SpaceX will launch these satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Space Development Agency estimates they will be ready to launch in late 2022. WASHINGTON — SpaceX has been awarded a $150.4 million contract to launch as many as 28 satellites for the Pentagon’s space agency, the Defense Department announced Dec. 31. The contract is
Month: December 2020
The entire year of 2020 was nothing short of bizarre, especially with the idea that a single Asian Bat caused a global lockdown. To call it weird would be an understatement. But, it’s not just the pandemic causing mammal that shook the world; there’s a plethora of freakishly weird natural stories and scenarios that happened
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Johannessen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images Tech’s biggest companies just wrapped up a huge year. The seven most valuable U.S. technology companies — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook,
Still from Ford’s “Finish Strong” spot. Ford In a new ad campaign using actor Bryan Cranston, Ford Motor is urging Americans to adhere to Covid-19 protocols to save lives in the next period of the pandemic. The campaign, part of an initiative the company has dubbed #FinishStrong, includes a new commercial from filmmaker Peter Berg
Joshua Chawner (left) and Dmitry Zmeev with the world’s first LEGO cryonaut (Courtesy: Joshua Chawner) Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, physicists have still found time to carry out research that touches on the quirkier side of science. Here is our pick of the 10 best, not in any particular order. Low-temperature LEGO Condensed-matter
WASHINGTON — The White House released a national strategy for planetary protection Dec. 30, outlining new assessments to prevent terrestrial contamination of other worlds and vice versa. The National Strategy for Planetary Protection, developed by an interagency working group led by the National Space Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), outlines work
Russell Okung #76 of the Carolina Panthers Grant Halverson | Getty Images It’s often referred to as a new form of gold, and now Carolina Panthers offensive linemen Russell Okung is making a massive bet on bitcoin. After a nearly two-year battle, Okung finally had his wish granted and will have his salary diverted to
The Washington Post reported Dec. 30 that a district court judge in Texas ruled that NSTXL acted fraudulently in a dispute against a former business partner. WASHINGTON — The recent selection of NSTXL to manage space technology projects for the U.S. Space Force is being reexamined following revelations that a Texas court ruled the company
Physicists worldwide showed spirit and innovation, but 2020 can’t end soon enough. Physics World editor-in-chief Matin Durrani looks back at the year that’s coming to an end. (Courtesy: iStock/photo_Pawel) I remember receiving one of those “hilarious” WhatsApp messages in mid-March just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold and everyone was going slightly mad. Signed
Last 2018, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed two missions designed to take solar exploration close to the actual Sun than any space study ever did in the past. Their Parker Solar Probe, which launched in the same year, announced and the 2020 follow-up, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the
Last year around this time, I focused on digital technology solutions for water with this essay, “2019: The Year Analog Solutions Died.” I stand by this perspective, as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated interest and adoption of digital technologies across the water value chain. However, I wanted to share six new learnings from this pandemic
Amazon Echo Dot speaker CNBC | Richard Washington Amazon announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring podcasting company Wondery, expanding its catalog of original audio content. As part of the deal, Wondery will join Amazon Music, the e-commerce giant’s music streaming business. Amazon Music in September added podcasts to its platform, looking to carve out a share
By Rebecca and Chrystian Vieyra As teachers, students, and their families have navigated online learning this year, science education has taken a bit of a hit. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported that only 38% of teachers who responded to a survey said that they had been able to engage their students
Maps of regional lung expansion in (left) a mouse with cystic fibrosis-like disease and (right) a healthy littermate. (Courtesy: Monash University) This year has been a year like no other. In 2020, many physicists turned their research efforts towards tackling the pandemic. Within medical physics, researchers worked to develop improved diagnostics and potential treatments for
President Donald Trump Carlos Barria | Reuters President Donald Trump is pressuring his Republican allies over a law that has protected social media companies for decades. In his final weeks in office, Trump has launched a full-bore attack on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the 1996 law that shields tech companies from being
WASHINGTON — A Soyuz rocket successfully launched a French reconnaissance satellite Dec. 29 in what is likely the final launch of an active 2020 in spaceflight. The Soyuz ST-A rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana at 11:42 a.m. Eastern, after a one-day delay because of gusty upper-level winds. The Fregat
At GreenBiz, we’ve been reporting on the world of sustainable business for over two decades, but this year has been unlike any other. From an unprecedented pandemic to a global economic downturn to the intensifying impacts of climate change, we can’t say we’ll miss 2020. But there were many valuable lessons learned over the past
Intel CEO Robert Swan speaks at the Rakuten Optimism event in Yokohama, Japan, on July 31, 2019. Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images Third Point, the hedge fund led by Dan Loeb, is urging Intel’s board of directors to hire an investment adviser to explore “strategic alternatives” after the chipmaker lost market share to TSMC, Samsung
Eye in the sky: data from the Jason-3 satellite was used in the study. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Third-degree tides – tiny sea-level fluctuations once known only locally from measurements made by tidal gauges – have been mapped out across the globe by geophysicist Richard Ray at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, US. As well
2020 might not have been the best year for humans, but the same could also be said for animals. From massive Murder Hornets to the Asian Bat that is said to have started the pandemic, many wildlife species have had the spotlight shone upon them, for all the wrong reason, throughout the year. It would
iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max Todd Haselton | CNBC You may have received a new iPhone over the holidays. Or maybe you bought one for yourself. If you did, there are a few tips and tricks you should know about that will help you get the most out of it. A lot
Credit: Adapted from Getty In March, every single aspect of my scientific working life shut down. This was incredibly disruptive. But looking back, it has given me an opportunity to look at different parts of my job in isolation. Taking everything away and then rebuilding from scratch, piece by piece, has allowed me to appreciate
Editor’s note: Back by popular demand, smart cities consultant Sue Lebeck provides GreenBiz highlights from the past year in verse. You’ll find her haiku from 2019 here. Rise before the Surprise Leaders gather forthe first and last time in yearof shelter-in-place. Learning on the JobCould ways to flattencoronavirus’ curve helpbend climate’s curve too? From Farms to
Heat sssssensorsss A large-eyed green pit viper. The pit organs are small depressions between the snake’s nostrils and eyes. (Courtesy: iStock_TommyIX) Regular readers of Physics World know that we have a penchant for materials and nanotechnology research. I developed my fondness for materials physics when I did a PhD many years ago on the magnetic
To say that 2020 was a bizarre year is an understatement. From making memes about the possibility of World War III, an infestation of murder hornets, to an actual global pandemicIt has been weird, to say the least. However, it’s not all gloom and sadness. Because of the many changes in people’s lifestyles, there have been
Gal Gadot stars as Wonder Woman in Warner Bros. “Wonder Woman 1984.” Warner Bros. This past weekend provided the first real test for how blockbuster movies perform on streaming services when they’re released in movie theaters at the same time. AT&T‘s WarnerMedia premiered “Wonder Woman 1984” on Christmas Day, the first movie in its experiment
The massive bill authorizes $740 billion for national defense spending and sets policies affecting every aspect of military operations. WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Dec. 28 voted 322-87 to overturn President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021. The measure is now headed to the Senate floor
Tin is a commonplace metal that’s used industrially in a thousand different ways. From the solder that holds your computer’s motherboard together to the PVC plumbing under your sink, tin compounds are everywhere. In spite of its versatility, tin possesses an interesting physical property which is responsible for its tendency to wear down over time
Ryan Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Qualtrics peaks on stage during the 2015 Web Summit on in Dublin, Ireland. Clodagh Kilcoyne | Getty Images Qualtrics is about to go public, for real this time. The cloud software vendor, which SAP acquired two years ago on the eve of a planned IPO, filed its paperwork with
WASHINGTON — Viasat has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to perform an environmental review of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband constellation, arguing that the satellite system poses environmental hazards in space and on Earth. In a Dec. 22 filing, Viasat formally requested that the FCC conduct either an environmental assessment or more rigorous environmental impact statement of
It was a very long year. True, just 366 days (it was a leap year, after all), each one, I’m told, containing only the standard 24 hours. But it was much, much longer than that. Remember 2019? Neither do I. To recall some of the key developments, as I have done each December for more
A new breakthrough could help reduced the carbon footprint of air travel, with the aim to bring emissions by jets to net zero. A team of researchers from Oxford University has successfully managed to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into jet fuel, though as of now the experiment was performed at a very small scale. As
Tim Cook at Apple Event Source: Apple TFI’s Ming-Chi Kuo published a note over the weekend that addressed a report from Reuters last week, which said Apple plans to produce a self-driving passenger car in 2024. The Reuters report sent shares of companies that build parts for autonomous cars, like lidar sensors, soaring. But the
Courtesy: iStock/agsandrew This pandemic-blighted year isn’t going to top anyone’s list of favourites, but looking on the bright side for a moment, 2020 has seen some remarkable advances in quantum science and technology. Here are a few of the highlights from subfields ranging from quantum fundamentals to quantum computing. The most precise thermometer possible How
Two-thirds majorities are needed in the House and Senate to overturn the president’s veto and enact the bill into law. WASHINGTON — Congressional defense committees and industry groups over the holiday break called on the House and Senate to override President Trump’s Dec. 23 veto of the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA for fiscal
Little wing: the sensor is made from tiny hollow spheres that are deposited on the surface of a chip. The largest gap between spheres is about 2 microns in size. (Courtesy: RMIT University) Photonic nanostructures found on the wings of some butterflies have inspired researchers in Australia to create a new and highly accurate sensor
WASHINGTON — An agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union will allow the UK to remain in the Copernicus Earth observation program after it formally exits the EU. The UK and EU announced a broad agreement Dec. 24 governing the UK’s relationship with the EU once the country formally withdraws from the European
It seems like every tech company is trying to sell their products as environmentally responsible. That’s why Apple claims its latest iPhone 12 line comes without a charging block in the box, for example. But that hasn’t stopped tech companies from coming out with a host of new phones every year, and the old models
President-elect Joe Biden speaks prior to the holiday at the Queen theatre on December 22, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden spoke ahead of the Christmas holiday and called the $900 billion coronavirus aid bill passed by Congress on Monday a start, insisting on more economic relief after the inauguration. Joshua Roberts | Getty Images The
Nearly one year after the World Health Organization discovered the coronavirus, many people are still staying home from offices, schools, movie theaters, stadiums, churches and restaurants. A lot of the socialization that would be happening in those places in 2020 is happening over video calls. And you can’t talk about that aspect of life without
In an article in Cell, National Institutes of Health-funded researchers described how they used advanced genetic engineering techniques to transform a bacterial protein into a new research tool that may help monitor serotonin transmission with greater fidelity than current methods. Preclinical experiments, primarily in mice, showed that the sensor could detect subtle, real-time changes in
People shop for holiday items at the Country Store on Main Street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on December 13, 2020. Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images With just a few days before Christmas, shoppers are running out of options to receive their holiday gifts in time to place them under the tree. But all hope
1. Bromberg-Martin, E. S., Matsumoto, M. & Hikosaka, O. Dopamine in motivational control: rewarding, aversive, and alerting. Neuron 68, 815–834 (2010). CAS PubMed PubMed Central Article Google Scholar 2. Kravitz, A. V. & Kreitzer, A. C. Striatal mechanisms underlying movement, reinforcement, and punishment. Physiology (Bethesda) 27, 167–177 (2012). Google Scholar 3. Vidal-Gadea, A. G. &
The shift to remote learning sparked a surge in business for Chegg in 2020, and CEO Dan Rosensweig doesn’t see that exponential growth easing up much in the new year. “When the pandemic is over, we don’t expect growth to significantly slow because this is not just the trend, this is what it’s going to
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The world’s most massive iceberg named A-68a was dangerously headed into an island populated by a penguin colony. It broke into two pieces, scientists who have been monitoring its journey reported on Friday. The enormous chunk of ice first broke off from the Antarctic ice shelf in 2017 and has been drifting since. The size
In recent commercial space acquisitions, founders largely have remained with the businesses they established or moved on to form new space companies. Two exceptions are Roccor co-founder Doug Campbell and Scott Larson, who co-founded UrtheCast and Helios Wire. Both men left the space sector entirely after their startups were acquired. Campbell, in fact, was the
The tech industry was ahead of the Covid curve from the beginning. Faster than the public and even governments, tech companies were among the first to understand the coronavirus threat back in early 2020 and respond with short-term measures. As the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down into 2021, tech companies are also quickest
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