Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2021

'Sudden' Incident Delays NASA's Launch of James Webb Space Telescope

One of the technicians was preparing to attach the spacecraft to a launch vehicle when an unplanned event happened. Originally scheduled to launch on 18 December, the spacecraft will not launch before 22 December . Again, the launch date of the $10bn (£7.5bn) James Webb telescope has been delayed. There was an incident during the final preparations to mount the telescope on the launch vehicle. As a result, the launch from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana - the ESA's base of operations - will now be delayed until 22 December at the earliest. It happened at the satellite preparation facility in Kourou, French Guiana. The operation was run by Arianespace. Webb's launch vehicle adapter was being prepared for connection by scientists. This is a system designed to connect the observatory with Ariane 5's upper stage. In contrast to Hubble's more traditional design, Webb's primary mirror measures 21 feet across, and the sunshade needed to keep it cool was designed t

A Haptic GLOVE Prototype That Uses Air Pockets to Let You Feel Objects in VR

Meta, the company behind the future of VR, has released a prototype of a tactile glove that uses airbags to allow users to feel objects in virtual reality as part of their transformation into the "metaverse" The prototype glove contains a small, ridged, bulging pad called an actuator They move as if they are touching a virtual object Consumers wear the gloves in the "metaverse" and feel the virtual object Reality Labs is developing clothing to help people sense stuff in the metaverse world. Meta's prototype tactile glove uses the principles of soft robotics to quickly inflate small air pockets in the fingers and palm of the glove using pneumatic and electrical actuators. These actuators are essentially small motors that create a sense of pressure, or tactile sensation.  The idea here is that if Meta can put thousands of actuators in a tactile glove and combine that sensation with visual input from a VR headset or augmented reality glasses to project a digital im

Here's How Viruses Can Help Us Fight Superbugs

In the face of antibiotic resistance, other options are being sought to attack bacteria. Why is phage therapy not used? Viruses generally don't have a good reputation. So you might be surprised to learn that there are viruses that can help fight infections caused by pathogenic bacteria. Perhaps you''d be more surprised to learn that this is not a new idea, but is more than a century old. Using viruses to treat bacterial infections is a therapy that emerged before antibiotics became popular. But just as these remedies became cheap and common, the idea of fighting viruses against bacteria fell into oblivion. However, the problem posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also called superbugs , has led to serious consideration being given again to treatment with viruses for certain infections. However, not just any type of virus can be used for this purpose: only bacteriophages . What is phage therapy and why might it be an alternative to antibiotics? The history of bacteriophag

Energy Alternatives That Could Save the Planet

To prevent the effects of climate change from escalating, we must move away from fossil fuels. Climate change is a reality that threatens our future as a species. It is the result of our use of fossil fuels over the past centuries. Burning coal or oil derivatives to produce energy has caused many changes that have shaped our society today, but it has also changed the climate of the planet. This is because we have increased the amount of certain gases that help keep the Earth's atmosphere warm. One of these, carbon dioxide, is produced when fossil fuels are burned. Although some of the consequences of climate change are already irreversible, we can still try to prevent its effects from becoming greater and more devastating. To do this, the world's governments must commit to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, for which it is inevitable that we must move away from fossil fuels. But since we will continue to need energy, how can we obtain it? Hydrogen Hydrogen, unlike gases such as