Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 74

In early June, Yellowstone National Park was devastated by torrential flooding that was so powerful it knocked out roads and homes and left individuals stranded.

Yellowstone is still recovering from the horrific natural disaster, and according to previous reports, the flooding came from the adjacent river, which caused the roads as well as some banks to erode and collapse into the rushing water. Notably, the park was closed due to the flooding, marking the first time in 34 years that officials were forced into closure. Furthermore, the flooding caused more than 10,000 visitors to exit the park as well as officials estimated that the damage caused by the flood water will likely take months to repair.

Now, Yellowstone has taken to its social channels to post a video that showcases the widespread flood damage that was caused, in particular to The Canyon and the North Entrance Road. According to the US Geological Survey, the immense volume of water is a "1 in 500-year event", which translates to just a 0.2% chance of a flood of this level occurring each year.

There are many ways humans die, and one way that may not necessarily exist now will certainly pose an issue in the future.

The ever-growing problem of space junk will not only present many issues for companies looking to launch satellite, etc, into Earth's orbit, but also for humans on Earth's surface. According to a newly published study as more space junk is gathered in Earth's atmosphere, humans will be at risk of falling space junk being a measured cause of death. Notably, the study predicts that within the next decade, there's a 6-10% chance that someone will die from falling space junk.

Falling space junk isn't something humans have had to worry about until now, but now space has been opened up to the commercial market, which is causing many companies to look at low-Earth orbit as a prospect for business. As a result of this, we can expect more and more satellites (etc) to blast off from Earth's surface, with one example being SpaceX set to send thousands of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit to provide internet connection.

Residents in Indiana and other states noticed the sky turn a strange blue color on July 23, and now we know why.

A video uploaded to the American Meteor Society (AMS) shows a somewhat large meteoroid entering Earth's atmosphere at high speeds and bursting into flames as it soared across the night sky. The event was recorded by the AMS, and according to its website, the fireball was spotted by 155 people across multiple states such as Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and more.

So, why did the meteoroid cause the sky to turn into a blue color? When a meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere, it experiences a high level of friction with Earth's dense atmosphere. This friction is increased as the meteor gets closer to Earth's surface, and as a result, the meteor catches fire - turning into a fireball. The brightness of the meteor is determined by the speed and size of the space debris.

An artificial intelligence (AI) has been asked to produce an image that displays the last selfie a human ever took on Earth.

The artificial intelligence system is called DALL-E and is designed to produce completely original images from text descriptions that anyone can enter. The AI system is a 12-billion parameter version of GPT-3, which is an autoregressive language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like conversations. Engineers took that GPT-3 model, developed by OpenAI, to create DALL-E, and instead of the AI producing human-like conversations, it produces a batch of images based on the text entered.

The AI system was asked to produce what it "thinks" would be the last selfie a human ever took on Earth, and using the data provided to it by Google's servers, the AI produced a batch of completely original images that showcase a grim depiction of the world ending. Now, these images hold no validity when it comes to predicting Earth's future. However, it's certainly an interesting result that was produced. Notably, the same AI was asked to produce an image from inside a black hole. The results of that search can be found below.

A study on Alzheimer's detection titled "Amyloid-beta misfolding and GFAP predict risk of clinical Alzheimer's disease diagnosis within 17 years" has been published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.

Researchers from the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany have created a new sensor that can detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease in patients during the 15 to 20-year period before symptoms emerge in cases. An immuno-infrared sensor detects the misfolding of the amyloid-beta protein biomarker, which leads to the accumulation of characteristic "plaques" in the brain.

The researchers analyzed blood plasma samples acquired between 2000 and 2002 from patients between 50 and 75 years old and then frozen as part of a study to find potential Alzheimer's biomarkers. None of the patients had yet been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, though 68 had by the time of their 17-year follow-up. The new test successfully identified the 68 samples corresponding to patients who later developed Alzheimer's with high accuracy.

The Northrop Grumman Corporation has released footage of a test firing of NASA's new rocket booster.

The test was a "full-scale static fire" conducted by Northrop Grumman and NASA, using the Flight Support Booster-2 from NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the world's largest solid rocket motor. The SLS will fly on NASA's upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon and uses a five-segment solid rocket booster to provide over 75% of the SLS rocket's initial thrust at launch.

The 154-foot-long (46.9 meters) booster fired for more than two minutes, generating over 3.6 million pounds of thrust. The booster segments to be used on the first three missions in the Artemis program are already complete. However, boosters for the Artemis IV mission through Artemis IX have yet to be finalized. Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract in December 2021 to develop the next generation of boosters for the missions.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has demanded an ambitious new construction project to rival the pyramids of Egypt.

The project, first unveiled in 2021, is known as The Line and comprises plans for a 105-mile-long (170 kilometers) linear urban development in the northwestern desert of Saudi Arabia. Part of the project is called the Mirror Line, which is planned to be the world's largest structure. The Mirror Line will see two skyscrapers running parallel for 75 miles (120.7 kilometers), standing 1,600 feet (487.7 meters) tall, interconnected with walkways and its own high-speed train that can carry people from end-to-end in 20 minutes.

The Mirror Line and other projects make up a grander vision by Prince Mohammed to build the Neom city, "the first cognitive city," designed to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy by attracting foreign investment and tourism and decreasing its reliance on oil. Completing construction of the Mirror Line has a 2030 deadline, though a 2021 assessment suggests that construction could take up to 50 years.

The Russian Navy received the massive new nuclear-powered submarine from Sevmash Shipyard, Russia's largest shipbuilder.

Named the Belgorod, it is the world's longest known submarine and is a modified version of Russia's Oscar II class of submarines. Construction began in December 2012 on what was known as Project 09852, culminating in the 184-meter-long (608 feet) submarine that was received by the Russian Navy on July 8th, 2022. According to the state-run Russian News Agency TASS, Belgorod will carry Russia's new nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedoes.

Belgorod will have the capacity for up to eight Poseidons, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS). However, some experts estimate the true capacity is closer to six. The nuclear-powered torpedoes are expected to have a diameter of two meters (6.5 feet) and are more than 20 meters (65 feet) long, making Poseidon "the largest torpedo ever developed in any country," and "thirty times the size of a regular 'heavyweight' torpedo" according to Sutton.

A study on the spiders titled "Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready‐to‐Use Actuators" has been published in the journal Advanced Science.

Researchers from Rice University have repurposed the carcasses of deceased wolf spiders to serve as mechanical grippers, taking the first step in a novel research field dubbed "necrobotics" by the researchers. The team's lab specializes in soft robotics, a subfield of robotics that utilizes nontraditional materials to achieve more flexibility and unique functions unattainable with traditional plastics, metals, and electronics.

Spiders move their limbs using hydraulics, unlike humans or other mammals, which contract and relax opposing muscles to generate motion. Spiders can contract a chamber near their heads, sending blood into their legs and forcing them to extend. When the pressure from the chamber is relieved, their legs curl up again.

China has released an incredible image of one of Mars' natural satellites that orbit the Red Planet - the moon named Phobos.

There are two moons that orbit Mars, Phobos, and Deimos. Phobos is the larger of the two natural satellites and is positioned more closely to Mars than its sister satellite Deimos at just 3,700 miles. Both of the moons were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877, and now China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft has captured Phobos in unprecedented detail, showcasing the craters scattered across its surface.

Notably, Phobos' diameter stretches some 7 miles across, and looking at the recently released image, we can see impact craters from asteroids on its surface - in particular the crater Opik, which was named after the Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist Ernst Julius Opik. Furthermore, China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft has completed all of its required scientific operations, but since it's still operational, China's space agency is preparing the spacecraft for future missions.

A child has had his finger broken by a robot during a chess tournament, and the moment was captured on video.

The 7-year-old boy that has yet to be named, was participating in a chess tournament in Moscow against a chess robot that was playing three games simultaneously. First reported by the Russian news outlet Baza, the robot was rented by the Moscow Chess Federation and has previously appeared in my exhibition matches in various locations.

As explained by Moscow Chess Federation President Sergey Lazarev, the child made a move and failed to give the robot enough time to calculate an appropriate move. As a result, the robot "grabbed him". Notably, outlets have reported that the child suffered from a fractured finger but was able to finish the tournament while wearing a cast.

A team of researchers has created the very first gene-edited dogs using a cloning process that involves skin cells.

South Korean biotech company ToolGen, along with Chungnam National University, created the gene-edited dogs and used CRISPR to remove a specific gene known as DJ-1 from the dogs' genomes. The DJ-1 gene is linked to cancer, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, and strokes.

According to the researchers, many purebred dogs can suffer from many inherited genetic conditions such as heart, skin, and eye problems, but this new gene-editing technique has the potential to remove the genes that cause those conditions before the dogs are birthed. The researchers spoke to The Telegraph and said their goal is to cure dogs of "pathogenic mutations induced by inbreeding".

An artificial intelligence system trained to produce images from text descriptions has revealed what it "thinks" is inside a black hole.

The AI system is called DALL-E and is a 12-billion parameter version of GPT-3, a autoregressive language model that using deep learning to produce human-like text. Both AI systems were developed by OpenAI, and DALL-E, in particular, has proven to produce very interesting results based on the text that is entered into its prompt box. Users can ask DALL-E to produce anything they want. Quite literally anything.

I asked DALL-E to show me an image of the inside of a black hole, which, as many people would know, is literally impossible verify given human's current understanding of black holes and their vicious nature. However, the results that DALL-E provided me was still very surprising as the AI was able to produce a completely original batch of accurate black hole images that can be found below.

NASA has warned that male astronauts masturbating in space, is a major hazard: female astronauts could get impregnated like the sperm is a face hugger from Aliens.

This story became a thing from a discussion during Conan O'Brien and his "Needs A Friend" podcast, who was interviewing a NASA engineer when the topic came to the "strict guidelines" on "alone time" in zero gravity on the International Space Station.

During the interview, O'Brien asked the NASA engineer if porn was sent up, or I guess streamed on the International Space Station. The NASA engineer, who is only identified as "Smythe" said: "No, none of that".

The United States Navy's USS Essex has been equipped with a brand-new ElemX printer made by Xerox.

The printer weighs 4,630 pounds (2,100 kilograms) and was lifted via crane onto the vessel while in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It measures 9 feet (2.7 meters) wide and 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall, The printer itself resides within a large CONEX box, adding up to a total weight of around 15,000 pounds (6,803 kilograms), and measuring about 20 feet (6.1 meters) long. Unlike a conventional printer that prints ink, the ElemX prints from spools of aluminum wire.

The printer requires a 480-volt power supply and allows operators aboard the ship to print custom parts as necessary. The print head does not move; instead, a plate beneath the print head moves around to allow the part to form on top of it. When printing is complete, the plate and the part are submerged in water to separate them. The printing process is not yet simple enough that any sailor can begin printing without training; instead, they must follow a three-day training program first.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially deemed the unprecedented spread of the monkeypox virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The rating is the highest level of emergency the WHO can assign. It was announced on Saturday, July 23rd, 2022, as cases have risen to almost 17,000 worldwide. The ongoing series of outbreaks beginning in May 2022 has seen the virus appear in 74 countries in total, with 68 countries not having previously reported monkeypox infections. Of the 16,836 cases reported at the time of writing, only 243 are from countries that have previously reported cases, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracker.

An expert committee could not collectively decide whether to consider the global monkeypox outbreak as a PHEIC, so the decision ultimately fell to the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The monkeypox virus is a poxvirus, similar to the smallpox virus, for which vaccines like Imvanex already exist. On July 22nd, the European Union announced it recommends approving the use of Imvanex to treat monkeypox.

A Reddit user has shared photos taken from a plane flying above the clouds over the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the post, the red glows visible in the photo were something the pilot had never seen, which prompted many theories to be suggested by other users. The red light is most likely a result of large lighting arrays used by fishing vessels to catch Pacific saury. However, without closer inspection, the cause can't be known for certain.

Such ships are equipped with hundreds of red lights around the ship's perimeter, with LED being the preferred option for its higher efficiency, lower weight, and the ability to target the light more effectively than other lighting solutions like high-intensity discharge (HID). However, the strong glow from high up past the clouds suggests HID could have been in use, explaining how much light escaped upwards.

A paper on the new torpedo system has been published in the Journal of Unmanned Undersea Systems, run by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.

Researchers from Beijing have created designs for a small, cheap, and disposable nuclear reactor to power individual torpedoes. The torpedoes would be similar to the uncrewed Russian Poseidon submarine, the world's first nuclear-powered underwater drone. However, the torpedoes would be much smaller to enable mass production and deployable from a standard torpedo tube.

The torpedoes would have a range of ten thousand kilometers (6,200 miles) and reach a cruising speed of more than 32 knots (60km/h or 37mph), allowing them to cross the Pacific Ocean in roughly a week. The mini-reactor would be as heavy as two average adult males and use less than 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of low-concentration uranium fuel to generate over 1.4 megawatts of heat.

Astronomer Scott Sheppard has written a Perspective piece titled "In the glare of the Sun" in the journal Science.

Sheppard is an astronomer from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii and believes scientists need to search more closely for near-Earth objects (NEOs) in space in the direction of the Sun. He notes that most observations are often taken of the night sky, but NEOs like asteroids that pose a potential threat to Earth could lurk between the Sun and the Earth, some of which have been discovered recently.

One such near-Earth asteroid (NEA) was found inside Venus' orbit, and another was discovered with the shortest-known orbital period around the Sun. The night sky is surveyed more frequently as light from the Sun does not overwhelm observations. However, Sheppard notes the technology now exists to survey the sky in the direction of the Sun during twilight hours.

The Department of Defense's (DoD) new office, called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), will focus on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

The AARO was founded to expand the scope of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group (AOIMSG). The AARO will coordinate efforts across the DoD and with other departments in the United States government and federal agencies to detect and identify "anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium objects."

The focus is on objects that operate in, on, or near military installations, operating and training areas, restricted airspaces, and "other areas of interest." The AARO's mission is to classify such objects and "mitigate any associated threats to safety of operations and national security." Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick will lead the office as its director, after most recently being the chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile and Space Intelligence Center.