Summer is here, and for many families, that means it’s finally time to take the vacation they’ve been postponing for the past 18 months. With vacations comes travel, and with travel comes bored kids, so it’s crucial to have something to entertain them when they’re in the car or on a plane for hours on end. Amazon’s got you covered …
It’s too late for Black Widow, Alex Cranz
Disney It’s hard to be a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Widow. She sticks out like a sore thumb. On a team of super-powered guys (and Hawkeye), she fills the less cinematic “master manipulator” and “weird sexy martial art flippity flips” roles. Her story until Black Widow has been about as nuanced and impactful as that of Smurfette’s. …
On This Day in Space! July 12, 1989: Olympus communications satellite launches into space, ,
On July 12, 1989, the European Space Agency launched an experimental communications satellite named Olympus-1. It was the largest civilian telecommunication satellite ever built, and some nicknamed it “LargeSat.” Olympus-1 malfunctioned in 1991 and was lost in orbital space for a year before communication was re-established. Then in 1993, it was damaged by a meteor during the Perseid meteor shower …
With Virgin Galactic’s launch of Richard Branson in the books, all eyes are on Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos, ,
Next billionaire up! Richard Branson completed his much-anticipated mission on Sunday (July 11), riding to suborbital space and back on the first fully crewed flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity space plane. But that was just the first of two planned billionaire space jaunts this month. Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos is scheduled to fly to the suborbital frontier on …
Elon Musk unveils SpaceX’s newest drone ship for rocket landings at sea, ,
The drone fleet used by SpaceX to catch falling rockets now has a third autonomous ship, whimsically called “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” Founder Elon Musk unveiled the newest floating rocket landing pad on Twitter Friday (July 9) along with a dramatic video from a flying drone circling the ship. “Autonomous SpaceX droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas,” Musk wrote succinctly in …
South African telescope captures stunning image of radio galaxy, ,
A stunning new image from the South African MeerKAT telescope captures powerful radio emissions woven through space. The radio emissions emanate from an enormous rotating black hole that lies at the center of an elliptical galaxy known as IC 4296. Energy released by matter falling into the black hole generates two radio jets of high energy gas on opposite sides …
14 years of solar eclipse chasing (and counting): a team travels the world to study solar wind, ,
The solar system is constantly bathed by a sea of charged particles that emanate from the sun, and one research team spent 14 years chasing solar eclipses to learn more about this stellar spray. The particles are known as solar wind, and they come from the sun’s outermost region: the corona. If a person is lucky enough to observe a …
Redesigned iPad mini reportedly on track to launch this fall, Jon Porter
Apple plans to release a new iPad mini featuring “the biggest redesign in [its] nine-year history” this fall, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports (via 9to5Mac). The new device is expected to feature slimmer bezels, a larger display, faster performance, and a design similar to Apple’s new iPad Air from last year, MacRumors notes. It could be a big shakeup for Apple’s …
Foxconn and TSMC strike deal to buy 10 million COVID vaccines for Taiwan, Sam Byford
Foxconn and TSMC, two Taiwanese giants of the international tech supply chain, have agreed to buy 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for the island in a move that dodges a standoff between Taipei and Beijing. The two companies will be paying up to $35 a dose of the BioNTech vaccine and donating them to the government; each company has pledged …