Latest News - Page 1189

Russia's recent military actions have sparked global concern as the President of Russia Vladimir Putin says that he has sent troops into Ukraine under the banner of "peacekeeping".

As nation's around the world watch the moves made by Russia and the seemingly contradictory statements coming from the country's leader, satellites orbiting the planet are photographing the region in question. Satellites operated by Maxar Technologies snapped images of military activity across several locations such as Belarus, Crimea and western Russia.

Russia began its movement into Ukraine on Monday, February 22 and in response to the movement President Joe Biden issued a statement that describes the situation as "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," and went on to authorize new sanctions on Russia as well as sending US troops to the Baltics. The images showcase several helicopters, ground attack aircrafts, air defense units, and vehicles.

The BYU Police Department shared a story on its Facebook page that detailed a DIY rocket fuel project that went up in flames in a dorm kitchen.

The BYU Police Department begins by dubbing the story "Rocket Man", and then states that officers and firefighters were called to respond to a fire alarm that was triggered at Heritage Halls Building 4. When the emergency responders arrived at the scene, they saw that the fire sprinklers had been activated and that the walls and stovetop were covered in flames.

It was later discovered that the resident of the room was attempted to create his own rocket fuel on the stovetop, and the extremely flammable mixture exploded. The police report that no one was injured from the incident, but some residents will be "displaced due to the flooding caused by this kitchen chemist". The police gave a public reminder to keep the experiments in the laboratory and make sure that trained professionals observe them.

The International Space Station (ISS) recently docked a spacecraft with the help of a robotic arm controlled by a NASA astronaut.

In a new video posted to the International Space Station Twitter account, the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft that launched on Saturday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, arrived at the ISS on Monday and was met with the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) Canadarm2.

The above video showcases the Canadarm2 slowly moving out to be connected with the cargo ship. NASA astronaut Raja Chari is operating the arm from within the ISS, and once the cargo ship was connected to the arm, Chari proceeded to rotate and dock the spacecraft on the station's Unity module. At the moment, the ISS has five spacecrafts docked at its port, and they are as follows; Cygnus-17, SpaceX Crew Dragon, Russia's Soyuz MS-19, Progress 79, and Progress 80.

Reports indicate that the English Premier League (EPL) football club Manchester City is going to construct the very first stadium in the metaverse.

A report from inews reveals that Manchester City has signed a three-year partnership with Sony, which will provide virtual reality experts that will assist the club in recreating Etihad Stadium in virtual reality. While the project is still in its very early stages, the virtual experts have already visited the stadium to digitally map it so the recreation process can begin in virtual reality.

Manchester City believes that recreating the beloved stadium in virtual reality will bring in additional revenue streams as fans from all around the world will be able to enjoy a live game and the atmosphere of the stadium from the comfort of their own home. Additionally, the club is considering that fans could meet professional players within the metaverse, as well as purchase products that are otherwise not available in real-life.

A community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts is attempting to raise billions to purchase a professional football team.

Reports indicate that the National Football League (NFL) team, the Denver Broncos, is currently in the sale process with a group called "BuyTheBroncos", which consists of fans that wish to purchase the professional team and change it into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). According to the website, if the purchase is successful, the team would change into a "cooperative", and Broncos memberships would make "you an owner of the Broncos and, thus, able to participate in the governance."

A report from CNBC revealed that Sean O'Brien, a former Cisco employee, is leading the effort to buy the Broncos. However, O'Brien has reportedly attempted to purchase two sports franchises in the past and failed both times. ESPN has valued the Broncos at nearly $4 billion, and as the Colorado Governor Jared Polis tells CNBC, "the challenge will be it'll take a lot of money... but you know what, if your imagination is big enough, then it can happen. And anything I can do to make it happen, I'd be happy to."

NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture is in the headlines again, with the flagship GeForce RTX 4090 looking like it could chew through up to 850W of power.

In a new series of tweets, industry leaker "Greymon55" tweeted that NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU would "be available in September". Greymon55 replied to his own tweet, adding: "I am not clear at the moment whether one model has three TGP ranges or whether it has three models but the TGP number of the AD102 is 450W-650W-850W, of course this is not the final specification and there may be some deviation".

NVIDIA's upcoming-but-who-the-hell-knows-when-it-will-launch GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is meant to ramp up power consumption considerably, with up to 450W at its disposal and up to 600W through the new 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector. But the next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture and GeForce RTX 40 series looks to be a power-hungry, and with an expected doubling in performance over the RTX 3090, the power consumption numbers on the RTX 4090 might not matter at the end of the day.

The next Mass Effect game will not be ready for at least a few more years, BioWare has said.

Mass Effect 5 is currently in the earliest phases of development and will not be finished for quite some time. Right now the project is in pre-production prototyping stage and doesn't yet have an actual blueprint. We do know the next mainline game will continue the original trilogy canon and that Liara T'soni will be a main character.

"We're also working on the next Mass Effect. The team, led by Mike Gamble, is made up of a team of veteran developers as well as some new, really talented people. They are all actively prototyping new ideas and experiences," BioWare general manager Gary McKay said in an update post today.

Dragon Age executive producer Christian Dailey has left BioWare, marking the second producer to recently leave the series.

BioWare has lost another major developer with the departure of Christian Dailey, who departed right in the middle of Dragon Age 4's production. Dailey was brought in after the previous Dragon Age executive producer, Mark Darrah, left the company after 23 years with BioWare.

"Hi friends. I wanted to pass on the news that I am leaving BioWare. The next Dragon Age is in great hands. Looking forward to cheering on the team and playing as a fan. Thank you BioWare Electronic Arts (EA) for the amazing adventure," Dailey said in a statement.

The new Dragon Age game is in middle phases of production, BioWare today confirmed.

BioWare is currently making significant progress in Dragon Age 4 following years of development and two major reboots. The developer gave a quick update on the new Dragon Age game in a blog post:

"For the next Dragon Age, we are right in the middle of Production, which is a great feeling," BioWare general manager Gary McKay said.

Apex Legends Mobile testing is opening up to wider APAC and Latin America regions, but not in North America or Europe.

EA is ramping up for the planned 2022 release of Apex Legends Mobile. The F2P game isn't out yet and is still in testing phases, with a new playable build rolling out to 10 countries and regions: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia.

Gamers will need an iOS device with at least 2GB of RAM or an Android device with 3GB of RAM. EA re-confirms Apex Legends Mobile will have its own progression system and unlockables that are separate from the console/PC battle royale. There's no cross-play--Apex Mobile is its own self-contained experience, similar to Call of Duty Mobile.

Reports indicate Activision will not release a new Call of Duty game for 2023. This could impact the games industry as a whole, and possibly lead to lower earnings from PlayStation, Xbox, and even Steam.

Call of Duty is one of the most important franchises in the games industry. Every year, a new Call of Duty is released that helps Sony, Microsoft, Valve, and of course Activision make millions of dollars in revenue. Annualized Call of Duty games have been a dependable, constant source of Q3 holiday revenues for decades now. There's a noticeable earnings spike that accompanies every year's Call of Duty release.

For example, 2020 was Call of Duty's best year with over $3 billion earned. The franchise was firing on all cylinders with a mainline game release and two F2P modes generating recurring revenues. Black Ops Cold War sold 5.7 million copies at launch and was the best-selling game of 2020, made over $670 million in six weeks, and was also the #2 best-selling game in 2021.

Call of Duty will skip 2023 and no mainline game will be released next, sources have told Bloomberg. However, Treyarch could release a new zombies mode in 2023 to fill in the hole.

Call of Duty is one of the most important franchises in the industry. Every year, a new Call of Duty game releases that makes Sony, Microsoft, Valve, and of course Activision-Blizzard, hundreds of millions of dollars. That won't happen in 2023. Activision is slowing down its annual breakneck pace, and for the first time in decades, we won't have a new Call of Duty game next year.

Instead of a new game, Activision will lean on Modern Warfare II, two versions of Warzone, and Call of Duty mobile throughout 2023. This year's plans include the release of Modern Warfare II and a next-gen version of Warzone that runs separate to and in parallel with 2020's Warzone. New reports from Ralph's Valve, a Twitter user who has leaked various CoD info, indicate a zombies mode could be set for 2023.

A study on the battery titled "On-Chip Batteries for Dust-Sized Computers" has been published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

Researchers from the Chemnitz University of Technology have developed the world's smallest battery, inspired by the Swiss roll dessert. They layered current collectors and electrode strips onto a tensioned water surface, which could then self-assemble through a "micro-origami" process into what they describe as a "self-wound cylinder micro-battery."

The battery is one square millimeter in size, roughly the size of a speck of dust. With a minimum energy density of 100 microwatt hours per square centimeter, the researchers say the battery could be used to power tiny computer chips used in biosensors in the human body. They claim their battery could power the world's smallest computer chips for around ten hours, expanding the applications of biosensors that typically rely on harvesting energy through other means.

The study is titled "Efficacy of Ivermectin Treatment on Disease Progression Among Adults With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 and Comorbidities" and has been published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Malaysian researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy of ivermectin treatment across twenty public hospitals and a COVID-19 quarantine center in Malaysia between May 31st and October 25th, 2021. Of 241 patients that received ivermectin, 52 developed severe COVID-19, compared to 43 developing severe COVID-19 out of 249 patients that did not receive ivermectin.

A study on the treatment titled "Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Intervention in Preventing Gaming Disorder and Unspecified Internet Use Disorder in Adolescents" has been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recognizes an unhealthy addiction to video games or the internet on its International Classification of Diseases. Such addictions are associated with mental health problems and decreased academic performance. Researchers have developed a new cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approach called PROTECT (Professional Use of Technical Media) to address the issue.

A study on the incident titled "Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain" has been published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Researchers from the University of Tartu, Estonia, studied the brain waves of an 87-year old epilepsy patient using an electroencephalography (EEG) device. Unfortunately, the patient had a heart attack and passed away during the experiment while still connected to the EEG device. From this, the researchers were afforded the unique opportunity to study the brainwaves of a dying individual.

The researchers observed an increase in brain waves known as gamma oscillations, which are associated with dreaming and memory retrieval. The researchers suggested this may mean a person dying experiences memories from their life appearing before their eyes. A caveat of the study is that it examined only one patient who also had a history of seizures and brain swelling. Still, past research has shown similar brain activity in rats, potentially indicating a universal experience across many species.

Two studies on the fusion experiment titled "Design of inertial fusion implosions reaching the burning plasma regime" and "Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion," have been published in the journal Nature Physics.

Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Northern California announced a record-breaking energy release during a nuclear fusion experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) last year, the world's largest laser. The experiment released 1.3 megajoules of energy in 100 trillionths of a second, equating to 10 quadrillion watts of power.

The experiment used a small pellet of hydrogen fuel encased in a spherical polycarbonate diamond shell, contained in a hohlraum, a small cylinder made of depleted uranium lined with gold. The pellet was heated with 192 lasers, resulting in high enough temperatures that the pellet "imploded" and created a "burning" plasma.

A new report has revealed that Indian authorities have arrested eleven individuals for a cryptocurrency scam that allegedly stole $5.36 million from investors.

According to the Times of India, authorities in Nagpur have seized gold, a collection of "high-end vehicles" that are estimated to be worth around $134,000, a laptop, multiple cell phones, a gun with ammo, and $25,000 in cash. The report states that police raided the building and arrested four individuals that were later identified as Nishid Wasnik and his wife, Pragati, Gajanan Mungune, and Sandesh Lanjewar.

The following day the remaining seven alleged accomplices were arrested, and all were charged under the IPC, Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, and Information Technology Act. Three of the arrested individuals have been on the run for over a year for a scam that dates back to 2017.

Law enforcement has been contacted by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) regarding tweets from the CEOs of two cryptocurrency exchanges.

The OSC recently contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about tweets that were published by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. The tweets from both the CEOs reportedly have criticized the Canadian government's decision to implement the Emergencies Act in response to the recent Ottawa convoy protest.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency owned by Ottawa protesters to be frozen, which included banks that were holding crypto assets for some protesters. The ruling prevents protesters from "selling, removing, dissipating, alienating, or transferring" any crypto assets.

An artist recently exploded a Lamborghini Huracan to create a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection that will soon be available to purchase.

The artist goes by the pseudonym Shl0ms and proposed in September 2021 that he should blow up a Lamborghini and out of the exploded parts, create an NFT collection. Shl0ms received financial backing for the idea and also put some of his own money from past art projects into its creation. The artist then purchased a used Lamborghini Huracan for just under $250,000 and hired a federally licensed explosives engineer to assist in the destruction of the vehicle.

So, why explode a Lamborghini for an NFT collection? Shl0ms said, "the Lambo is a pretty potent representation of people simply engaging with crypto because it's a way for them to make money off other people as quickly as possible." Adding that NFT technology has massive potential and that there are many good things that can be done with it, "but there are so many terrible things being done with it."