Science

NASA’s Deep Space Network Welcomes a New Dish to the Family

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“After the lengthy process of commissioning, the DSN’s most capable 34-meter antenna is now talking with our spacecraft,” said Bradford Arnold, DSN project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Even though pandemic restrictions and the recent weather conditions in Spain have been significant challenges, the staff in Madrid persevered, and I am proud to welcome DSS-56 to the global DSN family.”

More About the Deep Space Network

In addition to Spain, the Deep Space Network has ground stations in California (Goldstone) and Australia (Canberra). This configuration allows mission controllers to communicate with spacecraft throughout the solar system at all times during Earth’s rotation.

The forerunner to the DSN was established in January 1958 when JPL was contracted by the U.S. Army to deploy portable radio tracking stations in California, Nigeria, and Singapore to receive telemetry of the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1. Shortly after JPL was transferred to NASA on Dec. 3, 1958, the newly-formed U.S. civilian space program established the Deep Space Network to communicate with all deep space missions. It has been in continuous operation since 1963 and remains the backbone of deep space communications for NASA and international missions, supporting historic events such as the Apollo Moon landings and checking in on our interstellar explorers, Voyager 1 and 2.

The Deep Space Network is managed by JPL for SCaN, which is located at NASA’s headquarters within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The Madrid station is managed on NASA’s behalf by Spain’s national research organization, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (National Institute of Aerospace Technology).

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Science

Only 31 Magnetars Have Ever Been Discovered. This one is Extra Strange. It’s Also a Pulsar

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Some of the most stunningly powerful objects in the sky aren’t necessarily the prettiest to look at.  But their secrets can allow humanity to glimpse some of the more intricate details of the universe that are exposed in their extreme environs.  Any time we find one of these unique objects it’s a cause for celebration, and recently astronomers have found an extremely unique object that is both a magnetar and a pulsar, making it one of only 5 ever found.

The object, called J1818.0-1607, was first detected in March by NASA’s Neil Gehreis Swift Telescope.  It was first classified simply as a magnetar – one of only 31 ever found.  Magnetars are a type of neutron star that has the strongest magnetic field ever detected – millions of billions of times stronger than that of Earth.  But J1818.0-1607 wasn’t the same as other magnetars found so far.

It appeared to be the youngest, with an estimated age of 500 years.  Correspondingly, it also spins faster than any other observed magnetar.  Younger magnetars will spin more quickly than older ones, which have had a chance to slow down some.  J1818.0-1607 takes the cake with a blistering rotational speed of 1.4 seconds.  

Finding a unique magnetar such as this will always attract other astronomers, and some brought other kinds of telescopes to bear.  One of those telescopes was the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which a team led by researchers from the University of West Virginia and the University of Manitoba commanded to look at the newly found magnetar less than a month after its original discovery.

Multispectral image from Swift of J1818.0-1607, the youngest pulsar and magnetar ever observed.
Credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / P Esposito et al.

Chandra is able to see in the X-ray spectrum, so it was able to calculate the efficiency with which the object was translating its decreasing spin energy into X-rays.  That efficiency was in line with another type of object, known as a rotation-powered pulsar.

Pulsars are a type of neutron star that repeatedly pulses out radiation as it spins.  Observations from other telescopes, including the Very Large Array, provided supporting data for the magnetar to also be a pulsar.  That puts it on a very short list of only 5 objects ever discovered that combined the characteristics of both types of object.

All of the mysteries of the newly discovered object are not yet solved, however.  One is where all the debris has gone.  All neutron stars are formed as a result of a supernova, and J1818.0-1607 is no exception. However, at such a young age, astronomers would expect to see the debris field from the explosion.  There was some that Chandra picked up, however, it is much farther away than expected, implying that J1818.0-1607 is either much older than previously thought, or that it exploded with such force that it blew the debris field out much faster than other known neutron stars.

Either hypothesis is viable, and of course more data will need to be collected in order to truly solve that mystery.  But the discovery of J1818.0-1607 and its subsequent observation are an excellent example of the kind of science that is possible when multiple instruments operating in multiple spectra are brought to bear on a single object of interest.  With luck that coordination will lead to more discoveries of these ultra rare combinations of magnetically powerful lighthouses.

Learn More:
NASA: Chandra Studies Extraordinary Magnetar
NASA: A Cosmic Baby is Discovered and Its Brilliant
Sci-News: Astronomers Discover Youngest Magnetar Ever
UT: A brand new magnetar found, it’s only 240 years old

Lead Image: Composite image of J1818.0-1607 in Xray and infrared.
Credit: NASA / CXC / U West Virginia / H. Blumer / JPL-CalTech / Spitzer

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Sports

NBCUniversal to Shut Down Sports Network NBCSN at End of 2021

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Fans of big NBC sports franchises like the NHL and Premier League will have to follow them to a new home.

NBCUniversal will shutter its NBCSN sports network, and move some of its top sports properties to the USA network in a maneuver executives believe will boost the economics of the general-entertainment cable outlet at a time when new streaming-video hubs are luring bigger audiences. The company has told its distributors it intends to shut down NBCSN at the end of 2021, according to a person familiar with the matter.

NBCU’s top sports properties include Nascar racing, National Hockey League contests and English Premier League football. USA is not going to become an all-sports network, this person cautioned, but might function more like WarnerMedia’s TNT, which has built a durable franchise out of its rights to air National Basketball Association games, does for that media company. It remained unclear whether the move would affect NBC Sports employees; the division recently experienced staffing cuts as part of a restructuring at NBCUniversal as it grapples with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

“USA has been a top five cable entertainment brand for over twenty years by way of constantly broadening our slate and finding ways to excite our viewers through immersive storytelling and iconic personalities, “said Frances Berwick, chairman, of NBCU’s entertainment networks, in a statement provided after the move became known.  “We remain committed to original entertainment programming, and believe that high-profile live sports will complement USA’s broad premium scripted, unscripted and WWE slate, enabling us to engage our passionate, intersecting audiences more deeply and with greater urgency.”

USA has always had a sports lineage. In its early days, when it was launched by entrepreneur Kay Koplovitz and subsequently owned jointly by MCA and Viacom, the network had rights deals at various times with Major League Baseball, the NHL, and the NBA, and its evening schedule was often dominated by sports programs. USA carried boxing matches on Tuesday nights for more than a decade. But in 2004,  most of its sports operations were merged into NBC Sports, when NBC purchased Vivendi Universal.

In a new era, sports may be more essential to maintaining the health of a traditional general-entertainment outlet like USA. Cable networks have suffered as audiences move to streaming-video hubs for the sorts of high-caliber scripted series that had long been a staple of cable. Even as they place more emphasis on their own streaming hubs, big media outlets like NBCUniversal, Disney and others need to maintain the large, live audiences that advertisers and cable and satellite distributors crave. Sports and news programming continues to draw those crowds.

More to come…



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Entertainment

Hero Disney employee saves domestic violence victim

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An alert Walt Disney World ticket booker was able to help a Pennsylvania woman who called pretending to buy theme park tickets but was really trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend. Related video above: Boy rescued from abusive couple by Orlando waitress, police sayAccording to a report from the Northern York County Regional Police Department in Pennsylvania, a Disney employee called 911 and said she had a woman on the line who she believed needed help. The Disney employee told police she sensed something was wrong because she heard the woman yelling “get off me” and “get away from me” at someone while they were on the phone together on Jan. 9. The Disney employee then started asking the woman yes or no questions. She asked if the woman was actually calling to book a trip, to which the woman replied “no.””She then asked (the woman) if she needed law enforcement to her home and she stated ‘yes,'” the report said. The Disney employee also asked the woman if someone was hurting her, and the woman said “yes.”Police arrived at the home and found that the woman and her boyfriend had been arguing. The woman told police that she and 38-year-old Wayne Shiflett had been arguing about him getting a “real job” instead of selling fire extinguishers. The woman told police that Shifflett had choked her, and that she was afraid she was going to die. Shiflett was arrested and charged with strangulation, terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another and simple assault.

ORLANDO, Fla. —

An alert Walt Disney World ticket booker was able to help a Pennsylvania woman who called pretending to buy theme park tickets but was really trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend.

Related video above: Boy rescued from abusive couple by Orlando waitress, police say

According to a report from the Northern York County Regional Police Department in Pennsylvania, a Disney employee called 911 and said she had a woman on the line who she believed needed help.

The Disney employee told police she sensed something was wrong because she heard the woman yelling “get off me” and “get away from me” at someone while they were on the phone together on Jan. 9.

The Disney employee then started asking the woman yes or no questions. She asked if the woman was actually calling to book a trip, to which the woman replied “no.”

“She then asked (the woman) if she needed law enforcement to her home and she stated ‘yes,'” the report said.

The Disney employee also asked the woman if someone was hurting her, and the woman said “yes.”

Police arrived at the home and found that the woman and her boyfriend had been arguing.

The woman told police that she and 38-year-old Wayne Shiflett had been arguing about him getting a “real job” instead of selling fire extinguishers.

The woman told police that Shifflett had choked her, and that she was afraid she was going to die.

Shiflett was arrested and charged with strangulation, terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another and simple assault.

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Technology

Vicarious Visions merged into Blizzard

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Activision Blizzard has moved its Vicarious Visions studio from the Activision side of the business to the Blizzard side.

The publisher today told GamesIndustry.biz that effective today, it is merging Vicarious Visions into Blizzard Entertainment.

Going forward, the Vicarious Visions team of about 200 people will be employees of Blizzard and “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives,” which means the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 studio will no longer be creating games as the lead developer.

“After collaborating with Vicarious Visions for some time and developing a great relationship, Blizzard realized there was an opportunity for [Vicarious Visions] to provide long-term support,” a representative explained to us. They declined to specify what the team has been working on with Blizzard, or for how long.

As part of the move, Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal has been promoted to Blizzard executive vice president of development, where she joins the company’s leadership team and will report directly to Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.

Oneal is being replaced in the Vicarious Visions studio head role by Simon Ebejer, who previously served as chief operating officer for the studio.

Vicarious Visions was acquired by Activision in 2005 and has worked on many of the publisher’s biggest franchises over the years, including Guitar Hero, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot, Destiny, Skylanders, and Call of Duty.

The studio will remain in Albany, New York.

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US

Trump impeachment going to Senate Monday

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CLOSE

President Biden is putting into play his national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing.

USA TODAY

In the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden is directing the federal government to focus on domestic violent extremism, including having the National Security Council build out its capability to counter domestic threats.

Biden press secretary Jen Psaki announced a three-pronged effort aimed at confronting domestic violent extremism at a press briefing Friday. 

“The Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we have long known,” Psaki said. “The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat. The Biden administration will confront this threat with the necessary resources and resolve.”

The NSA will undertake a policy review, she said, to determine how the government can share information more effectively to address threats, support efforts to prevent radicalization and disrupt violent networks. She said this will complement work already underway among agencies

“We need to understand better its current extent and where there might be gaps,” she said.

She said the administration has also tasked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for a “comprehensive threat assessment” to help shape policies to address the rise of domestic violent extremism. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security will consult on that work.

In addition, Biden has asked all relevant federal departments and agencies to “enhance and accelerate” efforts to combat domestic violent extremism, Psaki said.

Psaki said the White House is committed to developing domestic violent extremism polices and strategies “based on facts, on objective and rigorous analysis and our respect for constitutionally protected free speech and activities.”

She did not elaborate on any potential policy proposals.

Pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol this month included organizers of Proud Boys, an extremist group with ties to white nationalism, as well as other far-right organizations. 

— Joey Garrison

No timeline for national vaccine information portal

The Biden administration doesn’t have a timeline for when the public might be able to access a national website or phone center to get a coronavirus vaccine, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

But she noted that Jeff Zients, who helped get the Obamacare launch back on track in 2013, is coordinating Biden’s COVID-19 response. 

“So we’re in very good hands,” Psaki said, “and they’re certainly committed to getting more information out in a more accessible way.”

Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, said on MSNBC Thursday that the administration will try to build a “national resource” for federal vaccination centers.

Asked about that commitment, Psaki said the administration is eager to provide more public assistance.

 “I know all members of my family are also asking the same question as I’m sure yours are,” she said. “The lack of information and the disinformation … has created a great deal of confusion.”

Nearly six in 10 older Americans don’t know when or where they can get vaccinated, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report released Friday.

— Maureen Groppe and Savannah Behrmann

GOP Sen. Murkowski says she didn’t vote for Trump, won’t join Democratic Party

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she didn’t vote for Trump in the November election and instead wrote in another candidate. 

Murkowski wouldn’t say who she wrote in, only telling reporters with a laugh that her candidate “didn’t win.”

“I wrote someone in. I’ve kind of become fond of looking at individual candidates,” Murkowski said, adding she chose her own candidate because, “I don’t want to accept the lesser of two evils.”

The Alaska Republican, a key swing vote in the Senate, said despite her conflicts with the former president, which drew his wrath and even threats of a primary challenge, she would remain in the Republican Party.

“That’s a dream by some that that will not materialize,” Murkowski said of the notion of her joining the Democratic Party. “I can be very discouraged at times with things that go on in my own caucus, in my own party. I think each member feels that. But I have absolutely no desire to move over to the Democrat side of the aisle.”

She explained her thoughts on this after losing a primary challenge in 2010 and considerations to join the Libertarian Party. She later won her race in a remarkable write-in campaign. 

“I can’t be somebody that I’m not,” Murkowski said. “I said, ‘Thank you, but no, thank you.’ I don’t fly a flag of convenience. And it’s not who I am. It’s not who I am.”

— Christal Hayes

Senate confirms Lloyd Austin, making him the nation’s first Black defense secretary

The Senate on Friday confirmed Lloyd Austin as the nation’s first Black defense secretary, the second nominee of President Joe Biden to be confirmed by the chamber.

Austin is a retired four-star Army general who will be the first Black secretary of defense. He was the first Black general to command an Army division in combat and also the first to oversee an entire theater of operations as the commanding general of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Austin’s confirmation process wasn’t without bumps. Controversy flared over a law barring recently retired military officers from serving as the defense secretary, but top Democrats lined up behind Austin’s nomination, citing the need for Biden to have his national security team in place after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The law requires that troops be retired for seven years before taking the post.

The House passed a waiver from the law for Austin on Thursday afternoon, and the Senate followed suit shortly after. 

– Nicholas Wu and Christal Hayes

Schumer says impeachment article coming to Senate on Monday

The impeachment article charging former President Donald Trump with inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol will be sent to the Senate on Monday, triggering the impeachment trial process, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on the Senate floor Friday morning.

He said he had been in touch with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the timing of the article. The House impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection” on Jan. 13. 

Schumer said it was still unclear how long the trial will last and when it will begin in earnest, issues he is still discussing with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“But make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote whether to convict the president,” Schumer said.

– Nicholas Wu and Christal Hayes

Senate leaders negotiate Trump impeachment trial timing

Senate leaders continued Friday to negotiate the timing of the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, who has hired a lead defense lawyer to represent him.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., proposed Thursday to start the trial in February, after preliminary statements are filed by House prosecutors and Trump’s defense team. He argued the slight delay would offer time for Trump’s legal team to familiarize themselves with the case.

“At this time of strong political passions, Senate Republicans believe it is absolutely imperative that we do not allow a half-baked process to short-circuit the due process that former President Trump deserves or damage the Senate or the presidency,” McConnell said in a statement.

Trump hired prominent South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, who worked for the Justice Department during President George W. Bush’s administration, to represent him. A friend of Bowers, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told his colleagues about the hiring during a conference call Thursday.

“Solid guy,” Graham said, adding that Bowers would act as the lead attorney on a Trump team that is still being put together.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said it received McConnell’s proposal, which aims to start the trial in the Senate chamber Feb. 13.

“We will review it and discuss it with him,” said Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would send the article of impeachment to the Senate “soon.” Schumer, D-N.Y., said there will be a trial, but the timing is uncertain.

The House impeached Trump Jan. 13, charging him with inciting the insurrection at the Capitol a week earlier. The Senate will decide whether to convict him.

But the case raises numerous legal challenges, including whether a former president can be tried after he leaves office. The Senate must also decide whether to call witnesses or hear other evidence.

– Bart Jansen

Biden to sign 2 more executive orders Friday, more Cabinet confirmations possible

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s second day in office was focused heavily on COVID-19. 

Biden stressed science and unity in his first briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday, giving Americans the “brutal truth” about the challenges the nation faces before signing a series of executive orders aimed at combating the pandemic. 

Takeaways from Biden’s COVID-19 executive orders: Experts celebrate plan, warn ‘a lot of work’ is left

On his third day as president, Biden will launch another front in his battle against COVID-19 by taking steps to provide economic relief to Americans still reeling from the effects of the deadly pandemic.

Biden is set to sign two executive orders that will give low-income families easier access to federal nutrition and food assistance programs and start the process for requiring federal contractors to pay their workers a minimum wage of $15 per hour and give them emergency paid leave. 

Also on Thursday, a few of of Biden’s Cabinet picks cleared a few hurdles. 

The House removed a roadblock to the confirmation of Lloyd Austin, Biden’s nominee to be defense secretary, granting Austin a waiver from a law barring recently retired military officers from serving as the defense secretary. 

Additionally, Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s nominee to the lead the Department of Transportation, met a favorable reception and drew praise from both sides of the aisle Thursday during his confirmation hearing. 

More: Buttigieg gets favorable reception in confirmation hearing for transportation secretary role

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/22/politics-live-updates-senate-wrestles-trump-impeachment-trial/6666302002/

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Business

Ford will recall 3 million vehicles for airbag problems, after losing fight with safety regulator

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The move comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday rejected Ford’s argument that this version of the airbags didn’t need to be replaced.

The recall centers on a defect in airbags made by Takata, a now-bankrupt Japanese manufacturer. Another version of the Takata airbag had a defect in the inflator that caused a number of the bags to explode, spraying shrapnel through the vehicle. In addition to the 18 deaths, more than 400 drivers or passengers have been injured, including being blinded or maimed.
Recalls linked to the Takata airbags began in 2014, and, in aggregate, ultimately became the largest auto recall in history. Prior to this week’s announcement, the US portion of the recall had already reached 67 million airbags in more than 40 million vehicles.

Although the Takata airbags used by Ford are a different but similar version from those involved in the previous recalls, safety regulators said they still pose a risk.

The NHTSA in November rejected a similar appeal by General Motors (GM), forcing the automaker to recall 7 million pickups and SUVs. The agency has also rejected an appeal from Mazda, but that covered only 5,800 US pickups that were built for the automaker.

Ford models included in the recall

The models covered by the recall include the 2007 to 2011 Ford Ranger, the 2006 to 2012 Ford Fusion, the 2006 to 2012 Lincoln Zephyr, the 2007 to 2010 Ford Edge and the 2007 to 2010 Lincoln MKX. The Mazda vehicles being recalled are the 2007 to 2009 B-Series pickup trucks.

Owners will be notified if their vehicle is included in the recall, or they can enter the VIN number on this site. Ford will repair the airbags, and vehicle owners will not be charged.

It will cost Ford $610 million to replace the airbags as a result of NHTSA’s decision. Because of Takata’s bankruptcy, Ford is shouldering all costs itself.

“Safety is always a top priority,” said Ford spokesperson Monique Brentley. “Unlike other Takata passenger-side airbag parts previously under recall, these driver-side airbags contain a moisture-absorbing [material] and perform differently. We believe our extensive data demonstrated that a safety recall was not warranted for the driver-side airbag. However, we respect NHTSA’s decision and will issue a recall.”

‘The severity of the consequence’

NHTSA officials, however, said the airbags become more subject to malfunction over time, and that the “severity of the consequences” to passengers and drivers when the inflators rupture was too serious. “What Ford presents here, while valuable and informative in certain respects, suffers from far too many shortcomings,” the agency wrote in its decision.

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World

1,900 COVID vaccine doses ruined at Boston VA hospital after freezer accidentally unplugged

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Nearly 2,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Boston after a contractor accidentally unplugged a freezer, hospital officials announced Thursday. Staff at the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center discovered on Tuesday that a freezer had failed, compromising 1,900 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The plug to the freezer was found to be loose after a contractor accidentally unplugged it while cleaning, according to a statement from Kyle Toto, a spokesman for VA Boston Healthcare System. The freezer had been in a safe location and had an alarm system, he said.

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccines require extremely cold temperatures for storage.  

“For the Moderna vaccine it’s 12 hours. Once it’s been at room temperature for longer than that you no longer can assure that it’s effective and so you can’t give the vaccine,” Dr. Paul Biddinger, the Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness at Mass General Brigham, told CBS Boston.

The system is investigating the cause of the incident and why the monitoring alarm system did not work. More doses are on the way, Toto said, and officials “do not foresee disruption” of the system’s vaccination effort.

Temperature issues have caused problems for vaccine rollouts in other states.

Nearly 12,000 Moderna doses that were being shipped to Michigan on Sunday were spoiled after getting too cold. In Wisconsin, a pharmacist faces charges after authorities say he deliberately ruined hundreds of doses by removing them from refrigeration for two nights.

The Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at regular freezer temperatures, but not the ultra-cold required for Pfizer-BioNTech’s shot.

CBS Boston reports Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch said the doses have been moved to Brockton and West Roxbury while the cleanup operation is still ongoing.

“We simply believe it was an accident,” Lynch told reporters Friday. “Part of the contributing factor was the way these plugs operate. One of them is an offset, so it’s very difficult to pull out. But the one at the top of the freezer was a direct pull so the engineering staff here have corrected that. They’ve created a bracket, they’ve taken pictures of that plug and sent it around to all the other VA hospitals that have this thermo-scientific freezer so that in the event that might happen somewhere else.”

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Science

Upward-shooting ‘blue jet’ lightning spotted from International Space Station

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Scientists on the International Space Station spotted a bright-blue lightning bolt shooting upward from thunderclouds. 

Blue jets can be difficult to spot from the ground, since the electrical discharges erupt from the tops of thunderclouds. But from space, scientists can peer down at this cerulean lightshow from above. On Feb. 26, 2019, instruments aboard the space station captured a blue jet shooting out of a thunderstorm cell near Nauru, a small island in the central Pacific Ocean. The scientists described the event in a new report, published Jan. 20 in the journal Nature. 

The scientists first saw five intense flashes of blue light, each lasting about 10 to 20 milliseconds. The blue jet then fanned out from the cloud in a narrow cone shape that stretched into the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer that extends from about 6 to 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface.

Related: Photos of elves and blue jets: See Earth’s weirdest lightning 

Blue jets seem to appear when the positively-charged upper region of a cloud interacts with the negatively charged boundary between the cloud and the air above, according to the report. The blue jet appears as a result of this “electric breakdown,” where the opposing charges swap places in the cloud and briefly equalize, releasing static electricity. However, the properties of blue jets and the altitude to which they extend above clouds “are not well characterized,” the authors noted, so this study adds to our understanding of the dramatic phenomenon. 

Four of the flashes preceding the blue jet came with a small pulse of ultraviolet light (UV), the scientists noted. They identified these emissions as so-called “elves,” another phenomenon seen in the upper atmosphere. 

“Elves” — an acronym that stands for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources — are light emissions that appear as rapidly expanding rings in the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles that extends from roughly 35 miles to 620 miles (60 to 1,000 km) above the planet surface. Elves occur when radio waves push electrons through the ionosphere, causing them to accelerate and collide with other charged particles, releasing energy as light, the authors wrote.

The team observed the flashes, elves and blue jet using the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), a collection of optical cameras, photometers, X-ray detectors and gamma-ray detectors attached to a module on the space station. 

“This paper is an impressive highlight of the many new phenomena ASIM is observing above thunderstorms,” Astrid Orr, physical sciences coordinator for human and robotic spaceflight with the European Space Agency (ESA), said in a statement. Experts also suspect that upper atmosphere phenomena, like blue jets, may affect the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, since the ozone layer sits within the stratosphere where they occur, according to the ESA statement. 

Originally published on Live Science.

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Technology

Google search on mobile is getting a redesign

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Google is redesigning how search results look on mobile, the company announced in a blog on Friday. “We wanted to take a step back to simplify a bit so people could find what they’re looking for faster and more easily,” Aileen Cheng, who led the redesign, said in the blog.

The redesign will have larger and bolder text that’s intended to be easier to scan quickly, and you’ll see more of Google’s font in results. Search results will also take up more of the width of your screen, thanks in part to reduced shadows. Google also says the redesign will use color “more intentionally” to help highlight important information without being distracting.

To get an idea of how the redesign differs from the current experience, compare this render of the redesign with a screenshot of the current search experience I took from my iPhone 12 mini.

Image: Google

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

It looks like the new design puts more information higher up the page and reduces some visual clutter, which will hopefully make results easier to parse without forcing you to scroll down too far to find what you’re looking for.

Google says the redesign will roll out in the coming days.

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