Category Archives: Futurism

"Everything but pineapple, that would be a serious offense in Italy."Pizza Night With Friends

Astronauts stationed on board the International Space Station threw their own zero-gravity pizza party, as seen in a clip uploaded to Instagram by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Floating pizza night with friends, it almost feels like a Saturday on Earth, Pesquet wrote in a caption. They say a good chef never reveals their secrets, but I made a video so you can be the judge.

The crew was also celebrating NASA astronaut and current crew member Megan McArthurs 50th birthday. My Space Brothers went all out: quesadillas and tortilla-pizzas with real cheese! she wrote in a Monday tweet.

And to get ahead of possible criticism from Italians watching back on the ground, Pesquet and the rest of the team made one notable omission while topping their pizzas.

Everything but pineapple, that would be a serious offense in Italy, Pesquet wrote in a caption of the video (though its unclear whether the ISS has any pineapple on board in the first place.)

Hawaiian pizza is just that controversial. But then again, the pies were made using tortillas as a base. How would that not offend Italians?

The clip shows the hungry crew assembling their own single-serving pizzas with the added complexity of having pepperoni slices and tortillas floating in mid-air.

The tomato sauce appears to be acting as the glue holding everything together, a critical aspect of making dinner in microgravity.

In all, the end result looks pretty tasty, though its still a far cry from the kind of pizza youd get to eat back on Earth, let alone Italy.

Fortunately, the station got its own oven back in 2019. The device, built by NanoRacks and Zero G Kitchen, was used in January 2020 to bake the first-ever cookies in space.

Its unclear whether Pesquet and crew used the Zero G Oven to bake their pizzas but its somewhat unlikely given the fact that the cookies had to be baked for several hours, according to the BBC.

Nobody has that kind of restraint, even in space.

READ MORE: Astronauts Have Floating Pizza Party in Outer Space in Impressive Video [Newsweek]

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Picky Astronauts Refuse to Put Pineapple on Space Pizza - Futurism

Image by Unsplash/Tony Tran

A professor at the University of Georgia unexpectedly quit in the middle of class after a student refused to wear a mask on Tuesday.

Psychology professor Irwin Bernstein, 88, announced his sudden retirement after one of his students refused to wear her mask properly despite several attempts to get her to do so, according to University of Georgia student newspaper The Red & Black. The student initially arrived to class unmasked and Bernstein requested she get one from a university office. After the student was given an extra mask from a fellow classmate, she refused to wear it over her nose claiming she couldnt breathe with it on.

Bernstein informed the student he could die due to COVID-19 as he had Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. However, the girl continued to not wear her mask correctly.

At that point I said that whereas I had risked my life to defend my country while in the Air Force, I was not willing to risk my life to teach a class with an unmasked student during this Pandemic, said Bernstein to The Red & Black via email. I then resigned my retiree-rehire position.

Hannah Huff, a fourth-year psychology major, attended the class and told The Red & Black, Professor Bernstein said, Thats it. Im retired, and we watched him pack all of his papers into his bag and walk out of the classroom.

Huff said that the offending student got an earful from her peers who were shocked that their professor just quit on the spot, with some asking her, You know we need this class to graduate, right?

The damage is done, Huff told The Red & Black. Obviously she has her values, and theyre clearly not going to change even when someone asked you to do something that will make them feel comfortable. Bernstein is there for you [the student]. Like, he came out of retirement to do something for us, but you just cant take it out of the kindness of your heart to put a piece of fabric on properly.

This will actually mark Bernsteins second retirement from the institution, having initially retired from the University of Georgia in 2011. However, he remained on staff part time as a retiree-rehire.

On the first day of in-person classes on August 18, he told his students that his classes would have a strict no mask, no class policy.

I am sorry that the pandemic has caused so much dissension. I personally do not agree that stimulating the economy is more important than peoples lives and am disappointed that some people feel that it is, Bernstein said to the student-run publication.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are inching closer to record highs in the state of Georgia due to a Delta variant surge, according to The Wall Street Journal. In fact, 95 percent of intensive-care beds are filled across the Peach State, with 55 percent of them occupied by COVID-19 patients.

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Professor Quits Job on the Spot When Student Refuses to Wear Mask - Futurism

"There's a lot more focus on amenities and how to make an office better than working from your dining room table."Busy Bees

New York City office buildings are scrambling for new ways to lure tenants and their employees back to in-person work while the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

And among their top strategies is adding amenities reminiscent of the more nature-adjacent lifestyles that some workers may have experienced during the last year and a half such as, oddly enough, rooftop beekeeping classes, The New York Times reports. For example, the Manhattan financial firm Nuveen now has two hives on its rooftop where employees who take the bait can learn to tend to a hive, claim their share of honey, and perhaps even name the queen.

The pandemic amplified everything, George Blume, a design director at the architecture firm Gensler, told the NYT. Instead of biophilia being a fun little footnote, it became essential.

Other office buildings have added gardens and terraces, bigger windows, and other nature-inspired amenities in order to make the office a more alluring place for employees to spend their waking hours.

Theres a lot more focus on amenities and how to make an office better than working from your dining room table, CookFox Architects founding partner Richard Cook told the NYT.

Of course, theres the very reasonable question of whether workers should have to return to an office at all. After approximately a year and a half of figuring out how to do their jobs remotely, many workers are reluctant to return to business as usual especially since the pandemic is far from over.

To that end, the NYT reports that offices that have upgraded their ventilation or can otherwise demonstrate that the air inside is clean are having better luck luring people back in, though natural and outdoor spaces are certainly an added bonus.

READ MORE: Offices Dangle Beehives and Garden Plots to Coax Workers Back [The New York Times]

More on working from home: Literally Nobody Asked for Facebooks Dumb VR Meeting Feature

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Offices Are Trying to Tempt Workers Back With Live Bees for Some Reason - Futurism

China's new rule has limited online gaming hours for minors under the age of 18 to just three hours a week. The restriction is seen to affect not just the numerous minor gamers in the country, but gaming companies such as Tencent and NetEase as well.

The new rule changes one that was set by China in 2019, which limited gaming hours of minors to just an hour and a half a day.

The restriction also specifies which days minors are allowed to access online video games. According to the new rule, minors can only play online video games from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.

(Photo : Lucie Liz from Pexels)

China has set a new rule that limits online gaming of minors to just three hours a week, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The Bloomberg report describes the new rule as "a dramatic escalation of restrictions which dealt a blow to the world's largest mobile gaming market, as Beijing signaled it would continue a campaign to control the expansion of large tech companies."

The new rule applies to online gaming and limits the playing hours of those under the age of 18. Minors can now only play online games from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.

According to a report by Futurism, it is not clear if the new restriction affects the accessibility of offline single player games.

Related Article: Tencent Ordered by Chinese Government to Limit Minors' Time on 'Honor of Kings' to 1 Hour a Day

Per the report by Futurism, the new restriction imposed by China requires that a real-name verification system be put in place to make sure access to online gaming is limited for minors.

"All online games are also required to link to a state-run anti-addiction system," according to the report.

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) sees the new restriction as a way of looking out for the children of the country.

"Protecting the physical and mental health of minors is related to the people's vital interests, and relates to the cultivation of the younger generation in the era of national rejuvenation," according to a statement that was translated by Reuters.

The new restriction comes after China's state media called online gaming a "spiritual opium" early this month.

The new online gaming restriction for minors is not the first time China has made an effort to tighten its grip on the gaming industry in the country.

It was reported last year that China's lawmakers voted in favor of setting time and consumption limits for minors who are into gaming. The lawmakers voted to revise a law "to ban internet services and products, which "induce addiction" among children," according to a previous Tech Times report.

Also Read: China Requires Players to Use Their Real Name in Online Games as Real-Name Verification System to Be Launched by September

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isabella James

2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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China Limits Online Gaming Hours of Minors to Just Three Hours a Week - Tech Times

"We've been very saddened to see fires over huge sections of the Earth, not just the United States."Earth in Flames

Its no secret that our planet is literallyand figurativelyon fire right now.

In fact, some wildfires are so large that they can now easily spotted from space an unfortunate perspective of what may be our impending doom.

During a recent call with Insider, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the grim experience of being stationed on board the International Space Station while the Earth is in turmoil below.

Weve been very saddened to see fires over huge sections of the Earth, not just the United States, McArthur told the outlet.

She also took the opportunity to call for action.

Over many years, scientists around the world have been sounding this alarm bell, she told Insider. This is a warning for the entire global community. Its going to take the entire global community to face this and to work through these challenges.

Satellite images show huge regions across the entire planet engulfed in clouds of smoke of astronomical proportions, from Siberia, Greece, and Spain all the way to the Pacific Northwest.

Turkey has been hit particularly badly this year, as evidenced invideos of vacationers clearing beaches as the fires are raging in the background.

Some, like the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon, are so huge that theyre creating their own freak weather patterns. The US is even struggling to recruit enough firefighters.

Last week, the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a shocking report declaring code red for humanity.

Seeing that demise from several hundred miles floating above the Earths surface must be shocking, to say the least.

READ MORE: Astronauts say theyre saddened to watch the climate crisis from the space station: We can see all of those effects from up here [Insider]

More on wildfire: There Are So Many Wildfires That the US Cant Find Enough Firefighters

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Astronauts Alarmed by Huge Fires on Surface of Earth - Futurism

In this case, first place is the worst place to be.Disturbing and Disruptive

Wondering why your hot vax summer was the wrong kind of hot? Its not just you. In fact, July was the hottest month in recorded history.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Friday that July 2021 was Earths hottest month in 142 years, according to The Washington Post. The land and ocean-surface temperature for the month hit 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit more than the 20th century average a rise driven primarily by climate change.

In this case, first place is the worst place to be, said Rick Spinrad, administrator for the NOAA, in a statement. This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe.

Heat waves stretched across much of the world last month breaking record highs in several countries.

Japan broke their record high temperature during the Olympic games. Meanwhile, the heat had a particularly devastating impact on Turkey, which also dealt with hellish wildfires that have driven an evacuation crisis in the region.

The US has seen fires ravaging the West that have had an outsized impact on the entire country. In fact, smoke from fires in Oregon and California have been seen in places as far as New York City.

This announcement coming on the heels of the damning UN climate change report is yet another major red flag that major disasters driven by man made climate change are here and its only going to get worse unless we do something major about it.

READ MORE: July 2021 was Earths hottest month ever recorded, NOAA finds [The Washington Post]

More on climate change: UN Says Its Code Red for Humanity in Alarming Climate Change Report

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July Was Officially the Hottest Month in Recorded History - Futurism

But there are a few hurdles the company has to get over first. Sooner Rather Than Later

SpaceX founder Elon Musk hinted that Starship will likely be ready to land astronauts on the Moon before the projected 2024 launch date.

Musk was responding to a tweet on Saturday asking the Tesla CEO whether the super heavy-lift launch vehicle will be ready to bring astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024 to which he responded, Probably sooner.

Of course, this might just be more of that classic Elon braggadocio weve all come to loathe and love especially if you take into account the fact that SpaceX has a less-than-stellar history of hitting deadlines for missions and launches.

Theres also the fact that Artemis is going to be an intensely challenging mission that might require anywhere from eight to 16 launches to fuel up for a single trip to the Moon. On top of all this, NASAs own inspector general recently released a report saying that a lunar landing in 2024 is not feasible due to delays in spacesuit development.

But there are signs that things are pretty much on track. For one, SpaceX recently mounted Starship atop the Super Heavy booster creating the largest rocket ever. Now theyre just waiting for an environmental review from the FAA before their first orbital test launch. That means theres a good chance that Starship might go to orbit in the fall.

Plus, NASA recently made a hefty $300 million payment to SpaceX for the projected $3 billion project, reports Fox Business. So at the very least the agency still has full confidence that Musks company can get the job done.

Regardless, its best to take projected launch dates for big hairy complex missions like Artemis with a grain of salt. The mission will eventually get done and its best not to rush things even if you want to dunk on Blue Origin (looking at you, Elon).

READ MORE: SpaceX boss Elon Musk says Starship will land humans on moon probably sooner than 2024 [Fox Business]

More on Musk: Elon Musk: Each Starship Could Travel to Mars a Dozen Times

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Elon Musk Says SpaceX Will "Probably" Land Humans on Moon Before 2024 - Futurism

Few pop acts are quite as prepared to engage with climate change as Chicagos Air Credits. Since 2016, rapper ShowYouSuck (aka Clinton Sandifer) and producer Steve Reidell (half of the Hood Internet) have turned dystopian nightmares into strangely joyful songs. Theres catharsis to be found in these missives from a future where oxygen is a scarce commodity, since so many of us (but hardly enough of us) grapple with the reality of escalating global climate changehumans are wreaking havoc on the planet, pushing us closer to Air Credits bleak visions. The duos new Believe That Youre Here (Wasteland Radio New Archives) couches its moody futurism in concerns we already have today. On the tense, brittle Party Outside, for instance, Show raps about the tightening grip of the surveillance state, and if youve ever felt anxious about something youve posted online, itll hit you square in the chest. The album aint all doom and gloom, though: the dreamlike Time/Space coasts on slow-moving synths and kindly vocals from Show and Lili K. The future might look grim, but if more musicians take inspiration from the imaginative work of Air Credits, the present could get a little better.

Believe That Youre Here is available at Bandcamp. The band performs on the first day of the three-day Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest; A Queer Pride and friends and Environmental Encroachment open. Fri 8/20, music starts at 6 PM (Air Credits perform at 8:15 PM), outdoors on the 1400 block of W. Morse at Glenwood, free, all ages.

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Chicagos Air Credits are still having a ball with their dystopian visions - Chicago Reader

A team of researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) have found a link between the rates of metal production and toxic lead exposure in humans over thousands of years.

The team examined human remains from a burial ground in central Italy that had been in continuous use for about 12,000 years. As production of lead worldwide started spiking, the rate at which it was absorbed by the bodies of people over time increased as well, suggesting humans have been breathing the dangerous substance for thousands of years.

This documentation of lead pollution throughout human history indicates that, remarkably, much of the estimated dynamics in lead production is replicated in human exposure, said Yigal Erel, professor at HUs Institute of Earth Sciences and lead author of the study published this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, in a statement. Thus, lead pollution in humans has closely followed their rates of lead production.

Simply put: the more lead we produce, the more people are likely to be absorbing it into their bodies, he explained. This has a highly toxic effect.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to high levels of lead can cause anemia, weakness, and brain damage. In the worst cases, high lead exposure can lead to death.

Lead can make its way into our bodies through our diet and even air pollution.

The researchers are also warning that thanks to modern societys obsession with electronics, lead manufacturing is likely to increase, an early warning sign.

The team analyzed bone fragments from 130 people who lived in Rome from 12,000 years ago until the 17th century and were able to calculate the amount of lead pollution over time.

The effects on our health could be disastrous. Erel warned that without proper regulation we will continue to experience the damaging health impacts of toxic metals contamination, especially as the manufacturing of electronic devices grows worldwide.

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Scientists Warn That More Electronics May Result in More Lead Poisoning - Futurism

Autobots, roll out!Skysphere

German automaker Audis latest skysphere concept can transform itself from a two-seater sports car into a self-driving living room on wheels a transformation that causes the entire vehicle to shrink by almost ten inches.

The roadster which, to be clear, doesnt exist yet beyond some striking renders makes no compromises. Audi is attempting to envision a driverless future in which the passenger still has the option of taking control if they feel like it.

The concepts Sports mode is what youd expect from a contemporary electric sports car a sleek roadster with plenty of oomph. But once a special button is pressed, the roadster extends by 25 centimeters to enter Grand Touring driving mode. Both the steering wheel and pedals swivel into an invisible position and thereby completely removed from the interior, according to a press release.

The result: a platform all about freedom and relaxation, according to Audi, allowing passengers to interact with the Internet (read: watch Netflix).

The concept also packs a total of 465 kilowatts of power, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just four seconds. It has a theoretical range of over 311 miles.

Its a gorgeous design, worthy of a future where we have the choice between ripping down a country road while gripping the steering wheel or catching up with the latest TV shows during a particularly boring morning commute.

The key challenge? Engineers will need to build self-driving cars that can actually drive themselves first.

READ MORE: This electric Audi skysphere roadster concept is a Transformer [Top Gear]

More on Audi: Audis New Headlights Can Project Images Like a Movie Theater

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Audi Electric Car Concept Changes Entire Shape at the Touch of a Button - Futurism