More Interesting News There are some things I found out about I have to talk about today. If one really pays attention, they can find out all sorts of things they didn’t and I am no exception even though I have been around a long time. Take the asteroid Bennu for example. Probably only about ten percent of the population would have even heard about it. NASA sent a probe to explore it called OSIRIS-Rex and it took some remarkable photos. Bennu has a diameter of approximately 1,614 feet which is very small in the scheme of things so what the probe found is remarkable. There is a jet of material coming out of it and going into space. How can such a small object have anything active. Could the jet have been formed by some sort of alien activity inside Bennu? There is a tall tower like structure on the surface which was also unexpected. It looks natural but is certainly out of place. If you were a Viking and wanted to raid or war against a neighbor you would have had a big problem. It would have been the quality of your iron. The Vikings had very soft iron which meant the swords and spears they created were sub-standard. You wouldn’t have wanted to take them into a battle against others who had a steel sword. Here is the incredible thing, some religious Vikings decided they could fight better if they infused the bones of their ancestors and bones of strong animals into the iron. They were right, not because of any religious reason, but because unknown to them doing this created a form of low end steel. From that point on, their swords became a lot stronger and probably increased their religious fervor because they believed the gods had helped them. I think by now most people have realized the space authorities of other countries are catching up to us. This is probably why NASA has established a space accelerator program. When I first saw this, I thought it was talking about some sort of new space engine, it isn’t. What NASA is doing is giving startup companies who have a space theme to enter a three month program which would help the Jet Propulsion Laboratory develop new technology to be used in space. It is always good to get new ideas. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, we are still using rockets to get into space. This technology has changed very little, with the biggest change being made by SpaceX when they began to use reusable rockets. For years the military has been working on an exoskeleton suit which would enhance soldiers by increasing their strength, speed and stamina among other things. These types of suits also hold hope for people who are paralyzed by allowing them to function while wearing the suit. The problem is there are several companies working on them. The coolest one I saw had an added benefit for the military because a soldier couod take it off and it would operate as another soldier being controlled by the former wearer. It is now being reported the U.S. Military has put in an order with Sarcos robotics for suits. The military will receive a pre-production, full-body robotic exoskeleton which is named Guardian XO. Previously the same company signed a contract with the U.S. Navy for suits. The navy wants to evaluate them for shipyard operations. I am sorry to say NASA has found something very bad about spaceflight. Many of us have dormant viruses in our bodies. It turns out when you go into space there is a chance these dormant viruses will get reactivated. It turns out some astronauts have had the herpes virus reactivated in their bodies after going into space. This has to make one wonder if it is only the herpes virus which can reactivate or any virus. Now it is up to NASA to find out why this happens and to see what they can do to block this from happening. I have always said there is a lot about space we do not know and one of these things is the effect on the human body which can be different in different areas of space due to different types and strengths of radiation, and more or less gravity and many other factors. We are bound to find more problems with space travel for humans as we get further out into space and for longer durations. I don’t know how many people have notice this headline, but here it is. “Stephen Hawking’s former nurse banned from practicing over care for late physicist.” This refers to being banned in the United Kingdom. It is said she didn’t provide the standards of good, professional care. I find it is hard to believe, one would have thought since Hawking was so popular someone would have notice his care was below par. The charges against her are incredible. They include financial misconduct, dishonesty, not providing the proper care, being uncooperative with regulators and not having the correct qualifications. You may have heard the story about a scientist in China altering the DNA of unborn babies. This type of experimentation is frowned upon in most of the world and it is said the Chinese were not very happy about it when they found it out. Two children were born and now it is being said they will have superhuman brain power. Some experts are saying the children will have enhanced memory and cognition abilities. In a way I hate to see this, because it means some militaries around the world will want to do this to increase the brain power of their soldiers. It is irresistible for the military which will surely see it as some sort of advancement in weapons. If this happens in one country you can be sure others will do it because they will feel threatened. Perhaps this will turn out to advance evolution because sometime some good can come from bad. Some really strange things occur in space. As mere mortals we are baffled by them. There is one thing about us however and it is we are tenacious when it comes to finding out why things happen the way they do and this is why we solve so many problems. There is a star which has been found which scientists are saying explodes once a year. This is kind of hard to imagine. It is believed the star explodes so much because it is affected by a nearby star. They have determined this star is sucking hydrogen from the other star and about once a year that hydrogen explodes.
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