Pacific Ocean
NASA photos show incredible moment Orion splashed back down to Earth
NASA has shared new photos of the incredible moment the Orion space capsule returned to Earth after flying around the moon. The unmanned Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 09:40 PST (17:40 GMT) on Sunday. Since its launch in mid-November, it has travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. The images show before and after the historic point of impact, which marks the first part of Artemis – NASA's successor to the Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA's Orion Capsule descends toward splash down after a successful uncrewed Artemis 1 Moon Mission on December 11, 2022 seen from aboard the USS Portland in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico Artemis 1 is NASA's uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, which launched on November 16 from Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida.
The New Zealander helping the United States prepare for an artificial intelligence war with China
At Wander cafe in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter, someone at the next table is listening to Sean Gourley while he is being interviewed about artificial intelligence. After eavesdropping on the chat they get up, walk over to Gourley's table and tell him how scared they are. Gourley says most people think there is a 1% chance of war between China and the United States, but in his universe it is looking more like 50%. US defence and intelligence clients account for a large portion of the business Gourley's San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) company, PrimerAI, does – and right now business is booming. READ MORE: * Keeping up with the machines, new supercomputer will be NZ's most powerful for AI * Kiwis need to think about what they want from the age of AI, report says * 'Google should not be in the business of war', says employee after it drops Pentagon AI contract * While artificial intelligence is tipped to be'as significant as electricity', it's not coming for your job, yet ...
Japan's Ispace Lander Launches to the Moon With a UAE Rover
For Sunday's mission, the payloads include the Rashid lunar rover from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai; a two-wheeled "transformable lunar robot" from JAXA, the Japanese space agency; a test module for a solid-state battery from NGK Spark Plug Company; an artificial intelligence flight computer; and 360-degree cameras from Canadensys Aerospace. As a vestige of its Lunar X Prize heritage, it is also carrying a panel engraved with the names of people who provided crowdfunding support and a music disc with a song performed by the Japanese rock band Sakanaction. The Japanese company's lander is not the only passenger on Sunday's flight. A secondary payload on the Falcon 9 is a small NASA mission, Lunar Flashlight, which is to enter an elliptical orbit around the moon and use an infrared laser to probe the deep, dark craters at the moon's polar regions. Much like some other recent moon missions, M1 is taking a circuitous, energy-efficient trip to the moon and will not land, in the Atlas Crater in the Northern Hemisphere of the moon, until late April. The fuel-efficient trajectory allows the mission to pack in more payload and carry less fuel.
Forecasting formation of a Tropical Cyclone Using Reanalysis Data
Kumar, Sandeep, Biswas, Koushik, Pandey, Ashish Kumar
The tropical cyclone formation process is one of the most complex natural phenomena which is governed by various atmospheric, oceanographic, and geographic factors that varies with time and space. Despite several years of research, accurately predicting tropical cyclone formation remains a challenging task. While the existing numerical models have inherent limitations, the machine learning models fail to capture the spatial and temporal dimensions of the causal factors behind TC formation. In this study, a deep learning model has been proposed that can forecast the formation of a tropical cyclone with a lead time of up to 60 hours with high accuracy. The model uses the high-resolution reanalysis data ERA5 (ECMWF reanalysis 5th generation), and best track data IBTrACS (International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship) to forecast tropical cyclone formation in six ocean basins of the world. For 60 hours lead time the models achieve an accuracy in the range of 86.9% - 92.9% across the six ocean basins. The model takes about 5-15 minutes of training time depending on the ocean basin, and the amount of data used and can predict within seconds, thereby making it suitable for real-life usage.
The End of High-School English
Teenagers have always found ways around doing the hard work of actual learning. CliffsNotes date back to the 1950s, "No Fear Shakespeare" puts the playwright into modern English, YouTube offers literary analysis and historical explication from numerous amateurs and professionals, and so on. For as long as those shortcuts have existed, however, one big part of education has remained inescapable: writing. Barring outright plagiarism, students have always arrived at that moment when they're on their own with a blank page, staring down a blinking cursor, the essay waiting to be written. Now that might be about to change.
San Francisco will allow police to deploy robots that kill
Supervisors in San Francisco voted Tuesday to give city police the ability to use potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations -- following an emotionally charged debate that reflected divisions on the politically liberal board over support for law enforcement. The vote was 8-3, with the majority agreeing to grant police the option despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization of a police force already too aggressive with poor and minority communities. Supervisor Connie Chan, a member of the committee that forwarded the proposal to the full board, said she understood concerns over use of force but that "according to state law, we are required to approve the use of these equipments. So here we are, and it's definitely not a easy discussion."
China Develops A Tool To Defend Military Facilities In South China Sea, And It's Mind-Blowingly Simple
Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has developed a low-cost fast deployable air defense system using radar reflector balloons to protect military facilities from aerial attacks. In the era of AI technology, the Chinese military is opting for a rather simplistic method to protect critical infrastructure. The PLA demonstrated its latest technique at a joint drill, called the Zhejiang Golden Shield-22, conducted by the Chinese military and local units in November. It involved the use of radar reflector balloons to safeguard military facilities in case of a long-range missile or drone attack, according to a report on The War Zone. It included the deployment of AD air balloons on UAVs avenues of approach&energy assets visual camouflage (Ukraine lesson learnt) pic.twitter.com/m21KrBIVnZ
Elon Musk's Neuralink 'faces USDA investigation after deaths of 1,500 animals in testing'
Elon Musk's Neuralink is under federal investigation for animal-welfare violations amid staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to a Reuters review of documents and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations who spoke to Reuters. Neuralink, a medical devices company, is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It comes amid growing employee dissent about Neuralink's animal testing, including complaints that pressure from CEO Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments, according to a Reuters review of dozens of Neuralink documents and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees. Elon Musk's Neuralink is facing a probe amid reports of botched animal testing according to Reuters In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company's animal-testing operations.
Elon Musk's Neuralink 'faces USDA investigation after deaths of 1,500 animals in testing'
Elon Musk's Neuralink is under federal investigation for animal-welfare violations amid staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to a Reuters review of documents and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations who spoke to Reuters. Neuralink, a medical devices company, is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It comes amid growing employee dissent about Neuralink's animal testing, including complaints that pressure from CEO Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments, according to a Reuters review of dozens of Neuralink documents and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees. In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company's animal-testing operations.
Musk's Neuralink faces federal inquiry after killing 1,500 animals in testing
Elon Musk's Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations. Neuralink Corp is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal investigation, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the US Department of Agriculture's inspector general at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The inquiry, one of the sources said, focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers treat and test some animals. The investigation has come at a time of growing employee dissent about Neuralink's animal testing, including complaints that pressure from Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments, according to a Reuters review of dozens of Neuralink documents and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees.