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Dec 14, 2020

Aspiring astronaut and Space Age ambassador

Posted by in categories: engineering, space travel

Andrew Glester reviews Not Necessarily Rocket Science: a Beginner’s Guide to Life in the Space Age by Kellie Gerardi

When the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon in 1969 the whole world stopped, just for a moment, and looked up. We stepped out into the universe and firmly entered the Space Age, which had begun with Sputnik just 12 years earlier. For many Physics World readers, the scientific and engineering exploits of those early achievements are a source of intrigue and no little excitement. From those crackled first words on the Moon, to images of the boot print in the lunar surface, or the new perspective of our world – the fragile blue marble suspended in darkness – humanity’s most impressive engineering effort has had a huge impact on our collective consciousness.

Commercial spaceflight industry professional and science communicator Kellie Gerardi was one of the many who wanted to be part of the nascent Space Age. But with a degree in film studies rather than aerospace engineering, her non-traditional path in the space industry is a key theme of her new book Not Necessarily Rocket Science: a Beginner’s Guide to Life in the Space Age. With more than 122, 000 followers on Instagram, Gerardi is something of a social-media star, and her book serves as part mission statement, part witness statement and part manifesto. They say that those converted to a cause are often the most evangelical and Not Necessarily Rocket Science brims with Gerardi’s passion – not just for the science and engineering of space exploration, but also for its democratization.

Dec 14, 2020

Mass of human-made materials now equals the planet’s biomass

Posted by in category: materials

We are doubling the mass of the human-made, ‘anthropogenic’ part of the world every 20 years. The entire planet Earth could be converted to human uses within the next several centuries if this trend continues.

Dec 14, 2020

Lightweight road bike with dual propulsion

Posted by in categories: health, transportation

For those who want to exercise both their arms and legs when riding a bike! 😃


Cycle using arms and legs for a full body workout.

More info 👉🏻 https://bit.ly/37gySGU

Dec 14, 2020

Google outage: YouTube, Docs and Gmail knocked offline

Posted by in category: futurism

Google services knocked offline in rare outage.


Users around the world were unable to access applications including YouTube, Gmail and Docs.

Dec 14, 2020

Chemicals used to make non-stick pans linked to rapid weight gain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

Better doublecheck your kitchenware! 😃


The results indicate that environmental chemicals may be an important contributing factor to the obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to avoid exposure to PFASs as they have been widely used in products like cookware, clothes, shoes, wrappers and furniture, to make them more stain-resistant, waterproof and/or nonstick.

Additionally, even though some PFASs (but not all) are no longer manufactured in the U.S., they continue to be in other countries around the globe. The long life of the chemicals and their ability to travel long distances through the air makes exposure possible even years after manufacturing and at completely different geographical locations.

Continue reading “Chemicals used to make non-stick pans linked to rapid weight gain” »

Dec 14, 2020

YouTube is broken

Posted by in category: futurism

YouTube has gone down, with the video site failing to load at all.

Users simply see a message reading “oops”, a note saying that “something went wrong” and a picture of a monkey carrying a tool.

Continue reading “YouTube is broken” »

Dec 13, 2020

Suspected Russian hackers broke into federal agencies, according to US officials

Posted by in category: futurism

Issued on: 14/12/2020 — 01:42.

Dec 13, 2020

Physicists Detect the “Spooky Popcorn of the Universe”

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, space

For the first time, physicists measured fluctuations in the quantum realm.

Dec 13, 2020

Solar-based Electronic Skin Generates Its Own Power

Posted by in categories: energy, innovation

Scientists demonstrate a innovative e-skin with touch and proximity-sensing capabilities without using dedicated touch sensors.

Dec 13, 2020

Scientists Just Set a New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Renewables keep on gaining steam. 😃


Improving the efficiency of solar cells can make a huge difference to the amount of energy produced from the same surface area and the same amount of sunshine, and another world record has been beaten in the push for better yields.

Researchers have now hit an efficiency of 29.15 percent in the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell category, which is just one of several different types of cells. There are currently a variety of different technologies in use to convert solar energy into electricity.

Continue reading “Scientists Just Set a New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency” »