While the video stream will broadcast live, because of the time delay between the Earth and Mars, by the time we start seeing the feed of the beginning of the landing phase, Perseverance will actually already be on the surface of Mars – hopefully.

Unlike missions to Mars of the past, this one will provide a number of incredible videos of various stages of the landing. Taking a cue from SpaceX, NASA has equipped Perseverance and the landing vehicles with a number of High-Definition cameras.

Watch Live Video Stream of Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars:

A little while after the Perseverance Rover has completed its landing, that video footage will be beamed back to earth. NASA will then release the various high-definition videos of the landing for the public to enjoy.

Many of us have already enjoyed the spectacular videos from recent SpaceX launches here on Earth. Similarly, the cameras mounted on the Perseverance lander will give the world an unprecedented view of a spacecraft entering the atmosphere and landing on another planet – Mars.

Perseverance is the “biggest, heaviest, cleanest, and most sophisticated robotic geologist ever launched into space,” according the NASA. The rover will search the Jezero Crater on for signs of ancient life on Mars. It is equipped with a drill that will collect complete core samples which will be returned to Earth by a future mission vehicle.

Live video coverage of the Perseverance Rover landing, including commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) begins at 2:15 p.m. EST on Thursday Feb. 18, 2021.

In addition to the online live streams, the rover landing will also air on the NASA TV Public Channel. Online video sources to watch the Perseverance Rover Mars Landing include: NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV.

Perseverance is scheduled to touchdown on the surface of Mars at 3:55 p.m. EST.

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According to new research, the number of people who will suffer as a result of extreme droughts is expected to increase to more than 2 times its current levels in the latter half of this century.

This new information comes from research performed by a global network of scientists begin led by a team at Michigan State University. More than 20 helped to author the results.

Currently about 3 percent of the world population is greatly impacted by severe drought. Much more than just a lack of clean water, the drought conditions lead to food shortages for those in the areas.

The new research predicts that this number will increase to around 8 percent by the late 21^st century. The results were recently published in Nature Climate Change.

“More and more people will suffer from extreme droughts if a medium-to-high level of global warming continues and water management is maintained in its present state,” said Yadu Pokhrel – civil and environmental engineer and lead author of the research paper.

“Areas of the Southern Hemisphere, where water scarcity is already a problem, will be disproportionately affected. We predict this increase in water scarcity will affect food security and escalate human migration and conflict.”

Additionally, the scientists are projecting that two-thirds of the planet will see a large reduction in natural land water storage. This includes the water which normally accumulates in snow and ice, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater. All of which is being driven by climate change.

This land water storage, represents critically important components of the world’s water and energy supply. “Our findings are a concern,” Pokhrel said.

“To date, no study has examined how climate change would impact land water storage globally. Our study presents the first comprehensive picture of how global warming and socioeconomic changes will affect land water storage and what that will mean for droughts through the end of the century.”

The post Suffering from Extreme Droughts will Double appeared first on CitizenNewsWire.

The company issuing the warning is Asigra Inc. The organization is touted as a leader in backup and recovery software that delivers comprehensive backup repository cyber protection. They have been awarded Product of the Year Gold winner, three times, by TechTarget for their Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software.

Asigra is currently working to maintain operational continuity, and productive operations, for clients as it responds to these impending threats.

“The organization has observed continuing ransomware attacks across the country and around the world. Malicious actors have adjusted their ransomware tactics over time to include pressuring victims for payment by threatening to release stolen data if they refuse to pay.” stated the US Government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

“Malicious actors increasingly use tactics such as deleting system backups, which make restoration and recovery more difficult or infeasible for impacted organizations.”

According to Asigra, most organizations are falling into a false sense of security – assuming that their backup data will be available after a ransomware attack. However, the company is warning that in many recent attacks, the backup data is targeted by the attackers.

Asigra is pointing to these 5 areas as the cyber security ransomware challenges which businesses must address in 2021 to remain in safe operations:

1.            Ransomware Attacks on Kubernetes Containers: The deployment of Kubernetes-based containers is growing rapidly as it allows software to run consistently between computing environments, making it highly portable, productive and ideal for digital transformation. Along with these advantages comes the generation of massive data volumes, making these new environments prime targets for new ransomware variants. Mitigating these attacks will require an industry-wide approach to ensuring the viability of these environments before, during and after such attacks.

2.            Cyber-targeting of SaaS-Based Applications: With the increase in distributed enterprise operations and remote work environments, there will be continued adoption of SaaS-based applications. Beyond the flexible use of these applications, they offer cost, time and scalability advantages in many cases. However, they also create a new data source that is vulnerable to ransomware and must be protected.

3.            AI-Driven Cyberattacks: Artificial intelligence and the technologies that enable it are becoming more advanced. The resulting new capabilities are allowing criminal organizations to conduct more complex and targeted attacks. To counter these more intelligent attacks, organizational defenses must also evolve.

4.            Ransomware Payments to Become Illegal: The US government has expressed intentions to align the payment of cyber ransoms with the support of terrorist organizations and will likely make these payments illegal. It is expected that other nations will enact such laws as well, especially to defend against possible nation-state sponsored actors. Without the ability to retrieve criminally encrypted data or recover properly, ransomware attacks will become business ending events.

5.            Managed Security Service Provider Registration with the Government: The US government will move to require MSPs/MSSPs that provide cybersecurity services to register their organizations with the government, adding more regulations as the ransomware trend continues to accelerate.

Ensuring that viable backup data is available and unharmed is essential to for a business to survive a ransomware attack.  

To make this happen, the organization’s backup infrastructure, including access to backup software controls, must be ensured.

“Organizations need to ready themselves to properly and quickly respond to ransomware attacks regardless of what has been attacked. One way to do this is to make backup data very difficult to hack,” said David Farajun, Chief Executive Officer, Asigra, Inc.

“Regardless of the imposing number of routes that ransomware will take in 2021, having a well-planned response plan to get your systems back up and running in the least amount of time will be critical to ensuring business viability.” Additional details about Asigra’s enhanced data protection suite is available on the company web site https://www.asigra.com.

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A group of engineers at Purdue University have developed an incredibly small rectangular micro robot which can travel through the human body to deliver medicine. Or they can be used as a diagnostic tool to report back on your health.

The robot as tiny as a few human hairs, according to the recent announcement by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Seen in this image of a penny, the micro-robot is the tiny speck smaller than the ‘U’ in United States.

Why are these Micro-Robots important?

Current medicines often have very negative side-effects. Much of this is due to the fact that the medicines travel throughout various areas of the body in order to reach their target. In this way, the medication can adversely impact other organs and body parts.

By placing the medicine onboard a tiny robot like this one, it can be programmed to wait until it reaches a very specific part of the body before releasing the medicine.

How do they work?

This first micro robot has been tested in live animals. It has been able to travel throughout a colon by essentially doing back flips. In the end, developers aim to use these robots eventually transport therapeutic drugs through the colons and other organs have rough terrain.

The tiny device derives its power from a magnetic field outside of the patient. Doctors would use the same field to control the robot – directing it to the target location.

“When we apply a rotating external magnetic field to these robots, they rotate just like a car tire would over rough terrain,” said David Cappelleri, a Purdue mechanical engineer. “The magnetic field also safely penetrates different types of mediums, which is important for using these robots in the human body.”

This video explains more about how the micro-robots work.

The NSF helped to fund this research. The work has been cited as the “first demonstration of a microrobot tumbling through a biological system in vivo.”

According to the study, the microrobots are nontoxic and biocompatible. They are made of polymer and metal.

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A recent report in Nature describes a Room-Temperature Superconductivity breakthrough by a team at the University of Rochester and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.

A superconductive material is one in which there is basically no resistance flow of electric current. This means that there is no power loss as a current travels through a circuit.

Until now, achieving superconductivity in materials was only possible at extremely low temperatures. This has made them impractical for use in today’s tech. This breakthrough however, could change everything.

The research team is led by physicists Ranga Dias and Ashkan Salamat of  the University of Rochester and UNLV respectively. Their research is being funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“It’s a game changer,” said Salamat.

“The discovery is new, and the technology is in its infancy and a vision of tomorrow, but the possibilities are endless. This could revolutionize the energy grid and change every device that’s electronically driven.”

Instead of using ultra low temperatures (close to -273 Celsius) to achieve superconductivity, the teams did it with pressure. Extremely high pressure – similar to the crushing pressure near the Earth’s core.  

The researchers are still at an early stage in their work. But if they can continue to see success as they try to use less or no pressure, a whole new wave of technological advances lies ahead.

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According to data published in Nature, for the first time in almost decades, a positive change in the environmental conditions has been observed. 

The conditions of lock-down caused by COVID-19, and the prevailing work-from-home situation appears to be driving the drop in CO2 emissions. Transport-led emissions lead the way with a recent report suggesting that transport emissions have reduced by 40% worldwide.

The power and industry sectors have seen the second largest reduction in carbon emissions, behind transportation, with a decline reported as 22% and 17%, respectively.

The reduction may seem to be a good sign. Unfortunately, this effect will undoubtedly be temporary. As people return to work after completion of lock-downs, there will likely be a corresponding increase in the related CO2 emissions.

If the policymakers in corporations continue to find ways for their employees to be effective while working remotely, this could become a permanent change. The key is to see this period of lockdown as a preparatory phase to ensure that this new-found lifestyle becomes the ‘new normal’ and sustains for the years to come.

It will help the employees save on transportation costs and the companies on the travel allowances, but it will also help keep the CO2 levels reduced. This policy change may be just what is required for making Earth a sustainable place to be.

Scientists collected real-time data by compiling the daily flight statistics and monthly production data of about 42 countries. It also includes the hourly production records of electricity of some 31 countries, and others.

All these datasets have painted a picture that tells how important it is to curtail the actions that, though contributing to economic development, are going unjustifiably against the well-being or good health of the planet. 

As the pandemic lock-down has started to lift, there has been a corresponding rebound in the levels of CO2 emissions. Perhaps this pandemic, and the shutdown, have shown us a way to reduce CO2 emissions permanently – while still being productive.

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There are essentially 4 versions of the iPhone 12 depending on how big or small you prefer your phone to be. They also range in price, starting from $699 and going as high as $1099.

All of the latest models feature 5G connectivity for the fastest download speeds. These phones will take advantage of the new 5G networks being rolled out by all of the major wireless carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Watch the official video of the Oct. 13 Apple Event:

All of the new models use Apple’s new A14 Bionic chip for the fastest processing power to run your apps and videos. Also, each model features a Ceramic Shield front, providing 4 times better drop performance, made from surgical-grade stainless steel. The water-resistant nature of the phones protects them to a depth of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes.

If this is your first iPhone purchase, you will need to buy accessories such as ear buds and a charger. Apple made the change to not include these items with the newest phones because so many people already have them.

iPhone 12 model comparison

So, for choosing the model that’s right for you, it basically comes down to size and camera features.

Here’s a quick comparison of the iPhone 12 models. Additional information is of course available on the Apple website.

The choices are: iPhone 12 Pro Max, 12 Pro, 12, and the 12 mini.

All models have 12MP ultra-wide and wide field cameras – 2x optical zoom, and record video at 30 fps. But the pro version also has an additional telephoto lens built in, 5x optical zoom, and records video at 60fps.

The iPhone pro also features a new LiDAR scanner for night mode portraits, faster autofocus in low light, and next-level AR experiences.

If size is how you’ll decide, here’s the comparison. The Pro has a 6.7 inch display, the mini has a smaller 5.4 inch, and the standard iPhone 12 has a 6.1 inch display.  

Finally, the Pro is much heavier than the other two at 8.03 ounces. The standard 12 and the mini are 5.78 ounces and 4.76 ounces respectively.

The post iPhone 12 released by Apple – Compare Models & Watch the Video appeared first on CitizenNewsWire.

Extracting hydrogen from water is nothing new. It’s a simple process known as electrolysis. Using electricity, the positive Oxygen atoms in H2O are attracted to the negative electrode. Conversely, the negative Hydrogen atoms are attracted to the positive electrode. In this way, water can be separated into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.

The hydrogen gas can then be used in a variety of ways to produce energy. It can be used to boil water in a power plant, instead of using coal or natural gas.  

It can be combined with oxygen to produce power in a fuel cell (battery). These are in use today on the space station. Hydrogen fuel can even be used in current automobile engines instead of gasoline.

Technical Hurdles to Success

There are 2 primary technical hurdles to obtaining enough hydrogen to make it a widely available fuel source.

First, is the electricity needed for electrolysis. It doesn’t make sense to use electricity from a coal powered plant, for example, to produce hydrogen to be used to power another plant. The solution is to use solar, wind, or wave energy to power the separation process.

In a way, the hydrogen produced is basically storing the solar, wind or wave energy that produced it. This also solves the current issue with how to store, for example, solar energy for use when the sun is not shining.

The second technical hurdle is the salt in the sea water.  Unless the salt is removed before electrolysis, the chloride ions in seawater turn into toxic chlorine gas, which degrades the equipment and seeps into the environment. This desalination process is expensive.

Fortunately, research scientists at Penn State appear to have solved this issue. They have developed a design for a seawater electrolyzer. It uses an electric current to split apart the hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules, but also incorporates a membrane which first removes the chloride ions.

“Hydrogen is a great fuel, but you have to make it,” said environmental engineer Bruce Logan. “The only sustainable way to do that is to use renewable energy and produce it from water. You also need to use water that people do not want to use for other things, and that would be seawater. So, the holy grail of producing hydrogen would be to combine the seawater and the wind and solar energy found in coastal and offshore environments.”

The thin, semipermeable membrane that the team is using was originally developed for purifying water in the reverse osmosis treatment process. Using high pressure on the water, it is pushed through the membrane, leaving the salt behind.

The team’s test results were published in Energy & Environmental Science. If they are successful in their continued development of a system, it could literally change the world.

“The world is looking for renewable hydrogen,” Logan said. “For example, Saudi Arabia has planned to build a $5 billion hydrogen facility that is going to use sea water. Right now, they have to desalinate the water. Maybe they can use this method instead.”

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Published in the Nature, the study is based on work done by scientists from the University of Buffalo. Researchers, led by geologist Jason Briner, developed models of the ice melt. These models are able to reconstruct the climate thousands of years ago, and use that information to produce their findings.

With their data and the models, they are able to more accurately understand the Greenland ice sheet. Not only do the models let them better understand the past in the area, but also better predict the future.

What they have found in their predictions of the future, and their understanding of the present, is astounding.

“Basically, we’ve altered our planet so much that the rates of ice sheet melt this century are on pace to be greater than anything we’ve seen under natural variability of the ice sheet over the past 12,000 years,” says Briner.

“We’ll blow that out of the water if we don’t make severe reductions to greenhouse gas emissions.”

The results of this study, add to the mountains of climate change data that scientists have amassed in recent years. Unfortunately, many politicians still choose to ignore or discount the findings.

Based on their data, Briner and his team are urging leaders in countries world-wide to make the necessary changes to slow the decline of ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise.

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The implementation is part the country’s digital government transformation and Smart Nation initiative. iProov and Toppan Ecquaria are the technology partners providing the biometric authentication tech behind this new service.

While iProov provides the biometric back-end to the system, Ecquaria provides the secure connection between the end user and the business or government system.

The two companies were selected after several months of testing and a vetting process to ensure the security of the system. With sensitive information at stake for the citizens, security and privacy are large concerns.

The new system will eliminate the need for passwords currently used by citizens when accessing government services.

They have dubbed the face verification ‘SingPass’. And it will now contain biometric facial recognition information for every resident of Singapore.

While this service may provide ease of access to hundreds of government and commercial services, there is the potential for privacy concerns.

The collection of this facial recognition data on every resident in the country also has the potential to be used to track and monitor those same individuals.

The Singapore government has already opened up the system to let corporations take advantage of SingPass. Many businesses, including banks are able to let citizens access their accounts using the system.

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