Thirty years ago this November, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Cold War — but what would have happened if East and West remained divided? Source: https://www.livescience.com/what-if-berlin-wall-didnt-fall.html
Tag: Cold War
Andrew Yang Wants a Thorium Reactor By 2027
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: To transition the United States from fossil fuels to green energy, [Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang] wants the government to invest $50 billion in the development of thorium molten-salt nuclear reactors — and he wants them on the grid by 2027. “Nuclear isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s a solid solution for now,”…
Why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth’s climate
Carbon dioxide, CO2, makes up less than one-twentieth of 1% of Earth’s atmosphere. How does this relatively scarce gas control Earth’s thermostat? Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/why-carbon-dioxide-co2-influence-earths-climate-greenhouse-effect…
CIA declassifies Cold War spy animal files
Newly released documents have revealed how the CIA used birds and other animals during the Cold War. When it came to spying on the Soviets, no stone w… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/330433/cia-declassifies-cold-war-spy-animal-files…
Trump Launches Space Command
President Donald Trump announced Thursday the official establishment of the U.S. military’s Space Command. CNN reports: Space Command will become the 11th combatant command, joining the ranks of U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, and U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees Special Operations Forces. The command will initially consist of just 287 personnel and its final location…
Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
“Monday’s Wall Street Journal includes a special Apollo 11 feature,” writes Slashdot reader Outatime in honor of the 50th anniversary since Apollo 11’s Saturn V launched from the Kennedy Space Center. “[O]f particular interest to many Slashdot nerds is the piece on the pioneering computer hardware and software that took three astronauts, and landed two, on the moon.” Here’s an excerpt…
A Sunken Soviet Sub Is Raising the Radioactivity of the Norwegian Sea 800,000-Fold. But Don’t Worry.
A Cold War Russian nuclear submarine is leaking radioactive material into the Norwegian Sea. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65931-radioactive-soviet-submarine-leak.html
Himalayan glaciers melting double fast since 2000
A new study, which used declassified images from spy satellites, shows that glaciers in the Himalayas melted twice as fast from 2000 to 2016 as they did from 1975 to 2000. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/himalayan-glaciers-melting-double-fast-since-2000…
Cold War–era spy satellite images show Himalayan glaciers are melting fast
Declassified spy satellite photographs reveal that glacier melt in the Himalayas has sped up dramatically in the last two decades. Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cold-war-spy-satellite-images-himalayan-glaciers-rapid-melting4…
America Planted Malware In Russia’s Power Grid, Says NYT
“The U.S. military’s Cyber Command has gotten more aggressive than ever against Russia in the past year, placing ‘potentially crippling malware’ in systems that control the country’s electrical grid,” according to CNET, citing a report in the New York Times: Made possible by little-noticed legal authority granted last summer by Congress, Cyber Command’s strategy shift from a defensive to offensive posture…