This Week's News: Apple Cars, Ocean Cities, Alien Signals

For Starters, a Mammoth Section on Space

Titan, the one planet or moon in our solar system containing liquid that we know of. NASA thinks it can visit the celestial body by 2040, which is why they're designing a giant submarine to explore the ocean of methane covering Titan's surface. According to a report by NASA, the craft will carry out "detailed scientific investigations" to provide "unprecedented knowledge of an extraterrestrial sea". This will include finding the chemical composition of the liquid, locating tides, wind and other phenomena, and understanding what lies at the bottom. To the right is a demonstration video for the awesome-looking sub.

It's pretty well-established that the Kepler space telescope has identified over 30-40 billion earth-sized planets, but recently it's discovered one that lies within a zone capable of supporting life. Kepler-186f, as it's so aptly named, is about 500 light years away from us, and is almost exactly similar in size to our home world. Many have called the discovery a major step forward, as it means the possibility for extraterrestrials is much much higher.

There was a lot of controversy this week on the topic of aliens. Many days ago, fear stirred as critics lashed out against the decision to send messages to habitable worlds. Angry that it could end in our destruction, people such as Stephen Hawking condemn any such project as juvenile and lacking reason. However, others are thrilled that it could finally lead to some answers. We've received no signals ever since Project Ozma began back in 1960. The new plan will involve the Arecibo telescope, a device that was used before in attempting to contact alien civilizations. The difference, now, is that astronomers will search for the most likely places where a signal could be interpreted successfully by an intelligent species, beam the signals indefinitely, and encode more complex messages into them. Seth Shostak, the director of SETI, even suggested sending the entire internet to space so human history can be understood in full. He's also not concerned for the fate of humanity; any advanced civilization would've annihilated us by now, if it really needed to. The message is more likely to guide friendly ET's to the right spot, he said.

Europa, our next deep space travel destination. As part of NASA's budget for next year, the mission to come in close contact with Jupiter's icy moon is almost underway. Scientists are overjoyed that the project to have a spacecraft orbit Jupiter will cost 50% less than a more detailed analysis of Europa. Among the spacecraft's tools could be a hi-res camera, and equipment to determine everything about the ice. These experiments may tell us whether Europa contains any organic material on its surface, which is why NASA considers this moon voyage very high-priority. I can see why; even the potential for alien life to flourish on a celestial body would be monumental. It shows we aren't alone in this universe.

SpaceX's satellite DSCOVR was launched successfully this week, and although it landed straight into the water 10 meters off target, many consider it a success including Musk. The near perfect victory in stormy weather tells us the satellite could easily have done well in better climate. Translation: good progress for the company. Eventually, they plan to send it to a distance of 930,000 miles from earth in order to monitor various planetary conditions.

An Apple a Day Keeps Consumers Interested

In order to combat climate change, Apple is partnering up with First Solar to receive electricity on a massive scale. More specifically, a solar farm will be built in CA that will power company HQ as well as Apple's many stores. This huge investment is a response, CEO Tim Cook said, to the limited supply of renewable energy in the state. Their actions will definitely increase the amount for state residents, especially after their $2 billion data centers starts generating kilowatt after kilowatt. Overall, the spending cost stands at a whopping 3 billion dollars. The slow transition to renewables powering all their company locations could reinforce a trend in the IT landscape to go green, after a long history of negative scores on a "environmentally-conscious" assessment, the Greenpeace report.

Some of you might think I'm crazy for this next one, but Apple is building its own electric cars. Kept top secret until now, there are very few details surrounding the project, and even what we do seem to know could be totally false. As Apple often tests products and ideas which mostly die young there is a chance these vehicles will never see the light of day, but here's the scoop:

-Project Titan could begin development of a minivan, for Apple's first ever auto. This makes a little sense because if it turns out to be driverless, passengers can lounge around in all that extra space.
-Executives traveled to Austria to meet with car manufacturers, and several staff like Marc Newson have previous experience with cars. The sincerity of the iCar announcement holds weight with these facts alone.

-If Apple's newest brainchild comes to life, we can expect for it to arrive with a bang, just as the iPhone had with its groundbreaking features in the smartphone industry. Such is the Apple way.
-Employees with a variety of roles for the company will be "poached" or removed from their position to form a 1,000 person team that specializes in iCar R&D. Vice President Steve Zadesky will lead the group.
-That's about it. I'm really interested to see how this will turn out. Will it have Siri 2.0 for voice command, driverless capabilities, or iPhone-compatible driving/door locking controls? What about unbreakable mirrors? Shiny tires? These questions will go unanswered for a long time; the product release won't be for several years. Insert sad face.

Another Step Towards Mind/Machine Symbiosis

Before I say anything, watch this video. Now you may have seen something like this before, and while it's true that this prosthetic shares many things with earlier exoskeletons, nothing comes close to the drive and vision of the DARPA firm behind its development. With their recently awarded contract, DEKA plans to create a program that "provides sensation like a natural hand". In the video above, you can see an amputee controlling movement of his robotic arm to grab hold of slippery objects, a task that requires complex motor functions. All that's left for this prosthetic is refined mechanics, mind-controlled movements, and touch feedback for the user. Maybe a smooth outer shell while they're at it. Currently in phase 1, the metal arms will enter the home and work out the kinks in four years during phase 2. My only question is: when will it become so advanced that normal people will opt for it?

How Renewables Will Soon Enter Your Home

Tesla Motors is not just a car company anymore. The CEO and a couple other executives announced they'd be selling affordable lithium-ion batteries to American families within the next year, with a product unveiling just a couple months away. With California's growing megadrought problem, we can never be too careful. There are two reasons why energy storage for a household can benefit homeowners. For starters, it allows them to refill their personal energy reservoir at times when it's relatively cheap to do so, for use later. Another is that it provides them with emergency reserve in the case of a natural disaster or temporary sun block. The new suburban landscape is changing, and as consumers decide to generate their own electricity, urban utilities will only continue to lose power and relevance

First Glimpse of a Leading Tech Firm's Agility Bot

Boston Dynamics released a video of their newest quadruped hunk of metal "Spot". Unlike its forebears, Spot is powered by a battery and has ditched the engine. This is a clear given, but the improvements made in their latest success will set the standard for future BD projects. During the video you can see that the robot has no trouble sprinting on all types of terrain, moving swiftly up hills and jogging at a consistent pace. What the video doesn't tell us, though, is what this thing could be used for and who will own it upon completion. One little detail that could reveal its purpose, although it's mere speculation, is the configuration of its knees. Previous robots had forward or backwards facing kneecaps depending on the skill it was built to perform; Spots' seem to be configured for agility.

Japanese Seatown Gets Some Major Consideration

To accommodate the global climate's devastating changes as of late, the rise in sea level and a plethora of other human issues, a Japanese company is set on moving civilization down to the ocean's watery depths. Declaring that construction could be finished by 2035, the company plans on making it eco-friendly, architecturally marvelous, and every bit as enjoyable as a lifestyle on dry land. The underwater city is projected to fit 5K civilians into a main structure half a mile long with several facilities surrounding it including hotels, research centers, and submarine rentals (that last one's a maybe). I agree that this could really work, and would be a great opportunity to adapt to changing circumstances while at the same time studying the ocean and its many mysteries at a closer distance. Below you can get an idea of just how beautiful it will look:

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This week's news was a bit of a wake-up call for me. I learned that the combined efforts of several countries when it comes to climate change is a formidable force indeed, but whether that is enough to overturn the devastating effects of global warming and CO2 emission, cannot be determined with present knowledge. Stuff like Japanese underwater cities, American states increasingly accepting the profitability of renewable energies (Carolinas, for example), and Apple's forward-seeking prospects all point toward progress, or so it seems. Some people even think the technological singularity arriving sometime this century could nullify any future problems we may face, while others believe it is best to just abandon this world, slowly, in the hopes that another planet out there could serve as our home. In other stories, particularly the Spot reveal by BD, I got a similar taste of the crazy whacko stuff happening everyday. Nothing out of the ordinary. Thanks for tuning in! Next blog I will try to shorten the length of paragraphs for more efficient viewing.