In its quest to find out how young Earth evolved and life on this planet began, NASA has used Earth's gravity like a slingshot to propel a spacecraft into an orbit that will help it land on an asteroid and bring a sample back home. The maneuver, which is being referred to as a "gravity assist," happened on Friday, when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that launched last year passed within 11,000 miles of Earth -- a point visible to viewers on the ground through a telescope -- going 19,000 mph. During that pass, our planet's gravity bounced the spacecraft's orbital path 6 degrees, putting it in line with the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu. During its closest point to us, OSIRIS-REx was over Antarctica, although it flew over and was visible to other areas on Friday. "A few weeks after the flyby we will assess the outgoing trajectory on its way to Bennu," Dan Wibben, an expert from company KinetX Aerospace who led the design of the gravity assist maneuver, said in a NASA statement.

NASA's asteroid-chasing spacecraft is swinging by Earth today on its way to a space rock. Launched a year ago, Osiris-Rex was on track to pass within about 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers) of the home planet Friday afternoon - above Antarctica. Those with telescopes were advised to eyes set on the sky at 5.52 pm BST (12.52pm ET) in order to have a chance of seeing the vessel before it departs. It needs Earth's gravity as a slingshot to put it on a path toward the asteroid Bennu.

Jobs are disappearing, incomes retreating, the precariat growing. Thousands of people risk their lives in stormy seas to flee wars, moribund economies and climate change on a daily basis. Traditional politicians continue to avoid publicly addressing the tsunami of unemployment, apparently baffled as to how to react to a historic transition: the automation of critical masses of labour once performed by humans. Five acronyms - AI, AR, VR, BC and UBI - promise to shape the developed world's future and solve the problems of the present. In the process, however, these innovations risk transforming the world around us, and upsetting humanity's very definition of itself.

After receiving more than 18,300 applications, NASA has finally announced its new class of astronauts – some of whom could move on to deep-space missions aboard the Orion spacecraft. The space agency introduced 12 men and women today on stage at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, during an event that was attended by Vice President Mike Pence. Vice President Pence wished'Godspeed' to the new class, and revealed the Trump administration will be reopening the National Space Council, with Pence as a chair, in efforts to'ensure that America will never again lose our lead in space exploration and space innovation technology.' The lineup includes: Kayla Barron, Zena Cardon, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, Dr Warren'Woody' Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Robb Kulin, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, Dr Frank Rubio, Jessica Watkins The chosen few will undergo two years of training, after which they will be assigned to various missions, including research on the International Space Station, launches aboard commercial spacecraft, and even deep-space exploration. After brief introductions from Johnson Center Director Ellen Ochoa and the showing of a video from current astronauts welcoming the newcomers, Flight Operations Director Brian Kelly introduced the new candidates one by one, in alphabetical order. The lineup includes: Kayla Barron, Zena Cardon, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Bob Hines, Dr Warren'Woody' Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Robb Kulin, Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara, Dr Frank Rubio, Jessica Watkins.

Battalions of insect cyborgs - stealthier than any man-made mini-drone - could soon hit the skies to join the fight against terrorism. Draper, along with Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Janelia Research Campus, have created cyborg dragonflies in an effort to aid intelligence and reconnaissance. Known as DragonflEye, the project would allow the US military and intelligence services to deploy these cyborgs as micro-drones capable of spying for their masters. In addition to the secretive nature of the drones, they're also expected to be more agile, lighter and smaller. The US military, like others around the world, has long pursued tiny flying robots to deploy for surveillance.

The average single-family home takes roughly seven months to complete, but MIT researchers have developed a cutting-edge system that does the job in less than a day. The team has designed an autonomous robot capable of 3D printing the basic structure of an entire building. Equipped with a precision-motion robotic arm and powered by solar panels, the machine sprays an insulation foam mold on the ground and then fills it with concrete – it completed the walls of a 50-foot-diameter, 12-foot-high dome in 14 hours. MIT has designed an autonomous robot capable of 3D printing the basic structure of an entire building. MIT's system is a massive robotic arm attached to a track vehicle.

Need a building customized for a particular site quickly? Researchers say a 3D printer may be the answer -- and could reduce the cost to boot. Researcher Steven Keating and colleagues write in this week's Science Robotics a 3D system could reduce construction costs while speeding the process, incorporating different materials and densities as the process moves forward to produce optimal combinations of strength and other properties. "Contemporary construction techniques are slow, labor-intensive, dangerous, expensive, and constrained to primarily rectilinear forms, often resulting in homogenous structures built using materials sourced from centralized factories," the researchers said. Instead, they propose a digital construction platform, an "automated construction system capable of customized on-site fabrication of architectural-scale structures using real-time environmental data for process control."

To see the world through the eyes of a 40-ton polar whale it helps to use a little bug. At least that's what this satellite tracking tag resembles. We're crammed into an inflatable black rubber zodiac on a blustery day in Antarctica's Gerlache Strait, puttering toward a motionless humpback whale. A fist-sized camera with gangly grasshopper-like antennae and suction cup feet sits on a pole resting on scientist Ari Friedlaender's shoulders. Towering icebergs and glacier-draped mountains rise around us.

Elon Musk has a new plan to protect humanity from artificial intelligence -- if you can't beat'em, join'em. In October 2014, Musk ignited a global discussion on the perils of artificial intelligence. Humans might be doomed if we make machines that are smarter than us, Musk warned. He called artificial intelligence our greatest existential threat. Now he is hoping to harness AI in a way that will benefit society.

In October 2014, Musk ignited a global discussion on the perils of artificial intelligence. Humans might be doomed if we make machines that are smarter than us, Musk warned. He called artificial intelligence our greatest existential threat. Now he is hoping to harness AI in a way that will benefit society. Musk explained that his attempt to sound the alarm on artificial intelligence didn't have an impact, so he decided to try to develop artificial intelligence in a way that will have a positive affect on humanity.