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Submission + - Top Astronomers Confront Possibility They Were Very Wrong About The Universe (futurism.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “We have great data, but the theoretical basis is past its sell-by date,” he added. “More and more people are saying the same thing and these are respected astronomers.”

A number of researchers have found evidence that the universe may be expanding more quickly in some areas compared to others, raising the tantalizing possibility that megastructures could be influencing the universe’s growth in significant ways.

Sarkar and his colleagues, for instance, are suggesting that the universe is “lopsided” after studying over a million quasars, which are the active nuclei of galaxies where gas and dust are being gobbled up by a supermassive black hole.

The team found that one hemisphere actually hosted slightly more of these quasars, suggesting one area of the night sky was more massive than the other, undermining our conception of dark energy, a hypothetical form of energy used to explain why the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate.

“It would mean that two-thirds of the universe has just disappeared,” Sarkar told The Guardian.

Other researchers have suggested that the cosmological constant, which has been used for decades as a way to denote the rate of the universe’s expansion, actually varies across space, which would contradict the standard model of physics.

Submission + - Tesla lays off 'more than 10%' of its global workforce (electrek.co)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “We don’t know which specific teams will be most or least affected by Tesla’s layoffs, but two well-known Tesla executives are now missing the “Tesla-affiliated” badge on twitter – Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel.”

Submission + - Trillions of tons of carbon locked in soil left out of environmental models (theconversation.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Trillions of tonnes of carbon locked in soil has been left out of environmental models – and it’s on the move

We all know about the carbon in Earth’s atmosphere, and probably about the carbon contained in plants and the bodies of animals. But a substantial fraction of the carbon in the planet’s land-based ecosystems is held in something so obvious we might overlook it: soil.

Even if we do think about carbon in soil, we are usually thinking of carbon in organic matter in the soil, such as plant litter, bacteria or animal waste. However, the inorganic, mineral component of soil also contains carbon.

In a new study just published in Science, we show there is much more soil inorganic carbon than anybody realised – and that it may be a surprisingly big player in Earth’s carbon cycle.

Submission + - California Burger King franchisee to expedite self-serve kiosks rollout (nypost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:

A businessman who owns 140 Burger King franchises in California will slash workers’ hours and expedite the rollout of self-service kiosks to cut down on labor costs in response to the state’s new $20 minimum wage.

Harshraj Ghai, who owns 180 fast-food restaurants throughout the Golden State, including Burger King, Taco Bell and Popeyes, told Business Insider last week: “We can’t move fast enough on this [rollout].”

“We have kiosks in probably about 25% of our restaurants today,” he said. “However, the other 75% are going to have kiosks in the next probably 30 to 60 days.”

“We are installing kiosks in every single restaurant,” Ghai said.

Several fast food chains have hiked menu prices since the new law increasing pay for fast-food workers went into effect April 1.

Ghai, who raised menu prices between 8% and 10% in the last year, said he plans to cut down on worker hours, eliminate overtime, pause plans to expand his restaurant empire and add more digital kiosks.

Skynet and the board of the Tyrell Corporation smile at the "unexpectedly" incredible opportunities in automation that Gavin Newsom is intent on providing.

Submission + - SPAM: 15 federal agencies were aware of Wuhan coronavirus research in 2018

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “At least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19,” Paul said on Tuesday. “Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research.”
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Lunchables shouldn't be on school menus due to lead, sodium: Consumer Reports (usatoday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lunchables, the ready-to-eat plastic trays of lunch meats and cheeses, have some surprise ingredients: plasticizers, carcinogens, and lead.

Product-testing watchdog Consumer Reports is calling for the meal kits to be removed from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which started distributing them directly to students across the country at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. The decision to implement the colorful, shiny, highly processed lunch items raised the eyebrows of many health experts.

Kraft Heinz announced its plan to put Lunchables into schools last year and agreed to alter the contents of the two of its meal kits to meet NSLP guidelines, adding more protein and grains, and reducing sugar and sodium for “improved nutrition.” Consumer Reports tested only store-bought versions of the products, alongside an array of comparable meal kits.

Of the 12 Lunchables tested by the product watchdog, all but one contained harmful phthalates, which are chemicals found in a range of products from vinyl flooring to shampoos, and are used to make plastic products more durable. While they are often called “plasticizers” in manufacturing, they are known in the medical community as “endocrine disruptors,” have long-term detrimental effects on reproductive health, and have been linked to diabetes and certain cancers. The Extra Cheesy Pizza kit was the only Lunchables option that did not contain phthalates.

Consumer Reports found “relatively high levels of cadmium and lead” in several of the Lunchables, with five of them reaching the threshold of 50 percent of what the state of California allows. Cadmium is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and there is no safe amount of lead for a child to consume.

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