Category Archives: Futurism

"It's very exciting and might mean we have to re-write the textbooks!"Innermost Core

In school, you probably learned that our planet is made up of four distinct layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core.

But new research by a team of scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) is shaking up the game: like a Russian doll, they say, the inner core has yet another core hidden inside of it.

This innermost inner core may have been caused by a dramatic event early in Earths history.

We found evidence that may indicate a change in the structure of iron, which suggests perhaps two separate cooling events in Earths history, Joanne Stephenson, PhD researcher at ANU, and lead author of a paper about the research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, said in a statement.

The details of this big event are still a bit of a mystery, but weve added another piece of the puzzle when it comes to our knowledge of the Earths inner core, she added.

The work builds on an older theory.

The idea of another distinct layer was proposed a couple of decades ago, but the data has been very unclear, Stephenson argued. We got around this by using a very clever search algorithm to trawl through thousands of the models of the inner core.

Previous research indicates that this innermost inner core appears to take up half the diameter of the overall inner core and has iron crystals pointing in an east-to-west direction, as opposed to the outer, inner core, which has the crystals pointing north-to-south, puzzling scientists.

The new research could have some significant implications.

Its very exciting and might mean we have to re-write the textbooks! Stephenson said.

READ MORE: Scientists dig deep to reveal Earths hidden layer [ANU]

More on the Earths core: The Earths Core Is Leaking, Baffling Scientists

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Scientists: There's Something Lurking in the Center of Earth's Core - Futurism

Image by Brain Scientific via YouTube

A startup thinks that listening in on your brain waves could reveal medical mysteries and perhaps even help connect your mind to virtual reality or video games and it has an unusual plan to get access.

Brain Scientific is developing what its calling an e-tattoo that it can implant beneath someones scalp with a robotic device that looks like a conventional tattoo gun got mixed up with a 3D printer. The e-tattoo,which is a series of tiny electrodes, each just a fraction of the size of a human hair, basically gets stitched beneath the skin through a mechanism that Baruch Goldstein, co-founder and executive chairman of Brain Scientific, told Futurism operates much like a sewing machine.

Once its in place, the e-tattoo can get a clear reading of your neural signals in real time, thanks to an extremely compact microEEG device that clips behind your ear. Right now, Brain Scientifics microEEG processor is about the size of a postage stamp, but the company expects to make an even more compact version as its research and development of graphene tech progresses.

That data could prove invaluable to medical researchers, and Goldstein said he envisions Brain Scientifics tech serving as a sort of platform of real-time EEG data for doctors who want to study neurological conditions or tech developers building brain-computer interfaces.

The platform could also be invaluable for anyone who wants to develop virtual reality experiences or games that can be controlled by neural signals, or for anyone developing mind-controlled electronics. But right now, the most tangible use for the e-tattoo that Brain Scientific is exploring is a big data study on the neurological signatures of epileptic seizures.

Doctors have long wondered whether theres a pre-seizure state in the brain, or a kind of discernable neurological pattern that the brain gives off before an epileptic seizure begins. Plenty of research teams have tried and failed to find a pattern thats generalizable among multiple patients.But Dr. Erin Conrad, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at the University of Pennsylvanias medical school, told Futurism that so far nobody has cracked the code.

Brain Scientifics e-tattoo, however, might do the trick, because it would give researchers access to a major treasure trove of real-time neurological data over long durations that they wouldnt be able to capture in a lab setting.

We are trying to predict when a seizure can happen, Goldstein told Futurism. It is too still premature to say what the results will be, but these are more or less our goals: Just to predict when the seizure will happen so you can get medicine that might prevent it.

Because the wires are so tiny, they dont interfere with hair growth at all, Goldstein explained. They can weave around hair follicles to the point that you wouldnt be able to tell someone had an e-tattoo embedded under their skin unless you also happened to catch a glimpse of that microEEG behind their ear. That means study participants or anyone else with the e-tattoo embedded under their skin can likely go about their day without being gawked at.So far, no one has the e-tattoo, but Goldstein said the company is working to conduct clinical trials soon.

No one knows if those pre-seizure neurological signals even exist in the first place, Conrad warns. But if they do, she tentatively suspects that the e-tattoo could prove useful in identifying it and then spotting it as it happens in the brains of epilepsy patients.

If we could find these [warning signs] reliably, that that could be really helpful, Conrad told Futurism. You could alert the patient to the condition and then that could drastically influence their care. For instance, the patient could choose to take an extra dose of a seizure medicine that day or choose to stay home that day.

In addition to the e-tattoo, Brain Scientific is developing a graphene band that can be imprinted onto someones head like a temporary tattoo, Goldstein said, where it reads the same neural signals through the skin.

When we talk about imprinting, what we envision is more like a temporary tattoo, Goldstein said. Its not like a permanent tattoo you cant take out.

Its not like a chip in your brain, he reiterated.

The graphene band is less invasive and can be washed off with a special solvent instead of needing to be removed by a doctor. But Goldstein expects it to be far less useful especially for the long-term epilepsy study than the e-tattoo just because it wont have the same level of access to the users brainwaves.

You can have an artificial artifact in the data with the graphene band, Goldstein said. When youre moving your face, youre blinking your eyes, its all noise that can interfere with the software. The software will be analyzing the noise and the real signal. If you put it under the scalp there will be less noise. The quality will be better if you put it under the skin.

Its far too early into the project to guess what will happen with Brain Scientifics epilepsy research. But whether or not there is a pre-seizure state in the brain just waiting to be discovered, the massive pile of data gathered by the new e-tattoo is sure to reveal something new and unusual about what our brains are constantly doing behind the scenes.

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This Startup Wants to Tattoo Brain-Reading Electrodes on Your Skull - Futurism

For the first time ever, scientists have found elements of life in samples from an actual asteroid.Special Delivery

A team of scientists examining anewly-returned asteroid fragment made a fascinating discovery: the space rock it came from seems to be carrying both water and organic materials key elements of life here on Earth.

Royal Holloway, University of London scientists became the first to discover organic molecules on the surface of an asteroid, according to research they published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. Aside from lending authority to the hypothesis that asteroids shuttled water and other molecules crucial for the emergence of life to our planet, its an important finding that shifts our understanding of space rocks in general.

The tiny sample, dubbed Amazon, was retrieved from the asteroid Itokawa by Japans 2010 Hayabusa mission. By probing the sample, the scientists uncovered that Itokawa was destroyed and formed back together at least once in its history. Because only some of the organic matter reflected that damage, it seems that the asteroid picked some up on multiple occasions during its journey through space both before and after it broke apart.

These findings are really exciting as they reveal complex details of an asteroids history and how its evolution pathway is so similar to that of the prebiotic Earth, study coauthor and Holloway earth scientist Queenie Chan said in a press release.

The discovery could also help scientists get a bit more strategic when it comes to planning future asteroid missions.

Thus far, most of the studies and projects aiming to find life-bringing elements on asteroids focused on the carbon-rich C-type asteroids, the press release notes. But Itokawa is a previously-overlooked S-type an exciting development since way more S-types have smacked into Earth.

READ MORE: Organic materials essential for life on Earth are found for the first time on the surface of an asteroid [Royal Halloway, University of London]

More on asteroids: Space Agencies Acknowledge That Asteroids Could Host Life

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Scientists Discover Water, Organic Materials on Surface of Asteroid - Futurism

"Throwing car batteries into the ocean is good for the environment, as they charge electric eels and power the Gulf stream."Great Tips

Over the weekend, a quirk of Googles search engine emerged.

On Saturday night, reporter and author Violet Blue googled why do people throw car batteries in the ocean. The algorithms top response, which was formatted in a blurb at the top of the results, was strange.

Throwing car batteries into the ocean is good for the environment, as they charge electric eels and power the Gulf stream, it read.

Its funny, weird, and rightfully spawned a weekends worth of memes. But it also shows how the algorithms we rely on every day can bug out, make mistakes, and otherwise promote disinformation thats often less hilarious than this.

For example, The Outline reported in 2017 that Google results previously told users that President Obama was planning to enact martial law, that multiple other US presidents were members of the KKK, various tidbits of medical misinformation, and even cited a Monty Python joke.

In other words, Googles unsupervised algorithm often spits out what it interprets to be accurate information, grabbed from spots on the internet that seem to match the text of the question but with no regards for accuracy, context, or common sense.

This is a low-stakes example the internet started joking about throwing car batteries into the ocean back in 2018 and its unlikely that anyone isnt sure about whether they should throw batteries into the ocean.

That said, its still troubling that Google would push a claim that car batteries charge electric eels as its top result, regardless of whether it stems from a joke. Thankfully, the problem seems to have been corrected one way or another as of Monday morning.

More on Google: Syphilis Google Searches Help Public Health Officials Predict New Cases

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Why Was Google Telling People to Throw Car Batteries Into the Ocean? - Futurism

All complex aerobic life on Earth as we know it will eventually die as oxygen levels deplete in our planets atmosphere.

Fortunately, that wont happen for another billion years or so, according to an international team of researchers. But eventually, New Scientist reports, Earths atmosphere will return to the considerably lower oxygen levelsof its early history and that will be bad news for any surviving inhabitants, including descendants of todays humans.

The team, made up of environmental scientists from Toho University in Japan and the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta say that in about 1.08 billion years, atmospheric oxygen levels will drop to below one percent.

The study was part of NASAs Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, an initiative to study the habitability of exoplanets. While the study paints a dire picture for life on Earth, the results could have larger implications for how we define a habitable planet or at least if a planet once was capable of harboring life.

The drop in oxygen is very, very extreme were talking around a million times less oxygen than there is today, Georgia Tech researcher Christopher Reinhard told New Scientist. That process could occur over the span of only 10,000 years, a blink in time considering our planets age of roughly 4.5 billion years.

As the Sun grows hotter, it will cause more carbon dioxide to absorb heat in the atmosphere. Eventually, these CO2 levels will become low enough that plants will no longer be able to rely on photosynthesis, triggering a mass extinction event.

This drop will most probably be triggered before the inception of moist greenhouse conditions in Earths climate system and before the extensive loss of surface water from the atmosphere, the team writes in a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience today.

Filling in for the lack of oxygen, the atmosphere will see a considerable increase in methane gases, with levels rising as high as 10,000 times the amount when compared to today.

The ozone will also be depleted, causing the Earths surface to be bombarded with ultraviolet light from the Sun.

While oxygen plays a crucial part with how we understand life as we know it here on Earth, the study suggests that even for planets around other stars that are very similar to Earth, large amounts of oxygen may not be detected in their atmosphere, even if they can support, or have supported, complex life, Kevin Ortiz Ceballos at the University of Puerto Rico, who was not involved with the research, told New Scientist.

READ MORE: Most life on Earth will be killed by lack of oxygen in a billion years [New Scientist]

More on planet habitability: Finally, Scientists Find an Earth-Sized Exoplanet in Its Stars Habitable Zone

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In the Distant Future, All Earth's Creatures May Asphyxiate From Lack of Oxygen - Futurism

Don't worry it's not what it sounds like.Making Holes

Russian cosmonauts currently stationed on board the International Space Station have started drilling holes near the infamous crack that formed in the stations Zvezda module, causing air to vent into outer space, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports.

It may sound counterintuitive, but drilling holes, one on either end of the crack, is a procedure to prevent the crack from growing. The technique, known as stop drilling, has been used in aviation, as well as to prevent cracks from widening in windshields and even drum set cymbals.

We start from the top hole When you are ready, you can start, a Moscow Mission Control Center specialist told cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, as quoted by RIA Novosti and translated by Google Translate.

Drilling has been completed, everything is in order, the cosmonaut replied. Ryzhikov then took pictures of his work to send back down to the ground.

The crack is now being sealed using a special sealant, and it will eventually be covered with a patch.

Astronauts on board the ISS first identified a small air leak in September 2019. After a lengthy investigation, crew members spotted the crack in the Zvezda module late last year using floating tea bags. According to both NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, astronauts were never in any danger.

Crew members did, however, notice a drop in the air pressure on board the station, requiring supplemental oxygen to be shipped from the ground.

NASA even went so far as to use Dextre, a Canadian Space Agency robot that looks like a multi-armed tower sticking to the side of the space station, to examine the crack from the outside.

READ MORE: Russian cosmonaut drills the first crack on the ISS [RIA Novosti]

More on the leak: They Found the Space Station Leak Using Tea Leaves

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Russian Cosmonauts Are Drilling Holes in the Walls of the ISS - Futurism

The photo is part of a surprising twist involving a probe's camera. Fly By Photograph

NASAs Parker Solar Probe got the souvenir of a lifetime during its trip to study the Sun last year.

The probe snapped this stunning photo of Venus on July 11, 2020, according to NASA. The photo showcases amazing details of the Venusian surface from 7,693 miles awaybutone particular detail in it, released by NASA this week, has scientists excited.

The probe used its onboard Wide-field Imager (WISPR) to capture the photo. Though the instrument was designed to capture images of the suns corona, NASA was also able to use it to capture thermal information about the planetsomething they didnt know the instrument could do.

WISPR is tailored and tested for visible light observations, explains Angelos Vourlidas, WISPR project scientist from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. We expected to see clouds, but the camera peered right through the surface.

In the center of the planet, you can see a dark area identified as Aphrodite Terra, which is the largest highland area on Venus. The reason its darker is because its 85 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the surrounding area. That indicates that WISPR is able to capture thermal data along with light data.

Either way, some exciting science opportunities await us, Vourlidas adds.

Though the probes photo was a welcome surprise to researchers, Parkers actual goal is to study the Sun. Thats why its speeding by Venus for a gravity assist seven times, as part of its seven-year mission.

The above photo was taken during its third fly-by of the planet. The probe more recently passed by Venus on February 20 on its next approach to the Sun.

Maybe a year from now well get another mind-blowing photo of the Venusian surface. For now, well just have to settle for all the insane images from Mars Perseverance in the meantime.

READ MORE: Parker Solar Probe Offers Stunning View of Venus [NASA]

More on Venus: MIT Scientists Suggest LIfe Could Thrive in the Clouds of Venus

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This Photo of Venus Shocked Scientists. Here's Why. - Futurism

It's a weird promise to make after firing its AI ethicists.About Face

Google is desperately trying to save face after recently kicking to the curb two of the most prominent AI ethicists in the field, who once worked for them.

This is fun: Leaked audio, from an internal Google meeting, acquired by Reuters. It reveals that the companys in a bit of a scramble to turn things around and restore its reputation as a leader of responsible AI development. Its a reputation thats been on the downswing for a while certainly, at least, since it removed dont be evil from its employee code of conduct.

Remember: Google fired Timnit Gebru, formerly one of the leaders of its AI ethics team, after she raised concerns about Google censoring and altering its own researchers work to make the company look better (while also trying to scrub conversations about racial inequity within the company). Months later, Google fired ethical AI co-leader Margaret Mitchell, who had spoken up about Gebrus firings and the same issues Gebru had.

That resulted in a major public outcry and, per Reuters, turmoil within Google as employees all but fully revolted against senior leadership. By trying to avoid bad PR by censoring ethicists, Google created a veritable shitstorm for itself. And now theyre trying to clean up the mess.

Google didnt respond to Reuters request for comment, but audio from the meeting revealed that Google leadership will be experimenting with new ways to review AI ethics papers while working to regain trust.

Hopefully, and weve got all of our fingers crossed for this, some of those experiments will simply come down to being slightly less authoritarian with its staff. And then, perhaps, the rest of us.

READ MORE: Exclusive: Google pledges changes to research oversight after internal revolt [Reuters]

More on Google: Google Ousts Top AI Ethicist

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Google Promised Staff Theyll Be Less Evil With AI - Futurism

An amazing discovery: the first glowing sharks known to science.Glow-In-the-Shark

A team of researchers in New Zealand have discovered yet another mystery lurking in the deepest, mostly unexplored depths of our planets oceans: three species of sharks that can glow in the dark, NBC reports.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science last week, the researchers found for the first time that the kitefin shark, the blackbelly lanternshark, and the southern lanternshark are all able to give off a bioluminescent glow.

The kitefin in particular is of interest to the team. The shark is now the largest luminous underwater animal known to science, and can grow to almost six feet in length. It stalks its prey, which are smaller sharks and fish as well as some crustaceans, almost 1,000 feet below sea level, in a region often referred to as the twilight zone.

The researchers, collaborating with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington, New Zealand, suggest that the sharks emit a blue glow in order to camouflage themselves. The glow allows them to not be backlit by the otherwise bright light emanating from above.

We already know that many other aquatic species including squids and jelly fish can glow in the dark, but its the first time scientists have been able to prove that some species of shark can do so as well.

The study sheds light on how little we still know about the vastness of the deep sea and the occurrence of luminous organisms in this zone, as the researchers write in their paper.

One big mystery remains, however: the researchers have yet to figure out why the kitefin shark glows, since unlike the other two species identified in the paper, it has almost no natural predators. One theory is that it might be emitting a glow to light up the ocean floor to make hunting for its prey easier.

READ MORE: Sharks that glow in the dark? Scientists discover luminous deep-sea predators off New Zealand [NBC News]

Read more:
Scientists Discover Glow-in-the-Dark Sharks - Futurism

SpaceX's robodog "Zeus" is on patrol.Strutting Around

SpaceX came closer than ever before to a successful Starship test launch on Wednesday evening, just to see the SN10 prototype explode in a gigantic fireball minutes after an otherwise-successful landing.

A day later, SpaceX is still in cleanup mode, with teams of workers retrieving various rocket parts and picking up after the explosion. But the company also got a helping hand from Zeus, SpaceXs Boston Dynamics robodog, which Ars Technica photographer Trevor Mahlmann spotted on the scene, surveying the explosion site.

SpaceX has previously used the $75,000 robot dog to inspect test sites or other areas that arent safe for humans, according to SpaceExplored.

Zeus can safely check on gas leaks or other hazards, especially those related to SpaceXs slew of exploded Starship prototypes, and has been rewarded with its own doghouse near the Boca Chica, Texas launch pad.

Last week, Zeus was spotted bounding around the SpaceX landing pad, though its not clear exactly what it was up to.

But presumably its a bit busier this time around, as it sniffs around the explosion to help SpaceX make sense of what went wrong and how to pick up the pieces.

More on the SN10 launch: SpaceXs Third Starship Prototype Lands, Explodes Minutes Later

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There's a Robodog Walking Around the Site of the SpaceX Starship Explosion - Futurism