Category Archives: Moon Colonization

2020 is already promising to be a fantastic year for space exploration. The next generation of Artemis explorers can begin applying for the program that will be journeying to the Moon, Mars and beyond; the James Webb Space Telescope is ready to test key deployments made in space, and even the Orion spacecraft that will blast off to the Moon during Artemis missions has successfully passed its final tests. Furthermore, NASA and commercial space companies prepare for the colonization of orbit, rockets are taking payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) very often and 3D bioprinting is becoming an attractive and useful method to carry out experiments. The next one up is SpaceX mission CRS-20. Scheduled to launch at 11:50 PM Eastern Time (EST) on March 6 from Floridas Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the unpiloted cargo spacecraft is expected to arrive at the orbiting laboratory two days later with three Techshot-managed research campaigns.

The Indiana-based commercial research company is sending equipment and samples supporting plant, heart and cartilage research for NASA, Emory University and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) to the ISS. According to the company, astronauts onboard the station will use Techshots 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF) mounted inside the ISS U.S. National Laboratory (ISS National Lab) since last summer to manufacture human knee menisci for the 4-Dimensional Bioprinting, Biofabrication, and Biomanufacturing, or 4D Bio3program. Based at USU, 4D Bio3 is a collaboration between the USU and The Geneva Foundation, a non-profit organization that advances military medical research.

Funded by the U.S. Defense Health Program and managed by the Geneva Foundation, 4D Bio3promotes the development and application of advanced bioprinting, biofabrication, and biomanufacturing technologies for research pursuant to U.S. Department of Defense priorities and ultimately for translation to clinical medical defense care and training solutions.

This is our most diverse manifest to date, said Techshot President and CEO, John Vellinger. Throughout March well be conducting three major investigations in space for three customers using three very different Techshot-built research devices. Its going to be a busy month, but were excited to see the results.

Techshot owns BFF and the company built it at a cost of approximately seven million dollars. The starting point was an nScrypt printer, which now is highly modified by Techshot for use inside the ISS. In that relationship, Techshot handles all the space bioprinting, while nScrypt handles all the Earth-based bioprinting.

This first experiment for 4D Bio3 next month will be used as a test of the materials and the processes required to print a meniscus in space. Techshot engineers will upload a design file to BFF from the companys Payload Operations Control Center in Greenville, Indiana, and evaluate its success via real-time video from inside the unit. A second meniscus print will take place in BFF early next year and the item will then be returned to Earth for extensive testing and comparison to the nScrypt Earth-printed items. Last year nScrypt printed the same thing at a U.S. military base in Africa with their own printer.

Vincent B.Ho, Director of 4D Bio3 and professor and chair of radiology at USU said that meniscal injuries are one of the most commonly treated orthopedic injuries, and have a much higher incidence in military service membersreported to be almost 10 times that of the civilian population. We successfully biofabricated 3D human medial and lateral menisci in a pilot study performed in Africa last summer and anticipate learning valuable lessons on the challenges and benefits of biofabrication in microgravity by performing a similar experiment on the space station.

Besides BFF, there are four other Techshot owned and operated research machines inside the ISS today. Only the BFF is a bioprinter. The others are an X-ray machine for mice, two identical units called the Techshot Multi-use Variable-gravity Platform (MVP), and one called the ADvanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP), which is where cells printed in the BFF go to become conditioned and cultured into the tissue. The company has agreements with NASA and the ISS National Lab that permit Techshot to operate a commercial business in space. This is part of NASAs objective to make orbit more commercial, providing access to space for nearly anyone.

Another complex Techshot-managed experiment launching onboard SpaceX CRS-20 will test whether a heart-specific stem cell, called a cardiac progenitor, multiplies better in space and if more of them become heart muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes. This is part of Chunhui Xu, an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine who studies heart cells, research that aims to improve treatments for congenital heart disorders and better the hearts ability to regenerate after injuries.

Preparing the experiments: under the vent hood, Biomedical Engineer Jordan Fite adds media to bags and fluid loops that will be used in the experiment in space (Image: Techshot)

Techshot explained that human cardiac tissues cant repair themselves once damaged from disease, due to this, repairing a failing heart by cell therapy requires a large number of cardiomyocytes, which can be converted from stem cells cultured in two dimensions in Earth-based laboratories. Without the pull of gravity, it is expected that culturing in three dimensions in space, inside specialized Techshot cell culture experiment modules, will increase the yield of high-quality heart muscle cells. The company expects that learning more about why this happens could lead to new strategies for reproducing the same results on a much larger scale on Earth, lowering costs and enabling more patients to receive needed cardiac cell therapies.

Astronaut handling Techshots BFF (Image: Techshot/NASA)

It is expected that once the cargo spacecraft reaches the station, the 12 Techshot experiment modules will be removed from the spacecraft and inserted by the crew into the companys Multi-use Variable-gravity Platform (MVP) unit number two mounted in the Japanese space laboratory known as Kibo.

We are thankful for Techshots engineers who designed the Multi-use Variable-gravity Platform hardware and will help us maintain constant communication with the astronauts during the flight operation. Their professionalism and collaboration with our team have contributed tremendously toward our overall research efforts, said Ho.

Besides the materials for the BFF meniscus print, SpaceX CRS-20 will also carry 12 Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System, or PONDS, plant growth devices that Techshot co-developed with Tupperware Brands, and that was first prototyped by NASA Kennedy Space Center. According to company officials, they will be growing red romaine lettuce inthe devices, installed inside two of the space stations identical plant growth chambers each called Veggie. The PONDS units are being tested in two different configurations, each representing approaches refined from two previous flight tests. For this demonstration, lettuce is expected to grow in space for 21 days. Besides the hardware built and own, Techshot also manages the space stations most complex greenhouse, called the Advanced Plant Habitat, and it manages two on-orbit research furnaces called PFMI and SUBSA.

Techshot has been working hard to get samples ready in a lab at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center.

Product assurance associate Keri Roeder, program manager Nathan Thomas and mechanical engineer Grant Vellinger prepared samples for Techshot customer Emory University (Image: Techshot)

Founded more than 30 years ago, Techshot operates its own commercial research equipment in space and serves as the manager of three NASA-owned ISS payloads. The company is also working on other space 3D printing technologies. Last fall they tested a laser-based 3D metal printer in zero gravity inside an aircraft performing parabolic arcs over the Gulf of Mexico (sometimes unofficially nicknamed the vomit comet). However, officials suggest that this technology is still at least a couple of years from Techshot launching it to the space station.

NASA and dozens of companies continue to work together to develop the means for astronauts and space explorers to endure life in orbit, the Moon and other planets. This vision is enthralling for anyone who ever dreamed of going to space, even hopeful of the next generations that will be able to experience space travel and conduct research work in microgravity. Perhaps we are too hopeful of the future, but with so much going on, its difficult not to be.

The launch on Friday will be the last SpaceX launch under the current NASA CRS-1 contract, yet SpaceX will continue performing resupply missions under a new CRS-2 contract beginning with the next scheduled resupply mission in August this year. To watch the launch, which is scheduled to take place at 11:50 p.m. EST on Friday, March 6, and capture of the spacecrafts arrival at the ISS, you can tune into NASA TV using the video below:

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Techshots New Projects Will be on the Next SpaceX Mission Launch - 3DPrint.com

After landing on Terra 2 for the first time, I made my way to a small, private company-owned town called Edgewater for some business. As I approached the colony, mostly known for the Saltuna Cannery, I stopped to talk to a man in a hard hat who was hanging around outside. None of us own our gravesites, the man, named Silas, told me. We rent them from the company.

Edgewater is owned by Spacers Choice, meaning that almost everyone who lives there is at the whims of the mega-corporation. They face incredibly harsh working conditions, often fleeing to live somewhere else, without protection, on the planet. They also have to pay to rent a spot for their future grave in the cemetery. Some families had become delinquent, and Silas needed me to collect the money that was due, discreetly and by whatever means necessary.

Look, I dont want to talk about it, he said, asking me to strong-arm one person in particular. Just make sure he pays up.

That was one of my first encounters in The Outer Worlds, a first-person adventure game developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Its set in a universe where President William McKinley was never assassinated in 1901, meaning President Theodore Roosevelt would never break up monopolies, including John D. Rockefellers grip on the oil industry and J.P. Morgans control of railroads. Its a universe where mega-corporations took their capitalist ventures into outer space with little policing by the government on Earth. Fictional companies like Spacers Choice own the very planets on which people live and work.

We started thinking about the mining towns at the turn of the century, these companies owned everything, Outer Worlds game director and legendary game designer Leonard Boyarsky tells me over Skype. It was basically indentured servitude in everything but name. Its just snowballed from there.

As I played through Obsidians first-person planet hopper, I encountered factory bosses who asked me to bust up unions and scientists who sent their workers into perilous dangers over toothpaste. Each twist and turn of the main plot satirized how mega-corporations treat the workers they need to survive. Sadly, this stuff is a reality and it keeps forcing itself into our conscious, Boyarsky says. Fellow game director and game development legend Tim Cain adds that its going to be weird if our first Moon base or base on Mars is brought to you by Pepsi.

Some of the biggest companies jumping into the space industry, including major names like SpaceX and Blue Origin, are owned by billionaires like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, two moguls whose fortunes were built in part by the terrible working conditions in Teslas factories and Amazons warehouses, respectively. Much of the tech industry runs on a mindset of workers being underpaid and overworked. Once we migrate into space, will we be much better off than the people of Edgewater?

The best science fiction is based on a reflection of our own society, says space industry analyst and SpaceNews senior writer Jeff Foust. I dont think when we get into space well become more enlightened beings and shed some of the flaws we have.

The Outer Worlds isnt the first piece of media with a bleak depiction of space colonization. The idea of space commercialization and the consequences that come with it are older than space exploration itself. Shows like Star Trek and The Expanse and movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ad Astra have imagined how current political tensions, economic inequality, and cultural divides might evolve once we have the ability to colonize space.

Boyarsky and Cain intended The Outer Worlds to be an alternate take on history where space travel was discovered at a time when mega-corporations could take advantage of it for their own gain. Space travel in our reality was fueled by the Cold War Space Race that started in the mid-1950s. It was completely government-run, but thats no longer the case.

Over the past 20 years, the real space industry has become more commercialized. Companies like Richard Branson-owned Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others have popped up with independent ventures. The government now, under Obama and Trump, does see the value of using the commercial sector, says astrobiologist, former NASA employee, and editor of NASA Watch Keith Cowing. They can do things cheaper than doing things in-house, which would take longer and be more expensive. Before this NASA did everything, and there wasnt an option outside that.

While technological advancements have made space exploration cheaper (some satellites are the size of a shoebox), its still an incredibly expensive endeavor, and most companies rely on government partnerships and funding. Space is still a priority to the current White House administration, but NASA is operating with a smaller percentage of the federal budget. NASA worked with 5 percent of the federal budget during the Apollo missions, which amounts to about $6 billion per year at its peak in the 1960s. NASAs budget today is $22 billion, which is less than half a percent of the federal budget.

NASA is still building a record number of spacecraft, but trends of privatization are growing as Trump wants to transition the International Space Station to the private sector and many companies are preparing their own private spacecraft for low Earth orbit in the next several years.

While the Halcyon Corporate Board, a group made up of 10 private companies that serve as the main antagonist in The Outer Worlds, is bad in its own right, much of the major union-busting and unethical behavior comes when these companies operate outside the reach of the government on Earth. If a company were to shed its home on the blue planet to operate solely in space, there would be no laws in place by which theyd need to abide.

The private sector is getting closer to being capable of launching habitable spacecraft into orbit and eventually running crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. Right now, there arent enough checks and balances to keep them in line. Private companies launching satellites need to apply for licenses from the Federal Communications Commission and sometimes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and they need to abide by regulations when launching rockets and other aircraft. But few laws cover the basics of what is enforceable in space.

Those types of laws govern activities here on Earth, but what were starting to see is attorneys, politicians, and think tanks [thinking about] what types of laws we need to govern activities in space, says space historian and editor of collectSPACE.com Robert Pearlman. There is no one who controls or owns the Moon, so the question is do we wait until there is a colony on the Moon and have them become the governing body?

If something were to happen on the Moon or inside the International Space Station, the laws of whichever country launched the rocket or the country that owns the module of the ISS the incident happened in, would probably apply. Until there are companies that move completely off planet, Earth legislation would extend to our colonies in space.

Modern labor laws, at least in the United States, arent incredibly strong today. No one is getting killed by a Raptidon while going to work in a warehouse, but negative public perception and anti-union sentiments make the simple act of trying to organize a workplace dangerous. Thats especially true for workers in the tech industry, several of which work with companies that do business in space who are seen as privileged employees who dont need to unionize. Google, one of the most notable titans in the tech industry, recently fired several employees for trying to organize and even hired a firm known for union-busting late last year.

Unionizing is antithetical to the goal of most executives, I dont see that changing in the future, says Kathryn Spiers, one of the fired Google employees. Throughout the early hours of The Outer Worlds, we see how the corporate facade of the Saltuna Cannery and Edgewater fade away as work slows. Spacers Choice employees are treated as second-class citizens, only as valuable as the work theyre able to do. Their lives are effectively owned by the company that owns the city. Some are workers in factories and ports, while others do more skilled work like private security. No matter what they end up doing, they are almost always viewed as replaceable by their employers.

Some of the biggest companies in tech, including Google, rely on the manpower of thousands of contractors who work on Google projects but arent officially employed by Google. The way Google uses its contractors is wrong, its as if they are a second class of citizens, Spiers says. I know many Googlers who viewed contractors as other Googlers and others who didnt think about Googles reasons for using contractors, which I believe is to make it harder for their workers to organize. While some groups of contractors have been able to unionize, others have been fired en masse when Google no longer needed their services. Its a strong example of how the tech industry doesnt value the workers who support it.

If companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin were to venture into space today with crewed missions, the final product wouldnt look anything like Edgewater or Stellar Bay. Musk and Bezos wouldnt be sending a very large workforce. Itll be some time before we have people working in mines and canneries on Mars. The cost, risk, and coordination it takes to send and support someone in space are astronomical. Only the most qualified and essential people are heading into the great unknown for the foreseeable future. Right now on the ISS, the most valuable commodity is an astronauts time, you only want them to work on the things they have to, Foust says. Thatll be true a far way into the future. People are going to be a scarce commodity in space, youre not going to use them for mundane labor.

Unionization isnt just a tool for mundane labor, though. In 1973, three members of NASAs final Skylab mission went on strike to protest the 16-hour workdays they had for more than two months straight. It eventually led to more free time for space travelers. They may not be doing the same tasks as the auto loader operators who are striking in Stellar Bay within The Outer Worlds, but the disparity in their work illustrates the idea that unionization is the only way astronauts and auto loaders will have a say in how their space missions operate.

Workers organizing, one of the biggest themes in The Outer Worlds, is one of the key ways to make sure our colonies dont end up like Edgewater. The current mindsets of major companies like Amazon, Tesla, and Google, alongside a general anti-union mentality in the United States, make organizing seem like an impossibility.

We could be centuries away from having colonies like Edgewater, though. (The scientific makeup of The Outer Worlds is different from our world, so space travel was discovered faster.) The men and women who do venture out on these first missions into deep space may be making a one-way trip and, according to Elon Musk, they will likely die. Its difficult to say, were talking about a scenario thats so far in the future even if the companies stick along their path, Pearlman says. The initial people who fly on these rockets are going to be people who pay to go or volunteers to go. Itll be more of the settler case like paying for passage by train or wagon to the West.

Thats not too different from the interstellar settlers in The Outer Worlds. Many of the inhabitants of Edgewater, Stellar Bay, or the Groundbreaker ship, on top of being under extreme stress due to the alien environment theyre in, are isolated from the homes they left. And much like the Gold Rush in the 1850s, the early days are even more dangerous and exploitative than later on when more people migrate.

A Moonbase, a colony on Mars, and settlements on other life-supporting planets are far away enough that no one is comfortable making an actual prediction. But games like The Outer Worlds help us explore and put things into perspective ahead of time. Star Treks prime directive, the guiding principle that no Starfleet member should interfere with the natural development of alien civilizations, has helped inspire some space conservation. These conversations about labor, space, and the future could help us avoid these problems once we get there.

While it is a game, if treated with an attempt to be realistic, they have tried to present a vision of our future that would fit with what we know today, Pearlman says. They help us explore these questions so we can be more ready when theyre needed.

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The Outer Worlds dystopian future is far off, but its not impossible - The Verge

Thomas Markle has proven in the last few years from his public persona to be a vile, emotionally abusive and manipulative man. So much so that I hope that anyone who had any pity for him being estranged from his daughter Meghan and grandson has gotten that fresh out of their system. If not, this interview he did with Good Morning Britain should do the trick.

Markle says that he is embarrassed by Meghan and Prince Harry, feeling as if their actions have hurt the Queen. He also says that he doesnt believe his daughter was bullied in any way or any shape because of racism. His doubts are because England is more liberal than the U.S. when it comes to race. Excuse me while I sneeze into my colonization kerchief. Yes, and Im sure his grandson being compared to a monkey by a BBC broadcaster was just in good sport.

He says that he will do more interviews if the semi-royal couple doesnt respond to him within 30 days. Well, then you better just book your interview with Piers Morgan and call it a day, you vampire.

(via ONTD, image: Dominic Lipinski Pool/Getty Images)

Coyotes!? Guys, it is only Tuesday.

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Things We Saw Today: Meghan Markles Horrible Father Is Committed to Slandering His Daughter Until She Contacts Him - The Mary Sue

The European Space Agency (ESA) has fired up its prototype oxygen plant to begin producing the element out of simulated moondust, with a view to creating a sustainable breathable air production facility on the Moon.

Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the Moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers, both for breathing and in the local production of rocket fuel, says Beth Lomax of the University of Glasgow, a researcher working on the prototype at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC).

The current prototype is set up in a lab in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, but the next step is to begin fine-tuning, reducing the operating temperature and streamlining the design to create a portable version of the system that could one day be flown to the Moon.

Based on samples brought back from the Moon over the years, it turns out that lunar regolith (moon rock) is made up of 40 to 45 percent oxygen by weight, making it the satellites single most abundant element, which is incredibly fortunate for future human colonization plans.

However, the oxygen is bound up as oxides which take the form of minerals or glass, not the ideal form for taking a big lungful of air. In the prototype, oxygen extraction is done using molten salt electrolysis, where the lunar rocks are placed in a metal basket with calcium chloride salt which is heated to a whopping 950 degrees Celsius.

The regolith somehow remains solid at this temperature, however, but by passing a current through the heated moon rock it releases the oxygen contained within. Somewhat miraculously, the regolith then becomes usable metal alloys.

Researchers are now also exploring potential future uses for these metal alloys, including in lunar-based 3D printers to construct parts for lunar bases or potentially even spacecraft.

For now though, the main goal is to get a functional lunar prototype ready for testing by the mid 2020s. Such projects form an integral part of NASA and the ESAs joint future in space, as the agencies work towards a sustained human presence on the Moon and maybe one day Mars.

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Breathing new life into colonizing the Moon? ESA to begin producing oxygen from LUNAR DUST - RT

We start off every year by checking in with a few heavily invested moviegoers/critics for their thoughts on the past year's best. And then we run them with a minimum of editing. This week's batch should put 2019 to bed. (Unless I missed somebody.)

Tanner Smith

The critics

Tanner Smith, Arkansas-based filmmaker and critic, smithsverdict.com

Dan Lybarger, regular Movie Style contributor, justincaseitmatters.tumblr.com

Piers Marchant, regular Movie Style contributor, sweetsmellosuccess.tumblr.com

Favorite Films of 2019

Parasite -- I went into this crushing commentary of the haves and the have-nots almost completely cold ... I came out of it excited to tell everyone about it. One of the best films of the decade.

Avengers: Endgame -- It's amazing when I think of how far the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come since its origin over 11 years ago. Once it was going, we knew it was building up to something huge, and thankfully, it didn't disappoint.

Marriage Story -- Were I an Academy member, I would consider Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story for best actor (Adam Driver), best actress (Scarlett Johansson), best original screenplay (Baumbach), and best picture. Some of the best writing and acting of the year is in this film. (P.S. God bless Netflix!)

Toy Story 4 -- Nine years after a satisfying conclusion, I get a Toy Story sequel I didn't know I wanted. And it was as moving as reuniting with old friends (in the best possible way).

Doctor Sleep -- Mike Flanagan, the best director working in the horror film genre today, had a major challenge with this sequel to The Shining: respect and appeal to the legacy of not only filmmaker Stanley Kubrick but also novelist Stephen King. He pulled it off big-time.

Little Women -- I saw this beautiful adaptation of the popular L.M. Alcott novel twice, and I'll definitely be seeing it many more times in the near future.

1917 -- One of the best cinematic experiences I had [last] year comes from one of the best World War I films ever made. (I think both DP Roger Deakins and director Sam Mendes have outdone themselves with this one!)

US -- Another commentary on the haves and the have-nots, with a very intriguing premise and beautiful execution from writer/director Jordan Peele, who proves yet again that he's one of the most talented filmmakers working today. A satisfying horror film.

A tie between Joker and Uncut Gems -- Cheating, you say? Well, it's my list, and I'll do what I want with it. Both character-based dramatic thrillers are as effective as they are brilliantly acted.

The Farewell -- If there's anything more important than a comedy that can make you laugh, it's one that can make you feel. The Farewell is a beautiful film that handles both the comedy and the drama flawlessly.

The Irishman

Love, Antosha

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Booksmart

Knives Out

Luce

Dolemite Is My Name

Shazam!

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The Lighthouse

Honorable Mentions: Honey Boy, The Lego Movie 2, The Mustang, Velvet Buzzsaw, The Souvenir, Brittany Runs a Marathon, Antiquities, Blinded By the Light, Fast Color, Happy Death Day 2U.

Dan Lybarger

The best movie of last year may be lying on the floor of my apartment because it got lost in the shuffle as I raced to endure Cats. Often, my favorite movies for a given year sometimes screen after I've voted in my critics' polls.

As I narrowed my list of favorite movies down to 10, I noticed that there was an inordinate number of science fiction and space travel movies in the final cut. Apparently, there are still filmmakers who want to test the limits of what constitutes cinema. Some of the stories might be familiar, but others make the definition of what a movie is just a little bit longer.

Parasite -- Bong Joon Ho's latest is actually a break from his movies about giant pigs and slugs and a train hurtling through a frozen apocalypse. With Parasite, a struggling unemployed family slowly takes over the lives of an upwardly mobile tech executive's (Sun-kyun Lee) clan with eerie, often funny and ultimately heartbreaking results. Like Jordan Peele's Us, it explores the underground economies below the surface of the civilized world. Its occupants are quite real, even if they are unseen.

Marriage Story -- Noah Baumbach's depiction of the last vestiges of affection leaving a marriage may be set in a rarified world of theater and television, but the difficulty of breaking up is never easy, no matter where you live. Anchored by a multitude of terrific performances, Marriage Story also carries just enough reminders of who people do fall in love and grow to miss it even when living together is no longer an option.

Little Women -- It's ironic that the one of the most vibrant and expertly created movies of the year is an adaptation of a 19th-century novel that seems to be filmed ever generation or so. Greta Gerwig cleverly tweaks the chronology of the Alcott story, giving it a brisk pace and a sense of foreboding that keeps the oft-told tale from feeling like a relic. Soarise Ronan is an ideal Jo March. Writers of any gender can identify with her struggles to get into print.

The Irishman -- Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) may not be the reason Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) disappeared from the face of the earth nearly four and a half decades ago, but we haven't ruled out alien abduction or rapture yet. Nonetheless, Martin Scorsese's depiction of the confessed mafia enforcer is an emotionally devastating coda to his previous movies like Goodfellas and Mean Streets. It's not a spoiler to say that Sheeran's reward for his service to gangsters like Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) was humiliatingly paltry. Pesci's low-key turn as Bufalino is the movie's highlight. While Pesci is best known for playing volatile criminals, his Bufalino rules by suggestion. His whispers carry the weight of Moses descending from Mt. Sinai.

1917 -- While Sam Mendes' single-shot real time approach is a technical challenge, the unusual storytelling approach helps make the horror and the moments of adrenaline from World War I seem real. Far from glorifying the carnage of World War I, 1917 draws its excitement from following two grunts (George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman) racing to deliver a message that will stop a potential massacre. The film vividly captures the claustrophobia and deprivations that Mendes' grandfather and other soldiers endured.

Ad Astra -- James Gray's latest adventure is as much about parenting issues as it is about how humans might settle at the end of the galaxy. Brad Pitt effortlessly conveys the conflicting emotions he has for his single-minded father (Tommy Lee Jones). If the story borrows a bit from Heart of Darkness, it also has some impressive effects that didn't make the shortlist of the Oscars despite making you believe that Pitt is running from space pirates. Perhaps the voters thought the moon scenes were shot on location.

Apollo 11 -- On second thought, maybe they thought they were watching this breathtaking account of how Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made it to the moon. Apollo 11 includes 70mm footage that had been unseen in nearly 50 years. As a result, the mission seems less like a paragraph in a history book than a current achievement.

High Life -- French director Claire Denis turns the way we depict space travel upside down. She movingly depicts how prisoners could be sent away from earth, not for the spirit of adventure but as punishment for what they did here. With his work here and in The Lighthouse, Robert Pattinson leaves his listless performance as a vampire in the Twilight saga behind. His performance follows his character for over a decade, and it's easy to forget that makeup is involved.

The Nightingale -- Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent proves that her terrifying The Babadook was not a fluke. This chilling look at colonization features terrific performances by Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin and Baykali Ganambarr and looks at the complicated history of Australia in a fresh, intriguing light. The images are ruggedly beautiful, and Kent wisely decides viewers can reach their own conclusions about her tale.

Dark Waters -- When adapting a true story for the big screen, it helps to select one that needs little embellishment to be engaging. Director Todd Haynes (Carol) sticks with the facts in this account of how DuPont poisoned the water in West Virginia. Mark Ruffalo tones down the outbursts that made him effective as the Hulk, but neither he nor Haynes downplay the difficulty in confronting a corporate titan. Bill Camp, who was great as a grizzled New York cop, is equally believable as a West Virginia cattle farmer here.

Runners-up: Flannery, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Raise Hell, Us, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Knives Out, Dolemite Is My Name, Booksmart, Be Natural, Blinded by the Light, Midsommar.

Piers Marchant

In many ways, 2019 served as a crucible, and no more so, at least cinematically, than with the venerable superhero flick. After a deluge of big studio films on the subject of capes and spandex (the MCU includes 22 films since the 2008 release of Iron Man; the nascent DCU, running in fits and starts has seven), we saw the explosive close-out of the previous "phases" with Marvel's Avengers: Endgame; as well as the rise of pseudo-art-house comic book film, Joker, in the same bloody year.

The talk on Film Twitter -- the living definition of 'tempest in a teacup' -- was all about those films, and Martin Scorsese's now-legendary takedown of the genre by referring to the superhero films, collectively, as "theme parks." But in truth, there were many, many other films that came out during the year, some of them utterly brilliant, some of them ridiculously awful. Here are my picks for both, with some of what I wrote about them at the time in my review.

10. Avengers: Endgame

"There are so many small but noteworthy details -- opening the film with Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy"; the name drops, and special shout-outs to comics' fans; the small character beats that allow each protagonist more than just a quip or two; the closing credits, which give singular notice to the stars who have been there from the beginning, and wisely do not use the signature Marvel trick of teasing out the next film, which gives the series, at last, a sense of real closure, if only temporary -- the film feels as if it has been created and calibrated with the utmost care. For a film destined to break the bank no matter how shoddy they might have made it, Marvel has poured enough genuine soul into it to earn its inevitable bounty."

9. Her Smell

"In some ways, the film takes on a sort of Raging Bull aspect, Martin Scorsese's classic film about a boxer's rise and fall, only to turn the ending on its head. In Scorsese's picture, we see Jake LaMotta, now fat and retired, attempt to break into showbiz as a comedian, the scenes draped in cutting sardonicism. [Director Alex Ross] Perry gives Becky a much less punishingly ironic turn, but instead a hero's journey, venturing away from the abyss into something a good deal less grandiose and realized."

8. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

"It's also a film about the versions of the stories whose ideas lend depth and valor to our otherwise nondescript lives, the things we hope make us the heroes of our own narratives. In this way, Jimmie's story is conflated with that of the city itself, and the palpable sense of loss he feels about his family's house is mirrored in the city's own loss of identity."

7. Under the Silver Lake

"[Director David Robert] Mitchell fairly stuffs the film with portents, symbols, and runes, some real, some imagined. Squirrels mysteriously fall dead at Sam's feet, a parrot in his courtyard keeps calling out something he can't decipher, a dog killer stalks the neighborhood, and graffiti-strewn about the area calls out to him. Films are always encoded with symbolic meaning, utilizing visual language to instill emotion and establish significance for the audience (think of Spielberg's girl with the red coat in Schindler's List or James Dean's red windbreaker in Rebel Without a Cause), Mitchell's film gives us so many options, almost everything can be read symbolically, which perfectly captures the paranoia his character feels and the pointlessness of trying to make sense of it at all."

6. Marriage Story

"Noah Baumbach's latest film, about the dissolution of married couple -- played extraordinarily well by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson -- will no doubt get comparisons made to Bergman's brilliant Scenes From a Marriage. But whereas that 1972 film concerned the relationship itself, its highs and lows and metamorphoses, Baumbach's film is much more about the logistics, legal and otherwise, of ending a very much shared life together."

5. Midsommar

"Viewing [director Ari] Aster's films is a bit like walking into an art installation -- quite literally, as he populates his frame with stunning compositions and art-focused mise en scene, as with the beautifully designed wooden structures of the compound, or the exquisite murals and art displayed on the building's walls (a huge shout-out to his production designer, Henrik Svensson, and the art directing crew) -- but, as with Hereditary, behind all the sumptuous, hand-crafted beauty, there is a cruel, brutal core of humanity's continued savagery. If art represents the best sort of impulses of humankind, in Aster's hands, it becomes yet another facade, hiding -- or in this case, exemplifying -- our instinct for vicious barbarity."

4. Parasite

"By the end, as it swerves inexorably into blood-soaked violence, the film reveals to be a bit of a con itself, drawing us in with its enticing humor, then opening up into a much darker vision, before ending on an emotional note of surprising vulnerability. Through it all, [director Bong Joon Ho] shows a mastery of odd tones, from the opening comedic salvo, to the final emotional beats."

3. Uncut Gems

"It's one of those pressure-cooker films, where the steam builds more and more intense as Howard gets in and out of trouble through his ability to constantly shift the playing board. There's a scene about midway through, with various aggrieved characters coalescing at once in his office, as he's trying to have a speakerphone conversation with his doctor, that's so stressful, you will want to avert your eyes and remind yourself of the exit signs."

2. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

"It's also an unexpected joy to watch the nonchalant swagger of [Brad] Pitt match up with [Leonardo] DiCaprio's more high-strung ministrations. Two of the biggest film stars alive playing mostly washed-up TV actors may stack the irony, but both of them settle in so well into their characters, you can't help but admire the result. Rick is a dude whose ego has gone from tumescent to shriveled -- he parks his car miserably in front of one of his own old movie posters -- but beneath all his hubris and despair, he actually has a lot of talent. As always, it's pure joy to watch Pitt smoke up a screen, a middle-aged Redford speaking every line with a sinfully breezy smile, whose confidence extends around him like the golden hue of his deep suntan."

1. Knives Out

"More than the plot itself, an ingenious and kinetic thing that's as satisfying as a hot bowl of soup on a raw and windy day, there's the sense of joyous chaos from the cast. Those scenes where the family is all together, in the drawing room and continually at each other's throats are so delicious, they should come with a napkin. The interplay between vets like [Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Toni Collette] is filled with fractious energy, the characters revisiting age-old disagreements ("Your kid's a brat!" -- "Your kid is a Nazi!") with sadistic glee. Even when they band together, in moments, against what they believe to be a common enemy, it's clear the harmony between them is more Iggy and the Stooges than Beach Boys. In short, [director Rian] Johnson has devised a perfect ensemble of dreadful characters and set them all against one another in a narrative fishbowl filled with lye."

Other Worthy Mentions:

Amazing Grace, American Factory, Apollo 11, Bacurau, Birds of Passage, Charlie Says, Cold Case Hammarskjld, Dark Suns, Dark Waters, Ford v Ferrari, Greener Grass, In Fabric, John Wick 3, Jojo Rabbit, Luce, Midnight Traveler, Ms. Purple, Pain and Glory, Rewind, Something Else, Terminator: Dark Fate, The Farewell, The Hole in the Ground, The Irishman, The Lighthouse, The Nightingale, The Report, The Souvenir, The Vast of Night, This Is Not Berlin, Us, Varda by Agnes, Vitalina Varella.

Email:

pmartin@arkansasonline.com

http://www.blooddirtangels.com

MovieStyle on 01/24/2020

See the article here:
ON FILM: The last of the best movies for 2019 - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Scientists looking up into sky have found good leads that reveal a frigid Neptune and dual Earths bigger than ours. All these are part of five extraterrestrial worlds that are part of five exoplanets, eightexoplanetsin orbit near red dwarfs. This discovery was reported by Carnegie's Fabo Feng and Paul Butler, published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Both earths might be hospitable to future colonization, they revolve around thestars GJ180 and GJ229A. These red dwarfs are the nearest to the sun in terms of distance, observing them will be of import to gain more data via land-based telescopes. Both earths are bigger by 7.5 and 7.9 times more than our earth, they orbit in a duration of 106 and 122 days from calculations made. Nearby is Neptune size planet that is in orbit around GJ433, with indications of frozen water that could be imaged with earth-based telescopes. One of the researchers noted that this Neptune-like planet is the closest to our solar system.

Using the radial velocity method to look for exoplanets in the cosmos aided in the discovery, which is important to astronomers and astrophysicists looking for outer worlds.Radial Velocityworks by detecting planetary wobbles that are a result of the gravity of a planet and a star, this minute and increment changes are detected by advanced tools to measure it. The mass of red dwarfs is lower than other types of stars, the primary types of stars near habitable planets when are found.

Red dwarfs or M dwarfs are usually not as hot as our sun, and widespread all over the galaxy. Where there are an M dwarfs, there will be planets that can contain life and water as well. Lower temperatures of red dwarfs are conducive to have more habitable and water-laden planets, called the habitable zone compare to other stars. This life-giving condition is a boon for astronomers and astrophysicists looking for alternative worlds to terra-form and transfer humanity as another "earth", or a collective of habitable worlds to choose from.

Planets that orbit around these red dwarfs will be tidally locked, which is the same rotation axis is shared by the host M dwarf that is the same. This synchronicity is the same mechanics as the earth and the moon. Synchronous spinning at the axis by exoplanets has a cold and hot side that raises inhospitable conditions for colonizing, which should be considered. One of the better options is GJ180d, which is not locked to the local stars gravitation well, so it will be a better place to live in and it might have existing flora, and fauna.

An alternative option isGJ229Ac, and it is as temperate as our world, but it is super-sized with a brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are not able to process hydrogen fusion, compared to other stars, it is not as hot. Another brown dwarf called GJ229Ac is one of the first to have its appearance seen, but whether exoplanets is supported that is not known. More is needed to understand how a brown dwarf forms, in brown dwarf based "binary system".

Finding moreexoplanetsand finding more habitable worlds, developing the right tools, and mechanics are important. These will reveal more of the cosmos all the secrets to learn until better tools are available to observe the fringes of the solar system.

Read: 'Cold Neptune' and two temperate super-Earths found orbiting nearby stars

Excerpt from:
The Search for Exoplanets Have Revealed a Cold Neptune and Two-Super Earths by Land Based Telescopes - Science Times

In a series of Tweets recently, Elon Musk said that SpaceX plans to ferry 100k people to Mars by 2050 on its Starship and Super Heavy Rocket system, which is designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars.He tweeted that a 100 Starships were needed a year to send about a 100k people to Mars whenever the two planets orbits are aligned.

This happens every 26 months when the distance between the Earth and Mars decreases. Musks ambition is to send a 1000 Starships into orbit during this short window of about a month, and transport people to Mars taking advantage of the decreased commuting time.Travellers would still be looking at months of travel aboard the Starship transporter before reaching their destination. When questioned on the validity of the numbers by a follower, Elon Musk agreed that the Starship could be carrying about a million people to Mars from Earth by 2050.Musk further elaborated on the mechanics of this ambitious plan. He tweeted that a crazy amount of cargo capacity will be needed to build a human colony on the Red Planet.

Megatons per year to orbit are needed for life to become multiplanetary, he tweeted. For a yield of one megaton per year, each Starship needs to deliver 100 tons per flight, according to Musk.

SpaceX says that the Starship and the Super Heavy rocket have a 9 m payload compartment, which is larger than any such payload available at present, or soon. This will enable it to deliver satellites to Earths orbit and beyond, at a lower marginal cost per launch than the current Falcon vehicles. Starships pressurized forward payload volume is greater than 1,000m3, enhancing utilization capacity for in-space activities. The aft cargo containers can also host a variety of payloads, according to a statement on the companys website

He added that there will be a lot of jobs on Mars once the colony is established.The Starship transportation system is still in the design stage.

The Starship transportation system is a two-stage vehicle made up of the Super Heavy Rocket, the booster, and the transport pod--the Starship.

SpaceX intends to ultimately replace its Falcon 9 rocket systems by creating a single reusable transportation unit to service its interplanetary commuting ambitions. The space company intends to redirect resources from Falcon 9 series to the Starship, to help make it an affordable option for people wanting to travel to the moon and more.

The first cargo mission to Mars is planned in 2022. This initial mission will establish the possibility of life on Mars, look for water sources, and establish a small infrastructure.

Another mission in 2024 is planned with cargo and crew both. They are hopeful of setting up a more secure base on Mars to facilitate future missions and the beginnings of colonization of Mars.

SpaceX has already announced its plans to carry fashion innovator and art curator Yusaku Maezawa to fly around the Moon in 2023. Only 24 other people have made it to the Moon to date, the last one being in 1972.

SpaceX will be conducting the first private flight to the Moon, it will be a fly-by of the moon on a weeklong trip.

Link:
SpaceX has ambitions to carry a million people to Mars by 2050, tweets Musk - Technowize

A dummy known as Ripley flew to the ISS on the SpaceX Crew Demo flight. After todays test flight of another Crew Dragon craft with other dummies, humans may soon occupy it on a trip to the International Space Station later this year. Image: SpaceX

A day after weather interfered with plans for a test flight, SpaceX had a successful launch and splash-down this morning, putting it on the path to be the first company certified to bring humans to space from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

At 10:30am today, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon lifted up from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The purpose of this mission is to show the spacecrafts capability to safely separate from the rocket in the unlikely event of an inflight emergency.

This critical flight test puts us on the cusp of returning the capability to launch astronauts in American spacecraft on American rockets from American soil, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. We are thrilled with the progress NASAs Commercial Crew Program is making and look forward to the next milestone for Crew Dragon.

NASA and SpaceX teams conducted the companys in-flight abort test this morning. Image: SpaceX

As part of the test, SpaceX configured Crew Dragon to trigger a launch escape about 1.5 minutes after liftoff. All major functions were executed, including separation, engine firings, parachute deployment and landing. Crew Dragon splashed down at 10:38 a.m. just off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean while the Falcon 9 was terminated; it had previously flown three missions into space.

As far as we can tell thus far, its a picture perfect mission. It went as well as one can possibly expect, said Elon Musk, Chief Engineer at SpaceX. This is a reflection of the dedication and hard work of the SpaceX and NASA teams to achieve this goal. Obviously, Im super fired up. This is great.

The past few days have been an incredible experience for us, said astronaut Doug Hurley. We started with a full dress rehearsal of what Bob and I will do for our mission. Today, we watched the demonstration of a system that we hope to never use, but can save lives if we ever do. It took a lot of work between NASA and SpaceX to get to this point, and we cant wait to take a ride to the space station soon.Prior to the flight test, teams completed launch day procedures for the first crewed flight test, from suit-up to launch pad operations. The joint teams now will begin the full data reviews that need to be completed prior to NASA astronauts flying the system during SpaceXs Demo-2 mission.While rare, launch problems do occur from time to time. In October 2018, a Russian rocket carrying Russians and American to the International Space Station suffered from an anomaly shortly after launch. In that mishap, the crewed Soyuz capsule successfully deployed from the rocket and returned the people safely to Earth.Todays test shows that SpaceX has a similar program to keep astronauts safe should a problem pop-up as they travel into space.

The Crew Dragon, containing dummies fitted with sensors to collect data on the journey back to Earth, will be recovered and examined over the next several days and weeks. Once all test results are final and SpaceX completes necessary paperwork, they could become the first entity certified for human space travel, with a possible crewed launch to the International Space Station as soon as later this spring.

Beyond the Crew Dragon, SpaceX is also working on another rocket/spacecraft project to bring people and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Musk hopes to be able to bring a million people to Mars by 2050 as part of colonization plans there.

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Excerpt from:
After 1-Day Weather Delay, SpaceX Succesfully Conducts Abort Test - Weatherboy

Ko Hong-Wei / EyeEmGetty Images

December 31, 2019, will mark the end of one whirlwind decade, and perhaps the beginning of the most important decade in recent memory with such existential threats like climate change, automation, and AI hovering over humanities head.

As we get ready to welcome the new decade, here are some questions we have for the 2020s.

1Will James Dean Be the Biggest Movie Star of the Next Decade?

Earlier this month, producers announced that James Dean will star in a new movie about the Vietnam War, set to hit theaters on Veterans Day 2020. The catch, of course, is that Dean died in a car crash 64 years ago at age 24.

No matter: Thanks to the wonders of CGI, the long-dead heartthrob will live again on the big screen, setting a creepy precedent for reanimating old movie stars because we cant find new ones anymore. Stay tuned for Charlie Chaplins eight-episode Netflix sitcom.

2Are We Headed for a UFO Revolution?

3Will Big Tech Finally Get a Bit Smaller?

Google. Facebook. Amazon. These are some of the most powerful firms in the world and, arguably, the Microsofts of the 2010s, given their outsize market power.

Theres a burgeoning antitrust movement against these so-called Big Tech firmswith four state attorneys general probing into Googles alleged anti-competitive practices and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren promising to break up Big Tech if electedbut this decade has trended in the direction of bigger and bigger behemoths.

Just this July, for instance, the Justice Department approved a $26 billion merger between two telecommunications companies, Sprint and T-Mobile.

4Will We Ever Get a TV show Like Game of Thrones Again?

When Game of Thrones said goodbye last spring after eight years, it wrapped up its historic run as arguably the biggest TV series everand certainly the last show the world will collectively watch together. Replicating the success of a juggernaut like Thrones is impossible for any number of reasons, but mostly because it debuted and became a phenomenon well before the advent of the streaming age.

We now have over 100 on-demand entertainment services to satisfy our fractured tastes; the notion of ever reaching a consensus on a sci-fi or fantasy series again seems insane.

But that wont stop the networks and streamers from trying to capture the zeitgeist: HBO says Thrones spinoffs are coming, and Amazon has a billion-dollar Lord of the Rings prequel series in the pipeline. Could they possibly break through?

5Will Augmented Reality Finally Go Mainstream?

Remember Pokmon Go? Its hard to believe the augmented reality app debuted over three years ago in summer 2016, but when it didit did in a big way. It got the people outside and exercising, meeting new friends, and exploring their neighborhoods.

And the augmented reality (AR) game has generated some handsome revenue from this relatively small business unit: to the tune of $470 million in revenue after only 80 days on the app store.

Except, most augmented reality apps are fun for about five days and the we forget about them and they clutter up our phone and hog up precious memory storage. Will it be any different in 2020 as Apple promises to enter the game?

6Will We Finally Regulate Self-Driving Car Tests?

While 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was walking her bike across a poorly lit street outside of a Tempe, Arizona crosswalk in March 2018, a self-driving Uber struck and killed her. That sparked a whole new debate about the safety of autonomous vehicles testing and just how much leeway regulators should give to private firms like Uber, Waymo, and Argo AI.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the Uber safety driver behind the wheel was guilty of hitting and killing Herzberg, not the company. Just six months after the accident, which marked the first time a pedestrian had ever been killed by an automated vehicle, the U.S. Department of Transportation put out some pretty weak guidelines that firms may choose to ignore.

However, there is still freedom for states to impose their own rules, but in most cases these are simply guidelines, not requirementsand the difference between those two terms could be life or death for others like Herzberg.

So, will we see hard lines on what is and is not allowed when it comes to testing in the 2020s? Its hard to say, but in any case, it looks like were still a longshot away from fully robotic vehicles.

7What Will We Clone Next?

Weve already cloned cows, sheep, cats, dogs, deer, and horses and in 2002, Clonaid, a cloning companyfounded by the followers of Raelianism, who believe that humans are clones of extraterrestrialsmade a huge claim: they had successfully cloned a baby girl named Eve.

However, theres been no evidence to prove the existence of Eve or the subsequent clones the company claims to have created. Theres controversy surrounding the ethics of human cloning, so were curious to see where the scientific community will take this issue over the course of the next 10 years.

8What Will Next-Gen Biometrics Look Like?

Biometrics have become incredibly prevalent thanks, in large part, to phones being able to recognize our faces and fingerprints. There are also retinal scans and Apples Siri can be trained to recognize and respond to the voice of the devices owner and no one else.

Were wondering what kinds of security threats enhanced biometrics could pose and how far this kind of tech will go before its too far and becomes an invasion of privacy (which for some, began at fingerprints).

9Will the World Finally Get Serious About the Climate Crisis?

Are we going to sink or swim? The climate crisis has spawned a generation of people gravely concerned with what the future will look like if we dont take action now to create sustainable living conditions using things like renewable resources.

Its surprising how debated global warming has become considering the fact that its backed by hard scientific evidence. Were hoping the 2020s will be the decade of innovating and creating a better, more sustainable future.

10Will Hollywood Overcome its Marvel Addiction?

Its hard to ignore the outsized importance of Marvel movies in Hollywood in the 2010s. Avengers from 2011 and Endgame in 2019 are perfect bookends for a decade of cinema that lost itself in the tight spandex and wide profit margins of superheroes.

But with growing ire from creative giants and overall audience fatigue with similar franchises like Star Wars, could the superhero franchise finally reach its end? One can only hope.

11Will We Start Trusting Science Again?

The 2010s displayed one major troubling trend in sciencea growing distrust in the conclusions of overwhelming scientific research. One prominent example (and sadly not the only one) is the surprising rise of measles.

According to the CDC, During January-September 2019, 1,249 U.S. measles cases were reported, the highest annual number since 1992. Eighty-nine percent of measles patients were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status, and 10 percent were hospitalized.

Will the 2020s cure humanity of this reckless inability to accept scientific consensus?

12Will the U.S. Finally Focus on Infrastructure?

Its no secret that U.S. infrastructure is crumbling, and when you consider the growing threat of climate change, things start to look downright apocalyptic. Another administration has comeand will likely gowithout addressing this hugely important issue.

The U.S. used to be the envy of the world in terms of infrastructure (in fact, it helped save U.S. democracy), can the country reclaim the crown in the 2020s?

13Will We Finally Witness the End of the Combustion Engine?

14How Many More Species Will Go Extinct?

In 2018, we lost three bird species alone and there are currently several species who will become extinct within the next few yearslike the Northern White Rhinoceros. Will the next 10 years help or hurt the animals on the brink of extinction?

15Google Achieved Quantum Supremacy, So What Comes Next?

After vying against the likes of IBM, Intel, and others, Google claimed to achieve an important quantum computing milestone before anyone else in the world. Their quantum computer performed a task in just over 3 minutes that no standard or supercomputer could complete in 10,000 years, according to a paper published Oct. 23 in Nature.

Companies and countries alike are leaning hard into the quantum craze. The Trump Administration is investing more than a billion dollars in quantum research through its National Quantum Initiative, and China has invested nearly half that amount and filed a slew of patents.

But what does all of this mean for us? Advances in quantum computing are sure to drive innovation in artificial intelligence, power the modeling and forecasting of complex systemslike the weather!and change the way we encrypt, well, everything. Will this be the decade we finally harness its power?

16Will We Set Up Shop on the Moon?

This year, NASA announced its new Artemis mission, in which it will send the next man and first woman to the moon by 2024. Next year, India aims to avenge the death of its Vikram lander by sending Chandrayan-3 to once again visit our natural satellite and attempt a landing. Russia has plans to visit in 2023, and China has vowed to open a permanent base on the Moon by 2030.

And then theres private spaceflightSpaceXs Starship and Blue Origins Blue Moon are both vying for a chance to land on the lunar surface in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Its going to be a big decade for the moon, and were eager to see how our exploration and colonization of the lunar surface unfolds.

Its all missions go.

17Will 5G Live Up to the Hype?

You hear the term 5G everywhere, all the time, right? Industry experts, such as John Donovan, CEO of AT&T Communications in Dallas, Texas, believe that this fifth-generation mobile technology will create a virtually instantaneous real-time network.

That not only means streaming lags on your Disney+ account could dissolve into thin air, but also that self-driving cars could potentially become a reality. But is it all just a marketing ploy?

Only time will tell, but according to a report by McKinsey, optimists tout the great benefits of low latency and high capacity that will eventually enable new value-added use cases, while pessimists focus on the lack of actual new use cases to emerge so far and what they see as a wobbly commercial rationale, not to mention the huge capital expense required.

18Will the 2020s Be a Decade of Cures?

Earlier this year, the FDA announced that the first approval of the first vaccine designed to mitigate the spread of dengue fever in endemic regions. In August, researchers announced two treatmentsan experimental vaccine and a drug called Zmapphave shown promise in combating against the spread of ebola.

Recently developed treatments for HIV have made the virus all but disappear, living virtually undetectable in the body. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pouring money into curing poliothere were less than 40 cases worldwide in 2016and malaria, the worlds deadliest disease.

Researchers are slowly beginning to untangle the ins and outs of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimers and Parkinsons. The race to cure the worlds most prolific diseases has been a long, hard-fought battle, but, somehow, it feels like may be inching closer to curing them.

19Will Nuclear Fusion Finally Arrive?

Nuclear fusion energy, a renewable, carbon-free source of energy, powers our sun and other stars. Weve been trying to harness this power here on Earth for decades.

ITER, the largest of the nuclear fusion energy projects, says theyll achieve their first plasma reactionthe first of many stepsin 2025. MIT researchers partnering with a private company claim theyll achieve fusion within 15 years. Its ambitious by any stretch of the imagination.

While we may not see fusion turned into viable energy in the next decade, well likely see incredible progressespecially as the impacts of climate change worsen and pressure to find alternative solutions increases.

20Will the Space Force Get Off the Ground?

President Trumps dream of a sixth branch of the armed services, meant to manage off-planet defense, is in its nascent stage, with planners sketching out what it would look like when its formally established.

The only problem? We have no idea when that will be. Building an entire military branch is a big task, with concerns both budgetary (some estimates peg the price tag at nearly $5 billion) and logistical (can the Pentagons space weapons strategy catch up with the pace of growing threats?).

Well certainly see Steve Carrells Space Force long before we ever sniff the real thing.

Read the rest here:
20 Questions We Have for the 2020s - Popular Mechanics

Beginning two weeks before Thanksgiving, I avoid looking at, much less reading, all food sections. But this year, Thanksgiving, like everything, started early, mere days after Halloween, and with it all those Heres how to make Thanksgiving dinner without meat/outdoors/on the moon pieces that inevitably have me reaching for the Xanax.

Many people have anxiety about their ability to make the meal; hence all those articles and the turkey crisis hotlines. (Memo to the culture at large: If you need a crisis hotline about the main tradition of a holiday, perhaps you should rethink that tradition.)

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I am not at all anxious about my ability to make Thanksgiving dinner. I can do it 11 ways to Thursday in my sleep. In fact, when I see a piece celebrating an authors ability to work in a cramped kitchen, in a lavish setting or over a campfire, a recipe list rhapsodizing the creativity involved in throwing together a feast in 24 hours or accommodating vegans, vegetarians, small children and all manner of food intolerance at the same meal, I think, Bitch, please.

I am not afraid of Thanksgiving dinner, I just hate it.

Its an uneasy and slightly appalled joke in our family that while I genuinely love to bake and cook for multitudes at Christmas, I am a Thanksgiving Grinch. Every year I dream of spending the day at the movies or beach-eating Chinese takeout.

I could say this stems from the adult realization that the original Thanksgiving meal probably never happened, that the holiday is instead a celebration of colonization that decimated and enslaved the native population, and that whatever religious persecution those early settlers fled they replaced with a strain of Puritanism that would leave hundreds of women dead or tortured as witches.

But that would be incredibly irritating of me, and it wouldnt be true.

I hate Thanksgiving dinner because I am the adult child of an alcoholic and it is the event I most associate with the emotional damage that implies.

I can make Thanksgiving blindfolded because I started doing it when I was 9 or 10. It was easier than watching my mother unravel into tears and increasingly bitter invective beginning sometime mid-Tuesday, when the shopping and the polishing and the laundry and the ironing began, and culminated, inevitably, with her sitting in sodden, furious martyrdom while everyone choked down their coffee and pie before fleeing, leaving us to clean up the literal and emotional mess.

Ill just do it, I said one year, echoing codependents throughout the ages. Itll be fun, I said, unaware of the burden of self-appointed control and inevitable resentment I was shouldering, possibly forever. Let me do it.

Ill just do it. From an early age, columnist Mary McNamara took on the Herculean task of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. It was easier than watching her mother unravel into tears and become increasingly bitter.

(Camily Tsai / For The Times)

The turkey, the stuffing, the creamed parsnips, creamed onions, the candied sweet potatoes, the mashed potatoes, the mashed rutabaga, the tiny canned peas. The pumpkin pies, the apple pies, the raisin-walnut and pecan pies. The shopping lists, the near-algebraic milk and butter calculations (butter is expensive and money was an issue), the factory-floor scheduling of the pots and pans and burners and hot plates, the calculating when the turkey should be thawed and stuffed, and how often it should be basted. The management of counter space, serving dishes and those final insane minutes when everything somehow had to get from the kitchen to the dining room without getting cold or even cool.

Because if it was cold, or the cream sauce was runny or the turkey was dry, then Mom would get mad, and the whole point was to keep that from happening.

During the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever made, I managed to dump the entire pan of peas on the floor minutes before serving them. Mercifully, I was young enough to see nothing wrong in just rinsing them off real quick in very hot water and praying that if there were dog hairs, they wouldnt show up on my mothers plate.

After a hot rinse, not a dog hair in sight.

(Camily Tsai / For The Times)

Over the years, I took great pride in my Thanksgiving dinners. I started making the pies from scratch, introduced pumpkin and zucchini bread. I ditched the rutabaga (which looked good but no one ate) and substituted sauted broccoli, green beans and spinach. I quietly abandoned the beloved boxed mashed potatoes for real ones, experimented with stuffing that included apples or sausage or sage. For a couple of years, and this is absolutely true, I made my own butter.

I was in middle school. It was insane.

It was also and those of you who also grew up with alcoholic mothers will have seen this punch line coming a mile away a classic example of irony in action. By taking over her duties, I gave my mother even more time to drink, with the inevitable results. But I was safe in the kitchen, and how could she yell at me when everyone was so astonished at a child making Thanksgiving dinner?

She couldnt.

Every year I wallowed in the praise and admiration; every year I tried to one-up myself and my Ill do it, just let me do it mentality spread, for good and ill, to each and every part of my life. It gave me confidence and normalized compulsion, in equal measure.

Every Thanksgiving, columnist Mary McNamara tried to one-up herself like abandoning boxed mashed potatoes for real ones.

(Camily Tsai / For The Times)

When I had kids it began to make sense to alternate holiday dinners with family; as I was not about to give up Christmas dinner, which I truly love, I surrendered Thanksgiving.

But I did so grudgingly. Fearfully. What was I if I couldnt miraculously produce 18 dishes in an afternoon all by my lonesome? A miserable failure, thats what.

But once I made the leap, I lost any interest in the groaning boards of turkey roasted/grilled/brined/deep-fried/sprinkled with cannabis, the great cranberry sauce debate, the root vegetables ripped from the earth and subjected to all manner of culinary indignities, the salads that are now required so no one can eat them. I did the math on the effort that went into it: the days of cooking that resulted in, at best, an hour at the table; the Herculean task of cleaning up; the following days of pretending we were going to eat those leftover creamed onions before just throwing them away. I realized I dont even like Thanksgiving dinner, or at least any of the parts that are not involved in pumpkin pie and the after-hours turkey sandwich.

More than that, I began to see how much of my Thanksgiving cooking had been driven by anxiety and fear, a self-concocted need to please, appease and prove ... what? That I could do it? That I could do it anywhere and alone? That I didnt need help, that success is measured by levels of exhaustion and the use of every pot, pan, dish and glass I own? That all this somehow proved something?

By surrendering Thanksgiving dinner, columnist Mary McNamara began to see how much of her holiday efforts in the kitchen were driven by anxiety, fear and a need to please.

(Camily Tsai / For The Times)

My mother, God bless her, eventually got sober; I slid into my own alcoholism and eventually got sober too.

And I recognize now that as a child I believed that one Rockwellian moment could counterbalance all the messy dysfunction that came before and after, and I tasked myself with creating it.

As an adult, I realize this kind of thinking is absurd, dangerous and damaging; the only control I have is over my own self, my expectations and the pressure I put on myself to meet them.

Over the years I have acknowledged and silenced many voices in my head that told me I could fix this by doing that, but way down deep, in the dark inner recesses of my neurosis, theres a gleaming, steaming Thanksgiving dinner. You could do it, that dinner whispers. You should do it. And then everything will be all right.

So I dont really hate Thanksgiving; I hate my own unquenchable desire to shun help, appoint myself fixer-in-charge and then kill myself attempting some version of perfection that doesnt fix the imperfect things in life anyway.

Because honestly, even with the pixie dust of pumpkin spice and the 70 million recipes available online, if were being honest, what everyone really looks forward to is pumpkin pie, which can be bought, and those leftover turkey sandwiches.

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Column: I am not afraid of Thanksgiving dinner, I just hate it - Los Angeles Times