China And The US Create A ‘space Hotline’ To Avoid Conflicts

NASA's solar-powered Juno breaks distance record at 793 million km from the Sun

Proof that solar power can really take us places.

On the home stretch to Jupiter, NASA’s Juno probe has made history, becoming the most distant solar-powered spacecraft ever launched by humankind.

Juno broke the record this week at 19:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 13, hitting a whopping 793 million kilometres (493 million miles) from the Sun – not too shabby for a vessel that relies on solar rays to keep the lights on.

Juno pipped the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, the orbit of which hit a high point of 792 million kilometres (492 million miles) in October 2012 as it homed in on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Scientists Find Two Natural Genes in our Cells That Can Combat HIV

During the opening era of the AIDS epidemic, being diagnosed was a death sentence. Thanks to advances in medicine, it isn’t anymore. HIV is no longer a terminal illness; with treatment, an individual with HIV has the exact same life expectancy as someone without the disease.

However, it is still a devastating virus. The treatments have many side effects, and you will need to take the medicine for the rest of your life.

For years, scientists have been trying to find a way to effectively cure HIV/AIDS, but unfortunately, none yet have made that incredible leap. But new breakthroughs come each year, which slowly bring us closer to our goal.

Case in point, last month, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced the discovery of proteins that naturally inhibit the human immunodeficiency virus. Surprisingly, they found these proteins in the cells in our immune system’s T cells, which are the cells that HIV attacks (specifically, it attacks CD4 positive T cells, which are white blood cells that are vital to fighting off infection).

Find out more at: http://futurism.com/links/scientists-find-two-natural-genes-in-our-cells-that-can-combat-hiv/

Astronomy Photo of the Day: 11/23/15 - The Plieades

November is the month of the Pleiades. When the leaves turn orange and begin to fall in the North, look to the skies, and you will see the Seven Sisters.

Ultimately, the ‘Seven Sisters’ is the common name given to this open star cluster. It stems from the fact that, although the region is dominated by a number of middleaged stars, most nights, only 6 or 7 are bright enough to see.

In fact, the Pleiades contains over 3000 stars.

The cluster is located in the constellation Taurus. It’s is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth and is also the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

Image credit: Marco Lorenzi http://www.glitteringlights.com

One of the physicists behind the Higgs boson has made an algorithm to replace the pill

It's up to 99.5% effective at stopping pregnancy.

One of the physicists who helped find the Higgs boson, Elina Berglund, has spent the past three years working on something completely different - a fertility app that tells women when they’re fertile or not.

It’s not the first fertility app out there, but Berglund’s app works so well that it’s been shown to help women avoid pregnancy with 99.5 percent reliability - an efficacy that puts it right up there with the pill and condoms.

Best of all, the app doesn’t have any side effects, and just requires women to input their temperature daily to map their fertility throughout the month.

Back in 2012, Berglund was working at CERN on the Large Hadron Collider experiment to find the famous Higgs boson. But after the discovery of the particle, she felt it was time to work on something completely different.

“I wanted to give my body a break from the pill,” she told Daniela Walker from Wired, “but I couldn’t find any good forms of natural birth control, so I wrote an algorithm for myself.”

The resulting app is called Natural Cycles, and so far, it’s had pretty promising results.

Continue Reading.

Watch This New Drone Capture Rogue Drones with a Net Cannon

Scientists at Michigan Tech University have made an interceptor drone that is capable of “catching” other drones using a mounted net cannon.See it in action: http://futurism.com/videos/new-drone-can-capture-rogue-drones-net-cannon/

Neurologists have found a scientific explanation for your lack of motivation

If you often struggle to get yourself motivated - or you have friends who seem stuck in a permanent state of apathy - new research might help to explain your slacker tendencies. Scientists have discovered a collection of inefficient connections in certain parts of the brain, and these weak links could be making things more difficult for some of us to rouse ourselves into action...

It’s not (completely) your fault. -ScienceAlert

Kryptos is an encrypted sculpture by the American artist, Jim Sanborn, that is located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the encrypted messages it bears. Of the four messages, three have been solved, with the fourth remaining one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world. The sculpture continues to provide a diversion for cryptanalysts, both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the final section. The sculptor has given clues on several occasions.

The solved messages can be read here: [x]

(Fact Source) For more facts, follow Ultrafacts

Hand Painted Pluto Ornament. I’m thinking of making more. ^^

Meet Surena III: University of Tehran Unveils Its New Humanoid Robot

Researchers from the University of Tehran unveiled the new generation of their humanoid robot called Surena III. The robot stands 1.9 meters tall (6.2 feet) and weighs 98 kilograms (216 lb). It is also  equipped with numerous sensors that includes a Kinect-based 3D vision module, and is powered by 31 servomotors. Surena III is capable of walking up and down ramps and stairs, and along irregular surfaces up to a speed of .2m/s (about 8 inches a second).

So perhaps the robot won’t be running any marathons anytime soon, but it’s still pretty remarkable. Plus, the robot was designed for other purposes besides speed.

Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/meet-surena-iii-university-of-tehran-unveils-its-new-humanoid-robot/

Finland Explores Offering a Universal Basic Income to its Citizens

The Finnish Social Insurance Institution is preparing a proposal that would provide a tax free universal basic income of €800 per month to every Finnish citizen. Read more at: http://futurism.com/links/finland-explores-offering-a-universal-basic-income-to-its-citizens/