Archive for June, 2016
Yes, There Have Been Aliens
June 11th, 2016Via: New York Times: LAST month astronomers from the Kepler spacecraft team announced the discovery of 1,284 new planets, all orbiting stars outside our solar system. The total number of such “exoplanets” confirmed via Kepler and other methods now stands at more than 3,000. This represents a revolution in planetary knowledge. A decade or so […]
Judge Finds Merck Lied in Patent Trial
June 9th, 2016Via: Los Angeles Times: The public doesn’t have a very high opinion of drug manufacturers for various reasons, and now federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman of San Jose has provided another one. Finding that Merck & Co. lied to a business partner and to the court itself, Freeman this week threw out a patent infringement […]
Welcome to Larry Page’s Secret Flying-Car Factories
June 9th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: With Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk, the Google co-founder looks to the skies.
The Google-Linked Startup That’s Working to Put Hillary Clinton in the White House
June 8th, 2016You’ll love this one. Via: Quartz: An under-the-radar startup funded by billionaire Eric Schmidt has become a major technology vendor for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, underscoring the bonds between Silicon Valley and Democratic politics. The Groundwork, according to Democratic campaign operatives and technologists, is part of efforts by Schmidt—the executive chairman of Google parent-company Alphabet—to […]
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Now Using Card Readers to Rob People
June 8th, 2016Via: News9: You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture. That’s where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime. Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device […]
Department of Energy: Warning Messages for Future Humans to Avoid Radioactive Waste Dumps
June 7th, 2016Wikipedia: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: For the case of the WIPP, the markers, called “passive institutional controls”, will include an outer perimeter of thirty-two 25-foot (7.6 m)-tall granite pillars built in a four-mile (6 km) square. These pillars will surround an earthen wall, 33 feet (10 m) tall and 100 feet (30 m) wide. Enclosed […]
China Lake: Military Test Will Disrupt GPS Signals Above 5,000 Feet
June 7th, 2016Via: Gizmodo: Starting today, it appears the US military will be testing a device or devices that will potentially jam GPS signals for six hours each day. We say “appears” because officially the tests were announced by the FAA but are centered near the US Navy’s largest installation in the Mojave Desert. And the Navy […]
New Zealand Sitting On Half-Trillion-Dollar Debt Bomb
June 6th, 2016Via: NZ Herald: New Zealand is sitting on a half-a-trillion-dollar debt bomb and Kiwis are increasingly treating their houses like cash machines, piling on the debt as they watch the value of their properties soar. Reserve Bank figures show household debt, excluding investment property, has risen 23 per cent in the past five years to […]
NATO: Largest War Game in Eastern Europe Since Cold War
June 6th, 2016Via: Guardian: The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russia’s assertiveness and actions. The 10-day military exercise, involving 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 […]
Scientists Growing Human Organs in Pigs: “We Think There Is Very Low Potential for a Human Brain to Grow”
June 6th, 2016Via: BBC: The main concern is that the human cells might migrate to the developing pig’s brain and make it, in some way, more human. Pablo Ross says this is unlikely but is a key reason why the research is proceeding with such caution: “We think there is very low potential for a human brain […]
