Scientists have come up with a potential solution to deal with dust on the moon which makes conducting research tricky. Dust erodes space suits, clogs machinery, interferes with scientific instruments and makes moving around on the surface difficult. But they reckon moon dust could be melted using a giant lens developed by the European Space Agency to create solid roads and landing areas. Using a fine-grained material called EAC-1A, developed as a substitute for lunar soil, scientists used a 50mm diameter laser beam to heat the dust to about 1,600C and melt it. Then they traced out bendy triangle shapes, which could be interlocked to create solid surfaces across large areas of lunar soil to be used as road. However it would take about 100 days to create a 10 x 10m landing spot so it is not a quick fix. To make matters worse, the lens needed for the laser to work would be difficult to transport from Earth and could also get dust in it which may reduce its functionality. “You might think: ‘Streets on the moon, who needs that?’” said Prof Jens Günster, of the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing in Berlin and co-author of a report on the possible solution. “But in fact it’s a kind of depressing demand [even] early on. It’s very loose material, there’s no atmosphere, gravity is weak, so the dust gets everywhere. It contaminates not only your equipment but other nations’. No one would be happy to be covered in dust from another rocket." Dust has blighted previous missions, such as the Surveyor 3 spacecraft (damaged by dust kicked up by the Apollo 12 landing), and overcoming this challenge is a priority for Nasa, which aims to establish a permanent lunar outpost. Transporting building materials to the moon would be too expensive, so there is a need for unconventional solutions. “You need to use what’s there and that’s simply loose dust,” said Günster. The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

China’s tech sector has a new obsession: competing with US titans like Google and Microsoft Corp. in the

The world’s largest solar manufacturer slashed prices for a key component as growing capacity in the sector intensifies

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2023--

Elon Musk has cut staff from the X team that combats election disinformation claiming they were actually “undermining election integrity.” The platform, formerly known as Twitter, got rid of half of the global team, including four people at its Dublin office and its head, sources told The Information. Mr Musk later confirmed the move on X, stating: “Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.” With the 2024 US presidential election just over a year away, the team may now have only six staff members, most of them in North America, reported The Messenger. The Independent has reached out to the platform for comment on the cuts and received a message back stating, “Busy now, please check back later.” The move comes less than a month after the company announced in a blog post that it was “expanding” its “safety and elections teams to focus on combating manipulation, surfacing inauthentic accounts and closely monitoring the platform for emerging threats.” CEO Linda Yaccarino recently told The Financial Times that the platform was aiming to expand its elections and trust and safety teams. Mr Musk slashed the company’s workforce when he completed his $44bn purchase of the company, which he had repeatedly tried to back out of. In February The New York Times reported that the company had gone from 7,500 employees to fewer than 2,000 following repeated rounds of job cuts. The cuts included many from its trust and safety team, as well as senior executives in that area, such as Yoel Roth and Ella Irwin. Mr Roth, the former head of trust and safety, wrote a guest essay for the newspaper in which he revealed that following online attacks from Mr Musk and Donald Trump he has been forced to live with armed security guards outside his home and had to go into hiding for months. Read More Elon Musk to live stream himself doing ‘silly stuff’ on X Woman claiming to be Elon Musk’s wife arrested for trespassing at SpaceX plant in Texas Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claps back at Elon Musk for calling her ‘not that smart’ Musk confirms he is cutting election integrity staff from X/Twitter ahead of 2024 Woman claiming to be Elon Musk’s wife arrested at SpaceX site in Texas At US Antarctic base hit by harassment claims, workers are banned from buying alcohol at bars

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 21, 2023--

The Indian government has announced that it would impose a heavy 28 per cent tax on the funds collected by online gaming firms from its customers, dealing a blow to the country’s fast-growing industry valued close to $2bn. India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, consisting of federal and state ministers, said on Tuesday that it has agreed to levy a 28 per cent indirect tax on online gaming, casinos, and horse racing, adding there should be no distinction between “game of skill” and “game of chance.” Industry experts have voiced concerns that the increased tax burden on the companies may lead to extra charges levied from customers. Companies have so far only paid a small tax on the fee charged from customers for playing games involving real money, but Tuesday’s new rule would impose a 28 per cent tax on the amount these firms collect from players in every game, dealing a hefty blow to their operations. “The implementation of a 28 per cent tax rate will bring significant challenges to the gaming industry. This higher tax burden will impact companies’ cash flows,” Aaditya Shah, an executive at the gaming app IndiaPlays, told Reuters. The new move also comes amid a number of reports across the country of gaming addiction and financial losses among fantasy cricket players and online card games. Commenting on the GST Council’s decision, Roland Landers, chief of the trade body All India Gaming Federation which represents firms like Mobile Premier League, Gameskraft, and Paytm First Games, said it is “unconstitutional, irrational, and egregious”. “This decision will wipe out the entire Indian gaming industry and lead to lakhs of job losses and the only people benefitting from this will be anti-national illegal offshore platforms,” Mr Landers said in a statement, TechCrunch reported. Ashneer Grover, co-founder of the Indian fintech company BharatPe and a former Shark Tank India judge, tweeted that the move may pose risks “not only for online games – but across sectors. Across startups.” “You got billions in from foreign investors as FDI (foreign direct investment). Celebrated FDI inflow! Now the same investors will apply regulatory risk discount to India and funds will dry up,” he said. “RIP – Real money gaming industry in India....It was good fun being part of the fantasy gaming industry - which stands murdered now,” Mr Grover tweeted. Read More A look at sports gambling rules among Big 4 pro leagues Seventh Indian cheetah died of ‘traumatic shock’ after fight with female, post mortem shows Record monsoon rains have killed more than 100 people in northern India this week £10 phone with e-wallet and streaming can bridge India ‘digital divide’, experts say Elon Musk reveals plan to use AI to reveal mysteries of the universe xAI: Everything we know about Elon Musk’s new AI company

Callum Wilson FC 24 challenges for his new Trailblazers objective card in Ultimate Team are now live. Here's how to complete each objective.

A cyberattack has affected computers at hospitals in multiple states, forcing some emergency rooms to close and ambulances to be diverted

Germany will increase a levy on polluting fossil fuels used in housing and transportation next year as planned,

Archaeologists have found a rare cold bath below the 18th-century Bath Assembly Rooms. The rooms, completed in 1771, were fashionable places of entertainment, conversation, dancing and gambling and cold baths were seen as good for people's health. The cold bath is in the centre of a suite of three rooms beneath one end of the ballroom. It has dressing rooms on either side. The excavation involved removing a later floor that had been installed over the cold bath and removing tonnes of rubble to reveal steps down into it. Bruce Eaton, of Wessex Archaeology, which oversaw the excavation, told the Guardian: “Although historical records indicated that there was a cold bath buried beneath the Bath Assembly Rooms, we had no idea what preservation of the bath would be like. “The building suffered damage at the hands of the Luftwaffe and the rooms were remodelled in the late 20th century but, after carefully excavating tonnes of concrete and rubble, we saw the original structure emerge in its entirety. “It’s tremendous to be able to piece together this rare archaeological evidence of an 18th-century cold bath with social historical accounts from the time.” Tatjana LeBoff, a project curator at the National Trust, said: “The cold bath at the assembly rooms is highly unusual. It is a rare, if not unique, surviving example, and possibly it was the only one ever built in an assembly room.” The trust was researching records, letters, diaries and other documents to discover more about the cold bath, she said. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

DALLAS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 18, 2023--