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Soviet Union was developing 'cybernetic telepathy,' according to CIA
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents from 1963 and 1964 have been released for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Government Attic website.
The request resulted in three CIA reports investigating the Soviet Union's apparent usage of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and attempts to develop "cybernetic telepathy." The reports describe conversations between a CIA agent and Soviet cybernetics researcher, and a visiting foreign exchange student.
D.A. Kerminov, the Soviet scientist, told the agent about an experiment where researchers recorded the central nervous signals of a person playing piano and broadcast those signals to another person who had never played the piano. According to Kerminov, "that person would then be enabled to play difficult music, but also would retain some of this skill as permanent learning."
Continue reading: Soviet Union was developing 'cybernetic telepathy,' according to CIA (full post)
NASA lets male astronauts stay in space longer than females, but why?
The time a NASA astronaut can spend in space is limited by their exposure to ionizing radiation over their career.
While on Earth, Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere protect us from ionizing radiation coming from space, primarily from the Sun. The International Space Station (ISS) doesn't receive the same protection from the atmosphere but is still shielded from some ionizing radiation thanks to the magnetosphere. This means astronauts receive higher doses of radiation than those who never leave Earth, about 300 mSv per year on the ISS compared to 3.6 mSv on Earth.
Associated with the higher levels of radiation exposure are increased risks of radiation sickness and cancer. To mitigate this, NASA's current limit for radiation exposure, set in 1989, allows for a maximum of 3% lifetime excess risk of cancer mortality. Both sex and age impact this limit, creating a range of limits from as low as 180 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation for a 30-year-old woman and as high as 700 mSv for a 60-year-old man.
Continue reading: NASA lets male astronauts stay in space longer than females, but why? (full post)
Saturn is losing its iconic rings, will disappear completely
The "cosmically young" rings still have life left, but their time is finite.
We still don't know exactly how Saturn's rings formed, though they are estimated to be between 10 and 100 million years old, narrowing down the possible theories. One theory suggests that the rings could have been formed by one of Saturn's moons coming too close to the planet and being shredded apart.
With every passing year, the planetary ring is losing material due to "ring rain." The term refers to incoming micrometeorites and solar radiation, which strike the particles in the ring, electrifying them and aligning them with Saturn's magnetic field lines. This sets the particles on a course for Saturn's atmosphere, where gravity pulls them in until they are vaporized.
Continue reading: Saturn is losing its iconic rings, will disappear completely (full post)
Subnado, the world's smallest underwater scooter, is now here
Waydoo is launching its new, portable underwater scooter through a Kickstarter campaign.
Named the Subnado, it is the world's smallest and lightest portable underwater scooter, weighing only 1.4 kilograms (~3.1 pounds) and is 38 centimeters (~15 inches) in length. The cylindrical aluminum body is six centimeters (~2.3 inches) in diameter, extending to seven centimeters (~2.8 inches) wide at the propeller guard.
Its profile allows it easily fit within a backpack and comes equipped with a 98Wh lithium-ion battery that will enable it to run for up to 56 minutes on a single charge. Compared to another underwater scooter, the Sublue Tini, the Subnado is 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) lighter and can run continuously for 11 more minutes. With its 100W PD fast charger, the Subnado takes 1.2 hours to charge.
Continue reading: Subnado, the world's smallest underwater scooter, is now here (full post)
Jet-suit equipped paramedics will be taking flight this year
The flying paramedics are from the UK-based charity, the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).
In September 2020, the organization announced it was testing a jet-pack-equipped suit for the paramedics but had to suspend testing due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. One of the members has since completed training with the jet-pack, with more members due to begin their training soon. The next stage of trials will begin this summer.
Continue reading: Jet-suit equipped paramedics will be taking flight this year (full post)
Activision agrees that Warzone install sizes are 'f*cking crazy'
Activision's design lead admits that Warzone's install sizes are just "f*cking crazy," and is the massive storage requirements are a big roadblock to new maps.
Warzone is the most important thing Activision has ever done, but like Destiny 2, the BR is hitting a wall. The game is simply too big for its own good. A wealth of highly-optimized assets across a huge sprawling in-game map have historically bloated install sizes past the 100GB mark (thankfully the game is around ~80GB on PC right now). Until Activision finds a better way to compress or optimize its data flows it'll be very hard to rotate new Warzone maps in and out of the game without forcing gamers to essentially re-download the full F2P game.
In a recent interview with TeeP, Activision head of design Josh Bridge delivered a rather candid explanation on what's going on with Warzone. "So, there's a technical problem. The install and reinstall sizes are fucking crazy. It's insane, right?"
Continue reading: Activision agrees that Warzone install sizes are 'f*cking crazy' (full post)
New One Piece Odyssey game looks like a manga fan's dream RPG
Today Bandai Namco announced One Piece Odyssey, a new One Piece game made in collaboration with series creator Eiichiro Oda.
One Piece Odyssey looks to be the ultimate game for fans of the anime and manga franchise. The game is a fully-fledged RPG that stays authentic to the distinct One Piece humor thanks to an all-original storyline from Eiichiro Oda, complete with a diverse open world, colorful monsters, and a unique cel-shaded art style presentation the melds 3D with 2D. In a recent presentation, Oda said the game was so immersive it was "like a movie." Tales series composer Motoi Sakraba is lending his talent to make an epic soundtrack
"The goal is to deliver an epic adventure in the One Piece world," producer Katsuaki Tsuzuki said. "It is probably the first One Piece title to be developed so meticulously over an extended period of time."
Continue reading: New One Piece Odyssey game looks like a manga fan's dream RPG (full post)
Video games industry raises over $113 million for Ukraine
The video games industry has raised over $113 million for humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine, analysis has shown.
The world's most lucrative entertainment industry has banded together to raise money for Ukraine, with many companies (like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) cutting off Russia due to the ongoing war. According to data compiled by us (with the help of Levvvel), the games industry has raised over $113 million in funding for various organizations aimed at helping the beleaguered nation.
Below we've put together a list of the current known donations, but it is by no means a complete and definitive grouping that catalogs every donation made. Epic Games tops the list with its mighty $70 million generated from Fortnite revenues on PC and Xbox, followed by the Stand With Ukraine bundle on Humble Bundle, then the mighty Bundle for Ukraine indie megapack on Itch.io takes third place with over $6.3 million earned.
Continue reading: Video games industry raises over $113 million for Ukraine (full post)
Halo was the best-ever debut across 32.8 million Paramount+ userbase
Halo has set new records at Paramount+ as the most-watched premiere on the service, beating out originals like Star Trek's Picard.
The new Halo TV show, which premiered on March 24, is setting new records on Paramount+. The sci-fi FPS adaptation has become the most-watched premiere on the service, Deadline reports. The previous record-holder was 1883 that attracted 4.9 million viewers; CBS didn't reveal exact numbers but Halo's premiere surpassed 1883's viewership.
As of February 2022, CBS-Viacom announced that Paramount+ had 32.8 million subscribers. That number is likely higher now thanks to two big promotions. The service recently had a substantial cost-savings discount that offered 3 months for $6 and Microsoft is also offering a free 30-day trial as part of its premium Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Continue reading: Halo was the best-ever debut across 32.8 million Paramount+ userbase (full post)
Bitcoin finally breaks $46,000 and is seemingly not stopping
Bitcoin's price has been on an overall downwards trajectory since it reached its all-time high of $69,000 back in November 2021.
Since BTC topped out at $69,000 in November, it has been on a slow decline in price, eventually bottoming out at $33,000 in late January, which was followed by a sharp climb to $45,000 in early February. From February onwards, Bitcoin has traded anywhere between $37,000 and $45,000, failing twice at breaking through the $45,000 resistance.
While BTC's price is seemingly moving sideways on the chart, it is gaining in overall price as there have been continuous higher lows that have now led to a sharp price increase. For six days in a row, Bitcoin has closed higher than the previous day and is now currently sitting at $47,000 at the time of writing this post. The uptick in price marks the first time Bitcoin has broken through the $45,000 mark since January.
Continue reading: Bitcoin finally breaks $46,000 and is seemingly not stopping (full post)
Ukrainian forces release video of drones destroying Russian equipment
On March 23 a video was released that showcased Ukrainian forces destroying Russian military equipment with combat drones.
The footage comes from Ukraine's Operation Command South, which is a unit of the Ukrainian Ground Forces that posted the video along with a caption that is a reference to a statement made by famous British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. Ukraine's Operational Command South said the following, "The harder the fighting and the longer the war, the more the infantry, and the whole army, rely on the artillery." Adding, "And in modern conditions - also on the UAV" [drone].
For context what Montgomery said was "The harder the fighting and the longer the war, the more the infantry, and in fact all the arms, lean on the gunners." As for the combat drone, the Bayraktar TB2 has been used repeatedly by Ukrainian forces throughout Russia's war, and according to reports Ukraine has more than 20 of the UAV combat drones with Russia only having shot down one. Ukraine has recently requested the West for more drones, check out which ones it wants below.
Continue reading: Ukrainian forces release video of drones destroying Russian equipment (full post)
Highest resolution image of Sun ever published, 83 million pixels
A spacecraft that is orbiting the Sun has snapped what is now officially the highest resolution image of the Sun's corona, its outermost atmosphere.
The image was snapped by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter that used its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) to take 25 images with each at different angles. Each of the images was taken with 10 minutes of exposure and were stitched together to create an image that 9,148 by 9,112 pixels, which equates to 83 million pixels, or as the ESA writes, "a resolution that is ten times better than what a 4K TV screen can display."
Due to the insane resolution, viewers can zoom into different locations of the Sun and see the Sun's corona and solar 'prominences' that can throw "huge quantities of coronal gas into space and creating 'space weather' storms." The images were captured on March 7 at a distance of 46.6 million miles, which is about half of the distance between Earth's and its average orbit around the Sun. Over its lifetime, the ESA's Solar Orbiter will continue to monitor the Sun's solar wind and take incredible images.
Continue reading: Highest resolution image of Sun ever published, 83 million pixels (full post)
Hubble takes breathtaking image of galaxy millions of light years away
NASA has released a new image snapped by the famous Hubble Space Telescope, and it is nothing short of breathtaking.
The new image is a cosmic portrait of the spiral galaxy called NGC 4571, located approximately 60 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices, named after an Egyptian queen who lived about 2,200 years ago. The image was snapped using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and multiple observations from Hubble and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
The data from ALMA allowed researchers to distinguish the clouds of cool interstellar dust that are the birthplace of new stars. NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which NASA writes contains more than 1,000 individual galaxies. If you are interested in reading more about NGC 4571, check out NASA's blog post on the spiral galaxy here.
Continue reading: Hubble takes breathtaking image of galaxy millions of light years away (full post)
Sabrent unveils SD cards: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB + 512GB with V90 speeds
Sabrent absolutely rules the SSD market with its flagship Rocket 4 Plus SSD, which I have in a couple of my machines thanks to their huge 4TB capacity -- but don't worry, Sabrent has 8TB models of its Rocket 4 Plus -- and now the storage dominator has just unveiled its first SD cards.
The new Sabrent Rocket V90 SD cards come in four capacities: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and the largest model -- 512GB -- which is also the first-ever 512GB capacity SD card with V90 speeds. Sabrent will be unleashing its new SD cards with V90 speeds that will help content creators, and everyone in between, to get their content from their cameras to their computers as fast as possible.
You're going to be flying along with up to 280MB/sec writes and 250MB/sec reads on the Sabrent Rocket V90 SD cards, in all capacities -- 64GB to 512GB -- which is damn fast. The fastest SD cards on the planet are topping out at 280MB/sec, so Sabrent is really... rocketing... into the scene, one would say.
Continue reading: Sabrent unveils SD cards: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB + 512GB with V90 speeds (full post)
Elon Musk says how Russia may destroy Ukraine's Starlink satellites
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have said that Russia or China targeted Starlink satellites, they would have a tough time destroying them all.
Musk was interviewed by Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of Axel Springer, where he was asked his thoughts on Russia's invasion into Ukraine, Starlink satellites, space travel, and more. During the interview, Musk was asked if Russia targeted the Starlink satellites that he sent to assist Ukraine could they bring down the entire operation. Musk replied by saying that Russia would have a lot of trouble taking out Starlink due to how many individual satellites there are. "If you attempt to take out Starlink, this is not easy because there are 2,000 satellites," said Musk.
"That means a lot of anti-satellite missiles. I hope we do not have to put this to a test, but I think we can launch satellites faster than they can launch anti-satellite missiles." Musk also touched on Russia performing an anti-satellite missile test a few months ago that threatened the safety of NASA astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Continue reading: Elon Musk says how Russia may destroy Ukraine's Starlink satellites (full post)
NASA's first target for James Webb is so special its 'super-secret'
NASA is nearing the end of fine-tuning the James Webb Space Telescope as calibrations are expected to wrap up by the end of June.
The space agency has gone through more than 1,000 potential research proposals from astronomers from all around the world and has compiled a year-long list of targets Webb will be pointed at. The world's most powerful telescope will observe the light from the first stars and galaxies that formed only a hundred million years after the Big Bang - it will be the furthest humans have ever looked back in time.
Webb cost more than $10 billion and won't just be studying light from stars and galaxies, it will also observe exoplanets which are planets that are orbiting stars that aren't our sun. Webb will monitor these exoplanets and attempt to analyze their atmosphere for any potential signs of life. So, what will the first images released from Webb?
Continue reading: NASA's first target for James Webb is so special its 'super-secret' (full post)
'Crypto paradise' island is a real place, citizenship costs $130,000
A cryptocurrency island is being constructed in the south pacific off the coast of Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The island is being marketed as a paradise for cryptocurrency users. All payments will be made in cryptocurrencies, and citizenship, land ownership, and more come in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). Satoshi Island is located in Vanuatu, between Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Caledonia in the south pacific coast. It is a 32 million-square-foot island that aims to be "a real-world crypto economy and blockchain-based democracy," according to its website.
So far, more than 50,000 people have applied for citizenship and residency on the island, with citizenship to Satoshi Island costing $130,000. The website for the project explains that the idea has been in development for years and has recently been green-lit by the Vanuatu Ministry of Finance. Construction on the futuristic modular homes has already begun, and residents can expect to begin living there sometime in 2023.
Continue reading: 'Crypto paradise' island is a real place, citizenship costs $130,000 (full post)
Ukraine official warns the fires near Chernobyl could impact the world
A Ukrainian official close to the matter has warned that the forest fires burning in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone may impact the entire world if they aren't dealt with.
According to Lyudmila Denisova, the commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights recently said, the region near the failed nuclear power plant currently has 31 fires recorded, which are causing an increase in radiation being released into the atmosphere, putting Ukraine, Belarus, and other European countries at risk of exposure. Additionally, Denisova said that due to the Russian military occupying Chernobyl, its impossible to send firefighters into the region to tackle the fires.
Denisova goes on to explain that if nothing is done to stop the fires around the nuclear power plant, there may be "irreparable consequences not only for Ukraine but also for the whole world." The Verkhovna Rada commissioner said that a catastrophe can be prevented if the Russian military occupying the area fall back.
Continue reading: Ukraine official warns the fires near Chernobyl could impact the world (full post)
Ukraine official warns Russia wants to make a new South/North Korea
A top Ukrainian official has warned that Russia is attempting to split Ukraine into two nations, similar to North and South Korea.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recently gave a speech following some heated remarks from United States President Joe Biden. The Ukrainian president dropped stark comments aimed at the West that claimed the many nations "ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets" and other weapons that Ukraine has requested. Zelenskyy wished that the people making decisions about how and when to hand over jets and tanks to Ukraine had more courage.
Continue reading: Ukraine official warns Russia wants to make a new South/North Korea (full post)
EVGA and COLORFUL's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti cards: thick AF, power hungry
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card is only hours away, and so too are the custom AIB versions... including the EVGA and COLORFUL variants of the RTX 3090 Ti we have here.
The new EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FTW3 graphics card is a THICC boi, with a huge 3.5-slot -- yeah, beyond 3-slot -- design and massive new PCB that is ready for that new 16-pin power connector and 100W more power from the GA102-350 GPU.
I mean, it's a seriously bulky card that is comically large... the huge 3.5-slot design sees EVGA putting the 16-pin PCIe power connector on the end of the card. Man, I love that... the I/O bracket has also been refreshed, but still has the 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 + HDMI 2.1 connectors. All ready for 4K 120FPS and 8K 60FPS displays and TVs of now, and the future.
Continue reading: EVGA and COLORFUL's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti cards: thick AF, power hungry (full post)





















