Large proto-cluster of galaxies discovered in the midst of clearing the cosmic fog

When the universe was about 350 million years old it was dark: there were no stars or galaxies, only neutral gas—mainly hydrogen—the residue of the Big Bang. That foggy period began to clear as atoms clumped together to form the first stars and the first quasars, causing the gas to ionize and high-energy photons to travel freely through space. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-large-proto-cluster-galaxies-midst-cosmic.html…

What is a galaxy?

We live in a galaxy called the Milky Way. But there is so much more to know about these grand and glorious star islands in space! Click in here, and prepare to have your mind expanded. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-a-galaxy…

Hackers Could Use IoT Botnets To Manipulate Energy Markets

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: At the Black Hat security conference on Wednesday, [researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology] will present their findings, which suggest that high-wattage IoT botnets — made up of power-guzzling devices like air conditioners, car chargers, and smart thermostats — could be deployed strategically to increase demand at certain times in any of…

$350M ‘Quant Fund’ Played the Stock Market Using Real-Time Data — Then 2020 Happened

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Next Web: Coatue’s $350 million data-driven ‘quant fund’ made a swift exit from the market in early April — having realized the coronavirus pandemic had rendered its algorithm unreliable, Business Insider reports. The tech-focused fund, launched by billionaire Philippe Laffont just over one year ago, joins a growing list of “quant funds” to…

Translation From VC-Backed PR Jargon To English of Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz’s Statement That He’s ‘Stepping Down’

From a company-wide memo sent by Rony Abovitz, the founder of Magic Leap, which has raised nearly $3 billion from high-profile investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Google, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, JP Morgan, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers: As we’ve shared over the last several weeks, in order to set Magic Leap on a course for success,…

Touching the asteroid Ryugu

It’s a spectacular achievement to rendezvous with an asteroid as it’s whizzing around the sun. It’s even more amazing to collect a sample. That’s what the Hayabusa2 spacecraft did in February 2019. Here’s what researchers learned. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-ryugu-hayabusa2-findings…

Bank of America Says It Saves $2 Billion Per Year By Ignoring Amazon and Microsoft and Building Its Own Cloud Instead

Bank of America has bucked the Wall Street trend by building its own private cloud software rather than outsourcing to companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. From a report: The investment, including a $350 million charge in 2017, hasn’t been cheap, but it has had a striking payoff, CEO Brian Moynihan said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. He said the…