All first records is out of this world in twenty four team german astronaut alex spent six months in the International Space station i. S. A. s. In just a few weeks will begin his second mission. But this time hell be taking along an assistant named simon our reporter had a chance to meet him. Good morning simon who are in contact with ground station no but how about some music great words for your favorite what interaction with simon will be like on the International Space station simon can see hear and react to his environment hes currently being tested at the cologne facility where the human astronauts train for that mission and east usua Company Gemini astronaut alec. Sunda guest when he joins the i s s crew this coming summer simon is designed to be a digital help her along the lines of siri or alexa the first flying astronaut assistant featuring also official intelligence as we have. For you have one autonomous free floating robot if you want to call it that lease food yachts need for europeans to sort of theres never been anything like it in the columbus module but you see behind me were also entering unknown territory in terms of work safety for the astronauts and we have to make sure someone doesnt move too fast for example is not teaching found out in what those conditions he is able to calculate distances properly as he makes his way around the columbus module. That was tested on a special parabolic flight the aircrafts extreme maneuvers create short periods of freefall to simulate zero gravity. Simons Developers Need to know how hell move with his small propulsion mooches and navigate in weightlessness. Hes not programmed with a map but has to find his way around on his own. Im going to have to think you know simon creates a map from self from his navigation camera its a stereo camera. That means he has two pictures he can superimpose on each other to measure and determine distances between objects he selects orientation points on the pictures he receives based on contrast for example and compares them with the new picture you get so we can see where hes going. To be. But the betting astronaut is unable to hold his position in the first twenty two second long series gravity face during the parabolic flight. He spins loses control and is ultimately caught and held by the scientists. Its not working when i let go he drifts away. Development team is puzzled because according to the control software the robot is reacting and attempting to stabilize himself gradually they realize the source of the problem. The problem is that the aircraft has a certain residual acceleration that simon has to contend with. Good looks like hes lost control but he hasnt. That means that human beings in the cockpit arent perfect three experienced test pilots working together have brought the aircraft into freefall dozens of times to simulate weightlessness but there are still forces on board that is stronger than simons propulsion motors. But the robot learns with a bit more human help when zero gravity begins hes able to float in place and make some flying maneuvers. So it looks like youll be able to manage in space so it works. Great. On package going. Back in cologne simons data connections are tested his speech comprehension is powered by the i. B. M. Watson Artificial IntelligenceSoftware System thats what enables him to make playful statements m r two d two just kidding my name is simon and i will support you. On the i s s the reporting talking head will guide astronaut alexander gassed step by step through selected experiments and record Photos Videos and voice moments. The often the sites were hoping that alex on the guest find simon interesting and that holding cage with him a bit you know that that seems weird that we want to develop him further so well really be accepted as a crew member the teacher Space Missions crew are to do that when they venture further feel to the moon or mars and also most systems like this will accompany and interact with the astronauts and it gets me things done now interview including ok. Simon can also play games tell jokes and make faces and after about two years in development the artificial astronaut also has a philosophical side. Why if theres ten percent of what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it right you are simon and on that note have a good trip. On facebook we asked if you had a robot assistance what tasks would you have to do. Much in a compass that would have a clean the house go shopping and cook for her. Daughter is there enough skin says he would have the robot find him a more attractive job. Is a no you know you would get his assistant to spread peace and love in the world and trying to prevent people from going to war. Decay wrist instruct the robot to find cures for incurable diseases. That are true that a lot of the reno is thinking of it he thinks it would be nice to have someone to look after him in old age but. Regardless of what they look like how many tasks they can perform all robots have one thing in common they are machines and dont have relatives no offspring no and sisters. Not like people many of whom are keenly curious to learn what they can about their families origins. Only spit up to the little black line of spit is enough to reveal your origins. Videos like this are used to attract those who want to know more about their ancestry meted out to customers all overwhelmed. What. Was. Your. Hundreds of thousands of people. Huge database. Genetic information has been taken from us and is being collected by researchers around the world. So the results of anyone taking part in commercial d. N. A. Testing. To the. Traces of those who. Can still be found in. The first humans reached europe from africa over forty thousand years ago they were hunters and gatherers. The next migrant. With them. Now. Another. Eight hundred years ago with. Us. And theyve left traces in modern day europeans d. N. A. In other words every human is d. N. A. Contains the elements of. Some d. N. A. People group which includes the alimony franks. Spoke of germanic language. But the buzz would like to tone it strikes a chord in many customers. Scientists say the tests dont offer much valuable information. We have no idea of teutonic or germanic d. N. A. Composition we dont even know how to genetically define the dramatic peoples its like trying to differentiate between germans and swiss its impossible we now know that thirty percent of the squares have a migrant background. But scientists can tease out some useful information from d. N. A. Ancestor research. Has this well its important to recognize that were all a great big mixture we come from all corners of europe and not only one place or one population and i think its good for people to gain a sense that all of us in europe are one big family. The hunt for ancestors is on Genetic Research websites are among the most frequently visited on the internet. Science is also benefiting from the large scale interest in genealogy using data from a large internet platform researchers in the United States have been able to construct five million family trees. The most comprehensive comprises nearly thirteen million people. Most want to know who came before them but in some cases its the other way around. This is switzerland the most famous mummy the desiccated corpse was discovered in one thousand nine hundred seventy five during renovations in bottles bath results church researchers want to know who this woman was how she died or history was she was remarkably well preserved even down to her fingernails. You see this i feel as though my goal is to identify the individual to see where she belongs class she came from how she lived the name of her appearance her diet what diseases she had basically to reconstruct her environment. For as the investigation seemed to be coasting along all his orders almost clogged highly calcified. She was a woman who ate well including fatty food i think she was from the upper class. But then some contradictory results emerged an analysis of the coffin provided to death days but it seemed to contradict the dating of the tissue from the mummy. In any case the forensic scientists were able to give the mummy a face but no one knew her name the researchers would need that to tap into her family tree. So forensic methods werent enough. Time to consult the archives. The amateur genealogist spent countless hours combing the Historical Records for the decisive piece of information. One thing the archives revealed was that the graves in the bathroom so church were never properly documented so all the researchers knew was where in the church the money was location to make up for missing or lost records they had to reconstruct all the graves. Luzhin most of the mummy had probably been laid to rest in grave number one hundred five that gave them a possible name for. The not be sure of. This for the wife of pastor gallon long. Before. It was this mummy really and i cut out enough. To find out the research is needed a family tree with a descendant in the maternal line. That led them to someone named towards my lady. Who. Was she really descended from and i categorically know. The thought of being related to a mummy was an odd one. Thats kind of a funny feeling. This you have to get used to it i. Thought at first it was a bit of a shock a moment took me a few days to realize what it meant. I think. A d. N. A. Test would show with he was indeed related to the mummy the genetic material sourced from her my flock would provide the evidence rather like in a criminal investigation. But isolating d. N. A. From the mummy is more complicated a swab wont work here. Tend to go for the temporal bone in the skull. In the case of a mummy you could go here but its too invasive and suggest the foot bones. Will go in here. Is the d. N. A. In the bone sample linked to the. Known the tests are conducted at this Forensic Laboratory the d. N. A. From the swab is isolated and compared with the mummies. Finding a descendant in the maternal line was essential because the sample extracted from the toe was a kind of d. N. A. Inherited from the mother the difficulty was that the mummies daughter heart only heart. Was complicated tracing the family tree back seven generations from daughter to mother than fifteen generations forward again a total of twenty two generations examined before the researchers find a living relative of course marty. The tiny piece of d. N. A. They isolated from her is only passed on from a mother to her offspring by a b x l its known as mitochondrial d. N. A. Because its unique to a small organelle in the cell called the mitochondria it should be identical to that of the maternal ancestors even after twenty two generations have gone by. In the lab at the university of lords down there scientists are waiting anxiously for the analysis of the d. N. A. Samples. And. Here we have the results everything that is green is identical there is one small difference in red but there are so many points in common that we can say that rosemary. This is definitely related. And. At historic Family Reunion after two hundred thirty years. Its so interesting to finally get to see my great great great great great great aunt. Its fascinating. Just such a shame that you cant tell us anything. So the riddle of the possible mommys identity has finally been solved. Living to a ripe old age some devotee it seems may have the best to do with out genes them previously believed we can influence the length of our lives more than we think if you a sensitive question about the nature of this is not a debate. Shelton vs from ontario wants to know. What has a bigger influence our genes or our environment so far we dont know all the rules were being kicked back and forth between nature or nurture they have different importance in different phases of our lives. Even before birth the environment plays a role stress experienced by a mother can affect her fetus and disturb its development. In childhood were strongly influenced by our environment early relationships determine how our emotional world develops and our ideas about gender roles are affected by watching our parents. Its one where adults that our genes come to the fore we start our families and become more like our parents both of the way we look and the way we behave. In old age the environmental aspects become important again and determine how physically and mentally fit we are. Twins with the same genetic makeup can develop differently Research Shows that our genes are like hardware the Software Comes from lifestyle and influences which genes can be turned on and off to affect our development. And we can expect scientists to provide many more insights into the complex interplay between genes and environment. If you have a size question go to our website and send it in. If we answer it on the show youll get our d. V. D. Featuring a lighthearted look at albert einsteins most famous theories. The most important thing is to never stop asking questions. This is a. Species of chameleon. This is a time can snap those monkey. Around the world there animal species so rare that catching even a piece of one requires a lot of luck. Researchers in germany have now come up with a clever way of gathering more information about particularly elusive. Theyve been prowling around forests since prehistoric times but all themselves exist really difficult to track down. Wild cats have been the subject of numerous studies by biologists but have to a significant degree remain a mystery. Geneticists at the second bag Research Institute in germany launched a new high tech project with the aim of finding out more about the rare protected species. It cuts and its actually wild cats are extremely shy and Nocturnal Animals for them and even when you do see them theyre hard to tell apart from domestic house carriages so we look for an alternative method for identifying wild cats not lies and sick and. Wild cats are indeed a distinct species not simply domestic cats that live in the wild they look stockier and have blood stripes and distinct black rings on the tails they started to appear millions of years ago. In europe excessive hunting at the end of the Nineteenth Century saw them almost completely wiped out on the continent within just a few decades. Then nocturnal way of life made them objects of superstition. That they were targeted by hunters for allegedly killing dia and forms but in fact mice are their primary prey today wildcat said classed as an endangered species and enjoy Legal Protection in many parts of the world. To come to the aid of the german geneticists teamed up with wildlife biologists and conservationists the first stage involves looking for characteristic d. N. A. Sequences that only occur in the genetic makeup of wild cats their aim was to assign individual hez and other tiny structures specifically to wild cats which proved complicated to. The heart and tightens their hair contains very little d. N. A. After a few days or a week in the forest that d. N. A. Gradually degrades you so it was quite a challenge to capture valuable information from an ocean that holds for the whole god whole spirit for live in for months on to become. The breakthrough finally came off to to use the researches were then able to clearly identify a wildcat on the basis of just two or three head follicles. The next challenge was immediately apparent however how to get hold of wildcat tax which cooled to some innovation. The machinery plant sticks to detect the wildcat we spray them with a larry and which has a remarkable effect on the animals. They love rubbing up against the sticks in the process depositing hairs which we then collect up some and kind. The conservation geneticists have since assessed over six thousand samples and were presented with a surprise beyond even we located wildcats and far more areas than wed expected around half the samples were found in areas where we have been unaware of the presence of wild cats until a few years ago has become. The numbers the greatest in the mid range mountains of western and central germany. But many other parts of germany remain devoid of wild cats. So thats not due to them migrate every night show however says wild context but still enough seem on the geneticists d. N. A. Analyses enabled him to conduct a unique study he was asked by the National Park to document the new arrival of wild cats the project began in two thousand and seven with one male specimen today at least another thirty three animals live here thanks to the genetics of a semen can monitor exactly where theyre located and how big their hunting grounds. Reason. The males tend to move around more and that mobility partly explains why wild cats take over a new terrain although it also brings danger to the animals. With so i told their flock to twenty sixteen we had fourteen animals killed on the roads in. But our central park five oakland were females which is tragic for the overall population who were either pregnant or nursing meaning their offspring were lost to an awful lot of the. Farming areas dominated by monoculture is also constitute an obstacle to the cats proliferation. That prompted a german conservation angio to draw up a network of roots connecting up the countrys expansive forest areas by planting shrubs and trees. The system also benefits woodland animals such as dia martins woodpeckers and insects so protecting the wild cats also means helping the animals. For more from the world of science visit our website and dont forget to get in touch with us on twitter and facebook we love to hear from you. Thats it for this week. Next week well address the immense amount of fine dust in the air produced by cars electric cars release next to no emissions but producing the batteries with them has to become a lot cleaner how can that be done join us next week to find out more see that. Car. The book. The book on the million tons of sand commits everything in its commitment with the deadly consequences abbas storms the becoming a global menace. Once they start theres no stopping them. And i think one day this war will be considered cruel and unjust war where. Certainly all citizens of ukraine every man woman and child the only friend their homeland is the enemy invades. No one wants russia here which is that its the. Middle against the global news that matters. D. W. Made for mines. Time for an upgrade. To. Church clothes all by. Cars with. Poor design highlights you can make yourself. In stoops in tricks that will turn your home to some special. Upgrade yourself with t. W. Interior design channel on you tube. We can start rewriting the software of sample bacterial ce