Lifeboat Foundation

How could we one day travel between the stars with real physics? Perhaps the greatest challenge to interstellar flight is energetics — it takes vast amounts of energy to accelerate even small ships to 20% the speed of light. But what if we could steal that energy from where? Perhaps even a black hole. Enter the “halo drive”, a video by Prof David Kipping based on his new peer-reviewed research paper on the subject.

This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.

Continue reading “The Halo Drive” »

The Kardashev Scale has become a standardized way of classifying (hypothetical) advanced civilizations. The lowest rank, Type 1, is still way ahead of us — but by how much? When will we achieve Type 1 status and exactly how could we plausibly do so? In this video, we go through some estimates of when humanity might become Type 1, and in particular what kind of energy sources we could harness to achieve this feat.

You can now support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.

Continue reading “Becoming a Kardashev Type I Civilization” »

Backwards through time? We travel forwards every day, but traveling back could let us change our past, visit old friends, or manipulate the timeline to our benefit… Although our knowledge of space and time remains incomplete, we can still use what we know to consider possible time machines. But what kind of paradoxes would this entail and how can we resolve them? Join us today on a special journey through time.

An educational video written and presented by Professor David Kipping.

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The Rare Earth Hypothesis suggests that our planet may the product of an incredibly improbable sequence of events, and thus perhaps intelligent life is extremely rare in the cosmos. Here we tackle this highly influential idea and the arguments behind it. But, digging deeper, we’ll uncover some problems with the Rare Earth idea — some of which strike to the very core of our scientific quest.

Written & presented by Prof David Kipping.

Continue reading “The Problem With ‘The Rare Earth Hypothesis’” »

Let’s talk about AI Art, Lensa, ChatGPT, and why it’s all deeper than you think.

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Continue reading “The Truth About AI Getting ‘Creative’” »

Black holes are known as the most terrifying, mysterious, and fascinating objects in the Universe. Eternally hungry, they eat everything in their path and are constantly expanding. But how small and how big can a black hole be? Unlike stars and planets, black holes have no size restrictions. They grow when they eat the matter around them. Does it mean that they can be not only super large but super small? Let’s find out!

#brightside.

Continue reading “How Strong Would Be a Black Hole the Size of a Coin” »

HEXATRACK-Space Express Concept Connecting Lunar &Martian City (Lunar & Mars Glass) and Beyond — SHORT VERSIONHEXATRACK-Space Express Concept, designed and created by Yosuke A. Yamashiki, Kyoto University.
Lunar Glass & Mars Glass, designed and created by Takuya Ono, Kajima Co. Ltd.
Visual Effect and detailed design are generated by Juniya Okamura.
Concept Advisor Naoko Yamazaki, AstronautSIC Human Spaceology Center, GSAIS, Kyoto UniversityVR of Lunar&Mars Glass — created by Natsumi Iwato and Mamiko Hikita, Kyoto University.
VR contents of Lunar&Mars Glass by Shinji Asano, Natsumi Iwato, Mamiko Hikita and Junya Okamura.
Daidaros concept by Takuya Ono.
Terraformed Mars were designed by Fuka Takagi & Yosuke A. Yamashiki.
Exoplanet image were created by Ryusuke Kuroki, Fuka Takagi, Hiroaki Sato, Ayu Shiragashi and Y. A. Yamashiki.
All Music (” Lunar City” “Martian”“Neptune”) are composed and played by Yosuke Alexandre Yamashiki.

“Our goals were to explore the new sound world created by using new materials”

Only musicians can understand how grueling and challenging it is to play the violin. Violins, even mediocre ones, are worth thousands of dollars. Good news for music students and beginners, they will meet with low-cost and durable 3D-printed violins thanks to The Acoustical Society of America’s AVIVA Young Artists Program.

As stated in the release, today in Nashville, Mary-Elizabeth Brown, director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program discussed the steps taken and the lessons learned in her presentation, Old meets new: 3D printing and the art of violin-making.

Continue reading “Researchers 3D-print low-cost and durable violins for music students” »

A technique that uses nanoscale structures to reproduce colour has been employed to make copies of famous paintings, and could also help fight counterfeiting.