Consider the February 2009 run-in between a dead Russian Cosmos satellite and a commercial Iridium spacecraft, which produced an enormous amount of debris.įinding ways to remove at least some of all that space junk should be a top global priority, says Donald Kessler, a retired NASA senior scientist for orbital debris research. Worse yet, there has been an uptick in the threat of full-on collisions that generate menacing refuse that exacerbates the already bad situation. The International Space Station, for instance, regularly tweaks its orbit to avoid potentially hazardous debris. And Amazon’s Project Kuiper is seeking to create a mega constellation of up to 3,200 satellites in the near future.Īs the congestion has grown, so too have close calls between orbiting assets. Starlink is but one of many similar projects: Another mega constellation from a company called OneWeb is already being deployed. And the problem is now poised to get much worse because of the rise of satellite “mega constellations” requiring thousands of spacecraft, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, a broadband Internet network. And with few meaningful limitations on further launches into that increasingly congested realm, the prevailing attitude has been persistently permissive: in orbit, it seems, there is always room for one more.Īfter so many decades of the buildup of high-speed clutter in the form of spent rocket stages, stray bolts and paint chips, solid-rocket-motor slag, dead or dying satellites and the scattered fragments from antisatellite tests-all of which could individually damage or destroy other assets-low-Earth orbit is finally on the verge of becoming too crowded for comfort. For more than a half-century, humans have been hurling objects into low-Earth orbit in ever growing numbers. + Oakland’s public library keeps a charming log of all the things its librarians have found tucked away inside their books.A Space Age “tragedy of the commons” is unfolding right under our nose-or, really, right over our head-and no consensus yet exists on how to stop it. + These outlandish car designs made me laugh. Here’s a list of some of the most exciting new titles you should know about. + Fall is a great time to settle down and watch a movie. + Stop! All these songs are absolute classics. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me. Read the full story.Ī place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. Livestock producers around the US are confronting this new and unfamiliar disease without much information, and researchers still don’t know how theileria will unfold, even as it quickly spreads west across the country. And with no treatment available, the cows kept dying. Sure enough, the test came back positive for the disease: theileria. But their veterinarian had warned them that another disease carried by a parasite was spreading rapidly in the area.Īfter a third cow died, the Granos decided to test its blood. In the spring of 2021, Cynthia and John Grano, who own a cattle operation in Culpeper County, Virginia, started noticing some of their cows slowing down and acting “spacey.” They figured the animals were suffering from a common infectious disease that causes anemia in cattle. + Viral videos from China are doing numbers on TikTok. ( MIT Technology Review)Ĥ TikTok creators are cashing in from dangerous health trendsĬastor oil, parasite cleanses, and detox drinks are being touted as cures for all sorts of ailments, without scientific backing. + The US-China chip war is still escalating. They’re fiercely against further crackdowns on sales to China. + Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities. + It’s boosting the fortunes of companies like Dell. We’re using more data than ever before, and existing centers are struggling to cope. ( MIT Technology Review)Ģ We’re hurtling towards a data center crisis ( FT $)+ Trust large language models at your own peril. + AI’s guardrails aren’t living us to their promises. It’s part of a campaign to overwhelm the internet with hateful propaganda. 1 4chan users are exploiting AI tools to generate racist images
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