Scott Kelly Is Two Inches Taller After 340 Days In Space

Here’s Why Spider Silk Is One of the Most Incredible Materials on Earth

Spider silk is five times as strong as the same weight of steel, amazingly light, and a great chemical detector. http://futurism.com/videos/heres-spider-silk-one-incredible-materials-earth/

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

The simple discovery that a piece of wire mesh can stop a flame in its tracks saved the lives of thousands of miners.

This demonstration shows how a simple lamp made of gauze could contain the open candle flames that miners used before 1815. With the safety lamp, any potential explosions would stay contained and never escalate to dangerous levels (although mining remained an extremely dangerous occupation).

Watch the whole demo and hear the full story here.

does anyone know of any good science blogs? I want to follow more.

Gearing up for Thanksgiving weekend and desperate for small talk topics that make you sound slightly smarter? We’ve got you covered:

1. Tricks for building a Wi-Fi network that covers your entire house Excellent Wi-Fi coverage in your home may be easier to achieve than you might think—if you’ve got the right router placed in a central position, a Wi-Fi extender if needed, and a little bit of patience. via: BGR

2. The dream life of driverless cars Thanks to 3D scanning, driverless cars can do more than take you from one place to another: They can also produce artistic renditions of their surrounding environments, peculiarities and all. Talk about an IoT dream journal. via: The New York Times

3. Lego’s new digital system and other “toys-to-life” will be huge this holiday season Toys won’t only be played within the realm of a child’s imagination, but in mobile apps that can take physical toys into virtual spaces. via: @quartz

4. The dictionary, emoji, and redefining the word ‘word’ What do rent money, fart jokes, and student loans have in common? They all solicit a reaction that’s encapsulated in Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year: the Face with Tears of Joy emoji. via: @theverge

A lot of people live in fear because they haven’t figured out how you’re going to react when faced with a certain set of circumstances. I’ve come to terms with this by looking deeply into whatever makes me fearful - what are the key elements that get the hairs up on the back of my neck - and then figuring out what I can do about it.

Chris Hadfield (via fyp-science)

Teaming with Bots!

‪NSF-funded‬ Northwestern University roboticist Mike Rubenstein is helping NSF’s Science360 Radio pay homage to the National Robotics Initiative this week. We have his Big Picture Science interview about teeny tiny swarming robots called kilobots: 1.usa.gov/1r5QTz9

Self-assembly enables nature to build complex forms, from multicellular organisms to complex animal structures such as flocks of birds, through the interaction of vast numbers of limited and unreliable individuals. Creating this ability in engineered systems poses challenges in the design of both algorithms and physical systems that can operate at such scales. This work demonstrates programmable self-assembly of complex two-dimensional shapes with a thousand-robot swarm. Photo Credit: Michael Rubenstein, Harvard University

Jeff Williams: Record Breaker

Astronaut becomes U.S. record holder for most cumulative time in space!

The Olympics are over, but Americans are STILL breaking records. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams just broke Scott Kelly’s record of 520 cumulative days spent in space. When Williams returns to Earth on Sept. 5, he will have racked up 534 days in space. To celebrate this amazing achievement, here are some of the best images taken during his four spaceflights.

STS-101 Atlantis:

During May 2000, Williams made his first spacewalk during space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-101 mission. On this 10-day mission, Williams’ first spacewalk lasted nearly seven hours. He is pictured here outside the space station.

Expedition 13:

Williams experienced his first long-duration mission in 2006, when he served as flight engineer for Expedition 13 space station mission. During his time in orbit, he performed two spacewalks, saw the arrival of two space shuttle missions and resumed construction of the orbiting laboratory during his six-month tour. While on one of those spacewalks, Williams took this selfie.

Expedition 21/22:

Williams returned to space for another six-month mission in 2009 as a flight engineer on Expedition 21 and commander of Expedition 22. During that time, he hosted the crews of two space shuttle missions. The U.S.-built Tranquility module and cupola were installed on station. Here is an image of the then newly installed cupola.

Expedition 47/48:

This time around, Williams has been onboard the space station since March 2016, where he served as flight engineer for Expedition 47 and now commands Expedition 48. With over 7,000 retweets on Williams’ photo of an aurora from space, his Twitter followers were clearly impressed with his photography skills.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com 

The world is racing to build a moon base — here’s what it could look like

The European Space Agency just reminded the world that it wants to build a base on the moon by 2030, using 3-D printed parts made from materials found on the lunar surface. But the ESA has some stiff competition.

Amazon Unveils New Prime Air Drones. See It In Action

Amazon gives the world a glimpse of the future today, as they unveiled the Prime Air drone, which promises to deliver packages in under 30 minutes.

The Prime Air prototype, which weighs 24 kg (55 pounds), can carry packages of up to 2.2 kg (5 pounds) and is designed to fly under 152 meters (400 feet). It is also equipped with “sense and avoid” technology, which will allow it to dodge obstacles that it may encounter en route to its point of delivery.

Our video illustrates its features, and it takes you through the step-by-step process of how the unmanned aerial device will operate.

See the video at at: http://futurism.com/links/amazon-unveils-new-prime-air-drones/