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.