“The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional government agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, voted Wednesday to move forward with a proposal to require people at large, office-based companies to work from home three days a week as a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions from car commutes,” reports NBC News: It’s a radical suggestion that likely would have been a…
Tag: failure
Asteroid or space junk? Approaching object might become Earth’s mini-moon
A newly discovered “asteroid” may become a new mini-moon for Earth. Instead of an ordinary asteroid, it might be a lost rocket from the Surveyor 2 mission, launched from Earth more than 50 years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/2020-so-mini-moon-asteroid-or-space-junk…
Congressional Inquiry Faults Boeing And FAA Failures For Deadly 737 Max Plane Crashes
A sweeping congressional inquiry into the development and certification of Boeing’s troubled 737 Max airplane finds damning evidence of failures at both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration that “played instrumental and causative roles” in two fatal crashes that killed a total of 346 people. From a report: The House Transportation Committee released an investigative report produced by Democratic staff on…
‘Massive failure’: The world has missed all its biodiversity targets
The world hasn’t fully met any of the 20 biodiversity targets set by global governments a decade ago, leading conservationists to condemn nature protection efforts as a “massive failure” Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254460-massive-failure-the-world-has-missed-all-its-biodiversity-targets/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
The FBI Botches Its DNC Hack Warning In 2016 — But Says It Won’t Next Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: On April 28, 2016, an IT tech staffer for the Democratic National Committee named Yared Tamene made a sickening discovery: A notorious Russian hacker group known as Fancy Bear had penetrated a DNC server “at the heart of the network,” as he would later tell the US Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence. By…
Silicon ‘Sandwiches’ Make For Lightweight, High-Capacity Batteries
A team at Clemson University has come up with a new design that overcomes some of the problems with incorporating silicon into lithium-ion batteries, “enabling them to demonstrate a lightweight and multipurpose device that could be used to power satellites and spacesuits,” reports New Atlas. From the report: Scientists have been investigating the potential of silicon in lithium-ion batteries for a…
China Again Boosts Research and Development Spending By More Than 10%
China continued its yearslong run of double-digit percentage increases in spending on R&D in 2019, but the nation is likely to fall short of a long-standing goal of increasing R&D expenditures to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by this year. From a report: But not hitting the target “should not be considered a failure, as China has been increasing its…
Boeing and NASA Target December For Second Try at Uncrewed Orbital Demonstration Flight
NASA and Boeing have provided some updates around their Commercial Crew plans, which aim to get Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft certified for regular human flight. From a report: The CST-100 and Boeing’s Commercial Crew aspirations hit a snag last year with a first attempt of an uncrewed orbital flight test, which did not go to plan thanks to a couple of software…
Japan’s Longest-Serving PM, Shinzo Abe, Resigns For Health Reasons
Late last night, it was rumored that Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, would step down due to his struggle with ulcerative colitis. Abe confirmed the reports this morning, telling reporters that it was “gut wrenching” to leave many of his goals unfinished. He also apologized for stepping down during the pandemic. The Associated Press reports: Abe has had ulcerative colitis…
Facebook Blocks Group of One Million Critical of Thai Monarchy Amid Government Pressure
Facebook on Monday blocked access within Thailand to a group with 1 million members that discusses the country’s king, after the Thai government threatened legal action over failure to take down content deemed defamatory to the monarchy. From a report: The move comes amid near daily youth-led protests against the government led by the former military junta chief and unprecedented calls…