You know the old problem of how to portray the round globe of Earth on a flat map? Now a trio of map experts has worked together to solve this problem. Their new map is 2-sided and round. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/astrophysicists-new-design-world-map…
Tag: infinite
Electric Cars Would Save America Huge Amounts of Energy
An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece from Bloomberg, written by Liam Denning and Elaine He: Electrifying U.S. vehicles wipes out the equivalent of our entire current power demand. The U.S. consumes a lot of energy; last year, about 100 quadrillion BTUs (equivalent to 17 billion barrels of oil; which, we’ll admit, is only marginally less abstract). But only about a…
Ripples in space-time could provide clues to missing components of the universe
There’s something a little off about our theory of the universe. Almost everything fits, but there’s a fly in the cosmic ointment, a particle of sand in the infinite sandwich. Some scientists think the culprit might be gravity—and that subtle ripples in the fabric of space-time could help us find the missing piece. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-ripples-space-time-clues-components-universe.html…
If the multiverse exists, are there infinite copies of me?
According to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universe is constantly dividing and taking you with it – so would you recognise your other selves if you met them? Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833122-100-if-the-multiverse-exists-are-there-infinite-copies-of-me/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Mac Certificate Check Stokes Fear That Apple Logs Every App You Run
Last week, Apple released macOS Big Sur and the rollout was anything but smooth. The mass upgrade caused the Apple servers responsible for checking if a user opens an app not downloaded from the App Store to slow to a crawl. Apple eventually fixed the problem, “but concerns about paralyzed Macs were soon replaced by an even bigger worry — the…
AI Is Throwing Battery Development Into Overdrive
Improving batteries has always been hampered by slow experimentation and discovery processes. Machine learning is speeding it up by orders of magnitude. From a report: Inside a lab at Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, there are a half dozen refrigerator-sized cabinets designed to kill batteries as fast as they can. Each holds around 100 lithium-ion cells secured in trays that…
Is Streaming Music Worse For the Environment?
“The environmental cost of music is now greater than at any time during recorded music’s previous eras,” argues Kyle Devine, in his recent book, “Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music.” The New Yorker’s music critic writes: He supports that claim with a chart of his own devising, using data culled from various sources, which suggests that, in 2016, streaming and downloading…
DC Universe Streaming Service Will Become Universe Infinite Comics Platform
DC Universe, which started out as a streaming service for original DC superhero content, will in January become DC Universe Infinite, a supersized subscription service for DC Comics. CNET reports: The service launches on Jan. 21 for $7.99 per month, or $74.99 for a year-long subscription. DC says that subscribers will be able to read 24,000 comic book titles at launch,…
Mathematicians Finally Answer 2,000-Year-Old Question About Dodecahedrons
NCamero (Slashdot reader #35,481) brings some news from the world of 12-sided dodecahedrons: Quanta magazine reports that a trio of mathematicians has resolved one of the most basic questions about the dodecahedron. The cube, tetrahedron, octahedron and icosahedron cannot have a straight path you could take [starting from a corner] that would eventually return you to your starting point without passing…
Google Images Launches ‘Licensable’ Badge and Search Filter
Google today launched new features in Google Images “to help people use images on the web responsibly.” From a report: The features should benefit photographers, as they help people both identify photos that can be licensed as well as find out how to properly license them. Google Images’ new “Licensable” badge, which had been in beta testing since February 2020, is…