Category Astronomy/Space

Researchers at the NASA Johnson Space Center in collaboration with General Motors have designed and developed Robo-Glove, a wearable human grasp assist device, to help reduce the grasping force needed to operate tools for an extended time or for repetitive motion tasks. This wearable device allows the user to tightly grip tools and other items for longer periods of time without experiencing muscle discomfort or strain. The Robo-Glove also has potential applications in prosthetic devices, rehabilitation aids, and people with impaired or limited arm and hand muscle strength.

The Robo-Glove is a patented technology available for commercial technology licensing. For more information about Robo-Glove and other technology license opportunities, visit: http://technology.jsc.nasa.gov
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Vacuum fluctuations may be thought of as a flickering of the quantum light field even in total darkness. The positive (red) and negative (blue) regions are randomly distributed in space and they change constantly at high speed — similar to black-and-white noise on a TV screen with no signal input. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Konstanz

What are the properties of the vacuum, the absolute nothingness? So far, physicists have assumed that it is impossible to directly access the characteristics of the ground state of empty space. Now, a team of physicists has succeeded in doing just that. They demonstrated a first direct observation of the so-called vacuum fluctuations by using short light pulses while employing highly precise optical measurement techniques.

The duration of their lig...

Petrographic thin section made from core sample is shown. This 30 micron thin slice of rock allows a view of the types of features thought to be microbial. Here, the blue layers are an epoxy added in to see void-space in the rock and the grey is sediment. The morphology of the orangey-brown layers are suggestive of microbial activity, such as they way they roll over themselves in the bottom left and smoothly drape over the triangular feature. This type of deposition demonstrates that the sediment had to have a degree of cohesive stickiness, such as that provided by the presence of microbial mats. Credit: USGS Core Research Center

As NASA has confirmed flowing saltwater on the surface of Mars, the hunt for life on the Red Planet has new momentum...

(Left) Hinode observation of a developing sunspot. An elongated bright feature called a ‘light bridge’ appears between the merging pores (darkest parts). (Right) Computer simulation of sunspot formation. A light bridge resembling the one observed is formed between the pores. (Credit: NAOJ/JAXA/LMSAL/NASA)

Sunspots are planet-sized conglomerates of bundles of intense magnetic field lines on the surface of the Sun. They are known to cause solar flares which can directly impact our technological infrastructure. Shin Toriumi’s team analyzed observations of sunspots as they formed taken by Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellites.

The team modeled the observations using state-of-the-art numerical simulations performed on the Pl...