Rubin observatory will be a new step in accessing far reaches of space
Funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy's Office of Science, and located on an Andean mountain in Chile, its unprecedented telescopic and camera capacity will secure data and imagery essential to further knowledge of the dark energy and dark matter composing most of the universe.
In my opinion, telescopic exploring of the cosmos, along with extraterrestrial probes and telescopes, deserve top priority over anything like a plan to colonize Mars. Cannot far-flung telescopes, robotic craft and AI be combined to obviate the need for human presence requiring a transported environment? Would that not be a better investment of resources? Putting humans on Mars would be a new place for old problems.
Thomas Hughson SJ, emeritus Marquette University, Milwaukee
Letters: Wisconsin GOP's real problem is lousy campaigns, not party chairman Schimming
Opinion: Statistics don't support UW-Milwaukee shuttering materials engineering program
Here are some tips to get your views shared with your friends, family, neighbors and across our state:
Please include your name, street address and daytime phone.
Generally, we limit letters to 200 words.
Cite sources of where you found information or the article that prompted your letter.
Be civil and constructive, especially when criticizing.
Avoid ad hominem attacks, take issue with a position, not a person.
We cannot acknowledge receipt of submissions.
We don't publish poetry, anonymous or open letters.
Each writer is limited to one published letter every two months.
All letters are subject to editing.
Write: Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 330 E. Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 500, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. Fax: (414)-223-5444. E-mail: jsedit@jrn.com or submit using the form that can be found on the on the bottom of this page.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Telescopes, robots, AI could end need for human transport | Letters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Reveal What Happens to Your Body When You Drink Coffee Every Day
A new study linked daily coffee consumption to a potentially longer life. We asked experts to explain how the morning delicacy can have such an impact. There are a few catches. The ritual of brewing and sipping fresh coffee each morning is one many of us look forward to, and a new study's findings may give you the push to pour another cup. Researchers connected coffee consumption to mortality among a large population of participants and found that coffee may actually help you live longer, with a few caveats. Meet the Experts: David Perlmutter, M.D., a neurologist and fellow of the American College of Nutrition and Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., a cardiology dietitian at Entirely Nourished. Keep reading to learn more about how your daily cup of joe may offer you more than a jolt of energy and happiness. Researchers tracked the self-reported coffee drinking habits of over 46,000 U.S. adults for nearly a decade. Participants disclosed how they drank their java. Regular or decaf? With sugar and milk or without? If with, how much? They then compared that information to National Death Index data to deduce how coffee consumption could have impacted mortality from all causes, including cancer and heart disease. After examining the data, researchers found that drinking one to three cups of coffee per day was linked to a reduced risk of death from all causes, 'especially when the coffee is black or has minimal added sugar and saturated fat,' explains David Perlmutter, M.D., a neurologist and fellow of the American College of Nutrition. Specifically, they found that drinking black coffee or coffee with less than 2.5 grams (or a little more than a half-teaspoon) of sugar and less than a gram of saturated fat from milk or cream per 8-ounce cup was associated with a 14% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to not drinking coffee at all, Dr. Perlmutter adds. The catch here is, the study also found that most Americans add around 3.2 grams of sugar and a half-gram of saturated fat to each mug, which means the majority of coffee drinkers are less likely to get its life-extending benefits. 'This is the problem with so many coffee specialty drinks that seem to be so popular,' Dr. Perlmutter says. There is plenty of existing research that purports coffee's health boost. Without added sugar or fat, it's a naturally good source of antioxidants like polyphenols and chlorogenic acid, explains Dr. Purlmutter. 'These components and others help fight inflammation and oxidative stress,' he adds, both of which are contributors to chronic disease. That's how coffee may help reduce risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and congnitive decline, 'all of which influence lifespan,' he concludes. Coffee's caffeine content can even exhibit perks by improving alertness, metabolism, and brain health, Dr. Pelrmutter says. However, there is such a thing as overdoing it and reaping negative side-effects such as anxiety, increased blood pressure, heart palpitations, digestive issues, and insomnia, says Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., a cardiology dietitian at Entirely Nourished. She adds that a 'very high coffee intake may also slightly reduce calcium absorption, potentially affecting bone health.' The study supports drinking one to three cups of black or minimally altered coffee per day. Dr. Perlmutter recommends keeping sugars below 2.5 grams and saturated fats below 1 gram per cup by using low-fat milk or plant-based creamer alternatives. Routhenstein adds that if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have otherwise been prescribed a specific caffeine intake, follow your doctor's recommendations. Lastly, to avoid over-caffeination, Dr. Perlmutter suggests enforcing a 'coffee curfew' that marks the time of day after which you turn off the pot. 'I generally recommend 2 p.m. to minimize coffee's impact on sleep,' he concludes. You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
Geek Tyrant
an hour ago
- Geek Tyrant
Honest Trailers Goes Full Ludicrous Speed on SPACEBALLS — GeekTyrant
Screen Junkies just dropped an Honest Trailer for Spaceballs , and it's a gloriously stupid, perfectly timed tribute to Mel Brooks' sci-fi parody masterpiece, specially now that Spaceballs 2 is officially on the way. The video rockets through everything that made the original film a chaotic gem like Rick Moranis as the congested Dark Helmet, Yogurt's low-rent mysticism, Barf being his own best friend, flamethrowers, virgin alarms, and that cursed Alien musical number. It amusingly jokes about shameless merchandising, fourth-wall breaks, and the iconic password gag "12345?!", while also reminding us just how ahead of its time it was in skewering Star Wars and the entire culture of blockbuster branding. As the Schwartz reawakens, Honest Trailers reminds us why this galaxy of dumb jokes and cheap effects still rules, because in the end, we ain't found shit… quite like it.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Obtains Permit to Spew Pollution
In the city that built the blues, Elon Musk's xAI data center has been given permission to keep polluting the air with fumes from burning methane gas — which it had already been doing so without authorization for a year. As Wired reports, Memphis' local health department has granted an air permit for the xAI data center, allowing it to keep operating the methane gas turbines that power Musk's Grok chatbot and Colossus, the gigantic supercomputer at its heart. In Boxtown, the historically Black neighborhood in South Memphis where xAI's data center is situated, Musk's unfettered pollution has ripped the band-aid off a wound that had barely begun to heal. As Capital B News reported earlier this year, the neighborhood was once home to the Allen Fossil Plant, an electrical facility that left pits of noxious coal ash and a lengthy legacy of environmental racism behind when it was forced to close in 2018. In the year since the data center opened and Colossus went online, the smog from Musk's gas turbines has been veritably choking out local residents in a district already struggling with heightened asthma rates due to its proximity to industrial pollution. "I can't breathe at home," Boxtown resident Alexis Humphreys told Politico earlier this year. "It smells like gas outside." Given that context, local activists are furious that xAI was granted a permit at all — especially because it appears to violate the Clean Air Act, a landmark federal law that regulates the kind of emissions that the xAI plant has been leaching out for a year now. "I am horrified but not surprised," conceded KeShaun Pearson, the head of the Memphis Community Against Pollution, in an interview with Wired after the permit decision came down. "The flagrant violation of the Clean Air Act and the disregard for our human right to clean air, by xAI's burning of illegal methane turbines, has been stamped as permissible." "Over 1,000 people submitted public comments demanding protection," he continued, "and got passed over for a billionaire's ambitious experiment." The new permit, as Wired notes, grants xAI the right to operate 15 turbines. According to aerial footage from the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is planning to sue the Musk-owned AI company for violating the Clean Air Act, there are as many as 35 on the site of the xAI data center — and with its track record of flagrant law-breaking, there's a good chance all will be turned on. Between the SELC's suit and the permit's year-long expiration date, there is time for Musk's massively-polluting data center to be reined in — but until that happens, Memphians will keep being choked out in their own homes thanks to their government's decision to put one billionaire's profit margins over its own people. More on xAI: Grok AI Went Off the Rails After Someone Tampered With Its Code, xAI Says
