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☆ Artificial Intelligence Gives Weather Forecasters a New Edge
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

Artificial Intelligence Gives Weather Forecasters a New Edge The brainy machines are predicting global weather patterns with new speed and precision, doing in minutes and seconds what once took hours. GraphCast GraphCast Miss. specialist at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the agency that got upstaged on its Beryl forecast. Even so, reliable weather forecasts turn out to be extraordinarily hard to achieve. As a result, weather forecasts can fail after a few days, and sometimes after a few hours.

Persons: Hurricane Beryl, GraphCast, Beryl MEXICO, Hurricane Beryl Miss ., William B, Davis, ”, Matthew Chantry, Christopher S, Amy McGovern, Dr, McGovern, “, Brandon Bell, Maria Molina, Bretherton, Sir Richard Friend, Rémi Lam, GraphCast’s, Lam, . Lam, Beryl, Hurricane Lee, DeepMind’s GraphCast, . Chantry, Chantry, Paul G, Allen, ‘, we’ve, Molina, Jamie Rhome, Rhome, Mr, There’s Organizations: A.I, Beryl MEXICO CUBA European, JAMAICA European, Beryl MEXICO CUBA JAMAICA Hurricane, National Hurricane Center, Hurricane, NOAA, European Press Agency, Google, European Center, University of Washington, University of Oklahoma, University of Maryland, Royal Academy of Engineering, Cambridge University, Getty, Nvidia, Huawei, Fudan University, Allen Institute for A.I, Microsoft Locations: Va . Ky, N.C, Okla, ., Ala . Texas, Texas, Fla, Va, Kan, Mo, Ky, Beryl MEXICO CUBA, VENEZUELA COLOMBIA, Tenn, Okla ., Beryl MEXICO CUBA JAMAICA, Caribbean, Mexico, Houston, London, DeepMind, Land , Texas, A.I, Freeport , Texas, England, Canada, Nova Scotia, China, Corpus Christi , Texas, Miami

☆ Trump Advisers Call for U.S. Nuclear Weapons Testing if He Is Elected
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Allies of Donald J. Trump are proposing that the United States restart the testing of nuclear weapons in underground detonations should the former president be re-elected in November. A number of nuclear experts reject such a resumption as unnecessary and say it would threaten to end a testing moratorium that the world’s major atomic powers have honored for decades. In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Robert C. O’Brien, a former national security adviser to Mr. Trump, urges him to conduct nuclear tests if he wins a new term. The United States instead turned to experts and machines at the nation’s weapons labs to verify the lethality of the country’s arsenal. Today the machines include room-size supercomputers, the world’s most powerful X-ray machine and a system of lasers the size of a sports stadium.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Robert C, “, O’Brien Organizations: Foreign Affairs, Russian, Republican Locations: United States, Washington

☆ Titan Disaster Forces Global Rethinking of Deep Sea Exploration
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When five men died on June 18, 2023, in the implosion of the Titan submersible during a dive to the Titanic’s resting place, the knowledge of Paul-Henri Nargeolet was lost too. It was Nargeolet’s 38th dive to the sunken liner. Known as Mr. Titanic, he helped retrieve thousands of artifacts that have been displayed in museums and at events around the world. Jessica Sanders, president of RMS Titanic which is organizing the expedition, said, “there’s an art to artifact recovery and a human element that technology can never replace — and shouldn’t.” She said Mr. Nargeolet had embodied that kind of expertise. The robots are seen as safer.

Persons: Paul, Henri Nargeolet, Jessica Sanders, “, ”, Nargeolet Organizations: Titan

☆ Frightening Log From Titan Submersible’s Fatal Dive Declared a Fake
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-10 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last year, a purported transcript of communications between the Titan submersible and its mother ship circulated widely on the internet. But the head of the U.S. federal government team investigating the disaster said that the entire transcript is a fiction. Two miles down, where seawater exerts vast pressures, an implosion would have made the violent collapse of the vehicle’s hull instantaneous. Despite the log’s air of authenticity, the federal team saw through the pretense for a variety of reasons. Significantly, Mr. Neubauer’s team gained access to the records of the actual communications between the submersible and its mother ship, which remain an undisclosed part of the federal investigation.

Persons: ”, Jason D, Neubauer, Neubauer’s Organizations: Titan, U.S, U.S . Coast Guard, Marine Board of Investigation

☆ Unconventional Sex Let Anglerfish Conquer the Deep Ocean
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

How did the ghoulish creatures known as anglerfish pull off the evolutionary feat that let them essentially take over the ocean’s sunless depths? It took peculiar sex — extremely peculiar sex. Scientists at Yale University have discovered that a burst of anglerfish diversification began some 50 million years ago as the ancestral line developed a bizarre strategy to ensure successful reproduction in the dark wilderness. To mate, tiny males would clamp with sharp teeth onto the bellies of much larger females. Some males would let go after mating while others would permanently fuse into the females.

Persons: anglerfishes, ” Chase Organizations: Yale University, Yale

But the rattling shook buildings in New York City and drove startled residents into the streets. Image The command room of New York City Emergency Management. Today’s earthquake Magnitude 4.8 Conn. Pa. 1964 4.5 1994 4.6 250-mile radius from New York City Md. 250-mile radius from New York City Del. While earthquakes in New York City are surprises to most, seismologists say the ground is not as stable as New Yorkers might believe.

Persons: “, Kathy Hochul, ” Gov, Philip D, Murphy, Con Edison, Eric Adams, ”, Adams, Zach Iscol, Dave Sanders, Ron Hamburger, Valorie Brennan, Ada Carrasco, The New York Times “ I’ve, Kristina Feeley, Feeley, Folarin, “ There’s, Kolawole, Lazaro Gamio, Riyad H, Mansour, Janti, Hamburger, Michael Kemper, Clara Dossetter, David Dossetter, Dossetter, ’ ”, Lola Fadulu, Gaya Gupta, Hurubie Meko, Michael Wilson, William J . Broad, Kenneth Chang, Emma Fitzsimmons, Sarah Maslin Nir, Erin Nolan, Mihir Zaveri, Maria Cramer, Grace Ashford, Camille Baker, Liset Cruz, Michael Paulson, Patrick McGeehan, Troy Closson Organizations: ”, United States Geological Survey, Police Department, Fire Department, Con, Gracie Mansion, The New York Times, Whitehouse, New York City Emergency Management, Credit, Lamont, Columbia University, Maine CANADA, New York City Del, Lincoln Center, New York Philharmonic, United Nations, Children U.S, Security, New York Police, United Airlines, Newark Liberty International Airport Locations: Newark, New Jersey, Manhattan, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, New York, Rockland County, Murphy of New Jersey, Whitehouse, N.J, California, Japan, Zach Iscol , New York, New, Northridge, Los Angeles, Califon, Marble, Ramapo, New York , New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Palisades, N.Y, N.H, Pa, New York City Md, Del, Va, Maine, R.I, Md, Palestinian, Gaza, East Coast, “, York, San Francisco, Gaya

☆ When Eyes in the Sky Start Looking Right at You
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For decades, privacy experts have been wary of snooping from space. Now, quite suddenly, analysts say, a startup is building a new class of satellite whose cameras would, for the first time, do just that. “We’re acutely aware of the privacy implications,” Topher Haddad, head of Albedo Space, the company making the new satellites, said in an interview. Albedo, Mr. Haddad added, was nonetheless taking administrative steps to address a wide range of privacy concerns. But what makes the overhead surveillance potentially scary, experts say, is its ability to invade areas once seen as intrinsically off limits.

Persons: “, ” Topher Haddad, Haddad

A riddle haunts the Titan disaster. It’s the presence on the doomed craft of Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77. The Frenchman was one of the world’s great submariners. So why was he, of all people, diving repeatedly to the Titanic on a submersible that many experts saw as a catastrophe waiting to happen? “It’s a source of great puzzlement,” said Victor L. Vescovo, a sea explorer who hired Mr. Nargeolet to oversee a series of unusually deep dives.

Persons: Paul, Henri Nargeolet, Frenchman, ”, Victor L, Nargeolet, Alfred S, McLaren, ” Dr, Navy submariner, “ Organizations: Explorers Club, Harvard Club of New, Mr Locations: Harvard Club of New York City, Navy

☆ U.S. Seeks to Block Recovery of Titanic Artifacts
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( William J. Broad | More About William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Until then, Congress declared, “no person should physically alter, disturb, or salvage the R.M.S. Now, the federal government is taking legal action to assert control over who can recover artifacts from the storied liner and, potentially, to block an expedition planned for next year. The move comes as the Titan submersible disaster of June 18 raised questions about who controls access to the ship’s remains, which lie more than two miles down on the North Atlantic seabed. The Virginia court specializes in cases of shipwreck recovery and in 1994 granted exclusive salvage rights to RMS Titanic, Inc., which is based in Atlanta, Ga. The company has retrieved many artifacts from the ship and set up a number of public exhibitions.

Persons: “, American salvors Organizations: Congress Locations: Washington, American, Norfolk, Va, Virginia, Atlanta ,

Vertical thrusters Horizontal thruster Viewport Horizontal thruster Vertical thrusters Horizontal thruster Viewport Horizontal thruster Titanium hemisphere Carbon fiber cylinder Titanium hemisphere Titanium hemisphere Carbon fiber cylinder Titanium hemisphereTitan had several cost-saving departures from proven submersible designs. And Titan’s carbon fiber cylinder was attached to titanium hemispheres, creating several joints of dissimilar materials that are challenging to bond properly. Titan Hull The pressure applied to a pill shape is distributed disproportionately and may cause collapse similar to a soda can being crushed. Titan The Polar Prince towed the Titan submersible through a harbor in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in May. Dolores Harvey/Alamy Alvin Alvin is brought out to sea aboard a scientific ship like Atlantis, shown here lifting Alvin over the water.

Persons: Hull, Alvin Hull, OceanGate, Oisin Fanning Alvin, Alvin, Tim Foecke, ”, Foecke, Rush, Arnie Weissmann, Dolores Harvey, Alvin Alvin, Andrew Von Kerens, submersibles, Alfred S, McLaren, Navy submariner, Kedar Kirane, Mr, Kirane Organizations: Titan, The New York Times, Oceangate, Oceanographic, Alvin, Stockton Rush, Travel, Explorers Club of New Locations: St, John’s, Newfoundland, Navy, Explorers Club of New York City

☆ New Map Shows Titan Submersible Debris’s Proximity to Titanic Wreck
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( William J. Broad | More About William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The company that possesses the exclusive salvage rights to the Titanic shipwreck and the ship’s artifacts filed in federal court on Saturday a map of the surrounding seabed that shows where searchers found the twisted remains of the Titan submersible. The map, a mosaic of sonar images that were annotated by experts at the company, RMS Titanic Inc., helps indicate how close the craft was to its intended destination when disaster struck. The vehicle very likely imploded on the morning of Sunday, June 18, killing all five crew members. RMS Titanic’s director of underwater research was on the last dive of the tourist submersible as a guest of Titan’s owner, OceanGate. The seabed map, attached to a legal filing as an exhibit, shows the ghostly outline of Titanic’s bow section.

Organizations: Titan, Titanic Inc

☆ The Terror of Threes in the Heavens and on Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But they also cite a number of three-body lessons from nature — starting with Newton’s — that illuminate the issue and suggest possible ways forward. “We have a conceptual problem,” said Ernest J. Moniz, a physicist who as the secretary of energy in the Obama administration oversaw the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “Anything that helps in understanding that is great.”Security-minded hawks want to expand the American arsenal in response to China’s nuclear rise and the threat of Beijing’s closing ranks with Moscow. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, argued that the American response should focus less on the quantity of the nation’s nuclear arms than on their quality. To deter attacks successfully, he said in a speech, the American military has no need for arms that “outnumber the combined total of our competitors.”

Persons: Newton’s, Newton, “, ”, Ernest J, Moniz, Obama, “ We’ve, Biden, Jake Sullivan Organizations: U.S, National Science Foundation, ” Locations: ” France, Moscow, Washington

☆ The director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron points to flaws in the Titan submersible’s design.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We’ve never had an accident like this,” James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” said on Thursday. Mr. Cameron, an expert in submersibles, has dived dozens of times to the ship’s deteriorating hulk and once plunged in a tiny craft of his own design to the bottom of the planet’s deepest recess. In an interview, Mr. Cameron called the presumed loss of five lives aboard the Titan submersible from the company OceanGate like nothing anyone involved in private ocean exploration had ever seen. An implosion in the deep sea happens when the crushing pressures of the abyss cause a hollow object to collapse violently inward. If the object is big enough to hold five people, Mr. Cameron said in an interview, “it’s going to be an extremely violent event — like 10 cases of dynamite going off.”

Persons: “ We’ve, ” James Cameron, Oscar, ”, Cameron, “ There’ve, “ it’s Organizations: Titan

☆ Three decades ago, a reporter took a plunge into wonder, and danger.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

We fell for an hour, the views out of our observation ports fading slowly to pitch darkness. It was my first submersible dive, in 1993. Now it was the expedition’s last dive after days of frustration caused by bad weather and struggles to find what the scientists were hunting for. My experience also illuminates the risks that the passengers of the Titan submersible ran when they decided to dive on the resting place of the Titanic. But so far they had struck out because of poor weather and equipment difficulties.

Persons: Alvin, John R, Delaney Organizations: Oceanographic, Titan, University of Washington Locations: Oregon, Alvin, Massachusetts

☆ U.S. Wires Ukraine With Radiation Sensors to Detect Nuclear Blasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United States is wiring Ukraine with sensors that can detect‌‌ bursts of radiation from a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb and can confirm the identity of the attacker. In part, the goal is to make sure that if Russia detonates a radioactive weapon on Ukrainian soil, its atomic signature and Moscow’s culpability could be verified. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, experts have worried about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would use nuclear arms in combat for the first time since the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The preparations, mentioned last month in a House hearing and detailed Wednesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a federal agency that is part of the Energy Department, seem to constitute the hardest evidence to date that Washington is taking concrete steps to prepare for the worst possible outcomes of the invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s second largest nation. The Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, a shadowy unit of atomic experts run by the security agency, is working with Ukraine to deploy the radiation sensors, train personnel, monitor data and warn of deadly radiation.

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