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Home › 2023 (Page 2)

Year: 2023

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See Skydiving Salamanders Show Off Their Complex Aerial Maneuvers

Wandering salamanders are the flying squirrels of the amphibian world.

Wandering salamanders get to around 4 inches (10 centimeters) long and live high up in redwood trees. 


High up in the canopy of the California redwood forests, the wandering salamander lives, eats and soars. Scientists are marveling at the skydiving amphibians and their ability to effortlessly glide and pull off complex aerial maneuvers.

A study led by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of California at Berkeley investigated Aneides vagrans’ gliding skills using a wind tunnel to capture slow-motion footage of the amphibians in action. The wind tunnel simulated the conditions of falling through the air. The paper appeared in the journal Current Biology on Monday.

“They are able to turn. They are able to flip themselves over if they go upside down. They’re able to maintain that skydiving posture and kind of pump their tail up and down to make horizontal maneuvers,” USF biologist and lead author Christian Brown said in a UC Berkeley statement on Monday. “The level of control is just impressive.”

The research team compared wandering salamanders with other salamanders, including ground-dwelling ones. The ground-dwelling amphibians essentially sucked at the wind tunnel experiment. Brown said they “just kind of hover in the wind tunnel freaking out.” By comparison, A. vagrans was comfortable and dexterous in the air.

The biologists ascend into the trees to study the animals, which is how they first noticed the salamanders’ leaping and gliding abilities. The wandering salamanders seem to be using their flying skills as a way to stay up in the canopy in case of a fall or when they need to jump to avoid predators or to descend a tree. The gliding comes in handy considering the creatures live 150 feet (46 meters) off the ground in towering redwoods.

Another UC Berkeley video shows what the salamanders look like when they jump.

The researchers are fascinated by how the salamanders are pulling off these aerial ballets since the amphibians look the same as other salamanders and don’t have any obvious aerodynamic adaptations that would help them parachute. The team is calling for further study to better understand how subtle physical features might play a role in the skydiving.

The amphibians spend their entire lives in the canopy, and it seems they’ve developed an efficient and safe way to navigate their arboreal habitat. It shows you don’t necessarily need wings or skin flaps to be a great glider.

By July 15, 2023 0
Uncategorized

How to Watch One of 2022’s Biggest Asteroids Zoom Past Earth

A massive asteroid is heading our way, and it’ll make its closest pass by our planet in centuries on May 27.

Called 1989 JA (or sometimes just asteroid 7335), it’s 1.2 miles (1.8 kilometers) in diameter, which helps earn it the classification of a “potentially hazardous” object according to astronomers, even though it poses no real risk to our planet. At that size, it’s about twice the size of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa or the same size as Plum Island in New York.

When the distance between this space rock and us is shortest, at 7:26 a.m. PT Friday morning, it will still be 10 times farther away than the moon.

So there’s clearly no reason for any asteroid anxiety with 1989 JA, but still it’s expected to be the largest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth during 2022, according to NASA’s database of near-earth objects. Because it’s so big, astronomers have already been able to observe it.

The object isn’t quite big enough or close enough to see with the naked eye, but it might be possible to see with a powerful telescope and the help of an app like Stellarium.

As its label indicates, the asteroid was discovered in 1989, and it’s not expected to fly this close to us again between now and the end of the 22nd century.

If you don’t have the equipment or ability to check this monster out for yourself, the Virtual Telescope Project based in Italy will be streaming an online watch party that you can attend via the feed above.

Or if you’re more interested in much smaller space rocks that might actually be possible to see with the naked eye, don’t forget to add Monday’s potential meteor storm to your agenda.

By July 15, 2023 0
Uncategorized

iPhone 14 – All The Rumours and Leaks So Far

Rumours about the next iPhone continue to grow. It seems as though we’ve barely got used to the current one before a new model is being teased.

The iPhone 14 is expected to be the next release in Apple’s 2022 Flagship line. There are rumours buzzing around regarding the design, price, and features, but these should all be handled with caution. Plenty of the iPhone 13 rumours turned out to be false, so we can expect to see similar with the iPhone 14.

We have not seen specific rumours regarding the iPhone 14’s suspected release date. But what we do know is that Apple is hosting WWDC 2022 starting June 6 and it is likely that iOS 16 will be announced, the next major software version for the iPhone. There has been no date announced from Apple for an Autumn event, which is typically when the next iPhone is announced. Generally, the Autumn event in the US is sometime in September, with releases coming shortly after.

The latest buzz points to the iPhone 14 receiving a better front-facing camera, thanks to a potential new lens supplier.

We’ve also heard that the iPhone 14 series may have an under-display Touch ID, a more durable titanium alloy body, a hole-and-pill shaped display, and a bigger camera bump.

A shakeup of the lineup also seems likely as Apple is expected to say goodbye to the Mini.

We may also finally see the rumoured satellite communication connectivity in the iPhone 14 series. Whilst the feature was expected to debut with the iPhone 13 series, it’s been rumoured that Apple has been working on enabling users to make calls and send texts in areas without cellular coverage. This could be a huge gamechanger, and a significant safety feature if true. 

New iPhones always include camera improvements, and the iPhone 14 is no exception. There are rumoured improvements to the Ultra Wide camera, and a possibility that Apple will introduce a periscope zoom lens that allows for much greater optical zoom, but it’s still not yet clear if this will come in 2022 or 2023. 

There are conflicting rumours regarding the iPhone 14’s rear camera bump. Some reports have stated that a redesign for the upcoming phones would remove the chunky camera bump, whilst Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the bump will actually be expanded to accommodate a wider camera with a 48-mega pixel camera system.

Starting in 2022, high-end iPhone models are likely to adopt a vapour chamber thermal system, which Apple is rumoured to be “aggressively testing.” The VC thermal system will be required for the high-end iPhones due to their stronger computing power and faster 5G connection speeds. There are already smartphones from companies like Samsung, Razer, and LG that use vapour chamber cooling technology, which is used to keep a device cooler when it is under heavy stress.

There have been rumours that Apple is aiming to remove the Lightning port from the iPhone for a portless design with charging done over MagSafe, but it’s not clear if that technology will be introduced with the 2022 iPhone models.

Apple is working on a car crash detection feature for the iPhone and the Apple Watch, which could come out in 2022. It would use sensors like the accelerometer to detect car accidents when they occur by measuring a spike in gravitational force. When a car crash is detected, the iPhone or the Apple Watch would automatically dial emergency services to get help. Since it’s planned for 2022, this could be a feature designed for the iPhone 14 models and the Apple Watch Series 8, though it’s not likely to be limited to those devices. It would be an expansion of the Fall Detection feature that’s in existing Apple Watch and iPhone models.

The iPhone 14 is expected to feature WiFi 6E connectivity, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that WiFi 6E will offer the high-speed wireless transmissions necessary for AR and VR experiences, and it is also expected to be used in the mixed reality headset that could come out in 2022.

The iPhone 14 models may launch without a physical SIM slot, with Apple transitioning to an eSIM-only design. Apple is allegedly advising major U.S. carriers to prepare for the launch of eSIM-only smartphones by 2022, which suggests some iPhone 14 models may be the first to come without a SIM slot.

As always, new rumours and leaks are being reported every day, but all should be handled with a grain of salt until legitimate verification can be acquired.

By July 15, 2023 0
Uncategorized

Google Urged to Stop Tracking Location Data Ahead of Roe Reversal

Lawmakers argue Android phone data could be “weaponized against women” if the US Supreme Court officially overturns abortion protections.

MORE THAN 40 Democratic members of Congress called on Google to stop collecting and retaining customer location data that prosecutors could use to identify women who obtain abortions.

“We are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google’s current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care. That’s because Google stores historical location information about hundreds of millions of smartphone users, which it routinely shares with government agencies,” Democrats wrote May 24 in a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). The letter was sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Specifically, Google should stop collecting “unnecessary customer location data” or “any non-aggregate location data about individual customers, whether in identifiable or anonymized form. Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women,” lawmakers wrote. They also told Google that people who use iPhones “have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices.”

The draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade could be followed by strict limits or bans on abortion in many states, and Democrats wrote that “Republicans in Congress are already discussing passing a law criminalizing abortion in all 50 states, putting the government in control of women’s bodies.” 

Location Data From Android Phones

In their letter, Democrats told Pichai:

While Google deserves credit for being one of the first companies in America to insist on a warrant before disclosing location data to law enforcement, that is not enough. If abortion is made illegal by the far-right Supreme Court and Republican lawmakers, it is inevitable that right-wing prosecutors will obtain legal warrants to hunt down, prosecute, and jail women for obtaining critical reproductive health care. The only way to protect your customers’ location data from such outrageous government surveillance is to not keep it in the first place.

Google obtains detailed information “from Android smartphones, which collect and transmit location information to Google, regardless of whether the phone is being used or which app a user has open,” they wrote. While Android users have to opt into this data collection, “Google has designed its Android operating system so that consumers can only enable third party apps to access location data if they also allow Google to receive their location data too. In contrast, Google is only able to collect location data from users of iPhones when they are using the Google Maps app,” the lawmakers wrote.

We contacted Google about the letter yesterday and will update this article if we get a response.

Exactly how Google’s location privacy settings work has been a matter of confusion, even for some Google employees. As we wrote in August 2020, documents from a consumer fraud suit the state of Arizona filed against Google “show that company employees knew and discussed among themselves that the company’s location privacy settings were confusing and potentially misleading.”

Democrats Say iPhone Users Have More Privacy

Because many of the cheaper smartphones use Android, the lawmakers warned of a “digital divide” affecting the privacy of people with low incomes:

No law requires Google to collect and keep records of its customers’ every movement. Apple has shown that it is not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers’ locations. Google’s intentional choice to do so is creating a new digital divide, in which privacy and security are made a luxury. Americans who can afford an iPhone have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices.

While Google uses location data to target online ads, the company often turns over the data to law enforcement officials who obtain court orders, the Democrats wrote. “This includes dragnet ‘geofence’ orders demanding data about everyone who was near a particular location at a given time,” they wrote, adding that “Google received 11,554 geofence warrants in 2020.”

iPhones also use location services, though the lawmakers seem to be satisfied with Apple’s privacy promises. Among other things, Apple says that if location services are turned on, geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers are sent “in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple” to augment a “crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations.”

With the Find My feature that can locate lost devices, Apple says it “retains location information and makes it accessible to you for 24 hours, after which it is deleted” and that “device location services information is stored on each individual device and Apple cannot retrieve this information from any specific device.”

Post-Roe State Abortion Laws

Assuming the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, there could be more state laws like the recently enacted Texas Heartbeat Act that bans abortions after it’s possible to detect a “fetal heartbeat.” The law defines that as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.” This effectively bans abortions after six weeks, and the state law lets private citizens file lawsuits to obtain injunctions and damages of at least $10,000 per abortion.

These lawsuits could be filed against anyone who “performs or induces an abortion” that violates the Texas Heartbeat Act or anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets” an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Aiding or abetting includes “paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise, if the abortion is performed or induced in violation of this subchapter.” Civil suits can also be filed against anyone who “intends to engage in the conduct” described in the law.

The Texas law doesn’t allow the exact scenario Democrats warned of in their letter, that prosecutors could jail women who obtain abortions. But states would have more leeway to enact stricter anti-abortion laws or bans after lifting Roe v. Wade.

The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, says that “26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion without Roe.” Many of these states have laws that were enacted before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and never removed, laws that were enacted after Roe but currently blocked by court order, or “trigger” bans that would “take effect automatically or by quick state action if Roe no longer applies.”

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

By July 15, 2023 0
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