Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 330

A new horrifying species of spider has been found that appears to share characteristics of a black tarantula spider.

Originally, the Pine Rockland Trapdoor Spider was found at the Zoo Miami back in 2012, but now a second specimen has been found, confirming its existence. This type of spider is likely an "ambush predator", as similar species to this spider "create a web burrow down into soft and sandy substrate with a hinged door at the surface" - trapdoor spiders.

Zoo conservation chief Frank Ridgley said, "They spend their entire lives in that same burrow, waiting for prey to come past their trapdoor, then they lunge out from their camouflaged lair to grab their prey." Dr. Rebecca Godwin of Piedmont University in Georgia identified the spider as a new species and said that she believes it has a lifespan of more than 20 years. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A 12-year-old that is very into science has conducted an experiment to see if he could make himself magnetic by eating magnets.

The young boy named Rhiley is extremely passionate about science, and according to his parents, he told his mother, "I tried to stick magnets to me, I wanted to see if this copper would stick to my belly while the magnets were in." Rhiley was then immediately rushed to the emergency room, where x-rays revealed that Rhiley swallowed 54 magnets that were in his stomach and bowel.

Surgeons were very concerned that the magnets could burn through tissues or vital organs, which could lead to fatal internal damage. Rhiley underwent six-hour surgery and was eventually released for recovery. That wasn't where the problems ended, though. Rhiley then spent the next ten days vomiting green liquid, leading to him having to be tub-fed and had to have a catheter inserted. Rhiley recovered in the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

NASA has been flying its Mars helicopter, and each time the space agency has flown Ingenuity it has pushed its previous records. This third time is no different.

Space.com reports that NASA took the Ingenuity helicopter on its most ambitious flight yet, pushing the small helicopter to about 164 feet north of its home base, which is about half the length of a football field. During the second flight of Ingenuity, NASA pushed the small helicopter to 13 feet at 1.1MPH, but during its third flight, the helicopter reached 4.5MPH.

The achievement of flying Ingenuity on the surface of Mars shouldn't be understated, as flights such as these are now our foundation of proof for an aircraft being able to fly on Mars despite the planet's low atmospheric density. It's likely that the proof from these Ingenuity flights will usher in new methods for scientists and researchers to close the Red Planet by using drones or other small aircrafts. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

We don't have much longer to go before we hear about the "reality" of UFOs -- or off-world vehicles not made on this Earth, according to the person responsible for running the Pentagon's internal UFO program for 9 years.

Luis Elizondo, the former boss of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and newly-minted whistleblower, said that his team worked out of the secretive fifth floor inside of the Pentagon's C Ring. Elizondo spokes exclusively with The New York Post, telling them that a "blockbuster document" revealing many more details about UFOs is coming in June.

This is because President Trump signed a $2.3 trillion appropriation bill for 2021 that mandated the Pentagon and spy agencies to file a report regarding "unidentified aerial phenomena" -- UAPs, or as most of the world knows them -- UFOs. Elizondo explains: "I think the government has acknowledged the reality of UAP. I think they all want answers and I think they are all willing to ask the hard questions".

SpaceX recently successfully launched four astronauts aboard its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), and while the mission was successful, it didn't go exactly as planned.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was flying towards the ISS when the crew aboard encountered an unidentified object at around 13:30 EST that ended up coming as close as 28 miles from the craft. In contrast, 28 miles sounds like quite a distance back here on Earth, but in space, it's considered to be dangerously close. Thankfully, SpaceX's Dragon capsule safely passed the object on its way to dock with the ISS.

NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told Futurism, "The NASA/SpaceX team was informed of the possible conjunction by US Space Command. The object being tracked is classified as 'unknown.'" When the object was discovered, the crew aboard the spacecraft were ordered to put on their pressurized suits as it was believed that the object was on a collision course with the Dragon.

On Friday, President Biden announced a very ambitious plan to reduce US carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and to achieve that, Americans may have to undergo some severe changes in terms of lifestyle.

President Biden vowed that his plan is the beginning of the long journey to reach 0% carbon emissions by no later than 2050 and that by 2030 current carbon emission levels would be reduced by 50% - 52%. The cut on carbon emissions will no doubt have to usher in many changes into American society, and as explained by DailyMail, some of those changes will be in what people eat, drive and have at your home.

For example, Americans may have to reduce the amount of red meat and other animal products they are consuming by a staggering 90%, which would severely impact the amount of diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by Michigan University's Center for Sustainable Systems. How much red meat is that per day? Only 0.18 ounces, or roughly one average-sized burger per month. Other lifestyle changes would include making the switch to an electric car and refitting your home with an electric heat pump.

Researchers and scientists are tracking thousands of human-made objects that are orbiting around Earth that could potentially be very dangerous to functioning satellites.

Professor Moriba and his colleagues have created a near real-time map that is called AstriaGraph that tracks around 200 "super-spreaders", which are large rocket bodies that could potentially break into thousands of pieces. A video on the BBC website details that the AstriaGraphic system is tracking over 26,000 individual objects that range from the size of a smartphone to the size of the Space Station.

Of those objects, 3,500 are functional satellites, and the rest are considered space junk or rubbish. These "super-spreaders" that Prof Moriba is concerned about are used rocket parts that are "pretty much ticking time bombs" that will eventually explode or get hit by another object and become tens of thousands of pieces that will endanger functional satellites. If you want to read more on this story, check out this link here.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has dropped another listing for a company-wide recall that sold its product across the United States.

The voluntary recall is for Jule's Foods of Carlsbad as the products were found to be potentially contaminated with Salmonella. The FDA has confirmed that Salmonella was found in brie products that contained cashews, and according to the FDA listing, the company is working with the FDA to identify the source of the pathogen.

If you have consumed any of the recalled products that are listed below, you may get salmonellosis which has the following symptoms; diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after consuming the product. The contaminated products were sold at grocery stores in the following states; Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas.

SpaceX is very close to receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fly 4,000 Starlink satellites at the same altitude in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The space agency has already received approval from the FCC to launch 1,584 Starlink satellites at an altitude of 550 kilometers. Now, SpaceX is looking to bring in the already positioned Starlink satellites from 1,000 kilometers to 550 kilometers so they all line up together at the same altitude. In total, SpaceX will have 4,408 satellites at an altitude of between 540 to 570 kilometers.

FCC's acting chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, has backed SpaceX's request to fly all of the Starlink satellites at the same altitude and has called for a vote, according to Bloomberg. Rival companies such as Amazon's Project Kuiper, ViaSat, OneWeb, and Telesat all have plans to launch their own satellites into low earth orbit. Visat said back in March that having 1,000's of satellites in low earth orbit would increase the chance of collisions, which would leave concerning debris in space.

Elon Musk has said that SpaceX's new rocket may be able to take people to the Moon by 2024, stating that the task is "doable".

According to Musk, SpaceX is currently underway developing its new rocket that will take the crown for the space company's biggest rocket yet. The new rocket is called Starship, and eventually, it will carry people to Mars, but the first stop is the Moon. During a press briefing on Friday last week, Musk said that Starship could fly its first humans to the Moon in "a couple years".

Here's what Musk said, "I tend to be somewhat optimistic with respect to schedules. I feel I should acknowledge this. So take that with a grain of salt. But I think it's not out of the question that it could fly people in a couple years." As for bookings, SpaceX has already taken a booking from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who will take a trip aboard Starship with eight friends to go around the Moon in 2023, marking the very first civilian passengers to step foot on SpaceX's Starship.