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Bezos, world's richest man, shows won't be pushed around![]() San Francisco (AFP) Feb 8, 2019 He built one of the world's most valuable companies from scratch, becoming the richest person on the planet. Now Jeff Bezos is intent on showing he won't be bullied in a battle of wills with the politically connected owner of a supermarket tabloid. The 55-year-old Bezos founded Amazon in his garage in 1994 and went on to grow it into a colossus that dominates online retail, with operations in streaming music and television, groceries, cloud computing, robotics, artificial intelligence and more. ... read more |
Recreating space on Earth - two facilities join ESA's platforms for spaceflight researchHuman and Robotic Exploration Paris (ESA) Feb 07, 2019 Science is everywhere but opportunities to carry out research in space can be limited. To combat this, ESA works with institutes across Europe to maintain a network of grou ... more
Psychology: Robot saved, people take the hitMunich, Germany (SPX) Feb 11, 2019 Robots are now being employed not just for hazardous tasks, such as detecting and disarming mines. They are also finding application as household helps and as nursing assistants. As increasing numbe ... more
A reconfigurable soft actuatorBoston MA (SPX) Feb 05, 2019 Mechanical systems, such as engines and motors, rely on two principal types of motions of stiff components: linear motion, which involves an object moving from one point to another in a straight lin ... more
InSight's Seismometer Now Has a Cozy Shelter on MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Feb 05, 2019 For the past several weeks, NASA's InSight lander has been making adjustments to the seismometer it set on the Martian surface on Dec. 19. Now it's reached another milestone by placing a domed shiel ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Feb 08 | Feb 07 | Feb 06 | Feb 05 | Feb 04 |
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Engineers program marine robots to take calculated risksBoston MA (SPX) Feb 01, 2019 We know far less about the Earth's oceans than we do about the surface of the moon or Mars. The sea floor is carved with expansive canyons, towering seamounts, deep trenches, and sheer cliffs, most ... more
Curiosity Says Farewell to Mars' Vera Rubin RidgePasadena CA (JPL) Jan 29, 2019 NASA's Curiosity rover has taken its last selfie on Vera Rubin Ridge and descended toward a clay region of Mount Sharp. The twisting ridge on Mars has been the rover's home for more than a yea ... more
Why do beaked whales return to Navy sonar range despite disturbancesMoss Landing CA (SPX) Jan 30, 2019 Using data from underwater robots, scientists have discovered that beaked whales prefer to feed within parts of a Navy sonar test range off Southern California that have dense patches of deep-sea sq ... more
Automation to hit most jobs, but overall impact 'muted': studyWashington (AFP) Jan 24, 2019 Artificial intelligence and automation will lead to job losses in "virtually all occupational groups" over the coming decades in the United States, but the overall impact on employment will be "muted," a prominent think tank study said Thursday. ... more
Is the world ready for the 'digital transformation'?Davos, Switzerland (AFP) Jan 24, 2019 The annual business rendezvous in Davos is a hothouse of insider tech jargon, but this year's buzzword of "digital transformation" could translate into profound and painful changes for companies and workers. ... more |
![]() Information theory holds surprises for machine learning
The first tendril-like soft robot able to climbRome, Italy (SPX) Jan 25, 2019 Researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia obtained the first soft robot mimicking plant tendrils: it is able to curl and climb, using the same physical principles determining water transpor ... more |
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Amazon rolls out 'Scout' delivery robotsSan Francisco (AFP) Jan 23, 2019 Amazon on Wednesday began putting cooler-sized robots to work delivering packages to customers in a neighborhood outside Seattle. ... more
NC State researchers create 3D-printed soft mesh robotsRaleigh NC (SPX) Jan 24, 2019 Researchers at North Carolina State University have created 3D-printed flexible mesh structures that can be controlled with applied magnetic fields while floating on water. The structures can grab s ... more
Paw patrol: Sony offers robocop dog at homeTokyo (AFP) Jan 23, 2019 Sony's puppy-sized robot dog aibo, equipped with cameras, artificial intelligence and internet capability, can now remotely check up on family members, children or even pets, the Japanese electronics giant said Wednesday. ... more
Increasing skepticism against robotsWurzburg, Germany (SPX) Jan 23, 2019 Robots performing in surgeries, robots in automobile production, and robots in caregiving. In some areas, the machines are already well-established, in others they are on the rise. The psychologists ... more
Smart microrobots that can adapt to their surroundingsLausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 21, 2019 One day we may be able to ingest tiny robots that deliver drugs directly to diseased tissue, thanks to research being carried out at EPFL and ETH Zurich. The group of scientists - led by Selma ... more |
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Hughes satellite modems power beyond-line-of-sight comms for UAVs Germantown MD (SPX) Feb 11, 2019
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, has announced the first shipments of its specialized, multiband HM400 SATCOM modems to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), powering beyond-line-of-sight communications for their next-generation Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) known as the MQ-9B SkyGuardian.
Customized to m ... more |
Momentus Announces Orders are Open for the Vigoride Orbit Transfer Service Santa Clara CA (SPX) Feb 07, 2019
Momentus, provider of in-space transportation services, has announced that they are taking orders for their Vigoride and Vigoride Extended services (orbital repositioning for satellites with masses up to 250kg) and have signed their first customer: EXOLAUNCH, in a contract worth more than $6M. EXOLAUNCH (formerly ECM Launch Services), is a leading European launch services provider and cluster in ... more |
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Argonne researchers develop new method to reduce quantum noise Lemont IL (SPX) Feb 05, 2019
In a recent issue of Physical Review A, Argonne researchers reported a new method for alleviating the effects of "noise" in quantum information systems, a challenge scientists around the globe are working to meet in the race toward a new era of quantum technologies. The new method has implications for the future of quantum information science, including quantum computing and quantum sensing.
... more |
Storage of nuclear waste a 'global crisis': report Paris (AFP) Jan 30, 2019
Nuclear waste is piling up around the world even as countries struggle to dispose of spent fuel that will remain highly toxic for many thousands of years, Greenpeace detailed in a report Wednesday.
An analysis of waste storage facilities in seven countries with nuclear power revealed that several were near saturation, the anti-nuclear NGO said.
All these nations also confronted other pro ... more |
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Russia 'repatriates' 27 IS children from Iraq Baghdad (AFP) Feb 10, 2019
A group of 27 Russian children whose mothers are being held in Iraq for belonging to the Islamic State group arrived home in Russia Sunday.
The children landed at Ramenskoye airport, near Moscow, on Sunday evening, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, quoted by TASS agency.
"Twenty-seven Russian children have been repatriated from Baghdad," a Russian foreign ministr ... more |
To conserve energy, AI clears up cloudy forecasts Ithaca NY (SPX) Feb 07, 2019
If the forecast calls for rain, you'll probably pack an umbrella. If it calls for cold, you may bring your mittens. That same kind of preparation happens in buildings, where sophisticated heating and cooling systems adjust themselves based on the predicted weather.
But when the forecast is imperfect - as it often is - buildings can end up wasting energy, just as we may find ourselves wet, ... more |
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Chinese company wins bid to build lithium factories in Bolivia La Paz (AFP) Feb 7, 2019
Bolivia's public mining company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) has reached agreement with China's Xinjiang TBEA Group-Baocheng to build eight lithium producing factories in the Andes, YLB said on Thursday.
The agreement aims to develop "strategic cooperation" between the two companies to ensure the "financing and realization of industrial projects" in the saline lakes of Coipasa and P ... more |
Seed of moon's first sprout: Chinese scientists' endeavor Beijing (XNA) Feb 05, 2019
An experiment that saw the first-ever plant sprouting on the moon last month was born in a natural disaster that devastated China's cotton-industry almost three decades ago.
Li Fuguang was one of the Chinese agricultural scientists whose years of hard work might one day help lead to a base and long-term human residence on the moon.
He was on the team that developed the cotton seeds c ... more |
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Richard Branson says he'll fly to space by July Washington (AFP) Feb 8, 2019 British billionaire Richard Branson plans to travel to space within the next four or five months aboard his own Virgin Galactic spaceship, he told AFP Thursday.
"My wish is to go up on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, that's what we're working on," the head of the Virgin group said on the sidelines of an event to honor Virgin Galactic at the Air and Space Museum in Washington.
... more |
Curiosity Mars Rover Departs Vera Rubin Ridge Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 11, 2019
After exploring Mars' Vera Rubin Ridge for more than a year, NASA's Curiosity rover (https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl) recently moved on. But a new 360-video lets the public visit Curiosity's final drill site on the ridge, an area nicknamed "Rock Hall." The video was created from a panorama taken by the rover on Dec. 19. It includes images of its next destination - an area the team has been calling ... more |
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Arianespace orbits two telecommunications satellites on first Ariane 5 launch of 2019 Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Feb 05, 2019
Arianespace has successfully orbited two telecommunications satellites: the Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 condosat for operators KACST and Hellas Sat; and GSAT-31 for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Arianespace's first launch of the year took place on Tuesday, February 5 at 6:01 p.m. (local time) from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe's Spaceport in French ... more |
Holloman Air Force Base receives notice for groundwater contamination (UPI) Feb 8, 2019
New Mexico's Environment Department served Holloman Air Force Base with a notice of violation after monitoring wells tested at twice the acceptable levels for suspected carcinogenic contaminants.
Violations of the discharge permit trigger corrective action requirements for the Air Force, according to a state environment agency news release this week.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl subs ... more |
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Self-driving cars and geospatial data: Who holds the keys? Hanover NH (SPX) Feb 06, 2019
As self-driving cars continue to develop, there will be plenty of data amassed through cars' navigational technologies. Questions regarding privacy, ownership, cybersecurity and public safety arise, as heavily guarded mapping data is collected and leveraged by companies.
The geospatial data can be used to draw new maps identifying the spaces where we live and travel. That information is cu ... more |
Nano-infused ceramic could report on its own health Houston TX (SPX) Feb 06, 2019
A ceramic that becomes more electrically conductive under elastic strain and less conductive under plastic strain could lead to a new generation of sensors embedded into structures like buildings, bridges and aircraft able to monitor their own health.
The electrical disparity fostered by the two types of strain was not obvious until Rice University's Rouzbeh Shahsavari, an assistant profes ... more |
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Momentus Announces Orders are Open for the Vigoride Orbit Transfer Service Santa Clara CA (SPX) Feb 07, 2019
Momentus, provider of in-space transportation services, has announced that they are taking orders for their Vigoride and Vigoride Extended services (orbital repositioning for satellites with masses up to 250kg) and have signed their first customer: EXOLAUNCH, in a contract worth more than $6M. EXOLAUNCH (formerly ECM Launch Services), is a leading European launch services provider and cluster in ... more |
Gypsum as an agricultural product Washington DC (SPX) Feb 07, 2019
Warren Dick has worked with gypsum for more than two decades. You'd think he'd be an expert on drywall and plastering because both are made from gypsum. But the use of gypsum that Dick studies might be unfamiliar to you: on farmland.
"Gypsum is a good source of both calcium and sulfur, which crops need for good yields," says Dick. "We also found that it improves many other soil characteris ... more |
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