A relatively nearby K-type star called HD 48948 has been found to host three planets, each modestly larger than the Earth. The outermost of these is in the “habitable zone”, where temperatures are right for liquid water at the surface. More investigation is needed – particularly to confirm it is predominantly rock or water, not gas – but there is a good chance this could be rated as the closest known planet to Earth with a good chance of sustaining life.New planets are being found at an astonishing rate, such that one needs to be special to get noticed. HD 48948 d shows every sign of qualifying. The vast majority of planets we have found are either gas giants with no chance to support life themselves (although moons might, if they have them) or are far too hot. Many fail on both counts. Even the few planets that are the right size and average temperature often have problems that make life unlikely, although not necessarily impossible. These include being tidally locked so the same side always faces their star, and being exposed to flares that may well sterilize them. HD 48948 d probably avoids both fates, although the other planets discovered at the same time are certainly too hot. It’s the closest example of a so-called Super-Earth, a planet modestly larger than our home, that lies within its star’s habitable zone.K-type stars have less mass than the Sun, and are consequently somewhat cooler and fainter, but they are more massive than the much more abundant M-type (red dwarfs). They’re sometimes called orange dwarfs since they are the brightest in that part of the spectrum.HD 48948 has a mass 67 percent of the Sun’s and is 55 light-years away in Camelopardalis. It’s a very old star, its 11.5 billion-year life span having offered plenty of time for life to evolve around it. Ten years of observations reveal it wobbling on patterns that indicate it is being affected by the gravity of planets orbiting on periods of 7.3, 38, and 151 days.Even with less luminosity than the Sun, a planet on a 7.3-day orbit would be baked far hotter than Mercury, and even the planet in a 38-day orbit would be more oven than home.HD 48948 d is a different matter. Its orbital distance is similar to Venus, but around a star of this brightness, its temperature would be close to Earth’s, while also being far enough away that flares shouldn’t be a problem.This isn’t a twin of Earth, however – its mass is estimated at 10.59 times our planet’s, give or take an Earth-mass. As far as we know, none of HD 48948’s planets transit across the face of their star from our perspective. Consequently, we don’t know their size, only the mass it would take to produce the gravitational effects we see on their star.A planet of that mass could be a mini-Neptune ball of gas, not a super-Earth, which would be much less exciting. It may be some time before we can tell. Even if solid, its gravity would certainly be tiring.Some previous reports of planets made using this method have been found to be spurious, the result of activity on the star itself. However, Dr Shweta Dalal of the University of Exeter and co-authors express confidence the methods of analysis they used have avoided this."This discovery highlights the importance of long-term monitoring and advanced techniques in uncovering the secrets of distant star systems. We are eager to continue our observations and look for additional planets in the system,” Dalal said in a statement. The paper is published open access in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 

Although it may not make front-page headlines, a bill recently passed by a key congressional committee aims to change a flawed system and help extend the gift of life to more American families.At a recent markup, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed legislation to change the criteria for paying expenses associated with organ transplantation. Specifically, the bill stipulates that organ procurement organizations or transplant centers receiving federal grants cannot consider the income of organ recipients when reimbursing organ donors’ expenses.Sadly, an average of 17 people die every day because they did not receive a lifesaving transplant.Organ donors go to great lengths, sacrificing their time and potentially affecting their health, to give the gift of life to others. The least we as a people can do is make sure that donors do not suffer financial hardship from making that sacrifice — a principle that should apply regardless of who ends up receiving the donor’s organ.This legislation would continue bipartisan efforts to reform and improve the organ donation system, to increase the number of life-saving transplants performed every year. For instance, in December 2019 the Trump administration proposed expanding the scope of reimbursable expenses to include lost wages and childcare expenses during a donor’s recovery. The recent legislation echoes the principle behind the Trump proposal that individuals should not incur financial losses due to their gracious decision to donate organs.Likewise, both the Trump and Biden administrations have taken actions to modernize the organ procurement organizations that coordinate transplants across the country. By encouraging more organ donations, and more efficiently using the organs already available, one study found that reforms could save 25,000 lives every year, while reducing taxpayer costs for people awaiting transplants.My experience as a mother of a child with cystic fibrosis and a former member of the National Council on Disability illustrated the need to reform the organ donation system. I recognize that my daughter one day could require an organ transplant, making her one of the more than 103,000 individuals on the waiting list for a donor organ. Behind that list are even more friends and family members agonizing as a loved one struggles and grows sicker while waiting. Sadly, an average of 17 people die every day because they did not receive a lifesaving transplant.That’s why this legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Suzan DelBene (D-Ore.), would have such an important impact, particularly for people on transplant waiting lists and their families. I hope that House Republican leaders will bring the bill to the floor shortly so that it can pass, that Senate Democrats will do the same, and that President Biden will sign the legislation into law.

Almost three years ago, I wrote in the New York Times that Bitcoin could redeem an America gone off the rails: Through its recent legal threat against Coinbase’s new interest-bearing cryptocurrency account program, the Securities and Exchange Commission has created a stir. … Deviate, and you are shut down. This is the un-American logic of the social credit system being imposed on us. … Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies can free ordinary Americans from the financial and psychological discipline and punishment at the core of this system of control. Three years ago, I began working to help people understand that America needed Bitcoin. Now, the time is ripe for elite technologists and everyday citizens to understand that Bitcoin needs America. I called then – and I’ve been calling ever since – for states “to become broad legal sanctuaries” for digital rights. “Americans need Bitcoin and the like in order to take back their destinies in the digital world instead of entrusting it to more private or public sector overlords.” Vindication for this call to action has been slow. But thanks to Donald Trump, this week, it’s here. The former president’s stubborn resistance to the Biden regime’s lawfare has inspired a growing share of leading technologists to come out publicly as Trump supporters. Had Trump thrown in the towel, those techies would likely have resigned themselves to four more years of the Biden borg’s woke war on the digital rights implicit in our First, Second, and Fourth Amendments: free speech, free association, the keeping and bearing of basic defensive tools, and freedom from warrantless surveillance and seizure. That’s why Bitcoin is the linchpin of the tech-Trump nexus. While most cutting-edge technologies, like AI, remain far from ordinary Americans’ reach and understanding, Bitcoin is fundamentally different. It’s ready, right now, for regular people to use – not just collect in a Wall Street-approved and controlled account – as a medium of exchange, one free from control by overseers hostile to our way of life, our constitutional form of government, and even our humanity itself. As Coinbase cofounder and CEO Brian Armstrong posted this week on X, “Bitcoin is an important check and balance on inflation and deficit spending. It may extend the American experiment, and western civilization along with it. Owning Bitcoin is pro-America.” Bitcoin is like nothing else in tech or in politics – a unique weapon we can wield together to bring America back from the brink. And with Trump’s embrace of it, technologists unwilling to join the Biden borg are ready to hug Trump back. Now is the time for the next, crucial step: getting everyday people involved by the multimillions. The public needs to hear from strong pro-Trump tech leaders that Bitcoin isn’t about getting rich quick off of dollar-denominated speculation; it’s about reclaiming our country’s destiny from control by a woke supercomputer. Buying Bitcoin is great, but it isn’t enough. Since the Founding, Americans have agreed that real wealth is useful – and that honest use toward healthy ends generates true wealth. That’s why millions and millions of Americans need to be using Bitcoin as it was designed: to bend our vast computational resources to serve what’s best and most sacred about us and our lives, not collectivist ideologies or globalist fever dreams. Three years ago, I began working to help people understand that America needed Bitcoin. Now, the time is ripe for elite technologists and everyday citizens to understand that Bitcoin needs America. Despite our myriad misfortunes and mistakes, America is still unique in the world – because of the American people. Like none other, we combine industriousness and spiritual grounding in a special, powerful way. Our mix of fierce devotion to liberty and living faith in the living God might be under siege, but it’s still at a critical mass sorely lacking in other parts of the world. That means we have a special opportunity and obligation to imbue Bitcoin with our uniquely dynamic spiritual life. Without it, without us, Bitcoin is sadly destined to become the biggest tech tool in a global box already overflowing with algorithms and automation, forces that have no inherent reason to care about us as living beings, much less as creatures lovingly made in the image of God. We can’t let Bitcoin become what the Borg wants: just another set of numbers to which our biomass must conform. For Bitcoin to redeem America, the American people must redeem Bitcoin. That’s the message Trump and his tech supporters must rally the country around – to secure victory for us all.

Ten Americans have died of drug overdoses for every Ukrainian soldier killed in the war with Russia, but you wouldn’t know it based on the Biden administration’s policy choices. Joe Biden’s support for the Ukrainian cause, in dollars and diplomacy, dwarfs his response to the crisis of addiction and death ravaging the American interior. While Biden signed a much-praised anti-fentanyl bill, a close examination reveals the law will do little toward reducing overdose deaths, which continue apace at all-time highs. The number of migrants Joe Biden has led America to face at the border is nearly double the size of the Russian army. The fentanyl crisis is a far greater calamity for America than a distant border war in Europe. The 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers who died since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 equals 10% of the 300,000 Americans who have died of drug overdoses during Biden’s first three years in office. As with the war in Ukraine, there is no end in sight for the fentanyl crisis, only assurances of more suffering. The federal government has passed five bills and spent more than $175 billion to help the Ukrainians defend their borders. These appropriations have furnished Ukraine with tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery shells, and other expensive military equipment. Some $68 billion is allocated to support the nations neighboring Ukraine and other undefined U.S. interests. Compare this legislative largesse with this administration’s “landmark” anti-drug law, the awkwardly named Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl Act or the FEND Off Fentanyl Act. Though the media heralded the bill as a major accomplishment, it does not deserve the hype. For example, the law is designed to combat money laundering, which has become significantly harder to do. Mexican drug cartels have partnered with China. They no longer utilize smaller countries, such as Panama, to launder their ill-gotten profits. Communist China is now the preferred country to launder drug money. High-level Chinese officials will be much harder to bring to justice than Panama dictator Manuel Noriega, who was captured by U.S. forces in Operation Just Cause in the 1980s. The FEND Off Fentanyl Act mandates that federal law enforcement seize assets from cartels to help cover enforcement costs. While law enforcement has been confiscating such assets for some time, cartels continue to generate substantial profits through human trafficking. They have divided the Mexican side of the border into territories that they control tightly, charging thousands of dollars per person to smugglers, known as "coyotes," for illegal crossings. However, these lucrative operations remain unaffected by the new law. This uneven policy response is particularly puzzling given the numbers involved. The Russian military tops 3.5 million personnel, including active soldiers, reservists, and paramilitary units. Meanwhile, the House Committee on Homeland Security reports that by the end of this summer, the Biden administration is projected to face over 10 million migrants attempting illegal crossings into the United States. Additionally, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has already reported 6.5 million illegal crossings at the southern border. Even accepting the lower figures from the DHS, the number of migrants Joe Biden has led America to face at the border is nearly double the size of the Russian army. Ironically, the Russians understand fentanyl’s potency as a weapon better than anyone. The Russians invented a gas aerosol version of the drug to end a hostage crisis caused by 50 well-armed Chechen terrorists. The fentanyl gas killed all the terrorists and more than 100 hostages, but it effectively ended the crisis. Since this incident, fentanyl has only gotten stronger as Mexican drug cartels manufacture Chinese precursor chemicals into more powerful analog versions of fentanyl. It is not far-fetched to suggest that America is under attack, and fentanyl is a lethal weapon.

It's fair to say that Cody Wilson, the creator of the first 3D-printed gun, is an accommodating documentary subject. The company Wilson founded, Defense Distributed, has always taken a build-in-public approach, both as a practical matter of fundraising and to frame its project — the free distribution of blueprints for personal, at-home gun manufacturing — as a fundamentally political one. 'I think people want an intellectually rigorous experience that's cinematic and beautiful at the same time. But they're scared of the political ramifications of the feelings that they might encounter.' Wilson is an articulate and charismatic spokesperson for this project. While he can fluently cite post-Marxist theorists to justify his anti-state provocations, there's a certain mischievous swagger behind the Baudrillard quotes. He doesn't mind playing the villain a bit. Early in "Death Athletic: A Dissident Architecture," filmmaker Jessica Solce's intimate portrait of an eight-year span in the techno-gadfly's life, Wilson even pulls a classic villain move — explaining his devious plan: To a certain level, all this is theater. If Google's motto is "don't be evil" — and we all know how good Google is at doing that — Defense Distributed's motto is "be evil," or at least "think evil." I've always been up front about how it's going to go, what I plan to do before I do it. And really, only when people reach out and try to stop it does that seal the deal and make it happen. In other words, when various federal, state, and corporate forces single out Defense Distributed and do their best to thwart it, they're playing right into Wilson's hands. At the same time, as much as Wilson seems to thrive in the spotlight, it's also clearly taken its toll. At home with ambiguity About 15 minutes into "Death Athletic," Solce gives us our first look at this more vulnerable side of Wilson. Having been dropped by his second payments processor, he makes a confession: "I'm telling you, I can't handle it, emotionally, mentally ... I'm gonna be screwed up because of the highs and lows." He stews on the "the insult, the humiliation" of "malicious bureaucrats" making him a target, "the constant ... dread and fear" they've instilled in him. As if to illustrate his mood swings, Wilson suddenly becomes defiant. "They can all go to hell. They can all go to hell. They can go to hell." Taking a big swig from gallon plastic jug of spring water, he turns from his computer to the camera: "Live with the federal monkey on your back for years. Live with it and do what I do. Live with it and build a multimillion-dollar company despite what they want to do to you. And sue the f*** out of your enemy." Then Wilson gets up from his desk and walks abruptly out of frame, continuing to talk as the camera finds him again. He looks directly at us, his agitated movement bringing him in and out of focus "I can't ... this is ... this is turning me into a cartoon character, a strange zealot ... bizarre monkish figure who lives only for revenge," he says, and for a split second, he seems to be speaking of Solce and the very film we're watching. Is he about to walk off? It's a thrilling moment, and it testifies to Solce's talent and taste as a director, especially given the moribund state of the documentary today. In a genre in which most directors aim for worldview-affirming propaganda or quirky, undemanding crowd-pleasers, Solce is at home with ambiguity. DEATH ATHLETIC - A DISSIDENT ARCHITECTURE - TRAILER www.youtube.com Irrational commitment "Death Athletic" opens with artful close-ups of 3D-printed guns, dappled in shifting, geometric patterns of light, as slow piano chords play. The weapons look beautiful and mysterious, setting a mood that evokes one of those old James Bond opening credit sequences. Solce then pulls back to reveal that we're observing a photo shoot orchestrated by Wilson himself. He fiddles with the camera as he continues the first of his many eloquent politico-philosophical monologues in the film. To what extent are we observing Wilson objectively? And to what extent are we already seeing things through his point of view? From the start, Solce makes it unclear. So it is with the of atmosphere of paranoia that Solce creates this film with surveillance footage-esque long shots and sinister synths. How much of this sense of persecution is real — and how much is of Wilson's own creation? For his part, Wilson seems to agree. In an interview late last year with Compact, Wilson said that Solce's film “captures something true about being committed to your work to the point it may become irrational. There’s a Freudian death drive or something.” The result is that "Death Athletic" succeeds in being as unsettlingly confrontational and contradictory as Wilson himself. Embracing 'No Control' While the reception for "Death Athletic" has been enthusiastic, it was never a forgone conclusion that it would ever be seen at all. Once she'd assembled enough of a rough cut, Solce worked with an industry PR person she knew to try to sell it to get funds for post-production. "Streaming services basically said, 'We will not touch this film,'" Solce tells Align. "And one even said it was on the wrong side of history because I was profiling [Wilson]." According to Solce, her let-the-viewer-decide approach would not have been such a hard sell 10 or 15 years ago. "But if you touch the gun world right now and you want it to be mainstream, it has to be anti-gun. It just has to." If Solce came to the subject without an agenda, in part it's because she came to it — and documentary filmmaking in general — by accident. Solce's background is in acting, writing, and theater directing — she mounted a small but well-regarded New York City production of "The Crucible" some years back. "I never thought I was going to make documentaries," she says. "I literally never thought about documentaries at all, other than to sometimes watch one and enjoy it." A chance meeting in 2013 with a family friend named Greg Bokor changed that. When Bokor casually mentioned that he was about to debut an art installation in reaction to the Sandy Hook shootings (which had happened the previous December) something clicked. "That was moment in my life where I had finally [started to realize] how media worked and how every time you saw this issue, there was nothing really important being discussed," says Solce. "Just fear and the imagery of terror to get this emotional response." Solce called up a director of photography she knew, and five days later, she was filming. Originally, she had only planned to cover the installation, "but within two weeks, I realized I was making a feature." That feature was Solce's self-funded 2014 debut, "No Control," a notably even-handed examination of the gun debate that features interviews with figures across the political spectrum. Among the gun rights advocates Solce spoke to was Wilson. In fact, "No Control" ends with Wilson prophetically announcing the inevitability of the new freedom promised by 3D-printed guns. The moment all but demands a follow-up; Solce soon began working on one. Solce threw herself in to making what would become "Death Athletic" the same way she started her first film: "impulsively." An unfinished story "I wasn't done with the story. I was tired of seeing people making ineffectual, small, biased shorts on what Cody was doing," Solce says. "I realized that this gun issue wasn't really about guns. It was about the First Amendment. It was about sharing information online. It was about the digital era. It encapsulates and incorporates everything that's happening in the Bitcoin space." Solce contacted Wilson, and he got on board. Like its predecessor, "Death Athletic" was paid for out of Solce's pocket. Despite the obvious limitation of this approach, Solce says it can be motivating. "Nobody can tell you not to do it. You don't have to wait for permission. You don't have to pitch for six to eight months. [If I'd had to] do that with either of those films, neither of them would have happened." Forging a career Getting the movie noticed is its own struggle. "Right now, it's a lovely trickle [of viewers] and I appreciate every single person who watches it," says Solce. "But it's still kind of lost in this niche world. Breaking out into any kind of mainstream has been a process of talking to people, trying to get on podcasts," Solce says. And Solce remains optimistic that "Death Athletic" will slowly find a bigger audience. "There's something evergreen about it. Everybody [who sees it] has these incredibly visceral reactions and they want to discuss it." Solce recalls the surprising reactions of some longtime acquaintances when they finally saw "Death Athletic" at the New York City premiere. "Throughout the eight years of me doing this film, they were aggressively against it. Oddly enough, they ended up being extremely moved by it." Solce's next project is "Forging a Country," a short film about the recent re-election of El Salvador's populist president, Nayib Bukele. Solce will premiere "Forging a Country" this August at the Palestra Bureau conference in San Salvador. While Bukele is another potentially divisive subject, Solce says she doesn't court controversy for its own sake. She merely asks that audiences watch her work with an open mind. "I think people want an intellectually rigorous experience that's cinematic and beautiful at the same time," Solce says. "But they're scared of the political ramifications of the feelings that they might encounter." "Death Athletic" can be streamed on Amazon and Apple TV. Both "Death Athletic" and "No Control" can also be bought directly from the filmmaker.

Fanny Angelina Hesse introduced agar to the life sciences in 1881. A trove of unpublished family papers sheds new light on her many accomplishments

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I had no idea how excited people out there get about cable management solutions. Seriously, it's pretty crazy. I recently told BGR readers about an awesome device called the Sleek Socket, and they totally flipped out. As a matter of fact, hundreds of BGR Deals readers swarmed to get their hands on this brilliant device. Regular power strips are popular, but definitely not this popular. The Sleek Socket plugs into any standard wall outlet. Then, a single cable runs down to a power strip with four or more outlets. This way, you can eliminate all those cumbersome cables sticking out of your wall and hide them behind a piece of furniture. you can also do the same thing on your kitchen counter and hide the cable behind an appliance. The Sleek Socket is awesome, but it's not always perfect for every situation. The good news is that I managed to dig up another great solution called theOUTlet, and BGR Deals readers are definitely going to want to check it out. theOUTlet Basic - Permanent Outlet Extender, 4 Receptacles, Tamper Resistant, 15A, 125V Price: $37.55 Buy Now theOUTlet USB - Permanent Outlet Extender, 4 Receptacles + 2 USB Ports, Tamper Resistant, 15A,… Price: $48.42 Buy Now This cool little gizmo comes in two different models that are both very affordable. TheOUTlet Basic includes four three-prong power outlets, and as the name suggests, theOUTlet USB adds two USB power ports to the four standard three-prong power outlets on the base model. This way, you can charge your smartphones, tablets, eBook readers, and other gadgets. Both models have the same brilliant design that you'll wish you had in your home the whole time. Image source: theOUTlet When it's closed, theOUTlet has two power outlets. It looks just like any other three-prong outlet, but the plugs are turned sideways. Then, with a quick press of one button, the outlets pop open to expose another pair of plugs. That means you can plug in four different devices without a surge protector or power strip. And you can do it in the same space as a regular outlet that can only power two things. Or, in the case of theOUTlet USB, you'll get six power connections in the space of two. Installing theOUTlet is just as easy as installing any other duplex receptacle. In fact, if you're like me, the most difficult and time-consuming part might be finding the proper fuse to switch off before you start your installation. After that, it's just a matter of disconnecting the old outlet and connecting theOUTlet in its place. That's it! theOUTlet Basic - Permanent Outlet Extender, 4 Receptacles, Tamper Resistant, 15A, 125V Price: $37.55 Buy Now This is definitely one of the coolest home products I've found in quite some time. I have several of them in my house now. And after you check it out, I bet theOUTlet will be in multiple rooms of your home, too. Image source: theOUTlet Skip a regular power strip and check out theOUTlet instead. It's so awesome to be able to add additional plugs to any room without having a big bulky power strip lying around. Don't get me wrong, power strips and surge protectors are must-have gadgets in many cases. For example, you always want to plug expensive devices like TVs and computers into a good surge protector. But for normal things like lamps, fans, and smartphone chargers, you don't need a big power strip taking up space on your floor or anywhere else. theOUTlet Basic - Permanent Outlet Extender, 4 Receptacles, Tamper Resistant, 15A, 125V Price: $37.55 Buy Now theOUTlet USB - Permanent Outlet Extender, 4 Receptacles + 2 USB Ports, Tamper Resistant, 15A,… Price: $48.42 Buy Now Don't Miss: Today’s deals: $199 AirPods Pro 2, $89 robot vacuum, 15% off pet odor spray, $19 Roku Express, more The post theOUTlet gives you 4 power outlets without an ugly power strip appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $3 smart plugs, $299 Apple Watch S9, $38 bug zapper, $700 off Samsung G9 monitor, more 44 best cheap Apple deals under $100 Today’s deals: $399 M1 iPad Air, $30 Levoit humidifier, half off Beats Studio Pro, $139 Dewalt drill set, more Today’s deals: $150 off GEEKOM mini PC, $21 TOZO earbuds, $90 Ninja Air Fryer Pro, $360 Galaxy A35, more

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultraOrthodox men for military service, a decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in...

Tesla is recalling 11,688 Cybertruck electric pickup trucks as a failure of the windshield wiper could reduce visibility, increasing the risk of a crash, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said.