China this week blocked the Wikimedia Foundation’s application for observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations (UN) organization that develops international treaties on copyright, IP, trademarks, patents and related issues. As a result of the block, the Foundation’s application for observer status has been suspended and will be reconsidered at a future WIPO meeting in 2021….
Tag: observer
Photos of fiery Mars, nearly at its best in 2 years
Photos from the EarthSky community of the bright planet Mars, now nearly at its best. Earth will pass between Mars and the sun – bringing the planet to a once-in-two-years opposition – on October 13, 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/photos-mars-at-its-best-sep-oct-2020…
32-year-old man looks like a 14-year-old boy
Denis Vashurin is something of an online celebrity in Russia thanks to his bafflingly youthful appearance. To the casual observer, Vashurin – who live… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/339645/32-year-old-man-looks-like-a-14-year-old-boy…
How scientists around the world track the solar cycle
Every morning, astronomer Steve Padilla takes a short walk from his home to the base of a tower that soars 150 feet above the ground. Tucked in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour’s drive north from Los Angeles, the Mount Wilson Observatory has long been a home for space science—it’s Padilla’s home too, one of the perks to his work…
‘The Largest Nuclear Bomb Ever Detonated’ Explored in Declassified Russian Footage
“The blast was over 3,000 times bigger than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima,” reports Smithsonian magazine: Hydrogen bombs are so destructive, their impact has been described as unthinkable throughout history. Recently declassified Russian footage of the 1961 Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb test shows why. The 40-minute documentary, which was posted on YouTube on August 20, shows footage of the largest bomb…
Is it possible to hear meteors?
Can you hear a meteor as it streaks overhead? Some people have reported hearing meteors with a sizzling sound like bacon frying. Scientists now say you can, and explain how it happens. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/whoosh-can-you-hear-a-meteor-streak-past…
Should the U.K. Government Form a Coalition to Buy ARM?
With SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son trying to sell ARM, a columnist for the Observer newspaper has a suggestion for the U.K. government (and specifically Brexit Tories), calling the Cambridge-based company “a kind of public-interest commercial company: licensing state-of-the art instruction sets that can be implemented in silicon architecture by everyone. It was in nobody’s pocket.” Its business, as its chief founder, Tudor…
Mars big as the moon on August 27?
We can’t believe it. One of the most popular articles at EarthSky this week is the one asking, will Mars be as big as the moon on August 27? Short answer … no. This hoax has been circulating since 2003. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/double-moon-on-august-27…
‘If War Breaks Out on Top of the World’
The United States Air Force’s elite “PJ” pararescue units and Alaska National Guard units “are ready to respond if war breaks out on top of the world,” reports a new article in Popular Mechanics: With much of the ice cap melted, the Arctic is teeming with competitive activity because it’s no longer an impenetrable land of glaciers — void of economic…
How to see Comet NEOWISE
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is basically a binocular object, although some experienced observers with pristine skies are reporting they can see it with the eye alone. This post has information and charts that will help you see the comet. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/how-to-see-comet-c2020-f3-neowise…