174634500
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
After Sweeney's laptop was stolen from his truck recently, he used the Find My phone app to track it down. The app dutifully mapped the current location of the device, including the thief's home address. Claiming to find this information "creepy" he turned off Find My on all his devices and let the thief keep his laptop.
144098824
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
After several weeks of earthquake swarms indicating movement of magma near the surface, a new volcanic vent about 200m long has opened in the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.
This peninsula includes Keflavik, Iceland's international airport, and the famed Blue Lagoon.
134699731
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
"When we looked in the setting of Covid disease, we found that people who had prior vaccinations with a variety of vaccines — for pneumococcus, influenza, hepatitis and others — appeared to have a lower risk of getting Covid disease," Dr. Andrew Badley, an infectious disease specialist at Mayo Clinic. His hypothesis implies a converse, that the unchallenged immune systems of those who avoid vaccinations will, in this time of social distancing, make them more vulnerable to Covid-19.
115769418
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
CNN reports this morning (https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/world/asteroid-ancient-ice-age-biodiversity-scn/index.html?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=abtest&utm_campaign=sciencebin) on a Science Advances paper describing a hypothesis that the breakup of a large asteroid 466 million years ago generated enough dust in Earth's orbit to substantially change the terrestrial climate for an extended period. This would have triggered an "Ordovician icehouse" climate event, with major effects on biology.
107020768
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
It was a perfect launch at 0249 Saturday morning for the first flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the ISS. This test flight carried a dummy named "Ripley" plus a cargo load of ISS essentials. If the 6-day mission goes as planned, the Dragon's first manned launch could come in July.
The first stage successfully returned to the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
106007740
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pierce has an idea: why not use today's videoconferencing tech to allow representatives to perform most Congressional activity from their home districts? Because Congresspeople serve short terms and campaign largely on constituent service, they have to spend a large percentage of their time shuttling between home and Washington. Virtualizing most of their Washington presence would save fuel and energy while giving them more time with their constituents.
In addition, there could be a long-term societal benefit in making Congress less vulnerable to lobbyist influence by keeping them out of the Beltway.
103955225
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
After years of legal wrangling and protests, the Thirty Meter Telescope got a green light Tuesday from the state Supreme Court.
In a 4-to-1 decision, the state’s highest court ruled in favor of the telescope’s construction atop Mauna Kea, effectively ending all legal avenues for contesting the controversial project unless the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case.
In a statement, TMT International Observatory Board of Governors Chairman Henry Yang said the body is “grateful” for the ruling and “committed to being good stewards on the mountain.”
Green anti-science organizations, such as Deep Green Resistance and Sierra Club, have been trying to stop TMT construction for years, in an expanded version of an earlier campaign to halt the construction of large research telescopes in southeastern Arizona. As in Arizona, their excuse was at first endangered species on the construction site, and subsequently native rights.
99721647
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
Imbruvica, a compound that treats white blood cell cancers, has until now been a bargain at $148,000 per year. Until now, doctors have been able to optimize dosage for each patient by prescribing up to four small-dose pills of it per day.
But after results from a recent small pilot trial indicated that smaller doses would for most patients work as well as the large ones, its manufacturer, Janssen and Pharmacyclics, has decided on the basis of the doctors' interest in smaller dosages to reprice all sizes of the drug to the price of the largest size. This has the effect of tripling the price for patients, and doctors have now put off any plans for further testing of lower dosages.
92983785
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh studied public attitudes toward vaccination in a group whose opinions on the subject were polled before and after being shown three different kinds of explanatory material that used settled scientific facts about vaccines to explain the pro-vaccination side of the debate.
Not only was the anti-vax cohort not convinced by any of the three campaigns, but their attitudes hardened when another poll was taken a week later. What seems to have happened was that the pro-vax campaign was taken by anti-vaxers as just another attempt to lie to them, and as reinforcement for their already made-up minds on the subject.
A previous study at Dartmouth College in 2014 used similar methodology and except for the 'hardening' effect elicited similar results. What's really scary about this is that while the Dartmouth subjects were taken from a large general population, the Edinburgh subjects were college students.
90226059
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
Ars Technica reports on a Carnegie-Mellon study of an unexpected side effect of the slowdown in nuclear plant construction after Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. The pollution associated with replacing the power in places where nuclear plants were delayed or canceled has resulted in significantly lower birth weights for children born in the region. The impact on birth weight starts at 97g less in the second quarter after a nuclear shutdown and goes to 146g for qquatres thereafter.
Though the steady shift in recent years from coal to natural gas has probably slowed this trend down (no update to the study has been announced) because gas pollutes less, Trump's policy of bringing back coal may mean that micro-babies are back in fashion.
89521407
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
A transgender-issues activist and Democratic candidate for Congress says the advent of the space tourism industry could give private corporations a “frightening amount of power” to destroy the Earth with rocks because of the Moon’s military importance.
Brianna Wu, a prominent “social justice warrior” in the “Gamergate” controversy who now is running for the House seat in Massachusetts’ 8th District, suggested in a since-deleted tweet that companies could drop rocks from the Moon.
“The moon is probably the most tactically valuable military ground for earth,” the tweet said. “Rocks dropped from there have power of 100s of nuclear bombs.”
89082657
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
Because Iceland is the one exposed place on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it has long been a paradise for vulcanologists. At any given time at least one of its 130 volcanoes is doing...something interesting. Now that four of Iceland's largest volcanoes are showing signs of impending eruption, the world may be in for another summer of ash. Katla, Hecla, Bárðarbunga and Grímsvötn have all had major activity in the past, including vast floods from melting glaciers, enough ash to ground aircraft over all of Europe, volumes of sulfur that have induced global nuclear winter for a decade at a time, and clouds of poisonous fluoride gas.
When the mountains of Iceland speak, the whole world listens.
88563561
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
SpaceX successfully launched a 10-satellite Iridium Next package, and then landed on a drone ship — this time from Vandenburg AFB in California. The launch had been delayed several days by this week's record rainfall and flooding.
85673335
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
The recent exorbitant increase in the price of the Epi-Pen injector for epinephrine, a compound that has been generic for years, has now turned into civil war in the US Senate. One senator's daughter relies on Epi-Pen, while another senator's daughter is CEO of Mylan, the single company that is licensed to sell these injectors in the US.
On the worldwide market there is no monopoly on these devices. Manufacturers include Amedra Pharmaceuticals LLC, ALK Abello, Sanofi SA, and Lincoln Medical Ltd, Itelliject Inc, Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp, Hospira Inc, Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Antares Pharma Inc. Is it finally time to allow Americans to go online and fill their prescriptions on the world market?
80586051
submission
Applehu Akbar writes:
Yellow Cab Cooperative, the largest taxi company in San Francisco, has filed Chapter 11. While competition from those newfangled ride-sharing services is a natural target for blame, a more proximate cause is Yellow Cab losing a $8 million accident liability suit by a passenger who is now paralyzed. Apparently the Yellow Cab drivers are...registered as independent contractors! So much for the medallion cab argument that they offer superior liability coverage.
