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Jun 13, 2019

Reno streets closing; NASA resumes drone testing

Posted by in category: drones

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The city of Reno has announced some downtown street closures as NASA resumes a series of drone tests in high-density urban settings.

Beginning Friday, Lake Street will be closed from 1st to 2nd streets from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. through June 20, and again June 23–25.

Chism Street also will be closed from Dickerson to 2nd Street from June 14-July 2.

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Jun 13, 2019

Terrifying AI Matches DNA to Facial Recognition Databases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, robotics/AI

Cops would love to have a system that uses DNA from a crime scene to generate a picture of a suspect’s face, but that tech is still restricted to science fiction.

That technology may never exist, but a team of Belgian and American engineers just developed something similar. Using what they know about how DNA shapes the human face, the researchers built an algorithm that scans through a database of images and selects the faces that could be linked to the DNA found at a crime scene, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications — a powerful crime-fighting tool, but also a terrifying new way to subvert privacy.

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Jun 13, 2019

MDMA Erases PTSD Symptoms After Two Guided Therapy Sessions, Study Finds

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

An international study on MDMA and PTSD discovered that over half of patients no longer qualified for PTSD after just two guided psychotherapy sessions.

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Jun 13, 2019

European Rover To Probe The ‘Third Dimension’ Of Mars

Posted by in category: space

This mission is going underground.

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Jun 13, 2019

Upgrade Your Memory With a Surgically Implanted Chip

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience

Brain prostheses for the computer in your skull.

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Jun 13, 2019

Podcast #32: Reimagining Our Tomorrows with Joe Tankersley

Posted by in category: futurism

“We should celebrate when optimism and hard work triumph over cynicism, lethargy, and fatalism.”– Sadiq Khan.

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Jun 13, 2019

Stunning but Deadly, China’s Bioluminescent Algal Blooms Are Getting Bigger

Posted by in category: futurism

Satellite imagery taken over the past two decades shows that the toxic bioluminescent microorganisms responsible for China’s sparkling blue seas are becoming increasingly abundant.

New research published in Geophysical Research Letters is the first to use satellite data to track algal blooms consisting of red Noctiluca scintillans (RNS), a single-celled microorganism that produces the beautiful bioluminescent blue glow known as “blue tears.” These tiny sea creatures prefer coastal waters, especially along the coast of the East China Sea where they appear in the numbers required to produce the spectacular blue glow.

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Jun 13, 2019

SpaceX Returns To Business As Usual With Launch Of Canadian Satellites

Posted by in categories: business, satellites

SpaceX has successfully launched a rocket carrying three Canadian satellites into orbit, the company’s seventh launch of the year.

At 7.17 A.M. Pacific time today, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. About eight minutes after launch, the first stage of the booster touched down at the company’s Landing Zone 4 near the launch site – only the second ever landing here.

This was also the second time this booster had launched, having gone to space previously on the historic first uncrewed demonstration mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft in March this year. That mission launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, whereas this was SpaceX’s 15th ever launch from Vandenberg of their 79 total launches.

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Jun 13, 2019

Former Blue Origin and SNC executive joins Vector

Posted by in categories: business, finance, space travel

Updated 5 p.m. Eastern with corrected quote provided by the company in final paragraph.

WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle Vector has hired a new chief financial officer who previously held similar positions at Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation.

Vector announced June 12 Stephanie Koster as its new CFO, leading the company’s finance and business operations. Koster joined the company in March, according to her LinkedIn profile.

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Jun 13, 2019

SpaceX Falcon 9 bids temporary goodbye to West Coast in launch & landing photos

Posted by in category: satellites

SpaceX has completed its last California Falcon 9 launch of 2019 and the company’s official pictures of the mission are unexpectedly spectacular considering the near-zero visibility incurred by coastal fog.

Lifting off on June 12th, Falcon 9 successfully delivered the Canadian Space Agency’s Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) – likely weighing ~5000 kg (11,000 lb) – to a 600 km (370 mi) sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Made up of three separate Earth observation satellites, RCM has a combined value greater than $1 billion and has thus become the single most expensive payload – perhaps by as much as a factor of two – SpaceX has ever launched. Although disappointing, RCM made for a spectacular temporary finale to SpaceX’s West Coast launch activity, likely the company’s last Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) mission for at least 6–9 months.

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