Lifeboat Foundation

Related: New NASA astronauts celebrate moon missions, private space stations as they get ready for liftoff (exclusive)

“I’ve always been fascinated with new things. I like to develop things,” Douglas told Space.com in March about the Artemis program, which later this decade aims to put astronauts on the moon’s surface for the first time since 1972. “I really believe in pushing ourselves, in understanding what is our true potential: both me as an individual, [and] within all of us as a species.”

“This is the perfect place to be, where we’re going to push that boundary,” he said.

Time: It bends and warps, or seems to speed up or slow down, depending on your position or perception. So measuring its passing accurately is one of the most fundamental tasks in physics – which could help land us on Mars or even observe dark matter.

Now, physicists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Delaware have developed the most accurate and precise atomic clock yet, using a ‘web’ of light to trap and excite a diffuse cloud of cold strontium atoms.

“This clock is so precise that it can detect tiny effects predicted by theories such as general relativity, even at the microscopic scale,” says Jun Ye, a physicist at the NIST’s Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) lab at the University of Colorado. “It’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with timekeeping.”

Huge Savings: Subscribe today to enjoy sports, entertainment, life, money, tech, and travel news along with videos, apps, and more.

NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Matt Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams share a Fourth of July message and extend their best wishes to those back on Earth in a video recorded on June 28, 2024.

The crew members are currently living and working aboard the International Space Station. Their missions aim to advance scientific knowledge and test new technologies for future human and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars, including NASA’s Artemis lunar missions.

Continue reading “NASA Astronauts Send Fourth of July Wishes From the International Space Station” »

Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, announced plans for a sprawling $800 million data center in the rural US county.

Researchers have made the most precise measurement to date of the excited nuclear state of thorium-229, a candidate isotope for an ultraprecise nuclear clock.

A study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour challenges the belief that identical physical actions are governed by the same motor memory, regardless of the decision-making process involved. Researchers from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and HONDA R&D Co., Ltd. have discovered that the brain differentiates and stores motor memories based on the level of uncertainty experienced during decision-making.

In a football (soccer) penalty shootout, a player may decide to confidently kick the ball to the right corner upon observing the goalkeeper moving in the opposite direction. Alternatively, the player might make the same kick while being unsure about the goalkeeper’s movement.

Although the physical action—kicking the ball to the right—is identical in both scenarios, this new study reveals that the brain tags these actions differently based on the decision uncertainty involved. This discovery suggests that motor memories are not simply repetitions of the same action but are influenced by the cognitive processes leading up to them.

A new theory has finally deciphered the physical mechanisms of fracture in soft materials. This discovery could soon lead to new, defect-free materials that are more resistant and durable as well as environmentally friendly. The article “Elastic instability behind brittle fracture” was recently published by Physical Review Letters.

“We have revealed that fracture propagates from the free surface of the material, starting from an elastic instability that breaks the symmetry of the object. Then, the rupture drastically extends with an intricate network of cracks spreading like a turbulence phenomenon similar to what we observe in fluids, like during vortex formation,” explains Pasquale Ciarletta from the MOX Laboratory, Department of Mathematics at Politecnico di Milano.

This discovery stimulates significant applications in various technological sectors. For instance, in the production of micro and nano devices, where materials need to be extremely resistant and defect-free.

Researchers at Rice University are making strides in understanding how chromosome structures change throughout the cell’s life cycle. Their study on motorized processes that actively influence the organization of chromosomes appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

“This research provides a deeper understanding of how motorized processes shape chromosome structures and influence cellular functions,” said Peter Wolynes, study co-author and the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science. Wolynes is also a professor of chemistry, biosciences, physics and astronomy and the co-director of the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP).

The research introduces two types of motorized chain models: swimming motors and grappling motors. These motors play distinct roles in manipulating chromosome structure.