Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 7

A team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) have designed a humanoid robot designed to fly planes.

The newly designed robot is called Pibot, and according to its creators, the robot is able to respond to emergency situations much faster than a human pilot. However, this claim has yet to be independently tested. The humanoid robot pilot stands at just over five feet tall and uses large language models to memorize the flight manual of an aircraft. Notably, large language models are the unpinning technology powering artificial intelligence tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

According to David Shim, an associate professor of electrical engineering at KAIST, who spoke to Euronews, Pibot is able to manipulate the controls within the cockpit of a plane "just like a human", meaning the robot cockpit won't have to be specifically designed for Pibot compatibility. The robot is equipped with external cameras that, according to its creators, ensure that all aircraft vitals are kept at operational levels.

The International Space Station (ISS) provides Earth with a unique birds-eye view of the planet from its vantage point of 250 miles above Earth's surface.

This vantage point comes in handy for tracking weather patterns, natural disasters, and other events taking place on the planet's surface. On August 12, the ISS flew over Hawaii and pointed its cameras at the Hawaiian island Maui, which is currently being engulfed in wildfires.

The floating laboratory was able to capture images of the smoke caused by the wildfires, illustrating the sheer size and impact they have had on the island and its residents.

NASA has released new footage captured by the rover Perseverance of the iconic Mars helicopter taking off from the surface of the Red Planet.

The space agency has taken to its Mars Exploration blog to share the footage of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity taking off from the surface of Mars in what was its 54th flight. Perseverance was stationed approximately 180 feet from the reconnaissance helicopter, and using its Mastcam-Z imager, it recorded Ingenuity taking off, hovering, and rotating at an altitude of 16 feet. The objective of the flight was to test the helicopter's navigation system.

The testing of Ingenuity's navigation system comes after the helicopter experienced a flight anomaly that caused it to promptly land back on the surface of the Red Planet. NASA officials are going through all of the routine checks to ensure that Ingenuity is meeting operational standards before re-engaging in its scientific objectives.

A group of researchers has published a new study detailing the extraction of a Pink Floyd song from someone's brain.

The new study was published in the journal PLOS Biology and details work conducted by neurologists at New York Albany Medical Center that involved 29 participants that were hooked up to 2,600 intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) nodes.

The participants listened to the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 1" and the nodes were placed over the part of the brain known as the superior temporal gyrus, or the part of the brain that is responsible for auditory processes.

Harvard professor and known alien hunter Avi Loeb has sat down with Fox News to discuss potential advanced civilizations.

Loeb is a trained physicist who was awarded his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at just the age of 24, and during the Fox News interview, Loeb emphasized that it's an egregious thought to think humans are alone in the universe. Loeb said it would be "arrogant of us to think that we are alone, that we don't have a neighbor out there." Adding, "There are tens of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone and hundreds of billions of galaxies like the Milky Way in the observable volume of the universe."

The Harvard physicist went on to say that if humans were to discover an alien species, it could be the "wake-up call" that unites the human race. Additionally, Loeb said that there could be alien races that are far more advanced than humanity, and that discovering them could be an opportunity for humans to learn and put themselves in a much better position for the future.

A photographer taking a group on a storm tour with the intention of catching epic photographs of storms rolling in has photographed a rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Red sprites photographed by Greg McCown

That atmospheric phenomenon is called sprites, and in this case, red sprites, which are pictured above. So, what are sprites, and what makes them rare? Sprites are upper atmospheric discharges from lighting and typically occur around 50 miles above thunderstorms and, more specifically, appear right after a lightning strike.

The photographer behind these incredible photos is Greg McCown, who spoke to PetaPixel and said, "A large storm moved clear down in Mexico about 150 miles south of our position at Windy Point, lining up perfectly with the Milky Way core." Adding, "After some instruction on how to photograph sprites, most in our group were able to catch these elusive gems."

The idea of a prefabricated home that can be transported and set up in just about any clear space conjures up imagery of function over style and comfort. The LG Smart Cottage is looking to change that with a prefabricated smart home of the future built to sustain two people.

The modular, prefabricated, smart home that is the LG Smart Cottage, image credit: LG.

Naturally, the LG Smart Cottage is filled with LG appliances and technology from kitchen appliances to heating to water purification - and we assume an OLED TV for entertainment. Energy-wise, the LG Smart Cottage features roof-mounted 4-kilowatt (kW) solar panels capable of generating up to 15 kilowatts daily with the ability to store energy in the Energy Storage System (ESS) or put it back onto the grid. Plus, it has an electric vehicle (EV) charger as standard.

The two-story design is built for comfort and space, with an eye toward sustainability. It is fully modular and replaceable and has also been designed to transport to the desired location quickly, which will be the sort of sci-fi future we see in TV and film where all the homes look sleek and compact.

A group of scientists have discovered a new species that certainly appears to be alien-like but is named after a fruit.

Antarctic strawberry feather star, Promachocrinus fragarius

The new species is officially called Promachocrinus fragarius, or the Antarctic strawberry feather star, and it was discovered by researchers trawling the ocean near Antarctica. According to the newly published study in Invertebrate Systematics, the creature was named after a strawberry for how its body resembles the fruit, and after dragging a net along the Southern Ocean, the team discovered four new species that all fall under the group Promachocrinus kerguelensis, which then falls under the overall classification Crinoidea.

Other members of the Crinoidea classification are common sea life, such as starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. As for the Antarctic strawberry feather star, researchers determined that it has more "arms" than other feather stars, which typically have 10. The Antarctic strawberry feather star has 20. The study notes that the Antarctic strawberry feather star can be found between 215 feet and 3,840 feet below the ocean surface.

NASA and the European Space Agency's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed some interesting details about the closest galaxy to the Milky Way.

Webb has honed its extremely sensitive instruments on the neighboring galaxy Barnard's Galaxy, officially called NGC 6822, which is located 1.5 million light years away from Earth within the constellation Sagittarius. The galaxy stretches 7,000 light years from one side to the other and is officially categorized as a dwarf galaxy. Additionally, astronomers have determined that Barnard's Galaxy is very low in heavy elements, while most of its stars are born within the last 5 billion years.

So, what makes Barnard's Galaxy so interesting? The lack of heavy elements within the galaxy suggests that it has remained in isolation from other more active parts of the universe. For example, every element that is heavier than hydrogen and helium have been created by stars.

New rumors indicate that Apple has already begun testing its M3 Ultra chip which comes with a big increase in CPU cores compared to the M2 Ultra.

M3 Ultra Mac Studio

These rumors come from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who wrote in the new Power On newsletter that Apple's M3 Ultra would come with a base CPU core count of 32 cores, up from the M2 Ultra's 24 cores. Additionally, developer logs indicate an increase in GPU core count, but the increase isn't as severe as the CPU side. Currently, buyers have two options for the M2 Ultra Mac, a 60-core or 76-core GPU.

Developer logs indicate that the M3 Ultra will come with a base of 64 GPU cores and a higher-end option of 80 cores. Gurman reports that Apple is preparing to release M3-based Macs in October, but M3-based computers such as the M3 Pro or M3 Max won't hit shelves until sometime next year. Furthermore, the Bloomberg reporter expects that the M3 Ultra chip will be released sometime later in 2024 "at the earliest", which would be in line with Apple's previous release schedule.