Science
The latest science news.
Latest
SpaceX successfully completes Crew Dragon launch escape test
SpaceX just completed a major milestone in its quest to carry humans to orbit. The private spaceflight firm has successfully conducted an in-flight test of Crew Dragon's launch escape system, with the capsule jettisoning itself from the Falcon 9 rocket and splashing down in the Atlantic soon afterward. As expected, the host rocket broke apart shortly after the escape due to the sudden change in aerodynamics and pressure.
Lexus imagines space vehicles for humans on the Moon
If humanity ever ends up living on the Moon, what would the vehicles be like? According to Lexus, they'd be sleek, shiny and wouldn't look out of place in a sci-fi flick. The European Advanced Design Studio for Lexus and Toyota, the brand's parent company, has created seven lunar vehicle concepts for the Document Journal magazine. They all feature some design elements from the Lexus LF-30 Electric Concept, the luxury automaker's vision for the next generation of EVs, because the studio was in the midst of its development when the magazine asked for contributions.
Watch SpaceX's Crew Dragon in-flight abort test at 10:30AM ET on Sunday
One of the last major steps before SpaceX flies its Crew Dragon craft with real NASA astronauts onboard is an "in-flight abort test." Scheduled to take place during a four-hour window on Saturday, Sunday or Monday morning, it will test the vehicle's ability to safely get back to Earth if there's a problem during ascent.
HBO’s ‘Avenue 5’ asks what happens if tech bros conquer space
If you thought that HBO was done mocking technology companies now that Silicon Valley is done, think again. Avenue 5 is the channel's new sitcom, and one that asks the question: "What if tech bros were in charge of more than just our internet histories?'" The answer, at least according to the first half of the season, is that it won't be pretty -- or safe.
Scientists created living robots out of stem cells
Scientists have created a new life form that's something between a frog and a robot. Using stem cells scraped from frog embryos, researchers from the University of Vermont (UVM) and Tufts University assembled "xenobots." The millimeter-wide blobs act like living, self-healing robots. They can walk, swim and work cooperatively. Refined, they could be used inside the human body to reprogram tumors, deliver drugs or scrape plaque out of arteries.
NASA tests its water-hunting lunar rover VIPER
NASA has gotten a glimpse of how the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover or VIPER would fare on the Moon. It put an engineering model of its golf cart-sized rover to the test at Glenn Research Center's Simulated Lunar Operations Laboratory (SLOPE), which can mimic lunar and planetary surfaces.
SpaceX plans to test Crew Dragon's launch escape system on January 18th
SpaceX is edging closer to putting humans aboard Crew Dragon. The private spaceflight firm is planning to test the capsule's launch escape system on January 18th through an in-flight demonstration. The dry run will check that the spacecraft can carry its crew to safety if there's a problem during the ascent stage. The company has already tested launch pad aborts and parachutes.
Scientists confirm that plasma ‘sloshes’ around in galaxy clusters
For the first time, scientists have observed signs of plasma "flowing, splashing and sloshing" in a galaxy cluster. This kind of motion has been predicted, but it was only theoretical. Now, with data on how the plasma moves, researchers hope to discover how galaxy clusters, the largest systems in the Universe, form, evolve and behave. Their findings have been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
E-scooter injuries quadrupled in four years
It probably won't shock you to hear that the rise of e-scooters and their matching services has led to more injuries, but researchers now have some more tangible proof. A UCSF study indicates that electric scooter-related injuries in the US jumped 222 percent between 2014 and 2018, with over 39,000 people hurting themselves. There were 'only' about 3,300 hospital admissions, but that's an increase of a staggering 365 percent. Most first-time injuries came to the 18-to-34 crowd. And yes, the lack of helmets was a problem -- almost a third of injuries involved some kind of head trauma.
I skipped breakfast, but Samsung had a robot make me a salad
Normally when I miss breakfast, it's by choice. Today, it was because I was in a rush to get to Samsung's booth on the CES show floor and see if I could get any face time with the company's cute new rolling robot. (That, uh, didn't go so great.) The trip was still well worth it, though, because I got to eat a tofu salad partially made by a pair of robotic arms slung from the bottom of some kitchen cabinets.
Stanford researchers manage to put a particle accelerator on a silicon chip
In scientific pursuits, like the search for dark matter, researchers sometimes use high-power particle accelerators. But these giant machines are extremely expensive and only a handful of them exist, so teams must travel to places like the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, where Stanford University operates at two-mile-long particle accelerator. This may change, though. Researchers believe they have developed an alternative: a laser-driven particle accelerator that fits on a silicon chip.
New lithium-sulfur battery could let phones last five days between charges
Lithium-sulfur batteries have been in the news for years, but a new design might be worth your notice. Monash University researchers have crafted what they claim is the most efficient lithium-sulfur battery to date. An appropriately-sized unit reportedly has enough of a charge to run your smartphone for five days, while a car-sized pack could theoretically keep an EV driving for more than 621 miles. It has a reduced environmental impact and an "extremely low-cost" manufacturing process, too.
Reachy is an expressive, open-source robot
Seems like everybody's getting into the AI and robotics game -- at least the companies and research institutions that can afford to build their platforms from the ground up are. France's Pollen Robotics, on the other hand, aims to kickstart the robotics revolution with its open-source system, Reachy.
SpaceX video shows a simulated Crew Dragon mission to the ISS
SpaceX knows firsthand that spaceflight tests don't always go as planned. Earlier this year, an explosion during one such tests destroyed its Crew Dragon capsule. But those working on the project remain optimistic. NASA has said the capsule could be ready for its first crewed "Demo-2" test flight to the ISS in the first quarter of 2020, and today, Elon Musk tweeted a video simulation of what that flight might look like.
China's alternative to GPS should be complete by mid-2020
China's competitor to GPS is nearly finished after years of work. Project lead Ren Chengqi has revealed that the Beidou Navigation Satellite System's core was completed earlier in December, and that the last two satellites should reach orbit "before 2020." This will technically be the third phase of Baidou, which first rolled out in 2000, but it represents the culmination of the satellite system. in its present form. You won't see a major upgrade until 2035, Ran said.
Study says YouTube 'actively discourages' radicalism
Politicians and others complain that YouTube fosters extremism, but how caustic is it, really? Not all that much, according to researchers. Data scientist Mark Ledwich and UC Berkley researcher Anna Zaitsev have published a study suggesting that YouTube "actively discourages" radicalism through its recommendation system. Their reviewers classified over 760 politics-oriented channels based on overall leaning, topics and proximity to the mainstream, and found that YouTube removed "almost all" suggestions for conspiracy theorists, white identitarians and "provocateurs" (read: purposefully offensive creators). For the most part, there's only a significant likelihood of being matched with questionable content if you're already watching that material.
Christina Koch breaks record for longest spaceflight by a woman
NASA's Christine Koch just made history. As expected, the astronaut just broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman as of December 28th, eclipsing Peggy Whitson's 288 days from 2016-2017 thanks to an extended stay at the International Space Station. She should hold a comfortable lead, too. Koch is poised to spend a total of 328 days in orbit before she returns to Earth in February 2020.
Hitting the Books: How America's Space Race sought to renew our 'New South'
This week in Engadget's Hitting the Books series: How America's Space Race sought to renew our 'New South.'
The worst tech of 2019
2019 was full of hype. From excitement over foldable phones and laptops to plenty of noise about 5G, the year was packed with news about promising new technology that had the potential to monumentally change the industry. But many of these were first-generation efforts, and what we ended up getting, instead of piles of functional new toys, were buckets of disappointment.
Boeing Starliner is the first US-made crew capsule to land on the ground
The inaugural Starliner test flight didn't go according to plan, but it still made a little bit of history. Boeing's spacecraft landed safely at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range at 7:58AM Eastern, making it the first US-made, crew-ready capsule to touch down on solid ground. Previous capsules from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs all landed in the sea. This capsule didn't have any humans aboard (the test dummy Rosie doesn't count), but this is still a watershed moment.