Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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ESA’s first planetary defence spacecraft has departed planet Earth. The Hera mission is headed to a unique target among the more than 1.3 million known asteroids in our Solar System – the only body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to solve lingering mysteries associated with its deflection.

By sharpening scientific understanding of the ‘kinetic impact’ technique of asteroid deflection, Hera aims to make Earth safer. The mission is part of a broader ambition to turn terrestrial asteroid impacts into a fully avoidable class of natural disaster.

Developed as part of ESA’s Space Safety programme and sharing technological heritage with the Agency’s Rosetta comet hunter, Hera lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC) with its solar arrays deploying about one hour later.

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Dr. Isaac Asimov was a prolific science fiction author, biochemist, and professor. This was recorded in 1982. Asimov was best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science essays. Born in Russia in 1920 and brought to the United States by his family as a young child, he went on to become one of the most influential figures in the world of speculative fiction. He wrote hundreds of books on a variety of topics, but he’s especially remembered for series like the \.

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From the mind of Callum Diggle comes a bleak outlook for humanity, set hundreds of years in the future. The universe of Humanity Lost is one we’d we’d barely recognize, but there is a lot to discover. In today’s video, we’ll discuss a few of the events that led to humanity’s downfall, as well as exploring some of the new forms of life that await us.

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To keep up with the epic story of Humanity Lost, be sure to check out Callum Diggle’s links, and especially his Patreon:
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And make sure you check out Qalasaci’s artwork on DeviantArt!

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Scientists have invented an artificial plant that can simultaneously clean indoor air while generating enough electricity to power a smartphone.

A team from Binghamton University in New York created an artificial leaf “for fun” using five biological solar cells and their photosynthetic bacteria, before realising that the device could be used for practical applications.

A proof-of-concept plant with five artificial leaves was capable of generating electricity and oxygen, while removing CO2 at a far more efficient rate than natural plants.

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The team also studied the direct interaction between charged particles in the solar wind as well as plasma around Mercury and BepiColombo itself. This process is complicated by the fact that when the spacecraft is facing the sun, it is heated and cooled, and heavier charged particles called ions can’t be detected because BepiColombo becomes electrically charged and repels them.

However, when BepiColombo slips into the shadow of Mercury, cool ions in a sea of plasma become detectable. This allowed BepiColombo to see ions of the elements oxygen, sodium and potassium around Mercury. The team thinks these particles originated from the surface of the tiny planet and were launched into space by meteorite strikes or solar wind bombardment.

“It’s like we’re suddenly seeing the surface composition ‘exploded’ in 3D through the planet’s very thin atmosphere, known as its exosphere,” MPPE instrument lead Dominique Delcourt, from the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, said in the statement. “It’s really exciting to start seeing the link between the planet’s surface and the plasma environment.”

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