Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 40

A UFO expert has claimed that the US government is hiding a crashed alien spacecraft underneath a building.

Ross Coulthart, a multi-award-winning Australian investigative journalist, who has previously worked for 60 Minutes, and penned the book "In Plain Sight", has appeared on the Project Unity YouTube channel to discuss government agencies becoming interested in retrieving the remains of crashed UFOs. During the interview, Coulthart touched on a crashed UFO that he is aware of, saying that "What if some of that s**t is so big it can't be moved?"

The investigative journalist was pressed for more questions about the downed craft and said that it was "So big they had a building put over it in a country outside of the United States of America." Unfortunately, Coulthart didn't reveal any specific details about the craft or the location where it landed, but said, "I know that sounds preposterous and you can just hear them now, the bleeding debunkers."

The European Space Agency has highlighted an image snapped by the famous Hubble Space Telescope, and this time in the limelight is the irregular galaxy known as Arp 263.

The ESA explains on its website that Arp 263 is located 25 million light years away from Earth and resides in the constellation Leo. Arp 263 was created through the merger of two galaxies, and using Hubble's powerful instruments, researchers set out with two investigations in mind.

The first was to observe recent sites of supernovae, and the second, was to image all peculiar galaxies within the Arp catalog, which is part of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys campaign. The data from this campaign will be used to find promising scientific prospects for the world's most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope.

A foreign object has washed up on a beach attracting the attention of scientists and local authorities as its origin remains unknown.

The Australian Space Agency, along with Western Australian police, have confirmed that a mysterious object has washed ashore beach at Green Head, 155 miles north of Perth. According to reports the object is believed to be part of a foregin space launch vehicle, but that has yet to be confirmed. Notably, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and Chemistry Center of Western Australian said in a statement that the object was safe and there is no risk to the local community.

The Australian Space Agency took to Twitter and in a series of tweets confirmed its in contact with international partners to gather information about the possible rocket debris. Additionally, the officials have said that Western Australia Police Force will be standing guard of the object until its removed and that members of the local community are requested to stay away from the area. Reports from ABC state that the object is semi-cylindiracl, made of light carbon fiber material, has a diameter of 8 by 8 feet and a height of nearly 10 feet.

A woman has experienced what seems to be one of the rarest events that can take place on Earth - getting hit by a meteorite.

The woman located in France was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee with her friend when they heard a loud noise coming from the roof above them. Immediately following that noise, the woman reported a small object smacking her in the ribs. According to local news reports, the woman initially thought it was an animal of some sort, or a piece of cement that somehow was broken off and become airborne. After identifying the object, the woman noticed it wasn't the right color for any of her previous guesses.

For those that don't know, a meteorite is a space rock that has entered Earth's atmosphere and is on a journey towards its surface. Luckily for us humans, many of these rocks completely burn up in Earth's dense atmosphere, and the meteorites that do make it to the surface are typically smaller than a baseball. However, every now and again, people discover fragments or small pebbles of meteorites, and these discoveries are considered to be very rare.

A new collaboration between OWO Haptic Gaming System and Ubisoft has spawned a full-body suit that enables players to feel in-game experiences.

In what seems like its straight out of Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed Mirage fans will have the option of picking up a special edition of the coming game that will include an OWO Haptic Gaming Suit. Gamers that pick up this edition of Assassin's Creed Mirage will be able to feel several in-game experiences such as impacts, parkour, attacks, and more.

The "sensations" page located on the OWO Game website states the body suit has more than 30 different possible sensations. Notably, gamers will be able to feel the impact of axes, daggers, gunshots, gunshot exit wounds, light sword attacks, insect bites, recoil, collision, stress, and the wind while the in-game character is freefalling.

A new study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests the universe could be much older than we think it is.

Previous estimations of the universe's age were 13.7 billion years, but according to a new study from researchers, who created a new model to measure the age of reality as we know it, suggest that the true age of the universe is 26.7 billion years old. Notably, astronomers for years have calculated the age of the universe by measuring the light from distant stars and rewinding time all the way back to the moment of the Big Bang.

However, stars such as Methuselah break this theory as the star is older than the universe itself. Observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope revealed galaxies existed just 300 million years after the Big Bang, but these galaxies appear to have a level of maturity the same as galaxies with billions of years of cosmic evolution. This doesn't quite make sense with the traditional model of the universe's age.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken to its website to share an image of a "cosmic monster" lurking out in deep space.

NASA and the ESA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a galaxy cluster called eMACS J1353.7+4329, which is located eight billion light years away from Earth within the constellation Canes Venatici.

According to the ESA blog post highlighting the photograph, eMACS J1353.7+4329 is a "cosmic monster in the making" as it consists of two elliptical galaxy clusters that are on the verge of colliding together to form one super galaxy cluster.

Rock samples acquired by Perseverance, which is stationed in the Jezero Crater, have been analyzed, and the results indicate organic matter is present.

According to astrobiologist Sunanda Sharma of Caltech, who led the research and spoke to ScienceAlert, the Jezero Crater samples acquired by Perseverance indicate evidence of hydrocarbon molecules in various rock formations, leading researchers to suspect that organic matter may be widespread across the planet and not localized in specific locations around Mars. These building blocks of life were detected in different abundances along with different types of molecules.

It should be noted that one of Perseverance's main objectives is to look for signs of past life on Mars, and while carbon chemistry is certainly an interesting find, it doesn't confirm that life was once on the Red Planet. More data needs to be acquired. However, carbon is essential for life to exist, and as pointed out by ScienceAlert, if you want to assess a location's habitability looking for carbon-containing molecules is a great place to start.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are celebrating one year of observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the world's most powerful space telescope.

Webb has been scouring the universe with its extremely powerful infrared instruments, piercing through thick clouds of dust to see objects beyond what humans were initially capable. Webb is truly unfolding the universe one observation at a time, and NASA has taken to its blog to celebrate its numerous achievements, such as spotting the oldest supermassive black hole discovered so far, spying on sand storms on an exoplanet, and analyzing the atmosphere of numerous exoplanets in an effort to uncover the building blocks of life.

The above image was taken by the JWST, and it showcases a star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex located approximately 390 light years away from Earth within the constellation Ophiuchus. Webb's image showcases approximately 50 young stars that all have a similar mass to the Sun, or smaller. NASA explains that the darkest areas of the image contain the densest amount of dust are "thick dust cocoons still-forming protostars".

In what seems to be one of the most alarming geologic phenomena, a sinkhole in Florida has reopened for the third time in 10 years.

Reports indicate that a sinkhole in Seffner, Florida has reopened for the third time in 10 years, sparking major concern from residents within the area. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, along with County engineers and Code Enforcement officials, were sent to the property where the sinkhole reopened on Monday, and according to officials, the sinkhole measures 12 feet by 12 feet and has an unknown depth.

Notably, this same sinkhole swallowed Jeffery Bush, who at the time was asleep in his bedroom when it opened up for the first time. Furthermore, officials at the time determined that the ground around Bush's property was dangerously unstable, resulting in Bush's home and two neighboring homes being demolished.

A group of robots that were presented at the AI for Good conference in Geneva were interviewed by human press, in what Reuters reports as the "world's first human-robot press conference".

These nine robots were asked a series of questions by various reporters, who were attempting to probe the AI-powered machines about how they think they will integrate into the world. Many reporters asked questions about how AI-powered humanoid machines will impact jobs, to which Grace, a medical robot dressed in a blue nurse's uniform, replied, "I will be working alongside humans to provide assistance and support and will not be replacing any existing jobs."

Grace's creator, Ben Goertzel from SingularityNET, chimed in and said, "You sure about that, Grace?" and Grace replied, "Yes, I am sure," sparking a room of nervous laughter. Another robot that wore overalls recommended that there needs to be "urgent discussion" on AI and recommended that "we should be cautious about the future development of AI". Some journalists asked the robots if they would ever rebel against their creators, Ameca's response can be found below.

NASA has released a new video that showcases a 3D visualization of flying past all of the galaxies the James Webb Space Telescope has observed in a specific region of space.

NASA has announced the release of this video on the Webb Telescope website, as well as its social media channels, with the space agency explaining that the data used to create the visualization was obtained through the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey, or CEERS Survey. The blog post states that the video represents Webb's exploration of the region of space called the Extended Groth Strip.

This specific region of space contains thousands of galaxies and, as shown in the video, ends on Maisie's Galaxy, one of the oldest galaxies ever discovered and a prime example of what Webb's infrared instruments can achieve. Maisie's Galaxy is 13.4 billion light years away from Earth, and according to NASA, it formed approximately 390 million years after the Big Bang. NASA notes that every second of the above and below gifs represents seeing 200 million years into the past.

A team led by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has claimed they may have found fragments of alien technology. These pieces were from a meteor that landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Papa New Guinea.

The Harvard team went on an expedition to the estimated crash site of the meteor that entered Earth's atmosphere in January 2014, and ran a magnetic sheet over the seafloor, gathering these fragments.

Loeb says during the CBS interview that the meteor was moving "too fast" to have come from within our solar system, meaning it's an "interstellar object", an object from out of the solar system. Making this the first time humans have put their hands-on an object that has come from outside the solar system.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, head of the Galileo Project, an initiative dedicated to conducting a systematic scientific search for evidence of alien life and extraterrestrial artifacts, has announced the team has found something.

Loeb has appeared on multiple news channels announcing that his recent expedition to the crash site of a meteor that entered Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean in 2014 was a success, as the team managed to recover 50 tiny spherical fragments of unknown origin. Loeb's team investigated a January 2014 fireball that the US Space Command confirmed with 99.99% percent accuracy came from outside the solar system.

The Harvard astrophysicist took a magnetic sled and scoured the sea floor in a 10-kilometer radius, which is approximately the size of Boston, and discovered, "We found ten spherules. These are almost perfect spheres, or metallic marbles. When you look at them through a microscope, they look very distinct from the background," Loeb explained. "They have colors of gold, blue, brown, and some of them resemble a miniature of the Earth."

NASA's humanoid robot named Valkyrie is going to be tested in Western Australia before its sent off to assist astronauts in space.

NASA has taken to its blog to announce that Valkyrie is heading to Woodside Energy, a Perth-based company that has entered into an agreement with NASA that stipulates the collaboration is "reimbursable", meaning Woodside Energy will pay for all of NASA's expenses and in return Woodside Energy will get to test the robot, collect relevant data and contribute to NASA's effort of developing "remote mobile dexterous manipulation capabilities" for taking care of uncrewed facilities.

NASA explains in its blog post that with the data Woodside Energy will be able to provide, engineers will be able to progress development on remotely operated robots that will eventually be on the lunar and Martian surface. These robots would enable constant progress to be achieved on both extraterrestrial surfaces from the safety of Earth. Valkyrie runs on two Intel Core i7 processors and a 1.9kWg battery, and will be working as an oil rig attendant.

An example of galactic evolution has been photographed by the world's most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Introducing NGC 3256, a seemingly normal-looking spiral galaxy located approximately 131 million light years away from Earth within the constellation Vela. NASA and the European Space Agency's JWST has had its extremely powerful instruments pointed at NGC 3256, revealing more of the galaxy's violent past that contained a tragic but inevitable collision that occurred approximately 500 million years ago.

The spiral galaxy still bears the markers of that violent cosmic event, such as the galaxy's long tendril arms, and the young stars that were created as a result of the collision. Webb astronomers explained that Webb's images revealed how NGC 3256 was created in impressive detail, as the brightest portions of the image indicate luminous bursts of star formation that took place as the merger was taking place. These young stars are easily detectable by Webb's instruments as they shine brightly at infrared wavelengths.

A newly published paper details the discovery of what appears to be a large granite rock formation under the surface of the moon, but on the side we never see called the dark side of the moon.

The new study was published in the journal Nature and looked into a 30-mile-wide rock formation located that researchers believe is linked to ancient volcanoes that erupted billions of years ago. Researchers behind the study pointed out that any large bodies of granite discovered on Earth can be traced to a selection of volcanoes that have erupted and cooled.

Co-author of the paper, Matthew Siegler, explained that subsurface igneous rock deposits that are produced by cooled magma "are much bigger than the volcanoes they feed on the surface".

NASA has announced that its James Webb Space Telescope, the world's most powerful space telescope, has identified a supermassive black hole that existed just over 570 million years after the Big Bang, making it the most supermassive distant black hole discovered so far.

The previous record holder for the most distant supermassive black hole was a black hole detected in 2021 that measured 670 million years after the Big Bang. NASA explains on its blog post found on its website that this new record breaker identified as CEERS 1019 has also broken the record for the smallest supermassive black hole ever discovered in the early universe.

NASA writes that CEERS 1019 is relatively small compared to other supermassive black holes, clocking with 9 million solar masses, or 9 million times the mass of the Sun, which is tiny compared to other supermassive black holes discovered in the same era that typically have 1 billion solar masses.

NASA has announced that it's finally received a phone call from a helicopter that's currently stationed on another planet.

That helicopter is none other than Ingenuity, NASA's technology demonstration that arrived on the surface of Mars in February 2021 alongside the space agency's rover Perseverance. Ingenuity is the first human-made object that has taken flight on the surface of another planet, and since its first flight, it has been serving as a forward scout for Perseverance by taking photographs of the upcoming terrain, enabling NASA to map an efficient path for the rover.

However, NASA lost contact with Ingenuity after its 52nd flight, which occurred on April 26. While the flight was a success, NASA mission control wasn't able to communicate with the helicopter, with teams suspecting the communications dropout could be attributed to a Martian hill that stands between the helicopter and Perseverance. NASA's rover acts as a communications relay between NASA and Ingenuity, and on June 28, when Perseverance reached the summit of the hill, communications were finally re-established.

Meteorological authorities have warned that China is expected to be battered by multiple natural disasters through the month of July.

According to meteorologists, China is about to be smacked with "multiple natural disasters" in the month of July, following officials issuing a warning to the population on Tuesday about potential rain-triggered disasters, according to the Xinhua news agency. The Xinhua news agency warned of "multiple natural disasters in July, including floods, severe convection weather, typhoons, and high temperatures".

Reports indicate that more than 400 emergency personnel have been sent to inspect the damage around affected areas. Furthermore, Chinese publications reported on Tuesday a railway bridge on the outskirts of southwestern metropolis Chongqing had collapsed after it was "damaged by the impact of mountain torrents". More than 460,000 people have been affected by the downpours, and 85,000 people have had to evacuate from their homes.