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Jan 13, 2020

Crew Dragon faces its last big test before human spaceflight on Saturday

Posted by in category: space travel

One launch emergency. Four parachutes. Eight SuperDracos.

Jan 13, 2020

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra might have more RAM than your PC

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra might have over-the-top specs with 16GB of RAM and a ridiculous variety of cameras.

Jan 13, 2020

Mars’ Poles Remain Key To Understanding Its Climate, Says Planetary Scientist

Posted by in categories: climatology, space

Real Mars research at the end of the world.


The end of the world serves as host to an international group of researchers trying to understand Mars’ Poles.

Jan 13, 2020

Blood Test to Diagnose Brain Cancer in Development

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

Brain cancer remains challenging to diagnose, due to nonspecific symptoms and a lack of cost-effective tests. A new blood test that uses attenuated total reflection (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in conjunction with machine learning technology, may help advance the detection of brain cancer.

The patented technology, developed by a team at the University of Strathclyde, uses infrared light to produce a “bio-signature” of a blood sample and applies artificial intelligence to check for the signs of cancer.

The research is published in Nature Communications in a paper titled, “Development of high-throughput ATR-FTIR technology for rapid triage of brain cancer.

Jan 13, 2020

Fly me to the moon: Japanese billionaire Maezawa seeks girlfriend for SpaceX voyage

Posted by in categories: education, space travel

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s search for a girlfriend to join him on a voyage around the moon will be the subject of a new documentary program, in the latest attention-grabbing stunt by the entrepreneur.

44-year-old Maezawa, who sold his online fashion retailer Zozo Inc to SoftBank Group Corp, is seeking single females aged over 20 for the show, which will be shown on streaming service AbemaTV.

Jan 13, 2020

Tiny Electric Thrusters from Phase Four, Accion Could Go Interplanetary

Posted by in category: space travel

Circa 2019


Electric thrusters for spacecraft are increasingly shrinking, and could prove key for new space missions. And, according to two novel space tech companies, Phase Four and Accion Systems, they might even go interplanetary.

Conventional rockets that rely on chemical reactions “are a great way to generate a lot of thrust, but they are very inefficient when it comes to generating thrust given the amount of propellant they carry,” Simon Halpern, founder and CEO of space propulsion company Phase Four in El Segundo, California, told Space.com. “That’s why launching even a small satellite requires a gigantic multistory rocket.”

Continue reading “Tiny Electric Thrusters from Phase Four, Accion Could Go Interplanetary” »

Jan 13, 2020

Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

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

Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issues.

Jan 13, 2020

NASA May Have Found the Goldilocks Planet of Goldilocks Planets: TOI 700 d

Posted by in category: alien life

If you ask astronomers how many planets in the universe harbor life, they will likely say there are only two possible answers: one or infinity. We can rule out zero, thanks to the decidedly alive Earth, which means that so far one is the answer. But if we discover another, the answer jumps straight past two to infinity. The reason: You can posit a universe in which the confluence of factors that made life possible here are so complex that the right roll of the dice could statistically happen only once. But if it can happen more than once, why should there be any limit? (Actually, something could be so rare in nature that it happens only two or three times, but the overall zero-one-infinity idea originated with theologians debating atheism, monotheism and infinite polytheism, and planetary scientists just kind of liked it and claimed it as their own.)

Humans have always hoped for infinity, since it would be an awfully lonely universe if we’re the only planet with its porch light on. And with the recent explosion in the discovery of exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars), astronomers now believe that virtually every star in the Milky Way is circled by at least one planet. There are up to 250 billion stars in our galaxy and about 100 billion other galaxies out there—trillions upon trillions of places life could be thriving.

In their search for such worlds, astronomers focus their energy on Earth-like, rocky planets, with atmosphere, water and an orbit that places them in the so-called habitable zone, where temperatures are just right for the water to exist in liquid form. Last week, NASA announced a jackpot: an Earth-sized world in the habitable zone of a hospitable star, just 100 light years from here. The star is known as TOI 700 and the planet is TOI 700 d, the outermost of a litter of three planets. TOI 700 is a red dwarf, a class of stars smaller and cooler than our sun, which were at first thought of as poor candidates for nurturing life, due to their relatively low temperature. But the fact is, as long as the planets orbit close enough to the hearth of the star, they get plenty of light and warmth—and TOI 700 d does.

Jan 13, 2020

OLD AGE with Dr. Aubrey de Grey #16 (full episode)

Posted by in category: life extension

Episode 16 (full episode)
OLD AGE: the biggest threat facing humanity
with Dr. Aubrey de Grey

Show notes and resources: (to be released on 13 Jan 20)

Continue reading “OLD AGE with Dr. Aubrey de Grey #16 (full episode)” »

Jan 13, 2020

Goodbye Colonoscopy: Exam Uses Capsule to Take Pictures of the Intestine

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — Approved in Brazil almost four years ago, the colon capsule is finally starting to become popular and available in laboratories and diagnostic centers.

The capsule serves as an alternative to traditional colonoscopy, where a wired camera is introduced through the anus and guided throughout the large intestine.

“The new technology is less invasive and does not require sedation,” says Dr. Admar Borges, of the Brazilian Society of Digestive Endoscopy.