There is something funky going on in the clouds of Venus. Telescopes have detected unusually high concentrations of the molecule phosphine — a stinky, flammable chemical typically associated with feces, farts and rotting microbial activity — in an atmospheric layer far above the planet’s scorching surface. From a report: The finding is curious because here on Earth, phosphine is essentially always…
Tag: Wisconsin
Facebook Ignored 455 Complaints About Militia Page Urging Weapons at Kenosha Protest
BuzzFeed News reports:
In a companywide meeting on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that a militia page advocating for followers to bring weapons to an upcoming protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, remained on the platform because of “an operational mistake.” The page and an associated event inspired widespread criticism of the company after a 17-year-old suspect allegedly shot and killed two protesters…
It’s Unconstitutional For Cops To Force Phone Unlocking, Court Rules
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Indiana’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Fifth Amendment allows a woman accused of stalking to refuse to unlock her iPhone. The court held that the Fifth Amendment’s rule against self-incrimination protected Katelin Seo from giving the police access to potentially incriminating data on her phone. The courts are divided on how…
LIGO and Virgo find a mystery object in the “mass gap”
The science world is buzzing today about a new discovery made via the LIGO-Virgo collaboration. It’s a new object found in the so-called “mass gap” between neutron stars and black holes. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gw190814-mystery-object-in-mass-gap…
First optical measurements of Milky Way’s Fermi Bubbles probe their origin
Using the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper telescope, astronomers have for the first time measured the Fermi Bubbles in the visible light spectrum. The Fermi Bubbles are two enormous outflows of high-energy gas that emanate from the Milky Way and the finding refines our understanding of the properties of these mysterious blobs. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-06-optical-milky-fermi-probe.html…
The 50 Years of Crowd Control Research Police Are Ignoring
Thelasko shares an excerpt from FiveThirtyEight: Researchers have spent 50 years studying the way crowds of protesters and crowds of police behave — and what happens when the two interact. One thing they will tell you is that when the police respond by escalating force — wearing riot gear from the start, or using tear gas on protesters — it doesn’t…
NOAA predicts a ‘busy’ 2020 Atlantic hurricane season
Multiple climate factors indicate above-normal activity is most likely, according to NOAA’s 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/atlantic-hurricane-season-2020-noaa-forecast…
Global warming is making hurricanes stronger
As Earth gets warmer, hurricanes are expected to get stronger. A study of 40 years of satellite data suggests it’s already happening. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/new-research-shows-hurricanes-are-getting-stronger…
Why the World Will Look To India For a Coronavirus Vaccine
America and India “have run an internationally recognized joint vaccine development program for more than three decades,” writes long-time Slashdot reader retroworks. And today the BBC reported the two countries are now working together on vaccines against the new coronavirus:
India is among the largest manufacturer of generic drugs and vaccines in the world. It is home to half a dozen major…
Amazon’s Covid Hiring Boom Has Applicants Packed Into Job Fairs With No Special Precautions
An anonymous reader shares a report: In March, a laid-off customer-service representative for one of the airline companies attended an Amazon.com employee orientation in Dallas. He found himself packed into a room with about 70 other applicants, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder to watch a PowerPoint presentation about what it’s like to work for the online retailer. The man, who provided a smartphone photo…