After years of detective work, scientists working on the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta mission have now been able to locate where the Philae lander made its second and penultimate contact with the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014, before finally coming to a halt 30 metres away. This landing was monitored from the German Aerospace Center Philae Control…
Tag: Protected
Trump lifts protections for Tongass National Forest, allowing logging, road development
Alaska’s Tongass National Forest was protected from logging and other development for nearly two decades. Source: https://www.livescience.com/alaska-tongass-national-forest-trump-lifts-protections.html
Facebook Finally Launches Its New Oversight Board for Content Moderation
NBC News reports that “Social media users who believe their posts have been unfairly removed from Facebook or Instagram can now file an appeal to Facebook’s Independent Oversight Board, the company announced Thursday.”
Positioned as a “Supreme Court” for Facebook’s content moderation decisions, the external panel of 20 journalists, academics, lawyers and human rights experts will weigh in — and potentially override…
The Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half Its Corals
The Great Barrier Reef, one of the earth’s most precious habitats, lost half of its coral populations in the last quarter-century, a decline that researchers in Australia said would continue unless drastic action is taken to mitigate the effects of climate change. From a report: Researchers studied coral colonies along the length of the reef between 1995 and 2017 and found…
The moon had a magnetic field that helped protect Earth’s atmosphere
Some 4 billion years ago, the moon may have had a magnetic field that combined with Earth’s to create a powerful magnetic shield that protected our planet’s atmosphere Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257286-the-moon-had-a-magnetic-field-that-helped-protect-earths-atmosphere/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
A Man Caught Coronavirus Twice — and It Was Worse the Second Time
According to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a man in the U.S. caught COVID-19 for a second time and had a worse bout of illness. MIT Technology Review reports: The 25-year-old man tested positive for the first time on April 18, after experiencing several weeks of symptoms including sore throat, cough, headache, nausea, and diarrhea. He felt fully…
Simulations reveal that rocky super-Earths with thin atmospheres are often protected by a Jupiter-like planet
An international group of astronomers, led by Martin Schlecker of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, has found that the arrangement of rocky, gaseous and icy planets in planetary systems is apparently not random and depends on only a few initial conditions. The study, which will appear in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is based on a new simulation that…
Five Bar and Cafe Owners Arrested in France For Running No-Log WiFi Networks
In one of the weirdest arrests of the year, at least five bar and cafe managers from the French city of Grenoble were taken into custody last week for running open WiFi networks at their establishments and not keeping logs of past connected users. From a report: The bar and cafe owners were arrested for allegedly breaking a 14-year-old French law…
In Brazil’s Amazon a COVID-19 Resurgence Dashes Herd Immunity Hopes
Anthony Boadle, reporting for Reuters: […] In April and May, so many Manaus residents were dying from COVID-19 that its hospitals collapsed and cemeteries could not dig graves fast enough. The city never imposed a full lockdown. Non-essential businesses were closed but many simply ignored social distancing guidelines. Then in June, deaths unexpectedly plummeted. Public health experts wondered whether so many…
Uber Can Continue Operating In London After Winning Court Appeal
After losing its license to operate in London last November, deputy chief magistrate of Transport for London (TfL), Tanweer Ikram, granted Uber an 18-month license after winning their court appeal. “Despite their historical failings, I find them, now, to be a fit and proper person to hold a London PHV [private hire vehicle] operator’s license,” he concluded. Engadget reports: Uber’s new…