the digest (Page 91)

Latest in the digest

SpaceX's latest launch of its Falcon 9 rocket tinted the night sky a terrifying shade of red, The Washington Post reports, visible in long-exposure images taken by astrophotographers.

SpaceX Accused of Coloring Night Sky Red for Several Minutes

By Victor Tangermann

A maritime tragedy! Sadly, the nearly-completed mega cruise ship Global Dream II will never take to the high seas, and instead will be scrapped.

Advanced Transport

World’s Largest Cruise Ship Headed Straight From Shipyard to Junkyard

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Amazon publicly announced last week that it would launch drone-delivery Prime Air in Lockeford, California — news to many of the rural town's residents.

Local Residents Threaten to Shoot Amazon Drones Out of the Sky

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Canada has announced it is banning "harmful single-use plastics" to "keep them out of the environment," becoming the latest jurisdiction to do so.

Science & Energy

Canada Bans Single-Use Plastics, Including Bags and Straws

By Victor Tangermann

During a crucial Artemis 1 take-off test, the NASA's seemingly doomed Space Launch System sprung a leak in a hydrogen fuel valve.

NASA’s Super Expensive Mega Moon Rocket Starts Leaking During Test

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Researchers have come up with a new way to cause objects to levitate using sound waves alone, an impressive feat of mixed-reality technology.

Virtual Reality

Scientists Are Getting Better and Better at Levitating Objects With Sound Waves

By Victor Tangermann

These might be major moves towards providing future users with a virtual reality system that human visual processes interpret as "real."

Virtual Reality

Zuckerberg Shows Off VR Headsets Designed to Be “Indistinguishable From Reality”

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Michio Kaku says that he often gives his students a particular experiment in which he has them calculate the probability that they wake up on Mars tomorrow.

Quantum Physics

Physicist Says There’s a Small Chance You’ll Wake Up on Mars Tomorrow Due to Quantum Physics

By Noor Al-Sibai

China is hoping to leapfrog NASA by becoming the first nation to return Mars samples, SpaceNews reports, and by July 2031.

China Announces Plan to Obtain Mars Rocks Two Years Before NASA

By Victor Tangermann

Elon Musk's daughter has filed to change her name and gender identity marker because she doesn't want to be associated with her famous father.

Elon Musk’s Daughter Comes Out as Trans, Cuts Ties With Father

By Noor Al-Sibai

According to leaked documents obtained by Ars Technica, NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface on the Moon are in serious trouble.

Leaked Documents Show NASA’s Moon Landing Plans in Chaos

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists say they've figured out at least part of North America's invasive, imported fire ant problem by turning a virus that kills them into a weapon.

Scientists Suggest Killing Ants With Viruses

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Does virtual reality nature have the same positive health effects that IRL nature does? A new study used virtual reality to put plants in a city.

Virtual Reality

Scientists Use Virtual Reality to Add Green Plants to Urban Hell

By Lonnie Lee Hood

"We’re changing Starlink’s default wifi name to Stinky," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted yesterday. Will he really call the Starlink wifi Stinky?

Elon Musk Says Starlink’s Default WiFi Name Will Be “Stinky”

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Google engineer Blake Lemoine says the AI program called LaMDA is sentient and retained a lawyer for itself. Lemoine says LaMDA is a sentient person.

Google Insider Claims Company’s “Sentient” AI Has Hired an Attorney

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Videos a TikTok account literally named "Unreal Margot," are posting are deepfakes, not real clips of actress Margot Robbie, the "Suicide Squad" star.

Amazing Deepfakes of Margot Robbie Are Almost Indistinguishable From Reality

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Around 300 secret polar bears have been secluded from other polar bear populations in Greenland for about 200 years, scientists said in a new study.

Scientists Find Secret Polar Bear Clan Hidden For Centuries in Greenland

By Lonnie Lee Hood

The sleek white exterior of Tesla's electric Semi looks more than a luxury RV than an 18-wheeler. So why are Tesla Semi customers still waiting?

Watch the Tesla Semi Show Off at a Speedway

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Cattle are dying by the thousands because of an intense heat wave. The The Kansas Department of Health and Environment confirmed at least 2,000 dead cattle.

Thousands of Cattle Die From Intense Heat in US

By Lonnie Lee Hood

A new study suggests that Jupiter may be our solar system's hungriest hippo as it formed by eating a bunch of baby planets.

Voracious Jupiter Ate a Bunch of Baby Planets, Scientists Say

By Noor Al-Sibai

Wild Elephant Reportedly Killed Woman, Returned to Trample Corpse at Funeral

Wild Elephant Reportedly Killed Woman, Returned to Trample Corpse at Funeral

By Lonnie Lee Hood

A group of MIT researchers are proposing the manufacturing and use of "space bubbles" to mitigate climate change — and it's so crazy that it might work.

MIT Scientists Want to Put a Barrier Between Earth and Sun to Fight Climate Change

By Noor Al-Sibai

An international team of researchers have created a wriggly "odd wheel" robot that can spontaneously roll up an incline.

Robots and Machines

Scientists Invent Wheel That Can Roll Uphill

By Victor Tangermann

Police in Virginia Beach arrested two men they say stole gas and re-sold it at a discount to other people using a gas hack and social media.

Police Say Dudes Hacked Gas Station Pumps to Make Prices Lower

By Lonnie Lee Hood

A bill that would ban all crypto mining that uses fossil fuels is languishing on the desk of New York's governor, which begs the question — what now?

New York State May Ban Any Crypto Mining Powered by Fossil Fuels

By Noor Al-Sibai

Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared at four European tech conferences yesterday via hologram and asked for support as Russia invades.

Ukraine’s President Making International Appearances Via Hologram

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Astronomers believe that observing this dead star and its solar system might offer an unprecedented glimpse into planetary beginnings.

Scientists Spot Dying Star Brutally Tearing Up Its Unfortunate Planets

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A new voice app allows anybody's voice to sound exactly like Morgan Freeman in real time, an impressive and powerful example of AI-powered technologies.

Artificial Intelligence

New App Makes You Sound Like Morgan Freeman in Real Time

By Victor Tangermann

Feline appreciation of catnip may go deeper than we thought. Scientists say that when cats "damage" catnip it releases iridoids that repel mosquitoes.

Science & Energy

Good News! Catnip Is Good for Cats’ Health, Scientists Say

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Members of the Fellowship of Friends religious sect or cult have taken over hiring at Google, one former Google employee says. New hires are cult members.

Google Allegedly Infiltrated by “Cult-Like Religious Sect”

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk addressed Twitter employees for the very first time, months after announcing plans to buy the social media network.

During Business Meeting, Elon Musk Suddenly Starts Talking About Aliens

By Victor Tangermann

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover spotted something interesting tucked into a boulder — but NASA confirmed it was just a regular ol' piece of human trash.

NASA Accuses NASA of Littering on Mars

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A new video shared by Estonian robotics and autonomous systems developer Milrem Robotics shows an autonomous tank blowing up cars and other targets.

Alarming Footage Shows Robot Battle Tank Blowing Up Cars

By Victor Tangermann

Economy travel may just get worse. Meet the Chaise Lounge Airplane Seats, a bunk-like, double-decker situation that, well, looks like an utter nightmare.

Advanced Transport

The Future of Air Travel Is Apparently the Final Circle of Hell

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Philadelphia police are reporting that their Special Victims Unit found no evidence of cameras at the Airbnb property, despite a viral tweet.

Robots and Machines

Airbnb Denies That Woman’s Rental Was Filled With Hidden Cameras

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

SpaceX Employees Slam Elon Musk’s Bizarre Behavior in Open Letter

SpaceX Employees Slam Elon Musk’s Bizarre Behavior in Open Letter

By Victor Tangermann

It looks like the DALL-E Mini image generator really can conjure up anything — including hilarious and bizarre depictions of drug use.

Artificial Intelligence

That Viral DALL-E AI Is Great at Generating Images of Drugs

By Noor Al-Sibai

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has shown off the latest view of the space company's Starship spacecraft — and it's enormous.

Elon Musk’s New Photo Shows Staggering Size of SpaceX’s Starship

By Victor Tangermann

An over-the-air software update temporarily turned one Lucid Air owner's luxury EV into an expensive lump of steel and aluminum.

Advanced Transport

After Software Update, Error Warns EV Owner “Vehicle May Not Be Drivable”

By Victor Tangermann

A British astronaut teased the idea that UFOs are not alien visitors to Earth but could instead be human time-travelers coming back from the future.

Astronaut Speculates That UFOs Are Time Travelers From the Future

By Noor Al-Sibai

Bill Gates really, really hates cryptocurrency, saying on Tuesday that virtual coins and their NFTs are "100 percent based on the Greater Fool Theory."

Bill Gates Ruthlessly Mocks NFTs as Crypto Market Collapses

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Amid an industry collapse and a class-action investor defrauding lawsuit, the Binance crypto exchange is looking for 2,000 new employees.

Many Crypto Startups Are Firing People Right Now, But This One Is Hiring 2,000 New Employees

By Noor Al-Sibai

It's no secret that Tesla can be lacking in the quality assurance department — and there are no signs of that changing any time soon.

Tesla Fan Appalled at Wretched Condition of Tesla He Just Bought

By Victor Tangermann

A Tesla Semi was seen on California's Highway 580 West, as shown in a video captured by a member of community group Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (TOSV).

Tesla Semi Truck Spotted Cruising Down Public Highway

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Blake Lemoine, Google engineer making claims of sentient AI, took to Twitter to inform those reaching — he's offline and away on his honeymoon.

Artificial Intelligence

Engineer Who Says AI Came to Life Says He Can’t Comment Further Because He’s on His Honeymoon

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A marauding beaver has plunged several small towns into an internet blackout in northern BC, Canada, after chewing through the base of an aspen tree.

Science & Energy

Mass Canadian Internet Outage Caused by Single Destructive Beaver

By Victor Tangermann

NASA really doesn't want SpaceX's Starship to blow up on the launch pad at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Reuters reports.

NASA Afraid SpaceX’s Rocket Will Explode and Blow Up Other Stuff Near It

By Victor Tangermann

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, are indeed in a band, as footage of the twins un-ironically covering "Don't Stop Believin'" has confirmed.

Horrible Footage Emerges of Winklevoss Twins Singing “Don’t Stop Believin'”

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, "Starship will be ready to fly next month," an exciting new update after years of delays and governmental red tape.

Elon Musk: “Starship Will Be Ready to Fly Next Month”

By Victor Tangermann

Behold Fernanda, who, through genetic sequencing, has been confirmed as the only known Fernandina Giant Tortoise in the world.

Science & Energy

Giant Tortoise, Thought to Be Totally Extinct, Suddenly Found Chilling on Island

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Binance is bracing itself for a class-action lawsuit filed against it in a California court about misleading investors over a "stable" stablecoin.

Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Binance Misled Investors Over “Stablecoin”

By Victor Tangermann

The Federal Aviation Administration has released its long-awaited environmental assessment into SpaceX's Starship launch program.

FAA Demands Changes Before SpaceX Can Launch Starship to Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has had to pause Bitcoin withdrawals as the currency drops precipitously for the second time in 2022.

As Bitcoin Crashes, Binance Halts Withdrawals

By Noor Al-Sibai

Turns out dogs may have learned some of their human social skills from a previously undiscovered genetic mutation according to a Nature story.

Geneticists Figure Out Why Dogs Are So Friendly to Humans

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Plans for the Russian Orbital Space Station (ROSS) are moving ahead but a top scientist says International Space Station modules could be contaminated.

International Space Station

Russian Scientist Complains That the ISS Is Tainted With Disgusting Pathogens

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Looks like the United Kingdom wants to create smart tanks, because it's using a new quantum computer to put more tech in its arsenal.

UK Military Wants to Install Quantum Computers in Tanks for Some Reason

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Researchers say superworms, much bigger than a mealworm or wax worm, can eat plastic Styrofoam and survive, and could digest plastic garbage and pollution.

Scientists Discover “Superworms” That Can Survive on Eating Just Styrofoam

By Lonnie Lee Hood

In a huge twist of irony, Norway is building the world's largest wind farm — to power offshore oil and gas fields.

Ironic! Norway is Building a Massive Wind Farm to Boost Oil Production

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Starlink satellite internet connection is helping artillery gunners in Ukraine accurately hit Russian targets and stay connected.

US General Says SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites Have “Destroyed” Russia’s Efforts to Control Info

By Lonnie Lee Hood

If you're out of Sriracha, you're out of luck because that the manufacturers of the classic hot sauce say their shortage might last through the summer.

Science & Energy

“Severe” Sriracha Shortage Threatens Spiceless Summer

By Noor Al-Sibai

Microplastics have reached some of the most remote parts of Antarctica, one of the last natural strongholds against human development.

Even Antarctica Isn’t Safe From Microplastics, Researchers Confirm

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Scientists have discovered another uber-powerful, repeating radio burst from space — and it's getting them one step closer to unlocking a huge mystery.

Astronomers Discover Another Mysterious, Repeating Radio Transmission From Space

By Noor Al-Sibai

After being trapped in Tesla's Giga Shanghai factory for months, CEO Elon Musk is finally letting workers go back home later today.

Hooray! Tesla Lets Workers Leave Factory Where They’ve Been Trapped for Months

By Lonnie Lee Hood

Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is being sued by the parents of a young man who died during a fire caused by a 3D printer sold by the retailer.

Lawsuit Claims That 3D Printer Caught Fire and Killed a Man

By Noor Al-Sibai