Four astronauts are back on earth after carrying out the longest stay on the International Space Station by a U.S.-crewed spacecraft.
The quartet — one from the European Space Agency, two from NASA and one from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — returned to Earth on Nov. 8 aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida. After splashing down, the capsule was hoisted onto the deck of the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship.
The mission by NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 was the longest spaceflight by a U.S.-crewed spacecraft at 199 days in orbit aboard the space station, beating the previous record of 168 days by the SpaceX Crew-1 operation earlier in 2021. (The longest stay in space by an individual was recorded by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 days on the Mir Space Station in 1994–95. For the U.S., the record holder for the longest stay in a single mission is Scott Kelly, at 340 days.)
The SpaceX Crew-2 mission was carried out by NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
NASA is “happy to have Shane, Megan, Aki, and Thomas safely back on Earth after another successful, record-setting long-duration mission to the International Space Station,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Congratulations to the teams at NASA and SpaceX who worked so hard to ensure their successful splashdown.”
NASA’s SpaceX being pulled from the water after splashing down in a landing zone in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast. (NASA/Zenger)A member of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 exiting the capsule that returned four astronauts from a record-setting stay aboard the International Space Station. (NASA/Zenger)
This mission by the SpaceX Crew-2 marks the third time the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft has transported a crew rotation of astronauts to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which NASA said has proven effective at providing safe transport to the space station for experts to carry out important science work and maintenance.
“Crew-2 astronauts contributed to a host of science and maintenance activities, scientific investigations, and technology demonstrations,” including four spacewalks, NASA said. “They also studied how gaseous flames behave in microgravity, grew hatch green chiles in the station’s Plant Habitat Facility, installed free-flying robotic assistants, and even donned virtual reality goggles to test new methods of exercising in space, among many other scientific activities.”
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, left, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide, right, inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 8. (NASA, Aubrey Gemignani/Zenger)
The team headed to space on April 23 atop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. During their time in space, the team traveled 84,653,119 statute miles during their mission, stayed 198 days on the space station, and completed 3,194 orbits around Earth.
The Crew-2 splashdown happened days ahead of the launch of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission, which scheduled for Nov. 10 and expected to last six months.
“The next NASA and SpaceX crew rotation mission is Crew-4, currently targeted for launch in April 2022. Crew-3 astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth shortly after welcoming their Crew-4 colleagues to the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said.
A 5-year-old boy born without a left hand is now able to play catch thanks to a 3D-printed fully functional prosthetic that enables him to firmly grip objects.
Rice e-Nable, part of the global e-Nable community of “digital humanitarians” who use 3D printers to produce low-cost prosthetic limbs for children and adults in need, partnered with Dr. William Pederson from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston to help Adriel Rivas.
The Rice e-Nable chapter was launched by Arinze Appio-Riley, who is studying kinesiology at Rice University, and his sister Chinwe Appio-Riley, a Rice alumna.
They asked Rice University lecturer Deirdre Hunter in 2020 for help with the project and to be their faculty mentor.
Pederson, who specializes in hand reconstruction, hand trauma, brachial plexus repair and lower limb reconstruction, then sent Hunter a mold of Adriel’s arm.
A major advantage of 3D-printed limbs is that they are quick to make and relatively cheap, Hunter said.
“As a child grows, you’ll have to change the size and dimensions of these prosthetics,” she said. “And children can be really rough on them.”
Arinze Appio-Riley said he wanted to make the prosthetic as comfortable as possible because, regardless of how well it works, if it’s uncomfortable, Adriel won’t wear it.
Rice University student Arinze Appio-Riley and Adriel Rivas have a lot to smile about as the boy’s 3D-printed hand allows him to play just as other boys his age do. (Brandon Martin, Rice University/Zenger)
Appio-Riley explained that the 3D-printed hand has a flexible wrist, and the tensioner strings, connected to Adriel’s fingers, allow him to grip objects.
“The amount of fit and tension you can get just by this simple design is pretty nice,” Appio-Riley said. “It can pick up a lot of heavier things than you’d imagine: a cup, maybe a newspaper, or a baseball, something our client is looking forward to.”
The Rice e-Nable team met repeatedly with Adriel and adjusted the design of the arm until it was comfortable and effective, enabling him to pick up such objects.
Rice University students teamed with a Texas Children’s Hospital doctor to help a 5-year-old boy take hold of his future. Adriel Rivas, who was born without a left hand, now has a 3D-printed prosthetic that allows him to grip objects. (Rice University/Zenger)
Appio-Riley said the project was born out of compassion, an important characteristic of the mission of Rice e-Nable, which has several more projects lined up.
“This is a compassionate project, and Rice students are really looking for that,” he said.
Hunter said that as children often cannot endure long waiting periods, it will operate year-round to produce prosthetic limbs that fundamentally improve their quality of life.
“There are approximately 40,000 e-Nable volunteers in over 100 countries who have delivered free hands and arms to an estimated 10,000-15,000 recipients through collaboration and open-source design to help those in underserved communities who have little to no access to medical care,” the organization says on its website.
It’s a clever tagline but, in the case of Israeli ag-tech startup SupPlant, it may literally be true.
SupPlant attaches sensors to crops to monitor their needs: Are they thirsty? Too hot? Too cold? How is climate change affecting their productivity?
By correlating data from the sensors with third-party weather predictions — will there be a heatwave this weekend? A freak morning frost? — SupPlant can provide highly accurate instructions for farmers striving to maximize yields.
But it’s the next generation that SupPlant is most excited about, already in the pipeline: a sensor-less approach that taps into SupPlant’s database of 31 crops in 14 countries to provide predictions at a cost of just $1 a month per farmer.
SupPlant’s sensor-less product is intended for the nearly 80 percent of farmers worldwide who grow crops on less than two hectares of land.
That comes out to 450 million “smallholder” farmers, many of them women, concentrated in the developing world — Africa, Asia and South America — who are mostly ignored by more expensive smart farming solutions.
All in the family
SupPlant’s founders have a long pedigree with the land. President and founder Zohar Ben Ner has 33 years of experience with irrigation and growing crops. His family arrived in Israel in the 1920s and his father, Avner, was a farmer. His son Ori is SupPlant’s CEO.
Zohar Ben Ner was in South Korea in 1996 while heading up Israeli drip irrigation pioneer Netafim’s Seoul office. One day, a Russian professor came in holding a box filled with sensors and cables.
“I’m coming from the USSR,” the professor told Ben Ner. “No one believes in my technology, but I think I have something amazing here.”
That technology became the basis of SupPlant’s sensors. Ben Ner was so enthusiastic that he left Netafim and SupPlant was born.
A passion for agriculture
SupPlant’s sensors can measure soil humidity, the size of a plant’s trunk and fruit, the temperature of the leaf, and more.
“We know when a plant gets into a stress condition,” SupPlant’s API Product Manager Itai Langer said.
Langer previously held executive positions at Microsoft and IBM. “I was turning 50. And I felt that something was missing. I decided, I have to chase my dreams. I wanted to make an impact.”
Langer says he has a passion for agriculture. “I love the smell of the ground, seeing the fruits, feeling the leaves. It opens up channels that are indescribable. I couldn’t do something like that sitting in my cozy office.”
When a plant gets stressed, it starts to shut down. It stops photosynthesizing, stops growing, and may drop its fruit on the ground.
Corn growing in a field irrigated with SupPlant technology. (Courtesy of SupPlant)
By installing sensors on the plants, SupPlant creates what Langer calls “autonomous farms.” The sensor data tells the irrigation systems how much water to deliver and when.
“Everyone knows the quantity of water is important,” Langer says. “But we also found that the timing of irrigation is crucial. The textbooks say, ‘Trees do not consume water at night.’ But they do! We learned that from the sensor data.”
Mitigating effects of climate change
SupPlant has a major role to play as climate change ravages farms and economies.
“The difference between an amazing growing season and a disastrous one is about four to five extreme weather events,” Langer notes.
“We have about 15,000 sensors deployed across the world. Next year it should be 50,000 and we’re aiming for a total of 150,000. All this data flows into our cloud database every half an hour. Our database can react faster than the climate itself!”
SupPlant’s extreme weather alert system is based on existing satellite data. “We can tell a farmer that there will be a heatwave in three days, and here’s our recommendation for how to deal with it,” Langer explains.
Take avocados as an example.
Avocados demand a lot of water. By using SupPlant, farmers can differentiate between when the tree needs tons of water and when all that’s required is wetting the soil. That saves the farmer money (and ultimately makes for tastier guacamole).
Irrigating palms in the UAE
SupPlant took a similar approach in the United Arab Emirates, where the company’s experts taught farmers how to irrigate their palm trees with 50 percent less water. (Zohar Ben Ner is managing the company’s work in the Emirates now.)
Sometimes, water is simply not available.
“In India, farmers will visit their plots every seven to 10 days but may not have water to irrigate. So, we say, ‘We’ll give you the critical timing in advance for when to water your crop in the next seven days to prevent damage and maximize growth,’” Langer says.
SupPlant has amassed 2.3 billion data points about various types of plants. That’s enough to make some super-smart predictions.
And that’s how we get to SupPlant’s new sensor-less push.
In places like India and Africa, smallholder farmers don’t have the resources to install sensors across their fields. But SupPlant knows enough about the crops being grown from the data it’s drawn from sensors elsewhere that all it needs to do is match that historical data with weather reports to make its recommendations.
A dollar a month may sound like a small amount, but for a subsistence farmer in Africa, it’s unaffordable and too often out of the question. Also, some farmers do not have a cell phone to track the alerts.
PlantVillage
That’s why SupPlant partnered with PlantVillage, a non-profit group affiliated with Penn State University that helps smallholder farmers worldwide.
PlantVillage has relationships with 500 women growing maize (corn) in Kenya. It supplies free phones to community leaders, who walk around notifying fellow farmers what to do prevent stress to their crops.
SupPlant aims to reach some two million smallholder farmers across Africa and India this way.
Although the total market is huge – 450 million farmers times $12 a year is nothing to scoff at –SupPlant isn’t giving up its work with big farms.
“We offer them a whole different kind of service,” Langer said. “We have dedicated agronomists who work with them, a control center that monitors their crops 24/7. They can call the switchboard and ask questions. It’s a very different SLA [service level agreement].”
SupPlant’s API Product Manager Itai Langer. (Courtesy of SupPlant)
When we spoke to Langer, he was preparing for a trip to Kenya to install sensors on a new variety of tomato that is not currently in SupPlant’s database.
“We’re installing sensors at our own cost, in order to get the data to help all the tomato growers in Kenya,” he says.
SupPlant is doing the same in India, where it’s making 30 farms “autonomous” in order to collect data on the cassava, an exotic fruit currently not in the company’s database.
Extreme weather
Langer’s job at SupPlant is all about the sensor-less approach. “By 2023, and maybe even sooner, my part of the business will be the biggest part of the company,” he says.
The timing is right: This past year saw extreme weather events worldwide: drought, fires, Antarctic temperatures usually found only in Europe during the height of summer.
“Smallholder farmers base what they do on what their parents did,” Langer explains. “But the rain spells are growing longer these days and a drop of rain is stronger now –crops aren’t used to that. One might not normally think of irrigating during the monsoon season, but you may need to, based on the data.”
It is this forward, data-driven approach that sets SupPlant apart from its competitors.
“Most of the other companies look at how much water evaporated from the ground in the past,” Langer says. “We don’t look into the past. We look into our database to see what plants like this will need in the future.”
In addition to PlantVillage, SupPlant is working with the largest telecom provider in India to build an app to deliver crop data. There’s another partner in Paraguay.
The 17-person Afula-based company has customers in South Africa, Poland and China, plus a few in Europe.
SupPlant has raised $22 million, including $10 million last June from Mivtach Shamir, Boresight Capital and Smart-Agro. The investments have paid off: During 2020, revenue for SupPlant grew by 1,200 percent.
Smart-Agro reports that, in the next 40 years, farmers will have to grow as much food as they have in the last 10,000 years combined.
As for the company’s name, it’s a mashup of “plant” (duh) and “sup” which means to gulp, consume or irrigate. Although there’s another intention.
This Israeli startup intends to supplant (that is, to replace) current ways of managing agriculture. If that can help grow more food at lower prices and keep smallholder farmers in business, Langer will have made the most of trading in his title in the C-suite for a life managing avocados, corn and newfangled Kenyan tomatoes.
NASA scientists have provided the most accurate picture to date of tiny, super-fast dust particles that damage spacecraft and impede space missions.
A team of scientists, led by David Malaspina of the University of Colorado Boulder, used electromagnetic and optical observations from the Parker Solar Probe, which is on a mission to observe the outer corona of the sun.
Orbiting at about 400,000 miles per hour, the probe is the fastest object ever built, and it endures collisions with grains of dust shed by asteroids and comets. It will eventually come as close as 4.3 million miles from the sun’s center.
“With these measurements, we can watch the plasma created by these dust impacts be swept away by the flow of the solar wind,” Malaspina said. The process the researchers used, albeit on a smaller scale, may lead to a better understanding of how the plasma in the upper atmospheres of Mars and Venus is swept away by solar wind.
The probe hurtles through the densest area of the pancake-shaped zodiacal cloud, which is composed of dust and extends throughout the solar system. Thousands of dust particles 2 to 20 microns in size strike the probe at hyper-velocity (at least 6,700 mph). When dust strikes the probe, the particles and the spacecraft surface are heated and vaporized. The material then ionizes, which means atoms are separated into their constituent ions and electrons, producing matter called plasma.
Measurements of electric fields, magnetic fields and camera images reveal the plasma explosions and clouds of debris created when very high-velocity dust impacts the Parker Solar Probe. By watching the dispersal of these small plasma and debris clouds, scientists can learn about how larger clouds of dust and debris are blown away from stars. (NASA)
The rapid vaporization and ionization of dust yields a plasma explosion that lasts less than one-thousandth of a second, while the biggest impacts produce clouds of debris that slowly expand away from the probe.
The researchers used antennas and magnetic field sensors to measure disturbances to the electromagnetic environment surrounding the probe. They studied how the plasma explosions interacted with the solar wind, or the stream of ions and electrons that the sun constantly generates.
The flakes of metal and paint knocked off the probe by dust collisions drifted and tumbled nearby, showing up as streaks on the images recorded by the Parker Solar Probe’s cameras.
“Many image streaks look radial, originating near the heat shield,” which protects the probe from the sun’s intense heat, the study said. Some debris reflected sunlight into the spacecraft’s navigation cameras, temporarily hampering the probe’s orientation. The danger to the probe is that it relies on the precise pointing of the heat shield to survive.
A high-tech police drone took mere seconds to find a vulnerable missing woman lying unconscious at the edge of a dark field in England on Nov. 4.
“A traditional search could have taken hours, but our drone was able to find her within seconds of taking off with its thermal imaging camera,” said Nottinghamshire Police. “The technology allows us to search very large areas in very short space of time and can be deployed very quickly when needed.
“This was a great bit of work by all the officers involved and further proof of the potentially life-saving impact of drone technology.”
Police said the woman, whose name was not disclosed, was reported as missing from her home and was believed to be in the area of Belvoir Castle on the Leicestershire border.
“Concerns were raised for her welfare, and officers from Nottinghamshire Police’s drones team were called in to help with the search,” police said.
“The force’s main drone took off shortly before 11:40 p.m. and within seconds its high-tech thermal imaging camera had identified the woman at the edge of a field. Officers on the ground were immediately dispatched to help her. She was later treated by paramedics but was not seriously hurt.”
The drone footage shows the moment the woman is detected at the edge of the field on the dark, rainy night, apparently lying motionless on the ground.
Within seconds, two police officers are seen running to the woman’s location and assisting her.
Police used a drone with thermal imaging capabilities to locate a vulnerable missing woman near Leicestershire in England. (Nottinghamshire Police/Zenger)
Police Constable Vince Saunders, Nottinghamshire Police’s chief drone pilot, said: “Finding vulnerable missing people is an area in which our drone technology really excels. … Officers were faced with the challenge of finding a cold, missing and potentially very poorly woman in total darkness.
“The technology allows us to search very large areas in very short space of time and can be deployed very quickly when needed,” he said. “This was a great bit of work by all the officers involved and further proof of the potentially life-saving impact of drone technology.”
Nottinghamshire Police said the drones team, made up of 17 volunteer pilots and four drones, is a resource shared with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and is on hand 24/7 to carry out pre-planned and emergency response operations.
Typical operations include finding missing people, evidence gathering and supporting the arrest of criminal suspects.
In addition to thermal imaging, the drone used in the field rescue is able to pinpoint and track targets on a map and boasts a laser range-finder that offers accurate geo-location information up to 3,937 feet away, police said.
The Nottinghamshire Police said that U.K. police forces have been using a range of methods for gaining aerial views over events or people since the 1920s, including fixed-wing airplanes and airships.
“This was a great bit of work by all the officers involved,” Saunders said, “and further proof of the potentially life-saving impact of drone technology.”
The Walt Disney Company released the new “sneak peek” of Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” on Oct. 27, fueling the audience’s anticipation for the film.
Spectators look forward to its release for many reasons. Some wish to relive the nostalgia of the 1961 movie, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise.
Most lead roles were not left to Latinos in the 1960s film. For some, Spielberg’s “West Side Story” provides the opportunity to pay off this debt.
For others, Spielberg’s “West Side Story” will be the “full circle” moment for the revered actress Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Anita in the 1961 version. Moreno has a pivotal role in the new movie while taking on a new position as one of the executive producers.
Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for the role of Anita in the 1961 film, also stars in the remake, besides taking on a new role as one of the executive producers. (EPK.TV)
The film stars Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort. Ziegler will make her feature film debut in the role of Maria while Elgort will play Tony.
The cast of several hundred actors and dancers includes Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Josh Andrés Rivera, Corey Stoll, and Brian d’Arcy James. Choreography is by Justin Peck.
Born to a Colombian mother, Ziegler is a singer and songwriter raised in New Jersey. She was among the 30,000 persons auditioning for the role and managed to land it. Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is quite a leap for Zegler, who first played Maria’s role in a Performing Arts School presentation at Bergen Performing Arts Center.
“West Side Story” is one of the most beloved musical romantic dramas. Spielberg is also co-producer, and Tony Kushner, its writer, is one of the executive producers.
The film went into development in 2014, at 20th Century Fox. Kushner began writing the screenplay by 2017. Spielberg came on board in 2018, and casting began late that year. The filming started in July 2019, with the shoot taking place in New York and New Jersey. The production stopped running during the COVID-19 lockdown, pushing back the release to Dec. 10.
Justina Machado takes a dramatic step forward in her career with the Lifetime movie “Switched Before Birth.” Machado is best known for her comedic roles as Penelope Alvarez on the Netflix and CBS sitcom “One Day at a Time” and Darci Factor in The CW’s “Jane the Virgin.”
Now, Machado is portraying Anna Ramirez, a woman who wishes to become a mother but struggles to conceive. Directed by Elizabeth Rohm, the film premiered on Oct. 23.
“Switched Before Birth” follows Olivia Crawford (Skyler Samuels) and her husband Brian (Bo Yokely), who stretch themselves to financial limits after multiple failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) trials and miscarriages. While going through her latest round of IVF, Olivia meets and becomes friends with Anna Ramirez (Machado), who is struggling to have a child after years of focusing on her successful restaurants.
“I really don’t have a formula for this,” Machado said in a joint interview with her friend and the film’s director, Elizabeth Rohm. “I’m always looking at the character. And I really could relate to what she had to offer. Anna Ramirez loved everything that was going on in her life. The only thing she couldn’t deal with was what she couldn’t have. We all know what that feels like.”
When Olivia and Anna become pregnant, they both celebrate and prepare for their babies’ arrival. But Anna suffers a devastating miscarriage and struggles to move forward, while her marriage to restaurateur Gabe Ramirez (Yancey Arias) crumbles.
When Olivia and Brian finally welcome their twins, Olivia feels her life is complete. But the couple’s world is turned upside down when they discover one of the babies is biologically Anna and Gabe’s child, who had been implanted into Olivia by mistake. Pitted against each other, Olivia will do anything to keep the baby she delivered, while Anna will stop at nothing to bring her son home.
“Justina just kills it as Anna,” said Rohm. “People don’t know how we have our miracle babies. … I think this movie will do a lot to help people understand what is possible in this modern age.”
“This powerhouse was also the director. I’ve acted with her,” said Machado pointing to her friend. “Elizabeth is a talented lady. As for me, I just dig into the script. It is so much fun to be able to be this character and truly show what she is going through.”
The actor and director might work together on another project. Rohm hinted that she and Machado may team up again to reboot the 1980s police drama “Cagney & Lacey.”
Scientists have now described the long-studied “teapot effect” in detail as the complex interplay of forces in the flow of a liquid that, when poured too slowly from a teapot, dribbles down the outside of it and not into the waiting cup.
The phenomenon, which has long stumped scientists, was first described by Markus Reiner in 1956. He became an important pioneer of rheology, the science of flow behavior.
“Although this is a very common and seemingly simple effect, it is remarkably difficult to explain it exactly within the framework of fluid mechanics,” said Bernhard Scheichl of Vienna Technological University and lead author of a paper published recently in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
“We have now succeeded for the first time in providing a complete theoretical explanation of why this drop forms and why the underside of the edge always remains wetted,” Scheichl said.
Researchers poured water from an inclined teapot at different flow rates while recording with high-speed cameras. This allowed them to learn exactly how the wetting of the edge below a critical pouring rate leads to the “teapot effect,” and confirmed their theory.
The sharp edge on the underside of the teapot beak is the most important part of the equation. When a drop forms, the area directly below the edge always remains wet. The size of the drop depends on the speed of the liquid flowing from the teapot. If it is slower than a critical threshold, the drop directs the entire flow around the edge and dribbles down the outside of the teapot.
A drop of tea on the lip of the spout will divert the whole flow down the side of the teapot if poured too slowly. (Paul Rogers – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The interplay of inertia, viscous and capillary forces are complicated. Inertia ensures that the fluid maintains its initial direction. Capillary forces slow the fluid at the beak, while the interaction of inertia and capillary forces is at the root of the teapot effect. The capillary forces are essential to the teapot effect because they permit it only at a very specific contact angle between the wall and the liquid surface. The smaller this angle is or the more wettable, or hydrophilic, the teapot is, the more the liquid is slowed down.
While gravity determines the direction of flow from the teapot, its strength is not decisive in the teapot effect. Therefore, the teapot effect may also occur while drinking tea on the moon, but not in a space station where there is no gravity.
French researchers had previously pointed out that one way to avoid dribbling is to make the lip of the spout as thin as possible. They also said the teapot effect might be eliminated for good by using a thin, sharp-ended spout and coating the lip with a super-hydrophobic, or water-repellant, material.
Work on the teapot effect was awarded the satirical “IG Nobel Prize” in 1999.
The natural beauty in Alabama like Oak Mountain State Park's Peavine Falls should be viewed as an economic development asset, according to a new report. (Scott Dover)
