Progress on harnessing spider silk; Unexpected energy in "empty" space; Zapping brains to improve concentration; Accidential characterization of Martian dust; A toothbrush that generates electricity to shock your teeth; Blue Origin's New Glenn updates; A temperature record in space; New history of Celtic and Germanic languages
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202610.31
Lucy reaches the Trojan asteroids, Starfall delivers for AFRL, Voyager keeps going, the ISAM state of play in 2026, a new pointing-based human-machine interface, cadmium from waste, and an RFI on Hubble servicing missions.
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202610.24
Improved Martian helicopter blades, SMD's new approach to science mission selection, a comparison of creativity in adults and children, amino acid in alien ice, understanding dark matter through its unexplained absence, impacts of Falcon 9's impending retirement, and poplar proprioception.
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202610.17
Call for commercial space stations, opportunistic heat shield testing, Vulcan return to flight, garlic-power sensors, no more hypernovae, and improved alloys from contaminated metal recycling stocks
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202610.10
Model of haze in Venus atmosphere, a planet rising from the ashes of its predecessors, a brain-computer interface that works through hair, quantum entanglement to increase stability of quantum effects, a material that is also a robot, AI helps improve battery chemistry, a 3D printed microplastic filter, and Artemis II data is now available.
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202610.03
Highly accurate Lu+ timekeeping, Starship's Raptor engine over time and in orbit, and NASA's additional investment in Boeing's troubled Starliner capsule.
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202609.19
Clues on 3I/Atlas's formation environment, Rocket Lab challenges Blue Origin for Mars infrastructure, science says reading is good for you, special spin feature, taking T. Rex's temperature, and 3D printing with sound
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202609.12
Mathematics of percolation, experiments in quantum gravity, lunar surface technology call for proposals, a singularity in Navier-Stokes, variations on triboelectricity, drugs as the catalyst for civilization, and textured electrodes for better batteries.
Ideas and Innovations Newsletter – 202609.05
Roman Space Telescope launch, Martian asymmetry explained, a possible dark matter particle detection, and NASA selects Blue Origin for Martian telecommunication.
Comment Opportunity – NASA Technology Shortfalls
NASA is working on updating the shortfalls list, and they’ve changed the format in a way that maintains the detail while eliminating some of the overlaps and providing a higher-level basis for the ranking of shortfalls against each other.
