Featured Links - May 13, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Frenchman's Bay with clouds hiding the aurora

•  I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked. "A trip to the Beijing Auto Show reveals just how advanced China's EVs are. So what are the so-called "foreign" automakers doing about it?" The US and Canadian automakers will never allow Chinese EVs to be sold here in quantity.
• AI makes it easier for anyone to become a cybercriminal, top official says. "Generative AI is not just teaching cyber bad guys new tricks — it's also making it easier for anyone to become a bad guy, said Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief Jen Easterly." It's already too easy.
• Automakers hedge their bets with plug-in hybrids as EV sales slow. "Originally regarded as stopgap solutions, hybrids are in it for the long haul." Our next car may very well be a hybrid. I don't think we're quite ready for a full EV yet. 
• I worked at SpaceX. It was the most ruthlessly efficient company I've ever worked for. "Vincent Peters worked in military compliance when he was poached to work at SpaceX. He said the work culture was ruthlessly efficient and you could see Musk on the office floor. However, if you need your hand held, the former employee said to avoid Musk's companies."
• Largest 3D map of our universe could 'turn cosmology upside down'. "Scientists using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument have unveiled the largest 3D map of the universe ever. The results suggest that dark energy, the mysterious force pulling the universe apart, may be weakening, challenging prevailing theories of cosmology."
• Record-shattering Tonga volcanic eruption wasn't triggered by what we thought, new study suggests. "Scientists think Tonga's record-breaking 2022 eruption was triggered by gas building up to a "critical point" rather than by a reaction between magma and seawater as previously assumed."
• The Volvo VNL, a heavy truck purpose-designed for North American roads. "Blindspot cameras and radars, a more efficient engine, and lower-drag cab all help."
• The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all. "The structural inefficiency was a huge deal." I would not fly on a Boeing spacecraft. 
• A Potentially Fatal New COVID-Related Syndrome Has Emerged. "Even mild infections may be sufficient to trigger this serious condition." Am I reading this wrong? Does the article imply that the researchers are implicating COVID-19 vaccination as well as the infection itself?