Most exploration of the moon focuses on its surface, but a trio of missions proposed to the European Space Agency (ESA) would head below ground to explore the subterranean lunar world. The moon has a number of lava tubes to explore, which were formed during lava eruptions and which leave a tube-shaped passage beneath the surface. These could be as large as 500 meters wide and have even been proposed as a site for humans to build a habitat due to the protection they offer from radiation. But there has never been a mission to explore these tubes in-depth, and ESA wants to change that. ESA invited proposals for potential missions and developed three mission scenarios: Firstly, a scout of where to enter pits and caves from the surface, secondly, a probe which could be lowered into a pit, and thirdly, autonomous rovers to explore the tubes in depth. “Although the studies were very different in topic and approach, they all provided great insight into potential technologies for … [Read more...] about This tiny, round probe could explore caves on the moon
Tulsa worlds
22 years after The Matrix, simulation hypothesis movies are booming again
In the 1990s, there was a strange trend where two movies about the same topic came out in the same year. For example, Volcano and Dante’s Peak , both movies about killer volcanos, hit theaters in 1997. The next year, in 1998, both Deep Impact and Armageddon were about heavenly bodies crashing into Earth. This trend perhaps reached its zenith the next year, in 1999, with two movies about the idea that we live inside a video-game-like world: The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor . In the years since, the idea that we might be living inside an ultrarealistic simulation — known as the simulation hypothesis — has moved from pure science fiction to serious speculation among scientists, philosophers, and academics. In fact, when I released my book, The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics Agree We Are in a Video Game , I chose an auspicious date: March 31, 2019, exactly 20 years from the day that The Matrix hit … [Read more...] about 22 years after The Matrix, simulation hypothesis movies are booming again
Moore’s law is reaching its limits. Could graphene circuits help?
How do urban planners and building developers cope as more and more people move to cities? There are a few things they might do. To begin with, they could physically make the city larger, widening its borders to cover surrounding land so as to accommodate more houses. They might also build houses closer together, squeezing more single- and double-story buildings onto each street. At a certain point, however, there’s really only one option: You build upward by creating tower blocks that can house hundreds on a patch of land that would otherwise fit only a tiny fraction of that number. This, in essence, is a similar problem to the one faced by chip designers. Moore’s law states that, every couple of years, the number of components that can be inexpensively crammed onto an integrated circuit doubles. The power of Moore’s law is undeniable. In 1971, for example, Intel released the 4004 , the world’s first commercially available microprocessor, packing 2,300 transistors onto a single … [Read more...] about Moore’s law is reaching its limits. Could graphene circuits help?
Nuheara IQbuds2 Max review: They’ll level-up your listening
Nuheara IQbuds2 Max Score Details DT Recommended Product “Letting you cancel or magnify your world, they're like bionics for your ears.” Excellent sound quality Excellent noise cancellation Effective and customizable hearing enhancement Good call quality Good selection of ear tips Expensive No wireless charging No music EQ settings Big and bulky MSRP $399.00 True wireless earbuds have become something of a commodity in the last year or so. Rapid improvements in sound quality, wireless reliability, added features like active noise cancellation (ANC) and wireless charging — combined with falling prices — have made it a lot harder for any one model to stand out from the crowd. That’s what makes the $399 Nuheara IQBuds2 Max so interesting. By incorporating hearing aid tech, they’re as much about listening to the world around you as they are about listening to your favorite tunes. Still, their high price is daunting, so let’s … [Read more...] about Nuheara IQbuds2 Max review: They’ll level-up your listening
How to watch the Indian Space Research Organisation launch 19 satellites tonight
NASA and SpaceX might be the organizations whose launches you hear about most often, but they’re not the only ones in the business of launching rockets. The Indian space agency also often launches satellite missions , and there’s one such launch tonight: The PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 mission, as highlighted by space.com . The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launching a total of 19 satellites tonight U.S. time, including a Brazilian satellite to monitor the deforestation of the Amazon region. The launch will be streamed live, and we’ve got the details on how to watch. How to watch the launch The launch is scheduled for 11:54 p.m. ET (8:54 p.m. PT) on Friday, February 27, with a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket set to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, in Sriharikota off the Bay of Bengal. ISRO will livestream the launch on its YouTube channel, which you can watch either here or using the embedded video above. Coverage of the launch … [Read more...] about How to watch the Indian Space Research Organisation launch 19 satellites tonight