“America is building a new weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear missile the length of a bowling lane,” writes the contributing editor for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (in an article shared by Slashdot reader DanDrollette): It will be able to travel some 6,000 miles, carrying a warhead more than 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on…
Tag: Acronym
A proposal for a neutrino detection array spanning 200,000 square kilometers
Sometimes in astronomy, the acronym for a project fits it particularly well. That would absolutely be the case for the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection, which researchers hope to scale up to a size of 200,000 km2 in an effort to measure ultra-high-energy tau neutrinos. Is it ambitious? Yes, but that doesn’t really stop humanity from exploring when it wants…
Vera Rubin Observatory should be able to detect a couple of interstellar objects a month.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, formerly the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), will commence operations sometime next year. Not wanting to let a perfectly good acronym go to waste, its first campaign will be known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This 10-year survey will study everything from dark matter and dark energy to the formation of the…
How Ex-Facebook Data Experts Spent $75 Million On Targeted Anti-Trump Ads
The night before America’s election, Fast Company reported: On the internet, we’re subject to hidden A/B tests all the time, but this one was also part of a political weapon: a multimillion-dollar tool kit built by a team of Facebook vets, data nerds, and computational social scientists determined to defeat Donald Trump. The goal is to use microtargeted ads, follow-up surveys,…
SpaceX Starship as a trash collector in Earth orbit?
SpaceX Starship’s many tasks may include launching humans into space, carrying satellites into orbit and — perhaps — removing troublesome pieces of space debris. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/spacex-starship-clean-up-space-junk…
How to Prepare for Job Interviews
Download this guide in PDF format This guide is designed to help you effectively prepare for your first conversation with a recruiter, hiring manager, or non-technical team member. You can use this guide whether you’re new to interviewing, haven’t interviewed in a long time, or just want to refresh your interviewing skills. We’ll discuss some […]
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Chrome and Firefox Are Getting Support For the New AVIF Image Format
The new lightweight and royalty-free AVIF image format is coming to web browsers. Work is almost complete on adding AVIF support to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. From a report: The new image format is considered one of the lightest and most optimized image compression formats, and has already gained praise from companies such as Netflix, which considers it superior to…
DARPA is Pouring Millions Into a New AI Defense Program
The Pentagon is teaming up with some of the biggest names in tech to combat hacks designed to mess with the automated systems we’ll rely on in the near future. From a report: In February, DARPA issued a call for proposals for a new program. Like most DARPA projects, it had a fantastic acronym: Guaranteeing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robustness against Deception…
How Elon Musk Wants To Transform Homes With ‘No Wasted Energy’
During a Twitter discussion this week about the company’s new vehicle, the all-electric Model Y SUV, CEO Elon Musk suggested the company could take its experience building the car to develop an HVAC system. From a report The acronym stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Musk suggested that the idea could build on the work done to develop a heat…
Valentine Venus
Talk about an awesome Valentine’s Day activity! Go outside and show your sweetie Venus, the planet of love. Astronomer Guy Ottewell provides a chart and more. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/valentines-day-activity-2020-how-to-see-venus…