New Nasal Spray Prevents Covid Infection in Ferrets, Study Finds

The New York Times reports: A nasal spray that blocks the absorption of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has completely protected ferrets it was tested on, according to a small study released on Thursday by an international team of scientists. The study, which was limited to animals and has not yet been peer-reviewed, was assessed by several health experts at the request of…

Scientists Discover Coral Reef Taller Than the Empire State Building

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: An enormous coral reef has been found at the northern tip of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the first such discovery in 120 years, scientists say. At 500m (1,640ft) high, the reef is taller than New York’s Empire State Building and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Scientists on a 12-month…

Gamers Are Replacing Bing Maps Objects in Microsoft Flight Simulator With Rips From Google Earth

Microsoft’s flagship 2020 game Flight Simulator was supposed to showcase Bing Maps and Azure’s streaming capabilities. There’s just one small problem: gamers are overwriting Bing’s in-game 3D photogrammetry with entire cities ripped from Google Earth. From a report: “When playing the game, you’re essentially looking at an extremely high resolution image of the entire globe in 3D — think Google Earth…

Here Comes the Internet of Plastic Things, No Batteries Or Electronics Required

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: When technologists talk about the “Internet of Things” (IoT), they often gloss over the fact that all these interconnected things need batteries and electronics to carry out the job of collecting and processing data while they’re communicating to one another. This job is made even more challenging when you consider that many…

Tesla’s Elon Musk Promises Full Self-Driving Autopilot Beta In ‘A Month Or So’

“I think we’ll hopefully release a private beta of Autopilot — the full self-driving version of autopilot — in, I think a month or so?” CEO Elon Musk said this week at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting/Battery Day event. “And then people will really understand the magnitude of the change,” said Musk adding, “It’s profound. You’ll see what it’s like, it’s amazing.”…

‘Extremely Brilliant Source’ X-Rays Set To Revolutionize Science

Rose Pastore reporting via Gizmodo: A new way of producing powerful X-ray beams — the brightest on Earth — is now making it possible to create 3D images of matter at astounding resolutions. This “Extremely Brilliant Source” officially opened last month at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, and scientists are already using it to study the coronavirus behind covid-19….

Nintendo 3DS Discontinued After Almost a Decade

Nintendo has discontinued its 3DS handheld after about 76 million sales over a nine-and-a-half year period. The BBC reports: A notice on the Japanese firm’s site says “manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended.” The device had the ability to trick the human eye into seeing 3D images like those in some cinema screenings — but without special…

10 proofs the Moon Landing was real, debunking conspiracy theories

How is the flag waving on the Moon? Why aren’t there any stars in the Apollo photos? EarthSky debunks these Moon Landing conspiracy theories and more. Source: https://earthsky.org/uncategorized/10-proofs-the-moon-landing-was-real-debunking-conspiracy-theories…

UK Mathematician Wins Richest Prize in Academia For His Work On Stochastic Analysis

Lanodonal writes: A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia. Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos…

The Man Who Owned 3,000 Cameras

One of the largest camera collections in the world is hidden away in a village hall in a Fife coastal town — but hardly anybody knows it is there. From a report: At least 3,000 cameras, including some dating back well over a century, belonged to the late Neville “Jim” Matthew. He retired to the picturesque East Neuk village of St…