Technical papers derived from the 1977 Summer Study
at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

NASA SP-428

How did we — an advanced, high-tech civilization — find ourselves unable to efficiently produce and distribute a simple yet vital item during an international emergency? What does this mean for governments’ ability to protect their citizens? And how many lives were lost due to the failure of these systems to deliver essential supplies in a time of crisis?

Tim Maughan | OneZero

TIGER (Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot) is Hyundai's newest UMV designed to function as a mobile scientific platform. TIGER is fully autonomous and can even pair up with a UAV to be dropped into remote locations or charge batteries. Once on the ground, TIGER’s leg and wheel system allows for full 360-degree directional control and AWD.

If it encounters extreme terrain, it can use its walking ability to overcome obstacles and carry its supplies to their destination. Welcome to the future, where TIGER will redefine transportation and mobility.

via YouTube

Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950—2000

by David S. F. Portree

NASA SP-2001-4521

In praise of dials, toggles, buttons, and bulbs. A companion blog to the Control Panel group on Flickr.

A new trailer for the THE HIGH FRONTIER, an upcoming documentary film that shares the untold story of the life and influence of the late physicist and space colony pioneer Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill.

Thanks to The Black Vault, an online archive of declassified government documents, you can now dig through a massive trove of information the CIA has collected on UFOs over the years.

Earth's ability to absorb nearly a third of human-caused carbon emissions through plants could be halved within the next two decades at the current rate of warming, according to a new study in Science Advances. The team identified a critical temperature tipping point beyond which plants' ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon decreases as temperatures continue to rise.

Northern Arizona University | Phys.org

628 scans of vintage floppy disk sleeves.

Collected by Jason Scott

Removing carbon from the atmosphere is expensive—but so are a lot of other necessary things.

Kim Stanley Robinson | Bloomberg

Richard Corben, the iconic award-winning comic book artist best known for his work for Heavy Metal, has passed away at the age of 80.

CBR

The Arecibo Observatory’s suspended equipment platform fell hundreds of feet and crashed through the giant radio dish.

National Geographic

To be Indigenous to North America is to be part of a postapocalyptic community and experience.

Julian Brave NoiseCat | CJR

A mysterious monolith has been discovered in a remote part of Utah, after being spotted by state employees counting sheep from a helicopter.

The Guardian

“Losing this, especially after all that we’ve lost over the past half decade, makes me feel like we’re condemned to have our country just be ruins,” he says. “It becomes a signifier of a broader collapse. That’s just really tragic.”

Science News

The philosopher Toby Ord has given the name “the precipice” to our current phase of history. It will end, he suggests, with either a shared global effort to insure humanity’s continued survival or the extinction of our species.

The New Yorker

“We are on an absolutely catastrophic path,” said a COVID-19 doctor at America’s best-prepared hospital.

Ed Yong | The Atlantic

While the West remains gripped by the fear of a second-wave epidemic, increasingly clinging to lowkey designs, China’s fashionistas have moved in the opposite direction through techno glamour. In this post-pandemic reality, the two cultures couldn’t be further apart.

Jing Daily