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Mar 24, 2021
Cosmic Inflation Was Likely Not A One-Off Event, Says Astronomer
Posted by Bruce Dorminey in categories: cosmology, materials
“Whooshes of creation” may be producing multiverses at this moment, says astronomer.
The cosmic inflation credited with creating the homogeneous universe which we now enjoy was likely not a one-off event, University of California, Berkeley astronomer Alexei Filippenko, told me. In fact, these ‘whooshes of creation’ may be producing multiverses even at this moment, says Filippenko.
The idea of an exponential, faster-than-light expansion of the early universe, was first put forth by MIT astrophysicist Alan Guth in 1981. And today, Inflation theory is used to explain the Cosmos’ current size, expansion, homogeneity and the fact that it appears to be geometrically flat, I noted in a 2011 issue of Astronomy magazine.
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Mar 23, 2021
Genes of 500 million-year-old sea monsters live inside us
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: futurism
Primeval sea creatures share genes with humans, suggesting that we’re more like ancient animals than previously thought.
Mar 23, 2021
NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First Flight Program
Posted by Alberto Lao in category: space
Now uncocooned from its protective carbon-fiber shield, the helicopter is being readied for its next steps.
NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Before the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft can attempt its first flight, however, both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones.
Continue reading “NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First Flight Program” »
Mar 23, 2021
China encourages its universities to take science and tech initiative
Posted by Derick Lee in categories: business, education, science
Science and technology parks affiliated with universities are also a renewed focus for helping to commercialise this intellectual property, according to the plan, while elite universities will be paired up with champion businesses to seek R&D breakthroughs in key technologies.
Ministry of Education says it aims this year to forge the country’s colleges into a national strategic innovation force.
Mar 23, 2021
‘New pandemic’ in Germany prompts extended lockdown through Easter holiday
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: biotech/medical
Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
Germany started cautiously easing restrictions earlier this month. But the spread of more infectious variants of the virus has pushed up cases, prompting concerns that hospitals could soon be overstretched without further curbs.
Mar 23, 2021
Humans Contain 42 Mystery Chemicals, Which Is Slightly Concerning
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: chemistry
We’re not really sure where they came from.
Just as you contain multitudes, your body contains multiple chemicals—a total of 109, in fact, including 55 that have never been reported in humans before, and 42 “mystery chemicals” that come from unknown environmental sources, according to a new study from UC San Francisco.
In the study, which appears in Environmental Science and Technology, scientists revealed the chemicals found in pregnant women’s bodies. They say the chemicals have likely been in there for a while, but high-resolution spectrometry has only just begun to reveal them in detail. To test chemicals, researchers also rely on pure “standard” samples made by manufacturers, which they can’t always get ahold of.
Mar 23, 2021
California and UK COVID-19 variants found in Monroe County
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, health
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Monroe County Public Health Commissioner Dr. Michael Mendoza Tuesday announced new COVID-19 variants have been found in Monroe County.
Mendoza announced that two cases of the UK variant and a small sample of the California variant were found in Monroe County in some older cases from February.
Mar 23, 2021
Perseverance Rover drives to Helipad – Mars Helicopter Ingenuity deployment area
Posted by Alberto Lao in categories: particle physics, space
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NVGkdfdaxIE
On March 232021 NASA demonstrated Mars Helicopter Ingenuity’s deployment area/place and Perseverance Rover drives directly to Helipad (helicopter deployment site). Ingenuity is nestled up sideways under the belly of the Perseverance rover, with a cover to protect it from the debris kicked up during landing. General thing for successful flight of Mars Helicopter is Space weather. It relates to effects of our Sun’s radiation on Ingenuity. Everything on Mars, including Ingenuity, is bathed in a background of cosmic rays (high energy particles) from our Milky Way galaxy as well as particles from the Sun. When the Sun has a large flare and ejects electrically-charged particles (a so-called coronal mass ejection), the particles travel at high speed toward Mars and Ingenuity, following the Sun’s magnetic lines of force. As our helicopter has a number of elements that are not specifically engineered to be highly robust to these particles, we keep an eye on solar weather events. If such an event is predicted, and is of very large magnitude, we would possibly delay operating Ingenuity for a day or two to let the surge of particles pass by.
Credit: nasa.gov, NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Mar 23, 2021
Reverse engineering the cognitive brain
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: computing, engineering, nanotechnology, neuroscience
Circa 2013
One of the greatest aspirations of the human mind has been to realize machines that surpass its cognitive intelligence. The rapid expansion in computing power, about to exceed the equivalent of the human brain, has yet to produce such a machine. The article by Neftci et al. in PNAS (1) offers a refreshing and humbling reminder that the brain’s cognition does not arise from exacting digital precision in high-performance computing, but rather emerges from an extremely efficient and resilient collective form of computation extending over very large ensembles of sluggish, imprecise, and unreliable analog components. This observation, first made by John von Neumann in his final opus (2), continues to challenge scientists and engineers several decades later in figuring and reproducing the mechanisms underlying brain-like forms of cognitive computing.
Related developments are currently unfolding in collaborative initiatives engaging scientists and engineers, on a grander scale, in advancing neuroscience toward understanding the brain. In parallel with the Human Brain Project in Europe, the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative promises groundbreaking advances in enabling tools for revolutionizing neuroscience by developing nanotechnology to probe brain function at greatly increased spatial and temporal detail. Engineers are poised to contribute even further in revolutionizing such developments in neuroscience. In this regard it is helpful to relate the inquisitive nature of science—analysis—to the constructive power of engineering, synthesis.