Frozen-planet states in exotic helium atoms

Exotic subatomic particles that are like ‘normal’ particles apart from one, opposite, property—such as the positron, which is like an electron but positively rather than negatively charged—are collectively known as antimatter. Direct studies of collisions between particles of matter and those of antimatter using giant facilities such as those at CERN can advance our understanding of the nature of matter. A…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – February 2020

By Kyle Clark, Senior Skills Transformation Consultant February was a special month at Coursera: we officially launched Rhyme Projects for enterprise. Coursera acquired Rhyme Softworks last year to augment our abilities to create and share hand-on projects with learners. Projects allow learners to work on a task in their browser while following a self-paced or […]
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Happy birthday, Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin was a Russian pilot who became the first human to travel to space, in 1961. His story … plus links to a Yuri’s Night celebration near you. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-yuri-gagarins-birthday…

Russian Trolls Now Just Push Divisive Content Created By Others

“Americans don’t need Russia’s polarizing influence operations. They are plenty good enough at dividing themselves,” writes the Atlantic’s national security reporter, arguing that “the new face of Russian propaganda” is just a carefully-curated selection of inflammatory content made by Americans themselves. Citing the Mueller investigation, the article notes the irony that America’s two front-runners for the presidency are now “both candidates…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – January 2020

By Kyle Clark, Senior Skills Transformation Consultant 2020 is already proving to be an exciting year for skill development on Coursera. Our university and industry partners launched over 60 courses in January – an average of 2 courses per day. Our new courses range in topic from IT automation and feature engineering to visual analytics, […]
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Russia Claims New Missile is 27 Times Faster Than Sound

“A new intercontinental weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound became operational Friday, Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin,” according to the Associated Press: Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite. The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed…

Russian Police Raid NGINX Moscow Office

Russian police have raided today the Moscow offices of NGINX, Inc., a subsidiary of F5 Networks and the company behind the internet’s most popular web server technology. From a report: Equipment was seized and employees were detained for questioning. Moscow police executed the raid after last week the Rambler Group filed a copyright violation against NGINX Inc., claiming full ownership of…

A neutron star with an unusual magnetic field structure

Scientists from Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI), and Pulkovo Observatory discovered a unique neutron star, the magnetic field of which is apparent only when the star is seen under a certain angle relative to the observer. Previously, all neutron stars could be grouped into two large families: the first one…

Apple Changes Crimea Map To Meet Russian Demands

ardmhacha writes: Apple has complied with Russian demands to show the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Russian territory on its apps. Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, drawing international condemnation. The region, which has a Russian-speaking majority, is now shown as Russian territory on Apple Maps and its Weather app, when viewed from Russia. But the apps…

Cows Wearing VR Headsets Might Produce Better Milk

Moscow-area farmers are strapping modified VR headsets to cows to try and improve their milk production. Engadget reports: The project subjected cattle to a simulated summer field with colors tuned for the animals’ eyes, giving them a decidedly more pleasing landscape than a plain, confining farm. And yes, the headsets were adapted to the “structural features” of cows’ heads so that…