How Jupiter’s moon Io gets its hellish atmosphere

Hot, active volcanoes produce almost half of Jupiter’s moon Io’s sulfur atmosphere, according to new observations using the ALMA telescope. The rest comes from cold sulfur deposits that freeze on the surface, then sublimate in sunlight. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/io-sulfur-volcanoes-hot-so2-cold-so2…

Nikon Will Let You Use Its Cameras as High-End Webcams

Nikon has at last released software that turns your fancy DSLR or mirrorless camera into a high-end webcam. From a report: Other major camera makers have rolled out similar tools in the last several months, as video calls became much more prevalent amid stay-at-home measures to combat COVID-19. The free Webcam Utility Software is available in beta for both Windows 10…

Police Will Pilot a Program To Live-Stream Amazon Ring Cameras

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: This is not a drill. Red alert: The police surveillance center in Jackson, Mississippi, will be conducting a 45-day pilot program to live stream the Amazon Ring cameras of participating residents. Now, our worst fears have been confirmed. Police in Jackson, Mississippi, have started a pilot program that would allow…

Astronomers measure a change in orbit for infamous asteroid Apophis

Astronomers in Hawaii have detected the Yarkovsky effect – a minuscule push imparted by sunlight – for asteroid Apophis. The effect is particularly important for Apophis, because it relates to the possibility of an Earth impact in 2068. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-99942-apophis-encounters-2029-2036-2068…

Privacy Investigation Finds 5 Million Shoppers’ Images Collected At Malls Across Canada

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CTV News: Without customers’ knowledge, more than five million images of Canadian shoppers’ were collected through facial recognition software used by Cadillac Fairview, a parent company of malls across the country, according to an investigation by privacy officials. The federal privacy commissioner reported Thursday that Cadillac Fairview contravened federal and provincial privacy laws by…

Suckerfish use fast-flowing water to surf across swimming whales’ skin

Cameras attached to whales to study their behaviour have also revealed that the remora fish that ride along with them prefer to stay behind the whale’s blowhole to limit drag Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258565-suckerfish-use-fast-flowing-water-to-surf-across-swimming-whales-skin/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

NASA to announce mysterious moon discovery on Monday

NASA’s upcoming news conference on October 26, 2020 promises “an exciting new discovery about the moon,” with references to the agency’s ambitious Artemis program, a plan to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-moon-announcement-monday-october-26-2020-sofia…

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta Rolls Out To Rave Reviews

Rei writes: “Oh, it’s going dude!” “But there’s no lanes — there’s cars on the side of the road!” “DUDE, it’s navigating through it ALL, bro!” … “It paused to look DUDE!” “There’s NO LANES! Elon, you madman!” Such was one of the many reaction videos to come out overnight as Tesla released a major upgrade of Autopilot to a limited…

Offices Resort To Sensors In Futile Attempts To Keep Workers Apart

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Millions of workers in recent months have returned to offices outfitted with new pandemic protocols meant to keep them healthy and safe. But temperature checks and plexiglass barriers between desks can’t prevent one of the most dangerous workplace behaviors for the spread of Covid-19 — the irresistible desire to mingle. “If you have…

Chess’s Cheating Crisis: ‘Paranoia Has Become the Culture’

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: In one chess tournament, five of the top six were disqualified for cheating. In another, the doting parents of 10-year-old competitors furiously rejected evidence that their darlings were playing at the level of the world No 1. And in a third, an Armenian grandmaster booted out for suspicious play accused his opponent…