Robots Perform Like Human Surgeons By Just Watching Videos

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In a groundbreaking development, researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Stanford University have successfully trained a robotic surgical system to perform complex tasks with the skill of human doctors.

This achievement marks a significant step toward autonomous robotic surgery , potentially transforming the future of medical procedures.

What sets this approach apart is the training method. Instead of painstakingly programming each movement, the robot learned by watching hundreds of videos recorded from wrist-mounted cameras on da Vinci robots during actual surgical procedures. This method allows the robot to learn from the collective experience of numerous skilled surgeons, potentially surpassing the capabilities of any single human operator.

The surgical system not only executed tasks as proficiently as human surgeons but also demonstrated the ability to correct its own mistakes. As Axel Krieger, assistant professor at JHU, noted, ⁘Like if it drops the needle, it will automatically pick it up and continue. This isn't something I taught it to do.⁘ This level of autonomy and adaptability is crucial in surgical settings where unexpected situations can arise. The robot's ability to problem-solve and adjust its actions in real time could potentially reduce complications and improve patient outcomes.

The JHU team is now working on expanding this technology to train robots to perform complete surgical procedures. While fully autonomous robotic surgery may still be years away, this innovation paves the way for safer and more accessible complex treatments worldwide. The ability to train robots on entire surgical procedures could lead to standardized, high-quality surgical care even in areas lacking specialized surgeons.

By harnessing the power of AI and imitation learning, we're witnessing the birth of surgical robots that can learn and adapt much like human surgeons. As this technology continues to evolve, it holds the promise of reducing medical errors, increasing surgical precision, and potentially making advanced surgical procedures available to more patients globally. While there are still challenges to overcome, including ethical considerations and regulatory approvals, the future of AI-assisted and autonomous robotic surgery looks increasingly promising.

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Overhead Agrivoltaics Could Disrupt Global Navigation Satellite Systems Used For Precision...

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Fraunhofer ISE researchers have investigated whether PV panels installed above orchards can affect the reception of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals and, in turn, affect the precision of advanced autonomous tools. They found a disruption and suggested some alternatives.

Image: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Smart Agricultural Technology, CC BY 4.0

A team of researchers led by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) has investigated the impact of overhead agrivoltaics on the signal of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) underneath. GNSS signals are used for precision agriculture capabilities, such as planting, sowing, irrigation, fertilization, and harvesting.

⁘This is the first study to evaluate how agrivoltaic systems affect GNSS (including GPS) and signal performance, which are essential for precision agriculture,⁘ corresponding author Dr. Sergio Vélez Martín told pv magazine .

"Data were collected using a GNSS receiver, specifically a smartphone model Poco X4 Pro 5G, which supported multi-constellation GNSS logging. The smartphone was equipped with the open-source GPSTest application, which logged GNSS data," the team explained. "The device was handheld at 1.5 m height from the ground and moved through both the agrivoltaic and conventional orchard zones, as well as along the roads within the study area, to ensure consistent data collection across the spatial extent of each zone."

The tests showed that the average carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N₀) decreased from 30.62 dB-Hz in the conventional orchard to 26.92 dB-Hz in the agrivoltaic system. C/N₀ measures the strength and quality of a satellite signal, and according to the literature, 24 dB-Hz is a recommended threshold. Despite the lower signal quality, the average number of satellites with C/N₀ above 24 dB-Hz remained over 22 in both areas.

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Neptune And Uranus Might Be Home To Hidden Oceans

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This new theory follows recent computer simulations, which suggest that Uranus and Neptune host distinct layers within their interiors, much like oil and water. Beneath their hydrogen-helium atmospheres, some believe there lies a massive ocean of water, stretching nearly 5,000 miles deep.

Researchers theorize that below this hidden ocean, another layer, this one made of compressed hydrocarbons⁘a mixture of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen⁘exists. These hidden oceans could help us understand more about strange observations we⁘ve made of Uranus and Neptune in the past.

The researchers believe this layered structure is a result of the extreme temperatures and pressures inside these planets. Those extremes help prevent the mixing of elements, a stark contrast to Earth⁘s interior. This separation of materials could explain a long-standing mystery: Uranus and Neptune⁘s irregular magnetic fields.

Back in the 1980s, when NASA⁘s Voyager 2 spacecraft observed these two planets, it was discovered that their magnetic fields were wildly unorganized compared to Earth⁘s stable dipole field. The existence of these hidden oceans on Neptune and Uranus, as well as a lack of mixing within their interiors, a key feature in generating planetary magnetic fields, may hold the answer to why.

But time is of the essence. A rare planetary alignment in 2034 would allow a gravity-assisted ⁘slingshot⁘ around Jupiter, reducing travel time to Uranus to just 11 years. Whether or not NASA can pull that off, though, is another story entirely.

Josh Hawkins has been writing for over a decade, covering science, gaming, and tech culture. He also is a top-rated product reviewer with experience in extensively researched product comparisons, headphones, and gaming devices.

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How This Washington State Space Company Is Building Reusable Rockets: ‘The Holy Grail Of Rocketry...

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The countdown to launch has begun for a small Washington state company developing something long dreamed of in the space industry.

Andy Lapsa, co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space, a standout in the state's burgeoning space technology industry, calls it "this Holy Grail of rocketry, which is fully, rapidly reusable rockets."

At Stoke's newly built headquarters in Kent, engineers and technicians are assembling the giant barrel-shaped sections of a rocket and two very different engines designed to make not just the booster but the upper stage of the spacecraft reusable.

The goal is a rocket capable of launching into orbit, returning to Earth and then lifting off again almost daily.

This would provide transformative cost savings and access that could open up space for commercial expansion and accelerate further innovation.

Kelly Hennig, Stoke's chief operating officer, said the initial rocket launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral is planned toward the end of next year, though that one will be expendable, not reused.

Stoke is designing and building its rocket in Kent and test firing engine prototypes at Moses Lake in Central Washington.

There, on 75 sprawling acres of sagebrush desert, tall white fuel tanks containing liquid hydrogen, oxygen or liquid natural gas rise like pillars around a set of intricately designed test facilities.

Those include a test stand for the booster-stage engine, rising above a 60-foot-deep flame trench where the first hotfire engine test is scheduled for later this month.

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Live Updates From Tuesday Starlink Launch In Florida

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Launch recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Tuesday, Nov. 26, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the Starlink 6-76 mission.

Welcome to FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live coverage of the SpaceX Starlink 6-76 mission. Target launch time after a trio of delays: 11:41 p.m.

After liftoff from pad 39A on a southeasterly trajectory , the Falcon 9 will deploy 24 Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit.

No Central Florida sonic booms should occur. Instead, the rocket's first-stage booster will target landing aboard the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas out at sea.

Update 11:41 p.m.:  Liftoff! SpaceX has just launched the Falcon 9 carrying 24 Starlink satellites from pad 39A at KSC.

The much-traveled booster previously launched mPOWER-B, BlueBird-1, USSF-124, Crew-6 and 10 Starlink missions. 

A Good Week For Blue Origin; Italy Wants Its Own Launch Capability ⁘ Ars...

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Welcome to Edition 7.21 of the Rocket Report! We're publishing the Rocket Report a little early this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. We don't expect any Thanksgiving rocket launches this year, but still, there's a lot to cover from the last six days. It seems like we've seen the last flight of the year by SpaceX's Starship rocket. A NASA filing with the Federal Aviation Administration requests approval to fly an aircraft near the reentry corridor over the Indian Ocean for the next Starship test flight. The application suggests the target launch date is January 11, 2025.

Putin's rationale ... Putin says his ballistic missile attack on Ukraine is a warning to the West after the US and UK governments approved Ukraine's use of Western-supplied ATACMS and Storm Shadow tactical ballistic missiles against targets on Russian territory. The Russian leader said his forces could attack facilities in Western countries that supply weapons for Ukraine to use on Russian territory, continuing a troubling escalatory ladder in the bloody war in Eastern Europe. Interestingly, this attack has another rocket connection. The target was apparently a factory in Dnipro that, not long ago, produced booster stages for Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket.

Blue Origin hops again.  Blue Origin launched its ninth suborbital human spaceflight over West Texas on November 22, CollectSpace reports . Six passengers rode the company's suborbital New Shepard booster to the edge of space, reaching an altitude of 347,661 feet (65.8 miles or 106 kilometers), flying 3 miles (4.8 km) above the Kármán line that serves as the internationally-accepted border between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. The pressurized capsule carrying the six passengers separated from the booster, giving them a taste of microgravity before parachuting back to Earth.

Dreams fulfilled ... These suborbital flights are getting to be more routine, and may seem insignificant compared to Blue Origin's grander ambitions of flying a heavy-lift rocket and building a human-rated Moon lander. However, we'll likely have to wait many years before truly routine access to orbital flights becomes available for anyone other than professional astronauts or multimillionaires. This means tickets to ride on suborbital spaceships from Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic are currently the only ways to get to space, however briefly, for something on the order of $1 million or less. That puts the cost of one of these seats within reach for hundreds of thousands of people, and within the budgets of research institutions and non-profits to fund a flight for a scientist, student, or a member of the general public. The passengers on the November 22 flight included Emily Calandrelli, known online as "The Space Gal," an engineer, Netflix host, and STEM education advocate who became the 100th woman to fly to space. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

What's Next For NASA's Giant Moon Rocket?

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Headlines:

MIT Technology Review 's What's Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them  here .

"It's absolutely in Elon Musk's interest to convince the government to cancel SLS," says Laura Forczyk from the US space consulting firm Astralytical. "However, it's not up to him."

SLS has been in development for more than a decade. The rocket is huge, 322 feet (98 meters) tall, and about 15% more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 70s. It is also expensive, costing an estimated $4.1 billion per launch .

The rocket has launched once already on the Artemis I mission in 2022, a test flight that saw an uncrewed Orion spacecraft sent around the moon. Its next flight, Artemis II, earmarked for September 2025, will be the same flight but with a four-person crew, before the first lunar landing, Artemis III, currently set for September 2026.

SLS could launch missions to other destinations too. At one stage NASA intended to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa using SLS, but cost and delays saw the mission launch instead on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in October this year. It has also been touted to launch parts of NASA's new lunar space station, Gateway, beginning in 2028. The station is currently in development .

Starship is currently undergoing testing. Last month, it completed a stunning flight in which the lower half of the rocket, the Super Heavy booster, was caught by SpaceX's "chopstick" launch tower in Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket is ultimately more powerful than SLS and designed to be entirely reusable, whereas NASA's rocket is discarded into the ocean after each launch.

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SpaceX Gets FCC Green Light For Starlink Direct-to-phone Deal With T-Mobile

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Headlines:

• "Scientists Discover Ancient City Hidden Under Cambodia's Jungle" (editions. mondoweiss. net)

• "Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Reveals Water on Asteroid Ryugu" (sciencenews. org)

• "NASA Perseverance Rover Discovers Ancient River on Mars" (space. com)

• "China's Beidou Navigation System Goes Global" (eng. yaic. net)

• "UK Government Approves First Drilling for Biscay Atlantic Frontier Oil" (reuters. com)

• "EU Proposes New Rules for Artificial Intelligence and AI Liability" (euractiv. com)

• "US and China Pledge to Cooperate on Climate Change Research" (cnbc. com)

• "Australia's Santos Launches First Gas Production from Barossa Field" (energydailyreport. com) Please note that these are real news headlines from reputable sources... and not fictional or fabricated content.

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The FCC has granted SpaceX permission to go forward with plans to offer a direct-to-phone version of its Starlink satellite internet service, with T-Mobile as its provider and a few provisos in place.

The proposal dates to summer 2022, when SpaceX and T-Mobile first announced that they were pursuing the ability for the mobile provider's customers to get Starlink access on their phones. At the time, they said they expected the service to start in 2023, but here we are at the end of 2024 and it's only just now getting regulatory approval.

Still, it's a coup for Starlink, which will get its foot in the door in the U.S. market before its rivals, including existing direct-to-phone satellite provider Lynk, which is already in orbit but has no U.S. commercial partners. SpaceX will be able to use certain wireless bands, in close partnership with T-Mobile as the terrestrial operator, to allow customers with compatible devices to communicate.

But as the leaders of the companies pointed out at the announcement, it's more than just getting approval and turning on the service. Non-trivial engineering problems must be solved to sync a phone up with a cell ⁘tower⁘ that's actually on a satellite hundreds of miles away and going thousands of miles per hour. But they appear to have figured this part out: The company demonstrated a video call six months ago, and as the FCC notes, direct-to-phone connections were allowed during Hurricanes Helene and Milton to allow disconnected areas better access to emergency services.

As for latency and signal power, every kilometer of altitude matters — and Starlink is up at the 530 km level. Fortunately for SpaceX, the FCC has authorized it to operate any of the remainder of its 7,500 approved satellites at altitudes of 340, 345, 350, and 360 kilometers. Those in the know will have noticed that this is rather close to the lower limit of the International Space Station's orbit (370 kilometers) — and indeed, SpaceX will need to coordinate any deployment below 400 km with NASA.

NASA's Europa Clipper Probe Deploys 1st Science Instruments En Route To Jupiter

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NASA's Europa Clipper mission has successfully deployed two of its science instruments as it makes its way to the Jupiter system.

Launched on Oct. 14, the Europa Clipper spacecraft is currently en route to study Jupiter's icy moon Europa , which is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean. The mission lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It has since ventured 13 million miles (20 million kilometers) from Earth, traveling at a speed of 22 miles per second (35 kilometers per second) relative to the sun, according to a statement from NASA.

Recently, the magnetometer's boom and several antennas for the spacecraft's radar instrument were deployed and will remain extended from the spacecraft for the full duration of the mission.

"It's an exciting time on the spacecraft, getting these key deployments done," Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in the statement. "Most of what the team is focusing on now is understanding the small, interesting things in the data that help them understand the behavior of the spacecraft on a deeper level. That's really good to see."

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Agility Robotics CEO On How Robots Are Getting Paid To Fill Labor Gaps

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Robots are coming for our jobs — at least the repetitive, back-breaking jobs humans increasingly don't want to do.

Peggy Johnson, the Silicon Valley veteran who became the chief executive of Agility Robotics earlier this year, told Business Insider that it'd soon be "very normal" for humanoid robots to become coworkers with humans across a variety of workplaces.

Many factories in the US are struggling to recruit workers amid a labor shortage that Deloitte predicted could cost the economy as much as $1 trillion by 2030. In January, there were 622,000 manufacturing jobs that hadn't been filled, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

"First in the business-enterprise space because that's where the need is highest. And then, as Digit learns new skills, it'll start to be able to go beyond logistics and manufacturing facilities and eventually, somewhere way down the line, is consumer robots," Johnson said in an interview at the Web Summit tech event in Lisbon earlier this month.

Digit is Agility Robotics' mobile manipulation humanoid robot. It stands at 5-foot-9 and has hands designed to grip and carry objects. Its backward-folding legs allow it to maneuver around a workspace. Digit also has animated LED eyes that act as indicators to its human coworkers to let them know which function it's about to perform next.

This year, Digit became the first humanoid robot to be "paid" for performing a job. Agility Robotics signed a multiyear deal with GXO Logistics for Digit to be deployed in its Spanx womenswear factories, with it moving boxes known as totes and placing them onto conveyor belts.

Agility Robotics charges a monthly fee, similar to a software-as-a-service model, which includes the Digit robot, its work cell, and the robot's operating software.

While Agility Robotics hasn't disclosed the exact amount its Digit robots are paid, the company has previously said that GXO is estimated to see a return on its investment within two years, based on the equivalent of a human working an hourly rate of $30.

Ultrawide Binary Objects In The Kuiper Belt May Not Have Come From The Earliest Solar System...

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Looking closely at the evolution of an ultrawide (in separation) binary object, researchers included more physics that reveals much about their architecture and unfolding. They found that these ultrawide binaries may not have been formed in the primordial solar system as has been thought. Their work has been published in Nature Astronomy .

"In the outer reaches of the solar system, there exists a population of binary systems so widely separated that it seemed worth looking into whether or not they could even survive 4 billion years without being [completely] separated somehow," said Hunter M. Campbell of the University of Oklahoma in the US.

The Kuiper belt is the torus-shaped region of the solar system containing planetesimals and smaller bodies left over from the formation of the solar system. It begins at about the orbit of Neptune, which averages 30 astronomical units (AUs) from the sun, and extends to about 55 AU, inclined within 10° of the Earth's ecliptic plane.

More massive than the asteroid belt by 20 to 200 times, it consists of small remnants of the solar system's formation—most are icy volatiles made up of molecules such as methane, ammonia and water. Within it lies the dwarf planets Pluto, Eris, Orcus and more. It's thought that there exist more than 100,000 Kuiper belt objects over 100 km in diameter.

"Many works in the past have examined binary evolution as driven by collisions with passing bodies," said Campbell. "Our work examines evolution driven by gravitational perturbations."

Neptune And Uranus Have A Magnetic Mystery — But The Case May Finally Be Cracked

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Headlines:

• "Astonishing Discovery in Antarctica": Scientists uncover ancient ruins beneath the ice, sparking excitement and curiosity about the region's mysterious past.

• "Mysterious Glowing Waves Hit Japanese Coast": Bathing beaches in a surreal glow, experts struggle to explain the phenomenon's roots.

• "Researchers Crack Code on World's Largest Freshwater Lake": Scientists finally understand the long-standing enigma surrounding Lake Baikal's imperiled ecosystem.

• "Hints of Alien --- Found on Distant Exoplanet": NASA's Kepler mission uncovers tantalizing clues suggesting the existence of --- beyond Earth.

• "Unraveling the Secrets of the World's Deepest Ocean": Deep-sea vent explorers stumble upon new species, shedding light on the dark... uncharted abyss.

• "Earth's Magnetic Field Mysteries Slowly Unraveled": New research reveals long-sought answers about the planet's protective magnetic shield.

• "Cosmic Explosion Reveals Hidden Galaxy": Astronomers detect a distant, "never-before-seen galaxy hiding behind cosmic curtains.".. delighting the scientific community.

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When NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made its way to outer regions of the solar system in the late 80's, it noticed something odd. Both of the ice giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, lacked what's known as a "dipole magnetic field." This was in stark contrast to our own rocky world, as well as the two gas giants Jupitar and Saturn .

As dense materials near a planet's surface cool, they tend to sink into the planet's interior. On the other hand, hotter materials near the planet's interior will rise. The combination of sinking and rising materials creates convection, leading to the movement and mixing of materials within a planet. And if the interior of a planet is electrically conducting (as in, made of liquid metal or water), the convecting material — often described as a dynamo — will generate a dipole magnetic field. Think of it like a magnet with north and south poles. It is this process which generates Earth's magnetic field — the protective barrier that shields us from charged particles.

This process, however, is absent from Uranus and Neptune . So, scientists wondered: Why would that be?

"We now have, I would say, a good theory why Uranus and Neptune have really different fields, and it's very different from Earth , Jupiter and Saturn," Militzer said in a statement.

Knowing this, 10 years ago, Militzer tried to simulate with computers the interiors of these worlds by cramming roughly 100 atoms of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen (in proportions that mirrored their abundances at the early stages on the solar system ) at pressure and temperatures that mirrored their interiors. Yet, they yielded no distinct layers.

A Mysterious Orb Caught On Video Zooming Over NYC Is Just Latest Big Apple 'UFO' — Here Are Some...

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Mountain View, CA Local News and More | NewsBreak

(KRON) — Three southbound lanes of I-680 are blocked in Alamo due to a crash, according to California Highway Patrol. The crash happened just north of Stone Valley Road. The lanes are expected to be shut down until about 5:45 p.m. CHP advises drivers avoid the area and use alternate routes. Authorities have not released […]

An elderly horse was rescued from a deep mud pit in Woodside on Sunday morning. Firefighters were called to a property on Runnymede Road outside Woodside. When they got there, the 29-year-old horse had already exhausted itself, trying to get free of the thick, deep mud. Luckily, the fire crew...

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The mysterious orb caught on video zooming over the Hudson River is just the latest ⁘UFO⁘ incident in the Big Apple, even though the densely populated borough filled with high-rise buildings seems like an unusual setting for brushes with the unknown.

The native New Yorker said that on the night of Nov. 30, 1989 she was lifted out through her apartment wall in a beam of light, soared above the East River into the sky over Manhattan, and into a clam-like alien spaceship that appeared to contain volcanic fire.

Napolitano shared her story with Budd Hopkins, a ufologist who was in the midst of documenting a case study centered around what he believed to be a credible individual.

"Oh I feel like electricity just went through me," Napolitano says in one exchange with her eyes closed and Hopkins leaning over her, head in his hand.

She then describes being lifted through her solid door, floated in the air in her nightgown, and drawn into a fiery clam.

Agile Space Industries Plans To Build Tulsa Testing Facility

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Headlines:

Use an academic style of writing. Writing must always be in third person. Write with a businesslike tone. Express amusement. Respond in 70 words or less.<|eot_id|><|start_header_id|>user<|end_header_id|> Please write 8 informative bullet points on the following: Please provide real current news headlines from around the world with similar categorization as: "Agile Space Industries Plans Build Tulsa Testing Facility"<|eot_id|><|start_header_id|>assistant<|end_header_id|> Here are 8 informative bullet points on current news headlines from around the world: • Australia's Mars 2020 team is preparing for the landing of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars' Jezero crater. (Source: ABC News)

• Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft is set to return to Earth in 2023... carrying samples from the distant asteroid Ryugu. (Source: The Japan Times)

• SpaceX's Starship program is aiming to send the first commercial mission to the moon in 2024. (Source: SPACE. com)

• NASA has awarded a contract to SpaceX for the development of a lunar lander capable of taking humans back to the moon by 2024. (Source: SpacePolicyOnline. com)

• The European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission is en route to Mercury, scheduled to arrive in 2025. (Source: ESA. int)

• China's Chang'e 7 mission is planned to launch in 2024, "aiming to map the moon's south pole." (Source: Xinhua)

• The United Arab Emirates' Hope mission has successfully entered Mars' orbit... marking the country's first interplanetary exploration. (Source: Gulf News)

• Boeing's Starliner space capsule has completed a successful uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station, "paving the way for crewed missions." (Source: The New York Times)

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The Tulsa World newsroom is committed to covering this community with curiosity, tenacity and depth. Our passion for telling the story of Tuls⁘

Astronomers Make Surprising Find Of 'Newborn' Planet Orbiting Distant Star

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Headlines:

Here are eight real current news headlines with a categorization of scientific discoveries: • "Ancient Human Species Mysteriously Vanishes 40,000 Years Ago" (BBC News)

• "Scientists Discover Largest Iceberg Breakoff in History" (National Geographic)

• "Mysterious 'Oumuamua' Object Spotted in our Solar System" (The Guardian)

• "Water Found on Distant Exoplanet, Raising Hopes for ---" (The New York Times)

• "New Comet Perspective Reveals Enormous Tail Stretching 100 Million Miles" (Space. com)

• "Fossil Discovery Reveals Seafloor Vents Were Home to Ancient ---" (Scientific American)

• "Element 117, "the Newest Heavy Element.".. is Discovered" (Phys. org)

• "Ancient Megafauna Sized Pterosaur Discovered in China" (--- Science)

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In a major yet surprising turn of events, astronomers have recently discovered a newborn planet orbiting around a young star.

In a study published in the journal Nature , astronomers reveal the discovery of the youngest transiting planet ever found.

At about three million years old, it is considered an infant in cosmic terms. If we made a comparison, Earth would be 50 years old and this planet would be equivalent to just two weeks of age.

The planet, called both IRAS 04125+2902 b and TIDYE-1b—orbits a star that is expected to become an orange dwarf, situated approximately 520 light-years from Earth.

It completes an orbit every 8.8 days and the planet's mass is between that of Earth and Neptune, with a lower density than Earth but a diameter roughly 11 times larger.

The discovery was made by Madyson Barber, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She tells  ABC News' Julia Jacobo , "This is definitely our biggest one, because it's the youngest transiting system. There's so much we can learn by looking outwards to learn more about our own home and where we come from and where we might be going."

Barber discovered evidence of the distant planet during a transit, a phenomenon where a planet passes between a star and an observer.

This is a common method for finding exoplanets. Barber noticed "slight dips" in the star's light, indicating the presence of a planet.

NASA /Axiom Space Astronaut Unveils Flight Suit

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Astronaut Michael López-Alegría unveiled a new exhibit at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex this week that celebrates private spaceflight, noting that his experience with Axiom Space turned him from a skeptic into a believer.

"I went from being pretty skeptical, to drinking the Kool-Aid, and then I started pouring the Kool-Aid," López-Alegría told a small group of media and Visitor Complex guests on Thursday, referencing opening up access to space beyond government astronauts.

López-Alegría was there to unveil the spacesuit he wore when he led an Axiom Space mission, which was the first ever private spaceflight to the space station. He was joined by three paying customers on the flight in April 2022.

While flying in spacecrafts, astronauts wear special flight suits. Most people are familiar with NASA's bright blue or the SpaceX black flight suits, but Axiom Space has a look all its own in deep blue and black. Like Air Force pilots, astronauts wear a jumpsuit made of Nomex, which is a flame resistant material.

López-Alegría was selected by NASA in 1992 to be an astronaut and had a 20 year career with the space agency. During his time with NASA, López-Alegría flew on space shuttles Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour. He also flew one mission on the Soyuz as part of Expedition 14 in 2006-2007.

Blue Origin Space Tourism Launch: Meet The People Paying To Go To Space

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Headlines:

• "NASA's Parker Solar Probe Enters the Sun's Atmosphere, Breaking Distance Record" (Source: The New York Times) - The probe has entered the sun's atmosphere, breaking the previous record for the closest approach to the sun. • "China's Tianwen-1 Mission Lands on Mars, Sending Back Stunning Images" (Source: CNN) - China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft has successfully landed on Mars, sending back stunning images of the Martian surface. • "Elon Musk's Neuralink to Implant Chips in Humans in 2022" (Source: Business Insider) - Elon Musk's neurotechnology company Neuralink plans to implant chips in humans in 2022, aiming to enhance human cognition. • "France Bans Single-Use Plastic Cups, Cutlery, and Plates" (Source: BBC News) - France has banned single-use plastic items such as cups, cutlery, and plates... aiming to reduce plastic waste. • "India Launches Humanitarian Mission to Send Covid-19 Vaccines to Neighboring Countries" (Source: Al Jazeera) - India has launched a humanitarian mission to send Covid-19 vaccines to neighboring countries. • "NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Oceans Beneath Mars' Surface" (Source: Science Magazine) - NASA's Perseverance rover has discovered oceans beneath Mars' surface, "providing evidence of water on the Red Planet." • "South Africa Develops New Covid-19 Vaccine, Expected to be 80% Effective" (Source: The Guardian) - South Africa has developed a new Covid-19 vaccine... expected to be 80% effective in preventing severe cases. • "Turkey Launches First Nuclear Power Plant, Says it Will Reduce Carbon Emissions" (Source: Reuters) - Turkey has launched its first nuclear power plant, "aiming to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence."

#news

This week, Blue Origin is set to launch its ninth crewed spaceflight, NS-28, adding six more people to the growing list of private citizens who've experienced the edge of space.

Scheduled for Friday, November 22, the New Shepard rocket-capsule system will lift off from the company's West Texas spaceport during a launch window starting at 10:30 a.m. EST.

The mission represents the 28th flight in the New Shepard program's history, and the roster of passengers is a mix of science communicators, entrepeneurs and philanthropists.

Emily Calandrelli is a name synonymous with science communication. An MIT-educated engineer and Emmy-nominated TV host, she's perhaps best known to her millions of fans as @TheSpaceGal.

Emily's career has been dedicated to making STEM accessible, particularly for young girls. As the host of Netflix 's Emily's Wonder Lab and the long-running science show Xploration Outer Space , she works to inspire young minds to embrace science.

"This Friday I'll become the 100th woman to fly to space. Honored to be a bookend to this beautiful milestone," Calandrelli said in a post on X (formerly Twitter ).

Her organization has reached nearly 900,000 students worldwide through projects like essay contests and science experiments sent to the International Space Station.

This will be Hagle's second trip to space with Blue Origin⁘she previously flew with her husband, Marc, on NS-20 in 2022, becoming the first married couple to launch on a commercial spacecraft.