Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 168

A British police officer claims he had an encounter with an extraterrestrial and that he was abducted for examination.

The police officer is named Philip Spencer, and the incident occurred on December 1, 1987, in Ilkley Moor when Spencer left his home to venture down one of the many walking trails. Spencer intended to capture images of the Moor but spotted a creature that had large black eyes, pointy ears, long arms, and feet that were hoof-shaped. Spencer captured the above image of the creature and then claimed that he followed it only to eventually lose it and then see a "saucer" shaped object fly up into the sky and disappear.

Wharfedale UFO expert Nigel Mortimer examined the image and said, "I have been trying to do this analysis for years. We are also trying to get other people involved and will look at the evidence properly. It isn't just this photo - there have been reports of other phenomena in that area for years. I was talking to some Americans last week and they told me that they regard this Ilkley case as second only to the Roswell case in the US as evidence of aliens."

Back in 1963, two researchers named Penzias and Wilson discovered what is called the cosmic microwave background.

This discovery is the best evidence humans have towards tracing the expansion of our universe back to a single point or explosion - the Big Bang Theory. Since this is considered the "beginning" of the universe, will there be an end? According to Katie Mack, a theoretical cosmologist and Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, the universe will have an end, and we are already transitioning into it.

Mack explains in an article on The Big Issue that star formation across the universe has been slowing for billions of years and that the space between galaxies is becoming further and further apart after the effects of the Big Bang fade. Mack says, "if you judge by comparing the number of stars that have already been born in the cosmos to the number that will form in the future, our universe is at least 90 percent finished. In 100 billion years, other galaxies will be so far away we won't be able to see them, and most of the stars in the Milky Way will have already burned out."

A new eco-friendly school is being constructed to battle worsening air quality in a populated city, and the school with have an infinity cyclist track on the roof.

The architecture firm named Nudes will build the school in the Indian city of Pune after it won a competition for the construction of an eco-friendly school to be made in the city. Pune has seen a rise in population in the last decade, which has caused air quality to drop below World Health Organization guidelines, thus the competition for an eco-friendly school to be constructed in the densely populated region.

Nudes have proposed a very ambitious design for the school. It features a vertical garden that is designed to improve the air quality around it. Nudes has dubbed the design "Forest School", and on the roof of the Forest School will be a cyclist track that students of the school can use to exercise. The cyclist track is in the shape of an infinity symbol. The images below have been sourced from Nudes.

A new study that has been published in the journal Science Advances has revealed some information about how homo sapiens came to be.

The researchers behind the study used publicly available genome data on the modern human, Neanderthals, and Denisovans to construct an evolutionary family tree for homo sapiens. Using the ancestral recombination graph, the researchers discovered the shared regions in the human genome and the ones that were unique to each group.

Speaking to Inverse, Nathan Schaefer, a bioinformatician at the University of California, San Francisco, and the paper's lead author said, "If you sequence a bunch of people, you could make a tree that would show how everyone's related, on average, across the whole genome." It was discovered that between 1.5% and 7% of the modern human genome is unique to our species. "In other words, at least 93 percent of the modern human genome is shared between our species and the two other ancient hominins," explains Inverse.

China's space agency has released some more images taken by its Mars rover named Zhurong, and this time we can see that the rover is visiting some old "friends".

The images were released by the China National Space Agency (CNSA) and show off close-up shots of rock formations on the surface of Mars, landscapes, and tracks left by the rover. Additionally, the CNSA released more images that show off the parachute and the backshell that assisted the rover landing on the Red Planet back on May 15.

The black and white images seen above show off the rover departing the back cover and the chute. As for the fourth image, it shows the parachute deployed during the rover's descent down to where it landed in the Utopia Planitia. China became the first nation to ever successfully get to Mars with a lander, orbiter, and rover in the same mission. Until now, space agencies have had separate missions for each of those elements, usually in this order; orbiters, followed by surface missions - landers first, then landers with rovers, according to Universe Today.

The universe is constantly expanding, and at the moment, researchers believe that the observable universe has stretched 46 billion light-years from its beginning 13.8 billion years ago.

By measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation, researchers are able to quantify how fast the universe is expanding and thus its size, which are both key factors in figuring out how many atoms are in the observable universe. According to Space.com, there are a few assumptions to be made before the calculation can be made; all atoms are contained within stars (they aren't, but the majority of them are), and all of the atoms in the universe are hydrogen atoms (they aren't, but hydrogen atoms account for 90% of the total atoms in the universe).

Calculation: 10^11 to 10^12 galaxies in the observable universe, and each galaxy contains between 10^11 and 10^12 stars. That answer puts the total number of stars in the observable universe to be between 10^22 and 10^24. Now for weight. The average star weighs 2.2x10^32 pounds, which calculates the average mass of the universe to be around 2.2x10^55 pounds. Now that the mass of the universe has been found, we need to figure out how many atoms can fit inside of it. Each gram of matter contains around 10^24 protons, putting the average number of atoms in the observable universe to be 10^82.

Blue Origin is going to hit a milestone in the coming weeks as the company conducts its first space tourism flight with passengers on board.

On July 20, Blue Origin will take Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his brother along with two more passengers on the company's New Shepard rocket. Upon a successful launch, Blue Origin will break two records, one for the youngest astronaut in space and one for the oldest. Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviator who tried to enter NASA's astronaut program in the 1960s, will break the record set by John Glenn at the age of 77.

As for the youngest record that is set to be broken, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen will break the record set by the fourth person ever to enter space, military pilot Titov in 1961. Daemen's father is the CEO of the hedge fund Somerset Capital Partners and passed down his ticket to his son Oliver who is planning on studying physics and innovation at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A rare meteorite that dates back billions of years could provide researchers with many secrets to how life formed on Earth.

The meteorite is called Winchcombe and fell to Earth in early 2021. Since then, researchers have been studying its properties and have found that it dates back to near the beginning of our solar system around 4.5 billion years ago. Winchcombe is a rare type of meteorite called a carbonaceous chondrite, which means that it is rich in water and organic matter.

Dr. Ashley King, a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, said, "Winchcombe is the first meteorite fall to be recovered in the UK for 30 years and the first-ever carbonaceous chondrite to be recovered in our country. STFC's funding is aiding us with this unique opportunity to discover the origins of water and life on Earth. Through the funding, we have been able to invest in state-of-the-art equipment that has contributed to our analysis and research into the Winchcombe meteorite."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has shared an awesome animated video of the highly anticipated Cybertruck seemingly saving the world.

Musk uploaded the video to his Twitter account with the caption "Cybrrrtruck". The video shows off the Cybertruck and the Roadster in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world where robots have taken over Earth. The Cybertruck can be seen smashing its way through robot dogs and a fence where both vehicles then latch onto a bomb.

The Cybertruck and Roadster then drag the bomb along a dirt road to eventually drive off a cliff towards what looks like a world engine from Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. Both vehicles release the bomb into the circular vortex to destroy it. As for the motivation behind Musk sharing the video, I can only suspect that he just found the video as cool as I did. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

We're all sick to freaking death of the headlines of today, with daily death tallies and how the pandemic has changed the fabric of society forever -- so let's mix it up with the introduction of aliens I guess.

Close to 10 years ago an anonymous Reddit user said that there would be an introduction to aliens on July 18, 2021... which is today. The user was "Throawaylien" who posted on Reddit on November 19, 2013, in the r/AskReddit subreddit where he talks about being abducted many times, the music that aliens don't like, and that we should see aliens on either July 8 or July 18.

In the following days, u/Throawaylien continues to post and answer questions from Reddit users, talking about how he's been abducted by aliens multiple times, how they always gave him a bowl of salt, and that in general -- he had no idea what the aliens want from us.

Amsterdam has just become home to the world's first 3D-printed steel footbridge, opened up in the city's infamous Red Light District.

The new 3D-printed bridge features the latest sensor technology, which measures how the bridge is handling pedestrian traffic in real-time. The 12-meter (39 feet) bridge was built using 3D printing technology that involved the use of welding robots, with MX3D the company behind the technology.

Tim Geurtjens, who developed the MX3D technology, explains: "If you want to have a really highly decorated bridge or a really aesthetic bridge, suddenly it becomes a good option to print it, because it's not just about making things cheaper and more efficient".

New Zealand astronomers have detected the first activity of what very well could be the largest comet ever discovered.

The New Zealand astronomers were monitoring images taken by the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) that became available on June 23 at midnight EDT (0400 GMT). According to an LCO team member, Michele Bannister, of New Zealand's University of Canterbury, the reason the team was able to detect the first activity of the comet was because "The other folks were asleep".

Bannister explained that when she first noticed activity, she believed it cause by the ever-growing issue of satellites obscuring telescope vision. Bannister said, "The first image had the comet obscured by a satellite streak, and my heart sank. But then the others were clear enough, and gosh: there it was, definitely a beautiful little fuzzy dot, not at all crisp like its neighboring stars."

Researchers have detected methane on Mars, and almost all methane on Earth can be traced back to a biological source of life.

Back in 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover landed on the Red Planet, and since then, it has detected six methane blips in its landing in the Gale Crater. During that time, researchers have been unable to pinpoint the location or the source of the detected methane, but now a new study suggests the location has been found. These findings are extremely exciting for researchers as almost all of the methane in Earth's atmosphere can be traced back to a biological source.

At the moment, researchers haven't located the source of the methane, but even if the source isn't biological life forms, it will still be promising, as it could be signs of geological activity that may lead to the discovery of water on the Red Planet. Something to note is that the detectable lifespan of methane is only 330 years, meaning that whatever is producing the methane that Curiosity is detecting may very well still be producing it today.

A United States satellite intelligence firm has accused China of dumping so much human waste into the ocean that it can be seen from space.

Simularity has published a new report on its website that connects the movements of more than 200 suspected Chinese ships located in the South China Sea and the concentrations of Chlorophyll-a, an indicator of a vessel dumping human waste into the ocean. Simularity founder and CEO Liz Derr said the satellite firm "can't definitively say that those are Chinese, but they seem to be the same ships that have been there since March and they look very similar so I think, in all probability, they are."

Not only are US satellites picking up on the waste that is being dumped into the ocean, Philippine government officials have also noticed. According to Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who spoke to Reuters, "While we are confirming and verifying these wastes being dumped ... We consider such irresponsible acts, if true, to be gravely detrimental to the marine ecology in the area." Lorenzana goes on to say, "China treating us as its toilet is a clear violation of both international and local environmental laws."

NASA Perseverance rover is scouting the plains of Mars, and every day the rover uncovers more vital information about the past life of the Red Planet.

In a new post on the Perseverance Mars Rover Twitter account, NASA has shown off Perseverance inspecting an "ancient lakebed". The rover's Twitter account is orientated in a way that makes the rover look like it's the one doing the posting, hence the caption, "Check out this patch of rock I found: looks kind of like garden pavers, and is probably exposed bedrock."

NASA goes on to say that Perseverance gathering vital data in the Jezero Crater, where it landed back on February 18, will allow for scientists to have a better idea of what the Jezero Crater, and Mars, was like millions of years ago. The primary mission for Perseverance is to search for evidence of past life of the baron Red Planet, hence the landing in the Jezero Crater as researchers believe that "the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta," per NASA.

After spending $28 million on a ticket aboard Blue Origin and then pulling out at the last minute, it will now see 18-year-old Oliver Daemen become the youngest person in space.

Daemen will become the youngest person in space and enjoy the historic journey with an 82-year-old, who will become the oldest person in space -- they will be joined with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. Daemen's father leads investment management firm Somerset Capital Partners, using his deep pockets to secure his son the wildest ride this planet has to offer.

Blue Origin said Jose Daemen "paid for the seat and chose to fly Oliver".

Remember that auction winner who spent $28 million on a Blue Origin mission to space? Yeah, well, he's busy... and he can't go -- scheduling conflicts and all that.

Blue Origin announced today that the anonymous winner wouldn't be able to jump on the Blue Origin New Shepard mission on July 20 over "scheduling conflicts". One would think after spending $28 million on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to space, you'd clear your schedule for it... not have something else come up on your schedule.

In his place will be 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, who will become the youngest person into space. His father purchased his Blue Origin ticket for an undisclosed sum of money, but I'm sure it would not have been cheap. Daemen will join Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, along with his brother Mark Bezos and Wally Funk -- who will become the oldest person in space at 82 years old.

SoftBank Robotics created Pepper, a humanoid robot, with the aim of it being used as a friendly face for the elderly, and used across public places like train stations, shopping centers, airports, and more.

But the humanoid robot keeps getting fired from its job, with production on the robot now stopping and only being made-to-order by SoftBank. The company made 27,000 units with Pepper priced at $1790, but with multiple small, and big companies buying the humanoid robot and having it fail -- being fired from its jobs.

Plastics manufacturer, Nissei Eco Co., which also has a funeral business, hired the child-sized robot and then dressed it in Buddhist clergy robes. The company programmed the humanoid robot to chant scriptures, which if it worked, would've been a tech-infused-with-religion approach -- but it didn't, and the company ended its lease with Pepper and sent it back to SoftBank Robotics.

A cluster of bright lights has been spotted on a live stream from the International Space Station (ISS), sparking a viral discussion on whether or not they are UFOs or not.

Reddit user tyrannosnorlax posted on the r/UFOs subreddit asking the community what was spotted during the ISS livestream. The Reddit user then goes on to update the post with more information regarding plausible explanations for the mysterious lights, suggesting that they were city lights. However, that isn't the most likely explanation for the lights, as observing city lights from space looks like this.

Tyrannosnorlax returned to the post for a final update, saying that the lights weren't UFOs but are most likely squid fishing lights. As explained on the NASA Earth Observatory website, fishermen that are hunting for squid use bright lights to lure the squid in, and the color of these lights can vary in color. When observed from the ISS, these fishermen appear in clusters, as seen in the below image.

A new report from the US Sun has revealed that Russia is scheduled to finish the final testing on a lethal hypersonic missile.

The US Sun reports that the missile named Zircon or Tsirkon can reach speeds of 6,100 mph, or Mach 8, and according to Moscow's state-controlled TV, the Zircon missile is Russia's President Vladamir Putin's "weapon of choice to destroy coastal American cities in the event of an atomic conflict." Additionally, Putin has stated that the Mach 8 Zircon is "truly unparalleled in the world", and described it as "unstoppable".

The missile is designed to take out enemy ships, and officially it has a range between 188 and 620 miles, but unconfirmed reports state that the missile's true range is 1,200 miles. "The ship-based Tsirkon hypersonic missile system will carry out firings at land and sea targets from the frigate Admiral Gorshkov," said the source. The missile is currently undergoing final tests that will take place before the end of July. Mass production of the missile is expected to begin in 2022.