New ‘wiring diagram’ traces millions of brain connections
Researchers say they’ve accomplished a feat that was said to be impossible 46 years ago: mapping the cells in a cubic millimeter of brain tissue and tracing their activity.

The achievement, documented today in a set of research papers published by the Nature family of journals, is being c
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/04/09/new-wiring-diagram-traces-millions-of-brain-connections/
#GeekWire #Brain #Health #Neuroscience #Science

Starcloud raises another $10M for data centers in space
Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud got its start just last year under a different name — Lumen Orbit — but the newly renamed company is already filling out its seed funding round with $10 million in fresh investment for space-based data centers.

The new influx of capital comes after Dec
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/02/26/starcloud-raises-another-10m-for-data-centers-in-space/
#GeekWire #BigData #LumenOrbit #Satellites #Space #Starcloud

T-Mobile and SpaceX provide satellite links amid LA fires
T-Mobile has opened up direct-to-cellular emergency texting over SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network on a temporary basis in areas affected by this week’s catastrophic wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

In a news release, Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile said the satelli
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/01/10/t-mobile-and-spacex-provide-satellite-links-amid-la-fires/
#GeekWire #Satellites #SpaceX #Starlink #TMobile #Wildfires #Wireless

Affordable housing: The final frontier for space industry?
BELLEVUE, Wash. — The biggest applause line at a Bellevue Chamber event focusing on the Seattle area’s space industry came when attention was paid to a down-to-earth topic: housing affordability for the industry’s workers.

“They don’t just come here to work,” U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told the aud
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/10/17/affordable-housing-the-final-frontier-for-space-industry/
#GeekWire #Economics #Policy #Space

OceanGate whistleblower traces roots of tragedy
Whistleblower David Lochridge said today that his concerns about OceanGate and its approach to undersea exploration began long before the company built the submersible that imploded last year during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck.

Lochridge referred back to 2016, when
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/09/17/oceangate-whistleblower-traces-roots-of-tragedy/
#GeekWire #CoastGuard #OceanGate #Science #Submarines #Submersibles #Technology #Titanic

Hearings open a new act in OceanGate sub tragedy
The U.S. Coast Guard is beginning two weeks of public hearings into last year’s loss of OceanGate’s Titan submersible and its crew during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck — but even before the start of the hearings, the official in charge of the hearings made clear that t
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/09/15/hearings-open-a-new-act-in-oceangate-sub-tragedy/
#GeekWire #CoastGuard #OceanGate #Science #Submarines #Submersibles #Technology #Titanic

Starliner crew might have to return in a Dragon in 2025
Continuing concerns about the thruster system on Boeing’s Starliner space capsule may lead NASA to decide against letting astronauts take the craft back down to Earth from the International Space Station, mission managers said today.

In such a scenario, the
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/08/07/starliner-crew-might-have-to-return-in-a-dragon-in-2025/
#GeekWire #Boeing #Dragon #InternationalSpaceStation #NASA #Space #SpaceX #Starliner

Elon Musk’s views on artificial vision get a reality check
If Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain-implant venture succeeds in its effort to create next-generation brain implants for artificial vision, the devices could bring about a breakthrough for those with impaired sight — but pro
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/07/29/elon-musks-views-on-artificial-vision-get-a-reality-check/
#GeekWire #ArtificialVision #Brain #ElonMusk #Health #Medicine #Neuralink #Neuroscience #Science #UniversityOfWashington

Exhibit celebrates space station dreams and realities
The dream of having people live and work in space didn’t start with billionaire Jeff Bezos, or even with rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun. Instead, you’d have to look back at least as far as 1869 — a full century before humans walked on the moon.

That’s just one of the fu
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/06/08/exhibit-celebrates-space-station-dreams-and-realities/
#GeekWire #InternationalSpaceStation #MuseumOfFlight #Space #SpaceStations

Portal Space reveals plan for satellites fired up by the sun
A Seattle-area startup called Portal Space Systems is emerging from stealth to share its vision for a type of satellite that’s apparently never been put into space before: a spacecraft that uses the heat of the sun to spark its thrusters.

The technology, known a
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/04/30/portal-space-reveals-plan-for-satellites-fired-up-by-the-sun/
#GeekWire #Military #PortalSpaceSystems #Satellites #Space #SpaceForce

How to find signs of extraterrestrial life in a grain of ice
Scientists have verified that a method to look for cellular life on Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter, just might work. The technique could be put to the test in the 2030s, when NASA’s Europa Clipper probe is due to make multiple flybys over the Jovia
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/03/22/how-to-find-signs-of-extraterrestrial-life-in-a-grain-of-ice/
#GeekWire #Astrobiology #Enceladus #Europa #NASA #Space #UniversityOfWashington

First Mode’s clean-tech factory uses smart tech as well
There’s not much that’s bolted down the floor of the 40,000-square-foot factory in Seattle’s SoDo district where First Mode plans to build powertrain conversion kits for mining trucks — and that’s by design.

“The factory itself represents the latest in smart manufacturing,” First Mode CE
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/02/21/first-modes-clean-tech-factory-uses-smart-tech-as-well/
#GeekWire #Environment #FirstMode #Mining #Technology

Scientists take a freeze-frame look at excited electrons
An international team of scientists has blazed a new trail for studying how atoms respond to radiation, by tracking the energetic movement of electrons when a sample of liquid water is blasted with X-rays.

The experiment, described in this week
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/02/16/scientists-take-a-freeze-frame-look-at-excited-electrons/
#GeekWire #Chemistry #PacificNorthwestNationalLaboratory #Science #UniversityOfWashington #Xrays

Astrobotic admits moon lander mission will fall short
Astrobotic says that it’s given up on its plan to put a commercial spacecraft safely on the moon’s surface, due to a propellant leak that will soon leave its Peregrine lander without fuel.

The Pittsburgh-based company said there was no indication that the leak occurred as the result of the lander’s launch by Un
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/01/09/astrobotic-admits-moon-lander-mission-will-fall-short/
#GeekWire #Astrobotic #Moon #Space

Propulsion failure puts moon lander’s mission at risk
Hours after the launch of its commercial moon lander, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic reported a failure within the robotic spacecraft’s propulsion system that could rule out a soft landing.

“Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant,” Astrobo
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/01/08/propulsion-failure-puts-moon-landers-mission-at-risk/
#GeekWire #Astrobotic #Moon #NASA #Space

Amazon reveals that its satellites are using lasers
Ending years of speculation, Amazon has acknowledged that its Project Kuiper satellites will use laser-based links to communicate with each other, and says the system has already been successfully tested in orbit.

Such a system — known as optical inter-satellite links, or OISL — p
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/12/14/amazon-reveals-that-its-satellites-are-using-lasers/
#GeekWire #Amazon #Broadband #Laser #ProjectKuiper #Satellites #Space

Helijet plans to buy electric air taxis for B.C. flights
Vancouver, B.C.-based Helijet International has placed firm orders with Vermont-based Beta Technologies for a fleet of electric-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, or eVTOLs.

The aircraft, popularly known as flying taxis, are currently slated to
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/10/31/helijet-plans-to-buy-electric-air-taxis-for-b-c-flights/
#GeekWire #Aviation #BetaTechnologies #ElectricPropulsion #eVTOL #Helijet #Technology