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Apr 7, 2018
The Most Precise Measurement of Antimatter Yet Deepens the Mystery of Why We Exist
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: cosmology, physics
Scientists have made the most precise measurement of antimatter yet, and the results only deepen the mystery of why life, the universe, and everything in it exists.
The new measurements show that, to an incredibly high degree of precision, antimatter and matter behave identically.
Yet those new measurements can’t answer one of the biggest questions in physics: Why, if equal parts matter and antimatter were formed during the Big Bang, is our universe today made up of matter?
Apr 7, 2018
Boeing’s first crewed space flight may be more than just a test
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
This week, NASA announced that it has updated its commercial crew contract with Boeing. Specifically, Boeing is one of two contractors that is building a crew vehicle that will eventually be able to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The change surrounds its first test flight — including the option to extend the flight (from two weeks up to six months) and potentially adding a third crewmember. In other words, the first test flight wouldn’t be a test anymore.
This isn’t a huge surprise. Back in January, the GAO released a report that said that human flight certification of Boeing and SpaceX rockets would likely be delayed until the end of 2019. NASA currently has seats for astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft through the fall of 2019. After that, well… Houston, we have a problem.
Russia doesn’t have any more Soyuz seats to offer us for purchase, so that leaves a significant gap between when we will need operational human spaceflight capabilities and when we will have them. The only solution is to use SpaceX and Boeing’s test flights as actual flights, in which we carry humans to and from the ISS, rather than as the test flights they were originally designed to be.
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Apr 7, 2018
This surreal AI creature meets humans, then decides whether it wants to play with them
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
BOB is an AI entity who can be interacted with in an art exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Apr 7, 2018
George Soros Prepares to Trade Cryptocurrencies
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: cryptocurrencies
George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion family office is planning to trade digital assets.
Apr 7, 2018
SkyKnit: How an AI Took Over an Adult Knitting Community
Posted by Sean Cusack in category: robotics/AI
Quirky knitters teamed up with a neural-network creator to generate new types of tentacled, cozy shapes.
Apr 7, 2018
A Brain-Boosting Prosthesis Moves From Rats to Humans
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: cyborgs, information science, neuroscience
An algorithm tailored to individual brain activity shows it can boost memory with electrical zaps.
Apr 7, 2018
Secret army of killer doomsday robots is ‘being built in a Korean university’
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: existential risks, robotics/AI
It’s feared super-smart silicon assassins could one day declare war on humanity and wipe us off the face of the Earth.
Apr 7, 2018
There’s a Detectable Human-Made Barrier Surrounding Earth
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
We are changing space itself.
In 2017, NASA space probes detected a massive, human-made ‘barrier’ surrounding Earth.
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Apr 7, 2018
Mach Effect Propellantless drive awarded NASA NIAC phase 2 study
Posted by Sidney Clouston in categories: cosmology, physics, space travel
Mach Effect Gravity Assist (MEGA) drive propulsion is based on peer-reviewed, technically credible physics. Mach effects are transient variations in the rest masses of objects that simultaneously experience accelerations and internal energy changes. They are predicted by standard physics where Mach’s principle applies as discussed in peer-reviewed papers spanning 20 years and a recent book, Making Starships and Stargates: the Science of Interstellar Transport and Absurdly Benign Wormholes published in 2013 by Springer-Verlag.
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