Thursday, May 8, 2025

BIG Wrap

Pedoph isles listed for sale

Private Caribbean islands owned by deceased sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein are up for sale and could fetch up to $125 million. A lawyer for Epstein's estate confirmed to the BBC that the two islands – Little St. James and Great St. James – have been listed. Lawyer Daniel Weiner said some proceeds from the sale will be used to settle outstanding lawsuits. Epstein died in jail in 2019, awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The financier...

Examining the biggest cyber-attack threats

President Joe Biden has called on private companies and organizations in the U.S. to "lock their digital doors," claiming that intelligence suggests Russia is planning a cyber attack on the U.S. The U.K.'s cyber-authorities are supporting the White House's calls for "increased cyber-security precautions," though neither has given any evidence of a Russian cyber scheme. Russia has stated that such accusations are "Russophobic." However, Russia is a cyber superpower with a serious arsenal of cyber tools, and hackers capable of...

NATO to bolster presence in eastern Europe

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders are expected to approve major increases in its forces in eastern Europe at a special summit tomorrow, reports the BBC. The military alliance has 30 members that have agreed to come to one another's aid in the event of an armed attack against any one member state. Although NATO originally offered Ukraine eventual membership back in 2008, this hasn't happened, mainly because of Russia's long-standing opposition to such a move. However, several...

High internet usage among teens associated with elevated stress and suicidal ideation

By Public Library of Science A survey of nearly 30,000 high school students in Korea reveals an association between non-academic time spent on the Internet and mental health, with teenagers who spent more time online having higher levels of stress and more feelings of sadness and suicidal ideation. The study is published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Yeunhee Kwak of Chung-Ang University, Korea, and colleagues. Internet usage in adolescence has been shown to be associated with...

Great whites aren’t exactly socialites, but they chill with each other from time to time

Great white sharks around Mexico's Guadalupe Island sometimes hang out with each other – and while it's not a popularity contest, some might just be a little more social than others, writes Angela Nicoletti of Florida International University (FIU). FIU marine scientist Yannis Papastamatiou, PhD candidate Sarah Luongo, and a team of researchers, wanted to uncover some of the mysteries of the white sharks that gather seasonally around Guadalupe Island. With an innovative combination of tracking tools, they...

NFL stadium openings in 2020 had no impact on local COVID-19 infections, MIT study indicates

As with most everything in the world, football looked very different in 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, many National Football League (NFL) games were played in empty stadiums, while other stadiums opened to fans at significantly reduced capacity, with strict safety protocols in place. At the time it was unclear what impact such large sporting events would have on COVID-19 case counts, particularly at a time when vaccination against the virus was not widely...

Princeton study yields strategies for closing gender gap in engineering course participation

Students' identities can play a key role in how comfortable they feel and how often they speak up in the classroom, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. For instance, women generally speak far less than men in undergraduate engineering classes. But this is not always the case, according to Princeton researchers. When classes are taught by women instructors, the gender gap practically disappears. Another major factor in women's class participation is participation by other...

Expansion cracks on icy moon Enceladus let inner ocean boil out, according to study

In 2006, the Cassini spacecraft recorded geyser curtains shooting from "tiger stripe" fissures near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus – sometimes as much as 200 kilograms of water per second. A new study suggests how expanding ice during millennia-long cooling cycles could sometimes crack the moon's icy shell and let its inner ocean out, providing a possible explanation for the geysers. Enceladus has a diameter of about 504 kilometers. (For context, Earth's diameter is...

Biden warns of growing risk of Russian cyber attacks

President Joe Biden said on Monday that intelligence indicated a growing Russian cyber threat to the U.S. He said Russia was "exploring" cyber attacks, but the U.S. would use "every tool" to prevent and respond to such a move. Biden suggested Moscow could act in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's foreign ministry has said bilateral ties between Moscow and the U.S. were on the "verge of rupture." Biden has previously warned...

Researchers call for assessment of profound ethical implications in genetic embryo testing

New technologies are expanding the reach and accessibility of preimplantation genetic testing of human embryos. But what these advances can deliver is still unclear, and a frank assessment of their profound ethical implications is urgently needed, concludes a commentary in Nature Medicine. The authors are Josephine Johnston, director of research and a research scholar at The Hastings Center, and Lucas J. Matthews, an assistant professor at Columbia University who is a Hastings Center presidential scholar. They...