As the Moon orbits the Earth, the Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way, oscillating up and down relative to the galactic plane as it does so. A new study has suggested that this motion of our star through the galaxy potentially takes us through regions of space that could affect our planet's climate. According to the study, the Solar System may have passed through an interstellar cloud so dense that it may have interfered with the flow of the solar wind, potentially cooling the planets. The Solar System is protected, to some extent, from the interstellar medium (ISM) by our heliosphere."The Sun sends out a constant flow of charged particles called the solar wind, which ultimately travels past all the planets to some three times the distance to Pluto before being impeded by the interstellar medium," NASA explains. "This forms a giant bubble around the Sun and its planets, known as the heliosphere."       The Solar System is currently in a 1,000-light-year-wide "Local Bubble", or "local interstellar cloud" (LIC). This "bubble" is a lot less dense than typical interstellar space, with 0.001 particles per cubic centimeter compared to the typical 0.1 atoms per cubic centimeter. The Solar System will leave this sparse region of space in the next few thousand years and head once more into the interstellar medium.Looking at the Solar System's path, and mapping the Local Ribbon of Cold Clouds, the team found we have likely traveled through denser regions in the past."In the ISM that the Sun has traversed for the last couple of million years, there are cold, compact clouds that could have drastically affected the heliosphere," the team explains in their paper. "We explore a scenario whereby the Solar System went through a cold gas cloud a few million years ago."Though research on the effects of traversing such regions has been sparser than atoms in the local bubble, the team believes it could have contracted our heliosphere, which in turn had an effect on our climate. Our heliosphere is protective, and as it contracted some of the material in these denser regions could reach Earth."Large amounts of neutral hydrogen as a result of an encounter with cold clouds with densities above 1,000 cm−3 will alter the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere," the team wrote. "Very few works have investigated the climatic effects of such encounters quantitatively in the context of encounters with dense giant molecular clouds. Some argue that such high densities would deplete the ozone in the mid-atmosphere (50–100 km [31–62 miles]) and eventually cool the Earth."The team says that geological evidence of increased amounts of 60Fe (iron 60) and 244Pu (plutonium 244) isotopes found in ice cores, the oceans, Antarctic snow, and samples of the Moon, could be evidence of these particles reaching Earth as we traversed the Local Lynx of Cold Cloud 2 million years ago. These isotopes are spat out by supernovas and neutron star mergers, which then become trapped by interstellar dust. These isotopes in the geological record have previously been explained as being sent here by a close supernova, but the current team believes they could be explained better by particles trapped in the cloud, as a close-by supernova would collapse the heliosphere to distances of 1 AU (the distance between the Earth and the Sun), while a further afield supernova would not deposit enough 60Fe on Earth.“This paper is the first to quantitatively show there was an encounter between the Sun and something outside of the solar system that would have affected Earth’s climate,” space physicist at Boston University, Merav Opher, said in a statement, later adding, "but as soon as the Earth was away from the cold cloud, the heliosphere engulfed all the planets, including Earth."The contraction of the heliosphere could have lasted from hundreds of years to a million years, according to the team, and it is likely we will encounter another such heliosphere-contracting cloud within another million years or so. While interesting, there is a lot more to find out."This work should be revisited with modern atmospheric modelling," the team writes. "It has been suggested that climate changes around this time could have affected human evolution. The hypothesis is that the emergence of our species Homo sapiens was shaped by the need to adapt to climate change. With the shrinkage of the heliosphere, the Earth was exposed directly to the ISM."The paper is published in Nature Astronomy.

With a new Mad Max movie in theaters, and the online chatter in overdrive, it’s hard not to recognize that, as a country, we’ve been obsessed with our own downfall for a long time now. It started in earnest with the collective fear of nuclear annihilation – a well-meaning impulse, to be sure, but over the decades, it has gone to counterproductive extremes.Our commonplace notions of retreat from the world at its best are often far more misguided than we believe. The relentless fantasizing about America’s collapse — whether in the form of good news, bad news, or some heady mix — is taking our eye off the ball of the real catastrophes that have already happened and in which we now struggle for purchase on the direction of our lives. It’s not just the problem of introducing into the collective consciousness crazy notions that, once acted out in voluntary or involuntary fashion, can spin into real damage real fast. It’s the flip side of the catastrophist coin: dreaming of dropping out of our “cooked” society and hunkering down somewhere in the woods. As Ted Kaczynski learned the hard way, one does not simply “go live in the woods.” Martin Heidegger might have been able to distract himself with made-up words from shipping out mail bombs from his isolated hut, but those who try to retreat from the world armed only with a merciless view of everything people have ever done wrong are all but certain to strike back in vengeance — against others or, fundamentally, themselves. No, stronger spiritual stuff than that is required. But even so, our commonplace notions of retreat from the world at its best are often far more misguided than we believe. Elon Musk, who not long ago referred to his current living situation as a “tech monastery,” recently posted an open call for applications to his latest mega project with a curious sales pitch: “Join xAI if you believe in our mission of understanding the universe, which requires maximally rigorous pursuit of the truth, without regard to popularity or political correctness.” Sounds good, but a snappy comeback would be that someone treating tech monastically to understand the universe through truth instead of opinion ought to try out a real monastery. Yet, the prevailing Western sense of the purpose of monasteries reveals the surprising hollowness of a “so true” joke like that. Here in the West, the experience of Europe after the archetypal fall of the Roman Empire is that the monasteries “saved civilization” — a trope people nowadays seem unable to look past as the pillars of contemporary life crumble around us. All those monks who ran away from the falling empire should be celebrated and imitated, we’re advised, because they ... preserved the great works of Western civilization in their scriptoria! People seem to have forgotten that monks should have a more than passing familiarity with the propensity of Jesus, who criticized so few, even when his life depended on it, to criticize the scribes. The purpose of monasteries, especially in catastrophic times, is assuredly not to hoard knowledge, however much, in such times, people outside the monasteries fail to preserve much of anything of lasting use or value. Monasteries have one all-important job and that is simply to pray for the salvation of the whole human race and each and every person within it. I find it troubling and revealing that, in these post-catastrophic times, so many people seem willfully ignorant of this simple truth, or even actively resistant to it. They seem to really believe, whether they are ready to admit it or not, that piles of books are genuinely more important to our salvation (or that of “civilization”) than round-the-clock prayers from those most wholly dedicated to communing with God to the limits of human ability on earth ... even though the knowledge stored up by those rare and precious people is probably a lot different from what the average person outside a monastery would want or expect it to be. Similarly, such people are strangely inclined to be dismissive of monastic prayer that God not allow the one thing they are ostensibly most stressed out about — the destruction of decently ordered human life. Of course, it’s not that strange for people who just don’t believe God has control over whether we thrive or perish. But few, even now, are quite willing to come right out and say that. And even many who do claim to believe that God is in control still spend a lot of time sweating the apocalypse that, surely, they insist, is right around the corner.These conflicting, confused, and contradictory attitudes are not just a lot of mental jibber jabber. They’re actually the source of our chaotic and cursed-like situation. So many different ways of dodging the reckoning with our misplaced priorities that we’re being pushed toward, harder and harder, by a merciful God — no matter how much we substitute fretfulness for right action.

Several U.S. states and cities are trying to sue or legislate fossil fuel companies out of existence while lining their own pockets. Hawaii has litigation against fossil fuel companies pending before its state supreme court as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. Similarly, California’s attorney general and lesser jurisdictions are suing fossil fuel companies. Recently, the Vermont legislature passed a bill requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for storm damage in 2023.The claims about harm are speculative. The legal and constitutional arguments are even worse. These blatant cash grabs will usher in a brave new world of predation and conflict in which every state legislature will seek to fill its coffers at the expense of its neighbors.State officials and other aspiring petty tyrants have no right to cancel the American energy industry and impoverish American citizens.These states have confused their authority to regulate emissions generated within their state’s borders with the alleged indirect effects of global emissions in their state. If any of these states succeed in their attempt to extort billions of dollars from fossil fuel companies, our entire economy will be at risk of catastrophic contraction.Still, states continue their crusade against fossil fuel companies because, as Willie Sutton famously said of banks, “That’s where the money is.” State officials hungry for more funding see fossil fuel companies as a tempting target. These efforts blend climate change alarmism with financial opportunism.In Vermont, advocates claim that Senate Bill 259, “An act relating to climate change cost recovery,” simply holds fossil fuel companies accountable for damage they caused Vermonters by drawing oil from the ground, refining it, and selling it to customers whose use of it then released greenhouse gases that contributed to climate change, which increased the severity of these storms.If that sounds like a stretch, that’s because it is.Ironically, these states attempt to penalize the unintended indirect consequences of fossil fuels that they themselves have benefited from tremendously. People benefit, not only when they drive to work or to the store, but whenever they buy goods or go out to eat or fly in an airplane or turn on a light switch. We shouldn’t penalize companies that deliver tremendous value to us every day.We know that when governments shake down fossil fuel companies, all those activities become much more expensive. California shows us what a war on fossil fuels creates: $5 per gallon gas and electricity costs twice the national average. Similarly, Europe’s war on fossil fuels has made its electricity costs twice those of the United States and four times those of China.Stealing billions of dollars from domestic fossil fuel companies (really shareholders, workers, and customers) will drive costs through the roof, bringing higher prices at the pump and skyrocketing electricity costs.Allowing any and every jurisdiction to shake down U.S. oil and gas companies will also stunt economic growth. Look again at Europe. Their economy has grown less than 1% a year since 2010. Such shakedowns may eventually shutter America’s energy industry altogether, in which case China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia will sit back and laugh while gladly accepting billions of our dollars for their oil and gas.Allowing states to pursue speculative damages from American companies will discourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and investment, as executives will worry about being sued or taxed for potential unintended consequences of their decisions from years or decades ago.These state cash grabs should be rejected quickly and definitively. State officials and other aspiring petty tyrants have no right to cancel the American energy industry and impoverish American citizens.

The media have begun their predictable lead-up to the first presidential debate slated for June 27 with the usual question — “Do debates really matter?” — before answering it themselves. As Politico’s Jack Shafer points out, for the media, “there’s nothing like the pageantry and bombast of a presidential debate to fill the airwaves, headlines and homepages.” Still, he adds, “don’t expect the CNN or ABC debates to move the election either way.” What Americans will be listening for isn’t Biden’s usual blame-shifting. They’ll be expecting for-real solutions. But if the media did a better job framing the questions — if members of the New York and D.C.-based media were more in touch with the issues faced by families in the heartland — then maybe debates could move the needle a little more. So in the spirit of helping the legacy media reconnect with the public it ostensibly serves, here are three questions American families deserve to hear answers from Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. 1) Can Washington turn the economy around? Bidenomics has been a disaster for American families, but the media refuses to admit this. Slate has now declared inflation “functionally over” while the Washington Post will only go as far as acknowledging it's “possible that Americans are experiencing the economic equivalent of a hangover.” The truth is that families are still suffering the effects of inflation. The average families is spending more than $1,000 per month compared to three years ago. Biden will try to deflect worries about inflation, but Americans know the truth: Bidenomics has made us poorer — by design. Americans want to hear solutions, not excuses. 2) What’s the answer to the crisis at the southern U.S. border? As with Bidenomics, the Biden administration tried for as long as it could to deny the very existence of a border crisis. When that no longer worked, Biden issued an executive order he says “will help us to gain control of our border, restore order to the process.” It will do nothing of the sort. As my colleague Selene Rodriguez notes, “Border security has become the No. 1 issue for Americans from coast to coast, and the president is feeling that heat as the November election draws near.” But no election eve executive order can “reverse four years of failure,” she adds. The executive order has already failed, a New York Post editorial points out, as one day last week “saw some 10,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody, four times the limit at which our president said he would stop processing the phony asylum claims used by illegals.” The border was more secure than it has been in recent history under President Trump. Biden’s policies reversed Trump’s gains. What Americans will be listening for isn’t Biden’s usual blame-shifting. They’ll be expecting for-real solutions. 3) How will we strengthen America? Our coffers and our military stockpiles have been depleted by ongoing wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine. As Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on Fox News in April, the president’s apparent weakness is emboldening the world’s worst tyrants. “You’re seeing it all over the world,” Scalise said. “Iran has seen the weakness of Joe Biden's administration. Putin has surely seen and taken advantage of the weakness. Xi in China is taking advantage of that weakness.” And now, we have Russian warships in Cuba’s harbors in a provocative move. At home, the U.S. military is facing a recruiting crisis of historical proportions, driven by woke policies and a dithering commander in chief more concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion than national security threats. Americans are increasingly concerned about foreign wars and threats of international terrorism. They’re worried about the economy and their jobs and their kids. They don’t want political theater when the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates come together later this month. They want answers. It’s just a shame the media in control of the debate will be unlikely to ask the right questions.

Comparing Donald Trump's trial to Hunter Biden's trial isn't like comparing apples to oranges — it's like comparing apples to eggs. They are completely different. They don't even share the same source. The Donald Trump trial comes from a very rotten tree. The other one comes from the butt of a chicken. The Hunter Biden trial only happened after the FBI did everything possible to make his crimes go away. When prosecutors realized that Hunter would have to pay for some crime, they made sure it was the least incriminating one compared to the other offenses he’s been implicated in: lying about his cocaine addiction on a federal gun background check, as opposed to being an unregistered agent of several foreign governments, trafficking drugs, and quite possibly laundering money, among other things. If both men are guilty of their crimes, it shows we have a real problem with the people in leadership. But prosecutions are born of lies. I am all for the rule of law. I am a responsible gun owner. You don't lie on your form when you're doing a background check. I would go to jail. You would go to jail. Hunter Biden should go to jail. But this is just one of 170 crimes Hunter Biden has been implicated in. Will he pay for those crimes? Here is just a few that he has gotten away with: When he was in Arizona on his way to rehab, Hunter dropped off his car at a rental facility near the airport where he accidentally left his ID, a crack pipe, and a bag of cocaine in the car. Nothing was done about it. Isn't that kind of a big deal? Later that month, a woman who is currently in jail in Connecticut for other crimes arranged a meeting with Hunter to bring him crack cocaine. Isn't that also kind of a big deal? When he was in Connecticut, the texts on his laptop showed that he was not only consuming drugs, he was trafficking them — as well as arranging sex with women. He would solicit prostitutes one after another. As they would leave his room, he solicited more. But he didn't stop there. He continued to solicit prostitutes throughout his time in Connecticut, even recording a video of him having sex with a prostitute and smoking crack. The money transfers revealed he paid thousands of dollars to these prostitutes. Is prostitution legal in Connecticut? If you live in Connecticut, are you cool with this? He then took his crimes to Delaware, where he was doing drug deals, one time with a registered sex offender. He even smoked crack with him. Hunter made sure that his crack use was on camera. He was caught naked doing drugs at a public spa. It was only after all of this that he bought the gun, lied about his drug use, and continued to have more "fun" with prostitutes. In Florida, when Hunter sent money to a Ukrainian escort, JPMorgan Chase flagged the transfer as possible human trafficking. That's just one out of 170 times banks sent out a yellow flag to the federal government, saying, "Something is wrong here. This is human trafficking. This is money laundering." But the federal government turned a blind eye 170 times. That's the real crime. When those on the House Oversight Committee turned their sights to Hunter Biden's illicit international business deals with his dad, they couldn't turn a blind eye any more. The Justice Department only prosecuted when the higher-ups realized they had no other choice, and they chose the smallest and least embarrassing of the crimes. I think justice was served — for this one crime. We'll see what the sentencing is. But this was not the crime to prosecute. The left will use Hunter's conviction for its campaign against Donald Trump. Leftists will say, "The president's son is a convicted felon. A former president is a convicted felon. The health of our republic has never been stronger." This is not good for the health of a republic regardless of the trials' outcomes. If both men are guilty of their crimes, it shows we have a real problem with the people in leadership. But prosecutions are born of lies — again, apples and eggs. Hunter was prosecuted only when the federal government couldn't get away with sweeping everything that he and his dad have done under the rug. Only then was he prosecuted, and he was convicted by a jury of his peers. In Trump's trial in New York, they did every possible dirty trick, every twist of the law — even to the point of making up a law — to convict him. Their case was so baseless that even the federal government said, "No, Trump did not violate the law." But then they took it to a state court, and the judge coached the jury that they didn't even have to agree on the crime to convict Trump. Then they declared that Trump was guilty of a federal crime, even though state courts don't have federal jurisdiction. They did things that have never been done in our justice system before. They made a mockery of justice. I think Alan Dershowitz was right when he said the best thing that could happen is to find Hunter Biden "not guilty" and set him free because people would start to realize that we are the laughingstock of the world. Our justice system, which used to be the most admired, is now the world's laughingstock. Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn's FREE email newsletter with his latest insights, top stories, show prep, and more delivered to your inbox.

SSD capacity is set to explode in the near future, thanks to a new tech development from Western Digital. The company, often known as WD, unveiled an industry first at a recent investor’s conference, showing off a high-capacity memory die that’s dwarfed by a human fingertip. At the moment, Western Digital is planning to target this tech at AI and data center environments, rather than the best SSDs for gaming, but it shows that high-capacity flash memory chips are already in development, and it’s likely to be only a matter of time before we start seeing larger-capacity drives for desktop PCs as well. Continue reading SSDs are about to become massive, thanks to WD MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming

The latest Humble Bundle packs in $299 worth of games for kids and slashes the price to $10. With the summer holidays just around the corner, this is a great chance to grab an excellent deal and, most importantly, keep your kids entertained. The bundle includes two Peppa Pig games, Bratz, My Little Pony, and more. Continue reading Get $299 worth of great kids games for only $10 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best PC games, Upcoming PC games, Free PC games

The prices of AMD’s fastest gaming CPUs are in free fall right now, and this latest AMD Ryzen CPU deal enables you to save a massive 30% on the MSRP of the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D. This top-dog chip not only has 16 of AMD’s mighty Zen 4 cores at its disposal, but it also has AMD’s 3D V-cache tech to boost gaming frame rates. This means there’s a huge 64MB of extra high-speed memory on top of the usual 32MB of L3 cache inside this AMD CPU, and we found this extra cache provided a significant boost to gaming performance in our Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, gaining it the top place on our guide to the best gaming CPU. Continue reading AMD’s most powerful Ryzen gaming CPU is now at its lowest ever price MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review

It was an exciting day for Star Wars fans at the Ubisoft Forward event this week. Not only did we see more action from its main character Kay Vess as she rode and shot her way across various environments, but we also saw how the studio developed an immersive, hidden loading screen as she docked her ship on the planet Tatooine. This, obviously, divided Starfield fans, who have been asking for something similar for quite some time.

Tibia was one of the first MMORPGs to be released into the wild, and well over 20 years later, its still active. Developer CipSoft has quietly been crafting a new project, however, and the team recently announced its fresh endeavor to be the zombie-based MMO Persist Online through an exciting announcement trailer.