Astronomers found a high energy neutrino – a cosmic ray – that apparently originated during a “tidal disruption event,” that is, when a supermassive black hole shredded a distant star. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/origin-cosmic-ray-when-black-hole-shreds-star…
Tag: the host
Parler is Back Online, More Than a Month After Tangle With Amazon Knocked it Offline
Parler is back online following several weeks of darkness after the social media site popular with supporters of former president Donald Trump was knocked offline. From a reportL: Parler effectively fell off the Internet in January when Amazon refused to provide technical cloud computing support to the site after the tech giant determined Parler was not doing enough to moderate and…
Final Episode Aired For American Quiz Show Host Alex Trebek
“More than two months after Alex Trebek’s death, fans of Jeopardy! finally got the chance to say goodbye,” reports CBS News:
A video tribute to the host closed Friday’s episode of the quiz show, the final one that Trebek taped before pancreatic cancer claimed his life on November 8. The 90-second montage, set to Hugh Jackman singing the Peter Allen song “Once…
Wasmer 1.0 Can Run WebAssembly ‘Universal Binaries’ on Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, and iOS
The WebAssembly portable binary format will now have wider support from Wasmer, the server-side runtime which “allows universal binaries compiled from C++, Rust, Go, Python, and other languages to run on different operating systems and in web browsers without modification,” reports InfoWorld: Wasmer can run lightweight containers based on WebAssembly on a variety of platforms — Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android, iOS…
Are Tech Companies Censoring Their Users For Access to China’s Market?
This week MSNBC published an opinion piece from a researcher on China (who works on internet censorship and freedom of expression issues) from the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. It examines specific exchanges between a China-based Zoom executive and employees at the company’s California headquarters (taken from the 47-page complaint filed by America’s Justice Department) showing how Zoom disrupted video meetings…
New strain of Covid-19 explained
A new strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 appears to be spreading fast in the the UK. Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing, and what it means for vaccine effectiveness. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/new-strain-of-covid-19-explained…
‘Strange rays’ crowdsourced on social media shed light on black hole illumination
Sparked by an image uploaded to Twitter, new research indicates that the light produced by black hole accretion may be bright enough to reflect off of dust, illuminating the host galaxy, and creating light and dark rays similar to the effect of crepuscular rays on Earth. The research is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-strange-rays-crowdsourced-social-media.html…
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Has Applied To Become a Citizen of Cyprus
The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, is finalizing a plan to become a citizen of the island of Cyprus, Recode has learned, becoming one of the highest-profile Americans to take advantage of one of the world’s most controversial “passport-for-sale” programs. From the report: Schmidt, one of America’s wealthiest people, and his family have won approval to become citizens of the…
Super-Earth and sub-Neptune found orbiting a red dwarf star
Astronomers using a telescope in Mexico have found two more exoplanets – a super-Earth and a sub-Neptune – orbiting a red dwarf star 120 light-years from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/super-earth-sub-neptune-orbiting-red-dwarf-star-toi-1266…
Searching for habitable exoplanets? Look for phosphorus
Scientists develop a new way to search for potentially habitable exoplanets by measuring the amount of phosphorus in their stars. Such planets should also have abundant phosphorus – necessary for life on Earth – increasing the chances for life. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/phosphorus-in-stars-and-biomarker-habitable-exoplanets…