A Proton rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, taking the European Robotic Arm (ERA) payload to the International Space Station. The 11-meter long robot has been folded and attached to the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called'Nauka', that will be its home base when it reaches the ISS. The rocket put Nauka and the ERA into orbit at 16:08pm GMT, ten minutes after liftoff, at an altitude of nearly 200 kilometres above the Earth. The ISS already has two robotic arms, which are used to berth spacecraft and transfer payloads and astronauts, but neither arm can each the Russian segment, the European Space Agency said. Instead, the ERA will'walk' around the Russian parts of the orbital complex, handling components up to 8000 kilograms, and transport astronauts when it eventually reaches the station.

A YouTuber has used artificial intelligence to create a fake Nirvana song. The final result is a three-minute track called "Smother", which is… kind of a banger? User Funk Turkey is behind the creation, which follows his other AI tracks in the style of AC/DC (cleverly renamed AI/DC), Red Hot Chili Peppers (AKA Red Bot Chili Peppers), and Nickelback (or: Nickelbot). Discussing "Smother" in the track's description, Funk Turkey explains that he used lyrics.rip He added: "All music/vocals performed, mixed, and mastered by me, in my kitchen, on a sparkly red cheap Stratocaster, a crappy mic, and an old copy of ProTools."

Or why I don't want to listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. No offense to the Peppers, but just because I listen to alternative music and "people like me who listen to alt music" enjoy hearing the Peppers it does not then mean that I want to hear them. I am not "people like me", I am me. And I want the smart computers behind my favorite services to know me enough to deliver the content I want. It doesn't matter which service we talk about.