A new hunt for ET could well find AI on non-Earthlike worlds

NewScientist

AS WE discover planets across our galaxy – and perhaps beyond – it is right that the search for alien entities should be stepped up. Breakthrough Listen, a $100-million project led by the Russian billionaire and venture capitalist Yuri Milner, is set to reinvigorate the hunt for ET.

'Impossible' rocket drive works and could get to Moon in four hours

Telegraph

Interplanetary travel could be a step closer after scientists confirmed that an electromagnetic propulsion drive, which is fast enough to get to the Moon in four hours, actually works.

The EM Drive was developed by the British inventor Roger Shawyer nearly 15 years ago but was ridiculed at the time as being scientifically impossible.

It produces thrust by using solar power to generate multiple microwaves that move back and forth in an enclosed chamber. This means that until something fails or wears down, theoretically the engine could keep running forever without the need for rocket fuel.

Planetary Resources takes a giant step toward space mining

interesting engineering

Forty six years ago, Neil Armstrong took that one small step for a man; here in 2015, that journey has taken some epic strides. The New Horizons mission is gathering unprecedented data from Pluto and other Kuiper Belt Objects – And as if that could be topped – Planetary Resources takes a giant step toward space mining.

Space Tech Makes Everything Better, Even Wind Farms

Wired

The history of innovation is full of happy accidents. The World Wide Web? Came from particle physicists at CERN who wanted easier internal communication. Wi-Fi? Invented by radio astronomers in Australia trying to detect pulses of radio waves from exploding black holes. And it took a failed space mission to fix the one of the biggest problems in green energy: The awful grinding noise of a wind farm at work.