AI can now be used to generate an endless stream of plausible-sounding but meaningless words. Check out to create more babble than you know what to do with.
As we enter the 2020s, China, Russia and the United States are spending billions to develop hypersonic weapons in a bid to outpace ever-improving missile defenses.
While strategic-range cruise or ballistic missile strikes may be detected between 15 minutes to an hour before impact, hypersonic weapons capable of exceeding five times the speed of sound threaten to decrease that margin to just a few minutes. Such a fast tempo of destruction could destabilize the current balance of power by making first strikes more effective and unpredictable.
China and Russia have taken a lead in this new arms race. In October, China paraded launchers for land-attack DF-17 and anti-ship DF-100 hypersonic missiles. Meanwhile, Russia supposedly is deploying nuclear-capable hypersonic Kinzhal air-launched missiles and Avangard glide vehicles released by RS-28 intercontinental-range missiles.
A team of scientists successfully achieved 53% reverse aging in old rats with blood plasma from young rats, in an astounding leap forward for the erstwhile-controversial aging field of study.
The US Air Force (USAF) is working toward being able to update the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter’s software while the aircraft is in flight.
The service believes updating software on the fly will reduce fielding time to its fleet by 50%, it says on 12 May. The USAF did not disclose how long it currently takes to update the software of an F-16.
Kim Jong-un has not been seen since May 1 (Image: GETTY)
Claims carried in numerous media outlets last month suggested the 36-year-old had died after botched heart surgery, or was alternatively in a vegetative state.
Speculation was fuelled after he missed the birth anniversary celebrations of state founder Kim Il-sung, his grandfather, on April 15.
Each day brings us closer to landing the first woman and next man on the Moon! One year ago today, we revealed the name of our lunar exploration program, called #Artemis after the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the 🌕. https://www.nasa.gov/artemis/
In a study published today (May 13, 2020) in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists in the U.S. and Japan report that in the laboratory, cats can readily become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and may be able to pass the virus to other cats.
Professor of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine Yoshihiro Kawaoka led the study, in which researchers administered to three cats SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a human patient. The following day, the researchers swabbed the nasal passages of the cats and were able to detect the virus in two of the animals. Within three days, they detected the virus in all of the cats.
The day after the researchers administered virus to the first three cats, they placed another cat in each of their cages. Researchers did not administer SARS-CoV-2 virus to these cats.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is less than two weeks from launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, but some big obstacles still stand in the way.
With this SpaceX mission, known as Demo-2, veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are set to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 27. The historic launch will be the first crewed launch from the United States to orbit since NASA’s space shuttle program ended in 2011.
For Army scientists, the goal of neuroscience research is pursuing the inner workings of the human brain to advance scientific understanding and improve Soldier performance.
Researchers recently applied new techniques to modify brain activity. Not only are these techniques used to characterize and study complex networks such as in telecommunications or social networks—they describe how different nodes, or elements of the network: brain regions in neuroscience, or individuals in social networks, interact with each other.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, in collaboration with academic partners, collaborated on a neurostimulation study, where they safely and non-invasively modified brain activity and then characterized the dynamics of the brain’s response to this modification. This research provides some of the foundational knowledge for future technologies that may one day expedite cognitive processes. The journal Network Neuroscience published the recent discoveries.
SpaceX and NASA are planning a triumphant return to American human spaceflight on May 27, with the SpaceX Demo-2 mission for its Crew Dragon spacecraft. This is the final step required for Crew Dragon to become certified for human flight, after which it’ll enter into regular operational service ferrying people (and some cargo) to the International Space Station on behalf of the U.S. and some of its allies.
The animation above shows how SpaceX and NASA envision the mission going, from the astronauts stepping out of their ride to the launch pad (a Tesla Model X badged with NASA logos past and present), their trip across the bridge linking the launch tower to the Falcon 9 that will take them up and their spacecraft’s separation from the rocket and subsequent docking procedure with the ISS.
SpaceX and NASA have done plenty of preparation to get to this point, including running a full uncrewed original demo mission that more or less followed this exact flow, just without any actual astronauts on board. That mission also included the undocking of the Crew Dragon capsule, and its return to Earth, with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the ocean.
