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Aug 5, 2019

SpaceX’s Florida Starship hits growth spurt as Texas Starship begins bulkhead installation

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

In the last week alone, SpaceX’s twin orbital Starship prototypes have made some truly jaw-dropping progress. Onlookers have witnessed Florida’s Starship push through a rapid growth spurt, while the company’s Texas team has begun to install propellant tank bulkheads and work on a triple-Raptor thrust structure.

Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has suggested that one or both of the orbital-class Starship prototypes could be “almost ready to fly” by August 24th, the date of the CEO’s next official update on Starship (formerly BFR and ITS). Although the actual challenge of building a massive, orbital-class launch vehicle is far subtler than the visible steelwork needed to build its primary structure and pressure vessels, the veritable leaps forward made in both Texas and Florida in the last 7–10 days are extremely encouraging signs.

Starting off in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX’s team of engineers and technicians have been simultaneously handling Starhopper’s first untethered flight test (completed on July 25th) and building the facility’s orbital-class Starship prototype. Most significantly, after a few days of preparation, what is likely the Texas Starship’s first bulkhead was lowered inside its ~25m-tall (80 ft) barrel section, composed of the spacecraft’s propulsion section and propellant tanks.

Aug 5, 2019

Robotics team from the Flathead wins regional competition

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

KALISPELL, Mont. — Two middle schoolers in the Flathead are making a name for themselves in the robotics world. Katie Eberhardy and Jessie Chadwick recently won the regional, NASA-sponsored Apollo Next Great Leap Student Challenge.

Eberhardy and Chadwick’s team—the Lunar Loonies—was the only all-girl team in the competition, and one of the smallest of the about 20 other teams.

“Some teams had six to eight people,” Chadwick said. “We’re just a team of two.”

Aug 5, 2019

3D bioprinting breakthrough leads to full-scale, functioning heart parts

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, bioprinting, biotech/medical

While in its early stages, bioprinting of human tissue is an emerging technology that is opening up some exciting possibilities, including the potential to one day 3D print entire human organs. This scientific objective has now grown a little bit closer, with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University reporting a breakthrough that enabled the printing of full-scale heart components that in some cases functioned similarly to the real thing.

Aug 5, 2019

Humans will be immortal in just 20 years when ‘only religious people will die’

Posted by in category: life extension

When actual immortality is available, will anybody continue to pay religion for unprovable, highly doubtful supernatural immortality?


HUMANS will have the option to stay young forever in just a few decades, according to a leading…

Aug 5, 2019

France Is Making Space-Based Anti-Satellite Laser Weapons

Posted by in categories: economics, military, satellites

France will develop satellites armed with laser weapons, and will use the weapons against enemy satellites that threaten the country’s space forces. The announcement is just part of a gradual shift in acceptance of space-based weaponry as countries reliant on space for military operations in the air, on land, and at sea—as well as for economic purposes, bow to reality and accept space as a future battleground.

Aug 4, 2019

PH robotics team wins gold in Denmark tourney

Posted by in categories: governance, robotics/AI

AARHUS, Denmark — The Philippine Robotics National Team bagged the gold medal award in the World Robot Olympiad Friendship Invitational (WROFIT) 2019 held here from August 1 to 4.

The delegation represented by Team NOUVUS from Dr. Yanga’s College Inc., (DYCI Bocaue, Bulacan) won gold in the competition’s Smart Cities project presentation in the Open Category–Smart Governance Theme.

The team’s work called Project ’ALAB’ (Anti-Adversity Link for Aid and Benefits) bested 149 teams from 32 countries (ages 16 to 19 years old).

Aug 4, 2019

GermanWiper Ransomware Erases Data, Still Asks for Ransom

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Multiple German companies were off to a rough start last week when a phishing campaign pushing a data-wiping malware targeted them and asked for a ransom. This wiper is being named GermanWiper due to its targeting of German victims and it being a destructive wiper rather than a ransomware.

The malware was first reported on the BleepingComputer forum on Tuesday, July 30 and users soon learned after examining their files that it is a data wiper, despite it demanding a ransom payment.

Aug 4, 2019

Ulawun volcano (Papua New Guinea): ash cloud from yesterday’s major explosion dissipated, but SO2 plume over area

Posted by in category: futurism

Volcano news from the Ulawun volcano at Papua Newguinea.

Aug 4, 2019

Second Virtual Debate Among U.S. Transhumanist Party Presidential Candidates — Part 1

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, transhumanism

This is Part 1 of the debate stream. See Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYbqCE0-EPo

On Saturday, August 3, 2019, at 3 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time, the U.S. Transhumanist Party / Transhuman Party (USTP) will hold its Second Virtual Debate of the 2019 USTP Presidential Primary season. Candidates Charles Holsopple, Rachel Haywire, and Johannon Ben Zion will provide updates regarding their campaigns thus far, answer challenging candidate-specific questions, address questions from the audience, and have the opportunity for rebuttals and interactions. In this debate, we strive for maximal transparency to provide USTP members the amplest possible relevant information for them to make their decision regarding the USTP’s nominee for President of the United States during the August 11–17, 2019, Electronic Primary.

Continue reading “Second Virtual Debate Among U.S. Transhumanist Party Presidential Candidates — Part 1” »

Aug 4, 2019

Discovery of liver cell with stem cell-like properties could eliminate need for organ transplants

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

An exciting new study, led by scientists from King’s College London, has discovered a new type of cell in the liver. The research describes the cell as having “stem cell-like properties,” with the potential to regenerate damaged liver cells and treat disease in the organ without the need for a transplant.