Lifeboat Foundation

And it could fly to orbit, in only one launch, by the early 2030s.

European aerospace giant Airbus has just revealed a new concept space habitat called LOOP. The 26-foot-wide (8 meters) multi-purpose orbital module will feature three customizable decks, all of which will be connected by a tunnel overlooking a space greenhouse.

In a press statement, Airbus said its new space station design could accommodate up to eight crew members, and it could be deployed to orbit, in only one launch, by the early 2030s.

Continue reading “Meet LOOP: Airbus’ new space station includes sci-fi-like centrifuge” »

In Silicon Valley, some of the brightest minds believe a universal basic income (UBI) that guarantees people unrestricted cash payments will help them to survive and thrive as advanced technologies eliminate more careers as we know them, from white collar and creative jobs — lawyers, journalists, artists, software engineers — to labor roles. The idea has gained enough traction that dozens of guaranteed income programs have been started in U.S. cities since 2020.

Yet even Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and one of the highest-profile proponents of UBI, doesn’t believe that it’s a complete solution. As he said during a sit-down earlier this year, “I think it is a little part of the solution. I think it’s great. I think as [advanced artificial intelligence] participates more and more in the economy, we should distribute wealth and resources much more than we have and that will be important over time. But I don’t think that’s going to solve the problem. I don’t think that’s going to give people meaning, I don’t think it means people are going to entirely stop trying to create and do new things and whatever else. So I would consider it an enabling technology, but not a plan for society.”

Continue reading “We all contribute — should we get paid for that?” »

SpaceX launched a fully integrated Starship launch vehicle for the first time on Thursday morning, a long-awaited and highly anticipated milestone in the vehicle development program.

The orbital test flight surpassed many expectations. The vehicle cleared Max Q – the point at which the most aerodynamic pressure is exerted on the vehicle – and flew for nearly three minutes despite eight of its 33 rocket engines failing. The rocket reached an altitude of almost 40 kilometers, the point of stage separation, at which time the upper stage failed to separate from the booster, leading to uncontrolled tumbling and a spectacular midair explosion.

Despite its fiery fate, the test was a success: SpaceX got tons of valuable data that will inform future Starship and Super Heavy prototypes. But for all the wins, the test was a stark reminder that Starship mission timelines are in need of a reset.

Using an organ from a donor who underwent cardiac death, Stanford Medicine surgeons transplanted a heart while it was beating—the first time such a procedure has been achieved.

Initially performed by Joseph Woo, MD, professor and chair of cardiothoracic surgery, and his team in October, the technique has since been used in adult and pediatric patients five more times by surgeons at Stanford Medicine.

Stopping the heart before implantation can damage the cardiac tissue, so keeping it beating during transplantation avoids further injury to the organ.

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have created a promising injectable cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis that both reduces inflammation and also regenerates articular cartilage.

Recently identified by the Food and Drug Administration as a public health crisis, osteoarthritis affects more than 520 million people worldwide who deal with pain and inflammation. Osteoarthritis is typically induced by mechanical or traumatic stress in the joint, leading to damaged cartilage that cannot be repaired naturally.

“Without better understanding of what drives the initiation and progression of osteoarthritis, effective treatment has been limited,” said lead author Johanna Bolander of WFIRM. “Initially, we studied what goes wrong in osteoarthritic joints, compared these processes to functional environments, and used this information to develop an immunotherapy cell treatment.”

As five new ESA astronaut candidates started their basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in the beginning of April, there is a new patch to represent their transforming journey from Earth to space explorers.

Here’s a nice video exploring the history of the quest to create multipurpose humanoid robots! It briefly discusses promising AI-based methods for generalized motor cognition as well.

Links:

Continue reading “The Humanoid Robot Dream” »

The field of plate tectonics is relatively new, and researchers are still uncovering the intricacies of geologic faults that cause earthquakes. One such fault, the Cascadia Subduction Zone, is a potentially catastrophic offshore fault located in the Pacific Northwest that has yet to reveal all its secrets. Despite its eerie calmness, it is capable of producing a massive magnitude-9 quake.

A study led by the University of Washington discovered seeps of warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up from the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport, Oregon. Their research, published in the journal Science Advances.

Continue reading “Scientists Discover Mysterious Warm Liquid Spewing From Oregon Seafloor” »

Researchers discover a mechanism used by neurons to repair damage that occurs during neuronal activity.