LightSail is a crowdfunded solar sail project from the Planetary Society which launched this week on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Deployment in space of the cubesat with attached solar sail is due on July 2.
Scientists at he SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created the loudest possible underwater sound at 270dB, by zapping micro-jets of water with n X-ray laser.
Wolfram have launched their Wolfram Engine as a free package for developers. Described by Stephen Wolfram himself on his blog, the Wolfram engine implements the Wolfram Language, which in turn offers a huge range of computational intelligence and algorithmic processing, access to the Wolfram Knowledgebase as well as over 5000 abstracted functions like machine learning, visualisation and image computation.
Scientists have published the results of the study of the NASA twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly in Science Magazine. The experiment studies the physiological, molecular and cognitive changes that can happen to a human during a prolonged space mission. Scott Kelly was in the International Space Station for one year while his twin Mark stayed on earth, which allowed scientists to compare the effects of the space mission between the two identical twins.
Scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope project released the first ever picture of a black hole this week! Using a data from an array of telescopes around the globe, the team combined the massive amounts of data to create the image of M87. Dr. Katie Bouman created the machine learning interferometry algorithm used to combine the data and produce the image of the event horizon.
Research published by The American Chemical Society shows that aerogel film coated with polyethylene glycol and a waterproof layer acts as an effective invisibility cloak to infrared detectors. The relatively inexpensive coated material effectively absorbs heat but releases it slowly over time, making it less visible.
Researchers at CNRS and Aix-Marseille University, in the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement – Étienne Jules Marey (ISM) have developed a robot that can navigate outdoors without GPS. The AntBot mimics the cataglyphis desert ants, which navigate using an internal celestial compass based on the sky's polarised light combined with counting their steps taken.
Researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne conducted an experiment that showed that bees can perform addition and subtraction arithmetic by associating abstractions such as colour to the operators and performing calculations within a maze in search for sugar water.
A study from the University of Leeds says that there is a 66% chance of keeping temperature increase below a 1.5 degree increase if a fossil fuel phaseout begins immediately. The research assumes a lifespan for powerplants of 40 years, cars 15 years and planes 26 years. It also assumes a rapid end to beef and dairy consumption. If the phaseout doesn't being until 2030, the chances reduce to 33%.
