Month: May 2022

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

The numbers are startling.

We know roughly how much more carbon dioxide we can put into the atmosphere before we exceed our climate goals—limiting warming to 1.5° to 2° C above preindustrial temperatures. From that, we can figure out how much more fossil fuel we can burn before we emit that much carbon dioxide. But when you compare those numbers with our known fossil fuel reserves, things get jaw-dropping.

To reach our climate goals, we’ll need to leave a third of the oil, half of the natural gas, and nearly all the coal we’re aware of sitting in the ground, unused.

Enlarge / One console, four displays, zero “split-screen” antics (credit: B&H Photo and Video)

Anyone who remembers playing GoldenEye 007 on the N64 likely remembers having to account for the “screencheaters” that would glance at another quadrant of the split-screen shooter to gauge an opponent’s locations. There’s even a modern game that forces players to rely on the tactic to track invisible opponents.

Now, 25 years after GoldenEye‘s launch, a museum has managed to do something about those screencheaters, rigging up a way to split a game of GoldenEye across four TV screens without modifying the original cartridge or N64 hardware.

4 screen GoldenEye on the original N64 hardware! No screencheating here! …but how?
Come and experience this at our GoldenEye evening, celebrating 25 years of GoldenEye for Nintendo 64: https://t.co/F918hEQ20v pic.twitter.com/05jA82upb8

— Computing History (@computermuseum) May 4, 2022

The multi-screen GoldenEye gameplay will be featured as part of the “25 Years of GoldenEye” event at Cambridge, England’s Centre for Computing History this weekend. A proof of concept for the unique playstyle (with all the monitors awkwardly facing the same direction) attracted some attention via a tweet Wednesday, leading Ars to reach out for more details on how the museum pulled it off.

Enlarge (credit: Justin Lewis)

Medical authorities have spent years convincing people to use sunscreen to limit their exposure to UV light. But that effort has had a bit of a setback, as several locations have recently banned the use of sunblocks by beachgoers. Those bans took effect after local waters were found to have high levels of some of the chemicals in sunblock, which was associated with the lower health of nearby coral reefs.

Several studies have indicated that one specific sunblock component, a chemical called oxybenzone, is at the root of the problem. But the mechanism by which oxybenzone could harm corals wasn’t clear. And, without that understanding, it’s difficult to tell which sunblocks might pose a risk.

Now, researchers from Stanford University have identified the problem. The corals convert oxybenzone from a chemical that can harmlessly absorb UV light to one that damages biological molecules after being exposed to UV. And there’s evidence that coral bleaching makes matters worse, as the coral is less able to withstand exposure.

Enlarge (credit: Petro Zadorozhny | Getty Images)

In the snowy streets of the north Ukrainian town of Trostyanets, the Russian missile system fires rockets every second. Tanks and military vehicles are parked on either side of the blasting artillery system, positioned among houses and near the town’s railway system. The weapon is not working alone, though. Hovering tens of meters above it and recording the assault is a Ukrainian drone. The drone isn’t a sophisticated military system, but a small, commercial machine that anyone can buy.

Since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine at the end of February, drones of all shapes and sizes have been used by both sides in the conflict. At one end of the scale are large military drones that can be used for aerial surveillance and to attack targets on the ground. In contrast, small commercial drones can be flown by people without any specific training and carried around in a suitcase-sized box. While both types of drones have been used in previous conflicts, the current scale of small, commercial drone use in Ukraine is unprecedented.

Drone videos shared and posted to social media depict the brutality of the war and reveal what has happened during battles. Drones have captured fighting in the destroyed Ukrainian city of Bucha, with lines of tanks moving around streets and troops moving alongside them. Commercial drones have helped journalists document the sheer scale of destruction in Kyiv and Mariupol, flying over burnt-out buildings that have been reduced to rubble.