Inside NASA’s Mars Rover Remote Control Rooms

Given the universal directive to practice social distancing, even NASA’s teams work remotely. That means those in command of the current Mars Curiosity Rover mission control it from their homes. The predicament forced NASA to accommodate less-capable hardware systems, deal with slower coding sequences, and ultimately send fewer commands to the Rover each day. But, as social media posts from the agency suggest, NASA is …

An Interview With The New Yorker’s Ed Steed

For an interview several years in the making, Lucy Bourton at It’s Nice That finally got in contact with one of her favorite cartoonists for The New Yorker, Ed Steed. Formerly an architect, Steed became a professional cartoonist after sending several ideas to the publication—a process which remains essentially the same, even as a regular contributor. Blending politics, humor and art into something accessible and …

Scientist-Invented Carbon Nanostructure That’s Stronger Than Diamonds

Scientists from several institutions (including the University of California, Irvine) have conceptualized and fabricated a new class of plate-nanolattices (nanometer-sized carbon structures) that happens to be stronger than diamonds. They’ve done so through a complex 3D laser printing process referred to as “two-photon polymerization direct laser writing.” Scientists begin by focusing a laser on a drop of ultraviolet-light-sensitive liquid resin. It’s in the final material’s …