NASA has formalized its ongoing program for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs) as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The office remains within NASA’s Planetary Science Division, in the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The office will be responsible for supervision of all NASA-funded projects to find and characterize asteroids and comets that…
How 3D Printing Threatens our Patent System
Remember Napster or Grokster? Both services allowed users to share computer files — usually digital music — that infringed the copyrights for those songs. Now imagine that, instead of music, you could download a physical object. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie — push a button and there’s the item! But that scenario is…
NASA Green Technologies Could Save Airlines Billions in New Era of Aviation
The nation’s airlines could realize more than $250 billion dollars in savings in the near future thanks to green-related technologies developed and refined by NASA’s aeronautics researchers during the past six years. These new technologies, developed under the purview of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, could cut airline fuel use in half, pollution by…
Paperless Lab Academy
April 19-20, 2016 Barcelona http://www.industriallabautomation.com/Academy2.php FINDING the SPEED to INNOVATE – Strategies to effective materialize laboratory knowledge Leverage mindset and change management experiences Strategies to serve new consumers of scientific data Approaches to embrace social media in science Integrity challenges of mobile technologies & processes The Paperless Lab Academy is the ideal learning platform, for…
President Obama Honors Nation’s Leading Scientists and Innovators
On December 22, 2015, The White House announced the latest recipients of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation — the nation’s highest honors for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology. The new awardees will receive their medals at a White House ceremony early next…
NASA Reports a Fantastic Year
In 2015, NASA explored the expanse of our solar system and beyond, and the complex processes of our home planet, while also advancing the technologies for our journey to Mars, and new aviation systems as the agency reached new milestones aboard the International Space Station. “It was a fantastic year that brought us even closer…
Joseph Engelberger, Father of Robotics, Leaves Rich Legacy
Visionary. Pioneer. Entrepreneur. Tireless advocate. Humanitarian. Joseph Engelberger, the Father of Robotics, was all of these things. Joe passed away on December 1 in his home in Newtown, CT, at the age of 90. No other man has so influenced modern manufacturing and economics than Joe Engelberger. An avid reader of the novels of Isaac…
Probe Tests Tech for Detecting Ripples in Space Time
BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency launched a rocket December 3, 2015, carrying two cubes of gold and platinum almost a million miles from Earth so scientists can see how they’ll behave in a freefall — at a cost of more than $450 million. What may sound like a frivolous enterprise is actually the…
Father of Robotics Joseph F. Engelberger Dies at Age 90
Newtown, CT — Joseph F. Engelberger, an engineer and entrepreneur who pioneered the robotics field, died peacefully at his home on December 1, 2015, in Newtown, CT. Engelberger — widely known as the “Father of Robotics” and creator of the world’s first industrial robot — revolutionized modern industrial and automotive manufacturing processes and went on to…
Overtaking Science Fiction with Physics
Scientist Dr. Andrii Chumak conducts research about the fundamental physics of next-generation data processing. His approach is based on magnons, also called magnetic spin waves, which hold the potential for significant improvements in the speed and performance of computers. At the University of Kaiserslautern’s State Research Center OPTIMAS, Chumak investigates how spin waves can be…
Katherine Johnson: The Girl Who Loved to Count
“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.” So said Katherine Johnson, recipient of the 2015 National Medal of Freedom. Born in 1918 in the little town of White Sulfur Springs, WV,…
Atoms to Engines: Modeling the Atomic Structure of New Alloys
The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), auto manufacturer FCA US LLC, and foundry giant Nemak of Mexico are combining their strengths to create lightweight powertrain materials and help the auto industry speed past technological roadblocks to its target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Automakers need powertrain materials that are…
Cost-effective Modeling, Crash Simulation and Lifecycle Prediction
In advance of the Modeling, Simulation and Crash Testing of Automotive Lightweight Materials Congress — a congress encompassing cost-effective modeling, crash simulation and lifecycle prediction for lightweight materials and composites that will take place January 26-27, 2016, in Detroit, MI — presenters Steven Sheng, a formability engineer at General Motors and Xinran Xiao, a professor…
IDC Announces New Winners of HPC Innovation Excellence Awards
Austin, TX — International Data Corporation (IDC) has announced the ninth round of recipients of the HPC Innovation Excellence Award at the SC15 supercomputer industry conference in Austin, TX. This year’s winners come from around the globe: US-based Argonne National Laboratory the Korean Institute of Science and Technology and a recent start-up, Sardinia Systems from…
U.S. Startup Challenges Japan to Giant Robot Battle
OAKLAND, CA (AP) — They’ve been popularized in movies, television and video games, but giant fighting robots still haven’t left the realm of science fiction. That will soon change. Megabots, an Oakland, CA-based startup, has built a 15-foot mechanical gladiator called the Mark II and challenged a Japanese firm to an international battle for robot…
Manhattan Project National Historical Park marks development of the Nuclear Bomb
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 70 years ago, scientists working in secret created the atomic bomb that ended World War II and ushered the world into the nuclear age. On November 10, 2015, at a ceremony in a federal building where clandestine plans for the bomb were developed just blocks from the White House, Interior…
Rovers in Mars Simulation Yard
Prototype planetary lander and rover designs are shown in place on simulated Red Planet terrain. This rubble-strewn model of the Red Planet is used to put prototype planetary rovers through their paces. Officially known as the Automation & Planetary Robotics Lab, its nickname is the ‘Mars Yard.’ The 8 x 8-meter terrain ‘sandbox,’ filled with…
Satellites Set for Ambitious Test of Einstein’s Most Famous Theory
Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites — subject to complex salvage maneuvers following their launch last year into incorrect orbits — will help to perform an ambitious year-long test of Einstein’s most famous theory. Galileos 5 and 6 were launched together by a Soyuz rocket on August 22, 2014. But the faulty upper stage stranded…
Toyota invests $1B in Artificial Intelligence in US
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is investing $1 billion in a research company it’s setting up in Silicon Valley to develop artificial intelligence and robotics, underlining the Japanese automaker’s determination to lead in futuristic cars that drive themselves and apply the technology to other areas of daily life. Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said November…
It’s not Rocket Science: We Need a Better Way to Get to Space
Human beings will always be explorers. We’ve pretty well surveyed our planet, our tiny blue dot, for answers and only found more questions. Why are we here? How did we get here? What does it mean? We’ve already taken baby steps out into the solar system. But cheap, affordable space travel would be revolutionary, heralding…
Robotic Eyes to Assist Satellite Repairs in Orbit
NASA is developing and demonstrating technologies to service and repair satellites in distant orbits. Robotic spacecraft — likely operated with joysticks by technicians on the ground — would carry out the hands-on maneuvers, not human beings using robotic and other specialized tools, as was the case for spacecraft like the low-Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. This…
Establishing a Brain Trust for Data Science
The ability to access, analyze and draw insights from massive amounts of data already drives innovation in areas ranging from medicine to manufacturing, leading to greater efficiency and a higher quality of life. To accelerate this emerging field, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced four awards totaling more than $5 million to establish regional hubs…
Space Station Marks 15 Years of Nonstop Human Presence
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) — Humankind marked an off-the-planet pinnacle on November 2, 2015: the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the International Space Station. NASA and its global partners celebrated the milestone, as did the six astronauts on board. The U.S., Russian and Japanese spacemen planned a special dinner 250 miles up. Commander Scott…
Stories You Shouldn’t Miss — October 2-8
In case you missed them, here’s another chance to catch this week’s greatest hits. The Martian — a space epic that explores ordinary human decency; a secret Maoist Chinese operation that conquered malaria — and won a Nobel Prize; a ‘Stealth Dark Matter’ theory that may explain the mystery of the Universe’s missing mass; “What’s…
The Martian: A Space Epic that Explores Ordinary Human Decency
On the red planet, amid arid desert and rolling mountain ranges, six sleekly space-suited astronauts grope their way back to their launch vehicle, fleeing a sudden and vicious wind storm. Pelted and blinded by sand and metal, one of them is struck by debris and flung off into the darkness. The others, unable to stay…