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The NASA official who oversaw the first SpaceX astronaut launch last month will now lead all the agency’s human spaceflight efforts, including its goal to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.

NASA chief Jim Bridenstine on Friday announced that Kathy Lueders was selected as the agency’s associate administrator of its Human Exploration & Operations mission directorate. He said in a tweet that Lueders to be “the right person to lead HEO as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon.”

Lueders is the first woman to lead NASA’s human spaceflight efforts, the agency noted.

Fascinating talk on a fun topic.


How does quantum logic differ from classical logic? How do we live in a universe that accommodates both?
Is it possible to observe quantum logic at work in our macroscopic world?
Surprisingly a little bit of quantum logic can disentangle some of our clumsy everyday conceptualisations of biology, language and culture.

Slides / Prezi: https://prezi.com/sellcdridu0v/quantum-logic-the-rise-of-the-memes-2019

Autonomous weapons present some unique challenges to regulation. They can’t be observed and quantified in quite the same way as, say, a 1.5-megaton nuclear warhead. Just what constitutes autonomy, and how much of it should be allowed? How do you distinguish an adversary’s remotely piloted drone from one equipped with Terminator software? Unless security analysts can find satisfactory answers to these questions and China, Russia, and the US can decide on mutually agreeable limits, the march of automation will continue. And whichever way the major powers lead, the rest of the world will inevitably follow.


Military scholars warn of a “battlefield singularity,” a point at which humans can no longer keep up with the pace of conflict.

While modern, scientific understanding of this complex network of neurons between our ears really only began in the last few decades, we’ve already learned a lot about the body’s control center — and have been given a lot to think about.

In this episode of The Abstract, we discuss the groundbreaking research in brain-computer technology offering new hope in restoring sensations and treating anxiety.

Our first story is about groundbreaking research in brain-computer interfaces that’s offering new hope for those who have lost their sense of touch. By decoding neural signals from the brain, researchers were able to create movement and sensory perception in paralyzed limbs. Innovations like these in sense-restoring technology could be life-changing for spinal cord patients and make a devastating loss of sensation reversible.