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Jul 15, 2019
SpaceX wiggles Starhopper’s Raptor engine, tests parts ahead of hover test debut
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
On the evening of July 12th, SpaceX technicians put Starhopper’s freshly-installed Raptor – serial number 06 (SN06) – through a simple but decidedly entertaining test, effectively wiggling the engine in circles.
Designed to verify that Raptor’s thrust vectoring capabilities are in order and ensure that Starhopper and the engine are properly communicating, the wiggle test is a small but critical part of pre-flight acceptance and a good indicator that the low-fidelity Starship prototype is nearing its first hover test(s). Roughly 48 hours after a successful series of wiggles, Starhopper and Raptor proceeded into the next stage of pre-flight acceptance, likely the final more step before a tethered static fire.
Routine for all Falcon rockets, SpaceX’s exceptionally rigorous practice of static firing all hardware at least once (and often several times) before launch has unsurprisingly held firm as the company proceeds towards integrated Starhopper and Starship flight tests. Despite the fact that Raptor SN06 completed a static fire as recently July 10th, SpaceX will very likely put Starhopper and its newly-installed Raptor through yet another pre-flight static fire, perhaps its fourth or fifth test this month.
Jul 15, 2019
Intel has packed 8 million digital neurons onto a brain-like computer
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: computing, neuroscience
Jul 15, 2019
David Attenborough says industrial overfishing is more dangerous to the ocean than plastic
Posted by Brady Hartman in category: materials
Jul 15, 2019
Researchers create ‘epigenetic atlas’, heralding leap forward in disease diagnosis
Posted by Ian Hale in categories: biotech/medical, genetics
This atlas of human CoRSIVs,” they write, “provides a resource for future population-based investigations into how interindividual epigenetic variation modulates risk of disease,” and may well transform understanding of the causes of illness in the human body.
A project 370 times larger than the Human Genome Project bears first fruit. Stephen Fleischfresser reports.
Half the globe’s population could face severe water stress by 2050. For some countries, it could be as early as 2030. Cities like Chennai, India, are experiencing these consequences right now. #YEARSproject
The world’s insects are disappearing. If we don’t stop it, this disappearance will set off a catastrophic chain of events. #YEARSproject
The world’s most important crop is, and if we don’t stop it, nearly half the world could be left hungry. #YEARSproject
The world’s most important crop is heading towards collapse, and if we don’t stop it, nearly half the world could be left hungry. #YEARSproject
There’s no way to store toxic coal waste that’s completely safe. There’s also no way to mine and burn coal that doesn’t threaten communities, our waterways and our climate. Duke needs to stop burning coal, clean up its toxic mess, and invest in abundant, affordable clean energy sources like solar and wind. #2048istoolate #BeyondCoal #YEARSproject with Sierra Club.
Jul 15, 2019
Is Immortality Worth It?
Posted by Derick Lee in categories: biotech/medical, economics, life extension
Any major breakthrough in extending human life would drastically alter population projections. The social effects, while obviously huge, would depend on whether the years of senility were prolonged, too; whether women’s age at menopause would increase; and how families would be structured if many generations were alive at the same time. Expensive treatments to extend human lives could also have implications for inequality; as in many other areas of technology, the wealthy would be most able to afford such services.
Almost everyone would welcome an extension of their healthy lifespan, and some scientists are looking at increasingly extreme ways to achieve that. But any major breakthrough in this area could have unwanted and far-reaching demographic, social, and economic implications.
CAMBRIDGE – Humans have long sought the elixir of youth, so it is not surprising that even non-scientists closely follow the latest research into aging. But is what most people consider simply a fact of life actually a “disease” that can be cured? Or is there some insurmountable limit to the lifespan of human bodies?
