Short Takes – 4-5-25

Is The U.S. About To Go To War With Iran? TWZ.com article. I have never heard of TWZ.com before, but this is an interesting thought piece. Pull quote: “The price of oil could (and likely would) skyrocket, which would affect domestic economics and, as a result, politics back home in the United States, as well as around the globe. Such a shock could send markets tumbling, especially if the military action quickly expands into a protracted conflict. If oil exports from the region are significantly reduced for a prolonged period of time, it could trigger rising tensions and aggression elsewhere. It would also help Russian President Vladimir Putin fund his war in Ukraine, and it could have major humanitarian impacts in poorer countries around the globe.”

‘Real danger in this moment’ for America’s research enterprise. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “Meanwhile, there are growing concerns that US-born scientists might leave their country. Amidst the current turmoil, initiatives aimed at recruiting chemists and other researchers from the US are popping up all over Europe and beyond. The Trump administration may believe that they’re strengthening the US, but all they’re really doing is setting the country on a path that will drain it of its best and brightest.”

Cybersecurity Firm Hacks Ransomware Group. I-HLS.com article. Pull quote: “The flaw, a Local File Include (LFI) vulnerability, was discovered on BlackLock’s dark web data leak platform, where the group posted the stolen data of its victims. By exploiting this weakness, Resecurity’s HUNTER team was able to dive deep into the gang’s infrastructure, uncovering sensitive server configurations, login details, and even detailed logs showing the group’s every move. The intelligence they gathered revealed not just what BlackLock had done but what they were planning next — and it gave Resecurity the chance to alert authorities, stopping some of the gang’s most destructive attacks in their tracks.”

Kids infected with measles face long-term health consequences. Vaccines can prevent all of them. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “The nightmarish effect of this long-term persistence (of the measles virus in the nervous system) is a condition called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). This is a progressive neurological disorder that might start with mood changes and muscle tremors; then, as it progresses, the person starts losing speech, vision and hearing. After about two years, the person falls into a coma and dies.”

SpaceX Astronauts Splash Down Off California Coast for the First Time. NYTimes.com article.  Pull quote: “First, the trunk would be jettisoned later in the return journey, after the spacecraft had fired its thrusters to drop out of orbit. That enables aiming of the debris, and the Pacific Ocean provides a large, unpopulated expanse of water where the debris will not pose a danger to people.”

SpinLaunch—yes, the centrifuge rocket company—is making a hard pivot to satellites. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “"It was quite natural for us," Wrenn said. "We were thinking about how you build satellites for SpinLaunch and how you could deploy and maintain satellites with SpinLaunch. How do you build very high-performing satellites and small form factors?"

Extreme magnetic fields near our galaxy's black hole are preventing stars from being born, JWST discovers. Space.com article. Pull quote: “These magnetic forces may be strong enough to counteract the typical gravitational star-forming collapse of molecular clouds, instead confining material into dense filaments seen in the JWST images, which helps explain why Sgr C is forming fewer stars than expected, according to the two new papers.”

SpaceX fires up used Super Heavy booster ahead of 9th Starship test flight (photos, videos). Space.com article. Pull quote: “None of Starship's eight test missions to date have reused a Super Heavy or a Ship upper stage, so Flight 9 will be groundbreaking. SpaceX has not yet announced a target launch date for the mission.”

Early look at hurricane season predicts over a dozen named storms. But El Niño could change things. Edition.CNN.com article. Pull quote: “This year’s outlook isn’t quite as bullish as last year’s spot-on prediction of 11 hurricanes, but it is significant. The [CSU] forecast of nine hurricanes is tied for the second-highest amount predicted in the 30 years the team has issued long-range hurricane forecasts in April.”

A busy hurricane season is expected. Here’s how it will be different from the last. WashingtonPost.com article (free). Pull quote: “But conditions this year have leveled out, while still remaining historically warm as a product of human-caused global warming. Across a strip of the Atlantic known as the main development region for tropical cyclones, stretching from the coast of western Africa to the Caribbean Sea, sea surface temperatures were the eighth-warmest on record in March.”