Settling Mars could offer humans a second chance. — In a paper published October 10 in Nature, researchers guided by data from NASA’s Curiosity rover confirmed that an ancient saltwater lake existed on the surface of Mars, some 3.5 billion years ago. This roughly overlaps with the time when multicellular life first began to evolve on Earth. Scientists are…

Humanity’s destiny awaits beyond Earth, and the foundation for the move into space must be built by our generation. — Using the newest data from the European Space Agency’s GAIA spacecraft, the ESA created the above map of our galaxy that pinpoints the brightness and positions of nearly 1.7 billion stars. Our Milky Way is roughly 100,000 light years across. To cross our galaxy end-to-end would take 100K years moving…

Actions at the smallest scale accelerate us into a promising future. — In the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at the Ames Research Center in Moffet Field located in Silicon Valley, the dilution refrigerator pictured above cools a Vesuvius (TM) processor to just above absolute zero, a temperature over 100x colder than the space between stars. The Vesuvius (TM) is the 512-cubit quantum…

‘Dead’ gadgets can pave the way to a better future — As consumers, we crave the new, the better, the improved. When it comes to new products, we have a number of ways to let their creators know what we think of them: snail-mailing their company HQ (gone the way of the dodo bird), posting on Twitter or Facebook, emailing customer…

Some unique lifeforms on our planet give us a glimpse into what may be possible on other worlds. — Octopus genes are more advanced than any other order of animals on Earth. One of the groups of genes that they exhibit codes for the development of their amazing distributed nervous system. On top of this, octopods possess regenerative and camouflage capabilities, and are among the smartest animals on the…

An interview with Elena Milova of the Life Extension Advocacy Foundation — Interest in prolonging human life goes back to the very beginnings of history. In legends and folklore, people have projected their curiosity and imagination regarding human lifespans onto a vast array of mythical characters, from figures like Methuselah to gods and their spawn, such as Odin and Thor. These tales…

How we respond to meeting life from another planet could determine the fate of humanity — 2:27 P.M. — Tomorrow — Here… You are about to run out on a break to grab an afternoon coffee. Your day has been hectic so far, and you still have a few hours to go. You’re going to need a serious caffeine boost to keep from strangling someone. Just as you are leaving, your phone…

The longevity of our canine friends is the heart of this new book. — Health and wellness is a booming industry, supported by most consumers in one way or another. The newest part of this economy is a tide of products and research coming out of longevity technology. Many people take their investments in these areas very seriously. …

The best way to get into orbit might just be taking its cue from the Jack and the Beanstalk fable. — Our future in space depends upon many factors: our continued ability to pay for research, development, and missions; discovering new and innovative ways to reach orbit that are more efficient; and ensuring educational opportunities in STEM subjects to foster the upcoming generations of space and rocket scientists to name just…