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rfmcdonald ([personal profile] rfmcdonald) wrote2019-05-01 02:39 pm

[NEWS] Five sci-tech links: laufmaschine, rocket scavenging, seasteading, Jasons, Moon


  • CityLab reports on a replica of a remarkable proto-bicycle, the laufmaschine, first built in 1815 in response to the climate catastrophe of Mount Tambora.

  • This Wired feature looking at how northern Russians scavenged and reused rocket components launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome is evocative.

  • Seasteading, it turns out, is something that should not be undertaken in waters already claimed by a sovereign power. The National Post reports.

  • The Jasons, a think tank of prominent scientists on contract with the Pentagon for decades, are looking for new backers after their contract's end. NPR reports.

  • Nicole Javorsky reports at CityLab on remarkable efforts to try to seriously plan the design of an outpost on the Moon.