Water, electricity, internet: Three things that Americans can increasingly not live without.
Recently, though, that last item has seemed under threat. Earlier this year <a href="https://futurism.com/fcc-published-net-neutrality-repeal-order-whats-next/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the FCC repealed net neutrality</a>, allowing U.S. internet service providers (ISPs) to control the price of broadband speed and threatening equal access to information, education and other essential online services.
The <a href="https://futurism.com/democrats-net-neutrality/">battle may seem lost</a>. But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has a plan to fight back.
In a recent report shipped to 100 mayors in 30 states, ACLU makes the case that, instead of leaving internet in the hands of private companies, it should be the concern of local administrators.
<a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/public-internet-option?redirect=muni-broadband-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The report points out</a> that the move would be perfectly legal, too. &#8220;Nothing the FCC has done prevents a city, county, or town from directing its own, municipally run service to honor strong network neutrality and privacy policies,&#8221; it reads.
<div>Empowering cities to run their own internet networks could help bypass the power of private corporations, but has other important benefits, too. According to a <a href="http://ei.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SingerAssessingImpact6.17.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report by the consulting firm Economist Incorporated</a>, over 56 million households in the country don&#8217;t have access to high-speed broadband. That&#8217;s partly because many communities are too small and remote to be a good investment for ISPs.</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zq-2Yk5OgKc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>
<div>Take the village of Pinetops, North Carolina. <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwzj9q/the-town-that-had-free-gigabit-internet">According to Motherboard</a>, the town of 1,300 people had a long legal struggle with Big Telecom and eventually won the right to keep its municipal broadband — until a private company decided to step in and offer the same service.</div>
<div></div>
<div>In remote communities, people don&#8217;t mind paying for internet access: &#8220;We had it and they wanted to take it away,&#8221; Suzanne Coker Craig, a local commissioner and business owner told Motherboard. &#8220;Our folks are very excited to have it back.&#8221;</div>
<div></div>
<div>At the core of ACLU&#8217;s call for action is the idea that internet access is a democratic right. &#8220;Municipal systems should be built to serve all residents equally,&#8221;<a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/public-internet-option?redirect=muni-broadband-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the report says</a>, &#8220;even though the demands of affluent neighborhoods might be louder than others.&#8221; If Pinetops&#8217; experience is anything to go by, the idea is sure to face some stern opposition from private ISPs.</div>
<div></div>
<div>But the case is strong for cities to take the lead, and the successful examples, <a href="https://muninetworks.org/content/most-municipal-networks-built-conservative-cities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many of which are of conservative communities</a>, speak for themselves: &#8220;They’re reaping the benefits of local control over what has become an indispensable utility,&#8221; Jay Stanley, one of<a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/internet-speech/public-broadband-can-help-protect-open-internet-and-close-digital" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the ACLU&#8217;s report authors</a>, wrote in a blogpost. &#8220;Other cities would be wise to consider taking a similar path.&#8221;</div>

The case is strong for cities to take the lead.

Super-local broadband may be the best way to preserve net neutrality

Rows of red network cables connected to router

Future Society

In a new report, ACLU encourages mayors across the U.S. to set up public broadband services, so citizens can maintain equal internet access despite the recent net neutrality repeal. 

Super-Local Broadband May Be The Best Way to Preserve Net Neutrality

Access to the internet could become a public service.

As SpaceX blazes trails of commercial spaceflight and makes rockets reusable, there are gonna be some errors along the way. Today&#8217;s error happens to cost $6 million.
Today, SpaceX launched another rocket, sending 10 communication satellites into orbit. The launch itself went well, but the component that was meant to be rescued after the launch plunged in the ocean &#8220;at high speed.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
GPS guided parafoil twisted, so fairing impacted water at high speed. Air wake from fairing messing w parafoil steering. Doing helo drop tests in next few weeks to solve.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/979764513233715200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Today&#8217;s mission, <a href="http://www.spacex.com/webcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called Iridium-5</a>, was the fifth of eight launches meant to <a href="https://www.space.com/40148-watch-spacex-launch-iridium-5-satellites-webcast.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deploy 66 working satellites</a> (plus nine spares) into orbit within the span of a few months.
On March 6, the <a href="https://futurism.com/spacex-falcon-9-launch-hipasat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Falcon9 successfully sent a satellite into orbit</a>. Instead of trying to collect the components, Musk and his crew just let them fall into the Atlantic. That made today&#8217;s mission an important attempt — if Elon Musk is to make history with the first reusable rocket, he needed to show that at least some of its components can be salvaged and put to work again.
That&#8217;s what the team at SpaceX intended to do with this Falcon9 launch, with the help of a ship named Mr. Steven (Musk says the name was <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966419298049703936">&#8220;just random&#8221;</a>). They deployed the ship to catch half of the rocket&#8217;s fairing — aka its nose cone, the component at the top of the rocket that protects the satellites during the launch — before it fell into the ocean.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
Liftoff! <a href="https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z">https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z</a> <a href="https://t.co/Aa0MnGkprH">pic.twitter.com/Aa0MnGkprH</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/979723767545872385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
For pretty much every rocket launch up until now, the fairing was a disposable part of a spacecraft, and after splitting into two it would be left to fall back into the ocean,<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/spacex-launch-falcon-9-cone-march-30/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> CNN explains</a>. &#8220;Once it gets into the water, it&#8217;s quite damaging to the electronics and components inside the fairing,&#8221; Glenn Lightsey, a professor of aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech told the broadcaster. &#8220;Most likely if it gets into the water, it&#8217;s not usable.&#8221;
The problem? This unsexy bit of rocket is very expensive, costing around $6 million.
And Musk is a practical guy, as CNN reminded us: &#8220;[If] you had $6 million in cash on a palette flying through the air,&#8221; he reportedly said, &#8220;and it&#8217;s going to smash into the ocean, would you try to recover it? Yes. Yes, you would.&#8221;
However, catching a piece of rocket as it falls back from the sky is, like, literally rocket science. And although Elon got us used to unlikely successes, this time Mr. Steven failed him.
Musk&#8217;s a little frustrated:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
Tru drat
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/979769569706307584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Another $6 million may be lost as the cone nose drowned, but the experiment isn&#8217;t over — you can bet Musk will try again.
SpaceX, Musk said in a tweet, will perform new tests to figure out what went wrong, so they can do better the next time around.

SpaceX launched another Falcon9, but failed to recover its nose cone

Off World

SpaceX new mission was meant to recover the rocket's $6 million nose cone. But something went wrong and the component plunged into the ocean at speed.

SpaceX Launched Another Falcon9, But Failed to Recover Its Nose Cone

Until next time.

It&#8217;s not a great feeling to know that you scared your doctors. Unfortunately for a man in the U.K, he recently did so: he displayed a case of gonorrhea that so dramatically resisted treatment that it chilled his physicians.
That&#8217;s partially because gonorrhea isn&#8217;t the best thing to leave untreated. But another reason: this case is a harbinger of a looming crisis.
Gonorrhea is an infection caused by a bacteria. Usually antibiotics can kill it. But after some time, the bacteria evolves to become resistant to that treatment. It also happens to be one of the world&#8217;s most common STDs, <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/Antibiotic-resistant-gonorrhoea/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with 78 million new cases every year</a>. 30 percent of all gonorrhea infections are resistant to at least one antibiotic, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/arg/carb.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC).
We&#8217;ve known this was coming. In 2017, the WHO raised a worldwide alarm about the rising spread of resistance to older and cheaper antibiotics. Some countries with better monitoring systems, <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/Antibiotic-resistant-gonorrhoea/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the UN agency said in a statement</a>, found cases of resistance to all known antibiotics.
This case is one of the first of its kind. The man is reported to have visited a clinic earlier this year, and was given a combination of two antibiotics, azithromycin and ceftriaxone, that was known to be effective in getting rid of the disease. After the cocktail failed to wipe out the infection, the patient is now being treated with injections of a stronger antibiotic called ertapenem and will be tested again next month, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/694655/hpr1118_MDRGC.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PHE said in a report</a>.
As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/28/uk-man-super-strength-gonorrhoea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported by The Guardian</a>, the U.K. government agency Public Health England (PHE) revealed that the patient who caught the highly resistant strain had a female partner in the country, but might have been infected during a trip in Southeast Asia. Authorities are tracking down the man&#8217;s partners to try and contain the spread of the disease.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znnp-Ivj2ek?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhea is actually more common,&#8221; said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction expert with WHO, in <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/Antibiotic-resistant-gonorrhoea/en/">a 2017 press release</a>.
New <a href="https://futurism.com/the-development-of-new-drugs-isnt-matching-the-pace-of-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">antibiotics are hard to come by</a>. They are expensive to produce, and resistance evolves fast, thanks to their extensive use in agriculture and farming.
And we&#8217;re already feeling the effects. Superbugs claim the lives of up to 50,000 people every year in Europe and the U.S. alone, according to the U.K.&#8217;s <a href="https://amr-review.org/home.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Review on Antimicrobial Resistance</a>. Globally, drug resistant infections kill at least 700,000 people every year.
Those deaths are mostly due to resistance to cheap, widely-available antibiotics. What makes this gonorrhea case notable? So far it has resisted treatments previously considered very effective. Doctors are treating the patient with more powerful antibiotics in the hope they might finally work.
Until we have <a href="https://futurism.com/competition-pathogens-help-tackle-drug-resistance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more effective treatments</a> for gonorrhea and other antibiotic-resistant infections, the best way to try to avoid catching a potentially untreatable STI is the same that prevents a treatable one: protected sex.
So if you needed an extra reminder to stay safe in the boudoir, well, here you go.

Being the reason your doctors are freaked? Not ideal.

It's Happening: British man has first completely resistant strain of gonorrhea

Sci-Fi Visions

An case of super resistant gonorrhea has been recorded in the U.K. The patient is been treated with aggressive antibiotics, but the alarm is global.

It's Happening: British Man Has Uniquely Resistant Strain of Gonorrhea

"These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg."

It’s Happening: British Man Has Uniquely Resistant Strain of Gonorrhea

You&#8217;ve gotten a glimpse, by now, of the many ways in which your (seemingly irrelevant) <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-updated-its-privacy-settings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">personal data can be harvested by Facebook</a>, and some of the purposes that third parties can find for it.
In the interest of privacy, some <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-delete-facebook-spacex-and-tesl-zuckerberg-beef/">have concluded</a> that it&#8217;s high time to quit the network. But by now you might know: Deserting the platform is not enough to protect your privacy.
So if you choose to #deletefacebook, don&#8217;t be tricked into simply &#8220;deactivating&#8221; your account.
That option has no effect on your data, which remains in Facebook&#8217;s servers.
To make sure that is deleted too, The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/19/how-to-protect-your-facebook-privacy-or-delete-yourself-completely" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has a handy explainer</a>: Click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674?helpref=faq_content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on this help doc</a>, go through to the &#8220;let us know&#8221; link which leads you to the magic <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;delete&#8221; button</a>. Facebook has a hard time letting go, so that won&#8217;t go through for another couple of weeks (Facebook says that&#8217;s needed to process the request), plus 90 days (to actually wipe out your data from its servers).
But you&#8217;ll get there. At least, that&#8217;s what Facebook promises.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5UweUtZzNSM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
One experienced developer isn&#8217;t willing to take Facebook&#8217;s word for it. Kevin Matthew has worked in systems administration for 20 years, and<a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvxv4x/how-to-delete-facebook-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told Motherboard that</a> &#8220;everyone has data retention policies and backups&#8230; Facebook, with its infinite amount of resources, I can only begin to imagine how that data is being held and retained.”
He created a script that &#8220;poisons&#8221; your Facebook record, turning your posts into useless, junky strings of random letters. By running it over and over again, a big chunk of your posts will become a fog that the site&#8217;s algorithm can&#8217;t interpret. Although it&#8217;s currently only available to those who code, in the future the script might become an easy-to-use desktop app.
“Every little bit of information contributes to that invisible profile that they’re building of everyone,” Matthew told Motherboard. “If we can obfuscate it even a little bit, that at least puts the power back into your hands as an end user.”
We admit, it kind of sucks to have to delete your account. Ideally, Facebook, which has made its service integral to a substantial portion of the world population, would own up and make things right. But so far, that&#8217;s not happening. So the more tools you have to stand up for yourself and your privacy, the better.
Deleting your account may be a statement, but here&#8217;s one crappy thing to remember:  Facebook <a href="https://mashable.com/2018/03/19/escaping-facebook-delete-account/#of3QS9H92iqQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gathers data from all around the internet</a>, from people who don&#8217;t even own an account. That&#8217;s because of cookies, plus the seemingly random &#8220;Like&#8221; buttons scattered around sites, from retailers to digital publications.
Even deleting your account doesn&#8217;t rid you of Facebook&#8217;s control. And honestly we&#8217;re yet not sure how to avoid that one, short of throwing your devices in the ocean (don&#8217;t throw your devices in the ocean).

There are simple instructions to tell Facebook to dump your data. And more complex ones if you don't trust them to do so.

Don't just delete Facebook — delete well

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, users are rushing to delete Facebook. But our data could remain stored there without some simple tricks.

Don't Just Delete Facebook — Delete Well

"Deactivating" just doesn't cut it.

Don’t Just Delete Facebook — Delete Well

Snow. Penguins. Ice.
These are probably some of the things that come to mind when you think of Antarctica.
Meteorites are probably not among them.
But in fact, Antarctica is the best place to find meteorites. Its <a href="https://futurism.com/a-maine-sized-hole-has-opened-up-in-antarcticas-ice-blanket/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dry, cold climate</a> perfectly preserves the asteroid fragments that make it through the atmosphere and crash on Earth. The ice sheets that encapsulate the rocks create a sort of &#8220;meteorite conveyor belt,&#8221; concentrating them in areas where they are easier to collect, <a href="http://elementsmagazine.org/archives/e7_5/e7_5_dep_cosmoelements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CosmoElements </a><a href="http://elementsmagazine.org/archives/e7_5/e7_5_dep_cosmoelements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>. And the <a href="https://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/katabatic-winds-of-antarctica/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high-speed Katabatic winds</a> that blow across the surface of the ice help expose still-buried meteorites.
Yes, the region a special place for those space explorers who are keen to peer into the cosmos without leaving Earth.
Although meteorites are easier to find here, the explorers&#8217; journey is grueling, and some types of space fragments remain elusive. They have to make sure their technology works in Antarctica&#8217;s frigid temperatures, not to mention the process of actually going out to collect the samples.
In particular, iron meteorites are <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43567617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">underrepresented among the sample collected in Antarctica</a>. Scientists speculate this may be because the metal fragments get warm under the sun as they surface, melting the ice encapsulating them and causing them to quickly sink back in.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i_Qs7Arnff4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Researchers from Manchester University in the U.K. devised a system to tackle the problem. They used a special detector and a set of dummy meteorites buried at different depths to see if the system could locate them.
&#8220;A reconnaissance trip will help the team investigate which blue icefields that have not been visited before are productive for meteorite collection,&#8221; Katherine Joy, who will travel to Antarctica later this year to inspect potential stranding zones as part of the project, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43567617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told BBC</a>. &#8220;The outcomes of this initial search will help us to target where to take the full detector setup to test for buried meteorites.&#8221;
An expedition like this one may seem like expensive and perilous to those who see meteorites as just little more than rocks.
But all fragments of space objects that make it to our planet&#8217;s surface <a href="https://futurism.com/meteorites-earth-solve-mysteries-volcanoes-mars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have great value for science</a>.
For example: <a href="https://www.space.com/19274-antarctica-meteorite-hunters-ansmet.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the famous meteorite ALH84001</a>, found in Antarctica in 1984 by a team of U.S. scientists, is believed to have traveled all the way from Mars. For many years, it was thought to contain fossils of life forms similar to our bacteria.
Not all meteorites turn out to be so special. But they all teach astronomers about the origins of the solar system. And for researchers, that&#8217;s enough reason to brave Antarctica&#8217;s inhospitable conditions.

Worth creating technology that can work in Antarctica's frigid temperatures, and braving its winds.

Finding meteorites in Antarctica is grueling but worth it

Earth & Energy

Scientists are on the hunt for the elusive iron meteorites. They devised a system based on a metal detector that will be tested next year in Antarctica.

Finding Meteorites In Antarctica is Grueling but Worth It

They teach us a great deal about the origins of the solar system.

The Cordis hotel in Shanghai boasts proximity to railways and the airport, a beautiful pool, and double-filtered air. Indeed, air quality seems to be a selling point for this luxury hotel — each of its 396 rooms is equipped with a pollution monitor, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/27/china-clean-air-indoor-quality-shanghai-cordis-hongqiao-filters?CMP=fb_gu">The Guardian reports</a>.
Breathing clean air is the new cool in super-polluted cities such as Shanghai, Beijing or Delhi. And it&#8217;s just another way that the rich can afford to distinguish themselves from the poor, who are forced to constantly choke on sickening, polluted air.
In 2014, <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the WHO quantified</a> the effects of toxic air. It is, in short, thought to cause around 7 million premature deaths per year and is responsible for an array of medical conditions including lung cancer and heart attacks.
Governments have tried to<a href="https://scroll.in/article/864715/special-report-how-the-government-ignored-the-cost-of-pollution-and-undermined-its-clean-air-rules" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> downplay the issue</a>. But Asia&#8217;s megacities, the pollution crisis became too severe to ignore — the Chinese government was forced to take action or risk undermining its popularity <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/06/stop-making-our-children-sick-beijing-parents-force-government-action-over-smog/?utm_term=.5bb68ffe7bba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">among families worried for their children&#8217;s health</a>.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KLj1leaNFFE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Putting a literal price on clean air might not have been part of the plan, but it seems to be a natural result; the private sector has jumped on the opportunity to make a profit in the face of crisis. From <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/raising-kids-in-delhis-worsening-air" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expensive schools in Delhi</a>, attended by the children of the local elite or of rich expats, to luxury hotels like the Cordis, those who can afford it are making clean air a commodity.
“I think back to the days when everyone used to charge for the internet,”  John O’Shea, managing director of the Cordis,<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/27/china-clean-air-indoor-quality-shanghai-cordis-hongqiao-filters?CMP=fb_gu" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told The Guardian</a>. “Now the internet’s like hot water – if you don’t have high speed, fast, easy-access internet for free, then it’s over. The indoor air quality is going to be like that too – if you can’t guarantee your customers much better air quality than the competitors, it’s going to be a fait accompli. It’s already getting that kind of importance.&#8221;
In many parts of the world, wealth equals health (or, at least, gives you much more access to it). Prohibitive healthcare costs mean that, if you&#8217;re not wealthy, treating your diabetes or cancer may not be an option.
The pollution divide, too, may soon become the new normal.
Countries will undoubtedly continue efforts to clean up their air, but this will likely happen slowly. In the meantime, people who can&#8217;t afford to breathe better air <a href="https://futurism.com/researchers-find-pollution-biggest-global-threat-human-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">will keep suffering</a> from asthma, lung cancer and heart conditions.

And it's a selling point for luxury hotels.

Clean air is now a status symbol in the world's most polluted cities

TOPSHOT-CHINA-ENVIRONMENT-POLLUTION

In China and India, access to clean air is a status symbol. Hotels and schools offer purified air as part of their luxury portfolio.

Clean Air Is Now a Status Symbol in the World's Most Polluted Cities

Because you have to pay for it.

Clean Air Is Now a Status Symbol in the World’s Most Polluted Cities

60 days.
That&#8217;s how long it will take to produce and launch a rocket if the parts are 3D printed, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/relativity-space-series-b-round-3-d-printing-rockets-gets-35-million.html">according to the CEO</a> of Relativity Space, a startup that seeks to do just that.
Flying something made completely of 3D-printed parts into space sounds, frankly, pretty bonkers. But investors are on board. The Los Angeles-based startup recently secured $35 million to go ahead <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/relativity-space-series-b-round-3-d-printing-rockets-gets-35-million.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with its plan</a> to produce a fleet of spacecraft using one of the largest 3D printers known to man, known as Stargate.
Relativity is not the first company to bring 3D printing to space. <a href="http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/07/31/spacex-launches-3d-printed-part-space-creates-printed-engine-chamber-crewed">SpaceX</a> has done it for its reusable rockets, and <a href="https://futurism.com/what-nasas-first-3d-printed-rocket-parts-mean-for-the-space-launch-system/">even NASA</a> is looking into which spacecraft parts can be made more reliably and cheaply by 3D printers.
But Relativity stands alone in that it wants to print nearly all of a rocket — 95 percent of it — and by cutting the number of components that go into it, from <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/relativity-space-reveals-its-ambitions-with-big-nasa-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from 100,000 to fewer than 1,000</a>.
Since its launch in 2015, the company has raised more than $45 million, promising to speed up the production of rockets. The company plans to use this most recent cash infusion to buy a second Stargate printer, and to grow its staff.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oD3KvwUPTD8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A first round of tests on the company&#8217;s 3D-printed Aeon engines should be carried out before the end of the year. Relativity wants to put nine of those engines on its Terran rocket, which will have a 3D-printed booster, too. The company expects that each launch will cost about $10 million.
Relativity aims to send about 1,250 kg (2,756 pounds) into orbit. That&#8217;s minuscule compared to SpaceX&#8217;s Falcon Heavy <a href="http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy">payload</a> of 64,000 kg (64 metric tons, or 141,096 lbs), which is more than 50 times bigger, but quite a bit larger than the smallest rockets around, which can <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/rocket-lab-makes-it-into-orbit-nears-commercial-operations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carry up to 150 kilograms</a>.
But that&#8217;s just fine for Relativity. The company wants to tap into different markets, mostly launching <a href="https://qz.com/866776/a-billion-dollar-investment-from-japanese-tycoon-masayoshi-son-will-fuel-onewebs-ambitious-plan-to-deliver-fast-satellite-internet/">commercial telecommunication satellites into low orbit</a>, and feels no compulsion to compete with the likes of SpaceX or NASA. And if you consider that NASA recently made it clear that <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/223783/20180327/nasa-nope-we-won-t-be-buying-falcon-heavy-rockets-from-spacex.htm">it has no intention of buying SpaceX&#8217;s rockets</a>, Relativity&#8217;s plan seems to be a safer bet.
One day, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/relativity-space-reveals-its-ambitions-with-big-nasa-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ars Technica reports</a>, the startup hopes to send its rockets to Mars and back. But for now, it&#8217;s secured a solid foot on Earth, with a 20-year lease of NASA&#8217;s 25-acre E4 Test Complex at Stennis Space Center, in Mississippi.
Relativity plans to launch a first test flight by the end of 2020, Ars Technica notes. Should that be successful, commercial launches will begin in 2021.

One day, those rockets may even get to Mars and back.

A fully 3D-printed rocket is not as crazy as it seems. Investors agree.

California startup Relativity Space raised $35 million to expand its operation and make the dream of sending a 3D printed rocket into space a reality.

A Fully 3D Printed Rocket Is Not as Crazy as it Seems. Investors Agree.

Test flights may start in 2021.

A Fully 3D-Printed Rocket Is Not as Crazy as it Seems. Investors Agree.

Ever heard of the interstitium?
No? That&#8217;s OK, you&#8217;re not alone — scientists hadn&#8217;t either. Until recently.
And, hey, guess what — you&#8217;ve got one! The interstitium is your newest organ. Scientists identified it for the first time because they are better able to observe living tissues at a microscopic scale, according to a recent study published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23062-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in Scientific Reports</a>,
Scientists had long believed that connective tissue surrounding our organs was a thick, compact layer. That&#8217;s what they saw when they looked at it in the lab, outside the body, at least. But in a routine endoscopy (exploration of the gastrointestinal tract), a micro camera revealed something unexpected: When observed in a living body, the connective tissue turned out to be &#8220;an open, fluid-filled space supported by a lattice made of thick collagen bundles,&#8221; pathologist and study author Neil Theise <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/blog/post/interstitium" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Research Gate</a>. This network of channels is present throughout the body and works as a soft, elastic cushion, protecting the organs from external shocks as the body moves.
Theise suspects the sampling procedure used to make slides, previously the only way for scientists to inspect the tissue in detail, did change the specimens&#8217; shape. &#8220;Just taking a bite of tissue from this space allows the fluid in the space to drain and the supporting collagen bundles to collapse like the floors of a collapsing building,&#8221; he said.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CsJSn8vZQmM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Researchers could see tiny cracks in the tissue under the microscope, but they thought those cracks happened when the tissue was pulled too hard as it was loaded onto slides. &#8220;But these were not artifacts,&#8221; Theise said. &#8220;These were the remnants of the collapsed spaces. They had been there all the time. But it was only when we could look at living tissue that we could see that.&#8221;
But the interstitium isn&#8217;t just the &#8220;space between cells.&#8221; Theise and his collaborators think it should be reclassified as a proper organ because of its unique properties and structure which, Theise said, are &#8220;highly specific and dependent on the unique structures and cell types that form it.&#8221;
<q class="pullquote">They had been there all the time. But it was only when we could look at living tissue that we could see that.</q>
Better understanding of how our bodies work is never a bad thing. But scientists speculate that these useful properties could also work against us, allowing cancerous cells to spread throughout the body.
Theise&#8217;s team found that in patients with some types of malignant cancers, cells could leave the tissues where they originated and leak into these channels, eventually contaminating the lymphatic system. “Once they get in, it’s like they’re on a water slide,” the pathologist <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2164903-newly-discovered-human-organ-may-help-explain-how-cancer-spreads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told New Scientist</a>. “We have a new window on the mechanism of tumor spread.”
With further analysis of the fluid traveling across the interstitium, the researchers hope they may be able to <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-inch-closer-detecting-cancers-blood-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detect cancer much earlier</a> than they can today.

“We have a new window on the mechanism of tumor spread.”

There's a previously undiscovered organ in your body, and it could explain how cancer spreads

tissue in the microscopic view

Using a technique that explores living tissue in the body in detail, scientists discovered unexpected properties in what is now classified as a new organ.

There's A Previously Undiscovered Organ in Your Body, And It Could Explain How Cancer Spreads

It was there all along, but scientists couldn't see it.

There’s a Previously Undiscovered Organ in Your Body, And It Could Explain How Cancer Spreads

The 17 goals of the United Nations&#8217; <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> are so broad and ambitious that they seem almost ludicrous.
For example: the signatories want poverty &#8220;to end in all its forms everywhere&#8221; by 2030. Sure.
Plus, countries <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/930Report%20on%20Voluntary%20Commitments%20and%20Partnerships.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can agree they will do their best</a> to meet these goals, from reducing inequality to taking urgent action against climate change, but at the end of the day they&#8217;re all voluntary anyway. Let&#8217;s be real, it&#8217;s very unlikely this is going to happen as soon as 2030 (or ever, cynics may argue).
So why make these goals, and commit to them, in the first place?
The <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/sdg-tracker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our World in Data</a> initiative set out to answer this question. Its SDG Tracker collects data from official sources, such as the UN and the World Bank, and organizes them in maps and charts to help us track the progress (or regress) towards each goal. It incorporates contemporary data as well as the Millennium Development Goals, predecessors of the SDGs, have achieved.
Some indicators show an unfortunate trend — the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#road-incidents">number of deaths from road accidents</a>, for example, increased between 1990 and 2015. But things have improved in a number of key areas, from <a href="https://sdg-tracker.org/good-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maternal and child mortality</a> to deaths from HIV/AIDS. The number of <a href="https://sdg-tracker.org/no-poverty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">people in extreme poverty</a> dropped from from 2.2 billion in 1970 to 705.55 million in 2015.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5_hLuEui6ww?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Overall that tool shows us something critical about these voluntary, unrealistic goals: it shows they work. Lives of people around the world are better because of them.
That could mean that similar agreements could have their intended effect, too. The Paris Agreement, for example, is also voluntary. Though some argue that <a href="https://futurism.com/stick-our-climate-goals-paris-agreement-deliver-drier-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">these commitments are nowhere near enough</a> to save the climate, governments and corporations are now taking action in a way that seemed impossible before the deal.
This works because these voluntary schemes focus on the implementation of measures on the ground. The Montreal Protocol — the voluntary international agreement that reduced the number of CFCs entering the atmosphere — thousands of experts<a href="http://web.unep.org/ozonaction/who-we-are/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> deployed to individual </a>cities to help countries as a whole move away from CFCs.
The SDGs and the Paris Agreement work similarly, engaging <a href="https://ndcpartnership.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">businesses and administrations at the local level</a>.
If that sounds boring, think of what it&#8217;s achieved so far: Protecting the ozone layer may have avoided as much as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8233" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2 million skin cancer cases</a>, and while global population has more than doubled since the 1970s, extreme poverty has been cut in half. International voluntary pacts may seem just abstract PR, but the data shows that they may be the way to go if we want a better world.

This UN tracker shows that even far-fetched voluntary pledges actually make a difference

A new tool compares available data against the Sustainable Development Goals, showing that voluntary pledges can actually deliver on big promises.

This UN Tracker Shows That Even Far-Fetched Voluntary Pledges Actually Make a Difference

And may deliver on some huge promises.

We may soon be in the era of the electric car.
Today, they&#8217;re around of course, but they&#8217;re not yet ubiquitous. That may soon change, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg New Energy Finance</a> predicts — by 2025, some EV models could cost less than their gas-guzzling competitors.
The biggest reason? Lithium-ion batteries, a key component of tomorrow&#8217;s electric cars, are getting cheaper. Analysts suspect that is enough to make the price of electric cars go way, way down.
But let&#8217;s not get ahead of ourselves — the global electric car revolution is coming, but its timeline may not be speeding up so much. And there are a bunch of practical reasons why.
First, the researchers caution that for the price of electric cars to dip lower than that of petroleum cars, the cost of the battery pack needs to keep going down, even though <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261913002997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the price of lithium</a> and other components may increase in the future. Granted, a price drop may still be possible if they&#8217;re <a href="https://futurism.com/electric-vehicles-future-batteries-past/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mass produced</a>. China, for example, is racing to become a leader in EV manufacturing
China&#8217;s pushing EV adoption, too, going as far as suggesting a ban on oil-guzzling cars &#8220;in the near future,&#8221; <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/09/chinas-ban-on-gas-power-cars-still-wont-solve-its-charging-challenge/539388/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CityLab</a>. France and the United Kingdom also <a href="https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/07/france-gasoline-ban-paris-car-free-areas/532656/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced they will ban gasoline cars</a> by 2040, a sign of their commitment to alternative forms of transportation.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u32DCM5gI28?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
But ultimately, if electric cars are to really take off, countries will need a charging network big and efficient enough to actually work. When cars first became popular, gas stations started popped up, first in cities, then in smaller towns, eventually reaching even the most remote rural settlements. This spread was haphazard and over a long period of time, but today&#8217;s drivers know that wherever they go, they are almost certainly not going to run out of fuel.
The same can&#8217;t be said for electric cars. At least, not yet.
Numbers-wise, China is way ahead, with around 150,000 public charging points already; the U.S. has around 16,000. While China&#8217;s numbers may seem impressive, “I don’t think there are more than a couple dozen publicly available charging stations in any city,” Sabrina Howell, a New York University finance expert, <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/09/chinas-ban-on-gas-power-cars-still-wont-solve-its-charging-challenge/539388/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CityLab</a>.
Beijing plans to boost its network of charging stations to meet the demands of 5 million electric cars by 2020, but experts say that simply upping the numbers is not enough. For example, <a href="http://energypost.eu/charging-electric-vehicles-the-challenges-ahead/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charging several EVs at the same time</a> may cause brownouts if there&#8217;s not enough voltage in supply. Souping up the existing electric networks to make room for charging points would likely cost a fortune, studies found.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t get a sense that China has thought through the charging issue, and the economics of it,” said Henry Lee, the director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at Harvard University, <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/09/chinas-ban-on-gas-power-cars-still-wont-solve-its-charging-challenge/539388/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speaking with City Lab</a>, “Nor do I think that they have a business plan for it.&#8221;
When you think about it, putting charging points where drivers will need them most really doesn&#8217;t seem all that hard. After all, we equipped the world with gas stations without a business plan or a strategy at all.
But — but — it took a very long time to get there. As climate change threatens the way of life of billions of people around the globe, we don&#8217;t have that same luxury.
Even the <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-electric-car-battery-lasts-for-200-miles-and-charges-in-just-6-minutes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coolest, cheapest electric model </a>won&#8217;t win people over if they don&#8217;t know where to charge it.

The argument to buy an electric vehicle only works if there's a charging network to support it.

Electric cars may be cheaper than gas guzzlers in 7 years — if people actually buy them

Advanced Transport

EV maybe cheaper than gas fueled cars by 2025, but a clean transport revolution is not possible if countries don't upgrade their charging network.

/Author

Lou Del Bello

editor

Future Society

Super-Local Broadband May Be The Best Way to Preserve Net Neutrality

Off World

SpaceX Launched Another Falcon9, But Failed to Recover Its Nose Cone

Sci-Fi Visions

It’s Happening: British Man Has Uniquely Resistant Strain of Gonorrhea

Future Society

Don’t Just Delete Facebook — Delete Well

Earth & Energy

Finding Meteorites In Antarctica is Grueling but Worth It

Sci-Fi Visions

Clean Air Is Now a Status Symbol in the World’s Most Polluted Cities

Off World

A Fully 3D-Printed Rocket Is Not as Crazy as it Seems. Investors Agree.

Sci-Fi Visions

There’s a Previously Undiscovered Organ in Your Body, And It Could Explain How Cancer Spreads

Future Society

This UN Tracker Shows That Even Far-Fetched Voluntary Pledges Actually Make a Difference

Advanced Transport

Electric Cars May Be Cheaper Than Gas Guzzlers in 7 Years — If People Actually Buy Them

Load More