FOUND AFTER TWO YEARS: LOST WEATHER BALLOON GOPRO WITH ASTOUNDING FOOTAGE FROM SPACE

In June 2013 five friends decided to go out into Arizona and take some footage of space when they attached their GoPro recorder to a weather balloon and sent it up into the sky. This was the last they saw of it for two years and when it returned it was worth the wait as it gave them some amazing shots of Earth it had taken from space.

College students and friends Bryan Chan, Ashish Goel, Ved Chirayath, Paul Tarantino and Tyler Reid decided to build a device and calculated the trajectory of it then registered it with the FAA so that it wouldn’t interfere with any aircraft that might be passing. The balloon carried a GoPro Hero3, Sony camcorder and Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone, with the two camera recording footage and the smartphone taking the photos. They finally decided to launch the balloon out in the desert just a few miles from Tuba City.

The group wanted to track the progress of their balloon via GPS that was on a smartphone; however, they lost contact with the location once the device and balloon went out of range of the cell phone tower. This left them wondering for many months, if they would ever see the balloon ever again or if

they would get their cameras back from the balloon. HIKER FOUND BALLOON AND EQUIPMENT TWO YEARS LATER The group waited and waited and then gave up on the idea of ever seeing it again. However, two years later they did get to see the results from their project when they received a call from a hiker. The hiker had been out in Arizona and had come across a box with the names of the group on it, around 50 miles from where they originally launched the balloon.

MISSING? ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT DEPICTS A BLACK PYRAMID AT THE GIZA PLATEAU

One of the most famous sightings of pyramids is the three main ones at Giza plateau. However, ancient texts have revealed that instead of three pyramids at the site, there should be four. FOUR BLACK STONE PYRAMIDS NOT THREE The Giza pyramid that is said to be missing was made of black stone, with the summit of the pyramid being made of a single stone, which is believed to have been a pedestal and this was made from a yellowish stone.

It was an explorer and naval captain who said there was a fourth pyramid at Giza. Frederic Norden made notes, drawings, and observations in the 1700s, including maps of pharaonic monuments. He then published them in a tome entitled Voyage d1Egypte et de Nubie.

The text was published after Norden had passed away and in it, he shared drawings of the expedition that he had taken to Egypt. Data in the text has been a fascination to researchers at it tells of a glorious black pyramid at Giza. In the book, he describes the pyramid as being of a black stone that was much harder than granite. Sceptics have said that perhaps he confused the satellite pyramids, which are around the main three, as being a fourth. However, this doesn’t make sense as the satellite pyramids were constructed of sandstone. MAP REVEALS FOUR DISTINCT PYRAMIDS The maps that Norden made during his journey seem to contradict what we know as it does clearly show that there are four main pyramids instead of three. Experts have looked for the fourth black one but haven’t found any sign of it. This doesn’t mean that it was never there to start with. Some people suggested that it might have been destroyed during the late 18th century and perhaps the stones of the pyramid might have been used when Cairo was being built.

BIZARRE! IF YOU COOL DOWN LIQUID HELIUM IT BEHAVES LIKE A BLACK HOLE

BIZARRE! IF YOU COOL DOWN LIQUID HELIUM IT BEHAVES LIKE A BLACK HOLE

Black holes have proven a difficult area of research for scientists, but they believe they have made a breakthrough by working out the forces involved in superfluid helium. Superfluid helium is a frictionless liquid, so allows scientists to conduct experiments that can be compared to black holes. If correct, this could help to finally generate a tangible answer to the questions about the quantum theory that have existed in physics for so long.  

The theory, called entanglement area law, applies to both black holes and the helium, and scientists such as Adrian Del Maestro, from the University of Vermont, believe they are finally gaining a good understanding. The principle of entropy means that time can never travel backward and many believe that since the big bang, this has been leading humanity towards another disastrous event. Stephen Hawking in the 70s was able to identify the behavior of black holes that is the most well known in popular culture, that material passing too close to the event horizon of a black hole will be sucked in, its information to be added to the black hole in the form of entropy. The super fluid helium solution that has been used in the experiments is a marvel in itself, made from helium that is only two degrees higher than absolute zero. This makes it into a gas with no viscosity, if it begins spinning, then it will spin forever, as friction cannot slow it down.


 Super computers were used to simulate the way that the atoms in the helium changed as it reached the extremely low temperature. This is believed to be a good comparison of what would happen to the atoms in an object if it were sucked into a black hole. These findings may challenge some of the core theories of physics, such as gravity, which rely on known quantities

SATELLITE DETECTS GIANT CIRCULAR OBJECT MOVING ON THE OCEAN FLOOR

ITs SEENs LIKE A SATELLITE DETECTS GIANT CIRCULAR OBJECT MOVING ON THE OCEAN FLOOR....

Google Maps has done it again! This time satellite imagery shows a massive circular object moving on the Pacific floor. People have found the most varied objects and anomalies on Google Maps, both on the surface of the Earth, and on the seabed. I really do not know where people find the time to look for these things, but I'm not complaining because sometimes what they find helps in our research on anomalous phenomena. And that's exactly what happened in this case.

Apparently, a spherical object has been rolling on the seabed, leaving its trail behind. The finding has been released for some time, but it is something interesting, especially considering that the video already has more than 3 million views. According to ufo researchers, the object is 4.5 km in diameter and the trail left behind measures 74 km, being at a depth of 900 meters below the surface. What do you think it is?

This Russian Gun-Slinging Robot Is Definitely Not A Terminator, Russia Insists

This Russian Gun-Slinging Robot Is Definitely Not A Terminator, Russia Insists

Meet FEDOR. He’s a humanoid robot from Russia that can screw in lightbulbs, drive a car, fire two handguns at once. But he’s absolutely *not* a Terminator — at least, according to Russian officials.

FEDOR, actually an acronym for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, is a bipedal robot originally developed by Android Technics and the Advanced Research Fund to take on search and rescue missions. But thanks to his extreme versatility and durability the Russian government reportedly plans to send him to space. FEDOR will likely become the sole passenger on Russian spacecraft Federatsiya, set to launch in 2021, or he serve on the country’s moon missions slated for 2031.

So why teach him to shoot guns? His creators say practicing marksmanship helps FEDOR develop his decision-making and motor skills, according to Independent. Although the military applications are clear, Russian deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin even shared a short video of FEDOR inaction last week.

“Decision-making and motor skills’ sure sounds a lot like “robot murder skills” to us, but FEDOR’s makers and the Russian government insist that this skeletal robot was in no way inspired by the ghoulish genocidal robots of the “Terminator” franchise.  

“We are not creating a Terminator, but artificial intelligence that will be of great practical significance in various fields,” Rogozin explained in a tweet.

THIS 94-YEAR-OLD SCIENTIST COULD SAVE THE ENTIRE PLANET

It would seem that here in the United States we should listen more to our senior citizens, especially one in particular. John Goodenough is a 94-year-old man who could very well have figured out a way to save planet earth. He has come up with a form of energy saving technology that could be quite beneficial to man kind. CAN 94 YEAR-OLD SCIENTIST SAVE EARTH?

Goodenough along with a group of scientists and researchers at the University of Texas at Austin created a battery that could make all other types of batteries obsolete. This battery is made out of glass; this one could save up to three times more energy than any battery now in use. Another goal of this new type of battery technology is to start to revolutionize the electronic automobile. This will enable cars to function without the use of oil and gasoline, the two leading cause of carbon monoxide gas in the air we breathed. This could be years if not decades down the road but if the new type of battery works as Goodenough and his team claim it could be fact in the future that fuels such as oil and gas are no longer needed to operate a vehicle.

This certainly isn't the first time that Goodenough has revolutionized the battery market. He also created the lithium-ion battery while working for Sony. The battery was rechargeable and of course took high-tech devices to the next level. We now use this type of battery in our laptops, our smartphones, and other devices. However, despite its universal use, there were drawbacks to the lithium-ion battery as well. There have been reported cases of the device causing the devices bursting into flames. So, there is drawback to the lithium-ion battery, and the question is will there be with this one. So far, Goodenough has been testing the new battery technology to ensure that all safety protocols are met. The problem though is Goodenough's age. Despite being a brilliant man with much accomplishments to his credit, there are those who don't wish to listen to an elderly inventor. Unfortunately, it is those who have most of the money for financial backing in the Silicon Valley where many leading tech companies are. But this won't stop Goodenough from fulfilling his goal. He wanted for decades to get America out of being dependent on oil and this new battery technology takes him one step closer to that dream. In the mean time maybe it's time for the rest of us to think about the way we perceive those who are considered beyond their prime. Perhaps they have a whole lot more to teach us than we thought. They could have a whole lot more valuable information to share with the world.

ZERO POINT ENERGY: THE ALIEN TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING

Zero Point Energy could help us reach interstellar space in no time. According to a batch of recently published emails between John Podesta and Former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell, This ALIEN technology could be at our fingertips. But are we ready for it? What is "Zero Point Energy"? It is the energy of the vacuum, which in quantum field theory is defined not as empty space but as the ground state of the fields. In cosmology, the vacuum energy is one possible explanation for the cosmological constant. A related term is zero-point field, which is the lowest energy state of a particular field. Nikola Tesla was the first to propose that the vacuum energy, or æther, might be harnessed for useful work, ever since then many people have claimed to exploit zero-point energy with a large amount of pseudoscientific literature causing ridicule around the subject. Watch video below and please share your comments.

STRANGE UFO-LIKE CLOUDS MAKE A RETURN TO WYOMING

Anyone living in Wyoming will have had their fill of the dark winter skies that cover the region when a weather front moves through. However, now spring is here, and summer is following, the cloud formation types over Wyoming are changing, and some of them are unique to the region. REGIONAL CLOUDS MAY BE BEHIND UFO SIGHTINGS IN WYOMING ...

It is possible that some regional clouds to Wyoming may explain some of the UFO sightings in the region. Recently a photograph was posted that seemed to show a strange disc shaped object moving over the sky in Wyoming, and it looked as though it had a tail, which gave it the look of a comet. The National UFO Reporting Center State Report Index in Wyoming has stated that people had been reporting weather anomalies as being UFOs. Weather chasers with the name of Base Hunters managed to capture a video of a huge hanging ominous dark cloud, and this video immediately caused a stir in Wyoming and online as a thunderstorm developed into a supercell close to Carleton in Wyoming. Supercells are huge thunderstorms, and they are typically seen across great planes. The very brave will want to stand there and check it out, while the not so brave, or wise ones, will get out of the region as fast as possible. For storm chasers, the supercells are known to be the Holy Grail, as the supercell is the most violent of all storms often throwing down hail of the size of a baseball, extremely strong winds and often tornadoes.

WHEN CLOUDS AREN’T CLOUDS, THEY ARE VIRGA Some of what seem to be clouds are not clouds at all. Virga is a weather event that occurs when smaller clouds release rain before it has been built up into a thunderstorm. Virga is seen when there are long wisps of mist that is bending, coming out of the bottom of the cloud and heading to the ground, but it doesn’t make it. It is often seen in deserts when the temperatures are high, and the humidity is low, causing rain to evaporate just after it is released from the clouds. It is also seen at high altitudes, and the name comes from Latin and means branch or twig. 

ELON MUSK ANNOUNCES 'NEURAL LACE' - A TECHNOLOGY TO MERGE HUMAN BRAIN WITH AI

The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, is known for his highly innovative projects and his futuristic style of thinking. Over the years, he has dazzled the scientific and technological community with his far-sighted new solutions to modern life, but it has recently been rumored that Musk is about to embark on his boldest move yet. Insiders are suggested that Musk is setting a new company that will develop the technology to allow human brains to link directly to physical, electronic devices. elon_musk_announces_neural_lace__a_technology_to_merge_human_brain_with_ai

The company is called Neuralink and is currently primarily involved with developing a ‘neural lace’ technology which will allow human beings to directly communicate with selected devices purely by the power of thought. This will allow them to upload or download their thoughts in real time and access information contained on devices without having to access a physical interface. Speaking at Vox’s Media Coda Conference Musk said that this kind of technology would allow human beings to achieve a form of ‘symbiosis’ with machines and would inevitably lead to a higher level of cognitive function/elon_musk_announces_neural_lace__a_technology_to_merge_human_brain_with_ai

NEURAL LACE PREVENT PEOPLE FROM BECOMING "HOUSE CATS" TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Musk said that this technology could also address fears expressed by many prominent scientists, including the renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking that artificial technology could render human beings totally irrelevant in the long term. He said that the neural lace could prevent human beings from being sidelined by powerful artificial technology by ensuring that they were a vital part of the AI process. "I don't love the idea of being a house cat, but what's the solution?” he asked the attendees of the Vox Conference, “I think one of the solutions that seem maybe the best is to add an AI layer…A third, digital layer that could work well and symbiotically." A neural lace which functions in the way described by Musk is obviously a long way away from being developed. It is thought that the first neural lace implants will be simpler and used for the treatment of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and perhaps even clinical depression. ....

TOP ASTRONOMER CLAIMS "ALIENS ARE MACHINES WHO HAVE OVERTHROWN ORIGINAL CREATORS"!

top astronomer claims aliens are machines who have overthrown original....

Aliens are often characterized as humanoid looking being such as the Greys, White Talls, etc. But if we do have an alien visitation here on Earth, it won't be necessary of organic nature. Top astronomer claims that extraterrestrial entities might be more machine like as a sign that they might have overthrown their original masters in their homeworld. According to Lord Martin Rees, as humanity is stepping into a future belonging to machines and cybernetic implants, the same could have happened to older and more advanced civilizations. Stephen Hawking has warned humanity of the dangers of extraterrestrial contact as well as the creation of Artificial Inteligence. These two things can mean the extinction of mankind. Perhaps someday machines will run our world and then attempt to travel into the far reaches of space in a quest for ultimate domination, as a superior new universal species above all that is organic

WINNER OF A GLOBAL COMPETITION: MEET DXTER, THE REAL-LIFE STAR TREK TRICORDERScience

WINNER OF A GLOBAL COMPETITION: MEET DXTER, THE REAL-LIFE STAR TREK TRICORDERScience

 fiction has given inventors a lot of inspiration, for instance, who wouldn’t like to have the sonic screwdriver of Dr. Who or the Tricorder from Star Trek? Well, while there hasn’t been any news on the sonic screwdriver, there is news about the all-purpose medical device known as the Tricorder.

The medical world would be changed forever with the Tricorder as it would be able to diagnose a patient instantly. The X-Price Foundation wanted the Tricorder so badly that they started a worldwide competition to find out if anyone out there could invent one. DXTER IS THE REAL-LIFE TRICORDER One team has come out victorious; a family team with the name of Final Frontier Medical Devices from Pennsylvania in the USA. The non-profit foundation managed to get hold of the $2.5 million prize fund, while the Dynamical Biomarkers Group from Taiwan came in second place and took home $1million.

The whole objective of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition was to come up with a handheld device that was non-invasive and which was lightweight, which was able to identify 13 different health conditions, 12 of which were diseases and the absence of disease, within 90 minutes to 24 hours and without additional help from any medical professionals. Vital health metrics that were required to be constantly monitored included heartbeat and respiratory functions. It was said that the winning device from the team was, in fact, more advanced that the fictional version from Star Trek. The competition started in 2012 and out of the 312 teams that started out, it was cut down to just ten teams. The two finalists had been revealed in December last year, and six were honored at the Los Angeles prizegiving ceremony. Dr. Basil Harris, an emergency physician, and brother George Harris, a network engineer headed the winning team. They designed DxtER, a device that had artificial intelligence, which they funded along with two other members of the family. They decided that one device wasn’t sufficient to be able to diagnose, accurately and quickly, various conditions in the patient and found they needed to link the device to a wealth of medical data. winner of a global competition meet dxter the reallife star trek tricorder

NASA just discovered the first food source for potential aliens

NASA just discovered the first food source for potential aliens

Searching for aliens is a tricky business. Most likely, the first alien life we discover will be hidden beneath miles of ocean on a distant world like Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Enceladus.

That's why the best way to search for alien life today is to find pieces of the puzzle that make up the larger picture. In recent years, NASA has done just that with its Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini first discovered evidence of a vast ocean on Enceladus by spotting plumes of water vapor jutting out of Enceladus' surface. Now, the Cassini team has announced that this distant ocean contains hydrogen.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, so it might not come as a surprise it exists in the oceans of Enceladus. However, this hydrogen could serve a very important purpose: food for alien microbes.

That's exactly what some of the hydrogen here on Earth does — it feeds microbes that live on the seafloor in extreme environments where sunlight can't reach. So, the discovery of hydrogen on another water world is extremely exciting.

NASA ANNOUNCES MAJOR PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT ITS SEARCH FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH

EUROPA OCEAN WORLD  
Space enthusiasts from all over the world have been left giddy with excitement after NASA has issued another cryptic message announcing a press conference this Thursday that will reveal new discoveries about ‘water worlds’ within this solar system.

While the press release didn’t give much away about the content of the planned press conference, it did make reference to ‘future ocean world exploration’ which is said to include NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission which will launch in the 2020s and will focus on ‘the broader search for life beyond Earth.’ The discoveries that will inform this press release are believed to come from data derived from the Hubble Space Telescope and the extraordinarily successful Cassini mission which has been examining Saturn and its numerous satellites for the past thirteen years. The wording of the press release suggests that NASA will not announce that they have actually discovered life beyond this planet as of yet. However, the specific and direct reference to Jupiter’s Europa moon seems to indicate that the space agency believes that it is very likely that the icy moon is hosting extra-terrestrial life.

Europa is one of Jupiter’s sixty-seven moons.and has long been believed to be one of the best candidates in this solar system capable of supporting extra-terrestrial life. Europa is a relatively small moon, a little smaller than Earth’s moon, with a thick layer of ice covering the surface and a huge liquid ocean. It is estimated that Europa’s ocean is almost ten times deeper than the oceans on planet Earth and that the reasonably small moon might hold as much as two to three more times the volume of liquid water than this planet. The presence of water is deemed to be one of the most important elements when it comes to establishing the existence of life. The new information about Europa will certainly enthrall space enthusiasts, especially if it involves moving closer to establishing the existence of life outside of planet Earth. The announcement will be made to the public at 2pm ET (6pm UTC) Thursday 13 April 2017, and you can watch the whole thing live below. nasa announces press conference about search for life beyond earth.....

An edible water bottle that could save the planet. Meet OOHO!

 Ooho is a container made of an edible algae membrane.

Created by London-based industrial design students Rodrigo García González, Pierre Paslier, and Guillaume Couche, the Ooho is a blob-like water container made out of an edible algae membrane.

The design is inspired by how liquid drops form and how egg yolks work. The container is created using a culinary technique called “spherification” and the water is held inside by a double gelatinous membrane. The gel around the water is created from brown algae and calcium

Because of the double membrane, identification labels can be placed in-between the layers without affecting the water and without the need for adhesive. The size of the sphere can also be controlled when the water is in the form of ice during the “packaging” process.

The designers envision the product as something that people can create in their own kitchens. People can modify and innovate the recipe and CIY (“Cook-It-Yourself”) the Ooho on their own.

Similar to Wikipearl, the Ooho promotes the use of natural and edible packaging. It proposes a simple and cheap, biodegradable and edible alternative to plastic bottles and aims to eliminate the inconceivable amount of water bottles that end up in landfills.

Ooho is a Lexus Design Award 2014 winner and will be on exhibit at Milan Design Week.....

Science isn't a matter of opinion

A rocket is launched from the Poker Flat Research Range 30 miles north of Fairbanks on Jan. 27, 2015. The range, part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, has been key to NASA studies of the northern lights. (Jason Ahms / UAF Geophysical Institute)








The current state of scientific discussion within society is beginning to resemble Issac Asimov's famous quote that ignorance is "… nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' "

This emerging paradigm is likely caused by a combination of factors. The first is inadequate science education, the second an intersection of hyper-partisanship and cognitive bias, in which people wield scientific data only when it suits their argument. In this way, the input of researchers is not only commonly dismissed in policy discussions, but often denigrated as "partisan screed of the biased liberal elite" or "tool of systemic oppression" when it runs contrary to the speaker's preconceived notions.

These statements could not be further from the truth. More to the point, the body of knowledge built by the scientific community is so interwoven and complex that one could not possibly cherry-pick the things that support their conclusions without committing to a massive number of logical paradoxes.

To illustrate my point, the body of knowledge upon which the assertions that man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for warming our atmosphere is based on the law that matter (specifically carbon dioxide and other gasses) absorbs and re-emits light as described in an equation derived by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.

[A march for science steps into the unknown]

If the case were made that warming of Earth's atmosphere is independent of the increasing levels of greenhouse gases, it would mean that his equation was wrong. But that equation also governs our understanding of chemistry, as we use the amount and wavelength of light that a chemical absorbs to determine its structure, which we cross-reference for accuracy by subjecting the chemical to intense magnetic fields in various instruments and observing its behavior. If Arrhenius was wrong, then these other systems would also be wrong. This implies that our understanding of magnetism and electromagnetism is flawed.

China has handed a 600-ton patrol ship over to Pakistan’s

China has handed a 600-ton patrol ship over to Pakistan’s maritime safety authority in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, reported the Chinese newspaper People’s Daily.

Among other things, the ship will be used to safeguard Pakistan’s maritime interests.

The new ship, just the third of its kind, was built by China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd. (CSTC) and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Xijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Its two predecessors have already demonstrated their reliability and excellent performance during visits and exchanges, joint drills, maritime rescue and other missions in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s maritime safety authority expressed appreciation for the quality of the ships and for sound cooperation with Chinese ship manufactures, who have promised to provide after-sale services, the report said.


“The ships are key to consolidating China-Pakistan relations, protecting Pakistan’s sea transportation and pushing forward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt and Road Initiative.”

The under water car Rinspeed sQuba

THE FIRST UNDER WATER         CAR THE sQuba

The sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The original idea by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. The chassis from the Lotus Elise is used as the base for this vehicle.

The sQuba is a zero-emission, all electric vehicle which uses three electric motors, one for land travel, two for water. It drives on land powered by its electric rear-wheel drive powertrain, utilizing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Upon entering water, it floats on the surface until the operator floods the interior to submerge it. It can be submerged to a depth of 10 metres (33 ft), powered by twin electric-powered propellers supplemented by two Seabob water jets.  It "flies" when underwater, like a submarine, as it is not designed to drive along the surface at the bottom of the water. The car's top land speed is 120 km/h (75 mph). On the surface of water, the top speed is 6 km/h (3.2 kn; 3.7 mph) and underwater it is 3 km/h (1.6 kn; 1.9 mph).

The vehicle can transport a driver and passenger in its open cockpit. The open cockpit design is intended to allow the occupants to escape easily in case of emergency. When underwater, the occupants breathe air carried in the vehicle through scuba-style diving regulators. Without occupants, the sQuba will surface automatically. The twin water jets mounted on rotating louvers at the front of the vehicle provide steering and lift while it is underwater and the propellers at the rear provide forward movement.



The vehicle's interior is water and salt resistant so that it can be driven in the ocean..........

The sQuba also comes equipped with a laser sensor system made by autonomous cruise control system manufacturer Ibeo to allow autonomous operation

This new solar-powered device can pull water straight from the desert air

The new solar-powered device

You can’t squeeze blood from a stone, but wringing water from the desert sky is now possible, thanks to a new spongelike device that uses sunlight to suck water vapor from air, even in low humidity. The device can produce nearly 3 liters of water per day, and researchers say future versions will be even better. That means homes in the driest parts of the world could soon have a solar-powered appliance 

capable of delivering all the water they need, offering relief to billions of people.  

There are an estimated 13 trillion liters of water floating in the atmosphere at any one time, equivalent to 10% of all of the freshwater in our planet’s lakes and rivers. Over the years, researchers have developed ways to grab a few trickles, such as using fine nets to wick water from fog banks, or power-hungry dehumidifiers to condense it out of the air. But both approaches require either very humid air or far too much electricity to be broadly useful.

To find an all-purpose solution, researchers led by Omar Yaghi, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley, turned to a family of crystalline powders called metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. Yaghi developed the first MOFs—porous crystals that form continuous 3D networks—more than 20 years ago. The networks assemble in a Tinkertoy-like fashion from metal atoms that act as the hubs and sticklike organic compounds that link the hubs together. By choosing different metals and organics, chemists can dial in the properties of each MOF, controlling what gases bind to them, and how strongly they hold on

US military may use lightsabers and laser weapons by 2025

The lightsabers and laser wepons for us military....

WASHINGTON: A sci-fi staple for decades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US military, albeit with capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies.

Lightsabers — the favoured weapon of the Jedi in Star Wars films — will remain in the fictional realm for now, but after decades of development, laser weapons are now here and are being deployed on military vehicles and planes.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon — all the big defence players — are developing prototypes for the Pentagon. The Navy has since 2014 been testing a 30-kilowatt laser on one of its warships, the USS Ponce.

Lockheed Martin has just announced a 60-kilowatt laser weapon that soon will be installed on an army truck for operational testing against mortars and small drones.

The weapon can take out a drone from a distance of about 500 yards by keeping its beam locked onto the target for a few seconds, Jim Murdoch, an international business development director at Lockheed apprised reporters.

But unlike in the movies, the laser beam is invisible to the naked eye.

By focusing the beam onto a target, the technology rapidly heats the inside of an incoming mortar round, causing it to explode mid-air. An impressive feat considering the round is moving at hundreds of miles per hour

UK Digital, robotics underscore lagging U.S. development caused by patent ineligibility of software....

UK Digital Strategy initiatives in AI, robotics underscore lagging U.S. development caused bypatent ineligibility of software

Before there was President Donald J. Trump, there was Brexit. It was the first in a growing series of moves towards political nationalism which, despite being widely scoffed at early on, has won enough favor to become today’s political reality. The UK’s planned secession from the European Union (EU) as a result of the country’s referendum vote last June has major economic implications for the country as it releases Britain from a list of regulatory obligations enforced by the EU and allows the country to negotiate bilateral trade agreements, the first time the UK government will have engaged in such negotiations since 1973.

                                                                           

Even as it moves towards leaving the EU, the UK is looking ahead to see where its economic fortunes might lie in the years to come. In late February, the country’s plans came into a bit more focus with the UK’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport announcing a new Digital Strategy tech development policy initiative. The UK cites an artificial intelligence (AI) market research report published last year by Accenture, which notes that intelligent automation, augmentation and total factor productivity innovations could provide £654 billion ($814 billion USD) worth of economic growth by the year 2035. The growth of AI in the UK could be particularly valuable to the country’s strong pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors, according to the Accenture report.

The robots take over comunication ....

Will robots take over communications?

Are all our jobs going to be taken over by robots? Will any skill or profession be safe? What are the implications for how we are schooled, governed and treated in hospitals? And what on earth are we going to do in our cars once they are driverless and don’t require any human intervention? The brave new world of artificial intelligence holds the answer.

In some quarters, it is being called the Fourth Revolution, following those previously brought about by agriculture, industry and the Internet but it is not that new. As a phrase, artificial intelligence (AI) dates back to 1956 and a conference at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA.

As an idea, the notion of trying to build a machine to perform useful reasoning may have begun with the Blessed Ramon Llull, a 13th Century philosopher and logician from Majorca. In fiction, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein of 1818 envisaged the creation of a human-made grotesque but sapient monster; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World of 1931 anticipates the development of reproductive techniques that obviate the need for human parenting.

Govt makes new formula to finish the load-shedding

 Govt makes new formula to finish the load-shedding

Government has made a new strategy, plan to finish the load-shedding as advanced metering and infrastructure would be used.

In first phase, 1 million AMI metres would be set up, which is a technology which would eradicate the electricity theft and also the load-shedding. This technology would lessen the load of electricity at the place.

Apart of new metres, there would be a device to deliver the messages if there will be less electricity. If someone would not submit the bill on time, control room would finish their connection.

The work on advance metering and infrastructure would start from 15 December and it would take years to complete. 17 billion dollars would be spent on the project and funds would be provided by Asian Development Ban

Novartis backs off from 2016 date for testing Google autofocus lens.....

Novartis backs off from 2016 date for testing Google autofocus lens

"It is too early to say when exactly human clinical trials for these lenses will begin," a spokeswoman for the Basel-based drugmaker said in an email on Friday.

"This is a very technically complex process and both sides are learning as we go along. We will provide updates at the appropriate time," she said.

Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez said last year his company’s Alcon eye care unit was on track to begin testing in 2016.
In 2014, Jimenez said he hoped the lens would be on the market in about five years.

Novartis and Google joined forces two years ago to develop two kinds of "smart" contact lenses: An autofocusing lens for people with presbyopia, or far-sightedness, and another for measuring blood glucose levels in diabetes patients.

The lenses are now being developed with Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences unit Verily, which was carved out from Google in 2015.
Measuring blood sugar via the eye could allow diabetics to stop having to prick their fingers, while an autofocus contact lens would help people whose ability to focus is impaired when their eyes age.

It is unclear when testing for the diabetes lens will start.  

Since the partnership with Google was launched in 2014, Alcon’s sales have slid and its leadership team has been replaced.
New division head Mike Ball has been tasked with halting the revenue decline in advance of a possible sale of the unit.

But Novartis said that did not bar investment in innovative projects such as the lens effort with Google.

"Advancing innovation such as the smart lens technology, is a key part of Alcon’s growth strategy," the spokeswoman said.
"The ‘smart lens’ technology has the potential to transform eye care and further enhance our pipeline ... in the contact lens and intraocular lens space."

Mobile phone radiation may cause brain cancer

Mobile phone radiation may cause brain cancer

A study suggests risks for the human body due to prolonged use of cell phone; one of them was brain cancer.


A once-secret document detailing links between cell phones and brain cancer has now been released by the order of a California court.


The document says that “long-term cell phone use may increase the risk of brain cancer and other health problems” and admits that “cell phone Electro Magnetic Field’s can affect nearby cells and tissues.”


In a special warning section about children, it also explains that “EMFs can pass deeper into a child’s brain than an adult’s.”