Month: May 2022

Enlarge / Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin is seen before Russia-China talks at the Moscow Kremlin. (credit: Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images)

It happened again this weekend. Both Bloomberg and Axios reported that Russia is quitting the International Space Station due to sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia. Each of these stories garnered considerable attention. And each of these stories was also wrong.

This has become a predictable pattern in recent weeks: Dmitry Rogozin, the voluble leader of Russia’s space corporation, will give an interview to a Russian space publication, and then Western news outlets will pick up whatever Rogozin says and leap to conclusions that are simply incorrect.

Specifically, this is what Rogozin said on state television this weekend: “The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly. I can say this only—in accordance with our obligations, we’ll inform our partners about the end of our work on the ISS with a year’s notice.”

Enlarge (credit: Getty)

So, you’re looking at a monitor or laptop that says it has Adaptive-Sync or variable refresh rates. Maybe it’s Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync. Maybe the vendor was detailed enough to include an Adaptive-Sync range, indicating the refresh rate range, as well as a response time figure and overdrive feature promising extra-smooth video playback. But then you see a bunch of other monitors and laptops claiming the same thing. How can you tell which display will offer a better media experience?

To help, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) launched a certification program Monday for PC monitors and laptop displays with Adaptive-Sync. The Adaptive-Sync Display Compliance Test Specification (Adaptive-Sync Display CTS) aims to provide more insight into the screen tear-fighting technology.

The program, which has already certified some products, has more than 50 criteria for its two tiers: MediaSync Display, which is focused on video playback and requires an Adaptive-Sync range of at least 48 to 60 Hz, and Adaptive-Sync Display, which is focused on gaming and requires an Adaptive-Sync rage of at least 60 to 144 Hz.

The Large Magellanic Cloud, the largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Accurate estimates of the distance to this galaxy help calibrate measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe. (credit: Robert Gendler/Josch Hambsch)

If a person is lost in the wilderness, they have two options. They can search for civilization, or they could make themselves easy to spot by building a fire or writing HELP in big letters. For scientists interested in the question of whether intelligent aliens exist, the options are much the same.

For over 70 years, astronomers have been scanning for radio or optical signals from other civilizations in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, called SETI. Most scientists are confident that life exists on many of the 300 million potentially habitable worlds in the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers also think there is a decent chance some life forms have developed intelligence and technology. But no signals from another civilization have ever been detected, a mystery that is called “The Great Silence.”

While SETI has long been a part of mainstream science, METI, or messaging extraterrestrial intelligence, has been less common.