On The Home Stretch To Jupiter, NASA’s Juno Probe Has Made History, Becoming The Most Distant Solar-powered

Studies show that people decide if you’re trustworthy, adventurous, successful, smart, extroverted, or likeable within 3 seconds of meeting you. Source

Why the Brain Makes Mistakes

A study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University investigated the brain’s neural activity during learned behavior and found that the brain makes mistakes because it applies incorrect inner beliefs, or internal models, about how the world works. The research suggests that when the brain makes a mistake, it actually thinks that it is making the correct decision—its neural signals are consistent with its inner beliefs, but not with what is happening in the real world.

The research is in eLife. (full access paywall)

Weird New State Of Matter Discovered In Most Unlikely Place

“The discovery of the odd arrangement — previously seen only in liquid helium, densely packed granules, and other non-biological systems — is more than a scientific curiosity, according to the statement. It could help lead to the development of optical circuits, light detectors, and other devices that transmit light with the efficiency of a crystal and the flexibility of a liquid.”

This time in 2009, a bat hitched a ride on the space shuttle Discovery

Never forget the Batstronaut.

On 15 March 2009, when the space shuttle Discovery was about to launch into orbit, a wounded bat grabbed ahold of its fuel tank to become an officially recognised stowaway, despite safeguards that are supposed to keep such things from happening. He was a bat pioneer hell-bent on glory, or so we choose to believe.

So what exactly happened here? The story started on a mild Sunday evening at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, as crew members began prepping to launch the STS-119 mission. As the crew made their rounds checking for icy buildup on theDiscovery fuel tanks and whatnot, they were shocked to find a small free tail bat clinging to the tank’s foam insulation.

“Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the centre said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist,” NASA explained. Unfortunately, it did not appear to be wearing a tiny spacesuit at the time.

NASA’s FireSat system will be able to detect wildfires from space

Flying Through an Aurora, another astounding image captured by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

Prototype Robotic Lunar Lander, Testing at Marshall Space Flight Center

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/388176main_0901812_full.jpg

Via his very first tweet, Jeff Bezos announced that his spaceflight company has accomplished a historic first. It sent a rocket to the edge of space and then landed that rocket’s main fuselage gently on dry land.

Most things humans have sent into space are pushed up there by a disposable rocket. Once the rockets do their job, they fall back to earth, usually worse for wear. They have to be rebuilt each time (though sometimes their parts can be reused). That’s an expensive process, especially if you are a private company hoping to bring tourists to space. Virgin Atlantic, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin all want to do just that. 

And now Blue Origin has paved the way, landing its rocket on its second attempt (the propulsion module was destroyed when they first tried). Here’s the video in full:

Elon Musk responded to the news on Twitter. He pointed out that it requires much greater speed to actually reach orbit than it does to reach the edge of space. (Phil Plait has some good analysis of the exchange over on his Bad Astronomy blog.)

Still, it’s a pretty amazing accomplishment. 

Say ‘Hello’ to the Remote Controlled Gun-Wielding, Rocket Launching Vehicle

Measuring the Life of a Human: What Events Will We Miss?

When compared to the life of the universe, the life of a human only lasts the span of a single blink. So, what won’t we get to see?

Find out at: http://futurism.com/videos/measuring-life-human-events-will-miss/