Category Archives: Futurist

What the hell was it?Unknown Object

The US Navy still has no idea what its submarine hit in the South China Sea earlier this month.

Officials announced earlier this month that the nuclear submarine USS Connecticut had sustained damage and its crew members had reported several injuries after colliding with an unknown object in the South China Sea.

Now, it sounds as though military officials still have no idea what the hell the submarine hit. While the submarine is being repaired in a port in Guam, preliminary investigations have yet to come up with an answer, USNI News reports.

According to USNIs sources, the mysterious undersea object had not been definitively determined.

While the Navy is trying to get its submarine back in order, China is voicing its discontent with the US militarys communications regarding the incident,with officials practically seething.

The Chinese side has repeatedly expressed grave concerns over the matter and asked the U.S. side to make clarifications, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement.

However, as of now, we have seen nothing but a brief and vague statement issued by the US military with procrastination, and a confirmation by a so-called informant that the incident did happen in the South China Sea, he added.

Such an irresponsible, cagey practice gives regional countries and the international community every reason to question the truth of the incident and the intention of the US, Lijian concluded.

Chinese officials also accused the US of covering up the collision earlier this month a claim that was refuted by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby at the time.

Its an odd way of covering something up when you put out a press release about it, Kirby told reporters, as quoted by Insider.

READ MORE: Navy Not Sure What USS Connecticut Struck in the South China Sea, Beijing Accuses U.S. of Cover-Up [USNI News]

More on the incident: US Nuclear Sub Damaged in Collision With Unknown Object

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The Navy Can't Figure Out What Damaged Its Nuclear Submarine - Futurism

"It is sexy, so it is a sexbomb."Launching the Sexbomb

A Canadian aerospace company has chosen an eyebrow-raising name for a hypersonic space plane it plans to launch in 2022: Sexbomb.

Space Engine Systems (SES) announced that it wants to launch the, uh, Sexbomb in Manitoba, according to a press release from the company. The vehicle will be used to test the companys spacecraft engine prototype.

Of course, you might be wondering whats with the name. Perhaps it was inspired by Tom Jones, or maybe the employees are all just huge Scott Pilgrim fans. Or, more realistically, maybe its just a grabby name from Elon Musks meme marketing playbook.

The kinetic energy at Mach 5 is very high, Pradeep Dass, president and CTO of the company, told Futurism. It will act like a bomb if [it] hits anything. It is sexy, so it is a sexbomb.

The company said that the demonstration will involve Sexbomb being dropped from a giant balloon at 110,000 feet in the air. The craft will eventually fall at almost twice the speed of sound before turning on its engines and accelerating to speeds of more than 3,700 mph before landing.

The engine itself will be using a multi-fuel combustion system of non-toxic liquid and solid propellants, according to SESs website.

While the company had initially planned on a 2021 test, it is now expected to launch in 2022 due to the regulatory approval process, The Manitoba Post reports. SES said that it wants to launch crewed missions by 2025, though, with tickets costing a third of what it costs at other space tourism businesses.

It also hopes that hypersonic technology will open the doors to new innovations, suggesting that their vehicles could deliver human organs for life-saving transplants from Toronto to Edmonton in 30 minutes.

Indeed, there is a lot of hype behind hypersonic tech as of late though much of it has less to do with space travel and more to do with apocalyptically destructive weapons.

READ MORE: Space Engine Systems to test Mach 5 Spaceplane in Manitoba Canada [Globe Newswire]

More on space tourism: Space Tourism Company Cancels Launch Because It Couldnt Find Any Passengers

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New Hypersonic Space Plane Is Called the "Sexbomb" for Some Reason - Futurism

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Explore the futuristic world in Trashlands | Lifestyle | willistonherald.com - Williston Daily Herald

Image by Getty / Futurism

Its no secret that fast food is bad for you. However, new research indicates that many items found in fast food restaurants throughout the US contain hormone-disrupting chemicals found in plastic.

So not only is it bad for you, but its bad for you on a molecular level.

The researchers discovered that many fast food meals contained chemicals known as phthalates, according to a paper published about the study. These chemicals are often used as plasticizers, which give plastic materials more flexibility. However, theyre also endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) substances that can be throw natural hormone production in animals and humans out of whack.

Studies have shown that children exposed to great amounts of EDCs often develop debilitating health conditions like asthma and obesity, according to Gizmodo. Later in life, it can even lead to fertility issues.

We found phthalates and other plasticizers are widespread in prepared foods available at US fast food chains, a finding that means many consumers are getting a side of potentially unhealthy chemicals along with their meal, Lariah Edwards, lead author of the study and postdoctoral scientist at George Washington, told Gizmodo.

As part of their research, the authors of the study gathered 64 food samples including hamburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, chicken burritos, cheese pizza and even food handling gloves from six different restaurants, according to the paper.

The team then tested the samples for 11 different chemicals and discovered that 81 percent of the food contained phthalate di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), while 89 percent contained a different non-phthalate plasticiser, Gizmodo reports.

Interestingly, the study found that cheese pizza had the lowest levels of most chemicals. So the next time youre looking to satisfy your fast food munchies, maybe consider getting a slice instead of a burger or burrito.

The team believes that contact with plastic food packaging as well as gloves might be the cause of the phthalate contamination. While researchers still dont know the full impact of eating plasticizer-contaminated food, its likely a safe bet that they can cause or exacerbate health or even reproductive issues.

Stronger regulations are needed to help keep these harmful chemicals out of the food supply, Edwards told Gizmodo.

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Fast Food Is Filled With Chemicals That Disrupt Hormones, Scientists Say - Futurism

Just as autonomous vehicles are making their way on public roads, robotic boats are seen as a viable alternative on water. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has just unveiled the full-scale advanced Roboat that demonstrated what it can do on the Amsterdam canals.

According to MIT specialists, this water robotaxi boasts higher precision in perception, navigation, and control. Using multiple sensors and 360-degree-view cameras, it can understand its environment and avoid collision with various objects. With the help of GPS, it can even autonomously decide a safe route from point A to point B.

The Roboats innovative latching mechanism also enables it to connect to the docking station or to other boats, by detecting QR codes.

The autonomous vessel is also fully electric, equipped with a large battery, the size of a small chest, that allows ten hours of continuous operation. Another interesting feature of the Roboat is its universal hull, which means that various types of top decks can be adapted to a base that stays the same, thanks to a versatile design.

According to the projects representatives, this self-driving ship could easily operate 100% autonomously, 24/7. Still, for safety reasons, it is being monitored by an onshore operator for now.

After unveiling the final version, the projects next phase will be to start operating the autonomous ship on public routes in Amsterdam. Besides passenger transportation, the Roboat is also suitable for delivering goods or collecting waste. Furthermore, one operator could safely monitor up to 50 of these robotaxis, which would be beneficial both for the community and the environment.

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MIT's Self-Driving Boat Is a Futuristic Robotaxi on Water, Ready to Operate in Amsterdam - autoevolution

Well, this is ironic.Emailmancer

Influential sci-fi author William Gibson, widely credited with coining the term cyberspace and imagining an ahead-of-its time vision of the internet back in his 1984 novel Neuromancer, is having computer trouble.

Current contact info, he tweeted today. If you email me, I receive it, but a glitch is making it impossible for me to email you my reply. If you text me at my usual number, no problem! So I am TEXT ONLY, til further!

Its ironic, sure, but Gibson has often been a slow adopter of technologies he predicted before they existed.

And even though he dreamed up one of the most lasting visions of the internet a decade before it went mainstream, he remains unimpressed with the way its played out in real life.

Cyberspace, as described in Neuromancer, is nothing at all like the Internet that we live with, which consists mostly of utterly banal and silly stuff, he told NPR last year.

More on William Gibson: Billionaire SpaceX Tourist Places Las Vegas Bet From Outer Space

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Man Who Coined the Term "Cyberspace" Says He Can't Send Emails - Futurism

Posted:

October 26, 2021 10:02 GMT

Orbital Reef seeks to accommodate research, production and space tourism missions.

Private aerospace company Blue Origin will lead the project for the first commercial orbital base that will serve as a commercial orbital base Mixed-use commercial complex It will host up to ten astronauts assigned to various missions.

base plans Coral reefs (Orbital Reef), scheduled to be placed in low Earth orbit between 2025 and 2030, was announced in release A joint venture between Jeff Bezos and Sierra Space.

The project, designed to open space for research, production and commercial tourism, will be the result of the collaboration of several companies and entities, including Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions and Arizona State University.

The station will be put into orbit with a reusable rocket New Glen by Blue Origin. Promoted as a A revolution in spaceflight and commerce Which will reinvent life and work in space, the project offers few details about its future operations, how many units it will contain or how it will handle the logistical challenges of space missions.

Experienced space agencies, high-tech associations, sovereign nations without space programmes, media and tourism companies, entrepreneurs, backed inventors, and forward-thinking investors, Everyone will have a place In Orbital Reef.

Details about project costs were not disclosed. Blue Origin has Completed Two successful trips Subtropical tourists since July on board the New Shepard, which carries four people each space limits, the so-called Karman Line, which is located at an altitude of 100 km above sea level.

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Blue Origin publishes images of its futuristic orbital base that promises to change the way we live and work in space by 2030 - Amico Hoops

The Whosfifth studio record, 1971sWhos Next?,features some of the bands most memorable moments. It represents what one would argue is their magnum opus and not its predecessor,Tommy, as many contend. The Who we get onWhos Next?is a refined and mature version of the snotty mod-rockers who gave usMy Generation wayback in 1965. Consequently, many of the tracks on this outing are their most enduring.

Behind Blue Eyes, The Song Is Over, Lets See Action and the albums euphoric standout track, Baba ORiley are just four parts of the albums incredible tracklist. A rock opera at heart, this gave the album a consistent artistic thread that has helped it to endure all these years.

Come to the close of the albums recording sessions in June 1971, the band were confident that what theyd just produced was going to be a success. So understandably, they needed a striking cover image to boot.

One would argue that the cover image forWhos Next?is the bands most memorable, even more so than the bean riddled madness of 1967sThe Who Sell Out. Featuring a cold, metallic-looking sky, the band appear to have just urinated on the imposing concrete piling protruding from the ground. The image was perfect for the futurism that underpinned the record, and of the eras affinity for all things science fiction.

Stood on the black spoil tip of the local mines, the image of the band gives off the impression that they do not know theyre having their photo taken, and one can only imagine this came as a part of photographer Ethan Russells direction. The location for the shoot was the old English mining town of Easington Collieryin County Durham, in the countrys North East.

Of course, the most striking factor of the image is what appears to be the urine stains the four have left on the concrete monolith. However, Russell revealed that it wasnt actually their urine. He said: Most of the members were unable to go, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect. In fact, only guitarist Pete Townshend had managed to relieve himself.What a strange thing to want on your album cover.

The decision to shoot the cover image came from a discussion John Entwistle and Keith Moon had about Stanley Kubricks magnum opus,2001: A Space Odyssey, instilling it with the science-fiction of the albums lyrics. Ever wondered why the concrete slab looks familiar? They took their inspiration from the mysterious monoliths that are featured across the story in Kubricks 1968 film.

Furthermore, the cold looking sky was also added later. Its addition gave the image what Russell saw as this otherworldly quality. It worked, and the decision to alter the sky really created a bleak futuristic essence that is similar to the one that would be outlined a few years later in David Bowies classic 1976 flick, The Man Who Fell to Earth.

The album cover helped to augment the records forward-thinking sounds, and together the package they created is one of the most consistently lauded in the whole of rock history.

Listen toWhos Next?in full below.

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The Cover Uncovered: The story behind The Who's futuristic 'Who's Next?' - Far Out Magazine

We've heard a lot about self-driving vehicles in recent months, though not as much about self-navigating ones. In order to correct the course, so to speak, scientists from MIT CSAIL joined forces with researchers at the Senseable City Laboratory and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) in the Netherlands to create a full-scale, autonomous robotic boat.

A fleet of the imaginatively-named Roboat is being set loose on the canals of Amsterdam today, October 28, allowing passengers to travel the waters without the need for a captain, a press statement reveals.

The Roboat is the result of six years of development time, during which time MIT has tested several iterations of its self-navigating boat the latest is called the Roboat III. The finalized version will be capable of carrying up to five passengers, or 3,306 lb (1,500 kg) of cargo, meaning it can deliver goods and transport waste. It is fully electric, has 10 hours of battery life, and can be charged wirelessly.

When the robotic boat gets near to a port or riverbank, it goes into close proximity approach mode, making it easier to dock. The MIT CSAIL team says the sensors and technology featured in Roboat are similar to those used in self-driving cars. The self-navigating vessel uses LIDAR sensors as well as several cameras, allowing for 360-degree vision and crash detection. The Roboat is designed to be fully autonomous, though an onshore operator will make sure that everything is going smoothly from a control center.

"As Roboat can perform its tasks 24/7, and without a skipper on board, it adds great value for a city," Fabio Duarte, a lead scientist on the project explained. "However, for safety reasons it is questionable if reaching level A autonomy is desirable. Just like a bridge keeper, an onshore operator will monitor Roboat remotely from a control center. One operator can monitor over 50 Roboat units, ensuring smooth operations."

The Roboat maximizes seating space with two benches facing each other as no space is needed for a boat wheel or a till. As can be seen in the image and the video (above), Roboat's creators went for a futuristic gray look. As AMS Institute Director of Innovation Stephan van Dijk puts it, "the historic center of Amsterdam is the perfect place to start, with its capillary network of canals suffering from contemporary challenges, such as mobility and logistics."

Not only is Amsterdam a good testing ground for autonomous navigation, so are the relatively small vessels that are being unveiled in Amsterdam.Just last month, Orca AI announced that it is trialing anew safety system with a view to eventually enabling massive autonomous cargo ships. If the Suez Canal incident earlier this year taught us anything, it's that a small malfunction, be it by a human or an AI, could have a knock-on effect that costs the global economy billions of dollars on a daily basis.

Link:
MIT Sets Roboat River Taxis Free on the Canals of Amsterdam - Interesting Engineering

HT Aero, a subsidiary of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng, presented this Sunday a futuristic flying car that, according to its plans, will also be able to circulate on the roads.

The vehicle is not yet available on the market, however, the company claims that it plans to launch it in 2024 with possible changes to the final design.

The HT Aero vehicle will have a lightweight design and a folding rotor. This will allow the car to roll on the roads and fly once the rotors expand. It will also have a series of security elements, such as parachutes.

HT Aero is backed by Xpeng and its founder He Xiaopeng. The company collection last week $ 500 million from various outside investors, including high-end venture capital firms.

The new ground and air vehicle was announced at Xpeng Technology Day, where the company also unveiled the latest version of its advanced driver assistance system, called Xpilot 4.0.

Disclaimer: This article is generated from the feed and not edited by our team.

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Car-helicopter: Chinese company presents a futuristic flying car that will also be able to ci... - Market Research Telecast