hubie writes:Last year NASA said it would allow two private astronaut missions a year. Now NASA apparently said it is working with Tom Cruise about filming a movie on the ISS.Unless they want to go for that Blair Witch cinematography effect, given the limited volume to move around in the ISS — and the need for a small film crew — I wonder if this would be a case where you'd actually prefer a green screen instead.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
An Anonymous Coward writes:OK, so you've air-gapped that PC. Cut the speakers. Covered the LEDs. Disconnected the monitor. Now, about the data-leaking power supply unit...
Kitsune008 writes:One of the issues involving nuclear power has been what to do with the waste materials. What if there was a way to not only convert the problematic materials into a safer storage form, but also enable that same storage form to be used as fuel in newer nuclear power generators? Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
hubie writes:Thunderstorms produce quick bursts of energetic gamma rays. These Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) were first discovered in 1992 by NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. These bursts are unpredictable and last less than a millisecond and as such it is very hard to locate them with any decent precision. They are some of the highest energy photons produced in nature, but how they are produced is not known. Some models assume they result from charged particle acceleration in the high electric field region concentrated at the tips of lightning leaders, while other models assume particle acceleration occurs in large-scale thundercloud electric fields.Fairly recently it was noticed that TGFs were often associated with Electro-Magnetic Pulses (EMPs) in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) region. However, it isn't known whether the EMPs are signatures of the lightning that "triggers" the TGFs, or whether they are the RF signatures of the TGFs themselves. Figuring that out requires being able to pinpoint where in the thunderstorm the TGFs originate.A collaborative group of researchers analyzed a five-year data set where TGF signatures were simultaneously measured using space- and ground-based detectors. They were able to show in a paper published in Scientific Reports that the EMPs and TGFs are produced by the same phenomenon, rather than the EMPs being from "regular" lightning in TGF-producing thunderstorms. A popular explanation for the TGF source is the Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanche (RREA) process where high electric fields accelerate electrons, which collide and knock out more electrons that are accelerated resulting in an avalanche of runaway electrons. When the electrons finally decelerate in the thunderstorm electric field, they produce bremsstrahlung photons, which is what gets detected.Reference:
martyb writes:2020-05-03 Roundup of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2, Coronavirus) Storiestotal_count3,565,120total_deaths248,245total_recovered1,153,956active_count2,162,919active_mild_count2,112,878(98%)active_serious_count50,041(2%)closed_outcome1,402,201closed_deaths_count248,245(18%)closed_recovered_count1,153,956(82%)Read more of this story at SoylentNews.
hubie writes:In face-to-face communication the speaker's meaning is conveyed not only with the words that are used, but also with the assistance of visual and verbal cues. If you asked someone what they thought of your new hairstyle, their reply of "I think it looks great" has a lot different meaning if it is delivered with a broad smile and enthusiasm, or with eye-darting after some hemming and hawing. What is more challenging is when communication is performed only through the message without these cues. A sarcastic comments takes on a whole different negative tone without these cues.Over the years various conventions arose to add contextual meaning to a message. Long before people were LOL-ing, amateur radio operators would send "HIHI" over morse code. In the early 80s emoticons were created to add additional meaning to the various interchanges happening on Usenet. And of course, these have evolved into the ubiquitous emoji that we all know and love.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:Florida sheriff refuses to stop Americans from witnessing historic manned space launch as NASA urges everyone to watch it online:
takyon writes:SpaceX's next Falcon Heavy launch could expend (destroy) the first stage center core, while landing the two side boosters on separate drone ships. This configuration could carry almost as much mass as a launch using a fully expendable Falcon Heavy: