Lifeboat Foundation

NASA has released a warning that a huge asteroid is headed towards Earth tomorrow. While it’s likely that the huge asteroid may pass us by, it’s set to be the closest encounter with an object of that size this year.

The 2017 W12, a newly discovered asteroid, is expected to pass us by at around 9:45 pm. Fortunately, it seems as if the huge asteroid will pass us by at a distance of 1.32 million kilometers. While that’s not a very big distance when you’re talking about space, it’s definitely far enough away that we shouldn’t have to worry about it. Experts predict that there’s currently no threat of 2017 W12 hitting out planet.

After discovery by the Pan-STARRS survey in Hawaii last month, the asteroid was recently listed on the “Earth lLose Approaches” page as a near-Earth object (NEOs). Scientists are expecting that within a year, we’ll see three major near-misses. The 2006 XY asteroid will soon pass Earth as well, on December 14.

Continue reading “Huge Asteroid Headed Towards Earth Tomorrow” »

In a new study, scientists have used electrical currents to inject information directly into the brains of monkeys.

Excitonium has a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign… well… excited! Professor of Physics Peter Abbamonte and graduate students Anshul Kogar and Mindy Rak, with input from colleagues at Illinois, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Amsterdam, have proven the existence of this enigmatic new form of matter, which has perplexed scientists since it was first theorized almost 50 years ago.

The team studied non-doped crystals of the oft-analyzed transition metal dichalcogenide titanium diselenide (1T-TiSe₂) and reproduced their surprising results five times on different cleaved crystals. University of Amsterdam Professor of Physics Jasper van Wezel provided crucial theoretical interpretation of the experimental results.

So what exactly is excitonium?

Our physical attraction to hot bodies is real, according to UC Berkeley physicists.

To be clear, they’re not talking about sexual attraction to a “hot” human body.

But the researchers have shown that a glowing object actually attracts atoms, contrary to what most people — physicists included — would guess.

At a private party on Thursday, Elon Musk spoke boldly about Tesla’s upcoming custom artificial intelligence hardware.

Scientists at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have found a way to make mitochondria more resistant to damage, which could potentially be used to halt Alzheimer’s and other, similar, diseases.

Globally, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and cause of neurodegeneration. It causes brain damage and symptoms such as long-term memory loss. It is an amyloid-based disease, with the characteristic hallmark being the formation of toxic plaques in the brain made from the aggregated beta-amyloid inside the neurons.

Nike built a track that lets you compete against yourself.

Google’s artificial intelligence sibling DeepMind repurposes Go-playing AI to conquer chess and shogi without aid of human knowledge.

But the F-35 program, usually not one to shy away from boasting about their achievements, has been hushed about the prospect of defeating one of the gravest threats to the US.

“I can tell you that the F-35 is a multi-mission fighter,” Commander Patrick Evans of the Office of the Secretary of Defense told Business Insider when asked about the program. “It would be inappropriate to speculate on future capabilities or missions of the weapon system.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, was more open to speculating about why the Pentagon hadn’t gone through with missile intercepting planes.

Continue reading “The F-35 could intercept a North Korean missile launch — but it could bring an all-out war” »