On Feb. 4, 2022, SpaceX launched 49 satellites as part of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet project, most of which burned up in the atmosphere days later. The cause of this more than US$50 million failure was a geomagnetic storm caused by the Sun. Geomagnetic storms occur when space weather hits and interacts with the Earth. Space weather is caused by fluctuations within the Sun that blast electrons, protons and other particles into space. I study the hazards space weather poses to space-based asset
War is expensive. The United States spent about US$1.1 trillion (£830 billion) on the 2003 Iraq war in today’s money, while the Falklands war cost the UK the equivalent of about £2.6 billion. Funding is, therefore, an important resource in any conflict, similar to that of artillery, fuel and boots on the ground. The burden of finance traditionally falls to governments, often in the form of issuing war bonds. Ukraine is currently issuing US$270 million in war bonds for that very purpose. Interest
This article was originally published by Sarah Wray on Cities Today, the leading news platform on urban mobility and innovation, reaching an international audience of city leaders. For the latest updates, follow Cities Today on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, or sign up for Cities Today News. A new shared ebike scheme in the UK will recruit and train unemployed and vulnerable people, paying them a Living Wage and providing access to support and services. The initiative from
You know times are finally changing in Australia, when a mining company run by the country’s second-richest person, Dr. Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, opens a green hydrogen and renewables business. And when they acquire a bunch of engineers doing something amazing with trains, that’s when things start to get really interesting. This week, Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), the green arm of Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group, acquired UK company Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE). To mark the purchas
Governments and authorities all around the world are trying to control the information flow by putting restrictions or blocking websites in a particular region. So people are searching for tools like VPN to jump these fences and access the open internet. One of the effective ways to do this is to use Tor Browser. How does Tor browser work? In its simplest form, Tor uses a set of nodes — called relays — to mask your identity when you try to visit a website. These relays help keep your data privat
It seems straight out of an action movie: As the capital city becomes a war zone, the defiant president looks into the camera and delivers a clear and compelling message: “I am here. We will not lay down any weapons.” That’s exactly what Ukrainian President and onetime actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy did on Feb. 25, 2022, in a selfie-style video viewed 3 million times within an hour – part of an effort to mobilize international opinion against the Russian invasion of his country. And it appears to be
Driving is much more than switching pedals and steering the wheel. It’s about experiences and memory-making. Imagine driving with speed on the open road, with the view of the sea or mountains around you, and a companion with you in the car to share the feeling of adventure. Naturally, you’d like to savor the moment, but also save it. You could take a photo or video with your phone, but what if you could go ultra-pro? If you could film the entire ride from above? That’s where Polestar’s new co
Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. Signal is considered one of the most privacy-focused chat apps out there with end-to-end encryption protection. A lot of journalists and activists use it to talk to people without fear of snooping. However, you have to currently give your phone number to someone to talk to them on the app. For extra precautions, you might want a secondary number for Signal. Un
There is a scene in Hulu’s new series, “The Dropout,” where Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, wearing a white blouse, stands in front of a mirror and practices saying, “This is an inspiring step forward.” With each iteration, her voice deepens. As the world has learned about Theranos’ web of deception – whether through John Carreyrou’s bestselling book, “Bad Blood,” Apple’s podcast series “The Dropout” or Hulu’s streaming series of the same name – Holmes’ supposed attempt to alter her voice is
3D printed concrete may lead to a shift in architecture and construction. Because it can be used to produce new shapes and forms that current technologies struggle with, it may change the centuries-old processes and procedures that are still used to construct buildings, resulting in lower costs and saved time. However, concrete has a significant environmental impact. Vast quantities of natural sand are currently used to meet the world’s insatiable appetite for concrete, at great cost to the envi