Monthly Archives: August 2021

Did your country make the cut?Civilization Collapse

While Australians are fighting over rat carcasses in a Mad Max scenario, it might be pretty much business as usual in New Zealand.

At least, thats the conclusion of a new study by researchers at the UKs Anglia Ruskin University, who examined which places on Earth would be best prepared to deal with breakdowns in global supply chains, financial structures, and other complex systems that we couldnt count on anymore after a true breakdown of world order.

Significant changes are possible in the coming years and decades, said Aled Jones, one of the researchers who worked on the study, in a press blurb. The impact of climate change, including increased frequency and intensity of drought and flooding, extreme temperatures, and greater population movement, could dictate the severity of these changes.

Along with New Zealand, the study published this month in the journal Sustainability found that Iceland, the UK, and Ireland would be most likely to sustain order as the rest of the world collapsed. Also on the list, with all apologies to the Mad Max franchise: Australia.

Underlying the report, though, is a chilling assumption: that the global order we take for granted could genuinely come under threat within our lifetimes due to looming environmental, energy, and infrastructure crises.

As well as demonstrating which countries we believe are best suited to managing such a collapse which undoubtedly would be a profound, life-altering experience our study aims to highlight actions to address the interlinked factors of climate change, agricultural capacity, domestic energy, manufacturing capacity, and the over-reliance on complexity, are necessary to improve the resilience of nations that do not have the most favorable starting conditions, Jones said in the blurb.

READ MORE: New Zealand is best placed to survive collapse [Anglia Ruskin University]

More on Nikola: Founder of Tesla Wannabe Charged With Fraud for Lying About Hydrogen-Electric Truck

View post:
Study: These Countries Are Most Likely to Survive Collapse of Civilization - Futurism

A team of scientists from Chinas Nantong University just completed animal tests for an interesting new approach to male birth control but you probably wont enjoy hearing how they got there.

The one-simple-trick involved injecting mice with magnetic nanomaterials, using external magnets to guide the particles into their testicles, and then using another magnetic field to heat their you-know-whats so much that they temporarily stopped producing sperm, according to research published this month in the journal Nano Letters.

Now look, maybe youre wincing a little or crossing your legs as you read this, and we assure you that you can relax. Believe it or not, this approach to male contraception is actually a lot less unpleasant than similar attempts, a new press release on the research claims. Other experiments used higher temperatures to achieve longer-lasting results, but they also risked causing burn injuries or required painful injections directly into the testes themselves both of which this new experiment avoided.

In the experiment, the researchers found success after heating the little magnets that theyd guided into the mouse testes to just 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Thats certainly a noticeable amount of heat, and considerably warmer than your typical body temperature, but its still seemingly safe. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, your skin will start to experience first degree burns at 118 degrees F, so its reasonable to suggest that the warmed magnets wont damage anything that theyre not supposed to.

On top of that, the treatment worked for months at a time,after which the mice that were injected with the magnetic nanomaterials returned to their usual reproductive health. Initially, the mouse testes shrank a bit and stopped producing new sperm in response to the heat. Seven days after treatment, the mice were firing nothing but blanks. But by day 60, the treated mice were back to fathering litters of around 12 pups per female, just like normal.

That suggests that when it comes to family planning, a treatment like this that could eventually become available for humans would be far from the nuclear option. Because the treatment was designed to be temporary and the biodegradable nanomaterials vanish over time, it seems like opting to take a little heat for a month or two of birth control wont mess with anyones long-term plans for parenthood.

See the rest here:
Experimental Male Birth Control Is Magnets That Heat Up Your Testicles - Futurism

Image by Pxfuel/Victor Tangermann

Thanks to newly renegotiated contracts between the European Union and pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna, vaccines are about to become a lot more expensive for some countries.

European nations will now pay 25 percent more for Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines and 10 percent more for Modernas, the Financial Times reports, bringing a Pfizer dose from $18.40 to $23.15 and a Moderna dose $22.60 to $25.50. As Gizmodo notes, European governments will still distribute the shots to citizens for free, but the new price hikes illustrate just how lucrative the pandemic is becoming for the two pharma companies.

It shouldnt necessarily come as a shock that the companies are seeking a higher profit from the vaccine. Even though Moderna took $483 million in grant funding from the US government and Pfizers partner firm BioNTech collected $445 million from Germany, both companies were upfront about their plan to make money off the vaccine rather than selling it at cost like AstraZeneca.

Though Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla didnt directly connect the higher costs in Europe to lower costs elsewhere in his second-quarter earnings call statement last week, he did point out that the company will sell discounted vaccines to poorer nations around the world.

We anticipate that a significant amount of our remaining 2021 vaccine manufacturing capacity will be delivered to middle- and low-income countries where we price in line with income levels or at a not-for-profit price, Bourla said. In fact, we are on track to deliver on our commitment to provide this year more than 1 billion doses, or approximately 40 percent of our total production, to middle- and low-income countries, and another 1 billion in 2022.

Read more from the original source:
Pfizer and Moderna Hike the Price of COVID Vaccines - Futurism

"Cook and I have never spoken or written to each other ever."Likely Story

Remember late last week, when a new book claimed that Elon Musk once demanded that Apple CEO Tim Cook give up his job so that Musk could take it?

Now, Musk and Apple, sort of are both saying that the story is nonsense. They could be right. But its also conceivable that theyre both downplaying the story, even if it might be true, because of the sheer chaos and unprofessionalism that it represents.

According to Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins new book,

But the call went off the rails, according to Higgins sources, when Musk told Cook that the deal would only work if Musk could take Cooks job as the CEO of Apple. In Higgins telling, Cook responded with the words f*ck you, and hung up the call.

Musk, though, now says none of that happened.

Cook and I have never spoken or written to each other ever, he tweeted. There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla. There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever.

And Apple, speaking to The Verge, pointed out that Cook has previously said that hes never spoken to Musk.

Should we take these billionaires at their word? You decide.

READ MORE: Review: A deep new history of Tesla takes the shine off Elon Musk [Los Angeles Times]

More on Elon Musk: Elon Musk Reportedly Demanded to Be Made CEO of Apple

Read more here:
Elon Musk Denies Demanding That CEO of Apple Give Up His Job - Futurism

"Yup, hes a great leader! He motivates us to do great work."Dear Leader

If you take a ride on Loop, Elon Musks underground tunnel transportation system in Las Vegas, you might get a bizarrely rosy portrait of the enigmatic megabillionaire during your journey.

Thats because The Boring Company provides drivers yes, the high-tech underground transportation of the future is no different than driving through a tunnel with a specific script to help them field any passenger questions, according to documents obtained by TechCrunch. Most of the time, the prepared answers are designed to shut down conversation as quickly as possible but not before peppering founder Elon Musk with compliments about how awesome, inspiring, and motivating he is.

All in all, its just another example of what would be a baffling move by any other company,but kinda business-as-usual in the zany world of Musk.

Most of the scripted responses are designed to reassure passengers and downplay crashes. For example, if someone asks a driver how long theyve been working for The Boring Company, theyre supposed to say Long enough to know these tunnels pretty well!

But the language gets pretty specific and forcibly enthusiastic when passengers bring up Elon Musk, his management style, or his endless antics. Any general questions about Musk are supposed to be met with a Hes awesome! or inspiring or motivating, according to TechCrunch. And then follow-up questions will get one of several carefully crafted replies designed to avoid any criticism.

This category of questions is extremely common and extremely sensitive, the document reads, according to TechCrunch. Public fascination with our founder is inevitable and may dominate the conversation. Be as brief as possible, and do your best to shut down such conversation. If passengers continue to force the topic, politely say, Im sorry, but I really cant comment and change the subject.

If a passenger asks what its like to work for Musk, drivers are instructed to reply Yup, hes a great leader! He motivates us to do great work.

Ask about Musks bizarre tweets, and the drivers are supposed to say Elon is a public figure. Were just here to provide an awesome transportation experience!

Any other mention of Musks many controversies or pointed questions about him being difficult to work is supposed to be met with I havent seen that article, but that hasnt been my experience.

All things considered, its a bizarre push to protect the image of a man who doesnt seem particularly interested in avoiding controversy and scandal on his own.

READ MORE: Drivers for Elon Musks Loop get a script about their great leader [TechCrunch]

More on Elon Musks ego: Tesla Is Reportedly Trying To Make People Delete Mean Posts About Elon Musk

Continued here:
Elon Musk Employees Are Instructed to Tell People He's "Awesome" and "Inspiring" - Futurism

The centrist 90s werent ready for Ngozi Onwurahs Welcome II the Terrordome a confrontational and experimental futurist thriller or hip-hop dystopia, envisioning a Britain whose bigotries have further metastasised in a lawless failed state created by the cruelties of the past.

In an audacious dreamlike opening section, Onwurah reimagines the 1803 Igbo Landing defiance in the US state of Georgia, in which captive Igbo people took their own lives by drowning rather than submit to slavery. Then, using the same cast, Onwurah launches us into a world of oppression still to come, in a bizarre official ghetto for black people somewhere in Britain named Transdean, nicknamed the Terrordome. Here, for the purposes of surveillance and control, the rules about drug manufacture and interracial association are unofficially suspended, like a mix of apartheid South Africas Soweto and Sun City. Gangster Spike (Valentine Nonyela) is living with Jodie (Saffron Burrows), a white woman in flight from an abusive relationship, and Spikes sister Anjela (Suzette Llewellyn) finds herself in confrontation with the police.

This is a movie that resists categorisation: in many ways, it feels like political cinema from an earlier age, a rough-and-ready document in which the Terrordome is something like Godards Alphaville or the alternative New York from Lizzie Bordens Born in Flames. But interestingly, Onwurah is also engaging with more mainstream, commercial cinema and music, aiming to create a film like Escape from New York or Boyz N the Hood: a studio movie made with arthouse resources. At all events, this is a film that wouldnt be pigeonholed. Maybe weve needed a quarter-century for its spiky refusal to compromise to be understood. Its a film that speaks more to 2021 than 1995.

Welcome II the Terrordome is released on 7 August on Mubi.

Read more from the original source:
Welcome II the Terrordome review dystopian drama offers a bleak vision of Britain - The Guardian

It's been home to an Observation Wheel since being demolished in 2018.

The leader of Scarborough Borough Council says we should know more about what is happening at the site of the former Futurist Theatre by the end of the Summer.

The venue closed in 2014 and was demolished four years later.

Since then it has been home to an Observation Wheel and a mini-golf course.

Cllr Steve Siddons said:

"I can't say too much about that at the moment but we have interest in the top part of that site and we are continuing to talk with Flamingo Land who are working up their plans for the bottom part of the site.

"So I hope before the end of the Summer, we'll be able to make some announcements on what's going to be the long term future of that site, but it is quite exciting."

Many people still say they miss having an outdoor swimming pool as the town previously had two.

Steve added:

"We can all look back and think those were heydays. I'm not an expert on the history of these two sites but probably the reasons why they did fail was because there wasn't enough people who use them."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Greatest Hits Radio app.

View post:
Future of Scarborough's former Futurist Theatre site revealed soon - Free Radio

Russias brand new Nauka module, which docked to the International Space Station today, unexpectedly fired its thrusters just hours afterward prompting a serious crisis on board the orbital outpost.

The crew was never in any danger, NASA said in a statement, according to the Houston Chronicle. We do not know why the Nauka thrusters began to fire. That is not clear at this point.

The entire space station spun uncontrollably by 45 degrees out of attitude, according to a tweet thread by NASASpaceFlight managing editor Chris Gebhart.

Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell isnt so sure that the crew was not in danger.

Im not convinced they understand the issue well enough to be able to say that right now, he wrote in a tweet.

McDowell also posed the question of how serious the danger was.

Does anyone know what rotation rate would cause major things to start falling off the ISS? he mused, adding that I want to know how close we got to a solar panel breaking off.

And in an email to Futurism, a NASA spokesperson seemed to imply that the space agency was still getting a grasp on the story.

Were planning a media telecon for later this afternoon, and will be issuing a media advisory as soon as we have it set up, she said.

In an update on Twitter, though, NASA said that crew members are safe and will scrub their schedules for today in order to focus on recovery efforts following the unexpected loss of attitude caused by the Russian Nauka modules thrusters firing.

The station is back in attitude control and is in good shape, NASAs update reads.

According to a tweet by NASASpaceFlight managing editor Chris Bergin, it appears Naukas flight computer thought it was still trying to dock.

Meanwhile, a cryptic announcement by Russias space agency Roscosmos seemed to imply that a fix to a software problem was underway.

The story will be updated.

Read this article:
Crisis Briefly Spins International Space Station Out of Control - Futurism

After nearly a year apart, it was an emotional moment when Air Force Staff Sgt. Amanda Cubbage of the 355th Security Forces Squadron atDavis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the military working dog she workedwith inSouth Koreawerereunited here August 8.

The dog, Rick, was flown in fromOsan Air Base, South Korea, after a lengthy adoption process.

Its [like] getting part of your heart back, Cubbage said.

Cubbage and Rick served together at Osan for 11 months. On duty, they conducted exercises, and bomb threat and security checks. Off duty, they were each others wingman.

Photo by Capt. Allie Payne

Being stationed in Korea unaccompanied, he was my support, Cubbage said. He was there for everything I needed. He was there when I was happy, he was there when I was sad. Everything I needed came from him.

As a military working dog handler, Cubbage has worked with several other dogs. She described parting ways as bittersweet.

Its just like having a kid moving off and going to college, she said. You still love your kid. Its just the fact that theyre growing up, theyre going out, and theyre doing other things.

Rick was different from the other dogs, Cubbage said. He instantly won her over with his headstrong personality.

US Air Force Staff Sgt. Amanda Cubbage, 355th Security Forces Squadron member, reunites with her recently retired military working dog, Rick, in Tucson, Ariz., August 8, 2017. Cubbage worked with Rick while she served as a MWD handler at Osan Air Base, South Korea. US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michael X. Beyer.

Ricks Retirement

After seven years of service, Rick was retired due to his age. Cubbage found out about the opportunity to adopt him from a fellow handler. And thats when I reached out to the American Humane Society, she said. They said, Absolutely, wed love to help out.'

Military working dogs are allowed to be adopted after retirement due to Robbys Law, which was passed by Congress in 2000. The adoption process can be long and drawn out, involving tedious paperwork, immunizations, and, in Ricks case, crossing the Pacific Ocean.

You sit there and you wait and wait, and you justcount downthe days,count downthe time, until youre reunited with him, Cubbage said.

Now that he is finally reunited with his companion, Rick will live a quiet life in retirement, filled with rest,relaxation, and plenty of treats.

See the article here:
The US is doubling down on its futuristic hypersonic weapons program - We Are The Mighty