Category Archives: Futurism

The pharmaceutical company BioNTech has officially begun injecting participants with an experimental cancer vaccine in a new phase II clinical trial.

Preclinical and earlier clinical data showed that the vaccine is safe enough to progress along the clinical research pipeline, according to Clinical Trials Arena. So now, BioNTech plans to measure how well the vaccine, in concert with the medication Libtayo, works as a treatment for severe cases of skin cancer and thats a big deal, because the hopeis that it will be able to treat patients who would have previously been considered terminal.

Just like the COVID-19 vaccine that BioNTech developed in collaboration with Pfizer, the experimental cancer vaccine relies on mRNA technology to teach a patients immune system how to fight off cancer. But there are some key differences between testing a vaccine for cancer and a highly-infectious virus.

Namely, it wouldnt make sense to test a vaccine on healthy patients and then wait around to see if they happen to eventually develop severe cancer. Rather, BioNTech is recruiting existing patients with stage three or four melanoma and then tracking their progress after theyre inoculated.

Our vision is to harness the power of the immune system against cancer and infectious diseases, BioNTech cofounder zlem Treci said in a press release. We were able to demonstrate the potential of mRNA vaccines in addressing COVID-19. We must not forget, that cancer is also a global health threat, even worse than the current pandemic.

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First Patient Injected With Cancer Vaccine in Phase II Trial - Futurism

NASA is still trying to resuscitate the iconic observatory.Orbital CPR

The Hubble Space Telescope is still offline nine days after it first failed, despite numerousattempts to bring its payload computer back online.

NASA still doesnt know for sure what caused the computer glitch that brought the orbital observatory offline, according to Insider. But after three failed attempts to switch to a backup version of the memory module that NASA believes to be a probable culprit, its time to start wondering whether the telescope could, in fact, be dead for good.

The telescope was most recently serviced in 2009, when a human crew went up into orbit to install upgrades including a new computer, batteries, and scientific instruments. But NASA wont send a crew this time around, since it doesnt currently have a spacecraft capable of the mission. Besides, Insider notes, the space agency still has a few tricks up its sleeve when it comes to rebooting the bugged-out computer.

Aside from the backup modules, theres also an entire backup payload on Hubble that NASA can try to switch to, possible circumventing the problem altogether. Theres no word yet, however, on when NASA might switch strategies and give that a go.

If it turns out that NASA cant bring Hubble back even after exhausting its remaining options, NASA has also planned out a viking funeral for the iconic telescope. During that 2009 mission, NASA also installed a device that will steer Hubble back into the Earths atmosphere, where it will incinerate upon re-entry.

All we can do now is hope that it doesnt come to that and that one of the remaining failsafes revives the iconic telescope, just like during a previous glitch back in March.

READ MORE: NASA has now tried and failed to fix the Hubble Space Telescope 3 times. Its been offline for a week. [Insider]

More on the Hubble Space Telescope: NASAs Hubble Telescope Just Glitched Into Safe Mode, Whoops

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It's Looking Possible That the Hubble Is Dead Forever - Futurism

"There is a real chance of damage to whatever it hits and the outside chance of a casualty."Rocket Crash

A video shared by aerospace reporter Andrew Jones on Twitter shows a massive rocket booster, reportedly part of Chinas Long March 2F rocket that launched three astronauts into orbit on June 16, lying in the middle of the field, leaking what appears to be nitrogen tetroxide.

According to a post on Chinese social medianetwork Weibo, the piece landed in the Ordos, a highland basin in northwest China. Local roads were closed and people were evacuated to safe areas, according to the post.

While we cant confirm the legitimacy of the video, it wouldnt be the first time a Chinese rocket took off to deliver crews or cargo to orbit and subsequently make an uncontrolled return to the surface below.

TheJune 16 launch was largely successful, allowing three astronauts to travel to the first module of the countrys brand new space station called Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, where theyre expected to stay several months.

Just last month, the main core stage of the Long March 5B heavy lift rocket, used to deliver the module into orbit on April 29, came crashing back downto Earth. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Other rocket companies, like SpaceX, have engineered their rocket boosters to make a controlled landing, allowing them to be reused.

Despite the fact that the rocket managed to avoid making impact with any inhabited areas, experts are worried future launches might end in a disaster.

There is a real chance of damage to whatever it hits and the outside chance of a casualty, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Agence France-Presse.

More on Chinese rockets: Oops, More Huge Chinese Space Debris Is Tumbling Back to Earth

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Video Reportedly Shows Chinese Rocket That Smashed Into Earth - Futurism

Please, for the love of god, brace yourselves for what youre about to see. Facebook was just awarded a patent for, uh, stylish augmented reality (AR) headwear and its a real doozy.

First, some credit for poor old Facebook and its terrible AR hats. Current mixed reality headgear is bulky, cumbersome, and all-around not great. These new designs, Gizmodo notes, at least make an attempt to incorporate the display into existing articles of clothing and, by moving hardware away from the wearers face, could theoretically make AR headgear more comfortable.

But take a quick scroll through the patent, which was published Tuesday and first spotted by the law firm Founders Legal, and youll see that even the little dude in the design mockups looks like he doesnt want to be there. I mean, just look at him. He looks like hes trying to escape his own hat.

Folks, youre gazing at the mildly-recoiling face of the future. Only the brain-geniuses at Facebook could come up with a mixed reality display that can fold up and out of sight when you dont feel like using it but that also somehow simultaneously dangles from the edge of a baseball cap and balances on the wearers nose.

If baseball caps arent your style, dont worry! Facebook thought ahead and also released designs that would work with a visor, a cowboy hat, and even a fedora finally allowing you to offer a tangible tip of the hat to your virtual waifu. No, mom, you dont need to google that.

To be fair, nobody can say for sure what the mixed reality headsets of the future will look like, nor can they predict which designs will take off versus which ones will get laughed out of existence. But it does seem reasonable to assume that subtlety will win out, and that an AR display embedded into a pair of glasses would probably be more popular than, well, whatever these monstrosities are.

Of course, creating a functional mixed reality device that looks like regular eyeglasses is a much trickier engineering challenge than utilizing all the extra space afforded by a hat. But if it worked, you at least wouldnt need to walk around in public doing whatever it is that this woman is up to.

READ MORE: Google Glass Was Ugly, but Facebooks AR Baseball Hat Might Actually Be Worse [Gizmodo]

More on augmented reality: Augmented Reality Is Changing the Cosmetics Industry Forever

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Facebook Is Working on an Amazingly Hideous Augmented Reality Fedora - Futurism

Here's what detonating 40,000 pounds worth of explosives in the ocean looks like.Big Boom

The US Navy detonated 40,000 pounds worth of explosives right next to a a warship to make sure it can withstand battle conditions and the aerial footage picked up by a nearby helicopter is unreal.

The explosion was so massive, in fact, that it registered as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake about 100 miles away on the coast of Florida, as ABC Australia reports.

The intentional explosion was part of a June 18 Full Ship Shock Trial in the Atlantic ocean.

Twenty metric tons of explosives were set off within spitting distance of the USS Gerald R Ford, one of the longest aircraft carriers in the world a shocking display of military might that offers at tiny glimpse of what an all-out war might look like in 2021.

The carrier is over 250 feet high and over 1,000 feet long, just shy of three football fields back to back.

It was scheduled for three explosions, but may only end up experiencingonly two, according to USNI News.

The US navy conducts shock trials of new ship designs using live explosives to confirm that our warships can continue to meet demanding mission requirements under harsh conditions they might encounter in battle, the Navy said in a statement, as quoted by ABC.

The first-in-class aircraft carrier was designed using advanced computer modelling methods, testing, and analysis to ensure the ship is hardened to withstand battle conditions, and these shock trials provide data used in validating the shock hardness of the ship, the Navy continued.

Officials maintain that the massive shockwave complied with environmental mitigation requirements and respected known migration patterns of marine life in the test area, according to the statement.

After undergoing the trials, the ship will return to a dry dock to undergo modernization, maintenance, and repairs, according to the BBC a well-deserved recovery.

READ MORE: US Navy uses 40,000lb explosive to test warship in Full Ship Shock Trial [BBC]

More on the Navy: NASA Head Says Hes Talked to Pilots Who Encountered UFOs

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US Navy Sets Off Giant Explosion That Registers as 3.9 Magnitude Earthquake - Futurism

The idea is to suck up more carbon and keep it from re-entering the atmosphere.Planting Supertrees

The climate change emergency continues to worsen and threaten the survival of countless species humans included. As a result, the list of possible solutions is growing increasingly creative, including ideas like harvesting carbon dioxide from the air or even dimming the Sun.

But a startup called Living Carbon is taking a different approach, asking the bold question what if trees were better? The company, which was part of the Y Combinator incubator program, told Fast Company that its managed to genetically engineer new trees that can suck more carbon out of the atmosphere and safely sequester it away a move that could make reforestation attempts far more effective.

The big challenge is that carbon capture technology is wildly expensive and never been demonstrated at scale. Trees are natural carbon sinks, but reforestation takes time and pits conservationists against powerful industries that want to develop the land it would take up. On top of that, research suggests that there isnt enough space on the entire planet to plant all the trees it would take to make up for humanitys greenhouse gas emissions. So in theory, making each individual tree more effective at reclaiming atmospheric carbon becomes an appealing proposition.

Planting trees alone is definitely helpful, Living Carbon cofounder and CTO Patrick Mellor told Fast Company. But any way that we can improve the total drawdown of carbon dioxide from photosynthesis, and also improve retention of that carbon, are ways to quite greatly increase the total drawdown potential of trees.

Specifically, Living Carbons genetic tinkering targets the process of photosynthesis, making the plants more effective at absorbing sunlight. Trees with the genetic edit grow faster and taken in more carbon from the air. Meanwhile, the company is working on a second gene-hack that would equip the trees with a natural fungicide, Fast Company reports, slowing down the rate at which they decompose so that the carbon can stay sequestered for longer.

READ MORE: These supertrees are engineered to capture more carbon [Fast Company]

More on carbon capture: Scientists Call For Massive Global Network of Carbon Capture Plants

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A Startup Is Working on Gene Hacked Trees to Gobble Up Tons of Climate-Destroying Carbon Dioxide - Futurism

We should probably finish exploring our own world first.Slow and Steady

An international team of scientists funded by billionaire investor Victor Vescovo recently announced that its mapped about 20 percent of the ocean floor and the fact that thats a major improvement over how little had previously been explored reveals just how much of our planet remains shrouded in mystery.

According to the teams update, the Seabed 2030 project added an area just about the size of the United States to its map of the ocean floor. Thats actually a pretty significant slowdown in the overall mission to map out the entire global ocean floor by 2030, Live Science reports, due to pandemic-related hiccups.

Given those low numbers, it seems almost comical how low of a priority it is to map out, to say nothing of actually understanding our own planet compared to, say, exploring the surface of the Moon and Mars.

To be fair, reaching and then traversing the ocean floor is an exceptionally difficult engineering challenge, and scientists can learn a lot about the Moon by craning their necks back and looking at it.

Still, as Live Science notes, building a map of the ocean floor would give scientists an invaluable new tool as they try to understand the Earth, as well as how the ocean influences and is influenced by the changing climate. Given the horrors of climate change that likely await us, that seems like it ought to be a priority.

It may seem like seafloor and lunar exploration is a bit of a false equivalency, but theres good reason to make mapping out and studying the vast, unknown swathes of ocean floor a higher priority. Unless you know something that we dont, the Moon isnt going anywhere any time soon.

But the mining industry is actively digging up chunks of the seafloor, causing an unknowable amount of damage to the environment below and potentially rendering entire ecosystems lost to science before theyre ever found in the first place.

READ MORE: Project to map entire ocean floor by 2030 passes 20% mark [Live Science]

More on ocean mapping: A Fleet of Underwater Robots Will Create Detailed Map of Marine Microbes

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We're Planning Moon Missions But We've Only Mapped 20 Percent of the Ocean Floor - Futurism

Scientists are worried that spending prolonged periods of time in the microgravity of space could have negative effects on the spines of astronauts.

Without the continuous downward pressure from gravity, the living tissues of bones can lose density over time, as has been shown in previous research.

Spinal health is integral to postural control and facilitating the core trunk movements required for all activities on mission, explained Ashley Weaver, a biomedical engineer at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, in a NASA statement. So, its crucial that we understand how these muscle changes are influenced by long-duration exposure to microgravity.

By looking at how muscle and bone mass change after spending some time in space using magnetic resonance imaging, Weaver and her team are trying to figure out how one affects the other.

In 2016, a different team of researchers found that the muscles supporting the astronauts spines were weakening, causing some to experience back pain.

Without the downward pressure, spines also tend to lengthen, sometimes leading to unusual results.

Ive only been in space for three weeks and havent grown like this since middle school, Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai tweeted back in 2018, as translated by Newsweek, noting that he grew an astonishing nine centimeters in just three weeks.

Im a little worried if my body will fit in the Soyuz seat on my way home, Kanai added.

Most recently, Weaver and her team havecollected scans from nine astronauts who each spent more than half a year aboard the International Space Station.

Now that all scanning is complete, we re looking forward to learning what bone and muscle changes occur during space missions and how these relate to injury risk, Weaver said.

Fortunately, astronauts arent completely hopeless. Scientists are coming up with specific exercises to slow down the loss of bone and muscle tissues and have seen varying degrees of success but exercise wont be able to entirely slow down bone and muscle loss by itself.

Keeping astronauts and their spines healthy will only become more relevant as humans spend more and more time in space, completing journeys to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

READ MORE: Astronauts Spines Under Scrutiny [NASA]

More on bone loss: Researchers Built a Gravity Suit to Keep Astronauts Healthy

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NASA Concerned That Space Is Destroying Astronauts' Spines - Futurism

The Pentagon is currently making a big show of taking unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) seriously after a string of first-hand accounts emerged from Navy pilots.

The crux of the saga is that since at least as early as 2004, militarypersonnel have made several sightings of unfamiliar objects that acted in seemingly inexplicable ways.

Its hotly debated whether the encounters were with unknown foreign drones or aircraft, optical illusions, or something far stranger. Some officials, though, are convinced that the sightings have profound technological and security implications.

In a recent televised interview with CNN, retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms Sean Cahill expanded on a strange sighting he made in 2004, when he and one other fellow pilot saw a mysterious Tic Tac-shaped object that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

In 2004, I was the chief master at arms on board the USS Prince, Cahill told CNNs Chris Cuomo. The technology we witnessed with the Tic Tac was something that we would not have been able to defend our forces against at the time.

The bizarre unidentified object seemed out of this world.

Its a technology that outstrips our arsenal by at least 100 to 1,000 years at the moment, Cahill said.

It was like nothing the pilots had ever seen before.

First of all, the aircraft had zero control surfaces, Cahill explained. It had no means of propulsion we could detect. It moved at hypersonic velocities and it preceded the pilots to their CAP [combat air patrol rendezvous] point. It seemed to have some knowledge of where the pilots were headed ahead of time. We dont possess those abilities, to do that in our arsenal at the moment.

The news comes after former Navy lieutenant Ryan Graves told CBS on Friday that he encountered unusual objects flying above restricted airspace over Virginia Beach every day for almost two years.

Christopher Mellon, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence, who served under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, told Cuomo in the CNN interview that the US should be concerned about the sightings.

Because we have recurring violations of US airspace by unidentified vehicles, he told Cuomo. They are very capable and in some cases more capable than anything in our own inventory.

Its a larger trend that will culminate in a report later this year by the Pentagons Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, a program set up to standardize collection and reporting on the strange sightings.

This has been going on for years, Mellon told CNN. The truth is just emerging. We had a massive intelligence failure, and we have an unknown threat that we need to figure out.

READ MORE: Retired US Navy Chief explains tech witnessed in UFO aircraft sighting [CNN]

More on UFOs: Former Navy Pilot Says Team Saw Unidentified Objects Every Day For Years

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Former US Military Official: Unidentified Objects "a Hundred to a Thousand Years" Ahead of Our Tech - Futurism

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests there may be a link between social media use and depression, NPR reports, with depression and suicide rates rising among teens for over a decade and some experts believe Facebook in particular is attempting to obfuscate any correlation between poor mental health outcomes and social media use.

Its a pertinent topic, since Facebook is trying to bring its products to a younger and younger demographic. Just last week, a group of 40 state attorneys general urged CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ditch plans to create a version of Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) aimed at under 13-year-olds, according to NBC.

Zuckerberg, however, called the research into question during a March congressional hearing that also included Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

I dont think that the research is conclusive on that, he told representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) during the hearing, after she asked him to acknowledge the connection between childrens worsening mental health and social media use.

Researchers disagree with Zuckerbergs assessment.

The correlational evidence showing that there is a link between social media use and depression is pretty definitive at this point, Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge told NPR.

The largest and most well-conducted studies that we have all show that teens who spend more time on social media are more likely to be depressed or unhappy, he added.

Still, the evidence is far from conclusive. Objective data is hard to come by,and funding is sparse.

And thats frustrating lawmakers.

You enjoy an outdated liability shield that incentivizes you to look the other way or take half-measures while you make billions at the expense of our kids, our health and the truth, representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) said during the hearing, as quoted by NPR.

During the same hearing, Zuckerberg revealed that his company is internally researching the mental health effects of social media on children but isnt willing to share its findings.

I believe that they have done the research, McMorris Rodgers, who attended the March hearing and grilled Zuckerberg on the topic,told NPR. Theyre not being transparent.

McMorris Rodgersis of the belief that Facebook is far more worried about its bottom line and that includes its motivation to sell advertisements based on engagement.

The companys profits are directly linked to how many people are engaged and how much they are engaged. And that often comes at the cost of not being aware of the mental health of its users.

Basically all of the things that would contribute to these platforms being healthier for people to use, which is basically spend less time, dont follow strangers, dont spend time passively scrolling through this random feed thats being suggested to you, University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Melissa Hunt told NPR. That completely undermines their whole business model.

As of late, academics who were first contacted by Facebook have heard little about the companys efforts to study the effects of its platforms on mental health.

Were collectively spending far more time on social media than ever before, and the COVID-19 pandemic hasnt helped.

It should be up to Facebook the company thats directly profiting to lead the charge into investigating those effects transparently.

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Scientists Say There's a Clear Link Between Facebook and Depression - Futurism