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upstart writes:

American west stuck in cycle of 'heat, drought and fire', experts warn:

Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona to Washington state that are burning with a worrying ferocity, while officials say California is already set to outpace last year's record-breaking fire season.

Extreme heatwaves over the past few weeks – which have smashed records everywhere from southern California to Nevada and Oregon – are causing the region's water reserves to evaporate at an alarming rate, said Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit advocacy group. And devoid of moisture, the landscape heats up quickly, like a hot plate, desiccating the landscape and turning vegetation into kindling.

"For our most vulnerable, disadvantaged communities, this also creates compounding health effects," Ortiz said. "First there's the heat. Then for many families their water supplies are affected. And then it's also the same heat and drought that are exacerbating wildfires and leading to smoky, unhealthy air quality."

In northern California, the largest wildfire to hit the state this year broke out over the weekend and has so far consumed more than 140 sq miles (362 sq km). The Beckwourth Complex grew so fast and with such intensity that it whipped up a rare fire tornado – a swirling vortex of smoke and fire.

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upstart writes:

Planes Sampling Air Above the Amazon Find the Rainforest is Releasing More Carbon Than it Stores - Inside Climate News:

Over the last several years researchers have said that the Amazon is on the verge of transforming from a crucial storehouse for heat-trapping gasses to a source of them, a dangerous shift that could destabilize the atmosphere of the planet.

Now, after years of painstaking and inventive research, they have definitively measured that shift.

In a study published Wednesday in Nature, a team of researchers led by scientists from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, reported results from measuring carbon concentrations in columns of air above the Amazon. They found that the massive continental-size swath of tropical forest is releasing more carbon dioxide than it accumulates or stores, thanks to deforestation and fires.

“There is no doubt that the Amazon is a source,” said Luciana Gatti, the lead author of the study.

Journal Reference:
Luciana V. Gatti, Luana S. Basso, John B. Miller, et al. Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03629-6)

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upstart writes:

EU unveils sweeping climate change plan:

The European Union has announced a raft of climate change proposals aimed at pushing it towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

A dozen draft proposals, which still need to be approved by the bloc's 27 member states and the EU parliament, were announced on Wednesday.

They include plans to tax jet fuel and effectively ban the sale of petrol and diesel powered cars within 20 years.

The proposals, however, could face years of negotiations.

The plans triggered serious infighting at the European Commission, the bloc's administrative arm, as the final tweaks were being made, sources told the AFP news agency.

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Eratosthenes writes:

Hooray! After millions of astronomers held their breath for a very long time, Hubble is back in action! From Phys.org.

The Hubble Space Telescope should be back in action soon, following a tricky, remote repair job by NASA.

The orbiting observatory went dark in mid-June, with all astronomical viewing halted.

NASA initially suspected a 1980s-era computer as the source of the problem. But after the backup payload computer also failed, flight controllers at Maryland's Goddard Space Flight Center focused on the science instruments' bigger and more encompassing command and data unit, installed by spacewalking astronauts in 2009.

Engineers successfully switched to the backup equipment Thursday, and the crucial payload computer kicked in. NASA said Friday that science observations should resume quickly, if everything goes well.

One small switch for Hubble, one giant look at the cosmos for mankind! Godspeed, Space Telescope!

DannyB writes:

NASA revives ailing Hubble Space Telescope with switch to backup computer

The Hubble Space Telescope has powered on once again! NASA was able to successfully switch to a backup computer on the observatory on Friday (July 16) following weeks of computer problems.

On June 13, Hubble shut down after a payload computer from the 1980s that handles the telescope's science instruments suffered a glitch. Now, over a month since Hubble ran into issues, which the Hubble team thinks were caused by the spacecraft's Power Control Unit (PCU), NASA switched to backup hardware and was able to switch the scope back on.

With Hubble back online with this backup hardware, the Hubble team is keeping a close watch to make sure that everything works correctly, according to a statement from NASA.

[....] Included in this switch to backup hardware, the team brought the backup PCU online as well as the backup Command Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF), which is on the other side of the Science Instrument and Command & Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit, according to the statement. The PCU diverts power to the SI C&DH while the CU/SDF formats and then sends data and commands throughout the scope.

Other pieces of hardware were also swapped to their backup versions to allow the telescope to function.

See also:

Hubble is back!' Famed space telescope has new lease on life after computer swap appears to fix glitch

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DannyB writes:

Curiosity rover discovers that evidence of past life on Mars may have been erased

[....] when Curiosity took two samples of ancient mudstone, a sedimentary rock containing clay, from patches of the dried-out lake bed, dated to the same time and place (3.5 billion years ago and just 400m apart), researchers found that one patch contained only half the expected amount of clay minerals. Instead, that patch held a greater quantity of iron oxides, the compounds that give Mars its rusty hue.

The team believes the culprit behind this geological disappearing act is brine: supersalty water that leaked into the mineral-rich clay layers and destabilized them, flushing them away and wiping patches of both the geological — and possibly even the biological — record clean.

"We used to think that once these layers of clay minerals formed at the bottom of the lake in Gale Crater, they stayed that way, preserving the moment in time they formed for billions of years," study lead author Tom Bristow, a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, said in a statement. "But later brines broke down these clay minerals in some places — essentially resetting the rock record."

[....] "We've learned something very important: There are some parts of the Martian rock record that aren't so good at preserving evidence of the planet's past and possible life," co-author Ashwin Vasavada, a Curiosity project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in the statement. "The fortunate thing is, we find both close together in Gale Crater and can use mineralogy to tell which is which."

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upstart writes:

Google engineer who criticized company in viral comics on why he finally quit:

Former Google engineer Manu Cornet describes his time at Google in two phases. First, there were "glitches in wonderland." Then, there was "disillusionment."

Those two descriptions are actually the sub-headings for Cornet's two volumes of comics he has published about his former employer, which he called Goomics. Though Cornet was an engineer, he also spent 11 of his 14 years at Google drawing comics about employees, quirks, culture, and, eventually, larger societal and ethical issues facing the company and its workers. Some of those topics included Google contracts with government agencies like ICE, making a search engine for China's government that complies with censorship laws, and more.

Chronicling those issues allowed Cornet to reflect on his place at Google, and prompted him to make a change. Cornet recently quit, and has taken a new job (at Twitter, a company with whom he says he has fewer ethical qualms). He is now the latest big tech employee — including employees at Facebook and Amazon — to publicly resign from their positions in protest of the company's overall behavior.

"As the years passed by there were more and more things to have ethical qualms about that the company was doing at a higher level," Cornet said. "I had to look at the bigger picture and think that maybe I would be better elsewhere."

[...] Unfortunately, Cornet found plenty of fodder for less-buoying Goomics. What infuriates him most — and provides frequent inspiration for his comics — is what he views as hypocrisy at the company.

"The mismatch between what they say and what they really do is growing," Cornet said. "The thicker the gap is, the easier it is to point out that hypocrisy."

That extended to both major news items at the executive level, and changes within the company that affected employees. Google made headlines in 2019 for banning political discussion on employee message boards. But Cornet described one of their internal mottos as "bring your whole self to work." He sees a gap between messaging the company uses to attract employees, and the needs of shareholders.

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upstart writes:

Surgeon general warns misinformation an 'urgent threat' to public health:

The surgeon general on Thursday warned Americans about what he called the "urgent threat of health misinformation" amid the government's current push to boost stalling vaccination rates.

Dr. Vivek Murthy's advisory -- the first under the Biden administration -- addresses an epidemic of misinformation and disinformation, and its pernicious impact on public health -- specifically threatening the U.S. response to COVID-19. It frames misinformation as having hindered vaccination efforts, sown mistrust, caused people to reject public health measures, use unproven treatments, prolonged the pandemic and put lives at risk.

"Surgeon general advisories are reserved for urgent public health threats," Murthy said, highlighting his message in the White House briefing room Thursday. "And while those threats have often been related to what we eat, drink and smoke, today, we live in a world where misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation's health."

He continued, "While it often appears innocuous on social media apps on retail sites or search engines -- the truth is that misinformation takes away our freedom to make informed decisions about our health and the health of our loved ones. Simply put, health misinformation has cost us lives."

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upstart writes:

UK Parliament calls for 50/50 streaming royalties split between artists and record labels:

In an attempt to ensure fair pay for musicians, UK parliament members are asking the music industry to give artists a higher cut of profits earned from streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify.

United Kingdom government officials are looking to change the way musicians get paid, citing concerns over how streaming funds are distributed. The government had launched the inquiry into streaming service payouts in October of 2020.

According to the BBC, Spotify pays artists between GBP 0.002 ($0.0028) and GBP 0.0038 ($0.0053) per stream. Apple Music pays about GBP 0.0059 ($0.0082.) YouTube pays even less — about GBP 0.00052 ($0.00072) per stream.

There is some discrepancy in the findings, though, as in April Apple claimed it pays a penny per stream

According to the UK government's findings, artists receive about 13% of the revenue they make off their music, with the rest of the money going toward record labels and distributors. Artists who release their own music or work with independent labels tend to get a higher share, though many of these artists have a more difficult time getting their music in front of potential fans.

Government officials argue that the split should be 50/50 between artists and "rights holders," which has been the established rate for radio play.

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DannyB writes:

From Xiaomi has overtaken Apple as the world's second-biggest smartphone seller. Here's how the major players rank.

Xiaomi has overtaken Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone seller in the world.

For the first time, the Chinese electronics giant took second place in Canalys' quarterly smartphone sales report, with a 17% share of the market.

Samsung remained in the number one spot, accounting for 19% of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2021, the closely-watched report showed. Apple had 14% of the market.

If I read that right:
Samsung - 19 %
Xiaomi - 17%
Apple - 14%

Ben Stanton, research manager at Canalys, said: "All vendors are fighting hard to secure component supply amid global shortages, but Xiaomi already has its sights set on the next prize: displacing Samsung to become the world's largest vendor."

[...] Although Canalys said it was the first time Xiaomi had ranked above Apple on its list, in October, International Data Corporation said that Xiaomi sold nearly 5 million more smartphones than Apple in the third quarter of 2020.

In the end, there can be only one.

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takyon writes:

PINE64 releases a consumer version of the PineTime, its US$26.99 smartwatch

PINE64 has re-released its developer-friendly PineTime smartwatch. This time, PINE64 aims the PineTime at consumers but without hiking the price up. The revised model is pre-built, comes with an OS installed and is IP67 water resistant.

July update: community developers portal

Let me start with really good news for those of you waiting (im)patiently to get their hands on a PineTime: I've just learned that the production of the new batch of PineTime is going well and, if everything goes according to plan, then single sealed PineTime units should be available when this post goes live! These PineTimes are flashed with the latest versions of the bootloader of and InfiniTime, so that you'll be able to get the most out of your watch the moment you receive it.

As we announced last month, the factory was waiting for this release to start the production of the new batch of PineTimes. As a reminder: the ongoing component shortage forced PINE64 to use a slightly different accelerometer for this new batch, since the original one was not available anymore, and InfiniTime needed to add support for this new chip to ensure features like step counting and wake on wrist rotation would work as expected.

Is it eWaste? You decide.

Related: PinePhone Braveheart Linux Smartphone Begins Shipping
Pine64 Unveils Quartz64 (Model A) Single Board Computer
Drought in Taiwan Could Cause Shortages of Single Board Computers and Other Products

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DannyB writes:

FAA warns SpaceX that massive Starship launch tower in Texas is unapproved:

The Federal Aviation Administration warned Elon Musk's SpaceX in a letter two months ago that the company's work on a launch tower for future Starship rocket launches is yet unapproved, and will be included in the agency's ongoing environmental review of the facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

"The company is building the tower at its own risk," an FAA spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday, noting that the environmental review could recommend taking down the launch tower.

[...] SpaceX has conducted multiple short test flights of Starship prototypes over the past year. However, the company needs the FAA to complete the environmental review and issue a license to take the next step in the rocket's testing.

[...] Starship prototypes stand at about 160 feet tall, or around the size of a 16-story building, and are built of stainless steel – representing the early version of the rocket that Musk unveiled in 2019. The rocket initially launches on a "Super Heavy" booster, which makes up the bottom half of the rocket and stands about 230 feet tall. Together, Starship a\ nd Super Heavy will be nearly 400 feet tall when stacked for the launch.

Elon Musk's SpaceX could be ordered to take down its huge Starship launch tower in Boca Chica, the FAA has warned:

[...] "It is possible that changes would have to be made at the launch site, including to the integration towers to mitigate significant impacts," the FAA letter said, per Reuters. The FAA added that it had only learned that the integration tower was being built "based on publicly available video footage."

upstart writes:

Tokyo reports most daily Covid-19 cases in six months as Olympics loom:

TOKYO (REUTERS) - Tokyo reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases in almost six months on Wednesday (July 14), with the Olympics due to open in the capital in just nine days.

The city government said there were 1,149 new cases, the highest daily tally since Jan 22, adding to evidence that a new fifth wave of infections is under way, driven by more infectious virus variants and a low vaccination rate.

Amid rising cases, the government declared renewed state of emergency for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures last week and Olympics organisers announced that no fans would be allowed at events in those areas.

[...] Health experts had warned that seasonal factors, increased mobility, and the spread of variants would lead to a rebound this summer. Kyoto University professor Yuki Furuse earlier projected that new daily cases in Tokyo could rise to 1,000 in July and 2,000 in August, potentially maxing out hospital beds in the capital region.

[...] Just 31 per cent of people in Japan have received at least one Covid-19 inoculation dose, among the lowest rate among wealthy countries, according to a Reuters tracker.

[...] A coronavirus cluster at a Japanese hotel where dozens of Brazilian Olympic team members are staying has raised new concern about infections at what the world's top Olympics official promised on Wednesday would be "historic" Games.

Current statistics from Johns Hopkins and Worldometers.com for Japan.

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upstart writes:

California breaks 1 GW energy storage milestone:

[California] regulators noted that the "peak hour of [electricity demand in] the year occurs consistently in September... within hour ending 17 (based on P.S.T. or 6:00 p.m. P.D.T.). By 2022, the peak shifts to hour ending 18."

[...] In 2020, that shortfall totaled around 6,000 MWh over three hours. In 2021, regulators added an hour and increased the amount of shortfall within each one-hour window, bringing the total shortfall to 14,400 MWh. That number expanded again in 2021 to 15,400 MWh of "missing energy" over four hours.

[...] Fortunately, 2,000 MW of energy storage capacity is coming online by August 1, per the California Public Utility Commission. Much of this capacity will have four hours of battery energy sitting behind it, nearly 8,000 MWh in total.

[...] One of the first examples of a huge charging event occurred on July 14 at 9:15 AM, and was brought to our attention by California energy data geek Joe Deely. Here's what it looked like:

[...] Two of the world's largest lithium ion batteries contributed to these capacity values, and backed up the grid during the flex event.

Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV6wO_UVfWo&t=269s

LS Power Energizes Largest Battery Storage Project in the World"
At 300MW / 1,200MWh, the world's largest battery storage system so far is up and running.

Real-time tracking: California ISO - Supply.

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upstart writes:

United Airlines to buy 100, 19-seat electric planes from Heart Aerospace:

[REUTERS] United Airlines (UAL.O) said on Tuesday it would buy 100 19-seat ES-19 electric planes from Swedish start-up Heart Aerospace, as the U.S. carrier eyes battery-powered aircraft for regional routes.

It is the latest in a series of such "innovation-related" announcements by United as major airlines come under pressure to cut emissions.

The U.S. carrier's venture funding arm said in a release it is also investing an undisclosed amount in the company with Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mesa Airlines (MESA.O).

United would not disclose the value of the order, which is conditional on the aircraft's meeting safety, business and operating requirements.

Mesa would buy an additional 100 ES-19s, subject to similar requirements, which can fly customers up to 250 miles.

The plane will enter service as soon as 2026.

United could use the aircraft to connect hubs like Chicago O'Hare International Airport to smaller routes. Some of these routes have been cut by legacy carriers because they are too expensive.

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Nearly 800 People Believed to Have Died in Northwest Heat Wave

upstart writes:

Nearly 800 people believed to have died in Northwest heat wave:

The death count has inched upward since the mercury hit 108 degrees in Seattle two weeks ago. The heat wave is now one of the deadliest weather-related events in Washington state history.

At least 25 people died in King County, and 91 statewide. The numbers could still rise, however, as people are still being found in their homes, and others haven't recovered from dehydration. The heat wave lasted between June 26 and July 6.

In British Columbia, there were 580 more deaths than expected for this time of year. That's three times the number of deaths the province normally sees each week, according to the B.C. Coroners Service, and reporting from the CBC. In Oregon, at least 116 people died from the heat, according to The Associated Press.

That brings the death toll in the Northwest to nearly 800 people.

Death Toll Rises to 210 From February Cold Wave in Texas

upstart writes:

Death toll rises to 210 from February cold wave in Texas: