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@sciencemagazine’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year goes to the Event Horizon Telescope (@ehtelescope) global network of observatories for the first #realblackhole image. http://bit.ly/35zUtXz https://twitter.com/ehtelescope

Massive, ubiquitous, and in some cases as big as our Solar System, black holes hide in plain sight. The effect of their gravity on objects read more

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Queen Elizabeth’s speech to MPs and Lords at the State Opening of Parliament

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons.

My Government’s priority is to deliver the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January. My Ministers will bring forward legislation to ensure the United Kingdom’s exit on that date read more

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Stunning photograph shows an ancient tradition dating back to 960 AD
This is the spectacular moment a fisherman with a close bond to cormorants used a flock of birds to catch big fish in a centuries old ritual in southern China. Photographer Julia Wimmerlin said: ‘Seeing this whole process and the beautiful setting where it takes place just takes your breath away.

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Image courtesy Julia Wimmerlin / Solent News

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The $120,000 Art Basel Banana, Explained
So, uh, whose banana is it?
Art Basel Banana is catchy, but it’s not actually the work’s name. Titled Comedian, it’s by Maurizio Cattelan. Cattelan is an Italian artist and an absurdist—in 2016 he replaced a toilet at the Guggenheim with a fully functioning gold one. He called the read more

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Like a Zumwalt Class Destroyer meets leftover Blade Runner prop, Tesla’s truck looks like none the world has ever seen before.
Its design is deceptively simple. Its profile is diamondlike, with five simple lines. Its nose is wedge-shaped, its sheetmetal quickly merging with a single massive pane of windshield glass—“bulletproof,” Elon read more

Then and now: the Spencer Dam near Spencer in November 2013, top, vs. March 2019, after the dam came crashing dow during a flood (below)

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America’s aging dams could put tens of thousands of people across 44 states at risk of deadly floods as 1,700 are rated ‘poor or unsatisfactory’
Built for flood control, irrigation, water supply, hydropower, recreation or industrial waste storage, read more

The Ripsaw M5 Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV)

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Meet America’s newest military giant: Amazon

The fatal flaw that could make AI weapons useless
AI-guided missiles could be blinded by adversarial data, and perhaps even steered back toward friendly targets.

Robots cannot replace the problem-solving, decision-making abilities of human cognition in “direct fire”

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Image courtesy Pablo Delcan / Technology Review and Textron Systems

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Ralphie V, who just turned 13 last month, is in excellent health. The reason she’s being replaced? She’s a little too fast for her human companions.
“As one of the biggest and fastest Ralphies, her love for running and power was showcased every home game during her career,” said John Graves, the read more

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The way hospitals respond to a cyberattack can result in a slower response to critical heart patients.
After an attack, corrective actions to improve security in hospital information technology systems may “disrupt care processes” and reduce the quality of care, according to a study published by researchers at Vanderbilt University and read more

“Two women work in hut 6 at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, during the Second World War. Cryptographers deciphered top-secret military communiques between Hitler and his armed forces, which ultimately aided the victory of the Allied forces”

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The ‘Codebreakers’ poppy has special meaning for Kate because her paternal grandmother Valerie Glassborow was among those who worked to decipher the secrets of the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during the war.
It was the first time the royal has worn the elegant brooch, read more

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Chris McDougall Helped Spark the Barefoot Running Craze. Now He’s Racing With Donkeys.
McDougall determines that if Sherman is going to survive, he’ll need a mission: training for the world championship of donkey running, which takes place in Colorado in less than a year. “Today, movement-as-medicine is a biological truth for survivors of cancer, surgery, read more

polar bear trying his paw at photography in Svalbard, Norway
a snail and a lizard share a moment in Indonesia
praying mantis, crouching butterfly
whale shark underneath fishing platform in Indonesia

Photo courtesy Roie Galitz, Andi Abdul Halil, Liang Wu, and Marco Zaffignani / Siena International Photo Awards