The Science & Technology thread

[rumborak]

I figured it would be cool to have a thread where people post news and articles on scientific and technological progress. Hopefully we can actually learn something along the way.
Examples could be the Dragon docking at the ISS, or the factoid I picked up the other day that the reason for a lot of people's overbite is that our jaws underdevelop in the presence of cooked and processed food.

Post. Discuss.

rumborak

[orcus116]

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/space-drink-slows-aging-process-article-1.1085479

Not as cool as some stuff, but it amazes me the number of thing NASA has developed for space/space flight that have use in our domestic life.

[Sigz]

But, you know, the space program is just a bunch of scientists blowing our money on bringing back moon rocks and doing all that useless science stuff.

[Adami]

Bout damn time we had a thread for science and the like.

I guess this is the perfect place to ask a very scientific, monumental and profound question.






















So magnets................how do they work?

[Nick]

Cool thread idea, following.

[rumborak]

So magnets................how do they work?

As part of my EE masters I actually learned more about magnets than I ever cared for. Even though, watching Bloch walls shift under the microscope was kinda cool.

rumborak

[rumborak]

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/space-drink-slows-aging-process-article-1.1085479

Not as cool as some stuff, but it amazes me the number of thing NASA has developed for space/space flight that have use in our domestic life.

Very cool, even though I see a second Tempurpedic come on from that one . NASA better cash in some money for selling the rights of the substance to some manufacturer. They could dearly need the money.

BTW, what's everybody's view on space exploration? I've always been on the fence; it's kinda cool to do, but I can't help thinking that the scientific return-of-investment is rather low. It's not as if we could ever go significantly beyond our own solar system. And exploring yet another facet of Io or Mars is, hmm, interesting but not sure worth all that money.

rumborak

[Adami]

Figured this would be good here. Also sums up my hopes for space exploration.

https://why.knovel.com/all-engineering-news/1596-should-the-government-spend-1-trillion-to-make-a-real-life-starship-enterprise-one-engineer-says-yes.html

[rumborak]

BTW, the website is https://www.buildtheenterprise.org, not https://www.buildtheenterprise.com as mentioned in the article.

I like the rotating wheel inside the Enterprise to generate gravity. Even though I think it would take away some of the awesomeness if there was no real "bridge", only sections that are forward at time.

Also awesome: That Youtube video about the rotating wheel has the best suggestions ever, for example this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Iwt84dopM&feature=youtu.be
God knows how much time he spent on building a physical demonstration of his lack of math skills.

rumborak

[ddtonfire]

Very cool, even though I see a second Tempurpedic come on from that one . NASA better cash in some money for selling the rights of the substance to some manufacturer. They could dearly need the money.

BTW, what's everybody's view on space exploration? I've always been on the fence; it's kinda cool to do, but I can't help thinking that the scientific return-of-investment is rather low. It's not as if we could ever go significantly beyond our own solar system. And exploring yet another facet of Io or Mars is, hmm, interesting but not sure worth all that money.

rumborak

This reminds me of an XKCD comic:

The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.

I actually had the outstanding pleasure of meeting Gene Cernan a few weeks ago. What a stand-up guy - he took the time to ask me a few questions.

[cramx3]

I like science and tech stuff. Ill be staying tuned.

[jasc15]

I work for a company who makes components for launch vehicles and satellites, including Spacex's Dragon capsule.  I'm pretty excited by the success of last week's launch, but they are a loooong way from man rated vehicles.  They have sidestepped a lot of the required specifications, hence their "low cost" model.  Most of the cost of space travel is paper (i.e. specifications), not hardware, with folks zipping across the country meeting with contractors reviewing all the paperwork for each nut and bolt about to be launched.  NASA seems to have invested a lot in Spacex, so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Driverless Cars Are Already Here

I find it interesting as he said about not really trusting autonomous cars yet we trust people to pay attention to us everytime we cross a road for example despite tiredness, cellphones, alcohol and all the distractions people can have in cars.

[Phoenix87x]

On the verge of Nuclear Fusion

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/us-fusion-reaction-generates-more-energy-than-absorbe/

If then can get this working, it could be quite a game changer

[lonestar]

On the verge of Nuclear Fusion

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/us-fusion-reaction-generates-more-energy-than-absorbe/

If then can get this working, it could be quite a game changer

Very cool, and basically in my backyard. LLNL is like ten miles from where I live. Hope things don't go all Roland Emmerich on them, otherwise I'd definitely be in the blast zone