Lifeboat Foundation

After months of speculation, the official announcement came today. But there’s a catch.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hs2LBeLCo_s

Set to give a keynote speech on October 3rd at 2018’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Hans Koenigsmann – SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability – attended an impromptu talk one day prior, titled “From the University of Bremen to SpaceX”.

Speaking before a small audience, the University of Bremen graduate and fourth employee to join SpaceX discussed his opinions of Falcon Heavy, BFR, and more, frankly relating how SpaceX intentionally chose to build Falcon Heavy on its own, going so far as to turn down funding reportedly offered by one or more US government agencies.

Continue reading “SpaceX executive talks rocket R&D: ‘Nobody paid us to make Falcon Heavy’” »

The Amazon chief explained that while the solar system has plenty of resources that can be used by future generations, the current cost of space travel is far too expensive.

Scientists and religious leaders joined forces to create programs on neuroscience, cosmology—and even some evolutionary science.

Spend months in space, and you could develop cancer.

To study the effects of deep space radiation exposure on astronaut health, researchers exposed mice to comparable levels of radiation. It hurt their guts.

Pivot Bio just got a $70 million infusion from Bill Gates’s energy fund and other investors to launch its commercial product next year.

The science: The biotechnology company, based in Berkeley, California, is creating probiotics for plants. The firm’s researchers have identified microbes with a dormant ability to produce nitrogen, a crucial nutrient in synthetic fertilizer, and engineered them to reawaken and enhance it. For its initial product, Pivot Bio has created a liquid treatment for corn crops that can be applied when the seeds are planted.

The sell: In early field tests, patches treated with the microbes produce comparable yields to those relying on synthetic fertilizers. Pivot Bio’s pitch to farmers is that the product reduces work and complexity, because a single application takes less time than spraying multiple rounds of fertilizer.

Continue reading “Replacing fertilizer with plant probiotics could slash greenhouse gases” »

A new discovery might make immunotherapy applicable to more patients.

Led by Dr. Alicja Copik, scientists at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine have discovered that it might be possible to make cancer immunotherapy work for a larger portion of patients by employing PM21-activated natural killer (PM21-NK) cells [1].

Study abstract

Continue reading “Forcing Cancer to Put up a Broken Shield” »

The game is changing as prices ‘race to the bottom’ and in some places renewables are the cheapest option, finds Dave Elliott.