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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.

Using AI and old reports to understand...

Getting a quick and accurate reading of an X-ray or some other medical images can be vital to a patient’s health and might even save a life. Obtaining such an assessment depends on the availability of a skilled radiologist and, consequently, a rapid response is not always possible. For that reason, says Ruizhi “Ray” Liao, a postdoc and a recent PhD graduate at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), “we want to train machines that are capable……

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Podcast: Pando the Trembling Giant

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit Fishlake National Forest, home to the biggest organism by mass on the planet. But this giant is shrinking and an unusual group has banded together to help defend it. We have a new book coming out! It’s called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world’s edible wonders. Pre-order your copy, and……

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Tony Awards and TV special hope to...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Golden Globes have all held their ceremonies during the pandemic. Now it’s time for the Tony Awards, celebrating an art form that really needs the boost — live theater. Sunday’s show has been expanded from its typical three hours to four, with Audra McDonald handing out Tonys for the first two hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting a “Broadway’s Back!” celebration for the second half, including the awarding of the…

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Arsenal humiliates Spurs, seasons head in opposite...

LONDON (AP) — However bad things have seemed for Arsenal over the last decade, beating Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium can usually be relied on. Just not usually as emphatically as Sunday’s north London derby triumph — a 3-1 victory helping to clear the early-season gloom for Mikel Arteta’s side. Never before in the Premier League has Arsenal scored three goals as quickly in a derby. The goals inside the opening 34 minutes from Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang…

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Arena Stage’s run of ‘Toni Stone’ cut...

Santoya Fields stars in “Toni Stone.” (Courtesy/Ryan Maxwell Photography) Arena Stage has announced the remaining run of “Toni Stone,” a play about the first woman to play professional ball in the Negro Leagues, has been canceled due to a non-COVID related health issue. No information was given on the nature of the “health issue,” or who in the production had been affected. The production, which received significant praise in the D.C. area, was originally due to run until Oct….

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Petito case renews call to spotlight missing...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In the three months since 62-year-old Navajo rug weaver Ella Mae Begay vanished, the haunting unanswered questions sometimes threaten to overwhelm her niece. Seraphine Warren has organized searches of the vast Navajo Nation landscape near her aunt’s home in Arizona but is running out of money to pay for gas and food for the volunteers. “Why is it taking so long? Why aren’t our prayers being answered?” she asks. Begay is one of thousands…

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Brunswick Stew Monument in Brunswick, Georgia

A great debate rages between Brunswick, Georgia and Brunswick County, Virginia. The feud is over which region originated the the concoction known as Brunswick stew. This tomato-based Southern dish was originally made up of squirrel, rabbit and opossum as the base proteins in the past. These days, the meat is usually pork or chicken, cooked along with beans and other local vegetables.   A large pot on a pedestal in Mary Ross Park in downtown Brunswick, Georgia is engraved with a……

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Virginia Woolf and the Complexities of Cottage...

What we most often remember from Virginia Woolf’s 1929 essay A Room of One’s Own are her thoughts on real estate: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Yet Woolf also recommends something that’s less commonly cited, but no less important—a good meal. She writes, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” As a member of the modernist Bloomsbury Group—a collection of……

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Teal McDonald's Arches in Sedona, Arizona

If you think the Golden Arches were an immutable part of the McDonald’s legacy, you’d be wrong. In 1993, the city of Sedona allowed McDonald’s to open in their town under one condition: They change the color of their logo. In order to preserve the natural beauty of the red rocks in the area and keep the overall aesthetic of the town (because that’s something people thought about in the ’90s), local officials required that McDonald’s change their famous……

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John Goffe’s Mill in Bedford, New Hampshire

Among the urban sprawl of South River Road in Bedford, you’ll find dozens and dozens of thriving businesses taking advantage of the area’s growing population and proximity to New Hampshire’s largest city, Manchester. But long before chain stores and boutiques populated the area, South River Road was home to the locally famous Wayfarer Hotel, the most iconic hotel and convention center in all of southern New Hampshire. But long before it was a hotel, South River Road boasted the……

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Lago di Alleghe in Alleghe, Italy

Alleghe is a small village tucked between the Dolomites, a mountain range part of the Alps in Northern Italy, and is located just below the large Monte Civetta. It is now a renowned tourist destination thanks to its beautiful lake, but a tragic story hides behind this serene location.  On January 11, 1771, a huge landslide broke off from nearby Monte Piz, destroying three villages and killing 49 people. The landslide obstructed the path of the Cordevole stream that……

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'The Man Slopping Pigs' in Falls Church,...

Don Beyer began working at his father’s Volvo dealership after graduating college, before eventually teaming up with his brother Michael to take over the family business. The brothers rebranded the business as Beyer Automotive Group and expanded to nine dealerships and five automobile brands. His name was one of a few that were synonymous with car sales in northern Virginia.  In 1990, Beyer entered politics and served as lieutenant governor of Virginia for several years before losing the gubernatorial……

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Deep learning helps predict new drug combinations...

The existential threat of Covid-19 has highlighted an acute need to develop working therapeutics against emerging health concerns. One of the luxuries deep learning has afforded us is the ability to modify the landscape as it unfolds — so long as we can keep up with the viral threat, and access the right data.  As with all new medical maladies, oftentimes the data need time to catch up, and the virus takes no time to slow down, posing a……

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Small Cannon of the Palais Royal in...

In the enchanting garden of the Palais Royal in Paris, there’s a small bronze cannon positioned on a stone pedestal. It was designed by engineer and watchmaker Rousseau. His shop was located in the Galerie de Beaujolais, one of the covered passages within the grounds of the Domaine du Palais Royal. It was installed on the Meridian Line of Paris in 1786. The cannon was equipped with a magnifying glass to catch the sun rays and set ablaze a wick……

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MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social...

Interim Dean Agustín Rayo and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences recently welcomed the newest members of the MIT SHASS faculty. The six new faculty for Fall 2021 bring an array of research interests and domain knowledge to MIT, including: ethical questions about misinformation and lying; macroeconomics; economic theory; transnational power and civic media; the literature and thought of East Asia; and the politics of trade. Ian Ball joins the Department of Economics as an assistant professor,……

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