Artificial embryo samples aboard Tiangong Space Station for life... science research Space "artificial embryo" samples and other life science experiments delivered by the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft have been installed into experiment modules aboard China's Tiangong space station, the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on Wednesday. The "artificial embryos" are stem cell-derived artificial human embryos. The embryos, though not true life forms and unable to develop into human babies, will help simulate the earliest stages of human development. Once the experiments are completed, the artificial embryo samples will be frozen in orbit and then returned to Earth on a future mission for side-by-side analysis with ground-based controls in laboratories on the ground. This effort is part of a broader suite of 41 space science experiments being deployed aboard Tiangong, supporting its latest round of research on the orbiting laboratory.show more

Our nutrient-packed space food is coming back home! Samples... from the BioNutrients-3 study will depart the International Space Station aboard NASA’s SpaceX CRS-33 mission and will soon be analyzed by the science team NASA Ames. Results from this study will help scientists develop approaches to produce on-demand nutrients needed for astronauts during deep space missions to the Moon and Mars. Learn more:show more

Introducing ASAL: Automating the Search for Artificial Life with... Foundation Models Artificial Life (ALife) research holds key insights that can transform and accelerate progress in AI. By speeding up ALife discovery with AI, we accelerate our understanding of emergence, evolution, and intelligence–core principles that can inspire the next generation of AI systems! We proudly collaborated with MIT, OpenAI, Swiss AI Lab IDSIA, and Ken Stanley on this exciting project. Full Paper (Website): Full Paper (arxiv): Code: In this work, we propose a new algorithm called Automated Search for Artificial Life (“ASAL”) to automate the discovery of artificial life using vision-language foundation models. Instead of tediously hand-designing every tiny rule of an Alife simulation, simply describe the space of simulations to search over, and ASAL will automatically discover the most interesting and open-ended artificial lifeforms! Because of the generality of foundation models, ASAL can discover new lifeforms across a diverse range of seminal ALife simulations, including Boids, Particle Life, Game of Life, Lenia, and Neural Cellular Automata. ASAL even discovered novel cellular automata rules that are more open-ended and expressive than the original Conway’s Game of Life. We believe this new paradigm may reignite ALife research by overcoming the bottleneck of manually designed simulations, thus advancing beyond the limits of human ingenuity.show more

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot recently offered... a rare peek into life aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In a video shared on Instagram, Adenot demonstrated her yin yoga routine in microgravity, showing online users what it takes to find balance while floating in space. Fans quickly flooded the comment section, with one user describing it as "magically elegant". For Adenot, practising yoga has been an integral part of her daily life for years on Earth, a habit she has successfully adapted to low-Earth orbit. Read more:show more

🚨 NASA JUST FOUND THE RAW INGREDIENTS OF DNA... INSIDE A ROCK OLDER THAN EARTH ITSELF. Samples returned from the asteroid Bennu contain complex organic molecules including precursors to DNA and RNA, plus many of the amino acids used by all life on Earth. These molecules formed in the early solar system and survived for billions of years inside the asteroid. Earth didn’t have to invent the chemistry of life from nothing. It was delivered ready-made from space. Why this matters: • Bennu is a primitive asteroid that has remained largely unchanged since the birth of the solar system (~4.5 billion years ago) • The samples contain the molecular building blocks of DNA, RNA, and proteins the core components of life as we know it • These organics were preserved through the violent early days of the solar system and could have been delivered to Earth by asteroids and comets • This is some of the strongest direct evidence yet that life’s chemistry has cosmic origins The deeper implication: This doesn’t mean aliens or microbes came from space. It means the raw materials for life were already floating around the solar system long before Earth cooled enough to support life. Our planet likely received these ingredients from above rather than creating them all from scratch. If these building blocks were common in the early solar system, then the starting chemistry for life may have been widespread dramatically raising the chances that similar processes could have happened elsewhere. How does it change your perspective to know that the molecular ingredients for DNA were already present in space billions of years before the first living cell appeared on Earth? Follow for more discoveries about the origins of life and what we’re learning from asteroid samples.show more

Major Tom. This is an empty space suit released... into orbit. On February 3, 2006, astronauts from Expedition 12 pushed an old Russian space suit away from the International Space Station. The suit was fitted with radio equipment and turned into a tiny satellite called SuitSat. As it drifted through space, it broadcast signals for a short time before the equipment failed. From Earth, it looked eerily like a floating human figure, silently moving through the darkness of orbit. For months, this lifeless suit circled our planet no astronaut inside, no control, just a hollow reminder of human presence in space until atmospheric drag finally pulled it back down. Some called him Major Tom, when ground control had the last message…show more

🚨 BREAKING: Starcloud just turned Starlink’s laser network into... the backbone for orbital AI data centers. A company called Starcloud has ordered 50+ Starlink Mini Laser terminals to equip 25+ future satellites. Not ground stations. Not fiber cables. Direct laser-linked computing nodes in orbit plugged straight into SpaceX’s space-based optical mesh. This is the sci-fi future arriving now: Orbital cloud computing AI servers floating in space Powered by 24/7 sunlight Connected globally at light speed via Starlink lasers The insane part: Starcloud says its satellites will eventually handle full AI inference and training workloads directly in orbit. Data won’t always need to come back to Earth to be processed. The advantages are massive: • Unlimited solar energy (no grid limits) • Zero land or water constraints • Passive radiative cooling in vacuum • Instant global relay with zero terrestrial bottlenecks • Near real-time Earth observation analysis Their first major spacecraft (Starcloud-3) is designed for 200 kilowatts in orbit a full-on space-based data center node, not just a satellite. And here’s the bigger picture: SpaceX has filed plans for up to ONE MILLION orbital data centers of its own. Read that again. We may be watching the birth of the first true space-based computing infrastructure layer for civilization. The internet already left the ground. Now AI might be next. What happens when the cloud literally moves into space? Follow for more frontier physics and future technology.show more

Some microorganisms may have little trouble surviving being blasted... into space on planetary debris when an asteroid hits. That finding comes from subjecting a particularly hardy species of desert bacteria to a simulation of the immense forces produced by an asteroid collision. The research lends support to the idea that life jettisoned off world could spread to and seed new worlds by clinging to space rocks. Learn more: News from Scienceshow more

International successes are growing – Lavrov has signed an... agreement with Burkina Faso on the non-deployment of weapons in space. A representative of Burkina Faso responded that while he had heard something about space, he did not intend to deploy weapons there for the time being. This is not the end of the dreams – the next step will be the signing of agreements on the joint colonization of Saturn with Botswana and a non-aggression pact between the space fleets in the constellation Cassiopeia with Somalia.show more

The Sabotaging Practice of Over Supply and Sameness in... the NFT Space. The current zeitgeist of the NFT space is that the same artists are doing the same kind of work five times a year, with project after project leaving a trail of disappointment and discontent among collectors and all of us watching in disbelief as huge resources are extracted from the space over work that feels like it could be left as an "artist study." I understand that you can do what you want with your money as collectors, but we are killing the whole space with this incestuous practice. No artist is that prolific to be able to do 5 collections of 100+ pieces each every year and actually deliver innovation and some kind of creative evolution. Of course, they can pretend play that the work has something new, but there is no precedent nor proof that that has ever happened in the speed that it happens in the NFT space. Again, people are free to through away their resources on whatever they want but with this way of doing things, we more and more are going to start seeing the consequences. Oh! There are consequences? Yes. Maybe unintended, but there are. Let's see. Let's start with the loss of belief in the NFT space as somewhere where emerging artists can come and find support for their experiments. Why even bother to bring experiments, innovation, and new ways to think of art on the blockchain if the same people have all the collectors hypnotized with their magical flutes? Why even try to come to a space where taking risks and challenging the status quo (the mission of art!!!) is overlooked? This makes the NFT space a social club and not a space for art. I guess it is fine, but IMO it is a recipe for disaster. New collectors stay away because the art will slowly but surely become stale and un-challenging. Why even bother to come and see what is happening here if you can't, as a collector, see new weird and up-and-coming artists? The amount of noise emitted by the same artists doing the same art over and over, drowns out any new voices. Again. A recipe for disaster. The NFT space is becoming a space of disappointment and doubt. We think that collections going to zero one after the other, over and over, is not damaging? I feel we are kidding ourselves. Disappointment piles up, and again, the people who will hurt are the emerging artists, the new blood, the ones who are willing to risk the most and, in return, put fire in this cold space of sameness. I love this space—don't get me wrong—it has changed my life, and I believe it has a ton of potential, but things need to change for it to become a beacon of light in art. But we need to support new voices. We need to support new ideas. The challenge is huge. I hope to contribute all I can to this change. I hope more and more see how exciting it is to go out and try to discover what else is out there and move this space forward. But again, I understand the leaps of faith needed, but if there is a space that is based on that, it's the NFT space...so there is hope. We will see. 📺by Boldtronshow more

Making way for the future of health care! With... Texas Longhorns having a home at Moody Center, we’re saying goodbye to the Drum. The demolition sets up the expansion of Dell Medical School and the establishment of the University of Texas at Austin Medical Center with MD Anderson News. But we aren’t simply building a traditional academic medical center. We have an opportunity that is unique in Texas and only possible at a few places in the world to build an academic medical center that is linked to a top research university and that is driven by innovations in technology, digital health, data science, artificial intelligence, robotics, material science and moreshow more

You thought the sky was the limit? Wingbits is... going to space 🚀 thanks to a strategic partnership with Spire, leader in space-based data and operator of the largest multipurpose satellite constellation. 🛰️ Together we’re launching a new satellite that will act as a validator of Wingbits’ ground data, increasing the security and reliability of our global flight tracking network. The satellite is scheduled for launch on the SpaceX Transporter-13 mission.show more

One of the most powerful people, who knows about... geomagnetic excursions and the abrupt geophysical event, is now focused on building data centers and doomsday bunkers on the Moon to preserve human knowledge for the elites. He owns a company that digs tunnels and underground bunkers, a company developing artificial intelligence, and a company building space rockets. The question is: will they succeed in time? That's why the Geophysical Event is kept as one of the world's best-guarded secrets and is considered the ultimate national security threat.show more

Did you know the James Webb Space Telescope isn’t... orbiting Earth at all? The James Webb Space Telescope operates near the Sun–Earth L2 point, about 1.5 million km from Earth. From there, the Sun, Earth, and Moon stay on the same side of the telescope, allowing its giant sunshield to block their heat and light at the same time. That keeps Webb cold and stable enough to detect extremely faint infrared signals from deep space. Because of this, Webb can peer through clouds of cosmic dust and observe galaxies whose light has traveled for more than 13 billion years. Every image it captures is not just a view across space, but a look back into the early history of the universe.show more

Artemis II Glides Past the Moon A stunning view... from deep space shows Orion — the spacecraft of NASA’s Artemis II mission — gracefully sailing near the cratered lunar surface. The ancient, rugged Moon fills the frame as humanity’s first crewed voyage beyond low-Earth orbit in over 50 years unfolds in real time.This historic flight carried four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on a daring loop around the Moon, pushing farther into space than any humans since the Apollo era. The mission successfully tested Orion’s systems for future lunar landings and beyond.The breathtaking contrast between cutting-edge human technology and the timeless, airless beauty of the lunar landscape captures the spirit of exploration: bold curiosity, technical mastery, and our enduring drive to reach new frontiers. Note: This is a creative or illustrative depiction of the scene. Actual mission imagery from Artemis II shows spectacular views of both the near and far side of the Moon captured by the crew.show more

Mars, we're coming for you! 🔴 🛰️ 🛰️ Soon,... our twin Explorer spacecraft built for NASA & Space Sciences Laboratory ESCAPADE mission will begin their journey to the Red Planet to study the history of its climate. The mission will study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape, revealing how Mars changed from warm and wet to the cold, dry world we see today. By flying two spacecraft in different orbits around Mars, ESCAPADE will get a dual viewpoint to solve the mystery of Mars' atmospheric escape. It’s a low-cost mission delivering high-impact science.show more

Today is World Science Day! The International Space Station... is first and foremost a laboratory, where science is the main focus every day. We work with biology, human physiology, physics, material science and much more through out our missions. The microgravity environment of the Space Station is unique and provides a place to try new technologies and push science forward. Recently I had to perform maintenance on the Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, a vital part of the life support systems on the Space Station. We recycle around 95% of all the water on the ISS, from the sweat and humidity in the air to the urine from our morning coffee. Tomorrow is the planned arrival of a new cargo vehicle, CRS-29, with new experiments and technology demonstrations. One of those experiments coming up is from Danish Aerospace Company, called VR for Exercise, where I will exercise on the new FERGO bike with a virtual reality headset on, allowing me to bike routes on Earth and will investigate if this immersive headset can support our exercise motivation. / Rumstationen er først og fremmest et laboratorium, hvor videnskaben er i fokus hver dag. Vi arbejder med biologi, fysiologi, fysik, materialevidenskab og meget mere i løbet af vores missioner. Rumstationens vægtløse miljø er unikt og giver os mulighed for at afprøve nye teknologier og skubbe videnskaben fremad. For nylig skulle jeg udføre vedligeholdelse på Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA), som splitter vand til brint og oxygen, en afgørende del af de systemer som holder os i live på Rumstationen. Vi genanvender cirka 95% af alt vandet på ISS, fra sved og fugtighed i luften til urinen fra vores morgenkaffe. I morgen er den planlagte ankomst af et nyt fartøj, CRS-29, med nye eksperimenter. Et af de kommende eksperimenter er fra Danish Aerospace Space og kaldes VR for Exercise, hvor jeg skal træne på den nye FERGO-cykel med et virtual reality-headset på, hvilket giver mig mulighed for at cykle ruter på Jorden. Forsøget skal undersøge, om headsettet kan støtte vores motivation til træning. #Huginn #spacescience #WorldScienceDay #SpaceForEarthshow more

🚨Exciting news for archaeology and for human knowledge in... general! It has been a long and tedious process, but the Peruvian Ministry of Culture has finally granted permission to export geological samples that will hopefully enable the age of Sacsayhuaman's construction to be determined! Three types of samples have been collected for analysis using different dating methods, and some of them are already on their way to different labs in the US and in Europe. 1 - Soil samples collected from right beneath the blocks that make up the megalithic walls of Sacsayhuaman for Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating – this method is used to determine the time elapsed since minerals like quartz and feldspar were last exposed to sunlight by measuring the light energy (luminescence) released from trapped electrons that accumulated in the mineral crystal lattice due to natural radiation since their last bleaching/reset event (i.e., when the ground was covered by the blocks). 2 - Limestone samples from megalithic blocks, quarry sites and carved bedrock, for Cosmogenic Nuclides dating – this method is used to determine the age of geological surfaces by measuring the accumulation of rare isotopes (mainly ³⁶Cl) produced when the limestone is hit by cosmic rays. 3 - Speleothems samples (calcium carbonate deposits such as stalactite or flowstone) collected on carved surfaces for Uranium-Thorium dating – this method is used to calculate the age of carbonate materials by measuring the buildup of thorium-230 from the slow decay of its uranium-234 parent isotope. This won’t give us the age of the carving of these rocks, but this will give us a minimum age, since the rock was obviously cut before these deposits formed. Additionally, if some organic material is found in the soil or speleothems samples, radiocarbon dating will also be performed, which would give us a fourth means of dating the construction of the site. Whether you believe this megalithic site was built by the Incas or by a much older civilization, science will hopefully put an end to this debate once and for all. And, to top it all off, some limestone samples have also been sent to the Geopolymer Institute of Joseph Davidovits for analysis. This is proof, if any were needed, that not all archaeologists are dogmatic and closed to alternative theories. Now, Let's hope that all these methods will yield results. Whatever these results may be, they will be the subject of a scientific publication, and I will share them here on X, so make sure to follow. This could potentially rewrite history!show more