Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The region surrounding Earth is getting more crowded as thousands of satellites and pieces of space debris move through low Earth orbit. Farther above, at altitudes of several hundred kilometers, traces of Earth’s upper atmosphere can still exert enough drag to slow satellites. Accurately measuring atmospheric density at these heights is therefore important for forecasting satellite motion and reducing the risk of collisions. More than 99 percent of the upper atmosphere consists of electrically neutral gas known as the thermosphere. The term thermospheric density refers to the density of this neutral atmosphere between about 100 and 1000 kilometers above Earth’s…

For more than a millennium, Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions in China have shaped conservation practices at Tianmu mountain, with beliefs in the sacred connection between humans and nature influencing how communities protect its forests, wildlife and ecosystems.Today, state regulations provide the legal framework for the protection of the expanded Tianmushan–Qingliangfeng UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and establish a management plan developed with local communities to tackle challenges the rich ecosystem faces and negotiate sustainable development following past land conflicts. Authorities and a study show efforts have increased plant productivity.Authorities say religious values continue to influence conservation efforts, as monks, residents…

Sable Offshore, a Texas-headquartered oil and gas company, is set to resume oil production at its third platform off the California coast next month, marking the latest step in the company’s phased effort to bring its offshore operations back online. Hondo platform; Source: Sable Offshore Sable claims to have progressed field operations at the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU), the Las Flores Canyon Midstream Processing Facility (LFC), and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System (SYPS) towards steady-state operations, after resuming oil production from the Heritage platform in early April 2026. An average of approximately 47 wells at the Harmony and Heritage platforms were…

Reading Time: 4 minutes Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s win over Madison Rep. Francesca Hong in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary was undoubtedly a shocking comeback. In the last Marquette Law School Poll before the primary, Hong had 38% support compared with 7% for Crowley. But don’t blame the polling! That same poll showed former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes with 16% support before he dropped out. Another 34% were undecided. The rapid pace of the modern news cycle means voters likely didn’t even tune in until the final weeks. We knew Democrats were sharply divided heading into Tuesday, but predicting precise results…

The Israeli military failed in an attempt on Wednesday to remove occupied West Bank settlers who for days have blockaded Palestinian homes, an eyewitness and an AFP photographer reported. The siege began on Sunday, when a group of settlers set up a makeshift tent near houses in the Palestinian village of Qusra, just south of Nablus, blocking essential supplies from entering. Read more’She was haemorrhaging’: In the West Bank, the checkpoint ordeal for pregnant women “We have received no food and no medicine,” Qusai Abu Rida, a Palestinian trapped inside one of the houses, told AFP by telephone, adding that…

Home Office minister Anna Turley has said the government is sticking with plans to accommodate asylum-seekers on former military bases despite protests from local residents. She told the BBC the government’s priority was to ensure asylum-seekers were looked after in a “secure” and “appropriate” place. That included disused Ministry of Defence properties because they had on-site facilities and were “more contained,” she added.But campaigners in areas earmarked for asylum centres have said small communities with limited infrastructure would not be able to cope with large numbers of people. There have been protests in Piddington, Oxfordshire, over plans to house more…

Google’s first smartwatch debuted just 4 years ago, and at the time, the company went to great lengths to stress the accuracy of the Pixel Watch’s heart rate sensor. Even if Google was late to the wearable party compared to peers like Apple and Samsung, that focus on heart rate seems to be paying off with new features that are yet to be seen on competing products.On Wednesday, Google introduced the latest generation of its smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 5 (alongside the Pixel 11 smartphone family). The hot new health feature? Breathing Emergency Detection. Similar to the first-of-its-kind Loss of…

Google’s research medical AI system, AMIE (Video), conducted synchronous video consultations with professional patient actors and received clinical evaluator ratings on par with primary care physicians across several core measures.Fifteen trained actors portrayed conditions across cardiopulmonary, abdominal, HEENT, neurological or psychiatric, and musculoskeletal presentations. Google says studies involving real patients and their own health conditions must follow before anyone can draw conclusions about clinical use.AMIE divides a video consultation among three agentsAMIE uses an asynchronous multi-agent architecture rather than assigning dialogue, clinical reasoning, and perception to one model process. Google says a single agent cannot currently sustain natural conversational response…

AI security startup Mindgard today announced raising $30 million in a Series A funding round that brings the total raised by the company close to $42 million. The investment round was led by Album VC, with additional support from Karma Ventures and previous investors .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital, and Lakestar. Founded in 2022, spun out of Lancaster University, and headquartered in London and Boston, Mindgard has built an automated AI security and red-teaming platform to help organizations identify and respond to AI risks. According to the company, its platform can capture and exploit the psycho-technical attack surface within…

Wednesday’s in-line CPI report avoided the upside surprise that could have rattled risk assets, but inflation remains too hot to give the Fed an all-clear, analysts said.Headline inflation at 3.4% remains well above the Fed’s target, while energy prices are nearly 15% higher than a year ago, noted Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. That should keep inflation front and center after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh stressed the need to prevent elevated prices from damaging the economy.Hathorn said markets now price roughly 60% odds of no change in September versus 40% for a 25 basis-point hike. A month ago,…