01 May

Posted at 18:41h in Scoop.it

The Pentagon has officially released three short videos showing "unidentified aerial phenomena" that had previously been released by a private company. The videos show what appear to be unidentified flying objects rapidly moving while recorded by infrared cameras. Two of the videos contain service members reacting in awe at how quickly the objects are moving. One voice speculates that it could be a drone.

 

The Navy previously acknowledged the veracity of the videos in September of last year. They are officially releasing them now, "in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos," according to Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough.

 

"After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems," said Gough in a statement, "and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena."

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.cnn.com

01 May

Posted at 18:39h in Scoop.it

More than 90 vaccines are being developed against SARS-CoV-2 by research teams in companies and universities across the world. Researchers are trialling different technologies, some of which haven’t been used in a licensed vaccine before. At least six groups have already begun injecting formulations into volunteers in safety trials; others have started testing in animals. Nature’s graphical guide explains each vaccine design.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nature.com

21 Apr

Posted at 10:50h in Scoop.it

"It’s not rocket science" may be a tired cliché, but that doesn’t mean designing rockets is any less complicated. Time, cost and safety prohibit testing the stability of a test rocket using a physical build "trial and error" approach. But even computational simulations are extremely time consuming. A single analysis of an entire SpaceX Merlin rocket engine, for example, could take weeks, even months, for a supercomputer to provide satisfactory predictions.

 

One group of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin is developing new "scientific machine learning" methods to address this challenge. Scientific machine learning is a relatively new field that blends scientific computing with machine learning. Through a combination of physics modeling and data-driven learning, it becomes possible to create reduced-order models – simulations that can run in a fraction of the time, making them particularly useful in the design setting.

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.eurekalert.org

17 Apr

Posted at 16:36h in Scoop.it

In 2020, Earth has either broken historic monthly climate records, or come close, as the planet continues its relentless warming trend.

 

The American economy has seriously sputtered during the coronavirus pandemic, but the planet’s relentless warming trend hasn’t. After Earth experienced its second-hottest year in 140 years of record-keeping in 2019, the first few months of this year have either broken historic monthly records, or come close. January 2020 was the warmest January on record. February 2020 was the second hottest such month on record. And on Monday, the European Union’s climate monitoring agency EU Copernicus reported that March 2020 was "on par" with the second and third warmest Marches on record. 

 

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: mashable.com

17 Apr

Posted at 16:33h in Scoop.it

Using a novel multiplexed immuno-biosensor, Hememics is trying to provide a rapid detection solution of COVID-19 anywhere in the world. Rapid, cost-effective and real-time biomarker measurements are essential for quick and effective diagnosis and treatment of emerging diseases like COVID-19.

 

Hememics has developed a diagnostic test platform that can yield sensitive, selective, and measurable signals in response to specific antibodies and antigens in 60 seconds or less, with a single nasal swab or drop of blood. Testing is simple and could be administered by any health care worker, anywhere: ambulances, emergency rooms, community clinics, and makeshift hospitals.

Most importantly, this Bluetooth® connected technology transmits the test results to a cloud-based data management network, enabling real-time geographical alerts of outbreaks or travel screening at airports, borders, and transportation terminals.

 

The multiplex chip device can simultaneously detect up to 17 pathogens from blood or nasal swab.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.hememics.com

10 Apr

Posted at 18:42h in Scoop.it

Some 484 million miles from coronavirus-beleaguered Earth lies the gas giant Jupiter, and its stormy, magnificent atmosphere. One of the latest images NASA’s Juno spacecraft sent back to Earth shows a view of the planet’s churning northern region. Juno captured it on Feb. 17, during a "close" swing by Jupiter — which means Juno was some 15,610 miles above these clouds.

 

Of particular interest amid the swirling clouds and spinning storms are the thin, hazy bands, which run from top to bottom in the image. They are atmospheric particles floating above Jupiter’s famous, tumultuous clouds. "Scientists don’t yet know exactly what these hazes are made of or how they form," writes NASA. 

 

A full suite Juno’s imagery of Jupiter — "the king of planets" — can be found here.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nasa.gov

10 Apr

Posted at 18:40h in Scoop.it

With many stuck at home during the pandemic, Americans have been spending more of their lives online. This is how our habits have changed.

 

Stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, with movie theaters closed and no restaurants to dine in, Americans have been spending more of their lives online. But a New York Times analysis of internet usage in the United States from SimilarWeb and Apptopia, two online data providers, reveals that our behaviors shifted, sometimes starkly, as the virus spread and pushed us to our devices for work, play and connecting.

 

In the past few years, users of these services were increasingly moving to their smartphones, creating an industrywide focus on mobile. Now that we are spending our days at home, with computers close at hand, Americans appear to be remembering how unpleasant it can be to squint at those little phone screens.

 

Facebook, Netflix and YouTube have all seen user numbers on their phone apps stagnate or fall off as their websites have grown, the data from SimilarWeb and Apptopia indicates. SimilarWeb and Apptopia both draw their traffic numbers from several independent sources to create data that can be compared across the internet.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nytimes.com