NASA wants to send a submarine to Saturn's moon Titan
Washington (UPI) Feb 16, 2015 -
The seas of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, are no place for astronauts. The frigid bodies of liquified natural gas are a study in inhabitability. But scientists suggest its possible some strange forms of life exist under the of icy surface of Kraken Mare, Titan's largest sea.
To learn more about this unique world - and to probe Titan's liquid environs for signs of life - engineers at N ...
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Japan's Robear: Strength of a robot, face of a bear
Tokyo (AFP) Feb 24, 2015 -
Forget the frightening androids of dystopian sci-fi, the future of robots is cute polar bears that can lift elderly people into and out of bed.
The "Robear" has a cub-like face with big doey eyes, but packs enough power to transfer frail patients from a wheelchair to a bed or a bath, Japan's Riken institute said Tuesday.
"The polar cub-like look is aimed at radiating an atmosphere of str ...
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Rise of the Machines: video gamers beware
Paris (AFP) Feb 25, 2015 -
Researchers unveiled a software system Wednesday which had taught itself to play 49 different video games and proceeded to defeat human professionals - a major step in the fast-developing Artificial Intelligence realm.
Not only did the system give flesh-and-blood gamers a run for their money, it discovered tricks its own programmers didn't even know existed, a team from Google-owned researc ...
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Cholera epidemic kills 41 in Mozambique
Maputo (AFP) March 2, 2015 -
The death toll from a cholera epidemic in Mozambique that broke out after widespread flooding has risen by almost 50 percent in two weeks to 41, health officials said Monday.
And the number of new cholera infections has more than doubled over the past fortnight.
Ministry of Health spokesman Quinhas Fernandes said "4,518 cases of cholera and 41 deaths have been recorded since December 25, ...
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3-D Views of February Snow Storms from GPM
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 03, 2015 -
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory captured a 3-D image of a winter storm on Feb. 17, 2015, that left 6 to 12 inches of snow over much of Kentucky, southwestern West Virginia and northwestern North Carolina.
The shades of blue indicate rates of snowfall, with more intense snowfall shown in darker blue. Intense rainfall is shown in red. The imagery shows great varia ...
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Africa, From a CATS Point of View
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 03, 2015 -
From Saharan dust storms to icy clouds to smoke on the opposite side of the continent, the first image from NASA's newest cloud- and aerosol-measuring instrument provides a profile of the atmosphere above Africa.
The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System instrument (CATS), was launched Jan. 10 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, and was installed on the International Space Station on Jan. 22. From ...
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New NASA Soil Moisture Mapper Completes Key Milestone
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 03, 2015 -
Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, today sent commands to unfurl the massive 20-foot-wide (6-meter) reflector antenna on NASA's new Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, launched Jan. 31.
The deployment of the mesh reflector antenna, which supports the collection of SMAP's radar and radiometer instrument measurements in space, marks ...
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