Science & Technology News – Page 67

Why This Start-Up Thinks Storing Containers In Space Is The Future

March 17, 2022

BY TUSHAR MEHTA

The future of humankind’s space endeavors is promising, with various private agencies taking humans into outer space or planning to take humans into space soon. But besides taking humans for a glorified taxi ride in a craft that flies extra high, many space-tech companies have also been attracting investors, garnering roughly $7.7 billion in investments from venture capitalists in 2021 according to PitchBook — a number that has gone up 50% over the previous year.

Among the ventures that have intrigued investors is Inversion Space, a Torrance, California-based company that aims to utilize the Earth’s orbit to store containers that can stay up for a period of up to five years. The company also envisions using the space surrounding the Earth for hyper-fast deliveries by propelling items into the space and then making them fall back into the atmosphere with the help of a parachute, The New York Times reports.

Inversion Space’s founders, Austin Briggs and Justin Fiaschetti, are betting on the possibility of space travel becoming more economical. As it becomes cheaper and easier to reach space — and humans identify ways to facilitate lodging in space, more companies might want to send to as well as bring objects back from the Earth’s orbit.

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Futurati Podcast with Samo Burja

March 15, 2022

Watch our interview with Samo Burja on Youtube.

Samo Burja is a sociologist and the founder of Bismarck Analysis, a firm that analyzes institutions, from governments to companies. His research work focuses on the causes of societal decay and flourishing and he writes on history, epistemology and strategy.

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Futurati Poccast with Trent Fowler

March 14, 2022

Watch Trent’s talk on Youtube or listen on the Futurati Podcast website.

Trent Fowler is a machine learning engineer, author, and co-host of the Futurati Podcast. As someone who’s worked at several crypto startups, he has years of experience dealing with blockchain data and thinking about the blockchain’s mechanics. This episode is adapted from a talk he recently gave explaining at a high level how this remarkable technology works and what it might mean for the future.

Related

NASA, Science & Technology News

NASA funds experimental radiation shield and Mars climbing robot

March 14, 2022

Several futuristic projects have just been awarded money through NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts programme – here are New Scientist‘s top five choices

By Will Gater

NASA has just announced the projects that will be getting money from its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme, which aims to support ideas for game-changing mission designs and never-before-seen space exploration tech. Here we look at five of the concepts and how they will be used.

Robots, Science & Technology News

Tiny robots made in Mexico to explore moon in scientific first

March 8, 2022

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

The bots are scheduled to launch in June on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, originally developed for Google’s Lunar-X-Prize. (representative Image)

Five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the moon later this year, part of a first-of-its-kind scientific mission that envisions the two-wheeled bots scrambling across the lunar surface while taking sophisticated measurements.

The so-called nano robots developed by researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) will work together like a swarm of bees, the senior scientist told Reuters, once they make the nearly 240,000 mile (386,000 km) trip from earth aboard a rocket from closely held U.S. firm Astrobotic Technology.

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

Energy, Science & Technology News

America’s Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable

March 6, 2022

Behind a rising number of outages are new stresses on the system caused by aging power lines, a changing climate and a power-plant fleet rapidly going green

By Katherine Blunt

The U.S. electrical system is becoming less dependable. The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Large, sustained outages have occurred with increasing frequency in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to a Wall Street Journal review of federal data. In 2000, there were fewer than two dozen major disruptions, the data shows. In 2020, the number surpassed 180.

Utility customers on average experienced just over eight hours of power interruptions in 2020, more than double the amount in 2013, when the government began tracking outage lengths. The data doesn’t include 2021, but those numbers are certain to follow the trend after a freak freeze in Texas, a major hurricane in New Orleans, wildfires in California and a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest left millions in the dark for days.

The U.S. power system is faltering just as millions of Americans are becoming more dependent on it—not just to light their homes, but increasingly to work remotely, charge their phones and cars, and cook their food—as more modern conveniences become electrified.

At the same time, the grid is undergoing the largest transformation in its history. In many parts of the U.S., utilities are no longer the dominant producers of electricity following the creation of a patchwork of regional wholesale markets in which suppliers compete to build power plants and sell their output at the lowest price. Within the past decade, natural gas-fired plants began displacing pricier coal-fired and nuclear generators as fracking unlocked cheap gas supplies. Since then, wind and solar technologies have become increasingly cost-competitive and now rival coal, nuclear and, in some places, gas-fired plants.

Regulators in many parts of the country are attempting to further speed the build-out of renewable energy in response to concerns about climate change. A number of states have enacted mandates to eliminate carbon emissions from the grid in the coming decades, and the Biden administration has set a goal to do so by 2035.

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Futurati Podcast with Trent Fowler

February 28, 2022

Listen on Futurati Podcast

Watch Trent’s talk on Youtube.

Trent Fowler is a machine learning engineer, author, and co-host of the Futurati Podcast. As someone who’s worked at several crypto startups, he has years of experience dealing with blockchain data and thinking about the blockchain’s mechanics. This episode is adapted from a talk he recently gave explaining at a high level how this remarkable technology works and what it might mean for the future.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

This Hyperspeed Space Sail Could Take Us to Next-Door Star Systems

February 28, 2022

An artist’s conception of the Starshot Lightsail spacecraft during acceleration by a ground-based laser array.

By Monisha Ravisetti

For years, physicists have been trying to perfect a way to catapult space probes at a fifth the speed of light. One team is flagging an important section of the blueprint.

Only about 4 light-years away from our solar system lies Alpha Centauri, another bustling space neighborhood. It’s anchored by three stars with the same job as our sun, holds planets analogous to our eight famous orbs and may even have an Earth twin hanging out in the habitable zone.Almost like an alternate reality, the star system is a tantalizing region for space explorers.

There’s just one, glaring issue. With our present technology, spacecraft sent toward Alpha Centauri wouldn’t arrive until somewhere around the year 82022. That’s why, in 2016, late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and investor Yuri Milner launched Breakthrough Starshot — an initiative to send microchip-size space probes over to Alpha Centauri at 20% the speed of light, reducing the whopping travel time to a mere 20 years.

brain-computer interfaces, Science & Technology News

Egyptian researcher develops brainwave-controlled wheelchair for those with paralysis: All you need to know

February 26, 2022

An electric wheelchair for people with tetraplegia, a condition when patients are unable to move their upper or lower body, was designed by an Egyptian researcher

By Abdelrahman Omran

Egyptian researcher Abdelrahman Omran designed a wheelchair for people with tetraplegia which operates by receiving users’ brainwaves. Reuters

An electric wheelchair for people with tetraplegia, a condition when patients are unable to move their upper or lower body, has been designed by an Egyptian researcher Abdelrahman Omran, reported Reuters.

The device will help those with paralysis by using head movements or brainwaves to operate the chair.

3D Printer, Science & Technology News

Cryobioprinting could make off-the-shelf tissue-engineered structures a reality

February 24, 2022

A new cryogenic 3D printing technique could one day enable fabrication of off-the-shelf artificial muscle fibres, according to research published in Advanced Materials.

By Katie Fegan

Printing synthetic tissue that mimics the structure of muscle remains a major challenge in tissue engineering. Muscle fibres are anisotropic, meaning that their physical properties, including the ability to transmit mechanical forces, are direction dependent. Introducing a temperature gradient during the fabrication process, from sub-zero temperatures upwards, is a simple way of creating tissue scaffolds with anisotropic microscale pores. However, the freezing process is harmful to cells encapsulated within the scaffold.

Enter cryobioprinting: an all-in-one fabrication and preservation technique developed by scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Cryobioprinting combines a customized freezing plate with cryoprotected bioinks to produce cell-laden structures with anisotropic microchannels. The scaffolds can be stored in liquid nitrogen for several months and revived on demand, a feature that would allow pre-made products to be used in a clinical setting.

“Cryobioprinting can give bioprinted tissue an extended shelf life and allows convenient transport of tissue between sites, which is something conventional bioprinting methods do not readily enable,” says senior author Y Shrike Zhang. “[Cryobioprinting] may have broad application in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug discovery and personalized therapeutics.”

Electric Automobile, Science & Technology News

Solar-powered car that can ‘drive for months without charging’ to hit roads this summer

February 20, 2022

The five -seater Lightyear One is designed to be an ‘off-the-grid, clean, and convenient mobility solution’(Lightyear)

By Anthony Cuthbertson

Lightyear One costs €150,000 and aims to be on roads by mid-2022.

A solar-powered car has travelled hundreds of kilometres on a single charge, marking a major milestone towards bringing the “world’s most efficient and sustainable” vehicle to the market.

The Lightyear One drove 400km (248 miles) at 130kph before needing to recharge during tests in the Italian town of Aprilia last month. Previous tests carried out at a lower speed saw the electric car travel more than 700km.

Lightyear claims its car will allow customers to “drive for months without charging”, and hopes to deliver the first vehicles to customers by mid 2022.

Reservations for the Lightyear One can already be made through the company’s website, requiring a €150,000 down payment.

“We have achieved an energy consumption of 141-watt hours per kilometre. What this means is that on one charge, you’d be able to drive for over 400km. For example, that ‘s from Amsterdam all the way to Luxembourg,” said Megan Parfitt, vehicle test coordinator at Lightyear.

“Comparing that to other vehicles on the market right now, that’s about one-and-a-half times further than a directly-comparable vehicle can do with the same battery size… It shows we’re well on our way to achieving our target of being the most efficient car on the market, not just in legislative cycles but also in real-world conditions that the customer will experience.”

Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

‘Game-changing’ tech can extract 99% of carbon dioxide directly from the air

February 17, 2022

The fuel cell could be a ‘game changer’, researchers believe.

By Rob Waugh

A new system powered by hydrogen can capture 99% of carbon dioxide (CO2) from air, according to scientists.

Researchers at University of Delaware said the breakthrough, in a device the size of a soft drink can, could be a “significant advance” for CO2 capture.

It could also lead to more efficient fuel cells for use in cars.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the new technologies that scientists hope will play an important role in tackling the climate crisis.

It involves the capture of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels in power generation, which is then stored underground.

The Delaware research team, led by Professor Yushan Yan, reported its method in Nature Energy.

Fuel cells work by converting fuel chemical energy directly into electricity and are used in hybrid or zero-emission vehicles.