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NASA abandons InSight mission to crack the surface of Mars
Martian soil does not behave in the way NASA engineers expected.
The kilogram has officially been redefined
Today, scientists voted to change the definition of the kilogram as well as three other units of measurement -- the ampere, the kelvin and the mole. The vote took place at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, France and the new definitions will be based on "what we call the fundamental constants of nature," as Estefanía de Mirandés of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) told Science News, instead of the less precise definitions these measurements are currently tied to. The kilogram, for example, is defined by a physical cylinder known as Le Grand K that's stored in a vault outside of Paris.
The way scientific units are calculated is changing
Scientific units are set to receive their biggest shake-up since the inception of the modern metric system in 1960. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) -- one of three committees that oversees this type of stuff -- is presently looking into revising the ampere, the kilogram, the kelvin, and the mole. The higher-ups at the General Conference on Weights and Measures will then conduct a final vote on the recommendations next year, before ordering them into effect in May 2019. Although it may not impact everyday measurements, the redefinition is crucial for scientists, who require the utmost accuracy for their work.
Trump's campaign manager reportedly tried planting a mole at Facebook
Former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon had designs to infiltrate Facebook's hiring practices leading up to last year's election, according to BuzzFeed News. The aim was to "flood the zone with candidates of all stripes who will report back to you/Milo [Yiannopolous]" about the job application process, emails from former congressional staffer Chris Gacek to Bannon, obtained by BuzzFeed, read. The idea was to discover if there was political bias in the hiring process.
Northampton's testing magnetic underground delivery 'moles'
Northampton, England is considering an unusual approach to alleviating traffic congestion and air pollution. The city wants to replace the trucks currently clogging its two major motorways with underground delivery carts. The system from Mole Solutions, dubbed a "Freight Pipeline", will leverage linear induction motors to propel steel carts through dedicated tubes between various stations throughout the city. "Congestion is a global issue and we could take a significant volume of traffic off the roads, not just in the UK but in countries like China and India," Mole Solutions chief Roger Miles told reporters recently. "The bounds of this are limitless." The company asserts that these steel "moles" would be able make deliveries 24 hours a day without disturbing residents. Should the current feasibility and subsequent financial viability studies work out, the Mole system could soon be running under a number of UK city centers. Interestingly, this isn't actually the first time such a scheme has been implemented. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chicago's business district was undercut by a massive web of subterranean delivery tunnels. New York City (as well as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis) built a number of underground mail tunnels in 1897, though this series of tubes were never actually put to use.
MoleBot interactive gaming table hooks up with Kinect, puts Milton Bradley on watch (video)
Looking to spruce up that nondescript living room table? So are a smattering of folks from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. At this week's SIGGRAPH E-tech event, a team from the entity dropped by to showcase the deadly cute MoleBot table. At its simplest, it's a clever tabletop game designed to entertain folks aged 3 to 103; at the other extreme, it's a radically new way of using Microsoft's Kinect to interact with something that could double as a place to set your supper. Improving on similar projects in the past, this shape-display method uses a two-dimensional translating cam (mole cam), 15,000 closely packed hexagonal pins equivalent to cam followers, and a layer of spandex between the mole cam and the pins to reduce friction. When we dropped by, the Kinect mode was disabled in favor of using an actual joystick to move the ground below. In theory, one could hover above the table and use hand gestures to move the "mole," shifting to and fro in order to pick up magnetic balls and eventually affix the "tail" onto the kitty. The folks we spoke with seemed to think that there's consumer promise here, as well as potential for daycares, arcades and other locales where entertaining young ones is a priority. Have a peek at a brief demonstration vid just after the break, and yes, you can bet we'll keep you abreast of the whole "on sale" situation.%Gallery-130405%
Rumor: Leaked photos tease Tomb Raider reboot (Update)
Update: We were contacted by Nielsen Entertainment to remove the leaked image, and we obliged (though at this point, a good Google search will help you find what you're looking for). They also asked us to remove the story, adding just a little bit more credence to the rumor. Considering the source, we're guessing the images were part of a Nielsen poll to see how people would react to Lara's new look, and to see what they thought of the few gameplay details which were revealed. For what it's worth, we think it sounds awesome! Original story is below.We're usually pretty hesitant when it comes to accepting the testimony of moles at face value, but this story's got a bit of credibility -- some underground agent, working in conjunction with Four Player Co-Op, snagged some supposed screengrabs of concept art and details for a new Tomb Raider game. According to the text accompanying the art, Lara's new adventure will be open-world, will feature a reworked combat system and -- most importantly -- will serve as an origin story for the young heiress.Anonymity breeds contempt in the gaming news world -- however, this report is supported by four pieces of news that have dropped in the past two months: Eidos' president said the next Tomb Raider game will "reinvigorate the franchise." Crystal Dynamics is hiring folks to work on an installment in a "AAA franchise." Toby Gard, the series' creator, is leading a design group for an "unannounced project." Eidos is terrible at keeping its secret games under wraps.
Rumor: Ars Technica Mole foretells PS3 and 360 price drops in fall
Yes, we know -- another console price drop story. Our contempt rivals your own, we assure you. However, this time around, the report comes from a source that's proven to be eerily accurate on hardware announcements in the past -- Ars Technica's unnamed "mole," a prophetic figure who managed to predict the capabilities of the PSP Go, the release of the red Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 bundle and, most notably, last fall's universal 360 price cut. On the Sony front, the mole is claiming that the 80GB PS3 will become scarce over the next two months, being mostly replaced by the 160GB model. As the larger model continues to sell into the fall, Sony will supposedly simultaneously announce the oft-rumored PS3 Slim and the even more oft-rumored price cut. The mole was unable to discern the exact amount that would be shaved off the price of the console, but was confident it would provide Sony with a much-needed sales boost.For Microsoft, the mole expects the Pro system to be ushered off store shelves with the help of a few attractive Pro bundles which will crop up over the next few months. The Pro will be replaced by the 120GB Elite, which will supposedly undergo a price cut in September, followed by the release of its own bundles in October. With downloadable titles becoming a focus for both companies, turning the spotlight on consoles with larger hard drives makes sense -- but only time will tell if the Ars mole's sterling predictive reputation will persevere.
Ars' mole says slimmer PS3 coming in August or Sept.
Thanks to his or her flawless track record, when Ars Technica's mole speaks, we listen. So you'll understand why rumors of the PSP Go! and slim PS3 seem just a little more likely to us this morning. The mole says that (though it won't necessarily be announced at E3) the slimmer PS3 will arrive in August or September, after the regular-sized PS3s have dried up a skosh.The mole's also pushing the PSP Go!, saying it will feature "lower power consumption and possibly a lower price." Read all of the shifty rodent's musings right here.
"Mole" says UMD-less PSP-Go! is on for E3, slimmer PS3 to follow
Ready for this? No, seriously -- are you strapped in? The same reliable "mole" that enabled ArsTechnica to correctly call the Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 bundle and the new Halo 3 / Fable 2 bundle (among other items) has come forward with convincing evidence that a UMD-less PSP is indeed on the table for an E3 launch. Truthfully, we'd be more shocked if Sony didn't announce such a product, with the download-only release of Patapon 2 being a telltale sign that something was up. We're told that the so-called PSP-Go! will be debuting in LA next week, but that a slimmer, trimmer PlayStation 3 likely won't. The reason? Sony's waiting for its current stock of PS3 consoles to dwindle, after which it intends to refill channel partners with the physically fit edition that we peeked just over a week ago. We'll be live at the expo to give the low-down on this as it happens, but suffice it to say, buying a bulky PS3 over the next few months will likely morph into a regrettable decision.
Rumorang: New Xbox 360 bundle, Core this holiday
A "mole" has unearthed a pair of juicy rumors for Opposable Thumbs, detailing not one, but two new Xbox 360 bundles expected just in time for the holiday splurge. The first, described as the Xbox 360 Pro package, will reportedly include a single case featuring both Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, much like what was done with the old Sega GT/Jet Set Radio bundle for the original Xbox. Rumors of this bundle first surfaced last month, and this latest report seems to add a measure of certainty to those claims.This package is expected to drop on October 9, with a similar bundle for the Elite coming October 23. Unfortunately, according to the aforementioned mole, there won't be a price drop, but two free games is two free games. The mole's most interesting suggestion, however, is a new Xbox 360 Core model that will arrive "at the end of October," sporting a HDMI port, wireless controller, 256MB memory card, and five XBLA arcade games (Boom-Boom Rocket, Pac-man, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, and Luxor 2) on a single disc. Even better is that, according to the subterranean varmint, the package will carry the standard Core price of $279.99.If true, these deals look to offer a number of options for those still hesitant to dive into the Xbox 360 pool, making October a month to watch.