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…

Spectral classification of excitons

Ultrathin layers of tungsten diselenide have potential applications in opto-electronics and quantum technologies. LMU researchers have now explored how this material interacts with light in the presence of strong magnetic fields. …

California Amends Freelancer Law, But Still Pursues Gig-Worker Companies and Food-Delivery Services

“California is exempting about two-dozen more professions from a landmark labor law designed to treat more people like employees instead of contractors, under a bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Friday,” reports the San Diego Union-Tribune: The amendments, which take effect immediately, end what lawmakers said were unworkable limits on services provided by freelance writers and still photographers, photojournalists, and…

What are brown dwarfs?

A brown dwarf is more massive than a planet, but less massive than a star. Exactly how much more and less? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-are-brown-dwarfs…

Microsoft Plans Cloud Contract Push With Foreign Governments After $10 Million JEDI Win

Microsoft is signing deals with foreign governments to offer cloud-infrastructure packages similar to the bundle it assembled for the U.S. Defense Department, according to CNBC, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, cloud offering for the Defense Department provides cloud-based computing and storage resources at all government security classification levels, as well…

Researchers Build a Low-Power Radar on a CMOS ChIp

The international R&D hub Imec has made a millimetre-wave motion detection radar integrated in a standard 28nm CMOS chip, reports Electronics Weekly, adding that it consumes just 62 mW,”making the sensor integrable into small, battery-powered devices…” The radar operates in the frequency band around 60 GHz, a license-free ISM band that can be used for new IoT applications for industrial and…

Chrome 84 Arrives With SameSite Cookie Changes, Web OTP API and Web Animations API

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Google today launched Chrome 84 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Chrome 84 resumes SameSite cookie changes, includes the Web OTP API and Web Animations API, and removes older Transport Layer Security (TLS) versions. First deprecated with Chrome 81 in April, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 have now been completely removed with…

Physicists say they’ve found a ‘tetraquark’

On July 1, scientists announced the discovery of a new exotic particle – a so-called “tetraquark” – a finding that marks a major breakthrough in a search of almost 20 years, carried out in particle physics labs all over the world. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/cern-physicists-discovery-new-particle-tetraquark…

Almost all lemur species are now endangered

Verreaux’s sifaka was once a common lemur species across the south of Madagascar, but is now listed as critically endangered, the last classification before extinction Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248508-almost-all-lemur-species-are-now-endangered/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

New Exotica Catalog will help guide search for ET

“What if extraterrestrial intelligences are not like us, but are found in the frigid reaches of the outer solar system, the extreme gravity of neutron stars, the brilliant cores of active galaxies, or the hearts of the richest galaxy clusters?” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/the-breakthrough-listen-exotic-target-catalog-seti-extraterrestrial-intelligence…