Space Station Sunday: The Hair Up There

This week, the International Space Station welcomed three new crewmates, NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Yelena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev. Their Soyuz space capsule blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan last Thursday afternoon, and docked safely at the ISS after a six-hour flight.

Cosmonaut Serova is an interesting addition to the ISS crew. According to the BBC, the 38-year-old engineer has been training for seven years for her role on the ISS, where she now holds the title of the first-ever Russian female cosmonaut on the space station. One of only four Russian female cosmonauts to ever go into space, Serova has tolerated annoying questions regarding her femininity as it pertains to her job, replying to one question on her prospective hairstyling in space with the rejoinder, "Aren't you interested in the hair styles of my {male} colleagues?" (Full disclosure: during the World Cup, we sure were.)

Regarding the other new crew members, according to NASA, cosmonaut Samokutyaev is currently on his second tour of duty to the ISS, having previously served as a flight engineer on Expedition 27/28 in 2011. Astronaut Wilson is the former pilot of the space shuttle Atlantis, and spent 11 days on the ISS during a mission in 2009.

The delivery of the new crew was the second arrival at the ISS last week, as an unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule successfully docked on Tuesday. The capsule contains, among other things, a special delivery of zebrafish, which will live in the Japanese "Kibo" module's Aquatic Habitat and will be studied for their particular manifestations of muscle atrophy (a major problem in micro-gravity.) Hopefully the research will allow new breakthroughs to be made in counteracting this issue.

Other experiments delivered by the Dragon include a Rapid Scatterometer, which examines how winds over the Earth's oceans can affect weather patterns. A delivery of experimental mice were also transported up, along with a habitat and research tools pertinent to the mice-mission. No word has yet been offered on how the mice plan on styling their fur.

See you next week...watch this space!

The new crew celebrates their safe arrival on the ISS.  Serova, front left, has proven her media-fascinating hair choice (a classic bun) to be stylistically auspicious in the micro-gravity environment (which is prone to creating bad hair days.)  

Dead Drop: Darknet Service Will Be Your Whistleblower If You Mysteriously Disappear

It's hard out there for a whistleblower.  With Bradley "Chelsea" Manning in extreme custody, Edward Snowden hiding out in Russia, and numerous other knowledge-droppers dead under sketchy circumstances, one would be deterred before breathing a word of any new top-secret info - no matter how damning.  However, if you do happen to have your hands on some hot intel, and fear for your safety because of it, a new service will release your documents if you end up disappearing or dead.

The service, called Dead Man Zero, is accessible only through the deep web.  According to vice.com, it costs around $120 (paid in bitcoin.)  One uploads their files to a secure cloud, then the site requires password updates (set at a variable time preference by the user), which if not established will trigger a release of the documents to the user's desired outlets (lawyers, journalists, etc.)

“So what if something happens to you?” Dead Man Zero's site ponders. "Especially if you're trying to do something good like blow the whistle on something evil or wrong in society or government. There should be consequences if you are hurt, jailed, or even killed for trying to render a genuine and risky service to our free society...Now you have some protection. If 'something happens' to you, then your disclosures can be made public regardless.”

It adds, "If events overtake you, you can still overtake your adversaries."

Of course, for anyone paranoid enough to use this service, a secondary dose of worry ensues.  Is the cloud secure enough?  Will the site sustain long enough to make certain my documents really do survive me?  Will they follow through with their promise despite what the intel may contain?  Yes, it is a gamble.  But so is possessing information worthy of this kind of necessity.  For true protection of what is too dangerous for public knowledge, it's either a service like this, or a buried chest full of documents and some keys distributed to your close associates...which do you feel is truly the safest?

You could always test their security by uploading a treasure map to the cloud and laying booby traps for anyone who comes after it.  Just an option.

Seared And Re-Engineered: Bioprinting "Living Bandages" For Burn Victims

The 3D printing revolution surges forward, and is now able to literally heal your wounds.  Scientists announced this week that 3D printed skin cells will be able to be applied to burned flesh to make it heal faster and become new again.

This amazing new development, as reported by the International Business Times, was invented at the University of Toronto, and takes an innovative approach to burn treatment.  While the successive layers of exterior and interior skin tissue (epidermis and dermis) have different cell structures and would normally require careful construction to individually repair, the scientists working on the PrintAlive project have created a "living bandage" to safely ensconce the wounded area in a healing hydrogel.

The PrintAlive bioprinter creates what is not exactly a skin graft, but rather an amalgamation of the patient's own skin tissue cells (keratinocytes and fibroblasts) along with cell nutrients, which fuse with a biopolymer that is then printed in stripes or spots to localize care as needed by the recipient.  The successive layers of skin tissue are printed together, so they will interact with the body as normally as possible to protect the damaged flesh until the wound heals itself.

Despite human trials being some 2-3 years away, the PrintAlive technology was advanced enough to win Canada's division of the prestigious James Dyson award in 2014.  The award is given to "the best student industrial or product projects in 18 countries that are able to solve a problem." They will now be competing internationally for a grand prize of $50,000 in funds.

But remember kids, just because we have this...

...doesn't mean you should do this.

Different Money For Your Different Life: Paypal Now Accepts Cryptocurrency For Digital Items

Bit by bit, digital currencies are becoming more mainstream.  With a variety of new places to spend your e-loot, it's no surprise to see Paypal is now accepting bitcoin for digital dealings.

As reported by techcrunch.com, this idea has been underway for some time, with Ebay CEO John Donahoe saying that digital currency would play "an important role" for the company.  Wikipedia, Overstock, and other companies have already joined the cryptocurrency club, spurring Paypal's involvement.  They will generate profits from referral fees, which is normal for these type of transactions.

“PayPal is playing the role of the intermediary, but the cost will be left up to the merchant and the payment processor,” said Scott Ellison, a senior director at PayPal.

Paypal will collaborate with the BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin services to secure the cryptocurrency transactions. Currently this will be available for vendors of digital items only, and exclusively in the United States. However, as this technology grows in popularity, many more items in a wider market could be available thanks to your bit-bank.

It's for digital items only!  Get back in the screen, e-presents!

New "Wakie" App To Frighten You Awake

Some people just need that extra nudge to get themselves out of bed in the morning (or midafternoon...we understand.)  Now, a new app is available to outsource your alarm clock and force you to interact your way awake.

According to metro.co.uk, the "Wakie" app was created by Armenian entrepreneur Hrachik Adjamian, and it operates on a simple principal: getting talked awake. It sounds nightmarish to some, but it might be just the thing to motivate a particularly recalcitrant rester.  The Wakie app has a random stranger call you at the desired time, and say...something, anything...to get you awake.

Could it be creepy?  Sure.  But Wakie is already popular in Russia, and that means while you're waking up in America, you could have some happy-hour vodka-infused Russian on the other side of the world barking you awake.

Wakie not only helps you return the favor by searching for "Sleepies" you can rouse, but it also tries to match you up with someone of the opposite gender.  You know, so you can jump right into that "get the hell out of bed and get to work goddamnit" stage of the relationship.

You can download Wakie here.  Sweet dreams!

The wrong side of the bed has gone worldwide.

UPS To Offer 3D Printing; Personal Action Figure Fabrications Expected To Skyrocket

The amazing rise in popularity of 3D printing has taken the technology everywhere from construction to medicine to the International Space Station.  But how does the everyday person avail themselves of its use?  You may need to look no further than your local UPS.

According to money.cnn.com, UPS will be offering 3D printing for customers at 100 participating stores.  They will be the first major US retailer to do so, and the capabilities they offer are extensive.  Using Stratasys 3D printers to create objects from customer-submitted designs, one could concoct anything from a horde of toy soldiers to an entire femur bone (although the latter would run you about $325, it seems like it could be really worth it in a time of need.)

UPS will also offer assistance to connect patrons with outside professionals who specialize in creating 3D file designs, which would be crafted at an hourly rate.  As for the objects themselves, simple items take five or six hours for fabrication, while something more detailed may take over a day (so if you've got your eye on one of those fancy new 3D printed skulls, be sure to give yourself enough time for your replacement to be printed before you try out that self-trepanation.)

Pretty cool, but the installation is such a headache.

The demand at 6 pilot UPS stores was enough to warrant the increase in 3D printer availability.  Who knows, someday you might not need UPS to ship anything at all...your recipient could just pick up their 3D-printed present at the other end of the line.

Wonder how quickly they'll get tired of printing out legions of personal action figures? (Image: photographer Jens Lennartsson's 3D-printed mini-clones.)

R2BeerMe, You're On Fire! New Beer "Droid" Livens Up Office Parties

Need a barman for your next bash, but don't want to hire a human or force one of your friends to mind the taps all night? Thanks to the glory of technology, one company solved that problem. Meet R2BeerMe.

Named after the famous "Star Wars" robot R2D2, this drink-droid is a motorized, remote-controlled beer "kegerator" (mini-fridge turned keg cooler, with tap.) As reported by bizjournals.com, R2BeerMe was created by real estate adviser Charlie Wolff, and it generally tends to protocol by scooting around his firm's office on a modified wheelchair chassis.

Wolff was inspired by hospitality carts that circled his company office during parties, and he rolled with the idea. "In a parallel universe, I had aspirations of building an RC lawn mower," he said. "Everyone has a garage project, right? So, I had put together a wheelchair base under radio control."

R2BeerMe has been known to sport a camera, mood lighting, sound effects, and even a different costumes (including Pancho Villa) for events of all sorts. But most importantly, he's full of beer. And that's a Force you want to be with you.

Now he just needs his sidekick, C-3POT.