Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 192

I think I've read everything I need to about COVID-19 coronavirus now, as a spiritual healer who helped people with coronavirus in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has died of COVID-19.

The spiritual healer kissed peoples hands to cure them of coronavirus, has died of coronavirus. Vice.com reports that the "Baba" or "self-styled holy man was apparently a black magic healer from the Ratlam district". He cured people by kissing their hands.

Ratlam's District Magistrate Ruchika Chauhan told VICE on a phone call: "He got himself tested for coronavirus after he began having severe symptoms, and passed away immediately. From the contact tracing we have done so far, seven of his family members and thirteen followers have tested positive. We are investigating the transmission and trying to contain it".

NASA has recently announced the company that will be transporting it's water-hunting VIPER rover to the Moon.

VIPER stands for "Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover", and the purpose of the mission is to see if the Moon has any traces of water, specifically on the Moon's South Pole. VIPER discovering a source of water on the Moon is an extremely important step for the overall success of NASA's Artemis mission, which will take the next American man, and the first American woman to the lunar surface by 2024.

NASA has selected Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic to build the $199.5 million dollar water-hunting rover. Astrobotic CEO John Thornton commented on the landing the contract, saying, "It is an enormous honor and responsibility to be chosen by NASA to deliver this mission of national importance. Astrobotic's lunar logistics services were created to open a new era on the Moon. Delivering VIPER to look for water, and setting the stage for the first human crew since Apollo, embodies our mission as a company."

A black hole that is located 600 million light-years from Earth has been rediscovered to have a regular "heartbeat".

The new findings were discovered by researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, as well as researchers from Durham University, UK. The report was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and details a black hole that was first detected to have a "heartbeat" back in 2007. Since then, astronomers haven't been able to pick up a signal from the black hole as our Sun was blocking it out.

Now, researchers used the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray satellite, and have confirmed that the black hole is still beating like a heart. So why does this black hole beat like a heart? According to Professor Chris Done, in Durham University's Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, who collaborated on the research, "The main idea for how this heartbeat is formed is that the inner parts of the accretion disc are expanding and contracting." Done also said, "The only other system we know which seems to do the same thing is a 100,000 times smaller stellar-mass black hole in our Milky Way, fed by a binary companion star, with correspondingly smaller luminosities and timescales."

I still remember where I was, and what I was doing on December 21, 2012 -- the day the world was meant to end. It was the last day of my 10 years of managing a computer store in my home state, and shifting into working full-time for TweakTown. But man, I was off by 8 years... the end of the world is on June 21, 2020.

Yeah -- sorry folks, the world is ending on June 21, 2020 -- around 10 days from now.

Why? How? Well, that's because the Gregorian calendar being introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII made important changes that was used by the Julian calendar. The biggest thing here is that it removed 11 days from our year, to better reflect the time it takes the pale blue dot we call Earth to orbit around the Sun.

A new study has indicated that constantly thinking about negative thoughts could increase the risk of a person developing dementia.

According to the UCL-led study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, researchers looked at over 292 people over the age of 55 and found that 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline, as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins that are linked to Alzheimer's. Lead author Dr. Natalie Marchant, a UCL Psychiatrist said, "Depression and anxiety in mid-life and old age are already known to be risk factors for dementia. Here, we found that certain thinking patterns implicated in depression and anxiety could be an underlying reason why people with those disorders are more likely to develop dementia.".

Marchant also says that from the research, scientists believe that chronic negative thinking patterns that occur over longer periods of time could increase the risk of dementia. Marchant also explains that the evidence gathered doesn't suggest that short term negative thinking would increase the chances of one developing dementia. The researchers behind the study now hope that RNT is further investigated as a potential risk factor for dementia and that other tools that can break someone's negative thinking pattern/s are also explored as treatments.

It's always a blast when astronomers spot another planet that is really similar to Earth, as most planets out there are baron wastelands that are either too hot or too cold.

Luckily, astronomers are really good at finding planets, and sometimes with a little bit of luck, they find one that is really similar to Earth. According to a new report in MIT Technology Review, astronomers have located a new planet that is likely an exoplanet, and it's called KOI-456.04. This planet is just under two times the size of Earth, and shares about 93% of the same light our planet receives.

The team managed to locate this planet with the old Kepler Space Telescope, and pulled the diamond in the rough out using algorithms that study a star's brightness. The algorithms target a star and constantly observe it waiting for it to dim, and once it does dim, it indicates an object, and sometimes a planet has passed in front of it. While I previously do say that KOI-456.04 is a planet, I must be accurate; scientists are 85% sure that KOI-456.04 is a planet, but for that to be confirmed, studies have to hit the 99% mark. Once that mark is hit, KOI-456.04 is officially an exoplanet.

AMD is currently on 7nm with both its Ryzen and Radeon products right now, NVIDIA is dabbling in 14/12nm with its GPUs and Intel -- well, Intel is being Intel with 14nm+++ (+++++++++++) and tipping its toes into 10nm. Well, TSMC is already forging ahead with 5nm, 3nm -- and now 2nm.

According to the latest rumbles, TSMC has just accelerated its R&D (research and development) into the next-gen 2nm node. TSMC is using its massive slush fund of $16 billion for R&D wisely, with 5nm planned to go into volume production in late-2020, while 3nm enters trial production in the first half of 2021 and should enter mass production in 2022.

TSMC is pushing faster with its future 2nm node, with the company acquiring more (and very expensive) EUV lithography (Extreme Ultra-Violet) machines for its new 2nm node. The investment into these bleeding edge EUV machines wasn't cheap, so TSMC's capital spending will not be revisited this year, and it will remain in the $16 billion range.

If you happened to miss it, SpaceX successfully launched two astronauts to the International Space Station. But that wasn't the only achievement SpaceX made that day.

When SpaceX successfully launched Crew Dragon to the ISS, it passed a milestone point with the use of the Falcon 9 booster designated for B1049. This launch by SpaceX with the Falcon 9 marked the fifth time the same booster was used, putting it completely ahead of all other companies developing reusable rockets. SpaceX didn't just magically get the Falcon 9 booster to be reusable, there were many failed attempts by the company and a lot of persistence on their part.

As Teslarati reports, SpaceX has dominated the competition in terms of the fastest orbital-class rocket or spacecraft in history to do five launches. The Falcon 9 has beaten out Space Shuttles Columbia (~27 months), Challenger (~24 months), Discovery (~22 months), Atlantis (~26 months), and Endeavour (~29 months) with launches in ~20 months. Falcon 9 is now the most flown operational rocket in the United States.

China recently announced that they are going to begin construction of their own space station next year, and to go with that new space station is a brand new telescope.

According to UniverseToday, this new telescope is very much like the Hubble Space Telescope, and will feature the same size mirror as the famous Hubble. What will be different with China's new telescope dubbed "Xuntian" is the field of view, as it will be far wider than Hubble's which will allow for observers to get a much better viewing angle of objects.

The new telescope will work in unison with the new space station, as both will share the same orbit and be positioned at the same altitude of 340-450 kilometers. The reasoning behind this is that if the telescope ever needs any maintenance it can dock with the new space station and repairs or upgrades can be simply made. China plans on executing these plans in 2021 and 2022, with the hopes of everything being up and running in 2023.

China's space agency has an extremely ambitious mission ahead of them, as they are about to embark on building their very own space station.

The Chinese space agency will be constructing their own space station that weighs in at 66-tons. China will also be getting the construction up and running quite quickly, as the Chinese space agency plans on doing 11 launches in just two years. When the new space station is complete, it will be able to house crews of three astronauts for up to 6 months at a time.

So what does the new space station entail? Well, when it opens for business in 2023, it will have three fully operational modules. These modules are the following: main living space, and two areas dedicated to experiments. As for experiments, astronauts will be testing biology in zero gravity, and other brand new space technologies that warrant attention. The first module of the new space station will launch in the first quarter of 2022, aboard the Long March 5B rocket.

In what feels like not-so-surprising news, Accountable.US -- an anti-corruption watchdog, is putting pressure on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna.

Why? Oh, because the watchdog group thinks the company cashed in around $90 million worth of shares days after it shared vague "positive" data on its early COVID-19 vaccination clinical trial. The watchdog said that the timing of the trades are "suspicious" and has questions whether Moderna executives coordinated their stock sales before the release of data.

Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig wrote a letter to the SEC which reads: "This misconduct was particularly egregious because it involved not only financial fraud and manipulation of the financial markets, but also because it exploited widespread fears surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic".

Americans are finding ways inside of their homes, I'm guessing over social distancing and maybe cabin fever, to prevent themselves from getting COVID-19. Some are going as far as dunking their food in, and drinking bleach -- yeah, I'm being serious.

In a recent survey by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) there was an "unusual spike" in calls to poison control centers, and it was all over harmful levels of exposure to household cleaning products -- like bleach. The CDC surveyed 502 people in the United States, and used statistical weighting to make it representative of the entire population of the US.

You can see in the CDC data above that 4% of respondents "drank or gargled a household cleaner", while another 4% "drank or gargled diluted bleach solution". Hell, 6% of Americans "inhaled the vapor of household cleaners like bleach" while 10% of Americans "misted the body with cleaning spray or alcohol spray after being in public places".

I'm sure that you've all heard about the huge conspiracies around 5G (so much so that YouTube suppressed any videos linking COVID-19 to 5G) and how it will mind control you, or kill you -- or everything in between. But there are anti-5G extremists who are now targeting 5G towers with dangerous items to hurt people.

Engineers working on 5G towers are finding dangerous traps including razor blades and needles, where someone has hidden them on poles so that when they climb up and do maintainance, they're going to get (seriously) hurt. The UK seems like a hotspot for the attacks on 5G towers, but there have been reports of the same booby traps set on other 5G installations around the world.

The Verge has a lengthy story with multiple accounts of these anti-5G extremists, making it sound like it's much more than just some random people doing this. Also, surely there are cameras nearby that they can use to find out, track, or identify who is doing this?

A UFO and alien 'expert' has claimed that he has found proof that aliens do exist and that they have already built structures on the Moon's surface.

According to Scott Waring, an 'expert' in aliens and UFO's, proof has been found of alien structures on the Moon. This 'proof' has been published in the form of an essay on his website titled "100% Proof Of NASA Taking Images Of Alien Structures On Earth's Moon". According to Waring, "I was looking in the old Apollo 15 mission photos when I came across this huge structure. The building is about half a kilometre long and looks like a recently used base. I say recently used because the other structures near it are 90 percent covered in a thick layer of moon dust."

In the above image you can see that Waring has circled what he believes to be alien structures, and as Waring explains, "I often only point out the highest detailed structures to insure the readers can also see it, but today I will circle the others to show you a bit more." On top of these published findings, Waring also posted the image that can be seen in the entirety of this article. Waring claims this is even more proof of alien structures on the Moon, and that NASA is going out of their way not to report these discoveries to the public.

In what feels like it was ripped right out of a movie script, the former head of MI6 has said that coronavirus may have "started as an accident" in a Chinese laboratory.

According to Sir Richard Dearlove, who has cited an "important" new study by British and Norwegian researchers that he says could "shift the debate" on COVID-19. The new research suggests something conspiracy theorists said many months ago, that key elements were "inserted" into COVID-19's genetic sequence, and it might not have actually evolved naturally like we've had shoved down our throats from the media and experts for months.

The Telegraph reports that the new research was published in the Quarterly Review of Biophysics Discovery, where co-author John Fredrik Moxnes who is the chief scientific advisor to the Norwegian military, reportedly asked for his name to be removed from the paper.

CES 2020 came and went this year as it was before the entire world was under a global lockdown thanks to coronavirus, and while events after it were cancelled -- GTC, GDC, Computex, E3, and so much more -- it seems it will be business like usual for CES 2021.

In a new announcement, the Consumer Technology Association (the body that organizes CES) says that planning for CES 2021 was "underway". The post reads: Once again, we are focused on bringing you the most influential tech event in the world. Major brands are committed for the show, and we look forward to announcing another slate of top-tier speakers".

There will be many more livestreamed CES 2021 content, as well as "many other engaging digital and virtual opportunities, enabling you to connect with the world's leading technology innovators, thought leaders and policymakers. We will showcase our exhibitors' products, technology breakthroughs and ideas to the world, both physically in Las Vegas and digitally".

It was only a few days ago that SpaceX broke the space industry into a new era, and if you are yet to see the footage, you can find the historic moment below.

Luckily, Crew Dragon arrived safely aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and upon there arrival, the astronauts already aboard the ISS were impressed with the technology that got the Dragon there. Chris Cassidy, the current commander of the ISS even commented on the vehicle, saying "Then when we got that hatch open, you could tell it was a brand new vehicle, with smiley faces on the other side, smiley face on mine, just as if you had bought a new car, the same kind of reaction."

One of the astronauts, Doug Hurley, who was aboard the Crew Dragon commented on the experience of arriving at the ISS. The comments are well respected as both Hurley and Behnken (the other astronaut aboard the Dragon) have spent time aboard the Space Shuttle and can give a good comparison between their experiences with the Space Shuttle and Crew Dragon.

The US had a historic moment just days ago when SpaceX sent up two NASA astronauts into space, and into the International Space Station.

You can read more about that historic moment here, but today I have some interesting news. The Director of Communications for adult webcam company ImLive, emailed me and told me that they have invited the two NASA astronauts to become the first two people in the history of humanity to host an adult webcam session from space.

The email reads: "ImLive, an adult webcam company, is formally making the two brave astronauts an offer to make one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind by becoming the first people to conduct an adult webcam session from space. These webcam sessions can help facilitate human interaction and provide them with some...pleasure...while they're in orbit. ImLive will provide them with VIP passes to their site, which would allow them to privately webcam with the wide variety of models as often as they'd like. The girls can just chat with them about their experience in space, strip for them, dance for them, etc".

A restaurant in the Netherlands has introduced a new robot that is designed to greet customers upon their entry as well as reduce human-to-human contact amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Above, you can see an image of the red-and-white robots, and according to the Associated Press, these robots will be used to pick up dirty dishes from tables, greet customers, serving food and other general staff requirements. Due to robots not being able to get the coronavirus, the implementation of them will reduce human-to-human contact, and thus the overall transmission of the coronavirus.

The Netherlands restaurant that has implemented these robots is the Royal Palace restaurant in the town of Renesse. According to Leah Hu, whose family is the owner of the Royal Palace, "They help us with the work we do. We are often busy and cleaning tables and the robots give us an extra hand. We are not disappearing. We are still here. They will always need people in this industry."

SpaceX has just made history by safely delivering two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) via a commercially-made spacecraft.

If you happened to miss out on the news, SpaceX has just made a massive mark on the future of the space industry as the company just launched the first commercially-made spacecraft to the ISS. So what does this mean for the future of space travel? It means that space has been opened up to the public, commercial contracts, and won't primarily be used by governments any more. For example, SpaceX has already partnered with a space-tourism business that is responsible for taking passenger trips to space.

On top of this opening up the space industry, this is also the very first mission with astronauts for SpaceX, and we are happy to report that astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have safely arrived aboard the ISS (see above video). SpaceX has now provided companies with an alternative solution for accessing space, and due to the Dragon 2 spacecraft being designed to deliver seven astronauts to space, it has dramatically reduced the cost-per-seat of a round trip to the ISS.