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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

System helps severely motor-impaired individuals type more...

In 1995, French fashion magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a seizure while driving a car, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome, a neurological disease in which the patient is completely paralyzed and can only move muscles that control the eyes. Bauby, who had signed a book contract shortly before his accident, wrote the memoir “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” using a dictation system in which his speech therapist recited the alphabet and he would……

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California shooting victims remembered for kind hearts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A father of four. A best friend with a positive personality. A vivacious partygoer. The six people who were killed during a mass shooting in California’s capital city were remembered by their friends and family Monday as police worked to piece together what happened. Dozens of rapid-fire gunshots rang out early Sunday in the crowded streets of Sacramento, leaving three women and three men dead and another 12 people wounded. On Monday morning, small memorials…

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The Greatest Food Hoaxes of All Time

THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE APRIL 2, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. I do love a good prank. For six months, for example, I snuck increasingly improbable produce into my editor’s desktop fruit bowl, culminating in a coconut with a sizable branch still attached. But during my first year at Atlas Obscura, our editor-in-chief forbade anything like a fake article, or even fake tweets, for April 1. I’ll admit, I……

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SeXX and Immunity event raises crucial questions...

Why are females more likely to survive Covid-19 but at greater risk of developing chronic disease? Historically, why have women and nonbinary people typically been excluded from clinical trials? How do we understand how sex differences affect everyone? What is the interplay between sex chromosomes and sex hormones? Why has it taken the scientific community so long to include sex as a biological variable in research and analysis as a routine matter of course? These were a few of the……

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School of Engineering welcomes Thomas Tull as...

Thomas Tull, leading visionary entrepreneur and investor, has been appointed a School of Engineering visiting innovation scholar, effective April 1. Throughout his career, Tull has leveraged the power of technology, artificial intelligence, and data science to disrupt and revolutionize disparate industries. Today, as the founder, chair, and CEO of Tulco LLC, a privately held holding company, he looks to partner with companies employing cutting-edge ideas in industries that are established but often underfunded and under-innovated. Under Tull’s leadership Tulco……

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At MIT, women take the lead on...

MIT junior Cameron Kokesh crawled out of her tent on July 27, 2021, exhausted from 17-hour workdays in the Kansas summer heat. The MIT Solar Electric Vehicle team captain and about 24 other members were camping at the Formula Sun Grand Prix, where they would race their hand-built car against eight other teams to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. Kokesh and her teammates made their way to the track bathroom facilities to prepare for a big day. As……

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Chemical reactions for the energy transition

One challenge in decarbonizing the energy system is knowing how to deal with new types of fuels. Traditional fuels such as natural gas and oil can be combined with other materials and then heated to high temperatures so they chemically react to produce other useful fuels or substances, or even energy to do work. But new materials such as biofuels can’t take as much heat without breaking down. A key ingredient in such chemical reactions is a specially designed……

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Thirparappu Waterfalls in Tiruparapu, India

Located in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, the Thirparappu Waterfalls is located a little over two miles from the Thirparappu Dam. The dam and waterfalls were built for irrigation of the nearby farmland, but the waterfalls are also a place to relax. This location is considered one of the best places to visit in Kanyakumari and is certainly worth spending an afternoon. The easiest way to enter the falls is through the entrance, which is a seven-minute walk……

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Music stars return to Venezuela after skipping...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The ground shook at the instant the voice of Mexican music star Alejandro Fernandez collided with the deafening cheers of fans gathered for his first concert in Venezuela in over a decade. After an initial shocked pause at seeing the artist finally take the stage, the crowd, cellphones in hand, joined him in singing “Sin Tantita Pena” — “Without Too Much Pity.” “It’s beautiful to be in Venezuela,” he said to screams and whistles from…

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Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail in Susanville,...

The Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail, named for the congressman who played a major role in its creation, follows the original course of the western and more scenic part of the Fernley and Lassen branch line. Part of the Southern Pacific, this was a timber railroad that declined with the industry. It was finally abandoned in 1978. The trail runs some 25.4 miles from its eastern end in Susanville to its western end north of Westwood at Mason Station,……

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How One Wyoming Mule Deer Won Friends...

This piece was originally published in High Country News and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. Every spring, a herd of more than 1,000 mule deer leaves its winter range in Wyoming’s Red Desert in search of bountiful grasses and forbs. Some of the animals travel far, heading north up to 155 miles to the mountain slopes of the Hoback Basin, while others stay closer to home. They reconvene in the fall to ride out the……

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Viceroy's Arch in Goa Velha, India

Amid the many churches, chapels, cathedrals, and convents of Old Goa, there is an old archway that stands next to the Mandovi River, near the ferry terminal. This archway is called the Viceroy’s Arch and was constructed in 1599 by Francisco Da Gama (who was the Governor from 1597 to 1600) in memory of his great grandfather Vasco Da Gama. Back when Old Goa was the capital of Portuguese Goa, this archway was one of the main entrances into……

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What the World's Most Remote Islands Were...

The islands would have appeared from a distance like jagged teeth of volcanic rock—black basalt and rusty tuff, dusted with verdant green—but subtle changes in currents, waves, and wind would have alerted Polynesian seafarers to the presence of the archipelago long before they saw it. On the largest island, a wedged-shaped remnant of a collapsed volcano, the explorers likely avoided the steep cliffs of the western side, and may have found the bays of the north coast more inviting…….

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Culture is a meaning-making practice

In this commentary, Heather Paxson, the William Kenan Jr. Professor of Anthropology, and head of MIT Anthropology, provides foundational thinking about how her field of anthropology — the scientific study of humanity including societies, behavior, cultural meaning, norms, and values — understands the concept of culture. This article is the first in a series in which faculty and staff share ideas, stories, and research-based commentary on the nature of culture and their experiences as part of the MIT community…….

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Vanadislunden Water Reservoir in Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm’s center is full of beautiful old buildings and is home to several residences of the king. When walking past this structure in particular, one could easily assume that this is one of the homes or an old defensive fort. In actuality, it’s a large water reserve that keeps pressure on the pipes of people who live in the area. The Vanadislunden water reservoir was built between 1913 and 1918 after the designs of Gustar Améen. The building was constructed……

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