Category Archives: Transhuman News

In Brief CEO Elon Musk hinted at a possible target for the next generation of Tesla Roadsters expected to launch by 2019, and it's going to be the fastest one yet. Of course, with all the vehicles Tesla's currently working on, we'll have to wait a while to test it ourselves.

From 2008 and 2012, Tesla actually had a line of electric sports cars called the Tesla Roadster, which was the first-ever highway legal serial production of an all-electric car powered by lithium-ion batteries. Tesla has since discontinued its production, but it was announced three years ago that a second generation roadsteris coming.

CEO Elon Musk plans for this Tesla Roadster 4.0, so to speak, to outdo the first version. It will be capable of a Maximum Plaid performance mode, as Musk would call it in reference to the movie Spaceballs. In a recent tweet, Musk hinted at just how fast this Maximum Plaid would be.

If the first generation, had a Ludicrous mode capable of 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) acceleration in just 2.5 seconds, the Tesla Roadster 4.0 might just hit 97 km/h (60 mph) in under two seconds. That would [be] an interesting target, Musk said in a tweet, replying to a question about the new roadster.

Would, of course, only count if capable of doing so right off the production line with street legal tires, Musk added, which Electreks Fred Lambert considers a possibility for the roadster to be faster with aftermarket components.

However, because Tesla is still busy with launching the Model 3 and perhaps working on the Model Y, and not to mention the highly-anticipated all-electric semi, the roadster is still a few years away supposedly in 2019. But the Roadster still gives Tesla fans who love sports cars something to look forward to.

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Elon Musk: The Next Generation Tesla Roadster May Achieve 60 MPH in Under 2 Seconds - Futurism

In Brief Elon Musk's talk at the International Astronautical Congress has been adapted as a journal article in this month's New Space. The CEO of SpaceX focuses on the affordability of tickets to Mars as a key factor in its successful colonization. Mars Planning

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, delivered an address at the International Astronautical Congress held in Guadalajara, Mexico last year outlining his vision of getting humans into space. This talk has now been adapted into a fifteen-page article that was published in this months issue of the journal New Space. Musk focuses on affordability as a major factor to ensuring the possibility of Mars colonization. He says You cannot create a self-sustaining civilization if the ticket price is $10 billion per person. He believes that the cost should be about $200,000; equivalent to the median price of a house in the United States.

Musk outlines the steps he considers essential to ensuring this relative affordability. The first step, developing fully reusable transport, is already well underway at SpaceX. The company has already proven the reliability of itsreusable rockets,and have recently demonstratedthe reusability of theDragon spacecraft. Fueling is also a key factor in controlling costs: equipping any craft with additional fuel will significantly increase the weight of the craft. Musk proposes using methane which is produced on Mars and would thereforeallow for refueling viasources directly on the plant.

Many experts believe that in order to ensure the survival of our species, we must work to be multi-planetary beings. Perhaps Musks vision to get us to Mars is the first step toward that goal. Musks enthusiasm for his Mars project is quite timely if we are to believe Stephen Hawking, who predictshumanity only has 100 years left on Earth.

But colonizing Mars is only a one possibility space has to offer. Space miningand manufacturingcan help to decrease the burden on Earths resources and give us the capabilityto create products that would be impossible to manufacture on Earth.

We are at the beginning of an exciting crossroads for humanity. The space race of the mid-20th century brought about great change for humanity. Its looking like this iteration will completely transform us.

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Elon Musk Puts a Cap on Ticket Price to Mars Colony. Here's How Much It Could Cost. - Futurism

In Brief Scientists believe that most, if not all, sun-like stars are born with a twin. Evidence also suggests that our solar system's sun's twin may be responsible for knocking the comet that killed the dinosaurs toward Earth. Stellar Doppelganger

We have long known that the dinosaurs were killed by a catastrophic comet impact with the Earths surface but what if there was some foul play afoot? Astronomers have discovered that our sun may have been born with a twin, and an evil one, at that. One hypothesisstates that every 27 million years, the evil twin, aptly dubbed Nemesis, returns to wreck havoc on the solar system. They believe that the star lobs a few meteors in our direction as it makes its may through the outer limits of the solar system.

Research has lead scientists to believe that most stars are born with at least one sibling. According to UC Berkeley astronomer Steven Stahler, We ran a series of statistical models to see if we could account for the relative populations of young single stars and binaries of all separations in the Perseus molecular cloud, and the only model that could reproduce the data was one in which all stars form initially as wide binaries.

These findings could have implications for our understanding of how stars are formed. Looking into how they maintain or break those familial relationships will give us a deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be what it is today. Stahler said, Our work is a step forward in understanding both how binaries form and also the role that binaries play in early stellar evolution. Stahler also pointed out that this could even lead to a better understanding of how galaxies are formed.

These findings were made possible by the VLA nascent disk and multiplicity survey (VANDAM) which took a census of a group of baby stars merely a half-million years old. Their findings have been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and can be read pre-publication at arXiv.org.

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Astronomers Discover That Our Sun Likely Had an Evil Twin That Killed the Dinosaurs - Futurism

In Brief A collaboration between MIT and Harvard has yielded a fascinating new way to monitor dynamic levels in blood using color-changing tattoo ink. Though the team has no plans to pursue clinical trials, the technology could foreshadow the future of blood level monitoring. The Tattoo Test

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)and Harvard Medical School have developed a tattoo ink that could provide real-time updates on the bodys health. By making ink that responds to interstitial fluid the liquid in which our cells are suspended the researchers have found a unique way to monitor blood glucose, sodium, and ph levels.

The idea of the DermalAbyss project is that an individual would have the ink tattooed onto their body in the pattern of their preference. The tattoo would then change color according to the amount of the activating agent present. A tattoo using the ink designed to respond to glucose levels, for example, would change color from blue to brown as the persons blood sugar level rises.

The technology is an ingenious interaction of the body-art, medical, and bio-sensor sectors. While the researchers haveno immediate plans to release their inkto the public, the potential of the project is huge, and others could possibly explore and expand upon it in the future.

Aside from the initial tattooing process, the researchers skin interfaces are non-invasive, unlike the methods currently usedto monitor diabetes. Theyre also much harder to damage than current wearable technology.

That means the tech could improve millions of lives in the United States alone by helping the 10 percent of the population with diabetesmore easily monitor their disease.

As stated on the project website,the technology could potentially be used to measure far more than just the levels tested in the study: It could be used for applications in [continuous] monitoring, such as medical diagnostics, quantified self, and data encoding in the body.

This isnt the only research exploring innovative uses of tattoos others have found ways to link body ink to sound filesor use it to control smartphones but this research is the first to explicitly explore the medical possibilities of inked biosensors. Though just a proof of concept right now, DermalAbyss could be offering us a glimpse into the future ofhealth monitoring.

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Color-Changing Tattoos Could Help Millions Monitor Their Health in Real-Time - Futurism