Lifeboat Foundation

But there’s just one problem, according to the magazine: Laser weapons basically don’t work underwater, where laser light scatters and gets absorbed almost immediately.

Top Secret

While public documents reveal certain details about the designs the Navy has been testing since at least 2011, the Navy has remained tight-lipped about the execution or purpose of such a system, PopMech reports. One theory, according to the magazine, is that the Navy plans to integrate the lasers into the submarines’ periscopes and use them as surface weapons.

Samsung has a hardened version of the Galaxy S20, but don’t reach for your credit card — it’s not what you were expecting, and you probably can’t get one. The company has introduced a Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition that, as the name suggests, is designed to meet the needs of the US military and federal government. It touts two layers of encryption strong enough to handle top secret data and connects to tactical radios and mission systems out of the box.

There are combat-related conveniences, too. One mode can turn the display on and off while you’re wearing night vision goggles, while a stealth mode turns off LTE and and mutes all RF broadcasts to eliminate even the slightest chance of eavesdropping. It’s also easy to unlock the phone in landscape mode so that you can quickly launch an app while the device is mounted to your chest.

This is otherwise a run-of-the-mill Galaxy S20 with a 6.2-inch, 1440p display, a Snapdragon 865 processor, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, a 4,000mAh battery and the usual arrays of front and rear cameras. Although Samsung shows the Tactical Edition in a rugged casing, there’s no mention of the phone itself being rugged.

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From opening up bottles to extinguishing candles, these records are sure to leave you breathless!

Continue reading “The Most Intense Nunchaku Records — Guinness World Records” »

A team at Harvard has identified molecules that restore protective caps on the tips of our chromosomes that regulate cells ageing.

The factors mediating fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections are poorly understood. Here, we show that cigarette smoke causes a dose-dependent upregulation of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, in rodent and human lungs. Using single-cell sequencing data, we demonstrate that ACE2 is expressed in a subset of secretory cells in the respiratory tract. Chronic smoke exposure triggers the expansion of this cell population and a concomitant increase in ACE2 expression. In contrast, quitting smoking decreases the abundance of these secretory cells and reduces ACE2 levels. Finally, we demonstrate that ACE2 expression is responsive to inflammatory signaling and can be upregulated by viral infections or interferon treatment. Taken together, these results may partially explain why smokers are particularly susceptible to severe SARS-CoV-2 infections. Furthermore, our work identifies ACE2 as an interferon-stimulated gene in lung cells, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infections could create positive-feedback loops that increase ACE2 levels and facilitate viral dissemination.

China’s legislators will discuss a new national security law specifically crafted for Hong Kong. The issue has long been controversial in the city, despite the Basic Law requiring its enactment.

A group of scientists announced a rare find Wednesday – the fossilized remains of a giant bug that crawled around Utah during the time of the dinosaurs.

Called “Morrisonnepa jurassica,” the insect roamed the region 151 million years ago and was discovered in the same geological formation as Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

It appears to be related to modern giant water bugs, or Belostomatidae, which prey on fish, amphibians, snakes and invertebrates. The bugs are also known for their excruciating bite.

Gravitational-wave researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a new model that promises to yield fresh insights into the structure and composition of neutron stars.

The model shows that vibrations, or oscillations, inside the stars can be directly measured from the gravitational-wave signal alone. This is because neutron stars will become deformed under the influence of tidal forces, causing them to oscillate at characteristic frequencies, and these encode unique information about the star in the gravitational-wave signal.

This makes asteroseismology — the study of stellar oscillations — with gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars a promising new tool to probe the elusive nature of extremely dense nuclear matter.

— Data remain sparse, but a few risks are emerging.