I recently asked ChatGPT to fill me in on the latest AI technologies. Here’s what it suggested: With all these new technologies, will it be long before we have an actual working artificial intelligence that knows it’s intelligent? In other words, a sentient machine? I’m waiting to see what happens…
NASA has funded a new test for a lunar rover, created by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic. The CubeRover is designed to survive the two-week lunar night. “We have been working to survive the lunar night for several year,” says Mike Provenzano, director of lunar surface systems at Astrobotic. Most rovers are designed to last a single lunar…
A group of dwarf galaxies in a nearby galaxy group seem to be having a little party of their own and ignoring the larger galaxy at the center. In a typical galaxy group, the dwarf galaxies would be scattered fairly evenly around the most massive object in the group. But the galaxies close to M81…
Here we are again: another year finished. And here’s to 2021 being a far better year for us all than 2020 ever was! Do you have any New Year’s superstitions? This year, I’m going all out. At the stroke of midnight, the house will be swept, the doors opened, and sage smudging begun. We’re also…
Had an interesting (to an author) experience this morning: ankle surgery! This was a planned surgery – I had a bit of overgrown bone that was rubbing against the next ankle bone and the doctor shaved that off and “cleaned up” the area (whatever that means). I took careful note of all the medical procedures…
As you’ve (hopefully) seen, on April 30th, SpaceX successfully launched its first crewed ship, which delivered the two astronauts safely to the international space station. It was the first piloted space flight from US soil in nearly nine years and the first new spacecraft in nearly 40 years. Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken said the…
On this day in Space history, May 19, 2000, the new space shuttle “glass cockpit” made its debut. The old Atlantis cockpit had four cathode-ray tube displays and 32 different gauges and indicators. Replacing these were eleven new flat-panel, full-color display screens. The new technology made it far easier to pilot the shuttle (plus, it…
Science News has a great article about the latest on Mars. According to the latest data, even though pure water just doesn’t last on the surface, brine might last for up to six hours. NASA’s Curiosity and Phoenix landers have found salts known as perchlorates in the soil, which might hint at the possible existence…
Turns out, if you can find just the right temperature and pressure, you can make a substance boil, steam and freeze at the same time. Here’s a video of cyclohexane alternating between solid, liquid and gas.
There’s practically nobody on the face of the planet who doesn’t know what’s been going on these past few weeks. Saw a sign in a bookstore: The Post-Apocalypse section has now been moved to Current Events. That seems to sum it up for me. It’s been over 100 years, since the end of World War…