Almost a Third of Recovered COVID-19 Patients Return To Hospital In Five Months, One In Eight Die

According to new research from Leicester University and the Office for National Statistics (NS), almost a third of recovered COVID-19 patients will end up back in the hospital within five months and one in eight will die. Yahoo News reports via The Telegraph: Out of 47,780 people who were discharged from hospital in the first wave, 29.4 per cent were readmitted…

2020 tied for warmest year on record

2020 was Earth’s hottest year in the 140-year record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record-holder. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/2020-tied-for-warmest-global-year-on-record…

SpaceX Cargo Dragon succeeds in 1st autonomous undocking

SpaceX’s CRS-21 Cargo Dragon undocked from the International Space Station’s Harmony module on January 12, 2021, succeeding in the world’s first-ever autonomous undocking and testing of several new vehicle upgrades. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/space-x-cargo-dragon-1st-autonomous-undocking-jan-2021…

InSight and Juno Keep on Trucking

NASA’s InSight lander on Mars and the Juno orbiter at Jupiter have new leases on life. From a report: The spacecraft are expected to continue gathering data about their respective planetary targets during their newly extended missions, allowing scientists to learn more about seismic activity on Mars and turn their attention to the moons of Jupiter. Juno’s mission has been extended…

$200 Billion Wiped Off Cryptocurrency Market In 24 Hours As Bitcoin Pulls Back

Bitcoin and other digital coins tanked on Monday, wiping some $200 billion off the cryptocurrency market. CNBC reports: The market capitalization or value of the cryptocurrency market was $880 billion at 9:20 a.m. ET, down from $1.08 trillion a day earlier, according to Coinmarketcap. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell over 12% from a day earlier to $32,576, according to Coin Metrics…

Was 2020 the World’s Warmest Year Ever?

“New data from EU satellites shows that 2020 is in a statistical dead heat with 2016 as the world’s warmest year,” reports the BBC (in an article shared by long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo):
The Copernicus Climate Change Service says that last year was around 1.25C above the long-term average. The scientists say that unprecedented levels of heat in the Arctic and Siberia…

How will the U.S. space program fare under Joe Biden?

Joe Biden is the United States presidential election winner, but his plans for NASA remain unclear. And while citizens digest the election results, the space industry is left wondering what comes next. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/how-will-the-u-s-space-program-fare-under-joe-biden…

Amazon Pledges $2 Billion To Affordable Housing

Amazon will direct $2 billion in loans and grants to secure affordable housing near three American cities where the company employs thousands of workers, the tech giant announced Wednesday. The Seattle Times reports: In a first step in the Puget Sound region, Amazon is promising $185.5 million, mostly in loans, to the King County Housing Authority to help buy affordable apartments…

Hostile space weather might not be all bad for exoplanet life

A new study from Northwestern University shows that solar flares – space weather – might not always be as dangerous for life on exoplanets as typically thought. In fact, it might even help astronomers discover alien life on distant worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/hostile-space-weather-might-not-be-all-bad-for-exoplanet-life…

Astronauts Grow Radishes in a Microfarm on the International Space Station

From a report: The thought of eating “astronaut food” brings to mind a kind of instant food that is far from “farm to table.” However, recent experiments aboard the ISS are improving our understanding of how to bring the farm directly into space itself. Astronauts just ran a Veg-PONDS 02 experiment on the International Space Station. The experiment used food that…