Tag: search

The search for electron-hole liquids gets warmer

An electron-hole liquid is a unique collective quantum state formation in semiconductors where free charges can condense into a droplet. These droplets have interesting uses for laser-controlled circuits based on light beams instead of wires. Unfortunately, electron-hole liquids normally only exist in extremely cold environments, and aren’t practical for real devices. But what if these droplets could instead form as the…

Facebook Blocks All News In and From Australia

Facebook said Wednesday that it would no longer allow Australian publishers to share news on Facebook or allow Australian people to view or share international news sources. From a report: The change comes as Australia prepares to pass a law that would require companies like Facebook and Google to pay news publishers to carry their stories. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands…

In search of super-Earths: Spectrograph CRIRES+ at ESO’s Very Large Telescope

The astronomy research instrument CRIRES+ is designed to study planets outside our solar system. It is now in operation at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Göttingen is part of the international research consortium that built the high-resolution infrared spectrograph at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-super-earths-spectrograph-crires-eso-large.html…

Perseverance rover lands on Mars this week

After a seven-month journey, NASA’s Perseverance rover prepares to touch down on Mars on Thursday after first negotiating a risky landing procedure that will mark the start of its multi-year search for signs of ancient microbial life. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-perseverance-rover-mars-week.html…

Microsoft Urges America to Force Google and Facebook to Pay for News

“Microsoft has said the USA should copy Australia’s plan to force Google and Facebook to pay for links to news content,” reports The Register, “and suggested that doing so will help improve social cohesion and strengthen democracy.” But Google has fired back with a statement asserting that Microsoft’s motives are impure. “Of course they’d be eager to impose an unworkable levy…

A new planet next door?

Astronomers have spotted “something” near Alpha Centauri A, in the star system nearest our Earth and sun. If it turns out to be a planet, it’ll be the first time a planet has been directly imaged within the habitable zone of a star. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alpha-centauri-a-planet-candidate-direct-image-discovery…

Yandex Said It Caught an Employee Selling Access To Users’ Inboxes

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Russian search engine and email provider Yandex said today that it caught one of its employees selling access to user email accounts for personal gains. The company, which did not disclose the employee’s name, said the person was “one of three system administrators with the necessary access rights to provide technical support” for…

A record deadly week for US avalanches in early February

2021 has brought a deadly avalanche season. “We’re only halfway through the season and we’re 3/4 of the way to the number of fatalities we’d see in a typical year. The dangerous, record-breaking year keeps avalanche forecasters up at night,” one expert said. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/avalanches-2021-united-states-how-to-survive…

Is the Dyatlov Pass incident solved?

The Dyatlov Pass incident has intrigued people for generations, but a new theory pointing to a slab avalanche as the culprit does a thorough job of explaining how the 9 Russian trekkers died. A new video and more here. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/dyatlov-pass-incident-mystery-solved-slab-avalanche…