Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 193

A historic moment is about to happen for the United States.

The US is about to send two astronauts into space from US soil for the first time in nearly 10 years, with President Trump in attendance at the NASA and SpaceX launch of mission Demo-2. This mission will see NASA astronauts thrust into orbit on SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spacecraft riding a Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will rocket into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center on Launch Pad 39A, with a 19-hour journey ahead of them to the International Space Station (ISS). The NASA astronauts will stay on the ISS for between 1-4 months both living and working in space.

Being an astronomer means you sometimes find things in space that you or no one else has ever seen before.

In a new paper published in Nature Astronomers details one of those findings, and funnily enough, the finding is a galaxy that is shaped like a donut. This galaxy is called R5519, and astronomers estimated that its distance is 11 billion light-years away, which means what we are observing happened 11 billion years ago. According to Dr. Tiantian Yuan, lead author of the study, "It is a very curious object that we've never seen before. It looks strange and familiar at the same time."

So what is this galaxy doing exactly? Well, researchers believe that it's working like a star factory, but its producing stars at a rate that's 50 times greater than our Milky Way galaxy. Researchers also believe that this galaxy formed differently than a typical galaxy, which is usually when a galaxy forms on its own without any outside influence. In the instance of R5519, researchers believe that this galaxy is a "collisional ring galaxy".

A big part of science is to make humans' quality of life better, and to do that, scientists create experiments and prototypes that can assist the instruments we use to interpret the world, or even replace them entirely.

Researchers from the United States and Hong Kong have developed one of the most important instruments the human body has - eyes. Yes, that's right, scientists have built a synthetic eye that was the potential of allowing blind people to see once again. The prototype is referred to as a "biomimetic eye", and is jam-packed with a whole bunch of sensors and an artificial retina.

One of the most difficult challenges the researchers face is interfacing the artificial eye with the brain, and making it so correct communication is occurring. At the moment, the biomimetic eye can render images, but the quality isn't fantastic, or even really close to what we see with our eyes. The biomimetic eye can render letters of the alphabet, and while that might sound extremely disappointing, the researchers behind the project say that as technology evolves, the biomimetic eye has the potential of being better than a real human eye.

If you thought every object out in the deep dark vastness of space was already discovered, you thought wrong.

Almost every day, astronomers spot something they haven't seen before, and only a few days ago, researchers from the University of Hawaii used the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System or ATLAS and found a Trojan asteroid called 2019 LD2. This asteroid was found to have a strange orbit, and also very active. On top of that it has an icy tail, and according to astronomers appears to be a unique "crossover" between an asteroid and a comet.

Trojans are usually found to be billions of years old, and most of the time, the ice has been melted due to exposure from the sun and they are no longer active. Astronomers also detailed that the newly found Jupiter Trojan has only been active for less than a year, suggesting that Jupiter may have captured the asteroid from a distant colder orbit. Another theory is that the asteroid was hit by another space rock that caused its once safe ice to be exposed. If you want to read more, check out the press release from the University of Hawaii here.

Have you ever wanted to taste food without eating it? The future is nearly ready for you, with researchers from Meiji University in Japan using LED lighting to replicate taste on the human tongue.

The study was done by Homei Miyashita, who names the "taste gadget" the "Norimaki Synthesizer". How does it work? It uses uses ion electrophoresis in five electrolyte gels to (at least in its early stages) recreate the five basic tastes. The study kicked off being inspired by how our eyes can be tricked into seeing something that doesn't necessarily exist.

For example, the monitor or screen you're sitting in front of consists of red, green, and blue (RGB) elements that combine to create full-cover images and video. Miyashita thought that he could use a similar method to trick the human tongue into "tasting" something that isn't there -- thus, the taste display was born.

SpaceX will be launching NASA astronauts into space from the United States, which might not sound like much -- but it's the first time it has happened in nearly 10 years.

President Trump will be attending the historic moment in Florida, where he will be in-person (even during the COVID-19 pandemic) in Florida for the Demo-2 mission launch on May 27 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. This is the first time that the US has sent astronauts into space from US soil since 2011, when the Space Shuttle Program was wrapped up.

The White House said in a statement to CBS News: "President Trump is continuing to deliver on his promise to reassert American dominance in space. Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security".

NASA is looking for US citizens to sign up for an 8-month study into social isolation, something it is doing to prepare for future missions to both the moon, and Mars.

The US space agency will be studying the effects of social isolation and confinement on US citizens, where successful applicants would work towards completing simulated science missions. NASA will be pushing the boundaries of your mind during these times, where participants will be thrusted into the same environmental aspects that future astronauts will experience on Mars.

NASA is forming a small international crew that will be living together in isolation for 8 months "conducting scientific research", where successful applicants would be using VR and performing robotic operations, as well as a bunch of other tasks. The research will concentrate on the "effects of isolation and confinement as participants work to successfully complete their simulated space mission. Results from ground-based missions like this help NASA prepare for the real-life challenges of space exploration and provide important scientific data to solve some of these problems and to develop countermeasures".

The US Navy has tested a new laser weapon system, with the video below showing the docked USS Portland testing its new laser weapon system that is capable of blowing an aircraft up out of the sky mid-flight.

In the video above, the US Navy has its USS Portland testing "the first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid state laser". The laser disables a drone mid-flight, where you can see in the second half of the clip the drone burning from being hit by the laser.

We don't know how strong the laser itself is, but according to a report published in 2018 from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it's expected to be at least a 150-kilowatt laser. That's some serious laser weaponary right there, but the US Navy hasn't provided any specifics.

I didn't think I'd be typing this news up -- but sometimes stories just write themselves. A team of scientists in Canadian have discovered at least 13 strains of cannabis sativa that could prevent, and even treat COVID-19.

The researchers wrote in their paper: "We have developed over 800 new Cannabis sativa lines and extracts and hypothesized that high-CBD C. sativa extracts may be used to modulate ACE2 expression in COVID-19 target tissues".

They continued: "Screening C. sativa extracts using artificial human 3D models of oral, airway, and intestinal tissues, we identified 13 high CBD C. sativa extracts that modulate ACE2 gene expression and ACE2 protein levels. Our initial data suggest that some C. sativa extract down-regulate serine protease TMPRSS2, another critical protein required for SARS-CoV2 entry into host cells".

I think we've about heard it all when it comes to coronavirus, but each day brings a new surprise -- and some days, and some places it seems more than others. Now God is sending us messages in the form of coronavirus-shaped hailstones.

Residents in the city of Montemorelos in Mexico have taken to social media to post photos of recent weather events, where the formation of hailstones (at least to them) looked like the shape of coronavirus. The posts on social media have Mexicans claiming that the bad weather was an "omen" to the city of Montemorelos.

One particular post on social media said: "Yesterday coronavirus hailstone, God sent it to our home to remind us to stay put". Another post reads: "Is this a subliminal message from our creator?"

We all know the story of the Titanic, with James Cameron's mega-hit movie making billions at the box office -- but the history is well known on the Titanic, and now it's about to get even more interesting. Maybe they just need to turn back time.

An underwater salvage company has been approved to slice into the Titanic wreckage, where they want to salvage the Marconi telegraph from the ship at the bottom of the ocean. Why do we need the telegraph machine from the Titanic? It could have locked away in the depths of the dark ocean some missed warning messages and even distress calls sent from the ship before it sunk.

Judge Rebecca Smith of the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., made some changes to a court order from 2000 that stopped any company from cutting into the hull of the Titanic looking for diamonds. Judge Smith explains: "The Marconi device has significant historical, educational, scientific and cultural value as the device used to make distress calls while the Titanic was sinking".

I thought I was reading the story line to a TV show like Fringe, Lost, or one of my new favorites: Dark -- but nope, this is real. NASA scientists working down in Antarctica have discovered evidence of a parallel universe... where the rules of physics are the opposite of our world.

The idea of a parallel universe is not new at all, and has been the basis of plenty of movies and TV shows over the decades. But now NASA scientists have discovered some interesting things in their experiments in Antarctica, where an cosmic ray detection experiment has discovered new particles that -- get this -- could be from a parallel universe that started at the Big Bang.

NASA scientists have been running experiments using a gigantic balloon that takes ANITA (Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna) into the skies high above Antarctica where the very cold, very dry air provides the optimal environment for NASA's testing. They want to evade all radio noise in order to run their experiment.

President Trump is bringing the pain to the World Health Organization (WHO) where he has threatened to cut funding from the WHO over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent WHO-related news, the ex-director of the WHO has said that coronavirus could "burn out naturally", more on that here.

President Trump tweeted out his four-page letter to Dr. Tedros, the Director-General of the WHO, saying that the agency must show "independence from China". Trump writes: "If the World Health Organisation does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organisation permanent and reconsider our membership in the organisation".

The letter from President Trump continues: "It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China".

Well folks, it looks like we might not need a coronavirus vaccine after all -- as the former World Health Organization (WHO) director said that COVID-19 could "burn out naturally", thus, not needing a vaccine.

The former WHO director tweeted: "There is a real chance that the virus will burn out naturally before any vaccine is developed. We are seeing a roughly similar pattern everywhere - I suspect we have more immunity than estimated. We need to keep slowing the virus, but it could be petering out by itself".

Professor Sikora replied to his own tweet, adding: "It is my opinion that this is a feasible scenario. Nobody is claiming to know what will happen for sure - I believe in an unknown situation this is a possibility. We need to continue to keep our distance and hope the numbers continue to improve".

Italy has been one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus, and yet the country's government has just announced that it will reopen in early June.

According to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who spoke publically through a television address to the country, Italy will reopen early June to European tourists. This is an effort by the government to restart the economy, while at same time being extra cautious of a potential second wave of COVID-19. Cote said that gyms and cinemas will also be reopening, and that "We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again. We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

Italy is heavily dependant on its tourism, and early in early March, Cote announced a full shutdown of the country due to coronavirus. Now, the virus has taken nearly 32,000 lives. Italy will also be abandoning the two-week mandatory quarantine when tourists decide to enter the country; this new ruling will begin on June 3. Local authorities will be monitoring the situation, and if they notice a spike in COVID-19 infection cases, they will be limiting travel throughout the region.

Scientists have hit a new milestone in mixing human cells into animal embryos, as researchers have managed to create a human-mouse hybrid.

As reported by ScienceNews, and is something out of a science-fiction horror movie, researchers have reached a new milestone in the stem cell field by modifying human cell proteins and successfully adding them to mice embryos. This is the first time researchers were able to add a large amount of human cells to an animal. The scientists let the embryos develop for 17 days, and after that period of time, they observed that human cells spread throughout much of the mice embryo.

The human cells were found in the tissue that would form the heart, brain, and blood. Scientists noted that all mice that were given this treatment didn't have the same percentage of human cells found in tissues throughout the embryo, but on average, a mouse embryo contained up to 4% human cells. So why do this? Scientists believe that if they can get a firm understanding of stem cell research that one day they will be able to use pigs, for example, to grow human organs that could be used to save lives of people who need them. If you are interested in reading more about this subject, check out this link here.

Razer has kicked off an interesting new pilot program in Singapore, where the gaming peripheral giant is offering a free COVID-19 fask mask... but it has some (green) strings attached to it. First, check out the #RazerForLife video:

Back when the COVID-19 pandemic first started spreading throughout the globe, many companies were quick off their feet in reacting to it and transitioning supply chains to making face masks and ventilators. Razer was one of those companies, and is now running a new pilot program that is will make one free surgical mask for every resident that is 16 years or older in Singapore.

It is a pilot program just for now, running between May 12 to June 2 with 20 vending machines spread throughout Singapore. Razer will have a full rollout throughout Singapore right as the local shelter-in-place orders are lifted.

The Boring Company has just announced it has completed its excavation work under the streets of Las Vegas, finishing up on the second of two tunnels this week.

Elon Musk's not-so-boring Boring Company first began its work under the streets of Vegas in February 2020, just under a year after the Las Vegas Convention and Vistors Authority (LVCVA) announced the project. Now the "Convention Center Loop" is closer to completion than ever before.

The LVCVA is expecting to take around 4000 people per hour through the LVCC venue inside of Tesla autonomous vehicles, which will save a bunch of time. It takes around 15 minutes to walk across the LVCC, but just two minutes inside of the Boring Company's upcoming Loop.

OK -- let's face it... some people really want to socialize, and even when there's an on-going pandemic (like the novel coronavirus pandemic right now), socializing can be hard. Well, not anymore!

Thanks to the geniuses at Production Club, a newly-designed anti-pandemic suit has been created dubbed Micrashell. It is a full suit that feels like it's ripped out of movies and games, with the designers explaining that Micrashell was born as a "socially responsible solution to safely allow people to interact in close proximity".

The team continues, explaining Micrashell as being specifically designed to "satisfy the needs of nightlife, live events and entertainment industries, Micrashell is a virus-shielded, easy to control, fun to wear, disinfectable, fast to deploy personal protective equipment (PPE) that allows socializing without distancing". Alrighty then.

Since the coronavirus pandemic everyone has been on high alert for viruses on Earth, but what about potential viruses on other planets?

What if there is another virus on Mars for example that has the same level of infectiousness as SARS-CoV-2, and NASA accidentally brings it back to Earth? Don't worry, the chances of that are extremely small, and NASA are already taking precautions to make sure that never happens in the first place. Firstly, for NASA to bring back a virus to Earth that would mean they have found alien microbe life. Secondly, any samples NASA brings back from the red planet immediately go into quarantine as if they have COVID-19 or Ebola.

In an interview with Stanford's Scott Hubbard, former director of NASA Ames and scientist specializing in planetary protection, "I have heard from some colleagues in the human spaceflight area that they can see how, in the current environment, the general public could become more concerned about bringing back some alien microbe, virus or contamination".