TTTA retweeted
The average Mars colonization criticism is always something like “you want to make Mars habitable, but have failed to consider that Mars is not habitable.”
"You want to colonize Mars, but you don't know that there are perchlorates, you don't know it's cold and that the air is not breathable! Checkmate!"
- average Mars colonization critic
22
22
818
12,926
TTTA retweeted
Today, Pioneer Labs is announcing our first step towards terraforming Mars. 🚀🌼
With equipment that fits in just a single rocket launch, we can convert Martian dirt, water, and air into enough building materials to construct a small city on Mars.
To do it, we made the first microbe for Mars. We found the best microbe on Earth and used evolution to teach it how to source all of its nutrients directly from Martian materials.
The first astronauts will be greeted with safe shelter already filled with water, oxygen, and rocket fuel for the return journey.
This is the first step toward using biology to make Mars a friendly place for life. It lets us live off the land and helps us build the next great frontier.
It's the first of five organisms we need to green Mars ⬇️
553
1,427
11,272
2,407,103
TTTA retweeted
Breaking: @Pioneer__Labs has engineered a microbe able to live on Mars, consuming solely nutrients found on the planet to create building materials.
I interviewed @erika_alden_d, the CEO, to learn how they did it and what might come next. Much of the interview was about bottlenecks to growing life on Mars; the planet has tons of water, but only in the form of ice. (If you melted all that ice, it would create an ocean 100 feet deep across the entire planet!)
Similarly, we talked about the dirt. Martian regolith has salts, heavy metals, and perchlorates that are toxic to many organisms. Some microbes on Earth are able to break down these toxins, though, so Pioneer is engineering them to make them better at eating those toxins while adding nutrients back into the soil. This could possibly help support plant life in the future.
Watch the full episode and subscribe to @AsimovPress for more.
0:00 A first microbe engineered for Mars
5:03 Simulating Martian chemistry
8:27 The five "pioneer species"
17:20 Water, warming, and nitrogen
26:39 Radiation, growth rates, and poor measurements
35:49 Starship
41:05 Why create a second biosphere?
29
168
891
95,815
Thank you, @sendcutsend ! Was struggling to find OEM parts (and they were crap anyways), broke out a ruler and sent out an order. Parts came quickly, dishwasher is strapped down, wife is impressed.
1
11
3,134
Found out the funny way that hemp is added to many bird seed mixes when a mouse stashed his winter food in my bag of potting mix
1
1
71
When - not if - we map out and simulate a human's brain similarly, would playing Bad Apple on it be a sin?
1
1
57
TTTA retweeted
Bad Apple but it's playing on a fly's brain
For the first time, scientists have mapped the complete brain and central nervous system of an adult male fruit fly — a key model organism in science. 🪰
Working alongside HHMI Janelia Research Campus and the scientific community, @GoogleResearch scientists and researchers used AI to combine millions of 2D images into 3D neural shapes, reconstructing a record-breaking 166,000+ neurons. This foundational map of the adult male fruit fly brain can help accelerate our understanding of the brain, and is a major milestone in neuroscience.
ALT Vibrant 3D digital reconstruction of a fruit fly brain against a white background, displaying a dense, intricate network of multicolored neural fibers and cell bodies in shades of blue, cyan, orange, and purple.
ALT A complex 3D visualization of a fruit fly brain, featuring a dense, symmetrical network of thousands of tiny, multicolored neurons and fine, interconnected fibers in shades of blue, magenta, orange, and green against a solid white background.
551
9,705
90,389
20,788,728
Another one today. Job location is so far away that I might lose money on transportation alone, and pay is ~half the median pay for my job title, not to mention wildly outside of my career.
I told them to ask for a refund on their automated outreach system.
I recently had a recruiter reach out for a position that
1) paid less than what I already make
2) would qualify me for reduced income housing in my area
3) as listed, requesting "expert experience" in 3 areas, command a salary ~5x what they were offering
3
158
TTTA retweeted
Nothing captures the fantasy aspect of plant science like the Firefly Petunia from Light Bio.
Thanks @k_sarkisyan for providing me glowy plants to timelapse! Music 🔊Lazy Vibes- Spirited Away Theme
8
39
177
15,537
TTTA retweeted
There’s no one on Earth (or in space!) as tough and competent as the guy who coined the phrase — happy birthday, Gene Kranz!!!
We re-released our podcast episode with him last week, and it’s still one of my favorite interviews ever. What a legend.
nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we…
4
16
128
3,624
TTTA retweeted
I've been playing around with proper 3D models in After Effects for some upcoming videos and I'm really happy with the results. Here's a little preview of the angle of attack Super Heavy V3 has relative to the airflow and why they only have 3 grid fins in that orientation.
45
106
2,522
98,070
