Giant A-68 iceberg 3 years on

The colossal iceberg that split from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017 is now in the open waters of the South Atlantic, about 650 miles (1,050 km) from its birthplace. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/giant-a-68-iceberg-summer-2020…

A Moment of Clarity Regarding the Raison d’Etre for the App Store

John Gruber, writing at DaringFireball: Feel free to file Google’s release this week of an update to their iPad Gmail app with support for split-screen multitasking under “better late than never,” but this is so late it borders on the absurd. It’s like the difference between showing up fashionably late and showing up a week after the party. Split-screen multitasking was…

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…

Soap bubbles can split light into otherworldly branching streams

When a laser beam shines through a membrane made of simple household soap, it branches in a strange and unexpected way that could help us understand the cosmos Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2247500-soap-bubbles-can-split-light-into-otherworldly-branching-streams/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Guinness Reinstates Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong, Pac-Man Records

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Guinness World Records has reinstated a number of classic video game world records held by Billy Mitchell. The move comes just over two years after Mitchell’s records were expunged following an investigation by Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard, which partners with Guinness to adjudicate video game records. That investigation found that recordings of…

Where is Proxima Centauri?

You probably know the very nearest star to our sun is Proxima in the triple star system we call Alpha Centauri. Guy Ottewell shows you where in space Proxima is. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/where-is-proxima-centauri…

See Dragon’s Eyes on summer evenings

Look in the northeast on these June evenings, near the star Vega. You’ll see Rastaban and Eltanin, the eyes of Draco the Dragon. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/rastaban-and-eltanin-belong-to-constellation-draco…

Developer Warns VR Headset Damaged Eyesight

Software developer Danny Bittman tweeted about how he’s convinced that his eyesight was damaged from wearing a VR headset for hours a day. The BBC reports: Danny Bittman, who has worked as a virtual reality developer for four years, suggested it could have affected his eyesight. “Just had my first eye doctor visit in three years. Now I’m very worried about…

Signatures of fractional electronic charge observed in topological insulators

The charge of a single electron, e, is defined as the basic unit of electric charge. Because electrons—the subatomic particles that carry electricity—are elementary particles and cannot be split, fractions of electronic charge are not normally encountered. Despite this, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have recently observed the signature of fractional charges ranging from e/4 to 2e/3 in…

Coinbase Announces Plans For ‘Remote-First’ Work Policy In Light of COVID-19

In a blog post today, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that the exchange company is moving to a remote-first policy in light of COVID-19, meaning most employees will have the option to work from home. Yahoo Finance reports: “Over the last two months, I have come to believe that not only is remote work here to stay, but that it represents…