Saturday, July 11, 2020

How to choose a robot for your company | ZDNet

Robots are now making meaningful contributions in wildly disparate industries like fashion, food, small components manufacturing, energy, and construction, adding to increasing penetration of automation technologies into already robotics-friendly sectors like logistics and durable goods manufacturing.

This proliferation in use cases has come with an explosion in vendors and automation technology categories, and it can be tricky for CTOs and other stakeholders to know where to start. For a general overview of what kinds of robots are becoming commonplace in the enterprise, a great first step is our executive guide on the subject: Robotics in Business: Everything Humans Need To Know .

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Publisher: ZDNet
Author: Greg Nichols
Twitter: @ZDNet
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And here's another article:

Tyson Turns to Robot Butchers, Spurred by Coronavirus Outbreaks - WSJ
Publisher: WSJ
Date: 2020-07-09T14:08:00.000Z
Author: Jacob Bunge and Jesse Newman
Twitter: @WSJ
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Humans are Better But Tyson Turns to Robots

This reminds me of fruit growers converting to machines to pick fruit, such as apples. The trees are pruned in a specific way to allow an automated picking machine to drive over the tree and remove the fruit. Far fewer farm workers needed.

* * *

Does this apply to the States as well, I can easily imagine the work there too being performed by poorly paid and housed illegals...

It doesn't appear that meat packing has changed all that much over the years. Yes, the people are close together, but note that 3 people per 1,000 square feet is not packing people together like sardines; that is 18 square feet per person. Still, people are closer together than that implies because they are clustered around conveyors, and much of the spaces is for storage.

Publisher: Mish Talk
Date: 2020-07-10 22:43:11 0000
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BionicSwift | Robotic Birds

Birds have long inspired human flight. Now, drone makers are turning to the feathery fliers for inspiration, too.

* * *

The feathers, themselves, are not genuine, but are modeled on the real thing. Each individual segment of the wing is made up of light, flexible foam. Each "feather" overlaps the next, like shingles on a roof, and is connected to a carbon quill. The full array is attached to the primary and secondary feathers so that they can seamlessly slide apart in unison, just like real bird feathers.

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Publisher: Popular Mechanics
Date: 2020-07-09 08:26:00
Twitter: @PopMech
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Not to change the topic here:

a japanese baseball team replaced fans with cheerleading robots

in a special exhibition, deutsche telekom explores customization tools to tailor the smart speaker mini to fit your evolving taste, needs & interior style.

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the N700S — S stands for supreme — has a 'rescue pack' lithium-ion battery that can move an affected train at low speed in the event of a serious »

the N700S — S stands for supreme — has a 'rescue pack' lithium-ion battery that can move an affected train at low speed in the event of a serious interruption of the overhead power supply, like an earthquake.

Publisher: designboom | architecture & design magazine
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In a time of social distancing, robots could be just what the doctor ordered | The Seattle Times

Nowhere is that truer than in Japan, a country with a long fascination with robots, from android assistants to robot receptionists. Since the virus arrived, robots have offered their services as bartenders, security guards and deliverymen.

But they don’t necessarily need to supplant humans, researchers say. They can also bridge the gap between people mindful of social distance — now or when the next major contagion hits.

Want to drop in on your elderly parents but are afraid of passing on a coronavirus infection? Maybe you’re missing your grandchildren, and finding Zoom chats a little limiting?

Publisher: The Seattle Times
Date: 2020-07-09 16:31:00
Twitter: @seattletimes
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After the pandemic, doctors want their new robot helpers to stay - The Verge

But machines like Violet, says Kiernan, have helped with these problems, proving their worth in a time of crisis. And like other doctors The Verge spoke to, Kiernan says that when the pandemic is over, the robots should stay.

"The reaction from staff, and anyone who's seen it really, has been so positive," says Kiernan of Violet. "They love that we're embracing technology, but also that the results it's achieving are exceeding what we can do manually. We're protecting the staff, we're protecting the patients, and we're protecting the cleaners."

Publisher: The Verge
Date: 2020-07-09T07:02:37-04:00
Author: James Vincent
Twitter: @verge
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Robotic Technologies and Use Cases for Business Deployment

Robotic vehicles including unmanned ground, air, and sea vehicles, robotics and automation , intelligent control systems, intelligent manufacturing, intelligent transportation systems, weapon systems are some of the wonder deployments of robotics that have caught the attention of businesses.

Robotic products under development include collaborating with intelligent systems to control complex systems of systems that serve as decision tools for human decision-makers, and autonomous intelligent robots and vehicles for military and civil applications.

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Publisher: Analytics Insight
Date: 2020-07-11T16:55:07 05:30
Twitter: @analyticsinme
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How many ETs are in our galaxy? Ask the Alien Civilization Calculator | Space | EarthSky

Researchers at Omni Calculator have created the Alien Civilization Calculator, a unique combination of two different methods of trying to determine how many advanced alien civilizations may exist in our galaxy.

A long-exposure photograph of the Milky Way overlaid by the Drake equation: an equation developed by Frank Drake in 1961 for estimating the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy. Image via Medium.com .

The scientists who created the Alien Civilization Calculator are with Omni Calculator – which has many different types of calculators under one roof (1,197 according to the website) – and which, Omni Calculator says, makes it:

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Publisher: EarthSky
Date: 2020-07-08T06:43:35-05:00
Author: Paul Scott Anderson
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Were you following this:

NASA Sets New Planetary Protection Rules for Moon, Mars to Protect Them From Biological

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in order to protect the Moon and Mars from extraterrestrial contamination, has issued a new set of guidelines. This directive, valid for the next one year, updates the requirements for robotic and human missions travelling to the two solar system bodies, which are currently the go-to destinations for several space agencies on Earth.

The concept of planetary protection determines just how much biological contamination is considered acceptable during a space mission.

Publisher: The Weather Channel
Date: 2020-07-11T13:17:47.000Z
Twitter: @weatherchannel
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Bulk of an Experiment - The New York Times

A note on 58D , which is incorrectly clued. The crossword editors write: "While Wall-E pronounces the name "EE-vuh," it's actually spelled EVE, which stands for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator." The clue has been changed to ___ Air (carrier to Taiwan) in electronic formats.

SATURDAY PUZZLE — We haven't had a Times crossword from Kameron Austin Collins for over a year, although you can catch him in The New Yorker . I find his style distinctive and enjoyable, understandably redolent with cinema and entertainment references, as he is a film critic for Vanity Fair . He uses interesting templates for his grids, a lot of really slippery cluing, and some difficult and unusual entries.

Date: 2020-07-11T01:40:02.000Z
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New map of the universe unveils a stunning X-ray view of the cosmos | Space

Wish you had X-ray vision? An extraordinary new map showcases the universe in striking, X-ray radiation.

Scientists created this stunning X-ray map of the universe using eROSITA (Extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array), an instrument on the German-Russian satellite mission Spectrum-Röntgen-Gamma, or Spektr-RG .

* * *

In scouring the skies, eROSITA spotted over a million sources of X-ray radiation from all across the cosmos, with most of the sources being active galactic nuclei, or the luminous, compact region at the center of galaxies. This number of sources roughly doubles the number of known X-ray sources that have been discovered over the 60-year history of X-ray astronomy, according to a statement from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany.

Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-07-09T11:01:05 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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And here's another article:

2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro: New LED Headlights and Lunar Rock Color - The Drive

Fun fact: Since the Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro—the most extreme, most rugged, and naturally, most expensive 4Runner the company sells—was introduced six years ago, each model year has had its own exclusive paint color. For 2020, Toyota gave us that rad Army Green hue , but it's being replaced by "Lunar Rock" in2021, which as its name suggests, is inspired by the surface of the moon.

Beyond the extraterrestrial paint option, the 2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro has also been given a smattering of new equipment. 

Publisher: The Drive
Author: Chris Tsui
Twitter: @thedrive
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eROSITA telescope scans the entire sky, produces comprehensive X-ray map that shows millions of

Scientists have moved ahead in their endeavour to explore and understand space. Now, they have come up with a new comprehensive X-ray map of the entire sky, reported Science news .

The map, which was released last month, has been obtained after scanning of the sky by the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard the Russian-German SRG spacecraft. The survey by the telescope was completed in six months.

It is the first of eight total sky surveys that eROSITA is expected to conduct over the next few years.

Publisher: Tech2
Date: 2020-07-10 09:03:51 05:30
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Ralph Gardner Jr: The Lost Sports Of Summer | WAMC

A year ago today, or yesterday or tomorrow I'd be doing what I always did on a beautiful summer day during the first couple of weeks of July. I'd be indoors, glued to the TV – with occasional fresh air breaks – watching Wimbledon.

* * *

My appetite for tennis only increased in recent years as DIRECTV, my provider, started broadcasting the action simultaneously on five or six different courts, letting me choose which match I wanted to watch, or several matches at the same time. In other words, it was interactive. I was in tennis heaven.

Date: 2020-07-11
Author: Ralph Gardner Jr
Twitter: @WAMCRadio
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Douglas Family Reports UFO Sighting | Cowboy State Daily

A Douglas family reported seeing an unidentified flying object in April, according to a recent posting to the National UFO Reporting Center.

The family’s report , posted to the private organization’s website, said family members were outside of Douglas on a night in mid-April when they saw a “somewhat transparent” object in either a crescent or saucer shape possibly fly across the sky and then change direction.

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Publisher: Cowboy State Daily
Date: 2020-07-09T16:08:31 00:00
Twitter: @daily_cowboy
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While you're here, how about this:

Where to see UFOs: Maryland ranks one of worst places to see | wusa9.com

MARYLAND, USA — There have been lots of strange things happening in 2020, so why not add UFO sightings to the list?

Apparently, those sightings are more common in some states than others. And since July 2 is National UFO Day, the team at  SatelliteInternet  has compiled and updated new data on the states with the highest number of reported UFO sightings per capita from 2019 to June 2020.

Publisher: wusa9.com
Date: 7/2/2020 7:52:31 PM
Twitter: @WUSA9
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UFO Spotted Over Douglas Wyoming

It was either going to happen over Douglas or Dubois, but sooner or later we were going to get another report and frankly, it's about dang time.

According to  Cowboy State Daily,  a Douglas family saw an unidentified flying object back in April. The sighting has been recorded at the National UFO Reporting Center .

The family claims that one night in mid-April they saw a “somewhat transparent” object in the sky. They described it as possibly crescent or saucer shaped. The object was flying across the sky when it suddenly changed direction. They say they continued to see the object over a 45-minute period.

Publisher: KGAB AM 650
Date: 2020-07-10 04:00:55
Author: glenn woodstownsquaremedia com
Twitter: @kgabradio
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UFO Bracelet by MAM

VDF products fair: Barcelona-based jewellery and fashion brand MAM has created a large, disc-shaped bracelet made from raffia, which can also be used as a hair tie.

* * *

Designed to be genderless, the bracelet is a textured pale flat disc that can slip onto wrists. It comes in a pack of two that can be worn together to form an accent to an outfit.

"This bracelet is more than a bracelet, it's a hair accessory in disguise," the brand said. "An essential MAM item to make the most of the cool, breezy, easy Mediterranean summer look."

Author: Dezeen staff
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Many things are taking place:

‘UFO’ nearly 'takes heads off' stunned fishermen - Sports - Panama City News

A 3-foot-long king mackerel, a fish Jackson Tomaszewski had always wanted to catch, came flying out the water "like a torpedo" and smashed a boat seat.

An Unexpected Flying Object caught a trio of fishermen by surprise on July 4th while sitting in their boat looking for bait on calm waters 15 miles off Hilton Head, S.C.

A 3-foot-long king mackerel, a fish Jackson Tomaszewski had always wanted to catch, came flying out the water "like a torpedo" and smashed a boat seat, leaving the stunned fishermen in disbelief as to what they just witnessed.

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Publisher: Panama City News Herald
Date: 7E15F9269E2CE66F2A488ABB04B5015E
Author: David Strege For the Win
Twitter: @The_News_Herald
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10 times UFOs have been spotted in Derbyshire | Buxton Advertiser

Ripley was mongst the first locations around Derbyshire where the mysterious 'ghost bomber' was sighted in 2018.

Twitter: @Buxton_News
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Happening on Twitter

Friday, July 10, 2020

Researchers foresee linguistic issues during space travel: Without care, Lost in Space could mean

It lacks the drama of a shape-shifting alien creature, but another threat looms over the prospect of generations-long, interstellar space travel: Explorers arriving on Xanadu could face problems communicating with previous and subsequent arrivals, their spoken language having changed in isolation along the way.

Therefore, a new paper co-authored by a University of Kansas professor of linguistics and published in a journal affiliated with the European Space Agency recommends that such crews include, if not a linguist, members with knowledge of what is likely to occur and how to adapt.

Publisher: ScienceDaily
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And here's another article:

NASA Updates Planetary Protection Policies for Space Travel to the Moon and Mars

The agency is trying to keep a balance between the science community, the commercial one, and human exploration.

On Thursday, the American space agency unveiled the new NASA Interim Directives (NIDs) that lay out the new requirements for human and robotic missions to and from the Moon, Mars, and Earth. 

* * *

The point of the new directives is to protect these planetary bodies from potential biological contamination coming from Earth and ultimately that could lead to compromised scientific research. 

Date: 2020-07-10T11:09:00-04:00
Twitter: @IntEngineering
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New Spaceflight Company Space Perspective Will Bring Passengers to the Stars in a High-tech

It’s up, up, and away for Space Perspective , the latest spaceflight startup set on sending tourists to the stars . The company officially opened its Launch Operations Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center last month. But unlike most of its competitors, it isn’t using rockets or spaceplanes to bring people to space — it’s using balloons.

“Following the return of human spaceflight from U.S. soil just a few weeks ago, people have never been more excited about space travel,” MacCallum said in a statement. “Few endeavors are more meaningful than enabling people to experience the inspiring perspective of our home planet in space for the betterment of all, and that’s what we are accomplishing with Space Perspective.”

Publisher: Travel + Leisure
Twitter: @TravelLeisure
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Why Low-Earth Orbit Satellites Are the New Space Race - The Washington Post

In a world divided between digital haves and have-nots, billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are trying to close the gap. The two entrepreneurs separately aim to launch thousands of small satellites to zip around the globe in what's known as low-Earth orbit, or LEO. Their plan is to offer high-end internet coverage for clients like governments, mining companies and shipping conglomerates, as well as providing it to regions too remote or poor to install it on the ground.

* * *

LEO satellites operate from 500 kilometers (311 miles) to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Traditional communication satellites are stationed far higher, at roughly 36,000 kilometers, and travel in so-called geosynchronous orbits, moving at the speed of the Earth's rotation and appearing to float motionless above a fixed point.

Publisher: Washington Post
Date: 2020-07-11T03:10:48.110Z
Twitter: @WashingtonPost
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Other things to check out:

Scientists Have Developed a Way to Make Human Skin More Protected from Space Radiation - Universe

Earth is a radiation cocoon. Inside that cocoon, the atmosphere and the magnetosphere keep us mostly safe from the Sun’s radiaition. Some ultraviolet light gets through, and can damage us. But reasonable precautions like simply minimizing exposure can keep the Sun’s radiation at bay.

But space is a different matter altogether. Among the many hazards it poses to astronauts, ever-present radiation is one that needs a solution.

* * *

The title of the new study is “Selenomelanin: An Abiotic Selenium Analogue of Pheomelanin.” Nathan Gianneschi, a Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, and associate director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, led the research. Wei Cao from the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern is the paper’s first author. The study is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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Publisher: Universe Today
Date: 2020-07-09T16:07:33-04:00
Author: https www facebook com evan gough 3
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Ground-breaking new footage captures nuclear reaction that unlocks deep space travel | Essex

World first footage showing a never before seen glimpse into the future of space travel technology has been recorded by scientists in the UK.

Specialist cameras have filmed close-up footage of a rocket firing up using deep sea protective cases and shielding to protect the cameras from destruction.

Scientists at Pulsar Fusion based in Bletchley captured the 4k footage facing into the nozzle of a hyper-fast rocket engine, which is designed for use in deep space.

Publisher: Essex Magazine
Date: 2020-07-10T09:40:24 00:00
Author: Essex Mag
Twitter: @EssexMagazine
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Mission to Mars: UAE Set to Become First Arab Nation to Explore Other Planets

On July 14 , the Emirates Mars probe – "Hope" or " Al Amal " in Arabic – is scheduled to liftoff from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center and begin a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The probe is expected to enter Mars' orbit in 2021, coinciding with the UAE's 50th anniversary.

Days before this historic liftoff, two barrier-breaking leaders, UAE Minister of Advanced Technology and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission Sarah Al Amiri and Dr. Ellen Stofan, Director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and former Chief Scientist of NASA, offered these views on A Reason for "Hope," the third episode of Podbridge, a new podcast series launched by the UAE Embassy and hosted by UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba.

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Edge of space travel in giant balloon goal of tourism company Space Perspective

Seeing our planet from miles above doesn't have to mean years of rigorous training punctuated by a bone-jarring ride atop a mega-powered rocket. In fact, if a newly formed space travel company hits its mark, it could mean something much more tranquil : a slow, leisurely sail into the stratosphere, where the main qualification to tag along is ponying up the cash to make the trip.

That's the idea behind Space Perspective , a newly formed high-altitude balloon company led by the founders of World View Enterprises (the well-established cargo balloon company that helped KFC pull off a clever marketing score by sailing a chicken sandwich to the heavens back in 2017).

Publisher: SYFY WIRE
Date: 2020-06-18T16:32:13-04:00
Author: Benjamin Bullard
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On to Mars - CSMonitor.com

On to Mars - CSMonitor.com

When you've got troubles, nothing beats stepping back and getting a long-range perspective. In this case, from more than 30 million miles away.

This month three countries plan to send probes to explore Mars, the opening salvo in a space race to the red planet that looks as if it will continue for years to come. The Hope Probe – a project of the United Arab Emirates and the first effort of an Arab nation to visit another planet – is scheduled for launch July 15. China's Tianwen-1 goes next, sometime between July 20 and July 25. It will be that country's first visit to the planet.

Publisher: The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 2020-07-10T14:25-05
Author: The Christian Science Monitor
Twitter: @csmonitor
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This may worth something:

Mars Had Landslide-Powered Mega-Tsunamis | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

Billions of years ago, a giant landslide cascaded down the slopes of the largest mountain in the solar system—Mars’ Olympus Mons. When all this material fell into the water of Mars’ (probable) ancient ocean, it created a towering tsunami stretching between 25 and 43 miles long that crashed against the shore of the planet’s northern hemisphere.

A new study in Planetary and Space Science identifies the remnants of this long-ago event. The landslide-induced tsunami would have required a large body of water, yet more evidence for the case in favor of the existence of a long-disappeared Martian ocean.

Publisher: Smithsonian Magazine
Author: Nola Taylor Redd
Twitter: @smithsonianmag
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With first spacecraft to Red Planet, United Arab Emirates poised to join elite Mars club |

The Hope satellite will orbit Mars in a way that enables it to see the planet's surface at all times of day.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a small Persian Gulf nation, is on the cusp of a big breakthrough: joining the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and India in the elite club of nations that have successfully sent spacecraft to Mars. On 15 July, the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)—also known as the Hope satellite—is set to launch on a Japanese rocket, arriving at the Red Planet in February 2021.

Publisher: Science | AAAS
Date: 2020-07-08T13:00:00-04:00
Author: Sedeer El Showk
Twitter: @newsfromscience
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K-pop Top Hits With Soju; Upcoming Missions To Mars | Here & Now
Twitter: @hereandnow
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Other things to check out:

Making the case for slingshotting past Venus on the way to Mars

The researchers suggest that a mission that includes a Venus stopover would provide benefits both to NASA and the astronauts aboard such craft. They note that stopping by Venus would greatly reduce fuel costs because the spacecraft could use Venus's gravity as a springboard to Mars. They also note that taking the Venus to Mars route would allow the spacecraft to return to Earth sooner should something go wrong.

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Teaching Space With NASA – Exploring Mars Science With the Perseverance Rover Workshop | NASA/JPL
Publisher: NASA/JPL Edu
Date: 2020-06-15 22:43:20
Twitter: @NASAJPL_Edu
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Pandemic mars Trump's GOP convention plans | TheHill

The state of Florida has experienced a significant surge in COVID-19 that shows little sign of slowing, and five GOP senators already have said they do not plan to attend the events in Jacksonville, where Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech formally accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

Republicans describe a convention that is consumed by unknowns following Trump's decision to shift some festivities from Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said plans would have to be scaled back because of the pandemic's danger.

Publisher: TheHill
Date: 2020-07-09T06:00:07-04:00
Author: Morgan Chalfant Jonathan Easley and Julia Manchester
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Astronauts bound for Mars should swing by Venus first, scientists say | Space

The roads of human spaceflight all seem to lead to Mars . For decades now, it's been the logical next step after the moon.

But if you're an astronaut or a cosmonaut on your way to or from Mars, you might make a surprising pit stop along the way: Venus .

A flight to (or from) Mars can happen more quickly and cheaply if it "involves a Venus flyby on the way to or on the way home from Mars," Noam Izenberg, a planetary geologist at Johns Hopkins University, told Space.com.

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Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-07-07T11:48:01 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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Can energy be sucked out of a black hole? | Space

A rotating black hole is such an extreme force of nature that it drags surrounding time and space around with it. So it is only natural to ask whether black holes could be used as some sort of energy source. In 1969, mathematical physicist Roger Penrose proposed a method to do just this, now known as the " Penrose Process ."

The method could be used by sophisticated civilizations (aliens or future humans) to harvest energy by making "black hole bombs." Some of the physics required to do so, however, had never been experimentally verified — until now. Our study confirming the underlying physics has just been published in Nature Physics .

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Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-07-10T11:18:23 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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While you're here, how about this:

Bad Astronomy | Black hole disks illuminate themselves by bent light

I like to think that anyone is capable of some self-reflection. I would not, however, have thought to include black holes in that ability.

But it appears to be the case , at least for one such beast. And it's literal: Light emitted on one side of a disk around the black hole gets bent by the fierce gravity so much it travels back down to the disk on the other side, illuminating it, and gets reflected back up so we can see it.

The black hole is called XTE J1550−564, and it's located about 14,000 light years away from Earth. It has a mass of about 9 times the Sun's, so it's an average black hole in that respect. It's orbited by a star that's very roughly 10 million kilometers away from it; it's not clear what kind of star it is but it's likely something with around the mass of the Sun or a little less.

Publisher: SYFY WIRE
Date: 2020-07-09T09:00:00-04:00
Author: https www facebook com Phil Plait 251070648641
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Scientists propose plan to determine if Planet Nine is a primordial black hole

"In the vicinity of a black hole, small bodies that approach it will melt as a result of heating from the background accretion of gas from the interstellar medium onto the black hole," said Siraj. "Once they melt, the small bodies are subject to tidal disruption by the black hole, followed by accretion from the tidally disrupted body onto the black hole.

Future searches for primordial black holes could be informed by the new calculation. "This method can detect or rule out trapped planet-mass black holes out to the edge of the Oort cloud, or about a hundred thousand astronomical units," said Siraj. "It could be capable of placing new limits on the fraction of dark matter contained in primordial black holes ."

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Black hole: Expert confronts fears WHOLE UNIVERSE will collapse into supermassive giant | Science

He said: "Black holes generally 'feed' slowly [in a relative sense] such that the added mass is a small percentage of the total mass.

"This is true for a stellar-sized black hole [say with 5 times the mass of the Sun] pulling mass from a nearby companion star, or a supermassive black hole [say with 1 billion times the mass of the Sun] consuming a star with two to three solar masses.

"If we had sensitive enough instruments we could measure that change, but I don't believe we are quite there yet."

Publisher: Express.co.uk
Date: 2020-07-08T06:34:00 01:00
Author: Tom Fish
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Not to change the topic here:

Mystery Object Blurs Line between Neutron Stars and Black Holes - Scientific American

Last Tuesday the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration announced the first conclusive detection of a stellar remnant falling into the so-called mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

“I would rank this as definitely the most exciting announcement we’ve seen from LIGO since the original binary black hole discovery and then” the first detection of a neutron star collision, says Duncan Brown , a gravitational-wave astronomer at Syracuse University, who was not involved in the research. “We’re probing a new piece of astrophysical understanding of the universe.”

Publisher: Scientific American
Author: Charlie Wood
Twitter: @sciam
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Care homes face staffing 'black hole' with new immigration bill - BBC News

Care homes could face a staffing "black hole" because of the impact of the government's immigration bill, care leaders have warned.

* * *

Leaders of 37 national care organisations, including the NHS Confederation, have signed the letter to the prime minister.

The legislation will put EU and European Economic Area (EEA) citizens on an equal footing to immigrants from outside the bloc.

But the Cavendish Coalition said this points-based system currently does not include social care as the roles do not pass the proposed minimum salary threshold and "are not classed as a shortage occupation".

Publisher: BBC News
Author: https www facebook com bbcnews
Twitter: @BBCWorld
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Most Massive Black Hole in the Universe Eats One Sun Per Day

In 2018, a team of scientists from the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University discovered the fastest-growing supermassive black hole in the known universe, called J2157. This week, the same team released new research explaining exactly how massive the hole actually is as well as how much it eats to sustain its growth. The answer may shock you.

According to a press release about the research , the black hole is 34 billion times the mass of our sun and about 8,000 times bigger than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Research team member Dr. Christopher Onken explained it like this: "If the Milky Way's black hole wanted to grow that fat, it would have to swallow two-thirds of all the stars in our galaxy." Damn.

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Publisher: The Cut
Date: 2020-07-07T13:32:53.562-04:00
Author: Kelly Conaboy
Twitter: @TheCut
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Supermassive binary black hole hunter: SKA pulsar timing array

Supermassive black holes are commonly found in the center of galaxies and evolve with their hosts. SMBBHs are thus expected to exist in close galaxy pairs. However, none has been unequivocally detected.

The research team carried out semi-analytical numerical simulation to estimate the number of detectable SMBBHs with SKA Pulsar Timing Array (SKA-PTA).

Based on infrared galaxy samples and statistical assumptions of the SMBBH population, the team calculated their low-frequency gravitational wave characteristics at different redshifts.

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