The Parker Solar Probe should be launched August 11, 2018 on a Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle and an upper stage based on the STAR-48B solid rocket motor. Interplanetary gravity assists will provide further deceleration relative to its heliocentric orbit, which may result in a heliocentric speed record at perihelion. The probe will achieve …
Michael West explains his theory that the body normally gets rid of senescent cells when we are younger because the body has enough rejuvenation to replace the cells. However, the older body cannot replace the cells as easily so the body says wait lets keep those heart cells or other cells because I cannot replace …
Clearing old “zombie” cells from the human body has been shown to extend the lives of mice. When cells detect that they have been irreversibly damaged, they enter a non-dividing condition known as cell-cycle arrest, or senescence. It’s believed this occurs to prevent cells from going rogue and turning cancerous. Ideally, they should die by …
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has stated that it is not worth it for Russia to compete for space launches against SpaceX and China. Russia used to dominate commercial space launches but now SpaceX and China are more inexpensive. SpaceX can now even beat the lower costs in China. China will still use its …
Jeff Bezos is increasing the staff of his rocket company Blue Origin to 3000 people over the next two or three years. Blue Origin currently has 1500 people. SpaceX has 6000 people. Blue Origin has not yet reached orbit with any rocket and is developing the New Glenn reusable heavy launch rocket. New Glenn’s first-stage …
Patrick Stewart is returning as Star Trek Captain Picard in a new streaming TV series. It will not be a Star Trek Next Generation reboot. The new series will tell the story of the next chapter of Picard’s life. Star Trek: Discovery co-creator/executive producer Alex Kurtzman will oversee development of new Star Trek content under …
Up until now small variations in the current passing through a memristor device was not precise enough for numerical calculations. The Nanoelectronics group, University of Michigan, got around this problem by digitizing the current outputs—defining current ranges as specific bit values (i.e., 0 or 1). The team was also able to map large mathematical problems …
Fracture-resistant “rebar graphene” is more than twice as tough as pristine graphene. Rebar graphene, developed by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour in 2014, uses carbon nanotubes for reinforcement. Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon. On the two-dimensional scale, the material is stronger than steel, but because graphene is so thin, it is …
Saudi Arabia wants its Public Investment Fund (PIF) to control more than $2 trillion by 2030 so that it can be used to support transition from oil. Saudi Arabia wants to diversify its the economy away from oil, under a plan known as Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has tried and mostly failed to diversify its …
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have made the first radio-telescope detection of a planetary-mass object beyond our Solar System. They found a rogue planet 12.7 times the mass of Jupiter twenty light years from earth. It is at the boundary of Jovian objects and Brown dwarf stars. …
US Natural gas fracking is enabling the boom in natural gas production and will be building up liquid natural gas imports to tens of millions of tons over the next few years. China will increase natural gas imports and this will offset about 15% of coal power generation. Natural gas has about half the air …