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Mar 18, 2020

‘Infinite Destinies’ Returns the Infinity Stones to the Marvel Universe

Posted by in category: futurism

The Infinity Stones have played a key role in some of the Marvel Universe’s most defining moments, and now they’ve returned in the hands of Marvel’s most popular new characters. The chase for the powerful Infinity Stones will play out in INFINITE DESTINIES, launching this summer!

In a series of eight annuals, each installment will pair Marvel’s biggest heroes like Captain America and Iron Man with some of Marvel’s newest heroes and villains including Star, Amulet, and more. These exciting new additions to the Marvel mythos may or may not possess one of the sought after stones — but the real question will be who will be holding them in the end, and what will it mean for the future of the Marvel Universe?

“We’ve had a wave of incredible new characters over the last few years, and INFINITE DESTINIES will shine a light on eight of them,” Editor Nick Lowe said. “We’ll discover new aspects of these heroes and villains in adventures with our the most archetypal Marvel heroes.”

Mar 18, 2020

Research team discovers path to razor-sharp black hole images

Posted by in category: cosmology

Last April, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) sparked international excitement when it unveiled the first image of a black hole. Today, a team of researchers have published new calculations that predict a striking and intricate substructure within black hole images from extreme gravitational light bending.

“The image of a black hole actually contains a nested series of rings,” explains Michael Johnson of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian (CfA). “Each successive ring has about the same diameter but becomes increasingly sharper because its light orbited the black hole more times before reaching the observer. With the current EHT image, we’ve caught just a glimpse of the full complexity that should emerge in the image of any black hole.”

Because black holes trap any photons that cross their event horizon, they cast a shadow on their bright surrounding emission from hot infalling gas. A “photon ring” encircles this shadow, produced from light that is concentrated by the strong gravity near the black hole. This photon ring carries the fingerprint of the black hole—its size and shape encode the mass and rotation or “spin” of the black hole. With the EHT images, black hole researchers have a new tool to study these extraordinary objects.

Mar 18, 2020

Let this glorious new NASA view of Jupiter take your mind off Earth for a moment

Posted by in category: space

All hail our swirly solar system buddy.

Mar 18, 2020

‘Wonderchicken’ fossil from the age of dinosaurs reveals origin of modern birds

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

The oldest fossil of a modern bird yet found, dating from the age of dinosaurs, has been identified by an international team of palaeontologists.

The spectacular fossil, affectionately nicknamed the ‘Wonderchicken’, includes a nearly complete , hidden inside nondescript pieces of rock, and dates from less than one million years before the asteroid impact which eliminated all large dinosaurs.

Writing in the journal Nature, the team, led by the University of Cambridge, believe the new fossil helps clarify why survived the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period, while the giant dinosaurs did not.

Mar 18, 2020

Podcast #43: The Future of Work 2050, with Jerome Glenn

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

“Automation is going to cause unemployment, and we need to prepare for it.”–Mark cuban.

Mar 18, 2020

The newest gene editor radically improves on CRISPR

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Researchers have developed “prime editing,” a true search-and-replace function for DNA.

Mar 18, 2020

‘Spaceship Earth’ Documentary Tells the Story of Biosphere 2

Posted by in categories: biological, education, space travel

This man lived inside a self-sustaining glass biosphere for 2 whole years to test drive what life would be like for humans on Mars via NowThis.

Mar 18, 2020

New evidence that teeth can fill their own cavities

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A drug developed to combat Alzheimer’s Disease can trigger regeneration of tooth dentin.

Mar 18, 2020

A DARPA program’s role in trying to end pandemics

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

DARPA-funded research into pandemic response may lead to a COVID-19 treatment.

Mar 18, 2020

Coronavirus will humble US and Trump while boosting China’s global position

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics

Exploiting the pandemic for geopolitical gain.


A few good things will come out of the pandemic. A Democrat may well be the next US president and end the trade war with China, which will be in a better position to bargain, having had a lead in tackling the virus and a head start in economic recovery.