Apr112020 by DmediaNo Comments

50 Years Ago, Apollo 13 Moon Mission Became NASA’s ‘Successful Failure’

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By the time the towering Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 13 crew  left the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, thundering into the skies on April 11, 1970, traveling to the moon seemed about as interesting to the general public as commuting to work.It was, after all, America’s third mission aimed at landing on the desolate orb, a feat accomplished nine months before during the much-celebrated Apollo 11 mission.“After the landing there was a general letdown, not just by the general public, but I think by NASA itself,” Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell explained to VOA during a 2015 interview at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. “Enthusiasm for lunar flights had diminished greatly. ... By the time Apollo 13 came around, I think the only mention in The New York…


Apr102020 by TechmanNo Comments

Global Hack Searches for Solutions

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With billions locked down at home by COVID-19, the internet is a lifeline, allowing people to work, study and share ideas online.It also presents opportunities, say the organizers of the Global Hack, a virtual gathering of hundreds of thousands of people in 50 nations taking place Thursday through Saturday, April 9-11. Prizes for the best ideas for new platforms, applications and innovations will be awarded April 12.Hackathons are usually mass gatherings of software developers and graphic designers who tackle problems in a competitive setting. With the Global Hack now under way, creative teams are working remotely to come up with solutions to problems raised by the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.“We gather people together, with very different skills, different competencies,” said Kai Isand, a leader of the technology collective Accelerate Estonia and head organizer for this weekend’s Global Hack.“We brainstorm ideas, and we…


Apr102020 by DmediaNo Comments

Southeast Asian Ministers Endorse Pans for Pandemic Fund

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Southeast Asian foreign ministers have endorsed the setting up of a regional fund to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and discussed a planned video summit of their leaders with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Friday that the top diplomats of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations linked up by video Thursday in a meeting led by Vietnam.  The ministers endorsed several collective steps to fight the pandemic, including the establishment of a COVID-19 ASEAN response fund, the sharing of information and strategies and ways to ease the impact of the global health crisis on people and the economy, the department said in a statement.It did not provide details.   pandemic, three Southeast Asian diplomats told The Associated Press. The diplomats…


Apr102020 by TechmanNo Comments

Apple, Google to Harness Phones for Virus Infection Tracking

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Apple and Google on Friday launched a major joint effort to leverage smartphone technology to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.New software the companies plan to add to phones would make it easier to use Bluetooth wireless technology to track down people who may have been infected by coronavirus carriers. The idea is to help national governments roll out apps for so-called "contact tracing" that will run on iPhones and Android phones alike.The technology works by harnessing short-range Bluetooth signals. Using the Apple-Google technology, contact-tracing apps would gather a record of other phones with which they came into close proximity. Such data can be used to alert others who might have been infected by known carriers of the novel coronavirus, although only in cases where the phones' owners have installed the apps…


Apr102020 by TechmanNo Comments

Global Move to Telecommute Work Increases Security Risks

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As countries scramble to control the coronavirus pandemic with stay-at-home orders, millions of people around the world have turned to the internet to work, study and stay informed. Monday, global internet volume was up more than 40% since the beginning of the year, according to FILE - Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during his news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019.In his role with the U.N., Kaye has been mandated to gather information related to alleged violations of freedom of expression.  Kaye investigated whether a video file allegedly sent to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos from a phone belonging to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman installed a program that was used to spy on the billionaire.  Bezos owns The Washington Post, and some experts have said…


Apr102020 by DmediaNo Comments

NASA Satellite Spots Less Air Pollution on US East Coast

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Scientists with the U.S. space agency NASA say recent satellite data are showing as much as a 30 percent drop in air pollution along the U.S. East Coast compared with the same time last year.Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, studied March's data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, which is onboard the agency’s Aura satellite.The team said the data showed that levels of nitrogen oxide – a key indicator of air pollution caused by human activity – from Washington to the south and Boston to the north were at their lowest level for any March since 2005, when they began recording such data.NASA said similar drops have been recorded elsewhere in the world in recent weeks, particularly in coronavirus hot spots such as Italy and China,…


Apr102020 by TechmanNo Comments

US Military, Government Workers Still Use Zoom Despite FBI Warning

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U.S. military and government employees continue to use the popular videoconferencing application Zoom for official business, despite FBI warnings about privacy and security issues, an action experts fear is increasing the risk of government data breaches.  Zoom has seen a surge in activity during the coronavirus pandemic as office workers across the country have turned to the free app to quickly arrange video calls with dozens of participants. The federal government has been no different, despite an FBI announcement April 1 that hackers could exploit weaknesses in videoconferencing software systems like Zoom to “steal sensitive information, target individuals and businesses performing financial transactions, and engage in extortion.”  The security concern is much greater than “Zoom CEO Eric Yuan attends the opening bell at Nasdaq as his company holds its IPO, April 18, 2019, in New York.Zoom…


Apr102020 by DmediaNo Comments

Singapore Battles Virus Hotspots in Migrant Workers’ Dorms

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After managing to keep on top of the first wave of coronavirus outbreaks, Singapore is grappling with an alarming rise in infections among migrant workers housed in crowded dormitories.   Such cases now account for about a quarter of Singapore's 1,910 infections. The government reported 287 new cases Thursday, its biggest daily jump. More than 200 were linked to the foreign workers' dormitories.   The tiny city-state of less than 6 million people was seen as a model in its early, swift response to the virus. But it apparently overlooked the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers living in conditions where social distancing is impossible. Now more than 50,000 workers are quarantined and others are being moved to safer locations.   The outbreaks merit attention in a region where practically…


Apr102020 by DmediaNo Comments

Toy Manufacturers Look to Reduce Carbon Footprint

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Taking a toy out of the box can make a mess.Hardly eco-friendly, the process can yield more clutter from plastic and cardboard than the actual toy.But there are moves to change that as some toy manufacturers say they’re going green with a series of environmentally friendly initiatives: Army soldiers and Kermit the Frog aren’t the only toys that are green.“Companies are trying to be more environmentally conscious with their products, whether it’s using their packaging that has less plastic or making sure that their packaging is part of the toy … it’s really taking over the industry and we’re going to see a lot more of it this year,” said Maddie Michalik, senior editor for Toy Insider magazine.These initiatives range from using minimal packaging and recycled packing materials to opting…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

Tie Game: Ancient Bit of String Shows Neanderthal Handiwork

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It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other.Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say. The find implies our evolutionary cousins had some understanding of numbers and the trees that furnished the raw material, they say. It's the latest discovery to show Neanderthals were smarter than modern-day people often assume. Bruce Hardy, of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and colleagues report the discovery in a paper released Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports. The string hints at the possibility of other abilities, like making bags, mats, nets and fabric, they said.  It came from an archaeological…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

Africa Must Not Be ‘Neglected’ in Virus Fight, Officials Say

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African officials pushed back Thursday against the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if the virus is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk. "We cannot be neglected in this effort," the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. "The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa." While Africa's 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that "the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled" as cases, now over 11,000,…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

NASA Marks 50 Years Since Apollo 13 Mission

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Apollo 13's astronauts never gave a thought to their mission number as they blasted off for the moon 50 years ago. Even when their oxygen tank ruptured two days later — on April 13.Jim Lovell and Fred Haise insist they're not superstitious. They even use 13 in their email addresses.As mission commander Lovell sees it, he's incredibly lucky. Not only did he survive NASA's most harrowing moonshot, he's around to mark its golden anniversary."I'm still alive. As long as I can keep breathing, I'm good," Lovell, 92, said in an interview with The Associated Press from his Lake Forest, Illinois, home.A half-century later, Apollo 13 is still considered Mission Control's finest hour.  Lovell calls it "a miraculous recovery."  Haise, like so many others, regards it as NASA's most successful failure.…


Apr92020 by TechmanNo Comments

Is Zoom Endangering Government Data? 

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U.S. military and government employees continue to use the popular videoconferencing application Zoom for official business, despite FBI warnings about privacy and security issues, an action experts fear is increasing the risk of government data breaches.  Zoom has seen a surge in activity during the coronavirus pandemic as office workers across the country have turned to the free app to quickly arrange video calls with dozens of participants. The federal government has been no different, despite an FBI announcement April 1 that hackers could exploit weaknesses in videoconferencing software systems like Zoom to “steal sensitive information, target individuals and businesses performing financial transactions, and engage in extortion.”  The security concern is much greater than “Zoom CEO Eric Yuan attends the opening bell at Nasdaq as his company holds its IPO, April 18, 2019, in New York.Zoom…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

24 Hours in The Life And Death of a Besieged New York City

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Brooklyn is dark except for the streetlamps when Carla Brown's alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m. -- much too early for an average Monday. But with the coronavirus laying siege to New York, today looms as anything but ordinary.Brown runs a meals-on-wheels program for elderly shut-ins and in her embattled city, that label suddenly fits nearly every senior citizen. For two weeks, she's been working 12- to 14-hour days, taking over routes for sick or missing drivers. Today, she has to find room on the trucks for more than 100 new deliveries.She pulls on jeans, grabs her mask and heads for the Grand Army Plaza subway station, wearing a sweatshirt with Muhammad Ali's name printed across the front."He's one of my idols," Brown says. "And I just felt like I…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

Khamenei: Mass Ramadan Events in Iran May Stop Over Virus

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Iran's supreme leader suggested Thursday that mass gatherings may be barred through the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic, as Amnesty International said it believed at least 35 Iranian prisoners were killed by security forces amid rioting over the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comment in a televised address as Iran prepares to restart its economic activity while suffering one of the world's worst outbreaks. He is also the highest-ranking official in the Muslim world to acknowledge the holy month of prayer and reflection will be disrupted by the virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes.   "We are going to be deprived of public gatherings of the month of Ramadan," Khamenei said during a speech marking the birth of Imam Mahdi. "Those…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

US, Russian Crew Heads to Space Station

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A U.S.-Russian space crew blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner lifted off as scheduled in a Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft.Russian space officials had taken extra precautions to protect the crew during training and pre-flight preparations following the outbreak of the coronavirus. The usual group of reporters was not present at lift off, though the crew did speak to journalists via video link Wednesday.Cassidy said the crew has been in "a very strict quarantine" for the past month and so are in good health.Later Thursday the crew will dock the Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS station’s Poisk service module. Following about two hours of docking procedures, hatches between the Soyuz craft and…


Apr92020 by DmediaNo Comments

UK Braces for More Virus Deaths; Johnson Reported Stable

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Britons braced Thursday for several more weeks in lockdown as Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in a London hospital after three nights in intensive care for treatment of his coronavirus infection.   The British government said Wednesday evening that the prime minister was making "steady progress" at St. Thomas' Hospital and sitting up in bed. He has been receiving oxygen but not on a ventilator since his COVID-19 symptoms worsened and he was admitted to an ICU.   Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said Thursday that Johnson was stable and "seems to be doing reasonably well." An update on the prime minister's condition is expected later. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in while Johnson is ill, will chair a meeting of the government's COBRA crisis committee to discuss whether…


Apr92020 by TechmanNo Comments

Virus Outbreak Gives Tech Darlings a Harsh Reality Check

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Just as the coronavirus outbreak has boxed in society, it’s also squeezed high-flying tech companies reliant on people’s freedom to move around and get together.Since the beginning of March, for instance, Uber shares have lost a quarter of their value. Rival Lyft is down 28 percent. Over the same period, the S&P 500 has fallen just 10 percent, even with wild swings along the way. The picture is even less clear for other, still-private “unicorn” companies once valued at more than $1 billion, such as Airbnb and WeWork.“What market pressure will mean for all companies is survival of the fittest,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder of the marketing firm Metaforce and a business professor at New York University. “If you are going into this storm in a bad shape, it’s not…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

Satellite Indicates ‘Mini-Hole’ in Arctic Ozone Layer

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Scientists studying data from a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite say they have observed a strong reduction in ozone concentrations over the Arctic, creating what they are calling a “mini-hole” in the ozone layer.The ozone layer is a natural, protective layer of gas in the stratosphere that shields life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation, often associated with skin cancer and cataracts, as well as other environmental issues.The “ozone hole” most often referenced is over Antarctica, forming each year. But observations scientists made at the German Aerospace Center in the last week indicate ozone depletion over northern polar regions as well.The scientists refer to the Arctic depletion zone as a “mini-hole” because it has a maximum extension of less than a million square kilometers, which is tiny compared with the…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

India Considers Narrowing Lockdown to Coronavirus Hotspots

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India is considering plans to seal off coronavirus hotspots in Delhi, Mumbai and parts of the south while easing restrictions elsewhere as a way out of a three-week lockdown that has caused deep economic distress, officials said on Wednesday.   The sweeping clampdown in the country of 1.3 billion people to prevent an epidemic of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, ends on April 14 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to decide this week whether to extend it.   He told a conference of political leaders on Wednesday that several state governments had asked for an extension of the lockdown to cope with the outbreak. But he also said that India was facing serious economic challenges, according to a statement issued by his office.   Scenes of…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

Puerto Rico Seeks Ban on Flights From US COVID-19 Hot Spots

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Puerto Rico's governor on Wednesday asked federal officials to ban all flights from U.S. cities with a high number of coronavirus cases to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. territory. The petition by Gov. Wanda Vázquez to the Federal Aviation Administration came after officials accused some visitors of taking medicine to lower their fevers to avoid being placed in quarantine by National Guard troops screening people at the island's main international airport.   At least two passengers from New York who lowered their fever with medication are now hospitalized in the island with COVID-19, said National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Dahlen. "They themselves admitted it," he said, adding that the two people called health authorities when their condition worsened and that one of them was placed…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

Outbreak Poses Dilemma for Palestinians Working in Israel

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At the construction site in Tel Aviv, Jamal Salman and the other Palestinian workers wore gloves and masks, and their employer provided apartments for them to stay overnight.But his wife, alarmed by the news about the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, called him every night from the West Bank, begging him to come home. He came back early this week.Now he sits alone in his basement all day, quarantined from his wife and five children and wondering how he'll make ends meet. In Tel Aviv he earned $1,500 a month, enough to support his family. Now he's unemployed."Coronavirus is like an all-out war," he said. "Everyone is suffering."The coronavirus outbreak poses a dilemma for tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers working inside Israel who are now barred from traveling back and…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

Pandemic Deals Blow to Plastic Bag Bans, Plastic Reduction 

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Just weeks ago, cities and even states across the U.S. were busy banning straws, limiting takeout containers and mandating that shoppers bring reusable bags or pay a small fee as the movement to eliminate single-use plastics took hold in mainstream America. What a difference a pandemic makes.  In a matter of days, hard-won bans to reduce the use of plastics — and particularly plastic shopping sacks — across the U.S. have come under fire amid worries about the virus clinging to reusable bags, cups and straws.  Governors in Massachusetts and Illinois have banned or strongly discouraged the use of reusable grocery bags. Oregon suspended its brand-new ban on plastic bags this week, and cities from Bellingham, Washington, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, have announced a hiatus on plastic bag bans as the…


Apr82020 by DmediaNo Comments

Japan’s State of Emergency Is No Lockdown. What’s in it?

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other hard-hit Japanese prefectures to fortify the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. But this is no European or Wuhan-style lockdown. A look at what Japan's state of emergency entails:Why Did Abe Declare A State Of Emergency? A. Abe was facing heavy pressure to declare a state of emergency after the number of new cases in Tokyo began doubling every several days in late March. The city of 14 million had 1,339 cases as of Wednesday, up from about 600 a week earlier. Japan focused on dealing with clusters of infections and selective testing for the virus, a strategy that has failed to curb its spread. Experts found that one-third of Tokyo's recent cases were linked to…


Apr72020 by DmediaNo Comments

New Research Gives Insight into Saturn’s Atmosphere

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New analysis of data collected by the U.S. space agency’s Cassini spacecraft may have solved what has been a mystery to scientists for years: What keeps the upper layers of Saturn so warm?The warmth of Saturn and other gas giants in the solar system has puzzled scientists because the planets are too far from the sun for it to be the source of the heat that has been found in their atmospheres.But the authors of a report published this week in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy used NASA's Cassini probe data to make the most detailed examination yet of Saturn’s temperatures and atmospheric density.They discovered auroras – similar to Earth’s northern lights – active at the planet's north and south poles. The researchers believe the auroras, electrical currents triggered by…