XRP price shows that business is good for Ripple despite US legal uncertainty

XRP price is consolidating in a bullish pennant pattern, indicating a 45% surge to $1.50 soon. Ripple is making headway despite being in a legal battle ...

Biodiversity 'hot spots' devastated in warming world

Unless nations dramatically improve on carbon cutting pledges made under the 2015 Paris climate treaty, the planet's richest concentrations of animal and plant life will be irreversibly ravaged by global warming, scientists warned Friday.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-biodiversity-hot-devastated-world.html

Long road ahead for buyout offer, Toshiba board chair warns

A British hedge fund's buyout offer for Toshiba faces a long road, including seeking regulatory approval and additional financing, the chairman of the Japanese firm's board warned Friday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-road-buyout-toshiba-board-chair.html

France to declare agricultural 'disaster' over spring frost

The French government is to declare an agricultural disaster over an unusual early spring frost that has damaged crops and vines across the country, the agiculture minister said.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-france-declare-agricultural-disaster-frost.html

St. Vincent warns of volcanic eruption, orders evacuations

Authorities on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent said Thursday they believe an active volcano is in danger of erupting and have ordered mandatory evacuations.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-st-vincent-volcanic-eruption-evacuations.html

Liftoff! Pioneers of space

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space 60 years ago next week.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-liftoff-space.html

US sanctions Chinese computer makers in widening tech fight

The Biden administration has added seven Chinese supercomputer research labs and manufacturers to a U.S. export blacklist in a spreading conflict with Beijing over technology and security.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-sanctions-chinese-makers-widening-tech.html

Amazon union organizers deflated as vote tilts against them

Amazon is heading into the final stretch of a union push in Bessemer, Alabama with a sizeable lead over labor organizers.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-amazon-union-deflated-vote-tilts.html

Verizon recalls mobile hotspots sold to schools, in stores

Verizon is recalling 2.5 million mobile hotspots after some reports of overheating and two reports of minor burns.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-verizon-recalls-mobile-hotspots-sold.html

Three-man Soyuz flight honouring Gagarin blasts off for ISS

A three-man crew blasted off to the International Space Station Friday in a capsule honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-three-man-soyuz-flight-honouring-gagarin.html

X-ray study recasts role of battery material from cathode to catalyst

An international team working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a unique X-ray instrument to learn new things about lithium-rich battery materials that have been the subject of much study for their potential to extend the range of electric vehicles and the operation of electronic devices.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-x-ray-recasts-role-battery-material.html

Could Mario Kart teach us how to reduce world poverty and improve sustainability?

Many Mario Kart enthusiasts are familiar with the rush of racing down Rainbow Road, barely squeaking around a corner, and catching a power-up from one of the floating square icons on the screen—or, less ideally, slipping on a banana peel laid by another racer and flying off the side of the road into oblivion. This heated competition between multiple players, who use a variety of game tokens and tools to speed ahead or thwart their competitors, is part of what makes the classic Nintendo racing game that has been around since the early 1990s so appealing.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-mario-kart-world-poverty-sustainability.html

Earth's crust mineralogy drives hotspots for intraterrestrial life

Below the verdant surface and organic rich soil, life extends kilometers into Earth's deep rocky crust. The continental deep subsurface is likely one of the largest reservoirs of bacteria and archaea on Earth, many forming biofilms—like a microbial coating of the rock surface. This microbial population survives without light or oxygen and with minimal organic carbon sources, and can get energy by eating or respiring minerals. Distributed throughout the deep subsurface, these biofilms could represent 20-80% of the total bacterial and archaeal biomass in the continental subsurface according to the most recent estimate. But are these microbial populations spread evenly on rock surfaces, or do they prefer to colonize specific minerals in the rocks?

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-earth-crust-mineralogy-hotspots-intraterrestrial.html