2021 was actually cooler than 2020, points out Wired science journalist Matt Simon. So is that good news? No. One reason for cooler temperatures in 2021 was likely La Niña, a band of cold water in the Pacific. It’s the product of strong trade winds that scour the ocean, pushing Read more…
Germany’s federal cybersecurity watchdog, the BSI, did not find any evidence of censorship functions in mobile phones manufactured by China’s Xiaomi, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Lithuania’s state cybersecurity body had said in September that Xiaomi phones had a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as “Free Tibet,” Read more…
With the right military equipment, a single person can target a plane from three miles away using a heat-seeking missile. While such a nightmare is a rare occurrence, FedEx has applied to the FAA seeking approval to install a laser-based, anti-missile defense system on its cargo planes as an added Read more…
While a recent study found that cannabinoids protected cells in a petri dish from SARS-CoV-2 infection, “working in a petri dish is a relatively low bar for a drug to clear,” Slate points out. “The conventional wisdom in pharmaceutical sciences holds that, of every 10,000 drugs that shows potential effectiveness, Read more…
For years, the student loan servicing company Navient allegedly encouraged student loan borrowers to enter costly long-term forbearance programs that pushed them further into debt, as well as take on private loans they couldn’t pay back, according to lawsuits filed by several states, and joined by 39 attorneys general. Those Read more…
As colleges around China approach their final few weeks before the winter break, frequent users of Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese version) may have noticed a new type of post in their feeds: students asking for likes and followers to pass their final exams. Xu Maomao, for example, posted a video hash-tagged Read more…
More than 1 million fewer students are enrolled in college now than before the pandemic began. NPR reports: According to new data released Thursday, U.S. colleges and universities saw a drop of nearly 500,000 undergraduate students in the fall of 2021, continuing a historic decline that began the previous fall. Read more…