Wikipedia’s “Timeline of the Far Future” is one of my favorite webpages from the internet’s pre-slop era. A Londoner named Nick Webb created it on the morning of December 22, 2010. “Certain events in the future of the universe can be predicted with a comfortable level of accuracy,” he wrote Read more…
800,000 tons of rock have been excavated from a South Dakota research facility — part of a multi-year process “to help answer some of physics’ biggest questions,” writes America’s Energy Department. “The caverns they excavated will hold a massive particle detector and accompanying equipment.” Along with partners from more than Read more…
In the initial sales pitch to Hezbollah two years ago, the new line of Apollo pagers seemed precisely suited to the needs of a militia group with a sprawling network of fighters and a hard-earned reputation for paranoia… Best of all, there was no risk that the pagers could ever Read more…
China Telecom, one of the largest wireless carriers in mainland China, says that it has developed two large language models (LLMs) relying solely on domestically manufactured AI chips. If the information is accurate, this is a crucial milestone in China’s attempt at becoming independent of other countries for its semiconductor Read more…
Private equity firms are using US public sector workers’ retirement savings to fund fossil fuel projects pumping more than a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere every year, according to an analysis. They have ploughed more than $1tn into the energy sector since 2010, often buying into Read more…
Switzerland and Italy have redrawn part of their border in the Alps due to melting glaciers, caused by climate change. Part of the area affected will be beneath the Matterhorn, one of Europe’s tallest mountains, and close to a number of popular ski resorts. Large sections of the Swiss-Italian border Read more…
In recent years — as longstanding efforts to recycle plastics have faltered — Exxon Mobil has touted advanced recycling as a groundbreaking technology that will turn the tide on the plastic crisis. But despite its seemingly eco-friendly name, the attorney general’s lawsuit denounced advanced recycling as a “public relations stunt” Read more…