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Dec 17, 2020

NASA Makes Blue Origin Eligible to Launch Future Missions Without Crews

Posted by in category: space travel

Jeff Bezos and his company’s New Glenn rocket, which hasn’t yet flown, received the nod to potentially carry scientific payloads later this decade.


WSJ Membership.

Dec 17, 2020

Japan’s New Fighter Jet Will Have Wild Tech, Like Microwave Weapons

Posted by in category: military

Japan will build its next-gen fighter jet with the help of defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The unnamed fighter will be designed primarily to shoot down enemy planes, but will also have the ability to strike ground targets.

✈ You love badass planes. So do we. Let’s nerd out over them together.

Dec 17, 2020

Superhumans: The remarkable brain waves of high-level meditators

Posted by in category: neuroscience

! 😃


People who have meditated for thousands of hours exhibit a remarkable difference in their brainwaves. Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman says we can actually see what happens in the heads of those who have achieved “enlightenment” and the results are unprecedented in science.

Dec 17, 2020

Fujifilm, IBM unveil 580-terabyte magnetic tape

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics

When it comes to magnetic tape storage capacity, smaller is larger. That is, as the magnetic particles that store data become smaller, more data can be stockpiled in the same amount of space.

Two leading tech giants put that simple principle to work and announced Wednesday that they have developed a magnetic tape cartridge boasting the most dense capacity of any media in the world. Fujifilm and IBM say research into a new material, strontium , led to the creation of a tape cartridge capable of storing 580 terabytes of data. That’s enough to store roughly 580 million books, according to an IBM blog post published Wednesday.

Considering there are about only 130 million books in existence today, that’ll leave plenty of room for extras.

Dec 17, 2020

Report: Electric Cars Could Be Cheaper Than Gas Ones in Just 2 Years

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Kill a Watt

The reason why the price of energy storage is such an important automotive indicator is because the battery pack accounts for roughly a quarter of an EV’s total cost, making it the number one determinant of price.

It could be the electric car industry’s watershed moment: once dipping below the price of gasoline-powered engines, electric vehicles will look far more attractive to far more consumers.

Dec 17, 2020

France Says It’s Working on Bionic Supersoldiers Because Everybody Else Is Doing It

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, ethics, military, transhumanism

The French military is starting exploratory work on the development of bionic supersoldiers, which officials describe as a necessary part of keeping pace with the rest of the world.

A military ethics committee gave its blessing to begin developing supersoldiers on Tuesday, according to The BBC, balancing the moral implications of augmenting and altering humanity with the desire to innovate and enhance the military’s capabilities. With the go-ahead, France joins countries like the U.S., Russia, and China that are reportedly attempting to give their soldiers high-tech upgrades.

Dec 17, 2020

Leaked Meeting: Facebook Working on Device to Read Your Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Pre-Emptive Defense

All the same, Schroepfer seemed to acknowledge that getting people to actually use the tech might be a hard sell, according to the leaked meeting audio acquired by BuzzFeed News.

“We have to build responsibly to earn trust and the right to continue to grow,” Schroepfer said. “It’s imperative that we get this right so that people around the world get all these amazing technologies… without experiencing the downsides.”

Dec 17, 2020

Researchers create entangled photons 100 times more efficiently than previously possible

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, nanotechnology, quantum physics

Super-fast quantum computers and communication devices could revolutionize countless aspects of our lives—but first, researchers need a fast, efficient source of the entangled pairs of photons such systems use to transmit and manipulate information. Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have done just that, not only creating a chip-based photon source 100 times more efficient that previously possible, but bringing massive quantum device integration within reach.

“It’s long been suspected that this was possible in theory, but we’re the first to show it in practice,” said Yuping Huang, Gallagher associate professor of physics and director of the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

To create , researchers trap light in carefully sculpted nanoscale microcavities; as light circulates in the cavity, its photons resonate and split into entangled pairs. But there’s a catch: at present, such systems are extremely inefficient, requiring a torrent of incoming laser light comprising hundreds of millions of photons before a single entangled photon pair will grudgingly drip out at the other end.

Dec 17, 2020

COVID vaccine made from GMO tobacco? It’s now in human trials

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

“BAT said KBP had cloned a portion of the genetic sequence of coronavirus and developed a potential antigen, which is then inserted into tobacco plants for reproduction.”

😲😲😲


While large pharmaceutical companies are already producing vaccines, [the company British American Tobacco] believes its own can be produced in six weeks, compared with the several months it takes using conventional methods.

Continue reading “COVID vaccine made from GMO tobacco? It’s now in human trials” »

Dec 17, 2020

Tweaking two genes in cotton doubles crop yields—and may do the same in wheat, rice and corn

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics

“The research was conducted by overexpressing two different genes, the AVP1 and OsSIZ1.”

😯😯😯


One group of Texas Tech University researchers has found a way to double fiber yield for cotton in semi-arid areas like that of West Texas, where drought, heat and salinity are working against farmers.

Continue reading “Tweaking two genes in cotton doubles crop yields—and may do the same in wheat, rice and corn” »