the digest (Page 162)

Latest in the digest

An app called Spelfie can take a picture of you from a satellite. The resolution won't be good enough to pick yourself out, but it can show for big groups.

Science & Energy

This App Takes a Picture of You From a Satellite

By Dan Robitzski

An early prototype of SpaceX's massive Starship rocket partially burst apart during a ground test at the company's test site in Boca Chica, Texas.

Watch SpaceX Starship Rocket Burst, Crumple During Test

By Victor Tangermann

A truly bizarre evangelical app tries to keep people from watching porn by using AI to filter it out and sending alerts to their friends if they slip up.

Artificial Intelligence

Horrible Christian App Narcs to Your Mom If You Watch Porn

By Dan Robitzski

New research suggests that a fiery layer of super-hot plasma marks the transition between our solar system and interstellar space.

Our Solar System Is Blanketed in a Giant Wall of Fire

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers have discovered new evidence of a fifth force of nature, and if confirmed, the work could help us understand dark matter.

Physicists Discover Evidence of a New Force of Nature

By Kristin Houser

See SpaceX perform a static fire test on the SuperDraco engines that form its Crew Dragon spacecraft's emergency abort system.

Watch SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Fire Its Abort System Engines

By Victor Tangermann

A new mission plans to determine once and for all whether spacetime is a smooth fabric or a chunky mess of discrete units.

Satellite Mission Will Investigate Whether Reality Is Pixelated

By Dan Robitzski

Pennsylvania State University is currently developing a center focused on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Penn State’s SETI Center Could Legitimize Alien Research

By Kristin Houser

Over 30 years after it blew up, astronomers finally spotted the cosmic wreckage — a neutron star hidden in a dense cloud of dust — of a famous supernova.

Science & Energy

Astronomers Just Found the Wreckage Cloud From a 1987 Supernova

By Dan Robitzski

In order to make robots more effective at their jobs, scientists suggest programming them with an inate fear of their own deaths.

To Make Robots Perform Better, Make Them Constantly Fear Death

By Dan Robitzski

A private orbital systems company is developing the "Dream Chaser," a sleek reusable spacecraft, which NASA will test to shuttle cargo to the Space Station.

NASA Will Test Beautiful Spaceship That Looks Like Space Shuttle

By Victor Tangermann

A group of scientists are suggesting that supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies are surrounded by, and devour, much smaller "baby black holes."

Science & Energy

Baby Black Holes May be Orbiting Supermassive Black Holes

By Victor Tangermann

NASA scientists found evidence that ribose, a key sugar in genetic molecules, may have come to earth through the impacts of meteorites.

NASA Says It Found Building Blocks of Life in Fallen Meteorites

By Dan Robitzski

People are creating realistic avatars of celebrities or their own exes and having sex with them in virtual reality, raising issues of consent and privacy.

People Are Selling 3D Virtual Sex Models of Celebs, Exes

By Dan Robitzski

A new report quotes a yet-unpublished email Musk sent out to SpaceX employees, in which he apologizes for smoking weed with Rogan.

Elon Musk Apologized to SpaceX Employees After Smoking Weed

By Victor Tangermann

A professor speculating about simulation theory suggests that ghosts and other paranormal sightings could be signs that our simulated reality is glitching.

Science & Energy

Computer Scientist: Ghosts Could Be Sign Universe Is Simulated

By Dan Robitzski

Heliogen's new solar oven can focus sunlight and reach temperatures high enough to manufacture steel and cement without any fossil fuels.

Bill Gates-Funded Startup Unveils “Holy Grail” of Solar Energy

By Dan Robitzski

Astronomers are finding that the 122 satellites SpaceX has launched so far are already ruining the night sky, showing up as bright trails in observations.

Science & Energy

Astronomers: SpaceX’s Satellites Are Blocking View of Stars

By Victor Tangermann

New NASA research found that Neptune has two moons that are locked in a strange orbital dance in order to "maintain the peace."

Science & Energy

NASA: Neptune’s Moons “Dance” to Avoid Smashing Into Each Other

By Kristin Houser

In 2018, China completed more successful orbital launches than any other nation for the first time, and it's on track to hold 2019's record, too.

China Now Launches More Orbital Rockets Than Any Other Country

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk doesn't think it's fair that NASA will pay Boeing 60 percent more than SpaceX to provide the same service.

Elon Musk Tears Into NASA for Pricey Boeing Launches

By Kristin Houser

A team of scientists used data collected by the European Space Agency's Cluster mission to map out Earth's "eerie song" it sings during a solar storm.

Here’s What Happens When a Solar Storm Slams Into the Earth

By Victor Tangermann

Companies in India like Oxy Pure are selling customers access to pure oxygen as the area's air pollution becomes increasingly dangerous.

As Air Pollution Spikes, Indian “Bars” Sell Clean Oxygen

By Dan Robitzski

Hackers were advertising thousands of stolen and hacked Disney+ accounts and credentials online within hours of the streaming service's launch.

Hackers Are Already Selling Stolen Disney+ Accounts

By Kristin Houser

Space companies trying to make off-world tourism a thing will likely cause major environmental destruction in the process as spaceflight ramps up.

The Toll Casual Space Tourism Will Take on the Planet (Updated)

By Dan Robitzski

Richard Browning, British inventor and daredevil, has broken his own speed record flying in his "Iron Man" style jet suit.

Advanced Transport

Watch Daredevil Set a New Speed Record In “Iron Man” Jet Suit

By Victor Tangermann

The Boring Company has officially started digging a tunnel for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's futuristic transportation system.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Starts Digging “Viva Las Vegas Loop”

By Victor Tangermann

Using head-mounted cameras to scan faces in Washington, D.C., Fight for the Future protestors hoped to draw attention to facial recognition surveillance.

Artificial Intelligence

Protestors Wearing Head-Mounted Cameras Scan 13,000 Faces in DC

By Kristin Houser

NASA: Boeing Spaceflights Are Way Pricier Than SpaceX

NASA: Boeing Spaceflights Are Way Pricier Than SpaceX

By Victor Tangermann

Rising global temperatures could lead to more unplanned explosions of military ammunition stockpiles, experts told Scientific American.

Science & Energy

Ammunition Stockpiles Are Exploding As Global Temps Rise

By Kristin Houser

Research suggests that extended trips into space might cause cognitive decline in astronauts, as the brain changes without the influence of gravity.

Science & Energy

New Research: Astronauts Are Experiencing Cognitive Decline

By Dan Robitzski

Nine year old Belgian genius Laurent Simons is on track to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering this year. He plans to grow artificial organs.

Science & Energy

A 9-Year-Old Genius Is Getting an Engineering Degree Next Month

By Dan Robitzski

DARPA is funding research into bacteria for bomb detection that could sense explosives below the ground and then glow on its surface.

DARPA Is Engineering Glowing Bacteria for Bomb Detection

By Kristin Houser

According to a shocking new report by NASA scientists, blood flow can stop and even reverse in the upper bodies of astronauts.

NASA Research: Astronauts Are Getting Clots, Bizarre Blood Flow

By Victor Tangermann

Phil Schiller, the head of marketing at Apple, argues that students with Chromebooks in their classroom instead of iPads won't succeed.

Science & Energy

Apple Exec: Kids With Chromebooks Are “Not Going to Succeed”

By Dan Robitzski

Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe started making its long trek back to Earth after collecting asteroid rock samples some 186 million miles away.

Science & Energy

Japanese Space Probe Returning to Earth, With Chunks of Asteroid

By Victor Tangermann

Microsoft-owned Github dumped physical copies of the world's open source code in an apocalypse-proof vault to save it for when society collapses.

Microsoft Is Hiding Source Code in an Apocalypse-Proof Cave

By Dan Robitzski

In a move seemingly done to express his Tesla hate, a man in a Honda Odyssey nearly ran a couple off the road in Avon, Ohio.

Video Shows Man Trying to Run “Piece of Shit” Tesla off the Road

By Kristin Houser

In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the social media company has nixed 5.4 billion fake accounts in 2019 alone.

Facebook Says It Has Shut Down 5.4 Billion Fake Accounts in 2019

By Victor Tangermann

Chilean protestors banded together to disable a hovering police drone using hundreds of consumer laser pointers in a dazzling concerted effort.

Watch Protestors Kill a Drone Using Hundreds of Laser Pointers

By Dan Robitzski

China has successfully launched its Tianwen-1 — Heavenly Questions — mission to Mars, including an orbiter, lander, and a rover.

China Successfully Tests Mars Lander in Giant Drop Test

By Victor Tangermann

Nobel-winning cosmologist James Peebles argues that we need a better way to describe how the beginning of the universe happened than the "Big Bang."

Science & Energy

Nobel-Winning Scientist: I Have No Idea if the Big Bang Happened

By Dan Robitzski

British exotic car maker McLaren just unveiled its $1.7 million Elva supercar that has no roof, side windows, or windshield.

Advanced Transport

McLaren Debuts Sports Car With Windshield Made of Air

By Victor Tangermann

A free new app called "Rocket Science: Ride 2 Station," created by NASA, lets you control your very own SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing Starliner.

This NASA App Lets You Control a SpaceX Spacecraft

By Victor Tangermann

A team of physicists attempted a bizarre new way to spot dark matter: using antimatter probes. It hasn't worked yet, but the scientists have some ideas.

New Research: Antimatter Could Be Portal to “Dark Universe”

By Dan Robitzski

In a study published this week, a lecturer argues that the internet is "necessary to enable the realisation of human rights and the promotion of democracy."

Professor Claims Internet Access Should Be a Human Right

By Victor Tangermann

California’s Air Protein says it’s figured out how to make meat from thin air — by building on an idea NASA had in the 1960s.

Science & Energy

This Startup Says It Can Create “Meat” Out of Thin Air

By Kristin Houser

Several witnesses to the U.S. Navy's 2004 UFO encounter have detailed the immediate aftermath of the event, and that the video was seized by the military.

Veterans Claim Military Immediately Seized Video of UFO Encounter

By Kristin Houser

Scientists spotted a runaway star traveling across the galaxy so rapidly that it will never return and traced its path back to our supermassive black hole.

Science & Energy

A Supermassive Black Hole Yeeted This Star at 3.7 Million MPH

By Dan Robitzski

Asteroid Ultima Thule was renamed by NASA to "Arrokoth" thanks to the Nazi connotations of its old name, as Agence France-Press reports.

NASA Reverses Course After Giving Asteroid Nazi Name

By Victor Tangermann

Academics in South Korea are naming kids — theirs, their friends, or others — as coauthors on their papers to help with college admissions.

Science & Energy

Professors are Naming Their Kids as Co-authors in Academic Papers

By Dan Robitzski

According to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal, Google will start offering bank checking accounts to its Google Pay customers.

Google Is Going to Start Offering Bank Accounts

By Victor Tangermann

A nuclear tomb full of radioactive material is at risk of busting open as climate change causes both sea levels and temperatures to rise.

Nuclear Waste Tomb Unlikely to Survive Climate Change

By Kristin Houser

The Facebook iOS app is turning on users' camera without informing them, according to Twitter user Joshua Maddux, who uploaded a screen capture video.

Facebook’s iPhone App is Secretly Using Your Camera As You Scroll

By Victor Tangermann

A decommissioned nuclear missile silo in Arizona just went on sale for $395,000, in case you’re in the market for a doomsday bunker.

Realtors Are Trying to Sell a Decommissioned Nuclear Missile Silo

By Kristin Houser

Facebook hired the cofounder of a media outlet that's specifically biased against Elizabeth Warren to head its recently-launched news service.

Facebook’s Head of News Founded an Anti-Warren Website

By Dan Robitzski

A Ford pickup truck was airlifted from a parking lot in Berlin after it was blocking (or ICEing) a dedicated Tesla electric vehicle charging stall.

Watch Police Drag Away Truck That ICEd Tesla Driver

By Victor Tangermann

Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser seemed to slam Elon Musk in a tweet, but then went on to deny that he was referring to the SpaceX CEO.

Siemens CEO Denies Slamming “Pot Smoking” Elon Musk

By Kristin Houser

A Redditor claims they are falling in love with GPT-2, an AI that churns out paragraphs of mostly coherent text in response to a prompt.

Redditor Claims They Fell In Love With OpenAI’s Neural Network

By Kristin Houser

Astro Live Experiences is just about ready to send its long-promised, artificial shooting star-launching satellite into orbit.

Science & Energy

A Satellite That Fires Fake Shooting Stars Is Ready to Launch

By Dan Robitzski

Last week, Sophia the robot answered a question about love by saying it doesn't have sex. Now, Sophia's developers say the robot got confused.

Sophia the Robot Says She Doesn’t Have Sex, Confusing Creators

By Dan Robitzski

Galaxies millions of light years away seem to be connected by network of unseen forces, forcing them to move with each other in unexpected ways.

Science & Energy

Something Very Strange Seems to Be Synchronizing Distant Galaxies

By Victor Tangermann

Artificial Intelligence

Steve Wozniak Says the Apple Card Discriminated Against His Wife

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX has successfully deployed the first 60 Starlink satellites, which after launch will team up with thousands more to beam internet to Earth.

Watch SpaceX Launch 60 Starlink Satellites

By Kristin Houser