Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientists lay out revolutionary method to warm Mars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ever since we learned that the surface of planet Mars is cold and dead, people have wondered if there is a way to make it friendlier to life. The newly proposed method is over 5,000 times more efficient than previous schemes to globally warm Mars, representing a significant leap forward in our ability to modify the Martian environment.

Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

'Amphibious' sensors make new, waterproof technologies possible      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating sensors that can function both in air and underwater. The approach paves the way for 'amphibious' sensors with applications ranging from wildlife monitoring to biomedical applications.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Astronomers uncover risks to planets that could host life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A groundbreaking study has revealed that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientists pin down the origins of the moon's tenuous atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists say they have identified the main process that formed the moon's atmosphere and continues to sustain it today. The team reports that the lunar atmosphere is primarily a product of 'impact vaporization.'

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
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Key to rapid planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new model to explain the formation of giant planets such as Jupiter, which furnishes deeper insights into the processes of planet formation and could expand our understanding of planetary systems.

Engineering: Robotics Research Environmental: General Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
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Towards smart cities: Predicting soil liquefaction risk using artificial intelligence      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Soil liquefaction that results in infrastructure damage has long been a point of contention for urban planners and engineers. Accurately predicting the soil liquefaction risk of a region could help overcome this challenge. Accordingly, researchers applied artificial intelligence to generate soil liquefaction risk maps, superseding already published risk maps.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

The corona is weirdly hot: Parker Solar Probe rules out one explanation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By diving into the sun's corona, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has ruled out S-shaped bends in the sun's magnetic field as a cause of the corona's searing temperatures.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
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Shape-shifting 'transformer bots' inspired by origami      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors.

Biology: Biochemistry Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Energy: Alternative Fuels Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

New understanding of fly behavior has potential application in robotics, public safety      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have identified an automatic behavior in flies that helps them assess wind conditions -- its presence and direction -- before deploying a strategy to follow a scent to its source. The fact that they can do this is surprising -- can you tell if there's a gentle breeze if you stick your head out of a moving car? Flies aren't just reacting to an odor with a preprogrammed response: they are responding in context-appropriate manner. This knowledge potentially could be applied to train more sophisticated algorithms for scent-detecting drones to find the source of chemical leaks.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA's Fermi finds new feature in brightest gamma-ray burst yet seen      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT -- the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before.

Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Space-trekking muscle tests drugs for microgravity-induced muscle impairment      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A gentle rumble ran under a researcher's feet as a rocket carrying her research -- live, human muscle cells grown on scaffolds fixed on tiny chips -- lifted off, climbed, and disappeared into the sky to the International Space Station National Laboratory. These chips would help her better understand muscle impairment, often seen in astronauts and older adults, and test drugs to counter the condition.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Computer Science: General Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Next-gen cooling system to help data centers become more energy efficient      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is hot right now. Also hot: the data centers that power the technology. And keeping those centers cool requires a tremendous amount of energy. The problem is only going to grow as high-powered AI-based computers and devices become commonplace. That's why researchers are devising a new type of cooling system that promises to dramatically reduce energy demands.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Chemistry: Biochemistry Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

It's got praying mantis eyes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The praying mantis is one of the few insects with compound eyes and the ability to perceive 3D space. Engineers are replicating their visual systems to make machines see better.

Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Foam fluidics showcase lab's creative approach to circuit design      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers have shown that something as simple as the flow of air through open-cell foam can be used to perform digital computation, analog sensing and combined digital-analog control in soft textile-based wearable systems.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dark matter flies ahead of normal matter in mega galaxy cluster collision      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have untangled a messy collision between two massive clusters of galaxies in which the clusters' vast clouds of dark matter have decoupled from the so-called normal matter.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Images of nearest 'super-Jupiter' open a new window to exoplanet research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers imaged a new exoplanet that orbits a star in the nearby triple system Epsilon Indi. The planet is a cold super-Jupiter exhibiting a temperature of around 0 degrees Celsius and a wide orbit comparable to that of Neptune around the Sun. This measurement was only possible thanks to JWST's unprecedented imaging capabilities in the thermal infrared. It exemplifies the potential of finding many more such planets similar to Jupiter in mass, temperature, and orbit. Studying them will improve our knowledge of how gas giants form and evolve in time.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Expiring medications could pose challenge on long space missions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study shows that over half of the medicines stocked in space -- staples such as pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids -- would expire before astronauts could return to Earth.