incredible” gesture.

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Jan 12, 2021

‘Mars on Earth’ experience opens in the Wadi Rum desert

Posted by in category: space

Circa 2018


“Vast, echoing and God-like.” That is how T.E. Lawrence, the British archaeologist and army officer who inspired the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia,” described Wadi Rum.

As you approach the wind-swept mountains that fiercely jut out of the burnt orange sand in Jordan’s largest desert, it’s easy to see what he meant. The landscape here is like something from another world.

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Jan 12, 2021

David Attenborough’s grim extinction warning

Posted by in categories: electronics, existential risks

Sir David Attenborough confronts viewers with some of the most shocking images of his 66-year BBC career as he outlines how animals are facing mass extinction because of humans.

Upsetting scenes in his new series A Perfect Planet, on TV in Britain now and airing on Channel 9 later this year, show a parched and psychologically damaged baby elephant – its adult relatives killed by extreme droughts – cry out as rescuers squirt water into its mouth.

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