O.o!
Samples of permafrost sediment frozen for the past 42,000 years were recently thawed to reveal living nematodes.
Within weeks the roundworms began to move and eat, setting a record for the time an animal can survive cryogenic preservation.
On 24 June 2019, NASA is sending an atomic clock into space. Not just any old atomic clock, either. It’s up to 50 times more accurate than the atomic clocks aboard GPS satellites, its precision only changing by one second every 10 million years.
It’s only the size of a toaster, yet it could revolutionise deep-space travel.
It’s called the Deep Space Atomic Clock, and the next year will be crucial to its development, with NASA monitoring its performance as it orbits Earth at an altitude of 720 kilometres (447 miles) — nearly twice the distance from Earth as the International Space Station. It’ll be launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
Bye Bye Camera is an iOS app built for the “post-human world,” says Damjanski, a mononymous artist based in New York City who helped create the software. Why post-human? Because it uses AI to remove people from images and paint over their absence.
“One joke we always make about it is: ‘finally, you can take a selfie without yourself,’” Damjanski tells The Verge.
The app costs $2.99 from the App Store, and, fair warning here, it’s not very good — or at least, it’s not flawless. The app is slow and removes people with a great deal of mess, leaving behind a smear of pixels like an AI hit man sending a message. If you’re looking to edit out political opponents from your Instagram, you’d be better off using Photoshop. But if you want to mess around with machine learning magic, Bye Bye Camera is good fun.
As cosmologists ponder the universe—and other possible universes—the data available to them is so complex and vast that it can be extremely challenging for humans alone to comprehend.
Tesla and the electric cars they produce are renowned for their sleek design and high tech capabilities. There is currently a saloon car (Model S), a budget version (Model 3), an SUV (Model X) and of course, the famous Roadster model which was launched into space by Elon Musk himself. There’s also a mid-sized car which is planned to be released later this year — the model Y, which is in between an S and an X. So, what’s missing from this luxury vehicle line-up? A pickup truck, of course! Tesla’s got that covered as well!
The latest Tesla model that Elon Musk has revealed is an electric pickup truck. Currently, it’s just a rumor and there has been no leak of the design or any details about this truck. That said, there is no shortage of speculation and many people seem to have their own opinions on the appearance of the new Tesla truck. However, one thing that is known is Tesla’s are expensive. Not only the design but the interior and the technology they scream luxury and offer amazing comfort. They are arguably some of the best electric vehicles on the market today but costs can run upwards of $100,000 for the latest models.
So, as anyone would expect, the new pickup truck was predicted to cost in the region of high five-, maybe even low six-figures. However, the price range has been revealed and it’s shocked everyone — apart from the Model 3, this could be one of the cheapest Tesla cars ever produced.
For a medievalist like myself, it doesn’t get much better than Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches. Both the internationally bestselling trilogy and the newly adapted TV show have many of the conventions of a kickass fantasy story. There’s a 1,500-year-old vampire, a powerful witch who can literally make it rain, and their prophesied love story. There’s the imminent threat of the end of all creatures—demons, vampires, and witches—and the ensuing battle between good and evil. And, at the heart of A Discovery of Witches is an enchanted alchemical manuscript hidden deep within Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, Ashmole 782, and the witch who was able to call it up for the first time in 500 years. That witch is a medievalist, badass feminist, and history of science professor, Dr. Diana Bishop.
The British television network SkyOne’s adaptation of the books will begin streaming in the U.S. today on Sundance Now and AMC’s Shudder. To give layfolk a sense of how dope an obscure, 15th-century alchemical manuscript can be, we’ve prepared a medievalist guide to some of its features—from the philosopher’s stone to the alchemical child and more.
Where many fantasy novels are complete works of fiction, perhaps inspired by the medieval period, but not in any way historically accurate, A Discovery of Witches combines the fantastical with the academic. Deborah Harkness, the author of the series, is a history of science professor at the University of Southern California. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the history of science and magic in Europe from 1500 to 1700—the same subject her protagonist, Dr. Diana Bishop (played by Teresa Palmer in the adaptation), is researching in Oxford’s Bodleian at the outset of A Discovery of Witches.
Watch as the Navy puts a high-tech railgun through its paces with a multi-shot salvos from the frightening weapon.
A new type of shelter needs donations to help homeless animals and homeless people get a new start.
