New details on their plans for optical fiber production on orbit.
The Urey Variation
Thoughts from Derek Lowe on the abundance of pre-cursors for life in the solar system (and probably universe).
How Bad Was Barack Obama?
A long rant from a “progressive.”
Two Eras
California Rocket Taxes
If this is true, it’s good news for Kodiak. Dave Masten seems to think it’s overblown, though.
Trump’s Knowledge
George Will says he doesn’t even know what knowledge is:
As president-elect, Trump did not know the pedigree and importance of the “one China” policy. About such things he can be, if he is willing to be, tutored. It is, however, too late to rectify this defect: He lacks what T. S. Eliot called a sense “not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence.” His fathomless lack of interest in America’s path to the present and his limitless gullibility leave him susceptible to being blown about by gusts of factoids that cling like lint to a disorderly mind.
The problem is that he thinks he has “a very good brain.” This is Dunning-Krugerish.
But I’m still relieved that she lost.
Robots
Microrobots. That can team up to pull a car.
Vector Space Systems
Congratulations on a successful test fight in Mojave today. That’s pretty good progress for a year-old company. There’s going to be a shakeout in this market, but they seem to be real.
[Mid-afternoon update]
If this isn't the coolest damned angle for a rocket shot then I don't know what is. @vectorspacesys Vector-R B0.1 first launch today #space pic.twitter.com/rd3Tt33JH4
— Jim Cantrell (@jamesncantrell) May 3, 2017
I like how the shadow stays in the frame as the rocket disappears from it.
[Thursday-morning update]
Eric Berger has the story.
Calorie Counting
It’s junk science, and these menu rules based on it are insane, and probably impossible to follow.
In related news, studies showing the dangers of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils were apparently buried for a long time.
An Artificial Kidney
Available within two years? If so, this will save a lot of lives, and perhaps end the need for waiting for donors (which, unlike other organs, could be solved by simply letting the market work).