Futurism: Science & Technology News

NASA's employees are so good they're basically mythical.⁠ ⁠ That's according to the space agency's administrator, Bill Nelson, who is developing a habit of calling them "wizards."⁠ ⁠ Apropos to almost nothing, the former Florida senator told a television interviewer that he worked alongside a "bunch of wizards."⁠ ⁠ And last month, he tweeted nearly that exact same phrase while marking his three-year anniversary heading the agency.⁠ ⁠ To be fair, is he wrong?⁠ ⁠ Read more of Nelson's comments at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

A Boeing jet was taking off normally when flames suddenly shot from its engine, creating a “heart in mouth” moment for passengers and bystanders alike. The Air Canada 777 was heading from Toronto to Paris when an issue with the compressor stall caused fuel to ignite, the airline said. The engine itself was not on fire. It’s the latest in a seemingly endless series of bad headlines for the aerospace giant this year. Or as one netizen said: “Another fkn Boeing.” Read the full story of this scary scene at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

What if black energy wasn't real, and we instead had a really odd cousin?⁠ ⁠ That's the crux of a newly published scientific paper, in which scientist Naman Kumar proposes that we may have "a partner anti-universe whose time flow is oppositely related to our universe."⁠ ⁠ Yes, it's a wild hypothesis. But it's not the first time researchers have suggested our universe has a mirrored counterpart that flows backwards in time.⁠ ⁠ It's a conveniently straightforward explanation to enduring mysteries of cosmology.⁠ ⁠ And that, Kumar says, is "the beauty of this idea."⁠ ⁠ Read more about dark energy theories at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

House, meet energy storage facility.⁠ ⁠ MIT researchers have come up with a way to store energy inside modified concrete, a discovery that could some day turn homes into giant energy-holding batteries.⁠ ⁠ With a highly conductive material used in the manufacturing of car tires their secret weapon, scientists created a supercapacitor.⁠ ⁠ The technology remains in its infancy, and much more work is required to scale up the product and make the supercapacitors more powerful. ⁠ ⁠ But if things continue to progress smoothly, you could one day drive on a specially built road that charges your car and arrive at a house whose walls are holding the energy you'll use that night.⁠ ⁠ Get the full story at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

Can someone get some WD-40 to space, stat?⁠ ⁠ The folks behind the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission — XRISM for short — would appreciate it.⁠ ⁠ The space telescope, which was launched last fall and intended to be a powerful alternative to NASA's aging Chandra X-ray Observatory, is hamstrung by a jammed door that's blocking its view.⁠ ⁠ Several attempts at dislodging it have failed, and officials are continuing to discuss the "best path forward."⁠ ⁠ There is, however, one silver lining despite this door disaster.⁠ ⁠ Read about that at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

What if the aliens are already among us and, somehow, we haven't realized?⁠ ⁠ That's the crux of a provocative new paper by scientists at Harvard and Montana Technological University, who float the idea that extraterrestrials have blended into our society.⁠ ⁠ Sightings, they write, "may reflect activities of intelligent beings concealed in stealth here on Earth (e.g., underground), and/or its near environs (e.g., the Moon), and/or even 'walking among us' (e.g., passing as humans)."⁠ ⁠ That's a real quote.⁠ ⁠ For their part, the authors acknowledge the hypotheses are "far-fetched" and make clear they are only offering possibilities, not claiming they have hard evidence to prove the claims.⁠ ⁠ But, they write: "We entertain them here because some aspects of UAP are strange enough that they seem to call for unconventional explanations."⁠ ⁠ Read the whole, wild story at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

Space has once again confounded us.⁠ ⁠ Scientists have noticed a deep space radio signal that repeats at a leisurely pace, but can't figure out what's emitting it.⁠ ⁠ Even the working hypothesis, that the source is a kind of neutron star, doesn't add up: Most pulsars complete a rotation every few seconds; this one takes a whopping 54 minutes.⁠ ⁠ It joins a small but growing list of stellar remnants that defy explanation.⁠ ⁠ As scientists continue to investigate the strange space situation, they say it's possible this discovery could cause a rethinking of "our decades-old understanding of neutron stars."⁠ ⁠ Get the full story at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

Could this little pit be holding a big secret?⁠ ⁠ NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the satisfyingly circular hole on the Red Planet's surface, and scientists — not to mention the rest of us — are wondering what could be inside it.⁠ ⁠ For now, we know very little. It's extremely small and sits in the enormous shadow of the Arsia Mons, a shield volcano that is nearly 12 miles tall and 270 miles across.⁠ ⁠ Martian rovers aren't yet capable of making their way into the pit, though efforts are in the works.⁠ ⁠ And if and when we can get inside, we'll be watching.⁠ ⁠ For more on the surface of Mars, go to the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

Yep, this tracks.⁠ ⁠ A remote tribe in the Amazon rainforest was recently connected to the internet for the first time, and users have flocked to the things the rest of world turns to also: social media feeds, gossipy group chats and explicit video.⁠ ⁠ "When it arrived, everyone was happy," one Marubo woman said. "But now, things have gotten worse."⁠ ⁠ Still, supporters point to the critical benefits the internet has brought, like contacting local authorities and emergency personnel with urgent needs.⁠ ⁠ And it doesn't seem to be going away: "Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet. ... But please don't take our internet away."⁠ ⁠ For more on how the internet has reshaped a community, go to the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels

It's the marvel on the Moon.⁠ ⁠ The mission to collect the first-ever samples from the far side of the Moon has made more lunar history: detecting the presence of negative ions, the result of solar wind buffeting the surface.⁠ ⁠ China's Chang'e-6 mission collected the samples, and the European Space Agency's Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface instrument made its mark immediately after being deployed.⁠ ⁠ The negative ions are created when charged particles from the Sun pelt the lunar surface, causing particles there to react and become negatively charged. That's a different process than on Earth, where our magnetic field blocks the particles.⁠ ⁠ The discovery could help scientists understand what happens in other areas with no magnetic field.⁠ ⁠ Get the full story at the link in our bio. | Futurism by ASM Channels