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Much like the late, great physicist Stephen Hawking, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become a fascinating cultural figure – a super-genius scientist whose observations and ideas are interesting and may be politically influential. Musk is probably right about Artificial Intelligence – specifically, the risks it poses to humankind and the importance of preparing ourselves to eventually compete with computers – and political leaders should pay attention. But Musk is wrong to be part of a new crony capitalist coalition lobbying for expanded tax perks for electronic vehicles (EVs). Republican leaders in Congress should ignore Musk on this issue when voting...

President Trump raised eyebrows earlier this year when he announced plans to create a “Space Force,” which would become the sixth branch of the military. Vice President Mike Pence later announced in a speech that the branch was needed in order for the US to maintain military dominance in space. The proposed Space Force is estimated to cost $13 billion in its first five years. And despite some snickers among political observers, renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t think the Space Force is that crazy of an idea. But Tyson, one of the authors of “Accessory to War: The Unspoken...

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/289290-jeff-bezos-neil-degrasse-tyson-join-pentagon-innovation-board July 26, 2016 - 02:15 PM EDT Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jeff Bezos join DOD innovation board By Rebecca Kheel Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson were among the big names Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Tuesday as joining the Pentagon’s recently formed Defense Innovation Advisory Board. “I've given them the very specific task of identifying innovative private sector best practices that could be of use to DOD [the Department of Defense] — not unlike our recent Hack the Pentagon pilot program, which invited hackers to help find vulnerabilities in our networks," Carter said during an...

We trust the scientists around us to have the best grasp on how the world actually works. So at this year's 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, which addressed the question of whether the universe is a simulation, the answers from some panelists may be more comforting than the responses from others. Physicist Lisa Randall, for example, said that she thought the odds that the universe isn't "real" are so low as to be "effectively zero." A satisfying answer for those who don't want to sit there puzzling out what it would mean for...

A passion for exploration is the fuel to an innovative economy, says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. In an interview with CNBC's On the Money, the host of the new National Geographic Channel show StarTalk — based on Tyson's podcast and Sirius XM radio show of the same name — described the dynamic implications of scientific discovery. ....

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Thursday that nine U.S. companies will compete to deliver experiments to the lunar surface. The space agency will buy the service and let private industry work out the details on getting there, he said. The goal is to get small science and technology experiments to the surface of the moon as soon as possible. The first flight could be next year; 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.

The general idea is that these companies will be able to compete for contracts to deliver NASA science experiments to the surface of the moon by flying lunar landers on rocket launches purchased from other commercial space companies. Those individual contracts would substitute for NASA needing to build those capacities itself. But under this approach, NASA won't be alone in hiring these companies — the agency hopes to spur development that the commercial sector can also utilize. "We want to be first customers, not only customers," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's head of the science mission directorate, said during the event. The...

Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo is getting ready to introduce a bill repealing the gas tax in exchange for a carbon tax. It seems rather odd the Miami Republican wants to chart this path, especially after the House GOP overwhelmingly denounced the notion of a carbon tax last week, but Curbelo isn’t backing down from his proposal. He told Miami Herald his proposal is just a “first step” in the discussion. When you ask this question in a vacuum, is any tax detrimental to economic growth? It’s usually going to be yes…But when you put it in context and you...

WASHINGTON - Exxon Mobil Corp. and other large oil companies are backing a carbon tax proposal put forward earlier this year by a group of former Republican leaders including James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state and a Houston attorney. The Climate Leadership Coalition, a group that includes Baker, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and former Secretary of State George Shultz, announced a list of "founding members" Tuesday that includes Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, Total, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson. "We support @TheCLCouncil as a founding member and are working to support its policy development process," Exxon...

After nearly a century of building vehicles powered by fossil fuels, General Motors — one of the world’s largest automakers — announced Monday that the end of GM producing internal combustion engines is fast approaching. The acceleration to an all-electric future will begin almost immediately, with GM releasing two new electric models next year and an additional 18 by 2023. At a media event at GM’s technical campus in Warren, Mich., on Monday, Mark Reuss, the company’s chief of global product development, said the transition will take time, but the course has been set. “General Motors believes in an all-electric...

General Motors has put six of its cars under review, including its once breakthrough Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, and is evaluating whether to cancel them in the coming years, according to a report from Reuters. The news comes as sales of cars continue to plummet in the U.S. and as consumers increasingly turn to SUVs and pickups. Besides the Chevrolet Volt hybrid, other vehicles believed to be under consideration for elimination iinclude the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Sonic, according to Reuters. GM spokesman Jim Cain declined to comment on the report. UAW President Dennis...

General Motors Co. says it plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020 amid government pressure on the industry to promote alternatives to gasoline. The president of GM’s China unit, Matt Tsien, said Friday during the Shanghai auto show that the company will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years. …

FULL TITLE: 'This is the THANKS we get!' Trump warns General Motors he'll cut ALL its government subsidies in retaliation for closing U.S. auto plants President Donald Trump threatened to punish General Motors following the company's decision to shutter Midwest manufacturing plants and lay off thousands of U.S. workers. A day after the news of the layoffs rattled the industry and raised a potential political problem for the president, the president followed up on an earlier threat that the automaker 'better damn well' open a new plant. He threatened to yank subsidies for electric cars – as GM seeks to...

Faced with the bad news from GM — which is discontinuing several passenger-car lines, shuttering five North American factories, and laying off thousands of workers — President Donald Trump responded with his habitual bluster, telling GM they “better damn well open a new plant” in Ohio, and boasting that he was “very tough” on the automaker’s CEO. As is often the case, President Trump’s bluster is unhelpful. General Motors almost certainly is doing the right thing, as painful as that is going to be for the workers who lose their jobs and for the communities that had relied on —...

President Donald Trump threatened on Twitter to end government subsidies for General Motors in retaliation for layoffs the company announced Monday. What layoffs? General Motors announced that it would be laying off 14,700 workers, including 6,000 factory workers, and closing down four plants in the United States and one in Canada. While GM, and other car companies, have spoken out against rising production costs caused by the Trump administration’s protectionist tariffs, a spokeswoman for the company told TheBlaze that the layoffs and plant closures “are being made as part of our ongoing transformation and are not related to recent trade...

Amid flagging sales, General Motors confirmed on Monday that it will no longer make the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, ceasing production on March 1st, 2019. The news comes as part of a wider plan by GM to slash car production in North America and halt production of several low-selling brands. Trading on GM shares was briefly halted on the stock exchange early on Monday in anticipation of “major operational changes,” according to CNBC. GM plans to “unallocate” three assembly plants — in Oshawa, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; and Warren, Ohio — putting the future of those plants in doubt, Reuters reports....

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will lay off up to 14,000 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles. The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off. Some U.S. factory workers could transfer to truck or SUV factories that are increasing production.

Video courtesy of NASA. NASA’s InSight spacecraft is close to making its historic touchdown on Mars after an epic journey of just over 300 million miles.

NASA Live: Watch InSight Mars Landing Online NASA's InSight lander is scheduled to touch down on Mars at approximately 3 p.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 26. NASA TV live coverage of the InSight Mars landing will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. UTC). Follow @NASA and @NASAInSight for #MarsLanding news. See a list or an interactive timeline of landing milestones. News briefings and launch commentary will be streamed on NASA TV, YouTube.com/NASAJPL/live and Ustream.tv/NASAJPL. Monday, Nov. 26, 2 p.m. Eastern: NASA TV live coverage of InSight mission landing on Mars. Live landing commentary runs from 2-3:30 p.m. The Entry, Descent...

InSight in Position for Mars Landing November 26 at 10:30 AM PT Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have completed the final adjustments for landing NASA's InSight spacecraft on Mars. Atmospheric entry is expected around 11:47 a.m. PST (2:47 p.m. EST) and touchdown, about seven minutes later.