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☆ Chinese scientists want to use lasers to power ultrafast, stealthy submarines. A laser expert says there's a major flaw in their plan.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Chinese researchers say they have made a breakthrough in laser propulsion technology that could one day be used on submarines and missiles. A laser propulsion expert at McGill University told Business Insider they see flaws in the claims. Rather than relying on nuclear or battery power, the scientists say they have found a way to use lasers to propel submarines — known as underwater laser propulsion. This technology has already been used in Russian Shkval torpedoes since the 1970s, using rocket exhaust rather than laser power. "The average overall thrust is low and the jet power cannot exceed the power supply of the laser."

Persons: —, Yang Ge, Xulong Yang, Ge Yang, Andrew Higgins, Higgins Organizations: McGill University, Business, Service, Submarines, China's Harbin University, China Morning Post, NASA, Harbin University, China Defense Locations: China, Sinica, torpedos

NTSB crews used the ship’s voyage data recorder, or VDR, to piece together a rough timeline of events leading up to the collision. But it will take months for them to gather the piles of physical evidence, maintenance records, ship data and witness interviews required to deliver a full report, Homendy said. • 01:24:59 a.m.: Numerous audible alarms were recorded on the ship’s bridge audio. • 01:26:39 a.m.: The ship’s pilot made a general very high frequency (VHF) radio call for tugboats in the vicinity to assist the vessel. • Around 01:27:04 a.m.: The pilot ordered that the ship’s port anchor be dropped and issued additional steering commands.

Persons: Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key, Jennifer Homendy, Marcel Muise, Investigators, Homendy, “, who’ve, ” Homendy, James Wallace, Peter Gautier, Divers, Roland L, Butler Jr, Pete Buttigieg, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Butler, ”, Miguel Luna, Maynor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, CNN’s Tori B, Powell, Sarah Engel, Elise Hammond, Curt Devine, Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman, Daniel Medina, Sahar Akbarzai, Melissa Alonso, Hande Atay Alam, Lucas Lilieholm Organizations: CNN, Transportation, NTSB, Port, Fort McHenry, Maryland Transportation Authority, •, US Coast Guard, Maritime, Port Authority, Baltimore City Fire, Coast Guard, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Locations: Seagirt, Port of Boston, Maryland, Singapore, Baltimore, Patapsco, Mexico, Guatemala, Camotán, Mexican

☆ Opinion: In Gaza, my 71-year-old mom watches over the rubble encasing her family
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Opinion Hani Almadhoun | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Writer Hani Almadhoun with his family in Gaza, during a visit over summer. They mourn the departed, yet there have been so many loved ones lost, leaving very little time to properly grieve. This news struck me deeply – I’m grappling with a crisis of faith witnessing a genocide unfold, while my mother living under bombs and burying her loved ones still clings to her spirituality. I wondered: who will step into the shoes of those gifted doctors, caring nurses and compassionate medical staff lost in Gaza? Hani AlmadhounThese are irreplaceable individuals, not merely statistics or collateral damage but people cherished deeply by their loved ones.

Persons: Hani Almadhoun, Read, CNN —, Majed, Safaa, Ali, Omar, Lucky, Hani, Mom, won’t, Joe Biden, Hani Almadhoun's Organizations: United Nations Relief, Works Agency, CNN Locations: Gaza, Greece, Siwar, breadlines

☆ Archaeologists unearth oldest known wooden structure in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest known wooden structure, and it’s almost half a million years old. The wooden structure has no real parallel in the archaeological record, according to the study. The wooden structure was found at an archaeological site upstream of Kalambo Falls in Zambia. Researchers aren’t certain which species of ancient human made the structure and wooden tools, but it is highly unlikely to have been our own. Larry Barham (right), professor of archaeology at the University of Liverpool, carefully uncovers the wooden structure on the riverbank with a fine spray.

Persons: ”, “ It’s, Geoff, Ya’aqov, It’s, Larry Barham, Annemieke, Milks, wasn’t Organizations: CNN —, University of Aberystwyth, Aberystwyth University, Lincoln, University of Liverpool, University of Reading Locations: Zambia —, United Kingdom, Kalambo, Zambia’s, Tanzania, Kalambo Falls, Zambia, Israel, Europe, what’s

They are buoyed by experts who say the arsenic risk is overblown, the mounts nothing short of art. The Endangered Species Act protects animals even in death, so the collection can’t be sold. But by the time he died in 1978, international laws and the Endangered Species Act were cracking down. In August, the results came back: 79% of specimens tested positive for detectable levels of arsenic, the city said. With protective gear, taxidermy can be moved safely despite arsenic, said Jennifer Menken, the public collections manager at the Bell Museum of Natural History.

Persons: “, ”, John Janelli, Fran Ritchie, Gretchen Anderson, Dave Pfeifle, Henry Brockhouse, ’, Becky Dewitz, Jennifer Menken, Paul, encasing, Christina Meister, Dewitz, she's, Paul TenHaken, Barbara Philips, Jason Haack, Abby Normal’s, ” Haack Organizations: Sioux Falls City Council, National Taxidermists Association, Society for, Carnegie Museum of, Sioux Falls, West Sioux Hardware, Plains, The Associated Press, Bell Museum of, University of Minnesota’s, National Wildlife, U.S . Fish, Wildlife Service, City, Abby Normal’s Museum, City Council Locations: South, Sioux Falls, Pittsburgh, China, University of Minnesota’s St, Denver, U.S

☆ 'Death cap' mushroom poisoning: Australian at center of case says she bought mushrooms from grocer and supermarket
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Among the four relatives who came for lunch, three of them died with symptoms of “death cap” mushroom poisoning, police said during a press briefing last week. But Patterson claims she bought dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne months ago and button mushrooms from a supermarket chain more recently. In a tearful exchange with local media outside her home last week, Patterson previously denied any wrongdoing. However according to ABC’s reporting Patterson’s statement said the children were away at the movies. The following evening she served leftovers but scraped the mushrooms off for the children because they do not like them.

Persons: Erin Patterson, Patterson, Don, Gail Patterson, Gail’s, Heather Wilkinson, Ian Wilkinson, Victoria Police’s, “, ” Patterson, Heather Organizations: CNN, ABC, Victoria Police, Salvation Army Australia Museum, Facebook, The, Police Locations: Australia, Leongatha, Melbourne, wellington, Beef wellington

☆ Saudi Arabia is exploring plans to raise $2.7 billion for its futuristic mega-city in an effort to complete most of the construction by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Saudi Arabia is seeking a $2.7 billion loan from local lenders for its Neom project, per Bloomberg. Saudi Arabia's mega-city project is reportedly seeking to raise a 10 billion riyal, or $2.7 billion, loan to help fuel the development of the kingdom's futuristic city in the desert. The Neom development is expected to include two huge buildings as part of a project known as The Line. Plans for the Neom development were unveiled in 2017 but progress has been slow. The Crown Prince told Bloomberg in 2018 that the city would be completed in 2025.

Persons: Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prince Mohammed bin Salman's, Prince, Neom Organizations: Bloomberg, Street Journal Locations: Saudi Arabia, Saudi, West

☆ The Vietnamese American Artists Searching for Identity
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Joshua Glass | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

An-My Lê can barely recall the Hawaiian shirt that the blond American wore when he put her into a black cargo van. When dawn broke, she took one last glance at the landscape through the windows of the American C-130 aircraft as it disappeared into the clouds. Complicated emotions of uncertainty and anger, guilt and abandonment all intersect for artists from Lê’s generation; those who are not fully Vietnamese in Vietnam nor American in America. Shrouded in war, these Vietnam-born American artists use their memories not so much as a political protest as an emotional inquiry, through the generational traumas that have plagued their families since the day they left home. And only now are Western institutions finally giving these displaced artists room to engage with these traumas.

Persons: Nam, Lê Organizations: Communist, Western Bloc, Air Base Locations: Saigon, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Việt Nam, United States, Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam, America

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