Science

The Minor Planet Center (MPC), which tracks and reports minor planet discoveries, recently removed a new listing of a near-earth object after the amateur astronomer who found it realized it was just the Tesla Roadster that was stuck to a rocket that SpaceX launched in 2018, according to Astronomy Magazine.

Such misidentifications are common, the outlet writes, highlighting a growing issue of unregulated manmade stuff junking up space.

Android Authority reports that Samsung may be the first to noninvasive blood glucose monitoring in the Galaxy Watch, citing comments from Samsung senior vice president Hon Park saying the tech will be a “game-changer.”

I hate to be a wet blanket but people have been working on this tech since 1975. Here’s a report I did on why this tech is taking so long and why it probably won’t look like what you expect if / when it does arrive.

Doritos are changing shape for the first time. A limited number of square chips will be hidden in UK bags to promote the upcoming Minecraft movie, with a cash prize if you find one. New flavors named after the game’s Creeper and Ghast enemies are going on sale too. PepsiCo’s chief chip technician — a job title we should all aspire to — is clearly proud of his work.

National Institutes of Health is reportedly reeling from canceled meetings and a communications and hiring freeze under the new Trump administration.

“This kind of disruption could have long ripple effects,” Jane Liebschutz, an opioid addiction researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who posted on Bluesky about canceled study sections, tells ScienceInsider ... She and colleagues are feeling “a lot of uncertainty, fear, and panic,” Liebschutz says.

There are repair guides and replacement parts available for more than 20 Logitech devices, including keyboards, headsets, and MX / G series mice, on the iFixit-hosted Logitech Repair Hub — and now you can get them in 62 countries.

That includes the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and across the EU, following Logitech’s iFixit partnership initially launching in the US. Repair guides are also available in multiple languages.

It’s “going to look a little different” as it migrates to a more general science site, according to NASA. President Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and researchers have been archiving environmental data in case it starts to disappear from federal websites.

The Biden administration’s climate and economic justice screening tool, a federal website on reproductive rights, and NASA’s diversity and inclusion pages appear to be down.

The company, whose patent infringement claim led Apple to remove blood oxygen sensing tech from newer Apple Watches, has named Katie Szyman, worldwide president of Advanced Patient Monitoring at Becton Dickinson, for the role, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Interim CEO Michelle Brennan, who took over after CEO Joe Kiani resigned, will become the chair of Masimo’s board.

Necropsies tie whale deaths off the east coast to ship strikes, not offshore wind, as Trump claimed during his inauguration eve rally. The US has very few offshore wind turbines anyway.

“We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said. He has pledged to end federal leasing for wind energy development.

The move is part of the Biden Administration’s initiative to lower prescription drug prices — particularly for medications needed by elderly and disabled citizens. Drug companies will have until February 28th to decide whether they want to negotiate. Ozempic and Wegovy, which are also used to treat diabetes, aren’t the only drugs on the list either. There are 15 total, and you can find the total list here.

The government has ripped out “pointless regulation” that prevented Apple and other companies from including hearing tests and assistance in earbuds. Apple added the feature to its 2nd-gen AirPods Pro last fall, and told The Telegraph it will be enabled for UK users “in the coming weeks.”

SpaceX noted that for this seventh Starship flight test, “a significant number of tiles will be removed to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle.”

We don’t know if that had anything to do with the vehicle experiencing “a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” but the aftermath of its destruction was visible to at least a few tourists in Turks and Caicos.

“Emissions of greenhouse gasses trap heat,” Lee Zeldin, said during today’s Senate confirmation hearing when pressed about climate science. Whether he’ll take action is another issue.

Zeldin accepted over $269,000 from the oil and gas industry while running for Congress, and has said he’ll work to “unleash US energy dominance” and “make America the AI capital of the world” while leading the Environmental Protection Agency.

The $319 1.8kW Solar/Car Super Fast Charger will charge the company’s giant batteries at 600W off the alternator when the engine’s on, plus an additional 1200W max from rooftop solar that’ll continue to provide a charge when parked at the job site or campground (unlike DJI’s $299 1kW car charger). It can also reverse charge the starter battery in your van, truck, or RV.

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The US Supreme Court denied petitions from fossil fuel companies seeking to thwart a climate lawsuit filed against them — allowing the case to go to trial.

The city and county of Honolulu filed suit against Sunoco, Shell, and other oil companies accusing them of a “coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge” of threats their products pose through climate change.

Qantas airlines airline has delayed some flights to avoid the rockets’ splashdown in the Indian Ocean, reports The Guardian. Some at the last minute, says Ben Holland, head of Qantas’s operations center:

“While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure.”

Following yesterday’s launch attempt being scrubbed, the NG-1 launch was first pushed to “no earlier than Tuesday” and now “no earlier than Thursday”

The rocket launch has been kicked down the road several times because of unfavorable conditions, including “ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit” during Monday’s attempt.

The LA-based tech company has 150 employees who have been displaced from the wildfires, Spiegel wrote in a letter published on the company’s website. Snap has donated $5 million to local relief efforts and “will do more,” he says.

The covid pandemic saga of Razer’s RGB-lit Zephyr face mask is probably ending now that checks and PayPal payments are giving money back to the 6,764 buyers.

Last year, the FTC settled with Razer over its misleading statements and “N95-grade” filtering claims made without evidence or testing, leading to refunds and a $100k civil penalty.

Two people have been arrested in California for flying unauthorized drones in areas impacted by the LA wildfires, according to a police report seen by Deadline.

The arrests follow a collision last Thursday between a civilian drone and a “Super Scooper” that was fighting the blazes, grounding the plane. The FAA says it's investigating the incident. LA airspace restrictions are in place until January 25th.