Ray Blanco:

Moss Survives 9 Months Outside NASA Space Station, Returns to Earth Ready To Reproduce

For humanity to establish a sustained presence in space, cultivating plants is essential for survival. And now, researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan have conducted experiments to understand moss survival outside the International Space Station (ISS).

Mosses are exceptionally resilient plants that thrive in extreme environments on Earth, including high-altitude peaks, deserts, polar regions, and volcanic fields. The team wanted to test the plant’s endurance in harsh space conditions. 

As part of the experiment, moss sporophytes — spore-encasing reproductive structures — were mounted outside the ISS for nine months.

Surprisingly, over 80% of the spores successfully survived and were still capable of reproducing and germinating back in the lab. This study is the first to showcase the long-term survival of an early land plant in space conditions.

“The moss spores retained their vitality after nine months of direct exposure," said Tomomichi Fujita, lead author. "This provides striking evidence that the life that has evolved on Earth possesses, at the cellular level, intrinsic mechanisms to endure the conditions of space."

The experiments could help advance the use of mosses to develop agricultural systems in space, ultimately contributing to the construction of ecosystems in extraterrestrial environments like the Moon and Mars.

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Davis Wilson:

Nvidia’s Record $57B Revenue and Upbeat Forecast Quiets AI Bubble Talk

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang struck a bullish tone in the company’s third-quarter earnings. And based on the company’s results, there may be reason to.

Nvidia reported revenue of $57 billion in the third quarter, 62% higher compared to the same quarter last year. The company’s net income on a GAAP basis was $32 billion, 65% higher year-over-year. Both revenue and profit results beat Wall Street expectations.

The revenue picture shows a company booming thanks largely to its data center business. Revenue generated by Nvidia’s data center business was a record $51.2 billion, up 25% from the previous quarter and up 66% from a year ago. The remaining $5.8 billion in revenue came from Nvidia’s gaming business with $4.2 billion, followed by sales in professional visualization and automotive.

Importantly, Nvidia is forecasting more growth with a projected revenue of $65 billion in the fourth quarter, helping push its share price up more than 4% in after-hours trading.

The upshot in Huang’s view: Forget about the bubble, there is only growth.

“There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” Jensen said during the earnings call. “From our vantage point, we see something very different.”

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Chris Campbell:

Drones Are Delivering Life-Saving Defibrillators to 911 Calls

A collaborative team of health experts, community organizations, and universities are in the middle of a pilot program using drones and automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Led by Duke Health and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, EMS responders are now deploying drones AEDs to certain 911 calls in Forsyth County, North Carolina.

Over 350,000 people experience cardiac arrest every year in the U.S. When that happens, time is crucial – and AEDs are key to saving lives. Although 90% of patients survive if an AED is administered within the first minute, such a rapid response is often out of the question, unless a patient is already in a healthcare facility.

Unlike an ambulance or firetruck, a lowflying drone isn’t beholden to traffic slowdowns or winding streets. Researchers like Monique Starks at Duke suspect that deploying drones in conjunction with EMS workers may offer opportunities to provide faster AED deliveries.

“By integrating drone technology into emergency care, we’re working to close the critical gap between cardiac arrest and treatment, and that has the potential to save thousands of lives,” Starks said in a statement.

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