Experts Baffled by Why NASA’s “Red Crew” Wear Blue Shirts

Red Crew, Blue Crew

Had it not been for the heroics of three members of NASA's specialized "Red Crew," NASA's absolutely massive — and incredibly expensive — Space Launch System (SLS) likely wouldn't have made it off the ground this week.

During the launch, the painfully delayed Mega Moon Rocket sprang a hydrogen leak. The Red Crew ventured into the dangerous, half-loaded launch zone to fix it live. Incredible work indeed, although in spite of their heroics, keen-eyed observers did notice something strange about the so-called Red Crew: they, uh, don't wear red?

"How is it we spent $20B+ on this rocket," tweeted Chris Combs, a professor at the University of Texas San Antonio, "but we couldn't manage to get some RED SHIRTS for the Red Team."

Alas, the rumor is true. Red shirts seemed to be out of the budget this year — perhaps due to the ungodly amount of money spent on the rocket that these guys could have died while fixing — with the Red Crew-mates donning dark blue shirts instead. Per the NYT, they also drove white cars, which feels like an additional miss.

A leftover from last night that’s still bothering me:

how is it we spent $20B+ on this rocket but we couldn’t manage to get some RED SHIRTS for the Red Team pic.twitter.com/FO10Y6mg3H

— Chris Combs (@DrChrisCombs) November 16, 2022

Packing Nuts

For their part, the Red Crew didn't seem to care all that much, at least not in the moment. They were very much focused on needing to "torque" the "packing nuts," as they reportedly said during a post-launch interview on NASA TV. In other words, they were busy with your casual rocket science. And adrenaline, because, uh, risk of death.

"All I can say is we were very excited," Red Crew member Trent Annis told NASA TV, according to the NYT. "I was ready to get up there and go."

"We were very focused on what was happening up there," he added. "It's creaking, it's making venting noises, it's pretty scary."

In any case, shoutout to the Red Crew. The Artemis I liftoff is historic, and wouldn't have happened if they hadn't risked it all. They deserve a bonus, and at the very least? Some fresh new shirts.

READ MORE: When NASA'S moon rocket sprang a fuel leak, the launch team called in the 'red crew.' [The New York Times]

More on the Artemis I launch: Giant Nasa Rocket Blasts off Toward the Moon

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Experts Baffled by Why NASA’s “Red Crew” Wear Blue Shirts

Twitter Claims Video of Moon Rocket Launch Is Revenge Porn

A spaceflight photographer took to Twitter to post a mesmerizing video of the Artemis I launch, only to find himself the victim of an AI error.

Nice Rocket

Revenge porn is a horrible thing, and Twitter should definitely continue to ban anyone who attempts to post it on the app. That being said, a video of a rocket taking off — an actual rocket, you pervs — does not revenge porn make, and shouldn't be flagged as such.

It seems like a silly thing to have to say, but such is the exact situation that spaceflight photographer John Kraus found himself in earlier this week. Kraus, who was on site to photograph the historic Artemis I launch, took to Twitter to post a mesmerizing video of the liftoff — only to find himself kicked off of the app shortly thereafter, due to the fact that his post, for whatever inexplicable reason, had been marked as revenge porn.

"I’d like to acknowledge that our good friend and rocket photography extraordinaire, [John Kraus], has been completely locked out of twitter since yesterday, for an arbitrary and silly reason, the day of the biggest launch of his career," read an angry tweet from the Tim "Everyday Astronaut" Dodd. "Worst possible timing."

I’d like to acknowledge that our good friend and rocket photography extraordinaire @johnkrausphotos has been completely locked out of twitter since yesterday, for an arbitrary and silly reason, the day of the biggest launch of his career. Worst possible timing ???? pic.twitter.com/USNUajwPJ4

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) November 17, 2022

Let Freedom Ring

Twitter finally let Kraus back online today. But for a rocket photographer, getting kicked off of Twitter on the day of the Artemis I launch really is a nightmare scenario.

"Almost two days later, I'm back. Twitter just acknowledged that they falsely locked my account instantly after I posted a benign video/caption of the Artemis I launch," he tweeted upon his return. "This was an unfortunate error after one of the biggest launches of my career."

While there was some speculation that new Twitter owner Elon Musk — who fired waves of employees, then effectively forced a mass exodus of quitters, and has reportedly been begging employees to come back so the ship that is Twitter doesn't fully sink beneath the digital waves — was to blame for Kraus' unfortunately-timed ban, given the chaos that's ensued on the tech side since Musk's takeover. Kraus, however, denied that Musk had anything to do with it.

"Anyone speculating it had to do with [Elon Musk] / new Twitter policy / not wanting NASA content instead of SpaceX, or that it was an ITAR violation — you are WRONG," he clarified. "It was falsely auto-flagged by software/AI."

So, maybe not Musk's fault, but a screwup that now falls directly on his presumably still-full plate. Anyway. We're glad that Kraus is free. And, for the record, here's the video that led to the whole debacle:

For reference, this was the original, exact tweet that got my account falsely locked for almost two days. It is now visible. Enjoy! https://t.co/Rpnaqfw6yX

— John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos) November 18, 2022

More on Artemis I: Experts Baffled by Why Nasa's "Red Crew" Wear Blue Shirts

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Twitter Claims Video of Moon Rocket Launch Is Revenge Porn

"Elon" Plummets in Popularity as a Baby Name for Some Reason

According to BabyCenter's

Big Baby

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's name has clearly lost its luster among the parents of newborns.

According to BabyCenter's review of the data the name "Elon" has cratered in popularity over the last year, dropping from 120 babies per million in 2021 to just 90 babies per million, falling in the popularity rankings by 466 spots.

The name had seen a meteoric rise over the last seven or so years, but is currently falling out of favor big time, plummeting back down to 2019 levels.

The read? It seems like Musk's public reputation has been taking a significant hit.

Name Game

There are countless reasons why Musk could be less popular public figure than he was three years ago.

Especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Musk emerged as a controversial figure, speaking out against vaccinations and lockdowns. He has also become synonymous with an unhealthy work culture, firing practically anybody standing in his way and forcing his employees to work long hours.

The fiasco surrounding Musk's chaotic takeover of Twitter has likely only further besmirched his public image.

For reference, other baby names that have fallen out of fashion include "Kanye" — almost certainly in response to the travails of rapper Kanye West, who's had a years-long relationship with Musk — which fell a whopping 3,410 spots over the last year.

More on Elon Musk: Sad Elon Musk Says He's Overwhelmed In Strange Interview After the Power Went Out

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Experts Excoriate NASA Report Claiming James Webb Wasn’t Homophobic

A group of astronomers has clapped back at a NASA report claiming that it had found no evidence that the original James Webb was homophobic.

NASA says it can't find any record that James Webb, the State Department and NASA leader for whom the agency's groundbreaking new space telescope is named, was aware of homophobic government purges — but a bunch of astronomers are clapping back at the agency's claims.

"After an exhaustive search of U.S. government and Truman library archives," administrator Bill Nelson was quoted as saying in the agency's press release about its decision, "NASA’s historical investigation found, ‘To date, no available evidence directly links Webb to any actions or follow-up related to the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation.'"

In their own statement — which follows a 2021 Scientific American editorial and numerous other calls urging NASA to rename the telescope — astronomy experts Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Lucianne Walkowicz, Sarah Tuttle and Brian Nord are calling shenanigans in the strictest terms.

"NASA’s press release utilizes a practice of selective historical reading," the open letter reads, pointing to the agency's insistence that the original Webb was unaware of the firing of Clifford Norton, a NASA budget analyst who was canned in 1963 after being arrested for making a "homosexual advance" on someone. At the time, Webb was head of NASA.

The argument — which makes sense, if you think about it — is basically that Webb was either aware of the institutionalized homophobia in a way that didn't survive in existing documentation, or unaware of a key dynamic at the workplace he was in charge of. Neither option is flattering.

"Because we do not know of a piece of paper that explicitly says, 'James Webb knew about this,' they assume it means he did not," the experts wrote. "In such a scenario, we have to assume he was relatively incompetent as a leader: the administrator of NASA should know if his chief of security is extrajudicially interrogating people."

"We are deeply concerned by the implication that managers are not responsible for homophobia or other forms of discrimination that happens on their watch," they continued, noting that such a stance is "explicitly anti-equity, diversity and inclusion" that puts "responsibility on the most marginalized people to fend for ourselves, and it is in conflict with legal norms in many US jurisdictions."

It's "deeply unscientific," the astronomy luminaries added, that "NASA is engaging in historical cherry picking" with a figure who was, along with the state-sanctioned homophobia that occurred on his watch, accused of engaging in Cold War-era "psychological warfare," in which, as The Atlantic noted in 2018, then-Undersecretary of State Webb assembled a team of hard and soft scientists to figure out the best ways to conduct anti-Soviet propaganda.

NASA and the scientific community at large should, the astronomers wrote in Scientific American, "name telescopes out of love for those who came before us and led the way to freedom."

More on Webb: NASA Drops Stunning New James Webb Image of a Star Being Born

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So Many People Are Using a Diabetes Drug for Weight Loss That Actual Diabetics Are Having Trouble Getting It

Ozempic, the viral TikTok weight loss drug, is so popular that its creator has declared a shortage — wreaking havoc on the lives of actual diabetics.

At this point, it's likely that Ozempic has somehow come into your personal zeitgeist. The expensive, name-brand version of semaglutide — which, importantly, was originally developed to manage type 2 diabetes — has been in high demand after going viral on TikTok, where it's picking up a reputation as an effective weight loss aid.

"It's the most common medication that I get asked about," Dr. Sudeep Singh, a medical director at a concierge medical practice in Miami, told The Cut. "Everybody knows. Everyone's asking about it. My mom's asking. My neighbors are asking about it. The news is out."

Per a number of reports, Ozempic has been a celeb-guarded secret for some time now, oft-used by starlets who might feel the need to fit into a certain dress for a red carpet. Now the drug is becoming so popular that Novo Nordisk, its creator, has declared a shortage. Tragically, this is all starting to wreak havoc on the lives of actual diabetics, who don't just need the drug to lose a few pounds. They need it to live, and doctors are saying that they're starting to see panic from diabetic patients.

"We're getting calls from our patients who can't find it," Dr. Jonathan Fialkow, chief of cardiology at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, told the Sun Sentinel. Per the paper, Fialkow works with a number of diabetic patients with heart conditions.

"People need it for medical conditions, and pharmacies are out of it," he continued. "The manufacturers aren't able to keep up."

Ozempic, which first went to market in 2017, is what's called a "GLP-1 receptor agonist," which means that it stimulates insulin production and inhibits excess glucose from entering the bloodstream. In other words, it manages blood sugar. And while it's certainly a necessary medication for a lot of type 2 diabetics, there are a lot of very not fun side effects including diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

But shedding a few pounds is one of those side effects too, and for a lot of consumers out there, it seems that the lure of drug-assisted pound-shedding is enough to outweigh the diarrhea and vomiting of it all — not to mention the reality that the drug, and now others like it, is in short supply for those with the illnesses that Ozempic actually intended to treat. (Last year, Novo Nordisk also started selling a version of semaglutide known as WeGovy that's specifically intended for weight loss, but that one is experiencing shortages as well.)

"Ozempic is not a weight-loss medication," Fialkow continued, adding that "these medications need to be monitored by your doctor."

To that note, while it's possible for weight loss hopefuls to buy Ozempic out-of-pocket, the long term effects still aren't known because nobody has been taking it for very long.

"These medications have been studied in certain populations of people with certain medical conditions," Fialkow additionally told Axios. "When we start using medications and other populations that haven't been studied, while they may be safe, we don't know."

Diet culture is insidious, and it creates immense pressure to slim down. But clearly, the price tag on Ozempic isn't just its extremely high literal price tag, or even the potential "puking your brains out" thing. If you're trying to get your hands on it for the sake of a few pounds gone, maybe, for the sake of those who need it to manage their chronic illness, consider putting it back on the shelf.

READ MORE: Florida diabetics scramble to find drugs suddenly popular for non-intended use: weight loss [Sun Sentinel]

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Amazing Map Lets You Scroll Through the Entire Known Universe

Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have made one of the most comprehensive maps of the Universe yet, using data previously unreleased to the public.

All-Encompassing

The universe is so vast and old that we can't possibly fathom it all. But we can make some pretty admirable efforts.

Take this stunning new map, put together by astronomers at Johns Hopkins University, that displays the entire known universe in all its glory, showcasing some 200,000 galaxies as tiny dots that span all the way to the cosmos' observable limits.

Using data gathered over 20 years by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, it shows the real positions and colors of the galaxies in a densely packed celestial slice which lets users easily scroll through billions of years.

You've probably seen other maps of the universe before, but likely none this impressive. Excitingly, it uses data previously unreleased to the public, and it might be the most comprehensive cosmic map made for the average Joe yet.

"Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries." said the map's creator and John Hopkins professor Brice Ménard, in a press release.

"But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists," he continued. "Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."

Cosmic Cartography

The map's narrowest point originates from our home, the Milky Way, surrounded by light blue dots of spiral galaxies up to two billion light years away from Earth. Further away, yellow briefly takes over, where elliptical galaxies outshine the dimmer spiral ones.

Then the map takes us into a vibrant gradient of red. These are also elliptical galaxies, but thanks to the phenomenon aptly known as redshifting, their yellow light gets stretched into red.

Lurking behind is a tremendous ocean of blue, where the dots represent quasars, the luminous supermassive black holes at the center of distant galaxies.

Even a few errant red dots, depicting redshifted quasars, are speckled across the universe's penultimate boundary that's shrouded in hydrogen gas.

Finally, the map terminates at 13.7 billion light years away, or years ago, where all that can be discerned is the cosmic microwave background.

More on the universe: NASA Releases Hubble Images of Star Right as It Explodes

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Amazing Map Lets You Scroll Through the Entire Known Universe

Behind the Lawsuit Against Celebs Who Shilled FTX Before Its Spectacular Meltdown

Lawyer Explains Why He's Suing Celebs Who Shilled FTX Before Its Spectacular Meltdown

Above all else, FTX advertisements wanted you to know two things: that cryptocurrency is a force for good, and that you don't need to be an expert to buy and trade it. In fact, you don't even have to understand it at all. You just need to get involved, because if you don't, you'll get left behind.

If a bit cheesy then, those same promotions — an array of of television commercials, social media posts, and print ads featuring an impressive lineup of A-list celebrities and athletes, in addition to appearances by the now-bankrupt exchange's ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried — are surreal, if not troubling, to watch now, roughly a week after the exchange's spectacular collapse.

Bankman-Fried, widely believed to be the cryptosphere's alleged savior, is under investigation by both the SEC and the CFTC, having lost virtually all his personal wealth in a single day. Meanwhile, an estimated $11 billion's worth of user funds — including that of the retail investors targeted by those shiny ads, many of whom have lost their savings — have vanished. But just six or so months ago? Unretired Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady was asking people if they were "in"; basketball star Steph Curry coolly told users that, like him, they didn't need to be a crypto "expert" to invest in digital assets; comedian Larry David told retail investors to ignore their crypto-skepticism; supermodel Gisele Bündchen, in a print campaign with Bankman-Fried, promised that she and FTX would save the world.

"The blood's on [Sam Bankman-Fried's] hands," Joseph Kaye, a Partner at the Moskowitz Law Firm in Florida, told Futurism. "And as far as we're concerned, it's on the hands of anybody who has been promoting this product."

Kaye's firm, alongside that of New York's David Boies, is representing thousands of dismayed FTX retail investors in a class action lawsuit filed this week against FTX, its founder, and its many celebrity sponsors, accusing those named of intentionally preying on low-information investors.

Of course, consuming a celebrity endorsement is like breathing air at this point. They're soaked into every corner of the culture, and most every public figure has their influencing hustle — makeup, clothes, shoes, cars, gummies and the like. And sure, a fair share of celebs have inspired rage over, say, Instagram posts touting diet suppressant lollipops.

FTX accounts, however, are a different story. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who bought a celeb-endorsed lollipop and woke up to find thousands — if not millions — of their savings gone, and a balance sheet marking an eight billion dollar hole to show for it.

Like the now-also-defunct Voyager Digital's Earn Program, FTX accounts were yield-bearing, promising its investors high returns for their investments — so, basically, the markings of a security, just without the actual label. (The Moskowitz firm is also representing plaintiffs in a class action suit brought against Voyager and Mark Cuban, billionaire of "Shark Tank" fame.)

"A lot of people get confused and think that 'oh, well, investing in cryptocurrency is inherently risky,'" Kaye said. "But the issue here is not so much 'did they make an investment in cryptocurrency. It's the function of the account."

And while that's risky enough to begin with, it now appears that FTX — which hasn't officially been charged with anything yet — was using its investors' cash like a piggy bank, funding its own lending activities with the user money with which it'd been trusted.

"When you make statements like [those celebrities did] — and you don't disclose how much you're making or what your arrangement with them is — and it ends up being an unregistered security," Kaye continued, "you're liable as a promoter to the same extent as if you're the FTX exchange."

No one's saying that Brady or Bündchen or anyone else knew that FTX was potentially involved in any malpractice. They were likely taken in by Bankman-Fried's efforts to build a reputation for himself as Mr. Trustworthy Crypto Man, which he admitted shortly after the collapse had largely been a "front." It's also unlikely that they knew, or even really understood, that they were or could be hawking what might just shake out to be an unregistered security.

That's exactly the point, though. We believe, as they told us, that they weren't "experts." Not in the slightest. There doesn't appear to have been much — if any — due diligence here, and a lot of real people have been badly hurt because of it. Did Curry stand on a street corner and hand out FTX accounts? No, but it can be argued that he and the other figures named in the suit played a serious role in FTX's adoption by the masses, downplaying the instability and messiness of the blockchain world while promising that FTX had their back.

And considering how central they may have been to FTX's rise, it would be heartening to see them take some kind of responsibility after its fall.

"I remember our first meeting and we were speaking to the FTX guys… They started to explain it to us and I said, 'I don't know if you can tell over Zoom when our eyes glazed over, but I still don't understand it," David told The Hollywood Reporter back in February, shortly after his Super Bowl commercial aired. "But that's OK. I don't have to know everything.'"

More on the FTX fallout: Politicians Refuse to Say Whether They'll Give Back Donations From Sam Bankman-Fried

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Behind the Lawsuit Against Celebs Who Shilled FTX Before Its Spectacular Meltdown

Amazing Video Shows What the ISS Would Look Like If It Flew at the Height of a Jetplane

What would happen if the International Space Station was circling the planet at the altitude of an airplane? This video shows what that would look like.

Whoosh

What would happen if the International Space Station was orbiting the planet not hundreds of miles above the surface, but right up close, at the altitude of, say, a commercial jetliner?

In a new video, airplane enthusiast Benjamin Granville used the popular game Microsoft Flight Simulator to show what the space station would look like at just 10,000 feet in altitude— and the results are equal parts amazing and terrifying.

The video shows the ISS blasting across the sky at ludicrous speeds — roughly 17,150 miles per hour, or five miles per second to be exact — in a stunning demonstration of blistering velocity that objects in low-earth orbit need to maintain.

In other words, if you were standing below and trying to take a picture of it, you'd need to be extremely well prepared as you'd only have a fraction of a second to hit the shutter.

Speed Record

Of course, such a maneuver could never be pulled off in real life. Not only would the space station need to overcome a monstrous amount of air resistance, it would also need a ludicrous amount of propulsion to maintain its velocity.

And that's not to mention the fact that, unlike an airplane, the space station would simply fall out of the sky and succumb to gravity, since it's not designed to glide through the air.

But it's a fun demonstration, nonetheless, of the extraordinary speed of an object that — from far away, at least — seems to be peacefully drifting through the night sky.

READ MORE: This is What the ISS Would Look Like if It Flew at Airplane Altitude [PetaPixel]

More on the ISS: Cargo Spacecraft Breaks Down En Route to Space Station

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Amazing Video Shows What the ISS Would Look Like If It Flew at the Height of a Jetplane

NASA Fixes Months-Long Issue With James Webb Telescope

One of the James Webb Space Telescope's most important instruments had been offline for months — but it's now been brought back to full functionality. 

MIRI Me

One of the James Webb Space Telescope's most important instruments had been offline for months — but thanks to some ingenuity at NASA, it's now been brought back to full functionality.

As the Space Telescope Science Institute wrote in a statement, the "supercold" Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) camera, which lets astronomers see the universe from the wavelength of their choosing, went offline on August 24 after its grating wheel started to malfunction.

Described by the European Space Agency as Webb's "coolest" instrument — a pun that references the uber-cold temperatures it can see — MIRI is the camera responsible for some of the most stunning Webb images. Having it offline didn't make the telescope completely dysfunctional, but it was certainly missed.

How did #MIRI become @ESA_Webb's coolest instrument, now making awe-inspiring images like these?

Ambition, leadership, teamwork, and international collaboration between @esa, @nasa and institutions and industry from 10 European countries ? https://t.co/qM3evUBYS6 #Webb pic.twitter.com/b04wvFqqGY

— ESA Science (@esascience) November 8, 2022

Changing of the Guard

Upon discovering the problem, NASA took the instrument — which is one of four on board — offline upon discovering the issue. Weeks of remote investigations ensued, and finally, the Webb team determined that MIRI's wheel's problem was caused by "increased contact forces between the wheel central bearing assembly’s sub-components under certain conditions."

In English, that means there was too much friction between the wheel and its grate, which was in turn screwing with the camera.

The Webb team went ahead and assigned some new operational rules for the instrument while it was being remotely worked on, and on November 2, NASA enacted those rules so that it could finally bring the camera back online after more than two months of it being shut off.

For its next move, the STScI notes, MIRI will be "taking advantage of a unique opportunity to observe Saturn’s polar regions" — not bad for an instrument that spent two months on the bench.

More Webb: NASA's New James Webb Shot Is Much Better When You Put Googly Eyes On It

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NASA Fixes Months-Long Issue With James Webb Telescope

NASA Releases Hubble Images of Star Right as It Explodes

The Hubble Space Telescope captured three magnificent stages of a star right as it exploded — but it's gone unnoticed until now.

Lucky Shot

To see a star right as it explodes in a supernova is extremely rare. Luckily, researchers combing through the archives of the Hubble Space Telescope's observational data from 2010 have spotted imagery of an exploding star from some 11 billion years ago, lurking behind a galaxy cluster — making it the first time such an event has been observed from so early in the universe.

"It is quite rare that a supernova can be detected at a very early stage, because that stage is really short," said Wenlei Chen, who is the lead author of an accompanying study published in the journal Nature and a researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy, in a NASA statement.

"It only lasts for hours to a few days, and it can be easily missed even for a nearby detection," he added. "In the same exposure, we are able to see a sequence of the images — like multiple faces of a supernova."

Third time’s the charm?

Hubble witnessed three faces of a star’s evolving supernova explosion, thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Read more: https://t.co/dGbvAXeFkR

Learn more in this video! pic.twitter.com/yZbK6ZrMMJ

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) November 9, 2022

Warped Perception

The faraway supernova was revealed due to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. When the gravity of a galaxy warps and magnifies the light behind it, it allows telescopes to observe distant objects that would otherwise be too faint.

Amazingly, the warping proved to be an even greater boon than expected, because it resulted in multiple images, or "three faces," from different time periods to be captured in one go. Light from separate moments in the supernova traveled varying distances through the lensing and were in effect slowed down due to the immense gravity of the lens galaxy, causing the different "routes" of light to all arrive at the same time.

Thanks to that instant timelapse, the researchers were able to measure the supernova's rate of cooling and calculated the star's size before it exploded. They believe it was a red giant over 500 times larger than the Sun.

"You see different colors in the three different images," said Patrick Kelly, who led the study and is an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's School of Physics and Astronomy, in the statement. "You've got the massive star, the core collapses, it produces a shock, it heats up, and then you're seeing it cool over a week. I think that's probably one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!"

More on stars: Astronomers Find Wreckage of Destroyed Solar System Right Near Our Own

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NASA Releases Hubble Images of Star Right as It Explodes

Furious Fire Ants "Rain Down" on Hawaiian Residents and Bite Them in their Sleep

Hawaii has a big problem with little fire ants that have begun quite literally raining down on people from above and sting them.

Smol Means

Hawaii has a big problem: little fire ants that have begun quite literally raining down on people and stinging them — and it's reportedly changing life on the islands as residents know it.

In interviews with SFGate, Hawaiian officials described infestation scenes straight out of a horror flick, replete with people being bitten in their beds while sleeping, causing painful welts that can last for weeks.

"They’re changing the way of life for our residents here in Hawaii," Heather Forester of the University of Hawai'i's Hawaii Ant Lab told the Gate. "You used to be able to go out hiking and go to the beach. They can rain down on people and sting them."

"In heavily infested areas, the ants can actually move into people’s homes," she continued. "We have a lot of reports of them stinging people while they sleep in their beds."

Invasion

While little fire ants have been detected on the islands since 1999, this latest infestation – which has hit the island of Kauai the hardest — is reportedly the largest Hawaii's ever seen.

It's gotten so bad there that the Kauai Invasive Species Committee (KISC) has executed a huge public service announcement campaign to alert residents about help they can receive to detect or deal with these minuscule monsters, including home testing kits to detect them before they invade their houses.

Riverside Blues

This latest infestation, the Gate notes, appears to have begun on private property and spilled over a cliff and into a lush valley near the Wailua River that provides the ants with the opportunity to float downriver and create colonies elsewhere.

So far, it's unclear if the ants have gotten to the river — but when and if they do, it'll only get worse, officials say.

"That would infest the entire state park," KISC's Haylin Chock told the website. "If they are at that point, they can start climbing trees. It’s like a paradise for them. If that happens, how are we supposed to know where they are?"

The whole situation is taking the tenor of a plague, which the islands certainly don't need after being unduly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

More buggies: These Dancing Bugs Are Straight Out of a Miyazaki Film

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Furious Fire Ants "Rain Down" on Hawaiian Residents and Bite Them in their Sleep

NASA Inspecting Moon Rocket for Damage From Hurricane Nicole

Winds reached 87 knots or 100 mph at the launch pad of NASA's SLS Moon rocket, which may have damaged it.

Gust Buster

The winds really started to pick up at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as Hurricane Nicole made landfall earlier today.

And that's bad news, as the agency's uber-expensive Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket is currently sitting on the launch pad, fully exposed to the elements, awaiting its November 14 launch attempt next week.

Now, engineers are starting their inspections, ensuring the rocket weathered the storm intact and is ready for prime time.

Hurri-Can't

Winds reached 87 knots (about 100 mph) at the site, in strong hurricane-level gusts that were forecast by the National Weather Service.

Earlier this week, the National Hurricane Center predicted a 15 percent chance of hurricane-grade winds at the launch site — which appear to have materialized, Ars Technica reports.

And that's a problem: while NASA claimed on Tuesday that "high winds that are not expected to exceed the SLS design," according to documentation, the rocket is only designed to withstand gusts of up to 74.4 knots.

"Almost certainly there is some safety margin above 74.4 knots, but is it 15 or 20 percent higher?" Ars' Eric Berger tweeted. "Rockets are simply not designed to be battered like this by sideways winds for hours and hours."

According to weather sensors on Launch Complex-39B, the Artemis I stack saw wind gusts as high as 87 knots on the 120-foot level last night. The rocket is designed to withstand 74.4-knot gusts. pic.twitter.com/pkBuwFB6TH

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 10, 2022

Inspecting the Damage

Now, engineers are starting to inspect the rocket to see if the winds have left a mark.

"I am imagining, if the rocket is exposed to excessive winds, the effort that will ensue to redo the structural analysis and convince everyone to sign the waiver to let it fly," former NASA space shuttle engineer Phil Metzger tweeted. "It’s gonna be a busy couple of weeks for NASA structural engineers."

In short, the SLS rollout was one big gamble. As Ars points out, it would've taken days for NASA to roll its massive rocket back in to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the rocket spent the last couple of months following several failed launch attempts earlier this year.

Where that leaves next week's launch attempt remains to be seen. NASA is giving itself until Sunday evening to make the call.

It's a scary moment for NASA: billions of dollars were literally exposed to the elements. All we can do is hope it held up.

READ MORE: NASA leaves its Artemis I rocket exposed to winds above design limits [Ars Technica]

More on the rocket: NASA Watches Nervously as Hurricane Threatens Exposed Moon Rocket

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NASA Inspecting Moon Rocket for Damage From Hurricane Nicole

Divers Growing Veggies in Underwater Greenhouses

Welcome to

Nemo's Garden

Welcome to "Nemo's Garden," a surreal — and beautiful — underwater garden off of Italy's Northwestern coast.

There, National Geographic reports, terrestrial plants are grown in submerged plastic greenhouses dubbed "biospheres," which can be seen glowing from the surface. And we gotta say: the pictures of these plastic, herb-filled oddities are absolutely stunning.

An Italian project, known as Nemo’s Garden, is testing the viability of underwater greenhouses https://t.co/Y1PQDM4p3Z

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) November 10, 2022

Water Cycle

Sergio Gamberini, the man behind this almost fantastical project, isn't just out to create something that looks beautiful.

He's hoping that his plastic orbs, which rest between 15 and 36 feet below the ocean's surface and hold about 528 gallons of air, will provide a water-conserving, overall sustainable alternative to on-land agricultural operations, particularly helping dry coastal nations grow more food without having to desalinate more water — a costly and resource-intensive process. The plants require just a small bit of starter water, but from there, they're self-sustaining. Sunlight heats the submerged spheres, which contain humid air that naturally condenses into freshwater on the walls and drips back into the soil.

"Since the underwater farm needs an external source of water only for the start-up of plants growing," reads the company's site, "our system could be useful for those locations far from the bodies of water available."

Deep Food

Nemo's Garden is still in its earlier phases, but results have been promising. One 2020 study showed that the organization's underwater-grown basil actually had more chlorophyll and antioxidants than land-reared basil — a fascinating finding, considering that the water pressure actually forces the Nemo plants to grow a bit differently than they might on the surface.

Excitingly, marine life is reportedly drawn to the glowing orbs as well; according to NatGeo, the structures act like an artificial coral reef for nearby species.

Whether Nemo's Garden will one day be coming to a coastline near you remains to be seen. In the meantime, though, we might agree with NatGeo photographer Luca Locatelli, who says he's excited to see someone take a well-intentioned leap — or perhaps a dive — of faith.

"We need someone who thinks about crazy things — not only ordinary inventions — that are coming out of a real passion," Locatelli told the magazine. "It might be something, it might not, [but] I like the fact that someone is so brave to invest money on such a thing."

READ MORE: Look inside Nemo's Garden, a surreal underwater farm [National Geographic]

More on alternative gardening: Nasa Let Astronauts Feast on Space-grown Vegetables

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Divers Growing Veggies in Underwater Greenhouses

Elon Musk Says That Under His Brilliant New Management, Twitter May Go Out of Business

In emails to his new employees, freshly-minted Twitter czar Elon Musk told them that if they don't make money fast, the site may not survive.

But His Emails

In emails to his new employees, freshly-minted Twitter czar Elon Musk painted a pretty doom-tastic portrait of the road ahead for the social network's remaining employees — and told them that soon, they may all be out of a job.

Emails Musk sent to Twitter staff that were reviewed by the New York Times show that, at very least, he's repeating the same line internally as he is on his own account: Twitter needs to be monetized — or else.

"Without significant subscription revenue," the serial CEO wrote, "there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn."

And at a company meeting today, Musk reportedly told employees that "bankruptcy isn't out of the question."

Elon Musk emails Twitter employees

November 9, 2022 pic.twitter.com/Qeg5CA979W

— Internal Tech Emails (@TechEmails) November 10, 2022

PO'd

It's not a great way to start a friendly CEO-staff relationship, to say the least, but it's nevertheless the posture Musk is taking as he makes sweeping changes to the social network that are, unsurprisingly, very unpopular with some of the workers left at the company following his mass layoff of half of Twitter's staff.

"Elon has shown that he cares only about recouping the losses he’s incurring as a result of failing to get out of his binding obligation to buy Twitter," one disgruntled employee wrote in an email to coworkers, according to the NYT. "This will put huge amount of personal, professional and legal risk onto engineers: I anticipate that all of you will be pressured by management into pushing out changes that will likely lead to major incidents."

To be fair, Twitter is now in some seriously dire financial straits under its new ownership, and per the Times is going to be required to pay $1 billion annually in interest under Musk's deal. Paired with advertisers' increasing wariness about the site's trajectory, things aren't looking great in Twitterland.

Nevertheless, this whole mess is indeed shaping up to be as bad as many predicted, with the new CEO following through with his $8 verification plan and all.

It forces us to beg the question: was killing Twitter Musk's plan all along?

More Musk: Elon Musk Is Suddenly Selling Tesla Stock Like Crazy

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Elon Musk Says That Under His Brilliant New Management, Twitter May Go Out of Business

Tesla Issues Software Patch So That Its Cars Don’t Lose Power Steering on Potholes

Tesla has recalled more than 40,000 of its vehicles due to an issue that could cause a loss of power steering in its 2017-2021 Model S and Model X cars

Pesky Potholes

Tesla has "recalled" more than 40,000 of its vehicles due to a glitch that could cause a loss of power steering, according to a safety-recall report from the National Highway Traffic Administration released last week that was made public on Tuesday.

Despite officially being labeled as a recall, though, it's really just an over-the-air software update that can be downloaded by owners remotely.

Nevertheless, the issue does sound consequential. It applies to rare cases in which the company's 2017-2021 Model S and Model X cars' electronic power assist steering systems erroneously identify abrupt bumps such as potholes as "unexpected steering assist torque," the NHTSA said. In such cases, drivers could still steer their Teslas, but with much greater effort required, especially at lower speeds.

Fortunately, it doesn't look like anyone was hurt or got into any accidents as a result of the oversight, which is estimated to only affect one percent of the cars in question. As of the NHTSA report's release, 314 vehicles have been reported to have been affected by the bug.

Pile Driver

The Elon-Musk-led automaker can let out a sigh of relief that this issue didn't turn out worse, because it's already garnered unwanted scrutiny from the NHTSA and other government bodies that could have potentially ruinous implications.

On the NHTSA's part, the regulator has been investigating crashes involving Tesla's Autopilot driving assistance system since August 2021. In June, it stated that it was significantly widening the scope of its investigation.

In August, Tesla's home state of California's DMV accused the automaker of lying to customers by calling its separate driving assistance systems Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, names that could fool a driver into thinking the systems can fully drive on their own — which they can't.

And now, it was revealed in October, even the Department of Justice has reportedly been furtively probing into Autopilot's misleading marketing.

At the end of the day, it's a fairly minor slip up from Tesla, but one that's amplified by all the magnifying glasses it's provoked from government bodies, both stateside and federal.

More on Tesla: Elon Musk Pulling Engineers From Tesla Autopilot to Work on Twitter

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NASA Disputes Calling Its Inflatable Heat Shield a "Bouncy Castle"

Martian Bouncy Castle

It was an impressive feat: NASA launched a massive inflatable heat shield all the way into space, only to test it by crashing it down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

The stunt, dubbed the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID), was meant to lay the groundwork of a system capable of landing humans safely on the surface of Mars.

At 30 feet in diameter, the flying saucer-shaped device is meant to act like a giant crash pad for spacecraft as they make their way through the atmosphere of an alien planet.

In other words, it's not unlike a bouncy castle that can be packed away when not in use, as The New York Times' Kenneth Chang suggested.

But that kind of comparison didn't sit well with the people in charge of the project.

"I would say that would be inaccurate," Neil Cheatwood, principal investigator for LOFTID, told Chang.

Splashdown

Early Thursday morning, an Atlas V rocket blasted off with LOFTID in its packed-up state in tow into low-Earth orbit.

Just over two hours later, the massive inflatable device screamed through the Earth's atmosphere, harmlessly splashing down near Hawaii.

The heat shield can act as a huge brake during descent, slowing down large payloads. It's designed to survive a massive 18,000 mph fall, and ward off blistering temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

During future missions to the Red Planet, it could be our ticket to getting to the surface in one piece, according to NASA, when used in tandem with other systems such as parachutes or rockets.

But before we plan our first crewed mission to Mars, where's the harm in investigating if LOFTID could serve double duty as a bouncy castle once we get there?

READ MORE: NASA Launched an Inflatable Flying Saucer, Then Landed It in the Ocean [The New York Times]

More on landing on Mars: NASA Testing Giant "Crumple Zone" Gadget That Would Let Rovers Crash Into Mars and Survive

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NASA Disputes Calling Its Inflatable Heat Shield a "Bouncy Castle"

Scientists Reproduce Fascinating, Powerful Material Found in Meteorite

In an unprecedented experiment, two teams of scientists have replicated a material that was, until recently, not produced anywhere on Earth.

Spaced Out

In an unprecedented experiment, two teams of scientists on either sides of the Atlantic have replicated a material that was previously not produced anywhere on Earth.

As NPR reports, the replication of this powerful compound could have huge implications not just for the manufacturing of high-end machinery, but also for international relations to boot.

Called tetrataenite, the primarily iron-and-nickel compound is normally able to cool for millions of years as it tumbles around in asteroids. As a press release out of the University of Cambridge notes, the researchers who worked in tandem with Boston's Northeastern University found that if they add phosphorous to the mix, they were able to make synthetic tetrataenite.

Scientists made a material that doesn't exist on Earth: The compound is called tetrataenite. If synthetic tetrataenite works in industrial applications, it could make green energy technologies significantly cheaper. via @nprscience @planetmoney https://t.co/LclRNO5d6w pic.twitter.com/4yd2s4U8oj

— RealClearScience (@RCScience) November 9, 2022

Trader Gold

Beyond it being really awesome that scientists have synthesized a mineral from space, the discovery of synthetic tetrataenite is also huge because it could be used as an alternative to rare earth minerals, those valuable and difficult-to-extract materials used in the production of the heavy-duty "permanent magnets" that power tech ranging from electric vehicles to NASA experiments.

Over the past few decades, China has dominated the rare earths market because a lot of these minerals are found on the outskirts of its mainland, and it has inexpensive manufacturing and worker capabilities to undertake the laborious process of extracting them from other compounds.

Ramp It Up

With the new synthesis of terataenite, however, a future beyond a China-dominated rare earths market could unfold because, as an expert who spoke to NPR noted, it can be used as a replacement for most of the components of permanent magnets.

Northeastern's Laura Lewis cautioned against premature optimism, saying that ample testing needs to be done to make sure the synthetic is as hearty as the one found in meteorites — and even then, it'll still be at least five years, and probably more like eight, before it's "pedal to the metal" on manufacturing with it.

That said, however, it does provide an exciting look at the ways space materials can help us here on Earth — and hopefully bring about some positive international developments, too.

More on space: China Approves Three Moon Missions After Discovering Mineral That Could Be Energy Source

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Scientists Reproduce Fascinating, Powerful Material Found in Meteorite

Divers Discover Fragment of Challenger Space Shuttle Under Ocean

Divers, who were looking for a WW2 aircraft wreckage off the Florida Space Coast discovered the heat shield remains of NASA's space shuttle Challenger.

A Rare Find

A TV documentary crew of divers who were looking for the wreckage of a World War II aircraft off the Florida Space Coast made a startling and unexpected discovery: the heat shield remains of NASA's space shuttle Challenger.

It's an incredibly rare space artifact that acts a somber reminder of the deadly 1986 disaster, a dark chapter in the history of space exploration.

"While it has been nearly 37 years since seven daring and brave explorers lost their lives aboard Challenger, this tragedy will forever be seared in the collective memory of our country," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. "This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause once again, to uplift the legacies of the seven pioneers we lost, and to reflect on how this tragedy changed us."

What they uncover off the coast of Florida, outside of the Triangle, marks the first discovery of wreckage from the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger in more than 25 years. Don’t miss the premiere of The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters on Tuesday, November 22 at 10/9C. pic.twitter.com/LWUoFXxEnK

— HISTORY (@HISTORY) November 10, 2022

Challenger Discovery

According to the TV network History, it's the first Challenger wreckage to have been discovered in more than 25 years. Footage shared by the network show divers examining small eight-inch tiles making up a large mosaic.

NASA now has to decide whether it wants to recover the wreckage. Other pieces of the Challenger spacecraft were put on display to the public for the first time back in 2015 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The fateful 1986 launch was NASA's 25th Shuttle mission, but 73 seconds after liftoff, it disintegrated at 46,000 feet, a tragedy watched live by countless people around the world on TV.

"Challenger and her crew live on in the hearts and memories of both NASA and the nation," said Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro in the statement.

"Today, as we turn our sights again toward the Moon and Mars, we see that the same love of exploration that drove the Challenger crew is still inspiring the astronauts of today’s Artemis Generation," she added, "calling them to build on the legacy of knowledge and discovery for the benefit of all humanity."

The History Channel will air its documentary about the rare find on November 22.

READ MORE: NASA Views Images, Confirms Discovery of Shuttle Challenger Artifact [NASA]

More on NASA: NASA Inspecting Moon Rocket for Damage From Hurricane Nicole

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Unexploded Shell Removed From Soldier’s Chest by Surgeons Wearing Body Armor

Surgery had to quickly be performed to remove an unexploded shell lodged in a Russian soldier's chest with no guarantee it wouldn't detonate at any moment.

A Russian soldier was rushed to the ER. His diagnosis? An unexploded shell lodged so deep in his chest it was almost touching his spine.

The soldier, junior sergeant Nikolay Pasenko, probably should've been dead already from either the impact or the impending detonation. But instead, defying all expectations, he lived — thanks to surgeons at the Mandryk Central Military Clinical Hospital who successfully removed the shell in an operation that's been dubbed a "miracle" by TASS, a state-owned Russian news agency.

Given Russia's ongoing and near-universally condemned war in Ukraine, you might be inclined to doubt the veracity of the source — but miracles like this have happened before.

"The patient was admitted with a wound that had penetrated [his] chest," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, as quoted by TASS. "The examination revealed that the miraculously unexploded ordnance had pierced [his] ribs and lungs and got lodged close to the spinal cord, between the aorta and the inferior vena cava near the heart."

There was no guarantee that the munition wouldn't explode mid-surgery. The doctors — some military, some civilian — decided to operate on the soldier anyway, wearing body armor under their medical gowns, the Ministry said.

And the surgery had to be done fast — Pasenko was bleeding so profusely that there was no time to dawdle on a decision, let alone relocate to a safer or better equipped location.

"The unexploded shell was stuck between the aorta and the inferior vena cava close to the heart, which could have caused fatal bleeding even without the ordnance's detonation," Medical Corps Lieutenant-Colonel Dmitry Kim, who led the operation, told TASS. "A decision was made to carry out the surgery locally."

That decision proved to be the right call. The shell was removed without detonation, and a recovering Pasenko was shipped off to a central hospital.

But post-surgery, Pasenko said that, at the time, he was opposed to the doctors risking their lives.

"The surgeon ventured to perform the operation, I was against it," he told the Russian news agency. "And now you see that I am sitting in front of you."

"My thanks to surgeon Dmitry Kim and I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life. He replied: 'So, we will explode together.' That's it. He is a very courageous man," Pasenko said.

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A Tesla Executive Under Investigation Is Now Working at SpaceX for Some Reason

A ranking Tesla employee is taking a role as vice president of SpaceX's Starship production — even though he's under internal investigation.

Making Moves

It seems ill-advised to hire an employee who's under investigation at one of your other companies in a ranking position, but then again, Elon Musk is far from an ordinary CEO.

That's on full display as SpaceX hires Tesla's Texas plant lieutenant Omead Afshar, who according to sources close to the matter that spoke to Bloomberg has been brought on as vice president of Starship production.

Over the summer, Afshar — reportedly a close confidante of Musk's — was, as the news site reported at the time, under internal investigation for a sketchy plan he allegedly had to buy difficult-to-source construction materials for Tesla. During the investigation, some of the executive's subordinates were fired. But Afshar himself seems to have had a golden, well, Starship.

And pickle ball! https://t.co/InqxFkip7y

— Omead Afshar (@omead) November 6, 2022

Shuffleboard

It remains unclear whether Afshar is still working at Tesla as well, or if he was shuffled over to SpaceX as a result of his investigation. Sources did, however, tell Bloomberg that he hasn't been seen at Tesla's Austin plant in weeks.

Whether he was moved from Tesla to SpaceX or is working both companies, it wouldn't be the first time for either. Musk sent has shuffled Tesla employees to SpaceX previously and even sent them to Twitter in recent weeks. And as Bloomberg notes, another of his close consiglieres, Charles Keuhmann, is an executive at both companies.

To make this kind of hiring move would be weird enough in a regular context, but the fact that Musk is doing so while wreaking havoc over at his other new company makes it seem all the stranger.

More on Musk: MSN Ran a Story About Grimes and Elon Musk That's Completely Fake

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A Tesla Executive Under Investigation Is Now Working at SpaceX for Some Reason