TomoNews US
Russian Agent Tricked Into Detailing Assassination Attempt
- Title
- Russian Agent Tricked Into Detailing Assassination Attempt
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BERLIN, GERMANY — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny survived an attempt to assassinate him with the nerve agent Novichok on August 20.
Now the BBC reports that the investigative group Bellingcat says that Navalny duped a Russian FSB agent into revealing details of the attack.
Navalny reportedly impersonated a security official when he called the agent.
As part of Navalny’s ruse to elicit more details of the assassination attempt, Bellingcat says the trick call was set up to indicate it was coming from an FSB landline.
The agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, told Navalny that the Novichok had been placed in a pair of Navalny's underpants.
Mr Navalny, who is still recovering in Berlin, posted a recording of the long conversation on his YouTube channel.
The FSB agent also told Navalny the swift response of the airline pilot, and the emergency medical team in Omsk, could have been the reason for the f...
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- What We Know About the New COVID Strain
- Runtime
- 1:52
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LONDON — Concerns are growing over a new variant of the coronavirus blamed for a sharp rise in cases in the UK.
The new strain, referred to as B.1.1.7 or VUI-202012/01, contains 23 mutations and other changes to its genome, according to a Reuters report.
BBC News reports officials in the UK have suggested that the new strain may be 70 percent more transmissible than other forms of the virus.
SOURCES: MIT Technology Review, BBC News, UK Government, New York Times, GISAID Initiative, CNN
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/21/1015315/the-uk-is-spooking-everyone-with-its-new-covid-19-strain-heres-what-scientists-know/
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55388846
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/new-and-emerging-respiratory-virus-threats-advisory-group
https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/SARS-CoV-2+variant+under+investigation%2C+meeting+minutes.pdf/962e866b-161f-2fd5-1030-32b6ab467896?t=1608470511452
htt...
- Title
- How Spies Hacked US Secrets via SolarWinds’ Orion Software
- Runtime
- 1:08
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — The US is currently fighting a massive hack that came to light on December 13, when Reuters reported that hackers had gained access to US Treasury and Commerce Department emails.
Since then, officials say at least six government agencies were infiltrated and thousands of companies were infected with malware.
The highly sophisticated hack was first discovered by a cyber security firm called FireEye.
The company found that it had itself been hacked, meaning that the hackers could have hacked the powerful tools FireEye used to access top-secret systems.
Researchers later found that SolarWinds software was at the core of the hack.
They believe a SolarWinds product called Orion spread the malware via its own software updates.
Once downloaded, the malware signaled back to its operators where it had landed.
In cases where access was especially valuable, the hackers then used it to ...
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- Musk’s Tesla, Boring Co. to Build Citywide Transit System
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LAS VEGAS — Last week, the Las Vegas City Council voted to approve the Boring Company’s plan for a citywide Loop system.
A Boring Company Loop system consists of tunnels in which Tesla autonomous electric vehicles travel at high speeds between stations to transport people within a city.
The first system is currently being built at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the Boring Company now plans to connect the convention center’s Loop to casinos on the strip in order to eventually create a citywide Loop.
The plan is to eventually build a 15-mile tunnel system that will go all the way from the McCarran airport to the Fremont Street Experience in the north, with stops along all the major resorts along the strip.
The planned tunnel would also loop westward around the Allegiant Stadium and the Orleans Hotel.
Officials have said that Boring Co. will cover the cost of building the main artery of the Loop. Hotels that...
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- Army Surrounds Gunmen and Frees Hundreds of Child Hostages
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- KANKARA, NIGERIA — Reuters reports that more than 340 boys who were abducted from a Nigerian high school were released on Thursday.
Just a day before, the governor of the Nigerian state of Katsina said the nation’s military had found and surrounded the group.
This was just the latest in a spate of such mass abductions of children in Nigeria.
It started when a large number of gunmen riding motorbikes stormed the compound of a high school in Kankara.
One of the boys who escaped said the attack started around 9:30 PM on Friday 11 December, and that many students jumped the school fence and fled when they heard gunshots.
However, they were tracked by the gunmen who had flashlights and who tricked them into believing that they were security personnel and asked them to return.
The boys were then rounded up and forced to walk into the forest. The boy who escaped said he heard the gunmen say they had counte...
- Title
- China Is ‘Spying on Americans via Caribbean Networks’
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — The Guardian newspaper revealed that China has likely been spying on US citizens via Caribbean phone networks for years.
The paper based its article on research by Gary Miller, a former mobile network security executive.
Miller has been analyzing sensitive signals data for years and says China appears to have used mobile phone networks in the Caribbean to surveil US mobile phone subscribers as part of its espionage campaign against Americans.
He says that China uses one of its state-controlled phone operators to direct signalling messages to US subscribers, usually while they are travelling abroad.
Signalling messages are commands that are sent by telecoms operators across the global network. They allow operators to locate mobile phones and connect users to one another.
But some signalling messages can be used for tracking, monitoring, or intercepting communications.
Miller said that Chin...
- Title
- World’s Largest Iceberg on Collision Course With South Atlantic Island
- Runtime
- 3:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- SOUTH GEORGIA — The world’s biggest iceberg is headed straight toward an island in the South Atlantic and has the potential to cause significant damage to wildlife should it become grounded nearby.
Based on currents and weather conditions, Iceberg A68a — which is roughly the size of Delaware — is poised to hit South Georgia this month, according to the Royal Navy.
The BBC reports that because the iceberg is relatively thin — its cliffs rise 30 meters above the surface, while its keel is estimated to be only 200 meters deep — there's a danger it could become grounded just offshore, taking possibly 10 years to melt.
This would devastate the local ecosystem as it would force animals such as king penguins and elephant seals to travel much greater distances to find food. The iceberg would also crush wildlife on the seafloor where it anchors.
However, nutrients released when the iceberg melts would boost the local ecosystem.
- Title
- How Navalny Was Poisoned by Secret Agents
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TOMSK, RUSSIA — CNN reports that it has worked with a news organization called Bellingcat to work out how a political opponent of Russia’s president Putin was poisoned with a nerve agent called Novichok.
CNN says it obtained Russian phone, airline, and hotel records that showed the movements and communications of members of Russia’s FSB who shadowed opposition politician Alexey Navalny before his poisoning in August.
According to CNN, Navalny and his team were always watched by the FSB, but a special FSB unit specializing in toxins and nerve agents started trailing him a week before the poisoning incident.
The phone of one of these agents pinged a phone tower from near Navalny’s hotel on the night before he fell ill.
CNN says toxicologists believe Navalny was poisoned that night.
Navalny says he doesn’t know when it could have happened, but he does remember taking a few sips from a cocktail that tasted terri...
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- Aztec ‘Tower of Skulls’: Archaeologists Find New Section of the Huey Tzompantli
- Runtime
- 2:25
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- MEXICO CITY — Mexican archaeologists have excavated more sections of the Aztec “tower of skulls” in the heart of Mexico City and unearthed an additional 119 skulls, authorities announced on Dec. 11.
Since 2015 more than 600 skulls have been unearthed at the site, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History.
Reuters reports that the tower was approximately 5 meters, or 16.4 feet, in diameter, and is thought to have been part of the Huey Tzompantli, a huge palisade of skulls that 16th century Spanish conquistadors claimed to have seen in the ancient city of Tenochtitlan.
The tzompantli sat in front of the Templo Mayor and was flanked by two towers of mortared skulls, in the middle of a temple complex that was the spiritual and political heart of the Aztec capital.
In a statement released by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexican Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto described the tower as one ...
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- Giant Vertical Indoor Hydroponic Farm to Start Production
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- COPENHAGEN — In the past, people in Denmark would have to import foods like lettuce from southern countries during the long Danish winters.
But now a new vertical indoor farm on the outskirts of Copenhagen will produce 1,000 metric tons of greens a year.
The new Nordic Harvest vertical farm stands 14 layers high in a 7000 square meter facility that’s around 4 storeys high.
The Danish company built the farm in partnership with Taiwanese tech provider, YesHealth.
The company says farms covering an area the size of 20 soccer fields could fully supply the country’s entire demand for greens.
The facility uses hydroponics, a technology that grows food with fertilizer-filled water and doesn’t require the use of soil or pesticides.
Thousands of LED lights simulate sunlight to drive plant growth.
Nanobubble hydroponics technology efficiently oxygenates the roots of the plants.
...
- Title
- Discovered: Ancient Amazonian Villages Laid Out Like Clocks
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, UK — Billions of laser pulses fired from a helicopter flying over the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest have exposed a vast network of long-abandoned circular and rectangular-shaped villages, a new study found.
The abandoned villages dated from the years 1300 to 1700. The round ones all had remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza like marks on a clock.
“These elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun,” the researchers wrote in the study, which was published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology.
Using Lidar technology the researchers could penetrate the rainforest's canopy and map the landscape below.
The distinctive and consistent way indigenous people arranged these villages suggests that they had specific social models for the way they organized their communities. It's even possible that this configuration was meant...
- Title
- The Ocean Cleanup: Taking Plastic Out of Rivers With the Interceptor
- Runtime
- 2:07
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit organization developing technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, is ramping up production of its Interceptor, an autonomous system that removes plastic waste from rivers.
On Thursday, Dec. 10, the organization announced a partnership with Konecranes, a Finnish company that produces lifting equipment.
Konecranes will handle manufacturing, installation and maintenance of the Interceptor with local partners. The company is already building two interceptors at its MHE-Demag facility in Klang, Malaysia.
Ocean Cleanup states on its website that the Interceptor is capable of extracting 50,000 kilograms of trash a day. The organization claims that under optimal conditions, that number could increase to 100,000 kilograms of waste per day.
The Ocean Cleanup currently has three Interceptors operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic, with a fourth due ...
- Title
- Neanderthals Buried Their Dead, New Study Suggests
- Runtime
- 1:11
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LA FERRASSIE, FRANCE — Researchers recently analyzed the remains of a Neanderthal child and found that the two-year-old was probably buried by its tribe, casting new light on the way these ancient cousins of humans treated their deceased.
According to the research paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the child's skeleton was first unearthed in 1973 from a rock shelter at the La Ferrassie dig site in southwest France.
Much of the evidence for Neanderthal burial practices comes from digs undertaken in the early 20th century, before today's rigorous archaeological standards.
This led to initial scepticism as to the veracity of the purported burial sites.
The new researchers re-examined the remains and re-visited the original excavation site. They concluded that 41,000 years ago, the child had been laid carefully in a grave that was then covered with fresh soil.
This would make it the first evidence for ...
- Title
- Planets Combining to Form Rare ‘Christmas Star’
- Runtime
- 1:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NEW YORK — Astronomers are calling it the Great Conjunction of 2020. On December 21 — coincidentally the winter solstice — the two largest planets in our solar system will appear to almost merge in Earth’s night sky.
Jupiter and Saturn will get so close in the sky that they will almost appear to merge with one another. Such a conjunction has not occurred for almost 800 years.
During the event, these two shiny gas giants will sit just 0.1 degrees apart, or a mere one-fifth the width of the Moon.
The sight will likely leave many casual observers wondering “What are those large, bright objects so close together in the sky?"
In fact, Jupiter and Saturn will be so close that you will be able to fit them both in the same telescopic field of view.
That’s an incredibly rare occurrence. The last time Jupiter and Saturn were this close together was in 1226 A.D., at a time when Genghis Khan was conquering large swat...
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- China Upping Its Intimidation Game in the South China Sea
- Runtime
- 1:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- VANGUARD BANK, SOUTH CHINA SEA — During 2020, despite the pandemic, China has increased its campaign of using its ships to claim most of the South China Sea as its own territory, including a shoal only 140 kilometers from Malaysia.
Named Luconia Shoals, this submarine ridge lies 1,500 kilometers from China’s southern island of Hainan.
The shoal is also inside Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, meaning that China has no legal right to patrol the area.
However, Chinese coast guard ships are currently harassing oil and gas activity in the area, according to the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS.
The CSIS released tracking data showing that Chinese patrol ships have been increasing their aggressive patrolling in the region.
One important concern is that these ships are now also targeting Vanguard Bank, an oil and gas-rich shoal claimed by Vietnam.
The area had been quie...
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- World’s Largest Wind Turbines to Power America’s First Large-Scale Wind Farm
- Runtime
- 1:36
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS — The first “commercial scale” offshore wind farm is coming to the U.S.
The developers of the Vineyard Wind 1 project off Massachusetts announced on Dec. 1 that they will use General Electric’s massive Haliade-X wind turbines, the largest and most powerful offshore wind turbines in the world.
According to GE, each 13 MW Haliade-X turbine is capable of generating 312 megawatt-hours in one day. The turbine stands at 853 feet, or 260 meters tall. GE says a single spin of its 722-foot, or 220 meter, rotor can power a home for two days.
Vineyard Wind has leased a 160,000-acre area 15 miles from the south coast of Martha's Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts, according to the company’s website.
Vineyard Wind 1 will consist of 62 Haliade-X turbines spaced at least eight-tenths of a mile apart.
The 800 MW project will power about 400,000 houses in New England and should go online in...
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- Microwave Weapons ‘Were Probably Used’ Against US Diplomats
- Runtime
- 1:35
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — A newly released scientific report casts more light on the case of US diplomats who believed they had suffered physical damage from microwave weapons used by enemy agents.
A panel of US scientists found that the symptoms were likely caused by directed microwave devices, renewing discussions about the use of microwave radiation in 5G wireless networks.
As with the difference between microwave ovens and microwave weapons, the discussions revolve around exactly how short the wavelengths in 5G microwaves are, and how directed they are.
A new report by a US National Academy of Sciences committee has found that “directed” microwave radiation is the likely cause of illnesses among American diplomats in Cuba and China.
Microwave weapons work in much the same way as an ordinary microwave oven. A strong electrical current is fed into a magnetron.
A magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that oscillates microwave...
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- Here’s Who Will Get the Coronavirus Vaccine First
- Runtime
- 4:46
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has made deals to procure 100 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for US$1.95 billion and 100 million of Moderna’s for US$1.5 billion, with options to buy more, as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
According to a Reuters analysis, up to 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines are expected to be available in the U.S. by the end of 2020. Doses will be allocated by the federal government based on state populations, and the states must follow general guidance from the CDC’s Interim Playbook for COVID-19 when implementing their vaccine plans.
This animation explains how the U.S. plans to roll out vaccinations for COVID-19.
SOURCES: Reuters, CDC, Science Magazine, MIT Technology Review
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccine-distribution/analysis-first-us-delivery-of-covid-19-vaccine-will-leave-out-many-high-risk-workers-idUSL1N2IJ1XA
https://www...
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- Amazon Deforestation Increasing Under Bolsonaro’s Government
- Runtime
- 1:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- MANAUS, BRAZIL — The fate of the Amazon rainforest hangs in the balance as Brazil’s government, led by President Jair Bolsonaro, this year allowed a 9.5% yearly increase in deforestation of the world’s last great wilderness.
As reported by Reuters, this increase is especially worrisome, as it follows on a whopping 34% increase in 2019, which was Bolsonaro’s first year as president.
This means that the total area that had been deforested in 2020 is the highest it’s been in 12 years.
It also means that Brazil will miss its own target, established under a 2009 climate-change law, to reduce annual deforestation to about 3,900 square kilometers.
The 2020 figure of 11,088 square kilometers is a massive 7,200 square kilometers more than this target of 3,900.
The Amazon is the world’s last big rainforest, and its protection is crucial to stopping catastrophic climate change, because of the vast amount of carbon dio...
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- Chemical in Tires Causing Mass Die-Offs of Salmon
- Runtime
- 1:21
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TACOMA, WASHINGTON — For decades, after heavy autumn rainstorms, coho salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast have been dying in huge numbers before they spawn.
Now scientists believe they have found the primary cause. A powerful antioxidant present in runoff called 6PPD, used in tires to make them last longer, is poisoning the fish.
Researchers from the University of Washington Tacoma found that 6PPD reacts with ozone to form a previously unknown byproduct called 6PPD-quinone. The findings were published on Dec. 3, in the journal Science.
According to the study, less than 1 percent of adult coho typically die before spawning. But in the mass die-off autumn events along the West Coast, 40 percent to 90 percent of the salmon have died.
It is unlikely 6PPD-quinone is toxic only to coho salmon, the researchers said, but 6PPD-quinone is a ubiquitous pollutant. There are more than 1.4 billion vehicles on the planet, for...
- Title
- Army of Bank Robbers Terrorize Brazilian Cities for Hours
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CAMETA, BRAZIL — Only one day after a small army of heavily armed bank robbers besieged the southern Brazilian city of Criciuma, a similarly large group of gunmen besieged the city of Cameta, on the opposite side of the country.
One civilian was killed and another wounded when the gunmen took residents hostage as they looted a bank.
Para state officials said Wednesday that more than 20 criminals with assault rifles attacked a branch of the state-run Bank of Brazil in the city in the Amazon region overnight.
Video on social media showed a line of roughly a dozen hostages being led away from a square in the city of 140,000 people, and shots ringing out in the night.
Local media reported that a military police station was attacked, preventing officers from responding.
“They drove around shooting at the police and at the houses. It was a horrible scene to see,” said Junior Gaia, who lives nearby. “We were all lyin...
- Title
- Sun Unleashes Largest Solar Flare in More Than 3 Years
- Runtime
- 1:23
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — A massive storm over the Sun discharged the largest solar flare in more than three years on Sunday, No. 29.
Astronomer Tony Phillips reports at Spaceweather.com that the sun experienced a massive explosion known as a coronal mass ejection behind the southeast solar limb on Sunday. This was classified as an M-class flare by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is a medium-sized blast. While the flare was not Earth-directed, and was partially eclipsed by the Sun, it did cause radio blackouts in the South Atlantic.
However, Sunday’s flare is just part of the beginning of a new solar cycle, which is called the solar minimum, and scientists expect a period of increasing activity and explosive sunspots until the solar maximum in roughly mid-2025.
A more violent X-class flare directed toward Earth could cause fluctuations in power grids as well as high-frequency radio blackouts and navigational issues over the sunl...
- Title
- Did an Earthquake Finish Off Giant Arecibo Mega-Telescope?
- Runtime
- 1:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO — For 57 years, until 2016, the Arecibo Observatory was the largest telescope on Earth.
But that legacy came crashing down last week, just when a regional earthquake’s wave train passed through the site.
The collapse occurred when the tops of all three support towers snapped off, dropping the huge detector platform and its support cables onto the giant reflector dish below.
This collapse had been expected since a second support cable broke on 6 November, following the previous failure of a support cable in August.
Initial studies of the debris field indicate that the failure sequence started when a highly stressed cable in the weakened cable strand finally snapped, causing the central detector platform to detach and fall straight down.
That platform’s support structure fell sideways into the side of the crater, suggesting that it stayed attached to the remaining two cables and swung sideways...
- Title
- SpaceX Starship to Make Its Biggest Hop Yet
- Runtime
- 4:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BOCCA CHICA, TEXAS — A SpaceX Starship prototype will make its highest hop yet as early as Friday, Dec. 3.
Ars Technica reports that Starship prototype Serial Number 8 will fire its three Raptor engines and take off from the SpaceX South Texas launch site, the company’s rocket production facility, test site and space port in the remote village of Boca Chica.
SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk on Tuesday said the Starship prototype will attempt to fly to an altitude of 50,000 feet, or 15 kilometers, as part of the first high-altitude test flight for the spacecraft. The company has permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a Starship launch from its Texas facility on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, according to the FAA’s website.
This will take it above nearly 90 percent of Earth's atmosphere. Ars Technica reports this will allow SpaceX to perform several new tests. These are tests of the Starship’s body flaps, swit...
- Title
- New Deep-Sea Animal Might Not Be Seen Again for Centuries
- Runtime
- 1:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — For the first time ever, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, have this week formally identified a new species of undersea creature based solely on high-definition video footage captured at the bottom of the ocean.
Duobrachium sparksae — a strange, gelatinous species of ctenophore, was encountered by a remotely operated submersible during a dive off the coast of Puerto Rico in 2015.
The creature has not been seen again and might not be encountered again for centuries, says NOAA marine biologist Allen Collins.
The rare animal was found almost 4km deep on a deep-sea shelf called the Aricebo amphitheater.
Its body is around 6 centimeters long, while its tentacles are around 30 centimeters long.
The creature is carnivorous and feeds on small animals and insects.
Its gelatinous body is transparent and contains small brushes or cilia that reflect light...
- Title
- Endometriosis and Depression May Have Genetic Link
- Runtime
- 1:21
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — New research led by geneticists from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia has found that depression and endometriosis often coincide, along with a variety of gastrointestinal conditions.
The researchers compared data from genetic databases looking for shared genetic risk factors for depression and endometriosis — and found 20 independent locations on the genome that were significant to both conditions, eight of which are new.
Endometriosis can cause severe cramping, painful menstruation, urination, and intercourse. In some cases, it can lead to infertility. The condition has no known cure, but patients can seek treatment to help ease their symptoms, which are usually treated with painkillers, hormone therapy, or surgery.
While studies indicate the condition affects roughly one in 10 women, people with endometriosis go an average of six-and-a-half years before they get a diagnosis, according to Endometriosi...
- Title
- Why COVID-19 Is More Lethal for Patients With Heart Disease or Diabetes
- Runtime
- 1:28
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BEIJING — Molecular biologists at the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences have found a reason why COVID-19 patients with heart disease and diabetes are more likely to suffer serious complications.
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature Metabolism, found that the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus binds to cholesterol and possibly to HDL, or high-density lipoprotein. This allows the coronavirus to essentially hitch a ride on cholesterol molecules as they seek to bind to their regular cell receptor, SR-B1.
SARS-CoV-2 cannot exploit the SR-B1 receptor directly, but this brings it into close proximity to the ACE2 receptors it uses to gain entry to cells.
SOURCE: Nature Metabolism
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-020-00324-0
- Title
- How Iran’s Nuclear Chief Fakhrizadeh Was Assassinated
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- ABSARD, IRAN — Iranian journalist Mohamad Ahwaze claims to have received leaked information from the country's government about the assassination of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist on Friday.
Ahwaze says the attack was carried out by 12 gunmen, who were supported by a team of 50 operatives providing them with information and logistics.
He says the hit squad knew Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s security convoy was on its way to his holiday home and were waiting in ambush at a traffic circle marking the entrance to the town of Absard.
As the convoy entered the traffic circle, a car bomb exploded, hitting the rear security car. The 12 attackers then opened fire on the middle car with machine guns and 2 sniper rifles.
According to Ahwaze one of the attackers then dragged the scientist out of his car and executed him. The attackers then disappeared, and so far not one attacker has been caught.
The Iranian Fars News Agency gave...
- Title
- Airport ‘Robot’ Zaps Covid With Death Rays
- Runtime
- 1:33
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — “Virus-killing robot zaps viruses at airport!” shouts the Washington Post headline.
While this headline is clearly intended to catch attention, the reality is very different.
Firstly, one has to chuckle at a news outlet that calls a light that has to be pushed around on a wheeled trolley, a robot.
However, once we understand that this is clearly not a robot, we can appreciate the powerful technology that this device does represent.
The coronavirus scare has prompted airports to come up with innovative gadgets designed to combat the virus.
San Antonio International Airport in Texas has opted for a germ-zapping device called a LightStrike.
The device is 1,1 meter tall and has to be pushed around by an operator to reach targeted areas.
The high-tech plug-in pushcart uses powerful bursts of ultraviolet light to kill viruses on surfaces within a 2,1 meter radius in eve...
- Title
- Heat and Evaporation Causing ‘Irreversible’ Drying of Mongolia
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN — Mongolia's semi-arid plateau may soon become as barren as parts of the American Southwest due to a "vicious cycle" of heatwaves, which exacerbates soil drying, and ultimately produces more heatwaves — according to a group of climate scientists.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers warn that heatwaves and concurrent droughts have increased significantly during the past two decades, with troubling implications for the future.
Using tree-ring data, which offer a glimpse of regional climates from before modern weather logs, the researchers developed heatwave and soil moisture records that suggest recent consecutive years of record high temperatures and droughts have been unprecedented in more than 250 years.
According to the study's findings, the record high temperatures in the region are accelerated by soil drying, and together these changes are magnifying the decline of soil water.
When soil is we...
- Title
- Google Plans to Sidestep Egypt by Running New Cable Over Israel
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA — Because of political conflicts in the Middle East, almost all of the Internet traffic between Europe and India currently goes through the region’s one relatively neutral country, Egypt.
Google, which is competing with Facebook to build high-speed cable networks worldwide, wants to change this dependence on Egypt by running its planned Europe-to-India cable over Israel and Saudi Arabia.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s planned cable would for the first time connect through these two historical enemies — Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The Journal says the breakthrough project follows deals orchestrated by the Trump administration that have created new diplomatic relationships between Gulf Arab states and Israel.
The Journal reports that analysts say the Egyptian government charges telecom operators some of the heaviest fees to traverse its land and waters, which can add up to 50% of the cos...
- Title
- Boeing’s Two New Airliner Families: S vs XXL
- Runtime
- 2:00
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CHICAGO — When we compare Boeing’s 737 MAX family of narrowbody jets to its giant new 777x widebody airliners, we see that the 777x family’s sizes completely dwarf the 737 MAX family’s sizes.
With its massive widebody fuselage, the 777x will be able to carry up to 426 passengers in two classes, compared to the big-selling 737 MAX 8’s capacity of only 170 passengers.
The 777x will also be able to fly much farther than the 737 MAX. Here, the longer 777-9x takes a back seat to the shorter 777-8x, which can fly for just over 16,000 kilometers.
The 737 MAX’s wingtips are very unique, as they feature a split scimitar design, to minimize aerodynamic drag associated with vortices that develop at the tips as the aircraft travels.
To fight this same vortex effect, the 777x uses the same raked wingtip design used in the 787 airliner. These special wingtips increase the fuel efficiency and range of the 737 MAX and 777x models.
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- Title
- China Reaches Earth’s Deepest Ocean Trench
- Runtime
- 1:12
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CHALLENGER DEEP, PACIFIC OCEAN — The Chinese government live-streamed footage of its new manned submersible as it reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench on Friday.
The "Fendouzhe", meaning "Striver", submersible descended more than 10 kilometers into the submarine trench in the western Pacific Ocean with three researchers on board, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Only a handful of people have ever visited the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a 2,550 kilometer-long depression in the Earth's crust that is deeper than Mount Everest is high.
The first explorers visited the trench in 1960 on a brief expedition, after which there had been no missions until movie director James Cameron made the first solo trip to the bottom in 2012.
Cameron described a "desolate" and "alien" environment.
Fendouzhe, had earlier this month set a Chinese record of 10,909 meters for manned deep-sea diving after landing in the deepest known point ...
- Title
- How the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Works (Animated Explainer)
- Runtime
- 4:18
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LONDON — The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 In studies of more than 22,000 people in the UK and Brazil, AstraZeneca said in a November 23 press release.
Like Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and unlike Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine uses a modified adenovirus as a vector.
This animation explains how the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine works.
SOURCES: AstraZeneca, Washington Post, BBC News
https://www.astrazeneca.com/content/astraz/media-centre/press-releases/2020/azd1222hlr.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/17/covid-vaccines-what-you-need-to-know/?arc404=true
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55040635
- Title
- ‘Fossil Galaxy’ Found Hidden Deep Inside the Milky Way
- Runtime
- 2:49
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND — Scientists have discovered the remnants of what they call a “fossil” galaxy buried in the inner depths of the Milky Way, according to a study published last week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The galaxy, which has been named Hercules, is thought to have collided 10 billion years ago with the Milky Way, which itself is about 13.5 billion years old.
This ancient collision is thought to account for about a third of the mass of the Milky Way’s spherical halo. It had not been observed before because stars inside the dense center of the Milky Way are hidden by massive clouds of interstellar dust.
In their study, scientists used data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment, or APOGEE, on more than half a million stars.
“Of the tens of thousands of stars we looked at, a few hundred had strikingly different chemical composit...
- Title
- This Satellite Will Take Out the Trash in Earth’s Orbits
- Runtime
- 1:58
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LONDON —The UK government on Tuesday, November 17 announced that a British firm will help build the ClearSpace-1 satellite. Planned for 2025, Clearspace-1a is the first mission aimed at capturing space debris from Earth’s orbit.
According to OECD estimates, there are currently more than 160 million pieces of space debris in orbit, most of which are “space junk.” These objects come in all shapes and sizes, from spent rocket bodies to a camera and a spatula dropped by an astronaut.
Space junk stems from hundreds of space missions launched since the beginning of the Space Age in 1957. According to NASA, the debris travels at speeds of up to 18,000 miles per hour, almost seven times faster than a bullet. This means even the tiniest piece of debris could spell disaster were it to hit the International Space Station.
Swiss startup ClearSpace was chosen by the ESA to lead the mission.
British Science Minister Amanda Solloway said in...
- Title
- China Triggered by New Japan-Australia Defense Pact
- Runtime
- 4:55
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TOKYO — Chinese state media lashed out against Japan and Australia last week over their “confrontational” new defense pact and said the two countries would “pay a corresponding price” if it threatens China’s security.
The leaders of Japan and Australia reached a preliminary agreement on a bilateral defense pact on Tuesday, November 17, according to a statement from Australia’s prime minister. The deal, dubbed the Reciprocal Access Agreement, bolsters ties between the two U.S. allies amid rising Chinese military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
If ratified, the agreement would allow the countries to train on each other’s territory, make it easier for troops from both sides to share military bases, and streamline cooperation during military exercises and disaster missions.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga held in-person talks during which they also agreed to cooperate in tackling c...
- Title
- Scientists Want Giant ‘Liquid Mirror' Telescope on Moon
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- AUSTIN, TEXAS — Astronomers from The University of Texas at Austin have revived a plan to build a massive 100-meter wide mirror — made of liquid — on the surface of the moon.
The scientists described the importance of such a huge project in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.
They say a giant moon-based telescope would be able to capture light from objects nearly as old as the Big Bang.
Liquid mirrors are lighter, simpler, faster to construct, and ten times cheaper than conventional glass telescope mirrors.
The key to a liquid mirror telescope is that the liquid must be rotated constantly.
When the liquid rotates, gravity pulls down on its surface, while inertia pulls it sideways at the edge of the dish.
As a result, the liquid forms a uniform and perfect parabola, the ideal reflecting surface for a telescope.
Work is underway to find the perfect mix of liquids, as it...
- Title
- US Warship Shoots Down ICBM With Special Missile
- Runtime
- 1:13
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — Since 2006, North Korea’s military dictatorship has been developing nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles that can carry them to US soil.
To counter this threat, the US launched a controversial project to improve its ability to destroy these intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, before they can reach the US.
The Pentagon says it placed the latest version of an Aegis SM-3 missile on a US Navy destroyer and adapted the ship’s systems to fire and control the missile.
Previous tests against ICBM targets had used interceptors launched from underground silos in the US.
On Tuesday, test personnel fired an unarmed ICBM from a US test range at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The upgraded Navy destroyer was situated northeast of Hawaii and managed to track the missile before firing an SM-3 missile at the ICBM.
According to the Pentagon, the SM-3 scored a perfect hit, com...
- Title
- Large Asteroid ‘Apophis’ Could Hit Earth in 2068
- Runtime
- 1:18
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HONOLULU — Not all big, Earth-threatening asteroids are spotted before they come uncomfortably close to hitting Earth.
And even for those asteroids we do see coming, it can still be hard to calculate just how likely a collision actually is.
Asteroid Apophis is one of these dangerous asteroids. Discovered in 2004, the 370-meter long rocky blob is on NASAs Sentry list — a list of asteroids we should be keeping an eye on.
Scientists don’t expect it to hit Earth during its next close flyby in 2029, but they’re worried it might slam into Earth in 2068, as it comes this way again.
In a recent presentation to the American Astronomical Society, scientists David Tholen and Davide Farnocchia showed their research showing why the asteroid should be studied in detail when it passes in 2029, to get a better idea of how close it will come to Earth in 2068.
They say that work needs to start now to be ready in 9 years’ tim...
- Title
- World’s Largest Trade Bloc, Backed by China, Excludes U.S.
- Runtime
- 1:44
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HANOI — China has signed the world’s largest trade deal, one that excludes the U.S., with 14 other economies in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, is made up of China, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The agreement was signed by the 15 countries via video conference on Nov. 15.
Members of the new free trade bloc cover a market of 2.2 billion people and $26.2 trillion of global output, or nearly a third of the world’s population and 29 percent of global gross domestic product, according to reports by CNBC and BBC News.
The RCEP is seen as an economic and diplomatic coup for China. The U.S. pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership — a proposed trade agreement that included several Asia-Pacific countries but which excluded China — when Donald Trump became president in 2017.
SOUR...
- Title
- Island Creates No-Fishing Zone Three Times the Size of UK
- Runtime
- 1:20
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TRISTAN DA CUNHA, SOUTH ATLANTIC — The ocean around the South Atlantic island of Tristan Da Cunha is set to become a fishing warzone, as it has been declared a Marine Wildlife Sanctuary by the island’s government.
The move is designed to protect the area’s wildlife and fish populations, which means it would be one of the last parts of the world’s oceans that would contain large fish stocks.
This would make it an irresistible target for the world’s long-range fishing boats, which have overfished most of the world’s oceans, leading to diminished fish populations globally.
China’s large fleet of long-range fishing boats are particularly infamous for their long history of poaching fish from nations as far away from China as South Africa and Argentina.
According to The Guardian, the protected area is huge — three times the size of the UK — and the UK government would be responsible for enforcing the new no-fishing law.
- Title
- World’s First ‘Flying Car’ Airport to be Built Near Orlando
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LAKE NONA, FLORIDA — The town of Lake Nona in Florida is one of the most tech friendly towns in the US, featuring green architecture and high-tech city planning.
Now the city council has announced another attention-grabbing project: Lake Nona plans to build the world’s first “flying car” taxi hub.
Dubbed a “vertiport”, the project will be the US’s first regional hub for high-speed, electric vertical takeoff and landing — or eVTOL — aircraft.
The hub will be designed around an eVTOL craft that looks a bit like a flying car. The craft is currently being developed by German aviation company Lilium.
According to its developers, the electric-powered aircraft will be capable of taking off vertically from the vertiport, and reaching a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour.
The vertiport is scheduled to be completed in 2025 and will enable passengers to bypass Florida’s notoriously congested highways, according...
- Title
- China Is Expanding Its ‘Reeducation’ Camps in Xinjiang
- Runtime
- 3:12
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- XINJIANG, CHINA — Recent satellite footage and other evidence show that China is expanding its network of camps in Xinjiang. UN experts and activists say these camps hold at least 1 million people, mostly non-ethnnic Chinese Muslims.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has identified and mapped more than 380 suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang, where mostly Uyghur minorities are being held in a forced assimilation campaign.
The think tank published its findings in a September report entitled “Documenting Xinjiang's Detention System.”
The report contradicts claims by Chinese officials that most people sent to detention centers have “returned to society.”
Asked at a briefing in Beijing in July of 2019, Reuters reports Xinjiang’s vice chairman, Alken Tuniaz, said, “Currently, most people who have received training have already returned to society, returned home.”
SOURCES: Australian Strategic Po...
- Title
- Viking ‘Valhalla’ Left Buried, Studied via Special Radar
- Runtime
- 1:09
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- GJELLESTAD, NORWAY — Experts from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research found a complex Viking ship burial site at Gjellestad in southeastern Norway.
What makes the discovery even more interesting, is the fact that the archaeological team did not need to dig down to find the site and study its many parts.
According to a research article the team published in the journal Antiquity, the researchers used a giant ground-penetrating radar to analyze the ground deep under the surface of a field.
This radar pulses an electromagnetic energy signal that can penetrate deep into soil. The radar antenna has a transmitter that sends out the signal, and a receiver that receives the energy waves that bounce back.
A processing unit then analyzes the physics of the bounce-back signal to create a clear image of the types of materials that are located under the ground.
In this way, researchers have found that the und...
- Title
- Fox News Jumps in the Tank Against Trump
- Runtime
- 0:54
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NEW YORK — Tensions have been brewing between Donald Trump and Fox News for months now. But no one saw this coming, not even after Chris Wallace’s moderation of the first debate between Trump and Biden.
On election night, the president’s now former favorite news channel called Arizona for Biden — days before even CNN and the New York Times. The network has turned on its audience. And its audience isn’t happy.
SOURCES: Bretibart, Washington Post, The Intercept, Business Insider
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/11/07/nolte-backlash-against-fox-news-explodes/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/11/10/newsmax-fox-news-trump-tweets/
https://theintercept.com/2020/11/11/fox-news-biden-trump-president-elect/
https://www.businessinsider.com/insiders-consider-post-trump-fox-news-insider-advertising-newsletter-2020-11
- Title
- Robot Tanks Getting Bigger, With More Firepower
- Runtime
- 11:36
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — Warfare is starting to get more high-tech, as the world’s biggest militaries are starting to field remote-controlled light and heavy tanks, to add to the growing arsenal of remote-controlled flying drones.
The US military is currently developing packs of semi-autonomous robot tanks that will be armed to the brim with chainguns, missiles, and other fearsome weaponry.
As they make their way to future battlefields, these robotic combat vehicles, or RCVs, will be used to lead the charge in both conventional and electronic warfare in the years to come.
The US is currently building robotic light, medium, and heavy combat vehicles. Respectively, these are lightweight scouting vehicles, heavily armed mini tanks, and powerful artillery vehicles.
For now, the Army wants to make sure that it’s a human pulling the trigger on the weapons, so each vehicle will have one human remotely steering and another remotely operating its we...
- Title
- Space Force’s New ‘Orbital Warfare’ Unit Gets Space Jet
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, COLORADO — The US Space Force was established as an independent branch of the US military when US president Donald Trump signed the United States Space Force Act on 20 December 2019.
Now, less than a year later, the Space Force has announced that it has received ownership of the Air Force’s top-secret experimental space plane, the X-37B.
Interestingly, the X-37B will be operated by a new Space Force unit called Delta 9, which is dedicated to focus on “orbital warfare”.
This means that Delta 9 will be responsible for combat operations and battles fought within the orbital sphere around planet Earth.
The X-37B is an unmanned space vehicle that has a cargo bay similar to the space shuttle, but it’s designed to be much more maneuverable than the shuttle.
Sources suggest the reusable space plane is used like a satellite for intelligence gathering, although its ability to maneuver and change ...
- Title
- Awesome Concept Images Show Refueling Station on Mars
- Runtime
- 7:47
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NEW YORK — Air Company, a New York City-based startup that turns carbon dioxide into renewable products, has released concept images showing what a refueling station for rockets on Mars could look like.
The renderings show fuel storage tanks and a rocket return launch pad as well as astronauts and a rover.
Air Company last week announced plans to create rocket fuel from carbon dioxide. Such a technology would be vital for a sustainable habitat on the red planet. It would also greatly reduce the carbon footprint of space exploration on Earth.
The company has already received two awards and a grant from NASA for its work on carbon conversion technology. Air Company says it has developed a working prototype that would take water from Mars’ ice deposits and carbon dioxide from its atmosphere to produce liquid oxygen and liquid methane.
In interviews with Fast Company and Inverse, company officials say they hope to work with industry p...
- Title
- China to Launch Grab-and-Go Mission to the Moon this Month
- Runtime
- 5:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA — After an engine failure scuttled its scheduled launch in 2017, China’s Chang’e 5 moon-rock-grabbing mission is now ready to blast off on November 24.
The unmanned mission package will be blasted into space by a Long March 5 rocket assembly, and the package itself will include four vehicles.
The orbiter vehicle will power the mission package into moon orbit, where the lander and its ascender vehicle will detach and head for the moon’s surface.
Once on the moon’s surface, the lander will have one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, to drill into the rock and place the rock sample in the ascender vehicle.
The ascender will then separate from the lander and blast off into space, where it will reunite with the orbiter vehicle, placing the 2 kilogram rock sample safely inside the re-entry capsule that’s attached to the orbiter.
The orbiter will then power the capsule back to Earth, where the capsule...
