Horton Posts Library 2

by Jeff Hortonon Posted on

Blog Post #1101

January 29, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Review of Altered Carbon

Okay—so it has been a while since I did a film review, so it’s time I did another one; well, a made-for Netflix series, anyway.

There have been many films made over the years about the future of life on earth. Since the making of Metropolis nearly a hundred years ago in 1927, Hollywood and film studios all over the world have introduced us to a wide range of amazing possibilities of what the future could hold for humanity.

Films like 2001 A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, The Fifth Element, Wing Commander, The Chronicles of Riddick, Avatar, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets paint a rather incredible future for humanity, a future where a technologically advanced humanity is now exploring and settling the cosmos.

Most such film, however, offer us rather disconcerting, disturbing visions of the future. The Time Machine, Planet of the Apes, Mad Max, Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Logan’s Run, Waterworld, The Matrix, Resident Evil, Zombieland, and so many others, paint a pessimistic, and in some cases downright frightening view of what the world could become.

As some of you might surmise, I tend to prefer the more optimistic outlooks like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets over the Mad Max and Resident Evil, while appreciating, of course, the warnings conveyed by many of the more unsettling films.

Now then, on to Altered Carbon.

==================Warning Beware of Spoilers!=====================

WARNING: Altered Carbon offers a considerable amount of violence and nudity throughout the series, so I wouldn’t recommend you watch it with children present.

Based on a novel by the same name, written by Richard Morgan in 2002, Altered Carbon is set before and around the year 2384, and centers around a man named Takeshi Kovac (I love that name-Japanese first name and Polish last name, I think). Human beings are given Cortical Stacks at birth, which are implanted in the neck near the base of the skull. The stacks, based on the alien technology of “The Elders,” are capable of storing the human consciousness as DHF, Digital Human Freight, which allows people to have their stack transferred to a different body (or “sleeve”) or even a synthetic body. Human beings can also be backed up and restored, and by transferring from one clone body to another over time, people can theoretically live forever. Well, if you’re insanely rich, completely morally bankrupt, and ruthless you can live on as a “Meth,” a term taken from Methuselah who, in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, is recorded as having lived to be 969 years of age.

We first encounter Kovacs, who is born half-Japanese and looks it, after he’s been “sleeved” in the body of a convicted Caucasian policeman, Elias Ryker. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn Kovacs was born on another planet two-hundred years earlier. While still a child, Kovacs’ father kills his mother before threatening to hurt or kill Takeshi’s little sister, Reileen. As punishment, he is offered the chance to escape punishment by leaving his sister and joining the “Protectorate,” a militaristic organization dedicated to protecting citizens across the “settled’ worlds. After running into a grown Reileen, while on a mission to strike at the Yakuza crime syndicate (yes, still round 300 years in the future) for the Protectorate. Tak chooses his sister over the Protectorate, just as Rei chooses Tak over the Yakuza, killing everyone present from both groups.

Now hunted by both organizations the pair encounter the “Envoys,” a para-militaristic group dedicated to bringing an end to the use of cortical stacks, something that ironically enough, had been created by the leader of the Envoys, Quellcrist Falconer herself, centuries earlier. After joining with the Envoys, Tak and Rei learn how to live as mercenaries, the pair are taught and trained by Falconer how to do many remarkable things, making them nearly “super-human” by the time the training is over..

In the year 2384 Kovacs, now in Ryker’s sleeve, is brought back from where his stack had been kept in a prison after his body had been killed in a raid by the Protectorate. He’s brought back and offered a pardon from his crimes in exchange the murder of a very wealthy and powerful Meth, named Laurens Bancroft. Along the way to solving the mystery he lives up to the reputation associated with being an Envoy, at one point enduring unbelievably levels of pain and suffering as he’s tortured in virtual reality by a criminal whose “brother” he killed. He uses his Envoy training and discipline to escape VR and kill his adversary. There’s much more, of course, as along with Kovacs, we learn who his real friends, and enemies, are, as well as who murdered Bancroft.

===================End of spoilers=====================

I suppose there are three primary reasons I’ve watched the entire Altered Carbon series three times now. First, I’m fascinated with everything space-related, particularly the concept of traveling among the stars and settling other worlds, something I’ve written a couple of novels about. Second, the Envoy training appeals to my martial arts experience and training and third, I’m drawn to futuristic stories where humanity’s been able to avoid a civilization-ending apocalypse and has been able to thrive. Altered Carbon doesn’t hold out much hope for the overall, general character of humanity 2384, but at least decent people are still around, and traveling between worlds has become routine.

There is a new season of Altered Carbon coming out on Netflix in a few weeks from the posting of this blog. I’m disappointed that Joel Kinnaman, who played Ryker/Kovacs for most of the series, is being replaced by Anthony Mackie (played Falcon in The Avengers), but I enjoyed the series enough that I’m looking forward to watching it anyway.

So, there you have it, my review of Altered Carbon. It was a great series, and I was intrigued nearly the entire time. Congratulations to Richard Morgan for an amazing story and the fil m actors and crew for a job well done!

Rating: Highly recommended.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1100

January 22, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: We need to Harden our National Infrastructure

NOTE: I’m currently working to get my screenplay adaptation of Cybersp@ce made into a movie while also working to get a literary agent. Bumping my follower-count in Twitter would help with both. Please consider following the link below to follow me on Twitter and encourage anyone you know who might have an interest in my work to do the same!

More than a decade ago now I decided I wanted to take a stab at writing a book. Lying in bed one night trying to fall asleep the idea came to me to write a dystopian novel about a post-apocalyptic world in which civilization has regressed back to something akin to the Middle Ages. I envisioned a world in which all modern technology had vanished, and the world suffered greatly, much as it did following the collapse of the Roman Empire, when vast amounts of accumulated knowledge about medicine, aqueducts, science, and all manner of technology, was lost to most of the western world, following the collapse of government, order, and all remnants of civilization.

But what could possibly cause such a collapse of modern civilization? What would prevent us from simply re-building should catastrophe strike one part of the world or another? After pondering this for some time I eventually arrived a plausible solution; the loss of electricity all over the world. With no way to power the technology that our civilization has become so dependent, surely our civilization would collapse. Now for my storyline, I took it one step further, ensuring electricity could not return.

Although I wrote The Dark Age first, a story set five-hundred years after the collapse of civilization, I decided to hold off having it published until after I could write The Great Collapse, a book chronicling the collapse of civilization, and have it published first. It was while writing The Great Collapse that I came across some startling facts.

When I first began writing The Great Collapse, I had no idea the loss of electricity, even on a national scale, was possible but it is. It seems the danger is very real. There were two truly startling events, which I will share with you here, which really caught my attention.

The first thing I discovered was the existence of the EMP commission, and a report commissioned by Congress in 2008 about the threat of an EMP attack upon the United States. It seems an EMP attack against the national infrastructure of the United States is not only possible, but it has already been considered by our enemies, particularly Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia, as a way of crippling the United States. I’ve read a considerable portion of this report, and it paints a terrifying scenario.

It seems the detonation of a single nuclear warhead in the United States, high in the atmosphere over the Midwest, say over Kansas, would create an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, capable of crippling the nation’s power grid. The EMP Report stated that much of the nation’s infrastructure, especially the power grid and components like the programmable logic controllers, used throughout our infrastructure, use old and obsolete technology. Some of the components are so old that finding replacement parts to replace components destroyed by the EMP would be difficult or even impossible. To make matters worse, finding people who were knowledgeable about how to repair the damaged components would been equally formidable challenge.

The second thing I discovered was just how much damage an EMP could wreak on electronics. After first discovering the existence of EMPs during the Manhattan Project, in the 1960s the United States Air Force sought to learn more about EMPs, so they decided to develop and schedule a test. Designated Operation Starfish Prime, the objective was to detonate a hydrogen bomb high in the atmosphere over the Pacific. The EMP created by the blast was so powerful it knocked out power transformers in Hawaii, which was nearly a thousand miles away.

After learning about the danger posed by EMPs, the United States Military developed shielding capable of protective sensitive electronics from an EMP blast. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union however, such shielding is no longer widely deployed by the military, much less to protect the sensitive electronics deployed throughout the nations power grid, water supply, treatment plants, communications, etc.

What would happen if a single missile, capable of launching a single nuclear warhead, was smuggled over the US-Mexico border, carried to Kansas, and launched straight-up and detonated? Would the US military have time to detect, much less shootdown, a missile launched in such a manner? It is extremely doubtful.

Under President Trump, the US government has apparently kicked-off efforts to upgrade the national infrastructure, though I fear the threat to America and to the world remains very high, at least for the moment

My goal with this post is not to alarm folks or cause panic, but to spur each of you to action, writing your congressional representatives, senators, and even the president, letting the know YOU want this to be a top priority.

So, you can know for a certainty that the threat is real, I’ve made the EMP report available to you here, and information on the Operation Starfish Prime test. I encourage you to read the report and to watch the video for yourselves.

“Just after 11 p.m. Honolulu time on July 9, the 1.45-megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated thirteen minutes after launch. Almost immediately, an electromagnetic pulse knocked out electrical service in Hawaii, nearly 1,000 miles away. Telephone service was disrupted, streetlights were down, and burglar alarms were set off by a pulse that was much larger than scientists expected.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/going-nuclear-over-the-pacific-24428997/

EMP Commission Report

http://www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf

Addressing the Threat

As I was doing research for this blog, I came across the article below.

Trump signs executive order to make America greater than EMPs

“On March 26, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preparing the US to withstand an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. “Human-made or naturally occurring EMPs can affect large geographic areas, disrupting elements critical to the Nation’s security and economic prosperity, and could adversely affect global commerce and stability,” Trump’s order stated. “The Federal Government must foster sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective approaches to improving the Nation’s resilience to the effects of EMPs.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/03/trump-signs-executive-order-to-make-america-resilient-to-emps/

It was encouraging and a great relief to find that President Trump the first United States president I’m aware to not only recognize the problem exists, but to also take action to address it as well. It may not be much, but it’s certainly a good start.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1099

January 15, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: A United Earth

In the film Independence Day, the world comes together as one when an a race of extraterrestrials decides to invade in order to pillage the Earth’s natural resources. In the end, humanity works together to defeat the alien invaders.

In Star Trek a collective humanity forms The Federation of Planets, which invites the sentient beings from a wife variety of star systems to join together to form military and cultural alliances.

In the real world, at least in our present, humanity remains quite divided, seemingly preferring tribalism over unity. We are Americans, Africans, Mexicans, British, French, and Italian, just to name a few. We divide ourselves by ethnicity, by geography, by culture, and of course, by race. There is the white race and the black race, the yellow race, the red race, and of course, the brown race. Why is it that we can’t simply be, the Human Race?

If we can unite in the realm of science-fiction, why is it that we can’t unite as the solitary, sentient species on this planet? What precludes this coming together, what is it that continues to separate us? Do we define ourselves by our differences? Is it somehow threatening to our individuality to try to find common ground with another? Is individuality and uniqueness so important that we place it above everything else, even to the point of jeopardizing our very existence? Just look back to 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis if you believe humanity would never allow itself to come so close to self-annihilation.

Perhaps the examples I gave from science-fiction are just that, examples of fiction, something that doesn’t and perhaps cannot exist. Or can it?

Yes, we have been at war with one another for almost our entire history and, on occasion, we were even at war with ourselves; take, for instance, the Civil American War and the French Revolution, just to name a few.

Yet, there have also been times when humanity, or at least segments of humanity, came together for a common goal. During World War II, for example, a handful of countries came together to form the Axis powers, while many others made up the Allied Forces. Multiple countries, working at times hand-in hand to defeat a common entity. Following World War II world governments scrapped the now-defunct League of Nations and formed something new, the United Nations. And then, more recently, a number of European countries came together to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and later, the European Union.

Of course, some my bring up Brexit, Great Britain’s departure from the European Union, as an example of how such an alliance can fall apart as easily as it is formed. Even the great experiment in Democracy, the United States, had to fight a civil war in order to remain a single country.

Yet, I wonder whether, just perhaps, there are specific reasons why such alliances fail, and whether it could be the specific reasons themselves, and not the concept of a united world, that have caused previous attempts to unify humanity to fail. If we were able to unify humanity under a single government, or collection of governments, is it possible that we could unify the human race, and end so many of the ridiculous, petty squabbles that have for so long divided us?

Now I know there are some who grow fearful when we speak of a one-world government, particularly among Libertarian-minded folks, and Christians who have long associated a one-world government with the Antichrist and the End Times. My response to the fear that accompanies such a response would be this; if we could change Gods plan for the End Times, would we really want to? What if the end is still far in the future, should we not make the most of our situation on Earth while we’re here?

How could we ever hope to form a single, global government with so much opposition?

Well, I believe we have little choice. With humanity developing new and deadlier technologies and weapons daily, how long will I be before we destroy this beautiful planet, or at least the human race, for good?

I would like to believe that we already have a pretty good template in place for the structure of a world government, a template that has over time, proven to be imperfect, yet durable, rugged, and capable of withstanding and weathering terrible and damaging storms. I am referring, of course, to the United States of America.

Hold on now, my friends in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia, I’m not suggesting that the United States absorb the rest of the world. To be honest, I doubt it would be possible to do so. I do, however, believe we could form a global, representative form of government like what we have here, in the United States. I would like to believe we could, at least in theory, be expand the model to include nation-states in the world government just as the United States government is made of united states.

“How could such a thing work?” you might ask. Why would a smaller country like Ireland, Italy, or Israel, want to join a global government where it would be swallowed-up by the larger, more powerful nation-states like America, Russia, and China? Well, we’d simply have to develop a concept similar to the Electoral College, which was put in place by the founding fathers for the same reason we would need to, in order to gain acceptance among those who would join said government. The larger nation-states would have more representatives in the “House” while each nation-state would equal representation within the “Senate”?

Okay, by now you’re hopefully nodding your head, maybe just a little, thinking “Yes, I suppose it might be possible. But why do it in the first place? Don’t we already have the United Nations?”

My response to why do it would consist of one word, “space,” as in “outer space.” Every major nation on the planet has already launched a satellite or missile into space or has plans to. I believe, rather strongly I might add, that we need to resolve our differences as quickly as possible, as the time will come, before we know it, where we will be able to traverse the cosmos. Do we really want to carry our petty, yet extremely dangerous squabbles, our into the vast unknown? It seems to me it would be advantageous and in the self-interest of every nation on earth to join a one-world government, with humanity expanding into the cosmos as one people, one species, the human species.

If done correctly, I propose that such a government could preserve individual liberties and freedom, while also reaping the benefits of a cooperative relationship between human beings all over the planet. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be a great start. I’d like to think that, if done correctly, a United Earth Government would position humanity for its inevitable expansion, among the stars.

Yeah, I

know, it all sounds a little “pie-in-the-sky.” Yeah, maybe it does, but a fella can dream, can’t he?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1098

January 8, 2020

Technical Discussion: The United States Space Force

Star Trek, Star Wars, Space: Above and Beyond, and 2001: A Space Odyssey; these are just a handful of science-fiction films that come to mind when thinking about the establishment of the United States Space Force.

How exciting it is and what a likely boon for space travel to have a United States Space Force. Cudos to President Trump, and the others in his administration, the Pentagon, and elsewhere, who developed this as an idea and saw it through to completion. To them all I say great job, it’s about time.

In case you’re thinking this is a passing fad, I call to your attention that there has been no new branches of the military created since the United States Air Force was established over seventy years ago.

I feel it’s fitting that we, the United States, would be leaders in terms of space travel, and the first to develop such a space force. It is my hope, as I’m sure it is others’ as well, that one day this be a global United Terran Space Force, because I believe it is not only wise but prudent as well to develop such a force.

Oh, I’m not suggesting we develop “the Empire” from Start Wars and go forth conquering the galaxy. I merely believe that it is wise to include a military aspect in our exploration of space. Given our own history, and the competition to service that we see in nature, it would seem to follow that among the many alien civilizations I expect we will eventually run into once we find a way to traverse interstellar space, some alien civilizations would be predatory in nature, and pose a real threat to humanity. Even if we never run into an alien species that proves hostile to us, what of other threats to the earth and mankind, such as coronal mass ejections, large asteroids, or comets. Remember how Levy-Shoemaker slammed into Jupiter What if that had been Earth instead? I tend to believe that the military would be better equipped to deal with such a threat, perhaps in conjunction with NASA.

Okay then, that’s quite enough from me. Now let’s see what we can discern about this new branch of the military.

Mission of the USSF:

“The USSF is a military service that organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. USSF responsibilities include developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our Combatant Commands.”

(Blogger’s Note: Seems a little vague, doesn’t it? I think this is awesome, as it means the sky’s the limit in terms of where it can go. How about developing interstellar travel guys?)

Space Capabilities

“The new, independent U.S. Space Force will maintain and enhance the competitive edge of the Department of Defense (DOD) in space while adapting to new strategic challenges.

Spacelift operations at the East and West Coast launch bases provide services, facilities and range safety control for the conduct of DOD, NASA and commercial space launches. Through the command and control of all DOD satellites, satellite operators provide force-multiplying effects — continuous global coverage, low vulnerability and autonomous operations. Satellites provide essential in-theater secure communications, weather and navigational data for ground, air and fleet operations and threat warning.

“Ground-based and space-based systems monitor ballistic missile launches around the world to guard against a surprise missile attack on North America. A global network of space surveillance sensors provide vital information on the location of satellites and space debris for the nation and the world. Maintaining space superiority is an emerging capability required to protect U.S. space assets from hostile attacks.

From SPD-4: February 19, 2019 Space Policy Directive-4

…Establishment of the United States Space Force

Section 1. Introduction. Space is integral to our way of life, our national security, and modern warfare. Although United States space systems have historically maintained a technological advantage over those of our potential adversaries, those potential adversaries are now advancing their space capabilities and actively developing ways to deny our use of space in a crisis or conflict. It is imperative that the United States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine, and capabilities to deter aggression and protect our interests. Toward that end, the Department of Defense shall take actions under existing authority to marshal its space resources to deter and counter threats in space, and to develop a legislative proposal to establish a United States Space Force as a sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces within the Department of the Air Force. This is an important step toward a future military department for space. Under this proposal, the United States Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and equip military space forces of the United States to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict.

“:The United States Space Force shall be organized, trained, and equipped to meet the following priorities:

  • Protecting the Nation’s interests in space and the peaceful use of space for all responsible actors, consistent with applicable law, including international law;
  • Ensuring unfettered use of space for United States national security purposes, the United States economy, and United States persons, partners, and allies;
  • Deterring aggression and defending the Nation,
  • United States allies, and United States interests from hostile acts in and from space;
  • Ensuring that needed space capabilities are integrated and available to all United States Combatant Commands;
  • Projecting military power in, from, and to space in support of our Nation’s interests; and
  • Developing, maintaining, and improving a community of professionals focused on the national security demands of the space domain.

Sec. 4. Scope. (a) The legislative proposal required by section 3 of this memorandum shall, in addition to the provisions required under section 3 of this memorandum, include provisions that would, if enacted:

  • consolidate existing forces and authorities for military space activities, as appropriate, in order to minimize duplication of effort and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies; and
  • not include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Reconnaissance Office, or other non­ military space organizations or missions of the United States Government.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/

Creation of the Space Force:

[The]Space Force was signed into law Dec. 20, 2019 as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. SpaceForce.mil went live shortly thereafter.

On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947…

The 14th Air Force, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, has been renamed. It will now live long and prosper as Space Operations Command, or SPOC, according to a recent service announcement…

SPOC will assume the majority of the mission previously held by the 14th Air Force, including operational command and control.

Additional responsibilities include “space domain awareness, space electronic warfare, satellite communications, missile warning, nuclear detonation detection, environmental monitoring, military intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), navigation warfare, and positioning, navigation and timing” on behalf of the Space Force (USSF), Space Command (USSPACECOM) and other combatant commands, the release states.

Roughly 16,000 active-duty and civilian personnel who used to make up units within Air Force Space Command are now assigned to the Space Force.

During the NDAA signing ceremony, Trump appointed Gen. Jay Raymond as the first chief of Space Operations. Raymond, who also leads U.S. Space Command, will report to the secretary of the Air Force and sit as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…

https://www.military.com/space-force

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1097

January 1, 2020

Technical Discussion: Eleven Recent Amazing New Discoveries

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11

Discovery Number 1-

Scientists release first close-up photo of a black hole

The science team imaged the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy known as M87. M87 is an elliptical, or round-shaped, galaxy located about 55 million light years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo. It is a monster galaxy, weighing in at over 10x our own Milky Way (no slacker itself!). M87 sits in the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies so we think it got so large by swallowing up other galaxies.

Source: Adler Planetarium Web Page

https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/first-ever-photo-black-hole/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0eyuw9Dj5gIVdIFaBR2tJAalEAAYASAAEgK4DfD_BwE

Discovery Number 2-

Voyager 2 discovers boundary layers at the edge of our Solar System

Previously unknown boundary layers at the far edge of our solar system were discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft after it left our solar system.

The probe beamed back unprecedented data about previously unknown boundary layers at the far edge of our solar system — an area known as the heliopause.

The discovery of these boundary layers suggests there are stages in the transition from our solar bubble to interstellar space that scientists did not know about until now.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 3-

Water Vapor Detected on Earthlike Planet

In September, scientists announced they’d detected water vapor on a potentially habitable planet for the first time. The planet, named K2-18b, is a super-Earth that orbits a red dwarf star 110 light-years away.

K2-18b is the only known exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system, with water, an atmosphere, and a temperature range that could support liquid water on its surface. That makes it our “best candidate for habitability,” one researcher said.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#scientists-also-discovered-a-planet-outside-our-solar-system-that-could-be-our-best-bet-for-finding-alien-life-6

Discovery Number 4-

Scientists detected a black hole devouring a nearby neutron star

In August, astrophysicists detected the aftermath of a collision between a black hole and a neutron star (the super-dense remnant of a dead star).

The catastrophic collision nearly a billion years ago created ripples in space-time, also known as gravitational waves. They passed through Earth this year.

This was the third event scientists observed using gravitational-wave detectors. In 2015, researchers detected waves from the collision of two black holes, and in 2017 they observed two neutron stars merging.

Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1915, but thought they’d be too weak to ever pick up on Earth. New tools have proved otherwise.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#scientists-also-discovered-a-planet-outside-our-solar-system-that-could-be-our-best-bet-for-finding-alien-life-6

Discovery Number 5-

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting at unprecedented rates

In April, a study revealed that the Greenland ice sheet is sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. Two decades ago, the annual average was just 50 billion.

In 2012, Greenland lost more than 400 billion tons of ice.

Antarctica, meanwhile, lost an average of 252 billion tons of ice per year in the last decade. In the 1980s, by comparison, Antarctica lost 40 billion tons of ice annually.

What’s more, parts of Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica are retreating by up to 2,625 feet per year, contributing to 4% of sea-level rise worldwide. A study published in July suggested that Thwaites’ melting is a time bomb that is likely approaching an irreversible point after which the entire glacier could collapse into the ocean. If that happened, global sea levels would rise by more than 1.5 feet.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 6-

Live Giant Squid spotted in the Gulf of Mexico

The giant squid, which inspired the legend of the Kraken monster, has only been caught on video one other time. The creatures almost never leave the icy depths of their habitat, up to 3,300 feet (about 1,000 meters) beneath the waves.

In 2012, scientists from Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science filmed a giant squid in its natural habitat in the Ogasawara archipelago.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 7-

Researchers suggest modern humans originated: modern-day Botswana

An October study suggested that every person alive today descended from a woman who lived in an area of modern-day Botswana south of the Zambezi River about 200,000 years ago. Researchers narrowed in on that area using genetic analysis of DNA that gets passed down the female line.

This finding supports the theory that modern human ancestors migrated out of Africa then populated the world, rather than evolving in different pockets around the globe simultaneously.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 8-

Quantum entanglement on camera for the first time

According to quantum mechanics, two particles can be paired and separated, yet remain intimately and instantly connected across vast distances. One particle will affect the other no matter how far apart they are.

This is “quantum entanglement,” and the strange phenomenon rattled Albert Einstein so much that he died disbelieving it could exist.

“The image we’ve managed to capture is an elegant demonstration of a fundamental property of nature, seen for the very first time in the form of an image,” Paul-Antoine Moreau, a physicist at the University of Glasgow, said in a press release.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 9-

Mind-Bogglingly fast quantum computer created by Google

In October, engineers at Google announced they had created a quantum computer that could perform a computation in just over 3 minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to achieve.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 10-

“Bubble boy” Syndrome Cured

Researchers at St. Jude’s hospital also found a cure for a severe genetic disease called “bubble boy” syndrome.

Babies who are born with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) don’t have disease-fighting immune cells. For them, the outside world is an intensely dangerous place.

XSCID was nicknamed “bubble-boy” disease because of a young boy named David Vetter, who famously lived his entire life in a protective plastic bubble. Vetter died more than 30 years ago at age 12 after a failed treatment.

In April, St. Jude scientists announced that they had successfully cured babies with XSCID using a new experimental gene therapy.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

 

Discovery Number 11-

Natural selection can’t explain this bug’s bizarre horn

Treehoppers (Membracidae) are, in most respects, nothing special. Abundant everywhere but Antarctica, there are about 3,200 species of this cicada (Cicadoidea) and leafhopper (Cicadellidae) relative. Each individual measures between two and twenty millimeters. They live for a few months, during which they feed on sap. They have some social characteristics but no extraordinary capacities distinguishing them from other social insects.

What separates treehoppers is their headgear. Each species has its own model of enlarged and ornate helmet, known to entomologists as a pronotum…

The treehoppers’ helmet is hard to justify from a selectionist standpoint. Schlepping it around adds a considerable energy burden, so it ought to do something important. What might be its useful function? Courtship, the usual suspect when it comes to exaggerated features, is eliminated by the absence of sexual dimorphism. Helmets are equally distributed in both genders; one can distinguish males and females only by their genitalia. Aerodynamics, another possible function, defies common sense. While some helmets are streamlined, others are decidedly not. And, in any case, the extra weight is detrimental to flying. Camouflage is a stronger bet but also problematic. Even in cases where the helmet’s form or colors fit the environment, a helmetless insect with the same colors and an otherwise identical form would be better equipped for hiding, being half the size or smaller.

Source: Popular Science

https://www.popsci.com/natural-selection-doesnt-tell-whole-story/

 

Discovery Number 12-

Students digging into data archive spot mysterious X-ray source

An enigmatic X-ray source revealed as part of a data-mining project for high-school students shows unexplored avenues hidden in the vast archive of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory.

The six students analysed about 200 X-ray sources, looking at their light curve – a graph showing the object’s variability over time – and checking the scientific literature to verify whether they had been studied already.

Eventually, they identified a handful of sources exhibiting interesting properties – a powerful flare, for example – that had not been previously reported by other studies.

“One of the sources stood out as especially intriguing,” says Andrea.

Featuring the shortest flare of all analysed objects, this source appears to be located in the globular cluster NGC 6540 – a dense grouping of stars – and had not been studied before…

“The source identified by the students displays brightness changes like no other known objects, so we started looking more in detail,” says Ruben.

An otherwise low-luminosity source of X-rays, XMM-Newton saw it brighten by up to 50 times its normal level in 2005, and quickly fall again after about five minutes.

Source: European Space Agency

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Students_digging_into_data_archive_spot_mysterious_X-ray_source

 

Discovery Number 13-

Tiny magnetic particles enable new material to bend, twist and grab

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and The Ohio State University has developed a material called magnetic shape memory polymer that uses magnetic fields to transform into a variety of shapes. NSF supported the research through its Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers with an award to Ohio State.

The material is a mixture of two types of magnetic particles: one for inductive heat, and one with strong magnetic attraction and shape-memory polymers to help lock various shape changes into place.

Source: National Science Foundation

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=299742&org=NSF&from=news

Hey, did this discovery remind anyone else of The Batman’s memory-polymer cape which requires an electrical field to make it rigid like a hang glider’s wing, first introduced in the film Batman Begins, which enables him to glide all over Gotham City?

So, there you have it, eleven recent discoveries for your consideration, my intelligent and informed readers. Enjoy!

Note: Please note that the author does not necessarily agree with or support every conclusion included in today’s collection of recent discoveries. I merely include them for your evaluation.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1096

A Confluence of People

Technology, and Events

BY ADMIN ON DECEMBER 18, 2019 IN THE HORTON POST

Author Jeff W. Horton

Blog Post #1096

December 18, 2019

Technology Discussion: A Confluence of People, Technology, and Events

Hello everyone.

I’d like to begin by wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I’ll be taking next week off, of course, so I’ll either re-post a previous blog either before or after Christmas or wait until the following week to post a new one.

So, what do I mean by “A Confluence of People, Technology, and Events?”

To be honest, as I begin writing this week’s blog post I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.

Just think about this; we are at a very unique, pivotal time in human history. Take a moment to consider just a few of the people, technologies, and events that have come together to bring us where we are today.

Great technology leaders, innovators, and businessmen like Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), John Chambers (Cisco), and so many others have transformed the world by offering new and beneficial technologies that have enhanced the way in which we work and play, while placing tremendous computing power in the hands of ordinary men and women all over the world.

Think about how the Internet enables us to communicate directly with one another over what has become a symphony of global, highly integrated, complex computer networks. Real data in real time, instant video meetings with anyone anywhere in the world, means complex problems can be solved at a pace far beyond that of any previous time in human history.

We have instant access to an enormous amount of knowledge, information gathered throughout the entirety of human existence, and everything we and can exchange instantly worldwide.

I don’t know about you, but it “feels” to me as if the rate of technological advancement is increasing exponentially as we move forward in time.

The human genome has been mapped.

Scientists are closing in on substantially improving the quality and the quantity of our time on earth.

Fields of study around quantum mechanics seems to be helping us break through some of the technological barriers erected following Einstein’s monumentally important Special and General theories of Relativity, bringing us, it would seem, to the cusp of a breakthrough approaching Relativity in terms of importance and impact, and in expanding our understanding of how the universe works.

Our understanding of exotic technologies like gravity waves, dark matter and dark energy, wormholes, warping of space and time, and so many others is advancing our understanding of the universe daily. It seems as if only yesterday scientists were scoffing at the notions of a warp drive or ever traveling faster than the speed of light. Some, like Carl Sagan, taught and preached that we’d never meet an alien from another star because there’s no way to travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light. Today, more and more scientists are coming around to the possibility that at some point, it may well be possible.

For some reason society continues thumbing its collective nose at those of us who believe extraterrestrials have been to earth, and that some of that technology has found its way into human hands. To me it seems not only possible, but highly likely that we’ve both been visited by extraterrestrial, sentient beings, and that we’ve laid hands on at least some alien technology, which our scientists would naturally want to get their hands on, probing to learn its secrets. I recall the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech giant once stating that fiber-optic cabling had been designed based on recovered alien tech; no joke.

Then, of course, there’s advances in genetics, and the ability to make human beings more intelligent, stronger, and much more.

Human cloning offers the possibility of cloning induvial organs at some point.

There have been significant advances in computer technology, like the new ability to take advantage of the double-helix in DNA house enormous amounts of data. Then there are quantum computers. One definition I came across stated that, “A quantum computer is a model of how to build a computer. The idea is that quantum computers can use certain phenomena from quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. … The idea of quantum computing is still very new.” Google is one of a number of companies with a quantum computer which makes sense, given that one of the advantages of a quantum computer is its ability to sift through enormous amounts of data.

It is a perfect storm, the perfect environment and time for humanity to experience a paradigm shift in how it sees itself and the rest of the universe. As incredible as it may sound, I believe it’s conceivable that human beings could begin traveling to not only Mars, but also to planets in other star systems within a generation or two. My children or my grandchildren could actually be the first to step foot on a habitable planet in another part of the galaxy. Whether we have access to alien tech or not, we’re rapidly coming to within striking distance of making the necessary breakthroughs that enable us to discover and develop technologies for manipulating spacetime or create wormholes, enabling us to traverse the vast distances between stars.

We can use new, exotic propulsion technologies for creating a warp field or a wormhole so we can travel the galaxy. Scientists can use genetic engineering to make astronauts more resistant to radiation. Engineers can create quantum computers to process and track the massive amount of data needed to navigate outside of our solar system.

As scientists unravel the secrets to aging and improved health throughout our lifetimes, we’ll have more time to live, learn, and grow, better preparing us, perhaps, to grow beyond the confines of our home world.

It is my fervent hope that with an abundance of food, resources, and longevity for all, the competitive pressures that so often drive human beings to desperation will be greatly lessened. For it is profoundly evident that no matter where we go in this vast, incredible universe there is always one thing we will always carry with us, our character.

In the rush to develop new and amazing technologies that enable us to do what was once thought to be impossible, let’s always strive to make advances where it matters the most, in how well we relate to one another, and in how we help and support one another, while remaining strong and vigilant, ready to stand together against adversaries and challenges should they come. We must nurture and develop the more worthy and virtuous qualities of our nature, so that we carry not madness and folly as we go forth into the cosmos, but our humanity, our compassion, and our thirst for knowledge.

 

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

 

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1095, The FTL Prize! & An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

BY ADMIN ON DECEMBER 11, 2019 IN THE HORTON POST

Author Jeff W. Horton

December 11, 2019

Technology Discussion: The FTL Prize! & An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

The FTL Prize!

Many of you may have picked up by now that I believe humanity’s future lies in the stars. In order to reach the stars I believe we will need to travel to other star systems using some sort of Faster Than Light, or FTL technology. Of course, it’s important to point out that FTL is really a misnomer since, according to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity nothing can travel at the speed of light, much less faster than light. No, I believe what everyone means when they use that term is the same as I mean here, technologies that will get us from Point A in the universe to Point B by skirting the laws of physics as we understand them which, if we traveled in a straight line, would take (significantly) faster than light speeds to travel. As you, my informed reader, already know or suspect, I am of course referring to wormholes, bending space-time with warp drive, hyper speed, or whatever you want to call it. As I’ve stated before, I remain firmly convinced that space travel outside of our own star system is simply not practical using anything other than FTL travel, as time dilation would mean your love ones, perhaps even your civilization, would no longer be around by the time you returned to Earth. The exception is, of course, an extinction-level event where there is no coming back.

No, if we want to commute to our day-job in the Alpha Centauri system, or even make a six-month trip there, FTL is the only way to go. It would make traveling our galaxy, perhaps even beyond, an everyday event, just as global travel has become one. It would enable trade, homesteading, industry, and even interstellar vacations a reality.

To this end I propose someone, (not me, I live on a working-man’s salary), offer a $25,000,000 FTL-Prize to the person or group who develops humanity’ first, viable, and practical, FTL technology. In truth, I’d propose even a $50,000,000 prize to such an individual or group. After all, just try to imagine the growth humanity would experience as a species were he to go interstellar!

Now pf course there would need to be some demonstrable measure of the technology. I think something similar to Ansari XPRIZE would work. As I recall, the goal of the XPRIZE was:

“The $10 million Ansari XPRIZE was designed to lower the risk and cost of going to space by incentivizing the creation of a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship that finally made private space travel commercially viable.”

“Teams around the world were challenged to build a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship capable of:

Carrying 3 people

To 100 Km about the Earth’s surface

Twice within 2 weeks”

https://www.xprize.org/prizes/ansari

I firmly believe that if someone, be it XPRIZE, a billionaire, or the United States government funded such an endeavor, perhaps we could turn interstellar travel from science-fiction into science-fact! Just consider how far we’ve come in a hundred years, from the Wright Brothers to the Mercury, Apollo, the Viking landers , Artemis, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Cyberspace, this has all occurred in one-hundred years! If that is possible, why shouldn’t interstellar travel become a reality in our lifetime?

Sentiments in a challenge laid out by a keen visionary in a speech over fifty-seven years ago in regards to travel to the moon is applicable to our goal for interstellar travel in our time:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.”

President John F. Kennedy

Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort

September 12, 1962

If NASA and the American people can achieve in this next decade what NASA and the American people were able to accomplish over a half-century ago, just imagine the implications; they truly boggle the mind! So, let’s get to it America, let’s develop interstellar travel!

An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

I’d like to begin this section by making a clarification. I like to refer to this as The Great Space Race to Mars. It would be more correct, however, to state that it is really a public-private joint effort to establish a human presence on Mars. NASA has been assisting SpaceX and other private companies in their efforts to get to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. There may be some spirited competition to be sure, but this is most certainly a cooperative effort, not a strictly competitive one. I just wanted to make this clarification as I felt that in my zeal to see us move out into the cosmos, I may have slighted NASA somewhat in the past when, in truth, private companies like SpaceX have relied heavily on NASA.

Okay, it’s time now for an update on the Great Space Race to Mars!

SpaceX

“Our aspirational goal is to send our first cargo mission to Mars in 2022. The objectives for the first mission will be to confirm water resources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure. A second mission, with both cargo and crew, is targeted for 2024, with primary objectives of building a propellant depot and preparing for future crew flights. The ships from these initial missions will also serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base, from which we can build a thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.”

https://www.spacex.com/mars`

“Five years seems like a long time to me. The area under the curve of resources over that period of time should enable this time frame to be met, but if not this time frame, I think pretty soon thereafter. But that is our goal, to try to make the 2022 Mars rendezvous. The Earth-Mars synchronization happens roughly every two years, so every two years there is an opportunity to fly to Mars. Then in 2024 we want to try to fly four ships—two cargo and two crew. The goal of the first mission is to find the best source of water, and for the second mission, the goal is to build the propellant plant. We should—particularly with six ships there—have plenty of landed mass to construct the propellant depot, which will consist of a large array of solar panels, and then everything necessary to mine and refine water, draw the CO2 out of the atmosphere, and then create and store deep cryo CH4 and O2.

MARS BASE

“The base starts with one ship, then multiple ships, then we start building out the city and making the city bigger, and even bigger. Over time terraforming Mars and making it really a nice place to be. It is quite a beautiful picture. You know that on Mars, dawn and dusk are blue. The sky is blue at dawn and dusk and red during the day. It’s the opposite of Earth.”

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s presentation at the 68th International Astronautical

Congress on September 28th, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia.

https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/making_life_multiplanetary_transcript_2017.pdf

SpaceX’s Starship MK1

SpaceX’s Mars transportation architecture

NASA

Moon-to-Mars Calendar

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/#artemis

 

Dec. 10, 2019

NASA Assemblers are Putting the Pieces Together for Autonomous In-Space Assembly

“Robots assembling a field of solar arrays on the surface of the Moon may seem like science fiction but it’s a vision a team of robotics researchers at NASA are working toward right now.

Currently, robotic systems are point-designed to be good for specific tasks and require non-recurring engineering costs. Modular robotics is a new paradigm can drastically reduce those costs. The Assemblers project, a recently awarded Early Career Initiative (ECI) proposal led out of NASA’s Langley Research Center, seeks to advance the technology, including hardware and software, that would allow autonomous in-space assembly, a critical technology for future human exploration and being able to live and work further on the Moon and Mars.”

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/nasa-assemblers-are-putting-the-pieces-together-for-autonomous-in-space-assembly

Aft Exit Cones for NASA’s Space Launch System Arrive for Artemis I

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/aft-exit-cones-for-nasa-s-space-launch-system-arrive-for-artemis-i

What is Artemis?

NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. Through the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program, we will use innovative new technologies and systems to explore more of the Moon than ever before. We will collaborate with our commercial and international partners to establish sustainable missions by 2028. And then we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

 

Other Agencies Looking at a Manned Crew to Mars:

The European Space Agency has a long-term goal to send humans but has not yet built a crewed spacecraft. It has sent robotic probes like ExoMars in 2016 and plans to send the next probe in 2020.

Russia plans to send humans in the 2040–2045 timeframe.[129]

 

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

 

 

 

Blog Post #1094

December 4, 2019

Technology Discussion: Scientific Breakthroughs in 2019

Human beings; what an incredible species we are, full of contradictions and bursting with potential. A human being is truly an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. A species with such a tremendous capacity for good and also evil, for violence and destruction and also peace and preservation, resisting change while at the same time embracing it.

Were I a member of a technologically advanced, peaceful alien species looking into events taking place on earth I imagine I would be impressed by our ingenuity and our capacity for growth and learning, I would be touched by our tremendous capacity for love and compassion, and would be terrified by our appetite for violence and destruction, even when it results in our own death. I suppose I might even be moved to do what I could to gently coax humanity toward a positive, peaceful future.

I would likely stand in awe at the level of technological advancement. Just consider that we go from cabins, wooden teeth, horse and wagons, and wooden ships to airplanes, manmade space vehicles leaving orbit, the mapping of the human genome, the development of artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, nuclear fusion, cell phones, the Internet, cloning, and fling cars today. All of this has taken place over the course of two-hundred years, with the vast majority of it taking place over the last seventy-five years.

It is in this spirit, as we approach the end of 2019, that I found a list of some of the scientific breakthroughs/events that occurred in 2019, along with a handful of breakthroughs scientists were looking at during the same timeframe but didn’t necessarily achieve. Be sure to follow the links under each heading to visit the respective websites, where you’ll find detail on each breakthrough.

Enjoy.

18 scientific breakthroughs in 2019

https://www.digit.in/features/sci/18-scientific-breakthroughs-in-2019-48846.html

  1. New Horizons-The New Horizons probe discovers a distant object in the Kuiper Asteroid Belt
  2. Chang’e 4-The Chinese land a probe on the far side of the moon.
  3. IBM Q System One-Quantum computing has arrived.
  4. The Saturnian Day- How long is a day on Saturn?
  5. FRB 180814-The mystery of Fast Radio Bursts
  6. Unknown Human Ancestor-Homo sapiens interbred with a supposedly unknown human being.
  7. Hachimoji DNA Synthetic DNA!
  8. Crystal stars-White dwarf stars.
  9. FarFarOut-The most distant object in our solar system.
  10. Beresheet Probe-The Israeli probe to the moon.
  11. Weighing the Milky Way-I’m not sure why, but scientists have come up with an answer to how much our galaxy weighs!
  12. The day the dinos died- Learning more about the asteroid crash that wiped out dinosaurs.
  13. Imaging a black hole-First photo of a black hole.
  14. Mice with infrared eyes- Right out of science-fiction adding infrared to our vision.
  15. Fungi found land first- New findings and theories about life on earth.
  16. Synthetic Life-Synthetic DNA!
  17. Cold quasars-New discoveries about how galaxies form.
  18. 3D Printing human tissue without scaffolds- Improvements to 3D printing of human tissue.

15 Major Breakthroughs Scientists Are Eyeing in 2019

https://bestlifeonline.com/scientific-breakthroughs-2019/

1-DNA Storage-Using DNA to store data. It’s here, now!

2-A Better Look at Black Holes-The first image of a black hole was captured in 2019.

3-Quantum Computing-China has already made advances in quantum computing.

4-Quantum Internet-A suped-up version of today’s Internet; imagine that!

5-Immunotherapy Advances for Treating Cancer-Progress continues in the fight against cancer.

6-Robot Surgeons-Robotic surgery coupled with artificial intelligence.

7-Blockchain-Based Privacy-Improving Internet security.

8-3D Metal Printing-Imagine that. It’s here!

9-Flying Cars- Available today!

10-Cure for Paralysis-Great strides finding technological solutions for paralysis.

11-Genome Editing Advances-Genetic manipulation is getting better!

12-Brain Mapping-Scientists are learning more than ever about the human brain.

13-Self-Healing Materials-Sounds like science-fiction, but they’re here!

14-AI-Enhanced CCTV- Perhaps George Orwell was onto something here?

15-AI-Enhanced Virtual Care- Imagine doctors treating you without you ever having to leave your home and the doctor his office!

Next Week:

Update on The Great Race to Space!

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1093

November 27, 2019

Freeflow Thinking: About Thanksgiving

Thought I would forego my usual verbosity and instead, provide a few tidbits about the Thanksgiving holiday, some amusing, some speculative, all fun and interesting. Enjoy this feast of anecdotal and propitious trivia about the day we celebrate to give thanks to Almighty God for all we’ve been given.

Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, not the eagle.
  • Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first meal in space after walking on the moon was foil packets with roasted turkey.
  • The first Thanksgiving in the United States was held at Plymouth in 1621.
  • This feast was prompted by a good harvest and celebrated by pilgrims and puritans.
  • The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was celebrated for three days.
  • The 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians (Native Americans) at Plymouth Colony is said to have included waterfowl, venison, ham, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash.
  • Turkey is a uniquely North American (and scrumptious) bird
  • It gradually became America’s main course of choice for the Thanksgiving meal after Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863
  • Another source suggests the first Thanksgiving meal included turkey, fruits and vegetables, fish and shellfish, potatoes, and pumpkin pie.
  • Turkey is high in zinc, B vitamins, phosphorus, tryptophan, selenium and protein. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, provided that you do not eat the skin. It can be a part of a healthy eating plan, especially since it is a good source of protein. … Turkey is loaded with trytophan, a sleep-inducing amino acid.
  • The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day festival did not include the giant balloons and floats that we see today. Instead, the organizers of the first parade in 1924 held it with live animals from the Central Park Zoo. This practice would last for the next three years, until the introduction of a balloon version of Felix the Cat hit the parade, a float sponsored by Goodyear. The first Mickey Mouse float would debut seven years later, and the Snoopy balloon would end up holding the record for most appearances in the parade with six. He’s kind of a big deal.
  • In November 1621, the settlers’ first corn harvest proved so successful that Governor William Bradford invited the Plymouth colonists’ Native American allies to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Members of the Wampanoag tribe came bearing food to share and as they joined the Pilgrims.
  • A Thanksgiving mix-up inspired the first TV dinners. In 1953, a Swanson employee accidentally ordered a colossal shipment of Thanksgiving turkeys (260 tons, to be exact). To get rid of them all, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas, and sweet potatoes to round out the meal. The 98-cents meals were a hit, especially with kids and increasingly busy households.
  • Americans eat 46 million turkeys each Thanksgiving.

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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November 20, 2019

Technology Discussion

The Great and Powerful Oz: Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla. What a man; he was a scientist, inventor, genius, a wizard even. He was also humble, and generous. Unfortunately for Tesla, or perhaps fortunately, who can say, the one thing Nikola Tesla was not was a businessman. Had he lived today no doubt the products he’d create would rival or surpass anything available from any of the world’s most advanced technology companies, as long as he allowed someone else to run the business side while he applied his genius to benefiting humanity.

The man lived almost a hundred years ago yet he invented or imagined technologies and products available only now. Below is a little about Tesla, the inventions he created, and some of his ideas for future inventions that were never realized. He died poor, despite having quite literally changed the world, while creating technologies still in use quite literally, around the world. His is a tale of an incredible genius and while he may have died poor, surely he was wealthy beyond belief for all of the wonderful and life-saving technologies he had given to the world, and to those who live in it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Nikola Tesla.

“Who Was Nikola Tesla?

The information below sourced from Biography.com: https://www.biography.com/inventor/nikola-tesla

Nikola Tesla was an engineer and scientist known for designing the alternating-current (AC) electric system, which is the predominant electrical system used across the world today. He also created the “Tesla coil,” which is still used in radio technology.

Born in modern-day Croatia, Tesla came to the United States in 1884 and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways. He sold several patent rights, including those to his AC machinery, to George Westinghouse.

Early Life

Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia, on July 10, 1856.

Tesla was one of five children, including siblings Dane, Angelina, Milka and Marica. Tesla’s interest in electrical invention was spurred by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up.

Tesla’s father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian orthodox priest and a writer, and he pushed for his son to join the priesthood. But Nikola’s interests lay squarely in the sciences.

Education

After studying at the Realschule, Karlstadt (later renamed the Johann-Rudolph-Glauber Realschule Karlstadt) in Germany; the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria; and the University of Prague during the 1870s, Tesla moved to Budapest, where for a time he worked at the Central Telephone Exchange.

It was while in Budapest that the idea for the induction motor first came to Tesla, but after several years of trying to gain interest in his invention, at age 28 Tesla decided to leave Europe for America.

Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison

In 1884 Tesla arrived in the United States with little more than the clothes on his back and a letter of introduction to famed inventor and business mogul Thomas Edison, whose DC-based electrical works were fast becoming the standard in the country.

Edison hired Tesla, and the two men were soon working tirelessly alongside each other, making improvements to Edison’s inventions.

Several months later, the two parted ways due to a conflicting business-scientific relationship, attributed by historians to their incredibly different personalities: While Edison was a power figure who focused on marketing and financial success, Tesla was commercially out-of-touch and somewhat vulnerable.

First Solo Venture

In 1885, Tesla received funding for the Tesla Electric Light Company and was tasked by his investors to develop improved arc lighting. After successfully doing so, however, Tesla was forced out of the venture and for a time had to work as a manual laborer in order to survive.

His luck would change two years later when he received funding for his new Tesla Electric Company.

Inventions

Throughout his career, Tesla discovered, designed and developed ideas for a number of important inventions — most of which were officially patented by other inventors — including dynamos (electrical generators similar to batteries) and the induction motor.

He was also a pioneer in the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control and the rotating magnetic field — the basis of most AC machinery. Tesla is most well-known for his contributions in AC electricity and for the Tesla coil.

AC Electrical System

Tesla designed the alternating-current (AC) electrical system, which would quickly become the preeminent power system of the 20th century and has remained the worldwide standard ever since. In 1887, Tesla found funding for his new Tesla Electric Company, and by the end of the year, he had successfully filed several patents for AC-based inventions.

Tesla’s AC system soon caught the attention of American engineer and businessman George Westinghouse, who was seeking a solution to supplying the nation with long-distance power. Convinced that Tesla’s inventions would help him achieve this, in 1888 he purchased his patents for $60,000 in cash and stock in the Westinghouse Corporation.

As interest in an AC system grew, Tesla and Westinghouse were put in direct competition with Thomas Edison, who was intent on selling his direct-current (DC) system to the nation. A negative press campaign was soon waged by Edison, in an attempt to undermine interest in AC power.

Unfortunately for Edison, the Westinghouse Corporation was chosen to supply the lighting at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and Tesla conducted demonstrations of his AC system there.

Hydroelectric Power Plant

In 1895, Tesla designed what was among the first AC hydroelectric power plants in the United States, at Niagara Falls.

The following year, it was used to power the city of Buffalo, New York — a feat that was highly publicized throughout the world and helped further AC electricity’s path to becoming the world’s power system.

Tesla Coil

In the late 19th century, Tesla patented the Tesla coil, which laid the foundation for wireless technologies and is still used in radio technology today. The heart of an electrical circuit, the Tesla coil is an inductor used in many early radio transmission antennas.

The coil works with a capacitor to resonate current and voltage from a power source across the circuit. Tesla himself used his coil to study fluorescence, x-rays, radio, wireless power and electromagnetism in the earth and its atmosphere.

Free Energy

Having become obsessed with the wireless transmission of energy, around 1900 Tesla set to work on his boldest project yet: to build a global, wireless communication system — to be transmitted through a large electrical tower — for sharing information and providing free energy throughout the world.

With funding from a group of investors that included financial giant J. P. Morgan, in 1901 Tesla began work on the free energy project in earnest, designing and building a lab with a power plant and a massive transmission tower on a site on Long Island, New York, that became known as Wardenclyffe.

However, doubts arose among his investors about the plausibility of Tesla’s system. As his rival, Guglielmo Marconi — with the financial support of Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison — continued to make great advances with his own radio technologies, Tesla had no choice but to abandon the project.

The Wardenclyffe staff was laid off in 1906, and by 1915 the site had fallen into foreclosure. Two years later Tesla declared bankruptcy and the tower was dismantled and sold for scrap to help pay the debts he had accrued.

Death Ray

After suffering a nervous breakdown following the closure of his free energy project, Tesla eventually returned to work, primarily as a consultant.

But as time went on, his ideas became progressively more outlandish and impractical. He grew increasingly eccentric, devoting much of his time to the care of wild pigeons in the parks of New York City.

Tesla even drew the attention of the FBI with his talk of building a powerful “death ray,” which had received some interest from the Soviet Union during World War II.

How Did Nikola Tesla Die?

Poor and reclusive, Tesla died of coronary thrombosis on January 7, 1943, at the age of 86 in New York City, where he had lived for nearly 60 years.

However, the legacy of the work Tesla left behind him lives on to this day. In 1994, a street sign identifying “Nikola Tesla Corner” was installed near the site of his former New York City laboratory, at the intersection of 40th Street and 6th Avenue.

 

“The 10 Inventions Of Nikola Tesla That Changed The World

The following was sourced from Activistpost.com: https://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/10-inventions-of-nikola-tesla-that.html

  1. Alternating Current

This is where it all began, and what ultimately caused such a stir at the 1893 World’s Expo in Chicago. A war was leveled ever-after between the vision of Edison and the vision of Tesla for how electricity would be produced and distributed. The division can be summarized as one of cost and safety: The DC current that Edison (backed by General Electric) had been working on was costly over long distances, and produced dangerous sparking from the required converter (called a commutator). Regardless, Edison and his backers utilized the general “dangers” of electric current to instill fear in Nikola Tesla’s alternative: Alternating Current. As proof, Edison sometimes electrocuted animals at demonstrations. Consequently, Edison gave the world the electric chair, while simultaneously maligning Tesla’s attempt to offer safety at a lower cost. Tesla responded by demonstrating that AC was perfectly safe by famously shooting current through his own body to produce light. This Edison-Tesla (GE-Westinghouse) feud in 1893 was the culmination of over a decade of shady business deals, stolen ideas, and patent suppression that Edison and his moneyed interests wielded over Tesla’s inventions. Yet, despite it all, it is Tesla’s system that provides power generation and distribution to North America in our modern era.

  1. Light

Of course Nikola Tesla didn’t invent light itself, but he did invent how light can be harnessed and distributed. Tesla developed and used fluorescent bulbs in his lab some 40 years before industry “invented” them. At the World’s Fair, Tesla took glass tubes and bent them into famous scientists’ names, in effect creating the first neon signs. However, it is his Tesla Coil that might be the most impressive, and controversial. The Tesla Coil is certainly something that big industry would have liked to suppress: the concept that the Earth itself is a magnet that can generate electricity (electromagnetism) utilizing frequencies as a transmitter. All that is needed on the other end is the receiver — much like a radio.

  1. X-rays

Electromagnetic and ionizing radiation was heavily researched in the late 1800s, but Nikola Tesla researched the entire gamut. Everything from a precursor to Kirlian photography, which has the ability to document life force, to what we now use in medical diagnostics, this was a transformative invention of which Tesla played a central role…

  1. Radio

Guglielmo Marconi was initially credited, and most believe him to be the inventor of radio to this day. However, the Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s patent in 1943, when it was proven that Tesla invented the radio years previous to Marconi. Radio signals are just another frequency that needs a transmitter and receiver, which Tesla also demonstrated in 1893 during a presentation before The National Electric Light Association. In 1897 Tesla applied for two patents US 645576, and US 649621. In 1904, however, The U.S. Patent Office reversed its decision, awarding Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, possibly influenced by Marconi’s financial backers in the States, who included Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. This also allowed the U.S. government (among others) to avoid having to pay the royalties that were being claimed by Nikola Tesla.

  1. Remote Control

This invention was a natural outcropping of radio. Patent No. 613809 was the first remote controlled model boat, demonstrated in 1898. Utilizing several large batteries; radio signals controlled switches, which then energized the boat’s propeller, rudder, and scaled-down running lights. While this exact technology was not widely used for some time, we now can see the power that was appropriated by the military in its pursuit of remote controlled war. Radio controlled tanks were introduced by the Germans in WWII, and developments in this realm have since slid quickly away from the direction of human freedom.

  1. Electric Motor

Nikola Tesla’s invention of the electric motor has finally been popularized by a car brandishing his name. While the technical specifications are beyond the scope of this summary, suffice to say that Tesla’s invention of a motor with rotating magnetic fields could have freed mankind much sooner from the stranglehold of Big Oil. However, his invention in 1930 succumbed to the economic crisis and the world war that followed. Nevertheless, this invention has fundamentally changed the landscape of what we now take for granted: industrial fans, household appliances, water pumps, machine tools, power tools, disk drives, electric wristwatches and compressors.

  1. Robotics

Nikola Tesla’s overly enhanced scientific mind led him to the idea that all living beings are merely driven by external impulses. He stated: “I have by every thought and act of mine, demonstrated, and does so daily, to my absolute satisfaction that I am an automaton endowed with power of movement, which merely responds to external stimuli.” Thus, the concept of the robot was born. However, an element of the human remained present, as Tesla asserted that these human replicas should have limitations — namely growth and propagation. Nevertheless, Nikola Tesla unabashedly embraced all of what intelligence could produce. His visions for a future filled with intelligent cars, robotic human companions, and the use of sensors, and autonomous systems are detailed in a must-read entry in the Serbian Journal of Electrical Engineering, 2006 (PDF).

  1. Laser

Nikola Tesla’s invention of the laser may be one of the best examples of the good and evil bound up together within the mind of man. Lasers have transformed surgical applications in an undeniably beneficial way, and they have given rise to much of our current digital media. However, with this leap in innovation we have also crossed into the land of science fiction. From Reagan’s “Star Wars” laser defense system to today’s Orwellian “non-lethal” weapons’ arsenal, which includes laser rifles and directed energy “death rays,” there is great potential for development in both directions.

9 and 10. Wireless Communications and Limitless Free Energy

7 Inventions of Nikola Tesla That Were Never Built

The below originated from the Interesting Engineering: https://interestingengineering.com/7-inventions-of-nikola-tesla-that-were-never-built

Wireless Energy TransmissionWadenclyffe Tower-Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

…What a lot of people don’t know is that Tesla also tried to build a tower that would transmit electricity through the air and even got American Financier J.P. Morgan to finance the building of Wardenclyffe Tower on the North Shore of Long Island, which Tesla hoped to adapt to transmit electricity to New York City.

Morgan balked at the electricity transmission scheme and refused to fund the rest of the project, which Tesla had to abandon in 1906, tearing down Wardenclyffe Tower a decade later in 1917.

Supersonic Airships Powered by Ground-Based, Wireless Electrical Towers

Tesla Airships-Source: Frank R. Paul [Public domain] / Wikimedia Commons

When wireless charging of your phone or tablet was introduced several years ago, we all thought it was revolutionary. Nikola Tesla, meanwhile, would chide us all for thinking so small.

In 1919, Tesla described his idea for a supersonic airship powered entirely by wireless electrical transmission from ground-based towers that could fly 40,000 feet off the ground and fly 1,000 mph, making the trip from New York to London in under 4 hours.

Remote Controlled Navies

Tesla Remote Controlled Boat-Source: Public Domain, via Engadget

While Tesla is best known for his work with electricity, this isn’t the only area Tesla worked in. Another major area of work for Tesla was military technology. Like Alfred Nobel, Tesla believed that the best way to prevent war was to make it either utterly pointless or so catastrophic for the participants that no one would be mad enough to go to war again.

With this in mind, Tesla invented a small boat that he could start, stop, and steer with radio signals. He hoped that the by removing humans from the equation that “battle ships [sic] will cease to be built and the most tremendous artillery afloat will be of no more use than so much scrap iron.”

 

The Thought CameraTesla Thought Projector-

Source: Public Domain, via Disclose.tv

One of Tesla’s most outlandish ideas was that it would be possible to photograph one’s thoughts.

In 1933, he told reporters at the Kansas City Journal-Post, “In 1893, while engaged in certain investigations, I became convinced that a definite image formed in thought, must by reflex action, produce a corresponding image on the retina, which might be read by a suitable apparatus.

“Now if it be true that a thought reflects an image on the retina, it is a mere question of illuminating the same property and taking photographs, and then using the ordinary methods which are available to project the image on a screen.

“If this can be done successfully, then the objects imagined by a person would be clearly reflected on the screen as they are formed, and in this way, every thought of the individual could be read. Our minds would then, indeed, be like open books.”

Obviously, this is not how thought processes work, but there is so much we don’t know about the biological mechanism of human thought and consciousness that we cannot say for certain that Tesla wasn’t on to something. While the mechanisms employed are different, who’s to say what technology will be able to produce in the next 50 years?

The Earthquake Machine

Tesla Oscillator-

Source: Charles Henry Cochrane [Public Domain] / Wikimedia Commons

In 1893, Tesla was granted a patent for his steam-powered mechanical oscillator whose vibration could be utilized to generate electricity. As he would later tell reporters, while calibrating this machine for an experiment, it began to shake his New York City laboratory so violently that it almost brought the building down.

“Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine,” he said. “The building would have been down about our ears in another few minutes.”

“Outside in the street there was pandemonium. The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.”

This gave Tesla the inspiration for his telegeodynamic ocillator—an earthquake machine—which could be used by scientists to discover the geological properties of the Earth and for engineers and prospectors to locate mineral and metal ore deposits underground. He never got to build his earthquake machine, but scientists and engineers use the same principle to do exactly as Tesla imagined.

Artificial Tidal Waves

Over the course of his life, Tesla conceived of weapons of such destructive magnitude that they would rival the atom bomb in their devastating power—had they worked.

One such weapon was the Artificial Tidal Wave, which he believed would be the ultimate defense against enemy navies. Tesla’s hope was to make the largest battleship any nation could produce useless, so countries would not bother to build navies. To do this, Tesla envisioned “telautomatons” that would pilot several tons of high-explosive material near an enemy navy and detonate it.

The collapsing gas bubble produced by the explosion, Tesla calculated, should produce tidal waves that even a mile away from the initial blast would be nearly 100 feet high, enough to sweep away the largest dreadnoughts of the era.

Tidal waves don’t quite work that way however, as the United States and Soviet Union learned when they performed underwater nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

The Death Ray

Tesla With His Machines

Source: Wellcome Collection [CC BY], Edited by John Loeffler for Interesting Engineering

Or the Peace Ray, as Tesla called it.

Tesla believed that by accelerating mercury isotopes to 48 times the speed of sound, the resulting beam would produce enough energy to destroy entire armies at a distance limited only by the curvature of the Earth.

Tesla apparently tried to shop this idea around to several governments in the years before his death, including the United States, but the Soviet Union was the only one to experiment with it at all, and it never produced the kind of results Tesla hoped.

Which is probably a good thing, all things considered.

 

$100 GIVEAWAY CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website http://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/the-horton-post-100-00-giveaway. Tell your friends!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

 

Blog Post #1091

November 13, 2019

Technology Discussion: Move over Mars. Future Colonies will Live and Thrive on or Under the Earth’s Oceans.

Domed underwater cities. Great metropolises floating on the surface of the ocean. Could this be what the future holds?

Roughly three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered with water, leaving less than a quarter available for every human being on the planet. As populations continue to explode across our beautiful planet, perhaps it’s time to begin planning a migration to the earth’s oceans for at least some portion of humanity.

As rapid progress is being made toward sending human beings to Mars, towards the eventual colonization of our sister planet Mars, it seems only fitting that we consider colonizing our own planet as well.

While doing research for this blog post, I came across three different approaches to living on or in the ocean. But first, a brief history lesson on the history of undersea habitats.

 

“SEALAB III, launched in 1969, was the U.S. Navy’s last undersea habitat built.

OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); U.S. Navy

“While NASA was working to put a man on the moon, we also started thinking more about the possibility of colonizing on our own planet. It might even be a good test-drive to find out how well we could live on the moon, plus we could test out living in an isolated environment and conduct research experiments.

“The U.S. government has been involved in several underwater habitats. First the U.S. Navy built SEALAB I, an experimental underwater habitat, in 1964 and sunk it 192 feet (58 meters) below sea level. SEALAB II and III followed. Tektite, built by General Electric and funded by NASA, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of the Interior, was another research facility in the late 1960s.

“There were totally private ventures, too. Famous marine explorer Jacques Cousteau built the Conshelf habitats in the mid-1960s (the deepest of which was about 336 feet or 102 meters). It didn’t take long for innovators to think about longer-term living, though. At the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, the Futurama II exhibit presented by General Motors included an undersea hotel. In 1971, a group of British investors created models promoting an entire city underwater, which would have been built in the Black Sea and called Pilkington Sea City.

“There are still underwater research facilities, and a few underwater hotels, but no cities. Why not? One big issue is decompression sickness, or “the bends,” a potentially fatal condition related to the fact that water exerts twice as much pressure on our bodies as air. Maintaining the right atmosphere, as well as the logistics of providing supplies, is complicated and expensive. That’s probably why a night in the Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida (a remodeled underwater research habitat built in the early 1970s) costs upwards of $500 and it’s only about 30 feet below.”

https://home.howstuffworks.com/10-future-home-innovations-that-failed1.htm

So the idea of colonizing the earth’s oceans is not a new one. People have speculated about it, wrote about it, and some have lived it, albeit never more than a few weeks or months at a time.

Advances in technology over the past sixty years since it was first attempted, along with concerns over a growing population, fear over global warming and rising oceans, and a host of other issues have once again ignited not just discussions, but actual progress toward making living on or under the ocean a realty. It seems human colonization of the earth’s oceans has already begun.

So, here are three approaches toward colonizing the world’s oceans that I’ve uncovered in my research. One can happen today, while the other two require some new technological advances.

Approach #1-Build Floating Cities

Located mostly in shallow-waters near land, floating cities would be capable of seemingly endless expansion, and offer a tempting alternative to land-based living, where locations can be found that are safe for locating a floating city. Clearly, such a city would be extraordinarily vulnerable to hurricanes and tsunamis, so they would have to be located in carefully selected locations across the planet.

“The world’s first floating nation designed to ‘liberate humanity from politicians’ will appear in the Pacific Ocean by 2020.

The radical plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, will see a floating nation built in the Pacific Ocean

Hotels, homes, offices and restaurants, and more will be built by 2020 by the nonprofit Seasteading Institute

In January the firm made a deal with French Polynesia to set up an experimental nation off its coast

Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said he wants to see ‘thousands’ of floating cities by 2050…”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077575/The-world-s-floating-city-set-2020-build.html

Approach #2-Build Underwater Cities

Unlike the floating cities, underwater cities can exist in shallow waters and in deep water, which covers the majority of the earth’s surface. There are, of course, a wide variety of obstacles to overcome in order for human beings to not only survive, but thrive, in underwater cities. Below are just a few:

The intense pressures found in deep waters, which can crush a submarine like an aluminum beer can. Anything greater than one atmosphere of pressure can result in serious detrimental affects on the human body over time.

Oxygen. Human beings have lungs, not gills, so air has to be pumped in or generated locally in order to sustain an underwater human colony.

Temperature. Deep water is cold, very cold.

Living in a deep water colony means that a complex balancing-act of oxygen, carbon dioxide, pressure, and temperature means that an underwater colony, like a spaceship, must have a complex and reliable life-support system.

There is one serious effort already underway in Japan, and its name is OCEAN SPIRAL, a Deep Sea Future City Concept. Incredibly, it is believed Ocean Spiral City will be ready for its first 5,000 residents by 2030!

Ocean Spiral City:

“Underwater city costing $26 BILLION to be ready for human residents in 12 years

AN UNDERWATER city costing billions of dollars will be ready for its first human inhabitants in just 12 years, it has been reported.

A deep-sea future city concept: Ocean Spiral

The Ocean Spiral concept for a deep-sea city of the future aims to harness the power of the deep sea in order to renew the earth. Academic advisors from the University of Tokyo have helped on the project plans.

Architects in Tokyo first unveiled their ambitious plan to create Ocean Spiral City in 2014, stating it will be the first self-sufficient city in the world.

Engineering firm Shimizu Corporation said the environmentally-friendly metropolis will use the available ocean resources to run….”

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/underwater-city-ocean-spiral-spacex-16856287

Link to the Shimizu Corporation’s webpage for the Ocean Spiral City:

https://www.shimz.co.jp/en/topics/dream/content01/

It’s incredible to imagine that within twelve years, there will be an underwater city capable of hosting up to five-thousand inhabitants!

Approach #3-A Human Being built to Thrive in the Ocean

Certain to be the most controversial of the three approaches, surely we must consider what will surely one day come to pass, the genetic manipulation of human DNA to enable them to breath in the water, and to withstand the great pressure and cold of the ocean.

In the science-fiction film The Titan, Sam Worthington plays a military family-man who takes part in a ground-breaking experiment of genetic evolution and space exploration, an experiment designed to adapt a human being to be genetically compatible with the atmosphere and environment on Saturn’s moon, Titan.

For the first tie in human history we have the capability to manipulate our own DNA. Is it really so difficult to believe that someone, somewhere on planet earth, in the near future, will modify the human genome to create a human being no longer in need of a pressure suit or submersible while exploring or living in the ocean depths?

Is it so difficult to imagine the creation of a new species of human being, homo-aquatic (remember it was me who first used this term!), who is at home on land or in the ocean depths?

For now, this creature exists only in the imagination, but remember that today’s science-fiction is often tomorrow’s science fact.

In summary, it seems to be a certainty that one day soon human beings will be colonizing the earth’s oceans, opening up a significant amount of real estate for the nation, or nations, bold enough to invest in tomorrow.

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1087

October 16, 2019

Technical Discussion: A Shrinking Earth; Making Interstellar Travel a Reality, Part II-Wormholes

Of all the exotic methods of traversing interstellar space, few seem to have captured our imagination quite like the wormhole. “But what exactly is a wormhole”, you might ask. Although many of you, my discerning readers, already know, or at least have a vague idea of what a wormhole is, have searched for and found what I believe to be a suitable definition.

“Wormholes are a direct consequence of general relativity. A phenomenon known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge is essentially a wormhole that is created due to the immense warping of space time resulting from the effects of a black hole.”

For our purposes, a wormhole is a theoretical means of getting from one point in the universe to another in a relatively short amount of time ((see what I did there-relativity?). Because it provides a means of interstellar travel that essentially bypasses the time-dilation associated with traveling close to the speed of light you could, in theory a least, commute daily to your job in Alpha-Centauri via a wormhole and be back in time for supper!

www.thoughtco.com/wormhole-travel-3072390

Ever watch the sci-fi television series, Stargate? After plugging in the desired destination coordinates, travelers would step through what looked like a puddle of water inside a large metal ring and emerge on another planet in a distant star system. The fictional stargates utilize wormholes to connect a network of stargates scattered throughout the galaxy. Such a means of travel between the stars would, of course, represent the ultimate means for traversing our galaxy.

For now, wormholes are theoretical but tomorrow? And how long will it take for us to develop the ability to not only create and exploit wormholes, but to travel through them to reach our desired destination? Might it take decades, centuries, millennia even, if ever?

I’d like to ask you a question. Do you believe extraterrestrials have visited earth? A 2018 poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov found that 35% of US adults think that aliens have landed on earth. If extrapolated to all Americans, that would equate to somewhere around 100 million Americans believing aliens have landed on earth. It’s not surprising, given the growing body of evidence to suggest that extraterrestrial visitors are very, very real.

The 1947 Roswell crash offers a rather compelling case for aliens having visited earth. To begin with, the United States Army in a press release announced the recovery of a flying disc following Marcel’s visit to and recover of debris from the crash site. For whatever reason the Army issued a second press release later that day (from higher-ups in the chain-of-command) that what had been found was actually a weather balloon, in direct contrast to what Army intelligence officers had initially reported. It seems someone in authority expected the American public to believe that U.S. Army intelligence officers are unable to tell the difference between a weather balloon and an alien spacecraft. If so, where did they find these guys and who put them in charge of Army intelligence if they cannot discern balloons from alien aircraft?

I found the information below, which neatly summaries what I’ve read and heard over the decades about Roswell, and from Marcel himself.

“On or around July 1, 1947, something reportedly crashed in the Corona, New Mexico desert. After word of the wreckage circulated, Major Jesse A. Marcel, an air force intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, and two Counter Intelligence Corps agents surveyed the area. Marcel later claimed to have found an “aluminum foil-thin metal” that was “indestructible in the debris field,” comprising the outer body of the object. Marcel said pieces of metal at the site had “a strange purple writing” on them.

When Jesse Marcel Jr. was eleven, he said that his life took a “strange” and “wondrous” turn late one summer night in the kitchen of his family’s modest home in Roswell, New Mexico. It was there, he said, his father showed the young boy and his mother “the debris from a mysterious crash” that had occurred a few weeks earlier on a ranch approximately seventy-five miles northwest of Roswell.

For the rest of his life, Marcel claimed that his father woke him up in the middle of the night to look at it, telling him it was something he would never see again.

Roswell Army Air Field Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel, sr., 1947.

“Though my father was the senior intelligence officer on a base that was home to the country’s most closely guarded secrets,” wrote Marcel Jr. in his 2007 book The Roswell Legacy, “he was, to his family, a pretty laid-back guy…But on that night, I saw another side of him. It was a mixture of excitement and confusion, suffused with a sense of wonder that one just doesn’t see in many grown men.”

Marcel Jr. professed that his father had spread across the floor materials and objects “clearly like nothing that had been seen on Earth before.”

After the Roswell Daily Record reported that a flying saucer had been recovered on a ranch near Roswell, citing Marcel’s statements as the base intelligence officer, and the eyewitness account of local ranchers, the military issued a statement saying the debris was from a weather balloon. On July 8, 1947, a public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field declared that they had recovered the remains of a “flying disc.” But by the end of the day, Air Force base commanders released a second press release asserting the material in the debris field came from a downed weather balloon. General Ramey Roger told the press it was “just a radar deflector from a weather balloon.”

https://montanapioneer.com/helena-library-connects-montana-to-roswell-mystery/

There can be no doubt that Marcel himself believed what he’d both seen and handled to be the remains of a fling disc, an unidentified object from another world. Marcel even attested to this fact on his deathbed (something which is admissible in courts of law across this great nation.

It’s also clear to me the initial press release sent out by the United States Army was the truth, while the second was a cover-up. I’m not saying the cover-up wasn’t justified in fact, the opposite is likely true. The Cold War, the Soviets, immediately following World War II there were an awful lot of secrecy, and for good reason. Perhaps it’s time to reveal the truth.

Evaluate the expression on Major Jessie Marcel’s face for yourself, after being ordered by his commanding officers to pose for a picture with a weather balloon to lend credence that this was actually found on the New Mexico ranch, not an alien spaceship.

Now you may be wondering what in the world the Roswell crash has to do with wormholes, so here it is. If another, more advanced civilization has indeed been visiting earth, it means one of three things. The aliens reside within our own solar system, the aliens use a less-than-light-speed means to travel between stars, or they have licked the challenge of interstellar travel and have developed a means of bypassing relativity, perhaps by creating or exploiting wormholes. Clearly the last option is the most likely, given that other than earth, most of our solar system is most inhospitable to life. As for less-than-light-speed travel, we must assume that aliens would have no more desire to sacrifice their families than we would.

Keep in mind that black holes were once considered to be merely theoretical, something only indicated by the General Theory of Relativity. Black holes since been confirmed by to exist through indirect observation and more recently, by the world’s first actual photograph of a black hole. Wormholes therefore, which are for now only theoretical but are also indicated by the General Theory of Relativity, may someday also prove to be a reality. The trick will be in learning how to create and manipulate them so we can use them to traverse the galaxy. Human beings are capable of some pretty amazing feats, so just give us time!

Next Week: Part III, Shields-Up! The creation of force-fields.

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A winner will be selected sometime this month (October, 2019) from the list of those who have subscribed to this blog. So be sure to keep checking back on the website for more details!

 

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

 

Blog Post #1086

October 9, 2019

Technical Discussion: A Shrinking Earth; Making Interstellar Travel a Reality, Part I

A shrinking Earth, the exponential increase in population accompanied by a decline in the supply of natural resources, has been a recurring theme of mine, present in several of my novels to varying degrees. While it is imperative that we address these issues, they need not result in panic, and the imposition of some inane form of population control; there’s a better way.

I’ve longed believed that the future of the human race depends not on population control, but on human ingenuity, determination, and technology. While it’s true that our human family continues to grow exponentially, there is no reason whatsoever for panic. In fact, it’s not the time for panic, but planning.

Oh, of course there is still plenty of land available for human beings to live and thrive on across our beautiful blue planet, but it shrinks more and more every day. This is where the human ingenuity, determination, and technology come in, along with some resourcefulness

I believe humanity will soon, out of necessity, begin adapting an otherwise arid, dessert region like Death Valley in the United States into a virtual paradise. Consider the fact that Las Vegas was, in fact, once just dessert. Now it’s one of the most famous cities on earth.

Just try to imagine the Sahara Dessert, the largest dessert on earth, covered with lush green grass and trees, and vast, metropolitan cities. “That’s not possible,” you might say. But you’d be wrong. It was, after all, according to scientists, once covered in a vast body of water called the Tethys Sea, when less of the earth’s fresh water was tied up in ice at the poles. With our help, surely we can, by tapping into vast underground supplies of water, through massive irrigation, and, perhaps, efficient recycling, gradually turn the Sahara Dessert into increasingly habitable land. The Sahara, and places like it, will gradually shrink before disappearing, or being turned into national parks.

It’s also doubtful that, as the number of human beings on earth continues to grow exponentially, the fact that three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered in water, has been lost on scientists, wealthy and savvy innovators, and corporations worldwide, looking to create opportunity and profits. Within the next fifty to a hundred years, expect humanity to begin constructing vast floating cities on the ocean, under the ocean, and perhaps both.

In the 1960s, the iconic ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau publicly advocated the construction of underwater cities, going so far as to create the famous Conshelf series of underwater habitats. The structures allowed for oceanauts to live underwater for days even, weeks at a time. Each of the shelters (Conshelf I, II, III) improved over time, eventually allowing for six oceanauts to live underwater at a full 100 meters below the surface.

I planning a future blog, perhaps even a series, on the prospect of underwater living and the conversion of arid, lifeless areas on earth into thriving ecosystems, ripe for human habitation.

Interstellar Travel

But this blog post series is intended to focus on something even more ambitious, the development of technologies that will enable humanity to settle worlds other than Earth, but to be able to thrive on them as well. While there are many considerations, to be sure, I believe the two most important are these, a means of interstellar transport that side-steps the problem of time dilation identified in Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and the development of a force-field capable of deflecting both matter and energy.

First, let’s focus on interstellar travel.

Some might say that we have already launched two interstellar spacecraft. Well, while technically true perhaps, these spacecrafts would hardly be something we’d want to ride on for our tri to Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us after Sol, our sun. Voyager 1 and II have each left the solar system by crossing the heliopause (the region of space beyond the Sun’s magnetic field where the solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium). That said, even if we were able to shrink ourselves and somehow travel aboard the probes to their next stop, Alpha Centauri, I’d be disinclined to make the trip, seeing how it would take some 40,000 years to get there.

There is a design being batted around scientific circles for a system involving a “solar sail.” “Breakthrough Starshot, an extravagantly bold project announced in 2016 by the late Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. The ultimate aim of the project is to build a mile-wide laser array that could blast a miniature spacecraft to 20 percent the speed of light, allowing it to reach the Alpha Centauri star system (our closest stellar neighbor) in just two decades…”

http://discovermagazine.com/2019/april/new-technologies-could-let-us-explore-beyond-the-solar-system

Pretend for a moment that Starshot worked as advertised, and you set out on your 30th birthday on a journey to Alpha-Centauri. Because you’re brilliant, you make changes to the ship’s engine so it can travel at 99% the speed of light, nearly five-times as fast as Hawking proposed. It would still take nearly 5 years to get to our nearest stellar neighbor and 5 years to get back. Sounds great right? You might be surprised to discover upon your return that everyone you knew had died, including your beautiful young wife and your children, of old age. The General Theory of Relativity has bitten you in your backside for while only ten years have passed for you, 72 years have gone by back on Earth.

The problem, known as time dilation (as many of you discerning readers already know). The faster you travel in your spaceship enroute to another star system; the faster time passes back on Earth. Unless you want to return a generation or more after you left, then traveling close to the speed of light is not an option. Remember, Alpha-Centauri, is our closest neighbor, approximately 4.4 light-years away. Were you needing to travel 20 light-years instead, than 288 years would have passed upon your return.

Clearly, we need to find a means of interstellar travel that does not incur a time-dilation penalty. We must find a way of traversing the cosmos that gets us from one star-system to another without having to cross the vast distance between stars. The answer? Enter the warp drive and the wormhole, two of the most exotic, theoretical means of travel to be sure, but two options that are allowed by the Theory of Relativity.

These alternative means of traversing vast interstellar distances without suffering from time dilation is commonly called FTL, or Faster Than Light space travel. Warp drive and wormholes are two of the leading theoretical contenders for interstellar travel and, believe it or not, scientists are already researching means of generating a warp field or “bubble.”

The Warp Drive

“For FTL travel, the advantages are obvious, and while it remains entirely theoretical at this point, there are concepts being investigated today. A notable FTL concept – known as the Alcubierre Warp Drive – is currently being researched by multiple organizations, which includes the Tau Zero Foundation and the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory: Eagleworks (APPL:E) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.”

https://singularityhub.com/2017/06/18/why-interstellar-travel-will-be-possible-sooner-than-you-think/

To break it down succinctly, this method of space travel involves stretching the fabric of space-time in a wave which would (in theory) cause the space ahead of a ship to contract and the space behind it to expand. The ship would then ride this region, known as a “warp bubble”, through space. Since the ship is not moving within the bubble but is being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation would not apply.

“To put it simply, this method of space travel involves stretching the fabric of space-time in a wave which would (in theory) cause the space ahead of an object to contract while the space behind it would expand. An object inside this wave (i.e. a spaceship) would then be able to ride this region, known as a “warp bubble” of flat space.

This is what is known as the “Alcubierre Metric”. Interpreted in the context of General Relativity, the metric allows a warp bubble to appear in a previously flat region of spacetime and move away, effectively at speeds that exceed the speed of light. The interior of the bubble is the inertial reference frame for any object inhabiting it.

Since the ship is not moving within this bubble, but is being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation would not apply. Hence, the rules of space-time and the laws of relativity would not be violated in the conventional sense.”

https://www.universetoday.com/89074/what-is-the-alcubierre-warp-drive/

Beam me up, Scotty, war factor nine.”

Next Week: Part II, Wormholes

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A winner will be selected sometime this month (October, 2019) from the list of those who have subscribed to this blog. So be sure to keep checking back on the website for more details!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1085

October 2, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: The United States Space Force

A United States Space Force. The first

“Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security.”

–President Donald J. Trump

“On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Defense released more details about the planned force on Aug. 9, 2018, citing plans to create a separate combatant command, U.S. Space Command, in addition to an independent service overseen by a civilian secretary, all by 2020.

The Department of Defense forwarded a Space Force proposal to Congress, on March 1, 2019, calling for a service that would fall under the Air Force in the same way the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy. The proposal also included the designation of a new position: undersecretary of the Air Force for space, a civilian position that would answer to the secretary of the Air Force and oversee U.S. Space Force. Officials estimated the creation of a new service would cost $2 billion over five years, and require 15,000 personnel.”

https://www.military.com/space-force

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force will help ensure the United States is postured to deter aggression and outpace potential adversaries in order to protect and defend our national interests in the face of a changing space environment and growing threats.

Key Points

Fundamentally transform our approach to space

Establish the U.S. Space Force

Maximize warfighting capacity and advocacy for space

Outpace future threats

Defend our vital national interests in space

The Defense Department has forwarded to Congress a proposal to create the U.S. Space Force — the sixth branch of the armed forces, officials at the Pentagon said today.

Space is a vital national interest, and the Defense Department seeks to maintain America’s comparative advantage in this new domain of great power competition, officials said. To that end, they explained, DOD has proposed that the U.S. Space Force initially be established as a new military service within the Department of the Air Force.

In this model, the new military service would have a similar relationship to the Department of the Air Force that the Marine Corps has with the Department of the Navy. A uniformed four-star Space Force chief of staff would be granted full membership in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additionally, the proposal calls for a new undersecretary of the Air Force for space, who would provide dedicated civilian supervision of the USSF, under the direction of the secretary of the Air Force.

Many nations have advanced their space capabilities and are actively looking for ways to deny America’s access to this critical domain. China and Russia have developed anti-satellite capabilities, and other nations — such as North Korea and Iran — are developing assets designed to negate American advantages.

“It is imperative that the United States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine and capabilities to deter aggression and protect our interests,” President Donald J. Trump said in a directive he signed Feb. 19.

If Congress passes the proposal, the U.S. Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and equip military and civilian personnel “to ensure unfettered access to and freedom to operate in space and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict,” the proposal says.

The proposal indicates that stand-up of the U.S. Space Force would be phased over five years – fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024. During this period, the preponderance of space missions, capabilities, and associated personnel residing in the existing military services, including the Air Force, would transfer into the U.S. Space Force, under the direction and final approval of the secretary of defense.

https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/Article/1767808/dod-submits-us-space-force-proposal/

The USSF; the United States Space Force. It sounds surreal, like something out of a science-fiction novel. As necessary as such a force undoubtedly is given how much investment China and the Russian government have poured into their own space programs, part of me can’t help but be saddened that it’s the United States Space Force, and not the Earth Space Force.

Sadly, we seem ill-prepared, as a species, to embrace globalism; at least that’s my assessment. I regret that it isn’t otherwise, I really do. I believe we need to move beyond our petty differences and unite as a species to face the many challenges that will inevitably face us as we begin colonizing other worlds within the solar system.

The problem remains that we just haven’t been able to set aside our differences long enough for such an approach to be successful. It’s been tried before, beginning with the failed League of Nations, its successor the toothless and weak United Nations, and more recently, the European Union. All were well-intentioned, but the structure was never strong enough to support the type of unification needed to truly unite the world under a single form of government.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best path to such globalization would be to either have the nations of the world gradually be absorbed into the United States as individual states, or to create an entirely new governmental structure that is essentially modeled after the United States. Once again each country would essentially become a state, with each “state” having the same level of autonomy as a state in the United States has today. Such an approach would, I believe, result in a long-lasting, single government large enough and strong enough to become self-sustaining.

Would such a government eliminate the conflicts in our world? Doubtful. Consider how different individual states are in America today. But the system of self-government in the United States, as imperfect as it is, works. Such a world government would enable us to spread out and colonize the cosmos as a species, rather than as a collection of “country-states,” with each country pursuing its own and often competitive objectives, as we are doing today.

Just imagine us making first contact when a diplomat from another world suddenly lands on Earth. Where should he land, in what country? Who should he speak to, which leader, the secretary-general of The United Nations? Would the nations of the Earth really be content to let the secretary-general represent them? Ha, very doubtful. I imagine ever leader would jockey t speak with our mysterious guest, each touting why the visitor’s world should do business with his or her country’s government.

Also, as previously discussed in prior blog posts, as humanity begins colonizing the Red Planet, there’s the matter of who decides who can claim land for themselves on Mars? Is it the United Nations, by committee, or is land ownership off-Earth decided with nations with the most powerful weapons? Would the nations of Earth go to war in order to take possession of the best real estate on our closest planetary neighbor? Very possibly, were the real estate valuable enough, like he only land on Mars with water, for example.

Despite the concerns some of my Christian brothers and sisters might have about a “one-world government,” I believe it would be far better to work out our differences before humanity moves-out of its birth home to colonize the universe rather than after. The reality is that the unification of humanity will have to happen as we colonize outer space, not before, and that the conflict between nations will follow us into space, at least for a while.

It is a sad and unfortunate reality that laying down our weapons and singing Kumbaya as the enemy advances upon our cities will only bring us subjugation, suffering, and death. Imagine Great Britain and the United States allowing the Nazis to roll across Europe and then the Americas unchallenged!

Which brings us back to urgent need for the United States Space Force. An increasing number of nations have developed space flight and with it, the ability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles anywhere on earth. Even the world’s largest state sponsor of television, Iran, is on the brink of developing spaceflight, giving them the capability of launching not only satellites and other craft into space, but intercontinental ballistic missiles as well.

The Chinese, flush with wealth over the last thirty years, have invested heavily in space-based technologies and, through espionage, subterfuge, and their own initiative, have quickly come from being a third-world nation to the world’s second-greatest economic and military power. Until recently, they were even on-track to surpass the United States in both, which would have left the world at the mercy of a power-hungry China.

But the advantages of a Space Force go far beyond military benefits. The establishment of the USSF will be a boon for space travel, as USSF bases, like forts of old, are established in strategic locations wherever humanity ventures. The accessibility of search and rescue teams in space as more and more human beings journey beyond the confines of Earth.

Then there’s technology. Based on the many new technologies born out of the space race of the twentieth century, we can only imagine what fantastic new technologies await us as the United States Space Force gets ramped-up and deployed. Try to imagine what today seems so exotic, exciting, and new, becoming everyday occurrences in the new world of tomorrow!

It is therefore imperative that America, as the world’s leading democracy, remain on the forefront of space technologies and military power. Congress must therefore authorize the funding and creation of the United States Space Force, to enable the world’s most powerful nation, the beacon of light and hope to so many all over the world, to establish a firm foothold in space in order to maintain a strategic military superiority that will not only allow us to preserve our way of life, but to continue to serve as the beacon and protector of freedom the world, and the hope for a better tomorrow for all of humanity.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1084

September 25, 2019

Technology Discussion: Cool, Amazing Medical Technologies that are either here, or coming soon

I like to keep my blog posts positive and upbeat, sharing news with my readers that will inspire them, fill them with awe, and remind them of the many wonderful things going on in the world, which our news outlets don’t necessarily spend enough tim highlighting for us.

Artificial organs

Scientist have been able to create blood vessels, synthetic ovaries and even a pancreas. These artificial organs then grow within the patient’s body to replace original faulty one. The ability to supply artificial organs that are not rejected by the body’s immune system could be revolutionary, saving millions of patients that depend on life-saving transplants every year.

. CRISPR

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is the most advanced gene-editing technology yet. It works by harnessing the natural mechanisms of the immune systems of bacterium cells of invading viruses, which is then able to ‘cut out’ infected DNA strands. This cutting of DNA is what has the power to potentially transform the way we treat disease. By modifying genes, some of the biggest threats to our health, like cancer and HIV, could potentially be overcome in a matter of years.

However, as with all powerful tools there are several controversies surrounding its widespread use, mostly over humanity’s right to ‘play God’ and worries over gene-editing being used to produce hordes of designer babies. CRISPR is still a first-generation tool and its full capabilities are not yet understood.

As the years pass, technology in pharmaceuticals and medicine will continue to improve. People are living longer and fewer diseases are deemed incurable. Jobs in the pharmaceutical industry are in higher demand now than ever. Who knows what the next year will bring in medical advancements!

If you’d like to be part of this exciting industry, Proclinical Staffing are recruiting for a variety of roles from top pharma, biotech and medical device companies. We would love to hear from you so have a look at our current job opportunities or upload your CV to get started!

https://liveboldandbloom.com/07/health/8-life-altering-medical-breakthroughs-on-the-horizon

Here are eight medical advancements that are well on the way to changing the way we live and potentially altering the future of our culture and society.

  1. The Blind Will See

People who have become blind at some point during their lives have real hope to see again. Scientists have already tested and continue to research microchip implants to help people regain their sight. The microchip is implanted into a person’s eye, and it is linked to a pair of video enabled glasses, allowing a bypass of the dead nerve endings attributed to loss of sight. Also, people who have been blind from birth have the exhilarating chance of seeing the world for the first time. Scientists are working on deep brain implants, coupled with special glasses, that can bring sight to unsighted. In the next ten years, being blind will be a thing of the past.

  1. Order Up an Organ

Tissue engineering or regenerative medicine, a segment of bioengineering, allows scientists to grow new organs to replace diseased or damaged human organs. Using tissue from the patient’s own existing organ or synthetic materials, scientists can grow a replacement in a laboratory. Already, bladders have been grown in a laboratory and successfully implanted into patients. Tissue engineering can use these natural or synthetic materials to cultivate cells for skin, bone, cartilage, muscle, marrow, and other body parts. These advancements will offer dramatic improvements in medical care for hundreds of thousands of patients annually and equally dramatic reductions in medical costs. Engineered replacement organs would sidestep the hazards and problems associated with donor organs and do this at a lower cost.

  1. Brain Repair

For someone who’s had a stroke or suffers from Alzheimer’s or other neurological diseases, the advancements in neural enhancements offers great hope for a better life. And once again, a microchip is the technology that can make it happen. By using microchips or by using a matrix of fiber optic wires to bridge damaged areas of the brain, it appears there’s a way to cure a multitude of neurological conditions. The use of microchips to bridge neural pathways also opens doors to the possible expansion of brain use for everyone.

  1. Eradication of Genetic Conditions

With the completion of the human genome project, scientists know more than ever about the genetic structure and how it affects us. Right now, researchers and corporations are using DNA therapy to vaccinate people against dangerous diseases as designer medicines can be created that are disease or gene specific. But we are looking at a future where genetic conditions may no longer exist. Genetic engineering can help prevent life-threatening diseases like cancer. It can help increase the potential life span to well over 100 years, free from disease or disorders. It may even be possible to create “designer” babies with higher intelligence, beauty and talent.

  1. The Fountain of Youth

Nanotechnology is the study of controlling matter on an atomic or molecular scale. It is being used for a variety age-reversing applications that could be a literal “fountain of youth.” We age because the rate of cellular reconstruction slows down, and the body can’t keep up the maintenance. We will be able to stay looking younger much longer as “subatomic robots” can go into your bloodstream and repair cellular damage. In the near future, anti-aging treatments could be as easy as swallowing a pill and watching yourself grow younger in a short period of time. Nanotechnology treatments for other age-related disorders, such as macular degeneration, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, cirrhosis, and Progeria, are right around the corner.

  1. Cures for Neurological Diseases

The debate about stem cell research has propelled scientists to find stem cells from sources other than human embryos or fetuses. Now stems cells can be obtained through umbilical cord or nose proteins, and research is accelerating in stem cell technology. Stem cells have the ability to grow into anything, and they offer the hope that they can be used to treat neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Stem cells can be designed to repair and regrow the damaged neurons in an individual’s brain.

  1. Hope for Heart Disease

It appears that stem cells can help prevent heart attacks by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels around the heart. The FDA recently approved a study to test this in which scientists will take adult stem cells from the bone marrow of patients and inject them into their clogged arteries. The hope is that new vessels will grow and increase the blood flow to the heart.

  1. The End of Cancer Deaths

Nanotechnologists already have developed treatments for certain types of cancer, and scientists are discovering more all of the time. Now tumors of less than one tenth of an inch can be detected and targeted without killing normal cells. Researchers are producing drugs that show early success at preventing tumor growth by cutting of its blood supply. A complete cure for cancer may be further down the road, but officials at the National Cancer Institute predict that by 2015, all cancer deaths will be preventable.

As exciting and promising as these breakthroughs appear to be, it is clear that many of them are also fraught with ethical and practical dilemmas. How will we respond as a society to having a life expectancy of 10, 20 or even 30 years longer than we have now? How far will we take the desire to create the “perfect human” who is genetically altered to be smart, beautiful, talented and disease-free, and what are the implications? How will these exciting technologies be exploited by greed and self-interest?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the positive and potentially difficult and dangerous outcomes of these medical advancements becoming a reality in the very near future.

If you are interested in reading more on these medical discoveries and the implications and applications for them, I’ve provided this list of books.

 

https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/17-scientific-discoveries-that-may-change-the-world-soon-631460/

  1. Scientists helped a disabled person start walking again.

group of neurophysiologists from Russia and the U.S. managed to do the almost impossible: give a paralyzed person the ability to walk again. A man who was paralyzed several years ago after he fell from a snowmobile took part in the international experiment. This method was used by scientists for the first time. The patient was cured with electric stimulators that were originally made for other purposes — to relieve pain. Now, thanks to electric stimulation, even if the damage is really serious, it’s possible to help people move again.

According to the neurophysiologists, the partial rehabilitation of this patient took 44 weeks. At the moment, the man can stand and walk on a treadmill.

  1. The first color x-ray in history

Scientists from New Zealand made the first 3D color x-ray in history. The new device was made based on the traditional black and white x-ray machine using particle tracking technology called Medipix. Thanks to this technology, in 2012, in a Large Hadron Collider the particles called “Higgs boson” were found.

Medipix works like a camera at the subatomic level. As a result, it gives us high-contrast images. On color x-rays, you can clearly see the difference between muscles, bones, and cartilage, including the size and position of cancer tumors.

  1. Scientists created a vest that can warn you about a heart attack several days in advance.

Smart Vest looks quite simple but on the inside there are special sensors and electrodes. They allow you to track your own ECG, registering blood pressure and heartbeat. And all this is done 24/7. Someone who owns this vest can download a special app on their smartphone where all the data about the heart function will be stored.

The creator of this invention says that the application can give a diagnosis and even predict serious heart issues because the abnormal activity of the heart can be noticed on the ECG 2 days before the heart attack. The vest has already been successfully tested on volunteers.

  1. Israeli eye ophthalmologists invented eye drops that restore the eye cornea.

Can you imagine that very soon glasses for eyesight correction won’t be necessary anymore and their job will be done by regular eye drops? This is what a group of Israeli ophthalmologists are working on. The scientists have already tested the drops on pigs and the result was amazing. The drops are effective at fighting near- and far-sightedness. And according to the scientists, the drops can completely replace glasses.

  1. Chinese policemen now have smart glasses with face recognition technology.

At the beginning of 2018, Chinese policemen in Zhengzhou were given smart GLXSS glasses that have a facial recognition system. They can take photos, record video in HD quality, and also show information on the lens thanks to AR-technology. This device has already helped to capture almost 40 criminals.

GLXSS cost $635 but you can’t buy them for personal use right now.

  1. “Self-parking” slippers from Nissan

Finally, the problem of constantly lost slippers can be forgotten because Nissan has come up with slippers on wheels. The slippers have engines and sensors based on ProPilot technology. Thanks to this technology, these slippers can return to a predetermined spot. Now, anyone who wants can try these slippers in one of Japan’s hotels.

  1. In China a flying taxi was successfully tested.

Aerocar EHang 184 looks like a drone but it can do much more. It can transport 2 passengers, it can fly up to 15 km with a full charge, and it can go as fast as 130 km/h. But the best thing about EHang 184 is the fact that it can work autonomously. The developers think that the commercial version of the taxi will work on autopilot. The passenger will only have to show it the final point of the destination.

Soon this flying taxi will allow us to avoid huge traffic jams in big cities.

  1. Artificial intelligence protecting humanity

This news is not exactly a scientific discovery but everything that happened in this story is a great example of how much artificial intelligence has developed.

In January 2018, a woman from Argentina published a post on Facebook where she said goodbye to her friends and relatives. There was a photo of some potent substances attached to the post. Her message was tracked by the algorithms of the social media that uses AI for these purposes. The program sent a signal to the managers of the website in the US and they contacted emergency services of Buenos Aires. The rescue team found the woman unconscious but they managed to save her.

  1. An exoskeleton of a hand that is controlled by the mind

The engineers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) created a prototype of a hand exoskeleton that can be controlled with the mind. The electrodes are located on a special helmet. In the early versions, the electrodes had to be placed under the skin. The exoskeleton is easy to control and can be set up within several minutes. The device has already been tested by people who have spinal cord injuries or a stroke. Now, the engineers are improving the exoskeleton in order to make it good enough for mass production.

  1. Testing unmanned cars

In 2017, it became absolutely clear than unmanned cars will be an important part of our lives. In the U.S., Tesla is the leader in this industry and is improving their electric cars year after year.

Tourists and locals in Paris can already try the experimental unmanned mini-bus with an electric engine.

In the near future, the international traffic rules will most likely be changed to correspond with the development of unmanned vehicles on the roads of our planet.

  1. Cryptocurrency is a new part of economics.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© pixabay

In 2017, the world economy had an unexpected blast — the increase in popularity of cryptocurrency. Despite the fact that the first and the most well-known cryptocurrency called bitcoin was invented in 2009, it became really popular only last summer. From August to December, the exchange rate was changing very rapidly, going from $2,000 to $20,000, and then falling to $6,500 for one bitcoin.

Experts predict that that cryptocurrency has a big future in world economics along with the euro and dollar.

  1. Researchers have proven that the theory of our origin is not true.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© pixabay

In 2017, humanity made huge progress in learning more about itself. For a long time, people believed that the Homo sapiens originated from other species about 200,000 years ago somewhere in Eastern Africa. Most of the anthropological and archaeological theories known today confirmed this version.

However, this summer, in Nature Magazine, an article by an international group of scientists was published. They found the remains of people which are more than 300,000 years old. These people lived on a completely different part of the African continent. Researchers are sure that if they were dressed in modern clothes nobody would be able to tell the difference. This discovery has proven that the theory we believed before was completely wrong.

  1. Astronomers found an object called Oumuamua in our Solar System.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© ESO/M. Kornmesser

2017 challenged science many times. In Hawaii, astronomers found a unique asteroid that is not part of our Solar System. It means that it originated somewhere far out in galactic space. The speed of the asteroid is too high for our Sun to pull it with gravity.

Some scientists have theories that the asteroid was made by a living thing and there is even a huge telescope that is trying to capture signals from intelligent life.

  1. Chinese scientists cloned a monkey.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© eastnews

The first successful cloning experiment happened when molecular biologists managed to grow 2 clones of the same monkey. Born from a surrogate mother, these monkeys have the same DNA. The experiment will help humanity find a cure for cancer, avoid genetically inherited diseases, and clone extinct animals.

  1. Genetical editing to treat a patient

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© depositphotos

In August 2017 bioengineers changed the genes of a living person. Experts at Oregon University made their first attempt to genetically modify an embryo by removing a gene responsible for the development of an infectious heart disease. The surgery was successful.

Also, another company did a surgery changing the genome of pigs using CRISPR technology. Thanks to the surgery, 37 absolutely healthy pigs were born without any harmful viruses in their bodies.

And finally, there was a genetic modification done on a living person. The patient is a 44-year-old man who had Hunter syndrome. The scientists are still waiting for the results of the treatment. And if they are positive, doctors will soon be able to treat serious diseases this way.

  1. Scientists will find a cure for oncological diseases soon.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© depositphotos

Modern medical experts are on the way to making people forget the word “cancer.” Of course, it is impossible to cure cancer completely, but it might become as easy as curing a cold.

In 2017, several ways of fighting cancer cells have been tested but the most progressive one was the method for treating cervical cancer. Sperm with a special drug were sent to the necessary areas and when it reached them, the sperm emitted the drug. As a result, more than 90% of the cancer cells there were removed. This method allows patients to avoid chemotherapy.

  1. The first successful head transplant surgery

You will probably agree that this piece of news sounds like it was told by someone who returned from the future. But the future is actually now. This is what our scientists are trying to prove.

Chinese surgeons, managed by Sergio Canavero, performed the first head transplant from one corpse to another. The surgery took 18 hours and the result was the successful connection of the spinal cord, nerves, and blood vessels. On December 25, 2017, Canavero predicted that in 2018 the first head transplant surgery of a living person will be performed.

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