Parker Solar Probe

On December 4th 2019, NASA announced that its Parker Solar Probe has begun to send back data about the sun. Passing within 15 million miles, the Parker Solar Probe has become the first spacecraft from Earth to fly so close. The first findings sent back by the probe have revealed activity going on within the sun's atmosphere, or corona. The data has shown that there are reversals in the sun's electromagnetic fields and anomalies occurring in the particle that make up the solar winds.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe was launched in August of 2018. It was built to withstand temperatures of more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Amazon's First Grocery Store

On November 11th 2019, Amazon announced that it will open what it is calling its "first grocery store". Amazon says that its new store will not feature its cashierless technology. What its new store will offer, is a new product line that will feature a different variety of products at lower prices. The first location is expected to open in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. Amazon intends to make the new offering an alternative to its Whole Foods chain.

Google Introduces Sycamore Quantum Computer

On October 23rd 2019, Google announced that it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing. With the use of their new 54 - qubit processor, named Sycamore, their quantum computer successfully completed a problem in 200 seconds. Google says that such a feat would have taken a super computer 10,000 year to solve. Google's quantum computer uses qubits as opposed to the 1s and 0s of a classical computer. This allows the data to exists in multiple states

Th use of quibits offers the quantum computer greater speed in solving complicated computations. However, Google's rival, IBM says that its super computer can run the same computation in 2.5years as opposed to 10,000 years.

Virgin Orbit Aiming For Mars

On October 9th 2019, Virgin Orbit announced that it would soon be launching its first satellite into orbit in November of 2019.The bulk of Virgin Orbit's business will involve lifting satellites into low Earth orbit. The ultimate goal of the Virgin Galactic sibling is to send cubesats to Mars by the year 2022. The company plans to use an air launch rocket called LauncherOne, which will be attached to a modified 747 known as Comic Girl.

Chinese Rover Discovers Strange Gel On Moon

On August 17th 2019, Beijing Aerospace Control Center released a statement regarding it's Yutu-2 lunar rover. The rover which is currently exploring the far, or "dark side," of the moon, has discovered a strange gel like substance inside an impact creator. Images from the Yutu-2's cameras that were taken on July 28th 2019 revealed a material at the bottom of the creator that did not appear to look the same as the soil from the surrounding area.

Yutu-2's drive team decided to investigate the find, and sent the rover back to get a closer look at the material in the creator. Upon its returned to the creator, Yutu-2 used its Visible and Near Infrared Spectrometer (VNIS), to do an analysis. The results of the analysis are not yet known, but researchers believe that the material is most likely some type of glass that might have been produce by the high heat that was produced at the time of the meteorite impact.

Streaming Takes The Lead

On September 6th 2019, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), announced that the steaming of recorded music now makes up for 80% of it yearly revenue. They go on to report that vinyl and CDS have actually improved in sales, with vinyl rising by 5% and CDs rising by13%. The RIAA goes on to report that the recording industry took in $5.4 billion through the first six months on 2019, with $4.3 billion of that being derived from streaming. Streaming officially took over as the number one delivery system in 2015.

3.8 Million Year Old Skull Sheds New Light

On August 28th 2019, it was announced in the Journal Nature that archeologists had discovered the skull of an ancient hominid that dates back 3.8 million years. The skull was discovered in the Ethiopian dessert by Yohannes Hailee Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and his team. Selassie believes the new find is a member of the species, Australopithecus anamensis and is a direct ancestor to the "Lucy," the skull which was found in 1974.

"Lucy," was a member of the species Australopithecus afarensis and represents a 100,000 year period where the two species overlapped. This discovery marks the first time where the evidence reveals that within the evolutionary process, one species dose not disappear, to be replaced by the new one. The face of the new skull is male with  jaws made for chewing. "Lucy," on the other hand, had a flat face which appears to be a change toward a more Human physiology.

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India's Chandrayaan-2 Moon Mission

On July 22nd 2019, India successfully launched its Chandrayaan-2 space craft on a mssion to the moon. India's goal with Chandrayaan-2 is to have the craft make a soft landing at the moon's south pole. If all goes well, such a landing will mkae India the fourth nation behind the U S, Russia, and China, to make a successful landing on the lunar surface. The mission will also make India's Chandraan-2 the first space craft to land at the moon's south pole.

Elon Musk Introduces Neuralink

On July 16th 2019, Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, introduce the world to his nanotechnology company called, Neuralink. The goal of Neuralink is to create a computer interface that can be implanted in the brain and can be used to allow humans to control computers using only their minds. Mr. Musk says that Neuralink, which was founded in 2016, has already had successful experiments using monkeys as test subjects.

Neuralink's plan is to use a surgical robot to implant an array consisting of 3,072 flexible electrodes or threads into the cortex, or outer layer of the brain. The array will then be connected to a USB port on the outside of the brain. The electrodes will pick up and relay signals both to and from the brain.  Mr Musk and his team say, the interface will eventually be used in conjunction with AI. Mr. Musk also says that Neuralink expects human testing to begin in 2020.

Virgin Galactic To Be Pulicly Traded

On July 9th 2019, Virgin Galactic announced that it is taking the company public. The space tourism company owned by Richard Branson released a statement detailing Virgin Galactic's proposed merger with Social Capital Hedosphia which is the aquisition company of ex Facebook executive, Chatmath Palihapitia. As part of the deal, Virgin Galactic will get an $800 million infusion of cash that the company may use in its efforts to launch passengers into space.

Chatmath Palihapitia will also add another $100 million and become the CEO fo the new company.

Flying Car Runs On Hydrogen

On May 29th 2019, Alaka'i Technologies announced the release of their new flying car named the Skai. The new craft, which is being billed as a "flying taxi," was co designed by BMW's Designworks. It has six rotors and can carry up to 1,000 pounds. The Skai takes off vertically and has a top speed of 118 miles an hour. The new "flying taxi," is powered by six liquid hydrogen fuel cells that are 200 times more efficient than conventional batteries.

Alaka'i's Skai has a range of 400 miles or approximately 4 hours of flying time before need of refueling. It's hydrogen fuel cells produce only water and heat as byproducts, assuring that it is safe for the environment. The vehicle can be flow by a pilot or remotely from the ground. It can also be flown autonomously. The FAA has not as yet approved the Skai for use in the U S, but Alaka'i belives it will be cleared by the year 2020.

Apple Retires iTunes

On June 3rd 2019, at its World Wide Developers Conference, Apple announced that it will remove the iTunes music app from the next version of its operating system. Apple's next OS, OS X 10.5, code name Catalina, is slated for release in Setember 2019. It will feature three new apps, Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts to replace the newly retired iTunes app. While the new Apple Music app will feature the music streaming service, your favorite artists' downloads will still be available from be the iTunes Music Store.

Avid Releases Pro Tools 2019

On May 9th 2019, Avid announced the release of Pro Tools 2019. The new update features an increase in MIDI tracks from 512 to 1,024. This will give those users who need the extra tracks, such as those who work in post production or film score writing, the room they need to build big, full sounds without the worry of not having enough room. Avid is also increasing the number of voices, or audio tracks from 256 to 384.

In addition to the increase in track capability, the new Pro Tools 2019 update offers the user the ability to make updates to tracks and to the timeline during playback, with out interruption. There's also a feature that allows you to name tracks faster by allowing you to name multiple tracks at the same time.

New State Of Matter Is Discovered

On April 8th 2019, scientists at the University of Edinburgh announced in the journal PNAS, that they have discovered a new state of matter. They are calling the new state of matter, "the chain melted state." There are currently five states of mater, solid, liquid, gas, plasma, and condensate. In the new state, matter is both a liquid and a sold. To make the discovery, the research team used artificial intelligence to test potassium under extreme temperatures and atmospheric pressure.

The computer data revealed that between 20,000 and 40,000 times atmospheric pressure and at temperatures of between 400 and 800 degrees Kelvin (280 to 980 degrees Fahrenheit), some of the potassium molecules formed chains that dissolved into a liquid, while the rest remained in its crystal form. This, "chain melted state," gives rise to two separate lattices, a guess and a host. The host, which represents 80% of the structure stays solid, while the guess part which represents 20%, is weaker and there fore melts.

Andreas Hermann, who co wrote the study says that the new substance is like, "a sponge material that can soak up a liquid," but in this case it would be more like a sponge that soaks its self up.

InSight Lander Detects Mars Quakes

On April 23rd 2019, NASA announced that its InSight lander has detected the first seismic activity on Mars, which they are calling a, "Marsquake." The seismic event was recorded on April 6th using its SEIS or Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure instrument. Researchers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California say that the, "Marsquake," was equal to a 2.5 quake here on Earth. Since Mars is believed to have no plate tectonics, the origin of the quake is yet to be determined.

First Photo Of A Black Hole

On April 10th 2019, astronomers at the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, announced that they had taken the first ever picture of a black hole. A black hole is an area of space created by the collapse of a dying star. Albert Einstein theorized that the result of such an event would create an object so massive that its gravity would prevent light from escaping. The photo taken by the EHT was the product of eight radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, Chile, Mexico, Antarctica, and Spain.

SpaceX Successfully Docks With The ISS

On March 3rd 2019, SpaceX's Crew Dragon space craft made history as the first commercial crew capable space craft to successfully dock with the International Space Station (ISS). The unmanned Crew Dragon began its mission when it blasted of atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday March 2nd. After a series of maneuvers, the Crew Dragon achieved soft capture hours later at 5:51 AM EST. Astronauts are not expected to fly the Crew Dragon until NASA has reviewed all of the data from the mission.

FedEx To Test Autonomous Delivery

On February 27th 2019, FedEx announced that it will soon be testing it's new Sameday Delivery Bot. The shipping giant says that it is teaming up with Development & Research Corp. (DEKA)  and will be testing the new autonomous vehicle to make deliveries between its FedEx offices in Memphis, Tennessee. Walmart, Target, Autozone, Walgreen's, Pizza Hut, and Lowe's have all agreed to come on board. FedEx sees this as a way to make, "last mile," service more efficient.

Building on DEKA's iBot design, which uses multiple sets of wheels, the FedEx Sameday Bot will be able to navigate streets and sidewalks using radar, laser based LIDAR mapping, and several on board cameras. If initial test prove to be successful, FedEx wants to expand its service to other companies and retailers and to multiple cites.

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Samsung Introduces The Galaxy Fold

On February 20th 2019, at its Samsung Unpacked event, Samsung announced the release of its new foldable smart phone, the Galaxy Fold. The new foldable phone starts out as a phone with a 4.6 inch screen, making it easy to carry. When unfolded, the Galaxy Fold expands into a 7.3 inch tablet. Samsung's use of OLED panels combined with a multi interlocking gear hinge system helps to give the phone a smooth and sleek appearance.

The Galaxy Fold is powered by a 7-nanometer processor. Samsung has given the device 12GB of ram and 512GB of storage memory. The the Galaxy Fold has two batteries, one on each side of the phone. Samsung's new phone has six cameras, three in the rear, two on the tablet side and one in the front. The Galaxy Fold features App Continuity, which allows for seamless transfer from the outside screen to the inside screen.

Samsung's new folding phone runs on Google's Android Pie operating system. It's also capable of three app muti tasking, which allows the user to have access to three application at once. Both an LTE and a 5G version of the phone, which comes in four available colors, will be offered.  As a high end smart phone, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is priced to sell at $1,980, and will be available through ATT and T-Mobile, starting April 26th, 2019.

Opportunity Rover's Mars Mission Comes To An End

On February 13th 2019, NASA announced that its Opportunity Rover's mission had officially come to an end. NASA lost contact with the Opportunity Rover in June of 2018. After repeated attempts at making contact, including the last try on February 12th 2019, had all failed, Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate said, "...with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude, I declare the Opportunity mission as complete."

Opportunity Rover blasted off from Earth on June 10th 2003. It landed on the surface of Mars in January of 2004. Its mission was only meant to last for three month, but to every one's surprise and amazement, it continued to explore the Martian surface for nearly 15 years. Opportunity's mission was to explore Mars' Endeavour crater. While there it discovered iron rich spheres that were nicknamed, Mars Blueberries.

On it's tour, it also discover the mineral, hematite, which forms in water, which led to the postulation that Mars was once a very water rich, wet planet, and may have been habitable. The rover found the first meteorite to be discovered on another planet. Opportunity sent back 217,000 images, including those of a Martian dust devil. In the wake of Opportunity's demise, another larger vehicle, Curiosity Rover remains on Mars to continue its legacy.

James Ingram R&B Singer, Songwriter Dies At 66

On January 29th 2019, it was announced that James Ingram, R&B singer and songwriter had died, he was 66. He had suffered a long battle with brain cancer. He is most noted for the 1980s hits, "Just Once,' for which he won a Grammy, and "One Hundred Ways." Both songs were recorded for Quincy Jones' 1981 album, "The Dude." He won his second Grammy for "Ya Mo Be There," a duet with Michael McDonald, from his first solo album, "It's your Night," released in 1983.

Mr. Ingram was an Ohio native, born in Akron on February 16th, 1952. While growing up there, he taught himself to play piano and sang in his church's choir. He played in night clubs until age 18, when he became a member of the Akron based band, Revelation Funk. The band moved to LA in 1973, but after a lack of success, returned to Ohio a few yeas later. Mr Ingram, however, stayed behind and began to make a name for him self, writing songs and doing session work.

A late 70s gig with Leon Haywood led to work on Haywood's 1980 single, "Don't Push It, Don't Force It." That same year saw the release of the Lamont Dozier produced album by Zingara. Zingara was a quintet that featured Mr. Ingram on lead vocals on the minor 1980 R&B hit, "Love's Calling." The work began to pile up, as he co wrote the song "PYT," for Michael Jackson's, "Thriller." From there he would be featured on hits like, "Baby Come To Me," with Patty Austin, and "Some Where Out There," with Linda Ronstadt.

James Ingram is survived by his wife Debra and their six children.

Stop & Shop's Diverless Grocery Stores

On January 16th 2019, major northeast grocery store chain, Stop & Shop, announced that it will be testing its new driverless robotic grocery stores in the Boston area. The new venture is in partnership with a San Fransisco start up called Robomart. The self driving vehicles will act as mini convenient stores loaded with convenience items, produce, and meal kits. One could think of the vehicles as  Amazon Go stores on wheels.

Robomart will maintain and control the mini stores. If a consumer wants to place an order, they use an app to hail the autonomous vehicle. When the Stop & Shop mini store arrives, the consumer makes their choice, or choices from the items found within. Purchases are made through the use of RFID technology, which will recognize the items that have been chosen and the Robomart app will charge the consumer accordingly.

China Lands On The Far Side Of The Moon

On January 3rd 2019, China announced that it had successfully landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, making it the first country to do so. The Chang'e 4 lander touched down in what is known as the Von Karman Crater at 2:26 GMT. The lander sent back the first close up images of the Moon's far side. They were transmitted back to Earth via a relay satellite called "Queqaio" or "Magpie Bridge," which was placed in orbit before the mission.

12 hours after the Chang'e 4 landed, a rover named Yutu 2 or Jade Rabbit 2 drove off the lander and began exploring the lunar surface. The Chang'e 4 lander also carried along a mini bioshpere which contained a small arabidopsis plant, which the Chinese hope will produce the first flower on the Moon. Cotton, rapeseed, and yeast are present there as well. The mission will also carry out the first astronomy observation from the Moon's far side.

New Horizons Reaches Ultima Thule

On January 2nd 2019, NASA announced that its space craft, New Horizons had reached "Ultima Thule," and released the first photos from the event. "Ultima Thule," is an object in what is known as the Kuiper Belt, orbiting at 4 billion miles from the sun. Those photos have revealed that what was once thought of as being shaped as a bowling pin is now being observed as a two spherical lobed rock, about 21 miles in diameter.

Dr. S. Alan Stern, the mission's team leader, believes that the object once known as MU69 2014, is "Two separate objects that are joined together," or what's known as a "contact binary." Images taken with New Horizons color camera revealed that "Ultima Thule" is reddish in color. As New Horizons flew by "Ultima Thule," it collected some 50 gigabits of data that the space craft will transmit back to Earth. The data download is expected to take about two years