Data breaches, widespread malware attacks and microtargeted personalized advertising were lowlights of digital life in 2018. As technologies change, so does the advice security experts give for how to best stay safe. As 2019 begins, I’ve pulled together a short list of suggestions for keeping your digital life secure and free of manipulative disinformation. 1.
Month: December 2018
To ancient explorers, “ultima Thule,” or the most distant region, was what lay past the northernmost edges of maps, beyond the borders of the known world. So when NASA chose a target for its New Horizons spacecraft that was farther than anything previously explored, Ultima Thule seemed a fitting moniker. The far-flung space rock is
There’s something beautiful in deciding how one’s final moments should be confined to the memory of our loved ones. Advances in technology and changing mindsets seem to have people wondering why a coffin in the ground should have to be the only option of final resting place. Residents in Washington state have a brand new
Mining corporation Rio Tinto says that an autonomous rail system called AutoHaul that it’s been developing in the remote Pilbara region of Australia for several years is now entirely operational — an accomplishment the company says makes the system the “world’s largest robot.” “It’s been a challenging journey to automate a rail network of this size and scale in
Back in August, the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) was surprised to learn that a leak was responsible for a slight loss in air pressure aboard the station. After investigating, they learned that the cause was a small hole in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that had docked with the ISS. While the hole was promptly
Earlier this year, researchers found a deposit of rare-earth minerals off the coast of Japan that could supply the world for centuries, according to a study. The study, published in the journal Nature in April 2018, says the deposit contains 16 million tons of the valuable metals. Rare-earth minerals are used in everything from smartphone batteries
Adam and Eve might have managed it in the Bible, but scientifically speaking, would two people be enough to repopulate our world from scratch, despite the inevitable health issues associated with inbreeding and a limited gene pool? First of all, let’s deal with the obvious problems. The first ‘new’ generation would obviously all be brothers and
Dogs, cats, or goldfish probably can’t have conversations with each other about times long gone by – it’s a feature we’ve thought was pretty much exclusive to humans. But a recent study is shaking up that idea, showing that orangutan mothers wait on average seven minutes after a potential predator is out of sight, before
We know that Venus, our closest planetary neighbour, has a volcanic terrain and a hellish atmosphere with extreme temperatures. But we don’t know much about seismic activity on the planet, which in turn could give us more clues about its internal composition. Now, NASA has a rather exciting proposal to try and answer those questions:
One minute, you’re chilling on a mountain. The next you’re being dwarfed by the biggest Moon you’ve ever seen – one that seems to be coming right down to rest on Earth’s surface. That’s what appears to be happening in this video on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of The Day (APOD) site for 4 June 2018.
The fall from grace wasn’t exactly swift, but it was stunning. Among stem cell researchers, Piero Anversa’s work trying to regrow the human heart in the 1990s and 2000s was legendary. That was then. In October, his former institutions, Harvard Medical School and its affiliate Brigham and Women’s Hospital, asked journals to retract 31 of
No matter how much or how little attention you pay to climate change, there seem to be more and more moments lately when it becomes impossible to ignore the harsh reality of what we’re facing. 2018 was no exception. So, in case you missed any of this year’s doomy drama, here are some of the
A Danish startup called Organic Basics claims its underwear will remain fresh through weeks of wear, eliminating the need for frequent washing. And this could be a boon for the environment – if it’s actually true. When your sweat meets your clothing, it creates an ideal environment for bacteria. It’s this bacteria that actually produces
Marsel van Oosten slipped and stumbled over logs, struggling to lug his camera gear through the verdant mountain forests of China. Undeterred, he pressed on, finally capturing a stunning photo of a pair of golden snub-nosed monkeys, an eye-catching shot that would win him £10,000. Breathtaking photos of the natural world can bring attention to
Electric car maker Tesla will expand its network of Superchargers to provide service for all of Europe by the end of 2019, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Wednesday. If the plans come to fruition, the vast expansion will represent not just a coup for Tesla but also for the growing global infrastructure that supports practical transportation
Start a bullet journal? Finally quit smoking? Be nicer to others? Whatever you’ve decided to achieve next year, you know all too well that you’re probably going to fail, and that list of beautiful, aspirational goals is staying unfulfilled. Sorry. For this very reason some people forgo making any resolutions altogether, so we’re here to
Each year the London-based data science company Altmetric releases a ranking of the 100 most popular research articles of the past 12 months – based on their analysis of “online activity around scholarly literature”. Instead of just looking at the number of academic citations and other stuff that researchers deem important within their own circles,
American explorer Colin O’Brady became the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided on December 26, when he reached the Ross Ice Shelf. The 33-year-old skied 932 miles (1,500 kilometres) across the southern continent in 54 days without getting resupplied – which required him to carry everything he’d need throughout the journey on a
After months of fruitless searching, one of the most endangered birds on the planet has finally been spotted once more. It’s not particularly flashy, nor large. Stresemann’s Bristlefront is a medium-sized, long-tailed bird with distinctive bristles on its forehead – but scientists think there are only a handful of these creatures left in the world.
Above our heads, something is not right. Earth’s magnetic field is in a state of dramatic weakening – and according to mind-boggling research from earlier this year, this phenomenal disruption is part of a pattern lasting for over 1,000 years. Earth’s magnetic field doesn’t just give us our north and south poles; it’s also what
Next time you’re feeling down, you beautiful thing, just remember – you’re made of stardust. Of course, so are faecal bacteria. And serial killers. Not to mention the food you hate eating, rust, arsenic… but even so, it’s amazing to think that the materials in our cells once came from somewhere in the sky. But
In a little over four weeks, the Moon will turn a shade of rust and loom larger in the sky than usual in a relatively rare astronomical event. For the half of the planet fortunate enough to see it, it’s a chance to see two fascinating spectacles combined in what’s known as a ‘super blood
According to one of the astronauts aboard NASA’s 1968 Apollo 8 mission, it would be “stupid” and “almost ridiculous” to pursue a crewed mission to Mars. “What’s the imperative? What’s pushing us to go to Mars? I don’t think the public is that interested,” said Bill Anders, who orbited the Moon before returning to Earth
As the scale and impacts of climate change become increasingly alarming, meat is a popular target for action. Advocates urge the public to eat less meat to save the environment. Some activists have called for taxing meat to reduce consumption of it. A key claim underlying these arguments holds that globally, meat production generates more
Japan announced Wednesday that it is withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and will resume commercial whale hunting next year, sparking swift condemnation from other governments and conservation groups. Tokyo argues that the IWC has failed to live up to its initial dual mandate in 1946 to find a balance between preserving whale stocks and
Everybody loves a good optical illusion - and this recently discovered perception trick has us questioning how we see the world around us. Take a look at those lines in the image above (or you can see the full picture below if you scroll down a bit). What kind of lines do you see? Are they
You’ve heard of hot Jupiters. You’ve heard of mini-Neptunes. You’ve heard of super-Earths. But have you heard of Eyeball Planets? Yep – planetary scientists think there might be a type of exoplanet out there that looks disturbingly like a giant eyeball. Just sitting there. Staring. But it’s actually not as weird as it sounds –
According to a straightforward interpretation of general relativity, the Big Bang wasn’t the start of ‘everything’. Taking Einstein’s famous equations at face value and making as few assumptions as possible, a team of researchers has rewound the clock on our Universe to find it wouldn’t lead to a stopping point at all, but would take
Black holes are vast, matter-annihilating objects that seem to defy physics by their very existence. They’re so weird, that when Albert Einstein’s equations first predicted the existence of these beasts, he didn’t believe they could actually be real. And you can’t really blame him, because the idea that we have these singularities of space-time intent
You can add river erosion to the list of geological triggers capable of setting off an earthquake, according to new research: and it could help explain the reason why so many earthquakes occur far away from the edges of tectonic plates. Those slabs of rock, and the friction and pressure that builds up as they
Facebook is getting into the crypto business. That’s according to new reporting by Bloomberg. Sources familiar with the project told the business magazine that the social media giant is working to develop a money transfer system for its WhatsApp chat app that uses a stablecoin – a form of blockchain-based cryptocurrency that is pegged to
Let’s be honest – environment news isn’t always the jolliest, and 2018 was no exception. From climate change, to recycling, to energy policy, at times it has felt like we’ve been lurching from one crisis to the next. So here are ten upbeat environmental stories from this year that prove it’s not all doom and
Get water in your lungs, and you’re in for a very bad time. But when water enters a new type of “lung” created by researchers at Stanford University, the result is hydrogen fuel – a clean source of energy that could one day power everything from our cars to our smartphones. Though this isn’t the
At the very centre of the image above is something incredible – a single, positively-charged strontium atom, suspended in motion by electric fields. Not only is this an incredibly rare sight, it’s also difficult to wrap your head around the fact that this tiny point of blue light is a building block of matter. Tiny
On 24 December 1968 – 50 years ago this Christmas eve – Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to circle the Moon. The mission was historic. But equally memorable is the famous “Earthrise” photo that resulted, showing Earth rising above the lunar landscape. Until that point, no
The sky was clear and the Moon had risen high, but Captain W.J. Watson of the British ship Charles Bal noticed that the Java Sea had “suddenly assumed a milky-white appearance. Watson commented that the sky that night – 22 August 1883 – took on a pinkish hue, “as when the Aurora is showing faintly.”
At least 222 deaths have been reported in Indonesia on Sunday after a tsunami struck the Sunda Strait without warning, the latest disaster to befall a Pacific nation repeatedly stricken this year. As of late Sunday, Indonesian government officials reported more than 843 injured and 28 still missing. The cause remains unclear, but 1-meter high
In an incredible world first, astrophysicists detected multiple planets in another galaxy earlier this year, ranging from masses as small as the Moon to ones as great as Jupiter. Given how difficult it is to find exoplanets even within our Milky Way galaxy, this is no mean feat. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma achieved
For centuries, Peruvian locals have talked about a river in the Amazon that burns so hot it can kill. According to legend, Spanish conquistadors foolishly ventured into the rainforest in search of gold, and the few men that returned told stories of poisoned water, man-eating snakes, and a river that boiled from below. For Peruvian
Groundbreaking physicist Stephen Hawking left us one last shimmering piece of brilliance before he died: his final paper, detailing his last theory on the origin of the Universe, co-authored with Thomas Hertog from KU Leuven. The paper, published in the Journal of High Energy Physics in May, puts forward that the Universe is far less complex
Astronomers at the M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii made an incredible discovery earlier this month. It was a rare relic of the ancient universe: a “fossil cloud” of gas created around the time of the Big Bang. The extraordinary discovery could provide new information about the origins of the universe and its early composition
Your home is likely a hotbed of toxins, with everything from formaldehyde to chloroform finding its way into the air you breathe daily. It’s common knowledge that houseplants can remove some of those toxins from the air, but not in dramatic amounts. Experts estimate you’d likely need two large houseplants per every 100 square feet
There are reports of a major cosmic heist. New research shows that Mars, once thought to host a methane-rich atmosphere, now seems to be devoid of the organic molecule, Universe Today reports. If you follow space news, you may recall the excitement in 2003 and 2004 when scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency
Well, 2018 is almost at an end, and just when you think things can’t get any stranger, we now have the first footage of a lizard breathing underwater. No, not a salamander or newt, an actual land-dwelling lizard, Anolis oxylophus. These incredible creatures are a type of small lizard called river anoles, and while scientists knew
From the Neolithic to present times, the amount of sunlight we see in a day has had a profound impact on human culture. We are fast approaching the winter solstice for the Northern hemisphere, which takes place on December 21. This is the longest night of the year – once celebrated as “Yule” by the
Quantum internet promises ultra-secure, next-generation communications, but is it actually feasible on a global scale? Absolutely, according to a new experiment carried out between satellites in orbit and a station on the ground. The team of scientists was able to exchange several carefully managed photons in pulses of infrared light, carried between Russian GLONASS satellites
The holidays can be a lonely time for many of us. But if you’re in need of some Christmas cheer, don’t worry, nature is here for you. In the dark depths of the ocean 2,600 metres (8,500 feet) below the surface, there lives an ethereally beautiful creature known as a smallspine spookfish (Harriotta haeckeli). And
1. In Australia, birds of prey deliberately start forest fires – wielding flaming sticks to do so. Indigenous people have known of these ‘firehawk raptors’ for quite some time, but now we also have scientific research describing this stunning phenomenon. 2. Here’s an update on what you learned in high school biology – this year
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