The Pentagon's X-37B Has Now Been In Orbit For 500 Days

Will The Pentagon’s Secret Space Plane Ever Return To Earth? -- Kyle Mizokami, Daily Beast

Nearly 500 days into its mission, the Pentagon still won’t say what its drone space shuttle is doing in orbit, or when it might come back.

The Air Force’s secret space plane has been up in orbit for nearly 500 days—a space endurance record. But nearly a year and a half into the mission, the Pentagon still won’t say what the X-37B is doing up there, or when it might come back.

The U.S. Air Force boosted the robotic X-37B atop the nose of an Atlas-5 rocket in December 2012. Since then it’s orbited the Earth thousands of times, overflying such interesting places as North Korea and Iran.

Similar to the Space Shuttle in appearance, the diminutive X-37B is about a quarter the size of the old shuttles. But there are major differences. Lacking a crew, the spacecraft has no cockpit windows. The X-37B has a payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed.

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More News On The Pentagon's X-37B Being In Orbit For 500 Days

Endurance record in the books, Air Force's secret space plane continues its mystery mission -- al.com
Plane Sets Record in Space, But Mission Still a Mystery -- Newsmax
The Pentagon's Space Plane nears 500 days in the air, no one knows why -- The Celebrity Cafe
Mysterious Space Plane Has Been In Orbit For 500 Days, And The Pentagon Won't Say Why -- Bustle
Op-Ed: Secret U.S. space drone orbits Earth thousands of times -- Digital Journal

WNU Editor: The above video is a compilation of military experts speculating on the X-37B space plane.

Is This The 'End Of Days'?

APOCALYPSE NOW: Why A Rare Astrological Event TONIGHT Could Herald The 'End Of Days' -- Express

IF YOU'RE feeling out of sorts today don't worry, it isn't just you.

Mars, Earth, and the Sun will all align tonight, a rare 'opposition of the planets' that only happens once every 778 days.

But what makes this so remarkable is that it comes precisely a week before everyone on earth will see the first of FOUR dark red 'blood moons', an extraordinary event some Christians believe represents the End of Days and the second coming of Christ.

The King James Bible predicts: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes," [Joel 2:31].

And, according to NASA, a highly unusual 'Tetrad' - four successive total 'blood-red' lunar eclipses each followed by six full moons - will, indeed, start a week today and finish on September 28 next year.

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My Comment: As a lifelong amateur astronomer .... I love these events. Unfortunately .... it has been cloudy in my neck of the woods all day and now all night. As to the "End of Days" .... I suspect that I am still going to be blogging in the weeks/months/and years ahead.

U.S. Navy To Test It's Newest Laser Weapon In The Persian Gulf This Summer

U.S. Navy To Test Laser Weapon Aboard Ship In Persian Gulf -- L.A. Times

The Navy plans to install a laser weapon prototype on a ship this summer for at-sea testing in the Persian Gulf.

The technology, called the Laser Weapon System, will be the first of its kind to be deployed, the Navy said.

The idea is that the laser could zap dangerous swarming small boats and flying drones while on the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. Its power also can be scaled down, presenting the Navy a non-lethal alternative to ward off threats such as pirates, terrorists and smugglers.

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More News On U.S. Navy Preparing To Test It's Newest Laser Weapon In The Persian Gulf This Summer

Navy laser weapon with 'video game-like controller' set to deploy -- CNet
NNS: Navy's Laser Weapon Ready for Summer Deployment -- Pacific News Center
U.S. Navy to Test New Laser Weapon at Sea This Summer -- PC Magazine
Navy Engineers To Deploy Laser Weapon Later This Summer -- Ubergizmo

U.S. Navy To Test It's Electromagnetic Gun Aboard A High-Speed Vessel In 2016

U.S. Navy to Test Futuristic, Super-Fast Gun at Sea in 2016 -- Newsweek/Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is planning sea trials for a weapon that can fire a low-cost, 23-pound (10-kg) projectile at seven times the speed of sound using electromagnetic energy, a "Star Wars" technology that will make enemies think twice, the Navy's research chief said.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of Naval Research, told a round table group recently the futuristic electromagnetic rail gun had already undergone extensive testing on land and would be mounted on the USNS Millinocket, a high-speed vessel, for sea trials beginning in 2016.

"It's now reality and it's not science fiction. It's actually real. You can look at it. It's firing," said Klunder, who planned to discuss progress on the system later on Monday with military and industry leaders at a major maritime event - the Sea-Air-Space Exposition - near Washington.

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More News On The U.S. Navy To Testing It's Electromagnetic Gun Aboard A High-Speed Vessel In 2016

Navy to test electromagnetic gun without gunpowder -- USA Today
U.S. Navy unleashes newest weapon: an electromagnetic rail gun that shoots missiles at seven times the speed of sound -- New York Daily News
'Not Science Fiction': Navy to Test Futuristic Gun at Sea in 2016 -- NBC
Navy to unveil railgun in San Diego -- UT San Diego
Navy to test electromagnetic gun aboard high-speed vessel in 2016 (VIDEO) -- RT
US Navy to Trial 'Star Wars' Weapon that Fires at Seven Times the Speed of Sound -- IBTimes
NNS: Navy to Deploy Electromagnetic Railgun Aboard JHSV -- Pacific News Center
Navy prepares to take railgun to sea -- Ars Technica
U.S. Navy's New Weapon Fires at 7 Times the Speed of Sound -- Mashable
The U.S. Navy’s 32-megajoule rail gun is one step closer to blue water -- Guns
How BAE's electromagnetic rail gun will save the Navy millions -- Washington Business Journal

Robots Getting Ready For Dull, Dirty And Dangerous Jobs (Video)

From VOA: Robotic house helpers may still be a long way off but robots that can replace humans in hazardous environments are closer and closer to becoming a reality. Roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University are designing advanced robots for dull, dirty and dangerous jobs. VOA’s George Putic reports.

U.S. Navy Testing Drone Helicopters

U.S. Navy Testing More Sophisticated Pilotless Helicopters -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The helicopter kicked up a cloud of freshly fallen snow that partly obscured the ground below, but despite the poor visibility, it gently touched down in a landing that was unremarkable except for the fact no one was at the controls.

The helicopter, filmed during testing by the Naval Research Laboratory, was piloted by a 100-pound (45-kg) sensor and software package that officials said can turn any rotary-winged aircraft into a virtually autonomous drone able to fly with minimal input from the Marine Corps troops it was designed to serve.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, chief of Naval Research, said the sensor and software pack is "truly leap-ahead technology" that will let a Marine with no flight experience issue landing instructions to a cargo helicopter via tablet computer after just a few minutes of training.

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More News On The U.S. Navy Testing Drone Helicopters

Navy to fly full sized drone helicopters by tablet APP to deliver food, water and weapons to troops -- Daily Mail
Navy unveils new program to create drone-like autonomous aircraft -- FOX News
Navy Drones With a Mind of Their Own -- WSJ
Navy’s Future on Video: Fly Choppers With Tablets, Blast Enemies With Rail Guns -- ABC news
Navy unveils ‘leap-ahead technology’ that turns choppers into drones -- Washington Times
U.S. Navy Funds Development of Next-Level Helicopter Drones -- Aviation Today

My Comment: The above video is a must see on how far they have advanced in this technology.

Has The U.S. Navy Found A Way To Make Fuel Out Of Sea Water?

Could You Soon Be Filling Up With SEAWATER? US Navy Reveals 'Game Changing' Fuel Created From Water -- Daily Mail

* Has flown radio controlled plane using 'sea fuel' in first test of new fuel
* New technique can capture 92% of CO2 in water to create jet fuel
* Could be used to create fuel for any vehicle without having to modify engines

The US Navy has developed a radical new fuel made from seawater.

They say it could change the way we produce fuel - and allow warships to stay at sea for years at a time.

Navy scientists have spent several years developing the process to take seawater and use it as fuel, and have now used the 'game changing' fuel to power a radio controlled plane in the first test.

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My Comment: I am always super-duper skeptical when I am reading reports like this one .... but these researcher believe that they have a winner.

The Future Of Surgical Robotics Is Microscopic

The NeuroArm, a non-ferrous microsurgical robot—shown here with an electrified cutting tool and suction instrument—was used to remove a patient's brain tumor in 2008, while she was being scanned with an MRI. University of Calgary

The Microscopic Future of Surgical Robotics -- Erik Sofge, Popular Science

Chances are, you aren’t, and never will be, an astronaut. So the recent revelation that NASA is funding the development of a somewhat gruesome-sounding surgical bot—a fist-size contraption that would enter a patient’s gas-engorged abdomen to staunch bleeding or remove a ruptured appendix—isn’t exactly news you can use. The more relevant announcement might be from Intuitive Surgical, which announced that its newest robo-surgeon has been approved by the FDA. With thinner and more maneuverable arms, the da Vinci Xi will turn more open surgeries into minimally-invasive, robot-assisted procedures. Instead of requiring large incisions to get at various portions of a patient’s anatomy, the Xi will let surgeons reach essentially anywhere in the abdomen through smaller less traumatic punctures. With this clearance, the likelihood that you’ll one day be under the robotic knife just jumped significantly.

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My Comment: A good review on robotic advances in microsurgery.

Global Warming Will Affect Your Beer

Growing Barle. Photo by Lucash on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

How Global Warming Will Affect Your Beer -- Popular Science

A pilot study examines how drought affects the quality of starch in barley.

There are many things that will change as Earth's climate warms. Doctoral student Peter Gous is worried about the price and quality of beer.

The aspiring plant bioengineer worked with a team of scientists to test how not getting enough water altered the quality of barley grains. In a small pilot study, the scientists found that the starches inside barley grains grown with too little water are different from starches found inside nicely-watered barley grains. The dryness-stressed barley had longer-chain starch grains and more protein than normally grown barley. From there, Gous made an interesting conjecture about the future—one we've never thought of.

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My Comment: The beer will be fine.

The Future Of Public Transport?

A web developer from West Yorkshire created his vision for a global Underground network when visiting Australia and wanting to 'nip home' but one engineer said that tunnelling such distances is presently impossible. The style of the ‘Eurocentric’ world Tube map is inspired by the work of Harry Beck, who was the technical draftsman who created the present London Underground map in 1931. The 'Tri-Continental' line on the map is red, like London's Central Line, while the grey line is the 'U.S.' and the black line the'Australasia Pan-Pacific'.

The Future Of Public Transport? Map Reveals How The Entire WORLD Could Be Connected Using A Global Underground Network -- Daily Mail

* Chris Gray from West Yorkshire created his vision for a global Underground network when visiting Australia and wanting to 'nip home'
* His dream is thought to be currently 'impossible' because tunnels would have to be so deep beneath the waves and cross tectonic plates
* One expert thinks pneumatic tube systems like the proposed 'hyperloop' and floating tunnels could connect the world in the future
* The maps are inspired by Harry Beck's map of the London Underground

Some train journeys feel like they take forever - especially when there are numerous transfers and waits in between flights and trains. But what if you could board a train in Madras, India and travel to Boston with no changes?

One man has imagined the world as a giant London Underground map where people can travel freely between countries and traverse vast bodies of water from the comfort of their seat while vehicles speed through vast tunnels.

While his dream is currently ‘impossible’, engineers are constantly trying to develop new ways to connect countries.

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My Comment: Not going to happen (a global network) .... but it is a good dream.

Will Robots Rule the World?

Photo Used under Creative Commons license from Flickr user Antonis Lamnatos http://www.flickr.com/photos/lamnatos

Will Robots Rule the World? Find Out At Robo Madness Next Thursday -- Wade Roush, XConomy

An influential 1998 paper by Robin Hanson, an economics professor at George Mason University, asked what might happen to jobs and wages in a future with “mature machine intelligence”—computers and robots clever enough to take over most human jobs. The outlook is a little scary.

Hanson calculated that a world where machines could truly substitute for most human labor, would, at first, see unprecedented economic growth, including rising wages. But eventually, as machines became more numerous and more productive, they would push human wages down dramatically, leaving most people without the means to buy the stuff the machines were making. Hanson even threw around words like “Malthusian,” a term once reserved to describe catastrophic population growth and food shortages.

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My Comment: What's my take .... robots may rule the world one day .... but not today.

‘Bionic Olympics’ Coming In 2016

‘Bionic Olympics’ Coming in 2016 -- Defense Tech

Couple the Defense Research Projects Agency’s major and well-funded interest in prosthetics with the grit shown by amputee veterans to excel in sports and you’ve got a heck of start for building a U.S. team for the first-ever bionic Olympics.

The Cybathlon, an international competition for athletes using advanced prosthetics, is to be held in October 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland.

“The competitions are comprised by different disciplines that apply the most modern powered knee prostheses, wearable arm prostheses, powered exoskeletons, powered wheelchairs, electrically stimulated muscles and novel brain-computer interfaces,” according to the games’ official website.

The games are being organized on behalf of the Swiss National Competence Center of Research in Robotics.

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My Comment: I predict that this will be well watched.

The Optical Illusion App That Makes You Hallucinate

The Optical Illusion App That Makes You HALLUCINATE: Mind-Bending Moving Illusion Makes Everything Around You MELT -- Daily Mail

* DO NOT watch if you suffer from epilepsy or are sensitive to flashing lights
* Watch videos in full screen mode for 30 seconds while focusing on centre
* Look away and watch the world deform. Effect can last for up to 20 secs
* Illusion created when brain cells detecting motion become tired
* After the eyes look away, the cells that detect motion in the other direction are more active and a stationary object appears to be moving

For a drug-free mind-bending hallucination, take a look at some of these incredible optical illusions.

Open the illusion up in a full-screen window as they will work best if they fill your entire field of vision.

Focus your eyes on the centre of the illusion for around 30 seconds before gently looking away into the distance.

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My Comment: OMG!!! It works.

Vehicles Will Soon Be Able To Talk To Each Other

Vehicles May Soon Be Talking To Each Other -- Voice of America

WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators are close to approving new standards for enabling vehicles to communicate with each other, hoping the new technology will reduce traffic accidents. Within as little as three years, automakers may be required to equip all new cars with the so-called ‘vehicle-to-vehicle’ communication devices.

Vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, is a short-range communication technology that enables vehicles to exchange vital information 10 times per second, about location, speed, acceleration and braking. Cars will be able to calculate the hazard risk within about 300 meters and alert their drivers or even take automatic collision-avoidance action.

The drivers will be able to see, hear and even feel the hazard signals through vibration of the seat.

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My Comment: Another reason to increase car prices .... but what am I interested in is .... can such a system be rigged to warn drivers of speed traps?

World's Hottest Tourist Attractions

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Hot spot: Sightsmap allows users to search the map to find the top places in a given area, including the most photographed 1,000 locations in a country

World's Hottest Tourist Attractions: Interactive 'Heat Map' Reveals Top 10 Most Photographed Travel Destinations Across The Globe -- Daily Mail

Anyone who has visited New York will have whipped out their camera to take an obligatory shot of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty.

And a visit to Paris or Rome isn’t complete without a smartphone selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower or Spanish Steps respectively. But which tourist sights are the world’s most iconic?

An interactive 'heat map' has revealed the top 10 photographed cities in the world - along with which tourist attraction is the most snapped in each location.

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My Comment: Europe is the "hottest spot".

Blood Moon Eclipse On April 15

Blood Moon Eclipse On April 15 Is A Special Event -- USA Today

Sky watchers are getting ready for an evening of special viewing when a total lunar eclipse arrives just after midnight on April 15.

What's more, this begins a rare sequence of four total lunar eclipses expected over the next two years.

Some Christians see this series of so-called blood moons as linked to a biblical prophecy of the End Times.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon line up so the Earth's shadow falls on the moon, darkening it.

The one on April 15 will begin at 1:20 a.m. on the East Coast, according to Sky and Telescope magazine.

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My Comment: I saw one about 40 years ago .... it is a memory that is still with me.

Why Robots Cannot Be Regulated?

Photo: 20TH CENTURY FOX

Why It Is Not Possible To Regulate Robots -- The Guardian

We regulate machines, from drills to defibrillators. What distinguishes a power-drill from a robot-drill? A computer driving it

There's an old joke about the sciences: biology is just applied chemistry, chemistry is just applied physics, and physics is just applied maths. It's really a neat little quip about essentialism and reductionism. While it's true that biology can be accurately described as "applied chemistry," treating living things as alive – and not as a set of chemical reactions no different in principle from making a cup of cocoa or extracting a pigment to use in housepaint – has undeniable utility.

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My Comment: A long commentary .... but it is not an easy subject to analyze and discuss. A prediction .... this discussion will only increase with time as computers and robots develop into even more sophisticated models and networks than what they are today.

Scientists Pin Down Moon's Birth Date

This artist's illustration depicts a giant impact between the early Earth and a Mars-size object, a cataclysmic collision thought to have created the moon about 4.5 billion years ago.NASA/JPL-Caltech

Moon's Age Revealed, And A Lunar Mystery May Be Solved -- FOX News

Scientists have pinned down the birth date of the moon to within 100 million years of the birth of the solar system — the best timeline yet for the evolution of our planet's natural satellite.

This new discovery about the origin of the moon may help solve a mystery about why the moon and the Earth appear virtually identical in makeup, investigators added.

Scientists have suggested the moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago by a gigantic collision between a Mars-size object named Theia and Earth, a crash that would have largely melted the Earth. This model suggested that more than 40 percent of the moon was made up of debris from this impacting body. (Current theory suggests that Earth experienced several giant impacts during its formation, with the moon-forming impact being the last.)

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CSN Editor: 4.5 billion years .... give or take.

Skydiver Captures The First Ever Footage Of A Falling Meteorite After It Has Stopped Burning

Meteorite Narrowly Misses Norwegian Skydiver -- The Telegraph

A skydiver in Norway captures the first ever footage of a falling meteorite after it has stopped burning

A Norwegian man narrowly avoided being hit by a meteorite while skydiving and has captured the first ever video footage of a meteorite travelling through the air after its flame has gone out.

Anders Helstrup, who belongs to the Oslo Parachute Club said "I got the feeling that there was something, but I didn't register what was happening,"

"When we stopped the film, we could clearly see something that looked like a stone. At first it crossed my mind that it had been packed into a parachute, but it's simply too big for that."

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My Comment: It is there for an instance .... and then it is gone. Wow.

Nasa Is Developing Robots That Could Perform Surgery In Space

The Robots That Could Perform Surgery In SPACE: Tiny Doctor Droids Could Perform Complex Medical Procedures On Astronauts -- Daily Mail

* Prototype has been created by Nebraska-based Virtual Incision and Nasa
* 0.9lb (0.4kg) device has tools that can grab, cauterise and suture tissue
* Its head is fitted with a camera which sends a feed back to control station
* Nasa said astronauts could be trained to use the robot to perform select surgeries on each other

Imagine a miniature robo-surgeon sliding into your body through an incision in your stomach.

Once inside, the robot can expertly manoeuvre its way around the abdominal cavity, which has been filled with gas to make more room for work.

It can then perform procedures such as an emergency appendectomy or perforate a gastric ulcer.

This is the scenario being explored by Nasa in the hope that risky surgical operations in space will someday become a routine matter.

Working in collaboration with Virtual Incision in Lincoln, Nebraska, the space agency has developed a prototype of a remotely-operated fist-sized robot doctor.

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My Comment: They still have a long way to go .... but the advancements are impressive.