M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

Japan launches world’s first wooden satellite

November 12, 2024
MThomas

Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3qzd5ql9o

The researchers argue that “if” trees could be planted on Mars…

OK, just stop right there. I’m pretty sure Mars will struggle to support even grass, let alone trees.

And the argument that, due to a lack of oxygen, flammable wooden structures in space would not be in danger strikes me as a bit ludicrous…surely there would be oxygen inside the wooden structures?

And, you know, I do think I’ve seen this before some where…nah…

Lots of catching up to do!

November 12, 2024
MThomas

Hey, everyone. It’s been a while since I posted anything. Things just got way too busy.

I hope you look forward to a bunch of articles about space!

FB is a piece of festering algorithmic garbage

October 8, 2024
MThomas

Yesterday, I wrote a (what I thought was a) rather benign post about Earth’s new “mini-moon,” a tiny asteroid that will orbit us for about two months.

Within hours, Faceturd flagged it as “spam.” It was blocked from my FB page because it “tried to get likes” and etc.

First off…so what? Is’t the point of FB to get “likes”? Nobody sees the post otherwise, right?

Second…it was about a mini-moon! All of three people on WordPress saw this! I seriously doubt this went viral. How does sharing a blog post constitute a “violation of community standards”?

And then it occurred to me….FB is merely trying to corner the market.

It is a monopoly. Pure and simple.

They’re terrified that the recent veto by the Gov of Cali on their control of the internet will not actual stem the anger against their control.

And so they assert it.

FB must go. It must be destroyed. It must be regulated, divided, monitored, and controlled as a utility by the government.

This is censorship, pure and simple. Zuckerberg et al are trying to control who writes what, who posts what, who spreads information about what.

Pure and simple

%&$#% YOU FACEBOOK!

I write what I want. This is not rocket science.

Then again, only an anti-scientific company would understand this.

That’s no mo…why, yes, it is…

October 7, 2024
MThomas

The scientists hope to learn about the asteroid’s surface composition and how fast it rotates, he said. Those observations could help researchers figure out its origin, which in turn could shed light on other asteroids, including ones that could be dangerous to Earth.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mini-moon-asteroid-to-orbit-earth-temporarily-rcna172264

This is of course not the first “mini-moon” to have been discovered. These are wandering asteroids that get trapped briefly by Earth’s gravity well before being flung back into space.

Read the article for more information about the “school-bus sized” 2024PT5!

Interstellar! If only…

September 26, 2024
MThomas

According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a62175728/interstellar-travel-wormholes

First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.

Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.

OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”

Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!

Continue Reading

Chinese scientists “create” water from lunar soil

September 4, 2024
MThomas

Using the new method, one metric tonne of lunar soil will be able to produce about 51 to 76 kilograms of water, equivalent to more than a hundred 500-millileter bottles of water, or the daily drinking water consumption of 50 people, the state broadcaster said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/chinese-scientists-use-lunar-soil-produce-water-rcna167951

The soil was from the 2020 expedition, which was the first in 44 years to bring back soil from the Moon.

Considering all of NASA’s problems, it looks like China will have a moon base years before the US does…and probably in prime resource locations as well.

And don’t forget that the hydrogen in the soil can also be used for rocket fuel. It would be a lot easier to launch ships to Mars and beyond without having to deal with Earth’s gravity…

“The fungus among us”: biohybrid machines and mushrooms

September 3, 2024
MThomas

Researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with a mushroom.

Cornell explained in a press release that these four-legged “biohybrid” robots were built by researchers who literally grew mycelia, the belowground connective threads that allow fungal communities to communicate, into the robot itself.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/mushroom-robot-brain

This is a little freaky…

Believe it or not, there actually is some science behind Star Trek: Discovery’s “spore drive.” This robot is just one small step…

Psyche! There are no “mycelial network” in space, and the drive would only work if we could somehow find a fifth spatial dimension (this was discussed a few years ago).

Too bad the spore drive is “laughably ridiculous,” said one scientist, and if all Star Trek ships had one, over half its episodes wouldn’t have happened.

Oh well. At least a “sporebot” is possible.

Hmm.

Wow, so realistic! Uh, waitaminute here…

September 2, 2024
MThomas

Footage making the rounds on social media shows what appear to be astonishingly lifelike humanoid robots posing at the World Robot Conference in Beijing last week.

But instead of showing off the latest and greatest in humanoid robotics, two of the “robots” turned out to be human women cosplaying as futuristic gynoids, presumably hired by animatronics company Ex-Robots.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-company-humanoid-robots-humans

Apparently some people were convinced these women were actually robots.

For real? This just seems like another crass, sexist attempt at titillating fanboys.

Sorry for the long absence…

September 2, 2024
MThomas

Haven’t posted anything in about five or six weeks. Sorry!

I was going to initially post something about the Boeing crew that got stranded on the ISS, but NASA kept delaying their decision to use SpaceX. It was a given that they’d have no choice.

Boeing, quite obviously, cannot be trusted to spend millions of taxpayer’s dollars and make a proper spacecraft.

Anyway, I’ll start posting something more interesting soon.

In the meantime, here’s a Star Trek TOS selfie by Catwoman. I mean Lee Meriwether. (S3:14, That Which Survives)

Time to see the Perseid Meteor shower! ☄️

July 18, 2024
MThomas

The Perseids get their name because the shooting stars appear to stream from a point in the sky where the constellation of Perseus is located…The constellation rises in the northeast, but meteors should be visible all over the sky if conditions are clear.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/perseid-meteor-shower-begins-see-shooting-stars-rcna161911

The best time to watch is after midnight in the northern hemisphere. The meteors are actually debris leftover from the Swift-Tuttle comet, discovered in the early 1860s.

The annual celestial event started this past Sunday and lasts for about two months, but the peak this year is around August 12th.

Perseus looks like this:

See https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/perseus-constellation/ for more information about this group of constellations as well as the famous Greek myth behind them…

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