Category Archives: Transhuman News

Astronauts on board the International Space Station will be about to sigh a big sigh of relief: the space station is getting a brand spanking new toilet, as Space.com reports.

The new system called the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) is meant to be the (smelly) testing grounds for zero gravity toilets to be used during long space flight, such as a journey to Mars.

Its also meant to standardize the toilet experience in space and thereby reduce costs as well as lead to the development of smaller fecal canisters to improve stowage efficiency, according to NASA.

A NASA spokesperson told Space.com that the new and improved lavatory could be headed to the ISS as early as this fall, but a spacecraft has yet to be picked out for the special delivery.

The goal of the new toilet is also to make sure that we dont have to leave human waste behind and thereby risking cross-contamination on distant planets. In fact, during Apollo 11, US astronauts left 96 bags of human poop on the lunar surface. Many scientists argue we should go back and dispose of it properly.

Long-distance space travel could end up accruing a lot of waste. In fact, NASA estimates that wed need to manage about 600 pounds of solid waste on a mission to Mars.

Our future goals are to stabilize and dry the metabolic waste to make it microbially inactive and possibly reuse that water, reduce the amount of consumables for the potty, because it does really accumulate on a long mission, Jim Broyan, program manager for Environmental Control and Life Support Technology and Crew Health and Performance at NASA, said during a May 20 meeting, as quoted by Space.com.

The toilet on board the ISS right now dates back to the 90s. In the past, astronauts have struggled with aim. It also proved to be clunky to use, especially for women.

In February 2019, Russian media reported that the toilet on board the ISS burst, spilling gallons of fluid. The lucky astronauts had to mop it up with towels.

The new toilet will have an adjusted shape and will include toe bars for astronauts to hook their feet into. The same model will eventually fly on NASAs Orion spacecraft thats headed to the Moon later this decade.

READ MORE: The International Space Station is getting a new toilet this year [Space.com]

More on space toilet: Scientists New Goal: Make the ISS Bathroom Less Disgusting

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The Space Station Is Getting a New Toilet - Futurism

The European Space Agencys Solar Orbiter probe just made its first close approach of the Sun, getting within 77 million kilometers (47.8 million miles) of the stars surface about half the distance between Earth and the Sun.

During its approach, it snapped the closest images of the Sun ever captured which will be released in mid-July, according to a statement.

We have never taken pictures of the Sun from a closer distance than this, ESAs Solar Orbiter Project Scientist Daniel Mller said in the statement.

While weve been able to zoom in further using solar telescopes from Earth such as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, this spacecraft was able to get a much clearer look from outer space, unobstructed by Earths atmosphere.

For the first time, we will be able to put together the images from all our telescopes and see how they take complementary data of the various parts of the Sun including the surface, the outer atmosphere, or corona, and the wider heliosphere around it, Mller added.

Scientists will also be able to get an unprecedented peek at the structure and composition of solar winds, according to the scientists.

For the in-situ instruments, this is not just a test, we are expecting new and exciting results, Yannis Zouganelis, ESAs Solar Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist, said in the statement.

The Solar Orbiter will get even near to the Sun later, getting as close as 42 million kilometers (26 million miles) closer than Mercury.

The record still belongs to NASAs Parker Solar Probe, which in November 2018 became the closest man-made object to the Sun ever sent into space, at just 24 million kilometers (15 million miles) from the surface.

The images taken by the Solar Orbiter will take a week to travel the 134 million kilometers (83 million miles) back to Earth. The images will then be processed and released to the public in mid-July.

READ MORE: Solar Orbiter makes first close approach to the Sun [ESA]

More on the Sun: The Highest Def Photo of the Sun Looks Like Popcorn

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A Space Probe Just Took the Closest Pictures of the Sun Ever - Futurism

As we enter another week of pandemic lockdown, scientists are working to understand the toll extended isolation takes on our minds and bodies.

The medical effects of loneliness are difficult to measure especially because loneliness is a subjective experience that varies wildly from person to person. But semantics aside, a clear trend is emerging, CNET reports, and its not great.

Extended loneliness can have serious psychological impacts, like exacerbated depression, anxiety, and increased irritability, according to 2018 research posted in the journal The Lancet. But the impacts extend far beyond psychological health.

Its very distressing when we are not a part of a group, Brigham Young University psychologist and neuroscientist Julianne Holt-Lundstad told CNET. We have to deal with our environment entirely on our own, without the help of others, which puts our brain in a state of alert, but that also signals the rest of our body to be in a state of alert.

Loneliness has been linked to all sorts of medical problems, like cognitive decline in old age, cancer, and heart disease, CNET reports. Though the causal relationship between loneliness and disease is poorly understood, there seems to be a genetic mechanism, potentially triggered by prolonged loneliness, that increases the risk of those diseases.

The subjective experience has to be translated somehow in the brain into biology, and so thats [what] were looking at now, Turhan Canli, an integrative neuroscientist at Stony Brook University, told CNET.

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COVID Could Be Making People So Lonely That They're Getting Sick - Futurism

Scientists suspect that the reason some parts of the world were devastated by the coronavirus pandemic while others were able to contain their outbreaks is that different areas have been hit by different mutations of the virus itself.

A team from Scripps Research have singled out one particular mutation, dubbed D614G, as a particularly-infectious strain of the virus, Reuters reports and they say it could explain the massive death tolls in locations including New York City and Italy.

This mutation was previously identified as one of the dominant forms of the coronavirus and linked to greater rates of transmission, but now the team thinks they know why its so dangerous.

The surface of the coronavirus is covered in spike proteins that help it latch onto a host cell. It turns out that the D614G mutation gives the virus four to five times as many spikes. That makes it far more likely to glom onto and infect a cell, according to research shared online last week thats currently awaiting peer review. The study also found that added spikes help keep the virus intact as it floats inside its host.

Our data are very clear, the virus becomes much more stable with the mutation, Scripps virologist Hyeryun Choe said in a press release.

Viruses with this mutation were much more infectious than those without the mutation in the cell culture system we used, Choe added.

What remains unknown about D614G is whether it causes more severe infections or if its deadlier than other strains of the coronavirus. The Scripps researchers havent yet looked into it, Reuters reports, but plan to conduct more studies soon.

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Scientists: Mutated Version of Coronavirus May Have Hit NYC, Italy - Futurism

While studying the effects of ketamine on sheep, researchers say they found something truly strange: high doses of the drug appeared to turnthe sheeps brains off and back on again, like a light switch.

This wasnt just reduced brain activity, Jenny Morton, neurobiologist from the University of Cambridge, co-author of the study published in Scientific Reports earlier this month, said in a statement.

After the high dose of ketamine the brains of these sheep completely stopped, she added. Weve never seen that before.

Ketamine is usually used for anesthesia, sedation and pain relief.But in recent years, its also attracted interest as a treatment for depression and other mental health issues.

An interesting new clue about what the drug does: electroencephalography (EEG) readings of the sheeps brains showed a complete shut down of brain activity within two minutes of injection effects that were only temporary.

A few minutes later their brains were functioning normally again it was as though they had just been switched off and on, Morton said.

Similar effects could be seen in humans as well.

The timing of the unusual patterns of sheep brain activity corresponded to the time when human users report feeling their brain has disconnected from their body, Morton explained. Its likely that the brain oscillations caused by the drug may prevent information from the outside world being processed normally.

That kind of disconnect has often been referred to as the K-hole by recreational users of the drug.

Our purpose wasnt really to look at the effects of ketamine, but to use it as a tool to probe the brain activity in sheep with and without the Huntingtons disease gene, said Morton. But our surprising findings could help explain how ketamine works.

It could also help us to see how brain networks function, both in the healthy brain and in neurological diseases like Huntingtons disease and schizophrenia, according to Morton.

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Scientists Gave Ketamine to Sheep and Were Baffled by the Result - Futurism

According to new research, The New York Times reports, flushing the toilet could kick up a cloud of aerosol droplets that have the potential to carry infectious virus particles including the COVID-causing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

With the help of computer simulations of bathroom environments, as detailed in the paper published in the journal Physics of Fluids today, the researchers observed a massive upward transport of virus particles that reached above the toilet seat, leading to large-scale virus spread.

Its doesnt come as much of a shock.

The aerosols generated by toilets are something that weve kind of known about for a while, but many people have taken for granted, Joshua Santarpia, professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who was not involved in the research, told the Times. This study adds a lot of the evidence that everyone needs in order to take better action.

While previous research has found that traces of viral RNA can be spread through feces, those traces are far less likely to still be enough for infection.

But theres good news: its pretty simple to stop a toilet from burping up a cloud of coronavirus. For one, if possible, close the lid first and then trigger the flushing process, as Ji-Xiang Wang, co-author from Yangzhou University told the Times.

Handwashing is also extremely important after using a public bathroom which at this point should really go without saying.

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New Research: Flushing Toilets May Burp Clouds of Virus Particles - Futurism

Todays product is another that makes you question just whether we are, in fact, living in a sci-fi dream. After yesterdays make your laptop touchscreen device one that uses an invisible light field to detect touch activation we bring you another product straight from a 1980s sci-fi movies take on what the year 2020 might look like.

This one lets you place whatever possession you want on a floating, and gently rotating, platform. Even the name, PowerTRCs Levitation Ion Revolution Platform, reeks of futurism. Its the sort of thing youd expect a portly, cigar-smoking galactic senator to place on their desk, proffering a black-pink crystal of immense psychic power with an air of faint menace, slowly revolving while the senator sits on their similarly floating translucent office chair and gazes over the murky skyline. No? Maybe its just me with that one, then.

Buy this today is our list of brilliant stuff you could and probably should own. That includes games, hardware, tech, board games, toys, and more. For all of our product recommendations follow Buy This Today on Twitter

Its a levitating disc that uses magnetism to float above the device underneath it. The hover disc can support up to 13 ounces, which is enough for most small possessions, centrepieces, or Sith Wayfinders. The disc continuously revolves, meaning you can have one of your favourite possessions floating and slowly rotating on display. Four white spotlights are aimed at whatever sits atop the platform, to keep said item visible even in the dark.

You want to turn your computer desk, bookshelf, or side table into a futuristic display something you can show off to your friends and family. It would make the perfect addition to a neon-lit gaming setup, especially the kind that gets posted on r/battlestations. If you have a favourite possession that you want on display (perhaps a gaming figurine, or a trophy, or even a spare peripheral like a gaming mouse), this levitating platform gets the job done in style.

PowerTRCs Levitation Ion Revolution Platform is the best option available. There are other products that use similar levitating tech, but this one lets you decide what you want on display. Thats the unique selling point for this product: not only does it levitate, but you have complete control of what it is that gets levitated (providing you stick to the 13 ounce weight restriction).

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Buy this today: a stand that makes your favourite possessions levitate - PCGamesN