Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 101

The flying paramedics are from the UK-based charity, the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

In September 2020, the organization announced it was testing a jet-pack-equipped suit for the paramedics but had to suspend testing due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. One of the members has since completed training with the jet-pack, with more members due to begin their training soon. The next stage of trials will begin this summer.

The suit features two engines on each arm, and a larger engine on the back, providing 317 pounds of thrust. The pilot can control their movement with hand movements to direct the engines on the arms. Rather than taking a helicopter to reach a patient in the Lake District National Park in England, which takes between 25 and 30 minutes, the jet suit allows the paramedics to fly up the hill in only 90 seconds.

A spacecraft that is orbiting the Sun has snapped what is now officially the highest resolution image of the Sun's corona, its outermost atmosphere.

The image was snapped by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter that used its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) to take 25 images with each at different angles. Each of the images was taken with 10 minutes of exposure and were stitched together to create an image that 9,148 by 9,112 pixels, which equates to 83 million pixels, or as the ESA writes, "a resolution that is ten times better than what a 4K TV screen can display."

Due to the insane resolution, viewers can zoom into different locations of the Sun and see the Sun's corona and solar 'prominences' that can throw "huge quantities of coronal gas into space and creating 'space weather' storms." The images were captured on March 7 at a distance of 46.6 million miles, which is about half of the distance between Earth's and its average orbit around the Sun. Over its lifetime, the ESA's Solar Orbiter will continue to monitor the Sun's solar wind and take incredible images.

NASA has released a new image snapped by the famous Hubble Space Telescope, and it is nothing short of breathtaking.

The new image is a cosmic portrait of the spiral galaxy called NGC 4571, located approximately 60 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices, named after an Egyptian queen who lived about 2,200 years ago. The image was snapped using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and multiple observations from Hubble and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

The data from ALMA allowed researchers to distinguish the clouds of cool interstellar dust that are the birthplace of new stars. NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which NASA writes contains more than 1,000 individual galaxies. If you are interested in reading more about NGC 4571, check out NASA's blog post on the spiral galaxy here.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have said that Russia or China targeted Starlink satellites, they would have a tough time destroying them all.

Musk was interviewed by Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of Axel Springer, where he was asked his thoughts on Russia's invasion into Ukraine, Starlink satellites, space travel, and more. During the interview, Musk was asked if Russia targeted the Starlink satellites that he sent to assist Ukraine could they bring down the entire operation. Musk replied by saying that Russia would have a lot of trouble taking out Starlink due to how many individual satellites there are. "If you attempt to take out Starlink, this is not easy because there are 2,000 satellites," said Musk.

"That means a lot of anti-satellite missiles. I hope we do not have to put this to a test, but I think we can launch satellites faster than they can launch anti-satellite missiles." Musk also touched on Russia performing an anti-satellite missile test a few months ago that threatened the safety of NASA astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA is nearing the end of fine-tuning the James Webb Space Telescope as calibrations are expected to wrap up by the end of June.

The space agency has gone through more than 1,000 potential research proposals from astronomers from all around the world and has compiled a year-long list of targets Webb will be pointed at. The world's most powerful telescope will observe the light from the first stars and galaxies that formed only a hundred million years after the Big Bang - it will be the furthest humans have ever looked back in time.

Webb cost more than $10 billion and won't just be studying light from stars and galaxies, it will also observe exoplanets which are planets that are orbiting stars that aren't our sun. Webb will monitor these exoplanets and attempt to analyze their atmosphere for any potential signs of life. So, what will the first images released from Webb?

The ice shelf collapsed in East Antarctica, a mass of ice the size of New York City,

Scientists had previously considered East Antarctica to be relatively stable in the face of climate change, with global warming seeming to impact the smaller western side of Antarctica more noticeably. The collapse is the first of its kind captured in the eastern region of Antarctica, owing to a rise in temperatures by more than 70 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) above the normal range in the area,

The collapsed ice shelf spanned approximately 460 square miles wide (1200 square kilometers), acting as a barrier between the Conger and Glenzer glaciers and warmer waters. It collapsed between March 14th and 16th, 2022, and was captured by satellite imagery.

An announcement regarding the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program will drop on Wednesday, March 30th.

NASA has promised that the "exciting new observation" by Hubble will be "one for the record books," but hasn't suggested what it could be related to other than to tease a collaboration between the nearly 32-year-old HST and the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Webb will serve as the successor to Hubble, though NASA expects Hubble still has a few years of service left at least. Webb is still in the process of becoming fully operational, with its mirrors due to be fully aligned by April 24th, 2022. Once it is, we could see both Webb and Hubble working together to reveal more detail about the universe than ever before.

The study on alcohol consumption titled "Association of Habitual Alcohol Intake With Risk of Cardiovascular Disease" has been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute of MIT, and Harvard have determined that alcohol intake of any level is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Their findings contradict the supposed benefits of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption on heart health that previously may have been conflated with other positive lifestyle factors in individuals with such consumption.

The study examines 371,463 participants in the UK Biobank, with an average age of 57 years old and average alcohol consumption of 9.2 drinks per week. Those with the lowest levels of alcohol consumption had the lowest risk of heart disease, followed by those who abstained, seemingly suggesting a positive influence from alcohol consumption. However, they found this was likely due to healthier lifestyles in the lower-level consumers, such as greater physical activity and vegetable intake and less smoking.

The capsule's contents were collected by astronauts on the moon 50 years ago and sealed for later opening on Earth.

The lunar core sample 73001 was collected from the moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and has been slowly unsealed over March 21st and 22nd. The sample was stored inside a special tube originally sealed in the vacuum of space surrounding the moon, thus requiring specialized tools to open carefully and keep all of the pieces organized.

Deputy Apollo sample curator Juliane Gross conducted a dry run of the process with mock lunar rocks at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the original lunar sample has been kept. The sample has now been opened, ready for analysis, after originally being collected by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt from the Taurus-Littrow Valley within Mare Serenitatis.

A study the microplastics titled "Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood" has been published in the journal Environmental International.

Scientists have detected microplastic particles in human blood in almost eighty percent of tested participants. They took blood samples from 22 anonymous, healthy adults, of which 17 contained plastic particles. PET plastic, which is typically used in drink bottles, was detected in half of the samples taken, and the researchers found polystyrene in a third of the participants' samples.

One-quarter of samples also contained polyethylene, which is the main material in plastic bags. Research has shown that these tiny microplastic particles can easily spread throughout the body, becoming lodged in organs and creating long-term, adverse health effects.

One of Russia's top diplomats has warned that Russia holds the right to press the nuclear button if it feels threatened by NATO.

In a new report from SkyNews, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, explained Russia's President Vladimir Putin may push the nuclear button if he feels as if Russia is facing an "existential" threat. Polyanskiy was asked if he believes it is the right thing for Putin to threaten nuclear war if Russia was provoked, and he said, "I don't think it's the right thing to be saying. But it's not the right thing to threaten Russia and to try to interfere."

The journalist that interviewed Polyanskiy showed him photographs of dead Ukrainian children and apartment buildings destroyed by Russian missiles. Polyanskiy denied and refused to believe that Russia was responsible for what was seen in the images and even suggested that Ukraine was attacking its own buildings and citizens to frame Russia.

One of the first sites captured by Russia during of its invasion of Ukraine was the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and other nuclear sites have since been targeted.

The laboratory was located near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and used to monitor radiation levels from nuclear waste. The European Union-funded lab was an attempt to handle radioactive waste more effectively, allowing for on-site analysis of waste samples and the packaging used to dispose of the radioactive waste.

The lab also contained radionuclides, unstable atoms that can emit large amounts of radiation, which Russian forces have reportedly taken. The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management reported that "highly active samples and samples of radionuclides that are now in the hands of the enemy, which we hope will harm itself and not the civilized world."

A study on the breakthrough titled "Spelling interface using intracortical signals in a completely locked-in patient enabled via auditory neurofeedback training" has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers from the University of Tubingen in Germany developed a brain-computer interface to allow a man fully paralyzed from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to communicate verbally. The 37-year-old man, known as patient K1, had a microelectrode device implanted into his brain, which used custom computer software to translate his brain signals.

Assistive communication devices for ALS typically involve eye-tracking or facial muscles that are still functional. Stephen Hawking, who also suffered from ALS, moved his cheek muscle to control the device that allowed him to communicate once his condition worsened to the state of almost complete paralysis.

Stan went to an undisclosed location after being sold previously but has since been found.

Stan is the name of the most expensive Tyrannosaurus rex remains ever sold, fetching $31.8 million at auction in October 2020. The remains have now made their way to Abu Dhabi, the second-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) behind Dubai, where they will be featured at the 2025 grand opening of a Natural History Museum, according to the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.

Stan is nearly 40-foot-long (12 meters), and its whereabouts were unknown to even the Black Hills Institute (BHI) in South Dakota, the previous owner, for the past two years following the sale. Pete Larson, the president and founder of BHI, says he is "super, super happy" to know Stan is going on public display, and that "it couldn't be any better. Stan's going to be in a museum and millions of people will see Stan and researchers will have access to Stan's skeleton."

America's "doomsday plane" isn't the only one able to take to the skies in the event of nuclear war.

Both the U.S. and Russia can keep their heads of state and important military officials safe and capable of issuing commands in case of nuclear war with their respective "doomsday planes." The U.S. has a modified Boeing 747, a Boeing E-4B with the callsign Nightwatch, while Russia has the Russian-made Ilyushin II-80 aircraft. Also known by the callsign Maxdome, or sometimes Camber, the Ilyushin II-80 builds off the Ilyushin II-86 model with some key differences.

Some differences include the lack of cabin windows and a baffle blocking the cockpit windows to protect the plane's occupants from electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) or nuclear explosions. Other additions include various SATCOM and very-low frequency (VLF) antennae and sensors mounted atop the fuselage for increased communication ability and has two large electrical generator pods to accompany its engines.

A woman claims to have participated in a Coors experiment involving "targeted dream incubation."

Bobbi Gould says she responded to a Craiglist advertisement where "willing sleepers" would be paid $1,000 by a "big brand." Both Gould and her boyfriend responded to the ad. They were directed to a Los Angeles warehouse alongside over a dozen other volunteers to be hooked up to brain monitoring equipment.

From there, the participants were made to watch videos featuring Coors products and then instructed to try and fall asleep while listening to audio from those same videos. Gould reported having a series of "weird Coors dreams" over the next eight hours.

Ukraine has announced its forces have captured a "bizarre container" that has turned out to be a potential jackpot for foreign intelligence.

Russian forces are experiencing an unexpected level of Ukrainian resistance as they advance closer to Ukraine's capital Kyiv. Recently the Twitter account that is dedicated to posting updates on weapons has revealed that Ukrainian forces have captured a bizarre "container" that was later discovered to be a "potent Russian EW system" called "1RL257 Krasukha-4".

The Krasukha-4 is constructed by Concern Radio-Electronics Technologies which is owned by Russian state group Rostec. The EW system is designed to be a command post module that interrupts airborne systems, missile systems, and satellites/drones within 186 miles of where its stationed. The Krasukha-4 was found near Kyiv, which is understandable from a strategic perspective as it would provide Russia with cover for its advancement of troops.

OneWeb is partnering with SpaceX to launch its satellites after being banned from using Russian rockets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Despite being competitors in the satellite broadband market, OneWeb, which the U.K. government partly owns, and SpaceX are teaming up to launch OneWeb's satellites on SpaceX rockets. OneWeb's low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation currently includes 428 satellites, with a planned total of 648 satellites. By comparison, SpaceX plans to launch 42,000 satellites into orbit for Starlink.

OneWeb previously intended to launch a batch of 36 satellites to space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. However, this plan was derailed when Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, demanded that the British government divest its $500 million stake from OneWeb and for OneWeb to provide a guarantee that its satellites would not be used for military purposes. These requests were denied, and the launch was scrapped.

NASA's massive Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft are almost ready to take flight.

The SLS rolled out onto the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launchpad across March 17th and 18th, topped by the Orion spacecraft. The rocket stands at 365.0 feet (111.25 meters) tall and is an imposing presence in person. Its vast size has been captured on the ground as it rolled out and by the Pleiades Neo satellite owned by European aerospace company Airbus Space.

The satellite captured the images from 385 miles (620 kilometers) above the KSC. The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is visible in the images, where the SLS and Orion were assembled and stacked, and Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B), where the rocket has since arrived. To transport the rocket assembly to the pad, NASA's crawler-transporter 2 vehicle, dubbed "the crawler," carried the millions of pounds of technology at only 0.8 miles per hour (1.3 kilometers per hour) toward its destination.

A paper on the experiment titled "Experimental protocol for testing the mass-energy-information equivalence principle" has been published in the journal AIP Advances.

Dr. Melvin Vopson of the University of Portsmouth has devised an experiment which could demonstrate information as a fifth state of matter, alongside solids, liquids, gases and plasma. Dr. Vopson has previously published research which suggests that information has mass, and that all elementary particles store information in a similar way to DNA in humans.

The experiment will use particle-antiparticle collisions to detect and measure the information stored in an elementary particle. Colliding these particles will annihilate them, converting them into energy, typically gamma photons. According to Dr. Vopson, the information from the particle will have to go somewhere, and it will be converted into low-energy infrared photons which can be measured.