Short Takes – 4-22-25

Lucy probe snaps closeup of weirdly shaped asteroid. CosmicLog.com article.  Pull quote: “Lucy came as close as 600 miles (960 kilometers) to Donaldjohanson on April 20, snapping images every two seconds or so as it zoomed past. The pictures confirmed the asteroid’s status as a contact binary — that is, a compound object formed by the sticky collision of two smaller celestial bodies. Donaldjohanson is somewhat larger than it was previously thought to be, with a length of about 5 miles (8 kilometers) and a width of 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) at the widest point.”

Whistleblower: DOGE Siphoned NLRB Case Data. KrebsOnSecurity.com article. Pull quote: “Berulis said he and his colleagues grew even more alarmed when they noticed nearly two dozen login attempts from a Russian Internet address (83.149.30,186) that presented valid login credentials for a DOGE employee account — one that had been created just minutes earlier. Berulis said those attempts were all blocked thanks to rules in place that prohibit logins from non-U.S. locations.”

SpaceX launches European reentry capsule on 'Bandwagon-3' rideshare mission (video). Space.com article. Pull quote: “The goal is to test the Phoenix system's inflatable heat shield and other core technology, showing the craft can safely bring valuable cargo from space to Earth — something Atmos plans to do for a variety of customers in the near future.”

US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts. Reuters.com article. Pull quote: “WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.” This is testing of labs that do milk and diary product testing to assure that they properly conducting such tests.

Beyond XX & XY—Human Sex And Gender Were Never A Simple Binary. TheBigPicture.substack.com article. Pull quote: “In 2017, I wrote a piece introducing the research of Amanda Hobbs—under expert review by Amy Wisniewski of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Hobbs's research identified five factors that determine sex: chromosomes, genes, hormones, reproductive organs, and secondary sex characteristics.”

EO 14276 - Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness. Federal Register.