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NASA and Boeing plan to spend the next few weeks conducting tests on the ground in order to better understand issues with the Starliner spacecrafts thrusters before giving its crew the go-ahead to fly back to Earth. But, officials insisted in a press conference Friday afternoon, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are not stranded on the International Space Station. Were not in a rush to come home, said Steve Stich, manager of NASAs Commercial Crew Program. Starliner has been docked with the ISS since June 6 for what was meant to be a 10-day flight test all in all. During its approach of the orbiting lab, however, the craft experienced problems with five of its thrusters, and a known helium leak appeared to worsen. NASA and Boeing have been working together to evaluate the issues ever since. On Friday, representatives for the two said they arent yet setting a date for the return flight, and will instead wait until the ground tests have been completed and all analyses run. The first thruster tests, which will be conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, are expected to begin as soon as Tuesday. It was initially stated that Starliner could only stay docked at the ISS for a maximum of 45 days due to limitations with its batteries, but Stich said during the conference that these batteries are being recharged by the space station, so this can be extended. I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space, Stich said. Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time. Starliner is performing well while docked, and the craft could still be used as a lifeboat to bring the astronauts home if necessary in the case of an emergency, the officials said. Mark Nappi, VP and program manager of Boeings Commercial Crew Program, reiterated Stichs comments, saying, Were not stuck on the ISS, the crew is not in any danger, and theres no increased risk when we decide to bring Suni and Butch back to Earth.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-and-boeing-say-starliner-astronauts-are-not-stranded-but-will-be-on-the-iss-for-a-few-more-weeks-154407704.html?src=rss
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While people who own and sell cryptocurrency have always had to pay taxes on their earnings, a new rule finalized by the US Treasury Department can ensure that they're paying the proper amount on their sales. The new rule will require cryptocurrency platforms like exchanges and payment processors to report their users' transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. According to The Wall Street Journal, authorities are hoping that the measure can deter tax evasion, seeing as the IRS would know exactly how much a taxpayer owes. At the same time, the rule will make it much easier for people for declare their earnings because their brokers will now have to provide them with a 1099 form. The IRS released a draft form of 1099-DA (Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transaction) made especially to track crypto transactions last year and will make the final version available soon. To note, the rule sets a threshold of $10,000 to report on transactions involving stablecoin, which are cryptocurrencies that track fiat money like the US dollar. "[I]nvestors in digital assets and the IRS will have better access to the documentation they need to easily file and review tax returns, Aviva Aron-Dine, the Treasurys acting assistant secretary for tax policy, said in a statement. By implementing the laws reporting requirements, these final regulations will help taxpayers more easily pay taxes owed under current law, while reducing tax evasion by wealthy investors. The new rule will only apply to platforms that take possession of digital assets, such as Coinbase or Binance. It doesn't cover decentralized ones, which will have to comply with a separate rule that's expected to be finalized later this year. Brokers will have to start reporting sales proceeds on digital assets in 2026 for all transactions accomplished in 2025, which means crypto traders are still on their own for 2024. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-treasury-finalizes-crypto-rules-to-prevent-tax-evasion-143051676.html?src=rss
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According to the Prison Policy Institute, the US has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 people in its population than any other NATO country and its even higher than the next five member states combined (the UK, Portugal, Canada, France and Belgium). So whats the solution? Hashem Al-Ghaili, a molecular biologist and science communicator from Yemen, claims hes got it in an interview with Wired: build a virtual prison instead. Hes not talking about stapling a bunch of Meta Quest 3s to prisoners' heads for years at a time, but its also not far off from that concept. Al-Ghaili is proposing a new neurological prison system that he calls Cognify. He posted a proposal video of the virtual justice system on his Instagram and YouTube channel and it looks downright horrifying. Heres how Cognify works in a theoretical nutshell Instead of locking prisoners up for long periods of time, prisoners would be subjected to artificial memories in a virtual environment. The system creates customized AI-generated content thats converted to visual information and delivered to the prisoners brain as well as the parts of their DNA and RNA linked to memory formation to establish a long term memory pattern. Currently, such technology does not exist and Cognify is only a proposal. However, Al-Ghaili claims that experiments conducted on animals prove this process could work on humans at some point in the future. For instance, a study published in March in the scientific journal Nature in March that used mice as its test subjects found that memories are possibly formed by broken and repaired strands of DNA. Of course, there are ethical implications and effects that would need to be addressed if such a system were to become a reality. Al-Ghaili says Cognify could happen within a decade from now but only if we could overcome the ethical restrictions that limit testing such technology. If that doesnt send a shiver up your spine, then check your wrist for a pulse. Horror anthology fans like me will remember an episode from the 1990s reboot of The Outer Limits on Showtime called The Sentence in which a scientist played by David Hyde Pierce invents a very similar virtual prison system that simulates an entire life sentence within a matter of minutes. He, of course, subjects himself to his own invention that makes him believe he committed a murder and served an entire lifetime in prison. He wakes up only to start denouncing the very system he championed just a few minutes earlier. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube for free. Someone should send it to this guy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ai-prison-of-the-future-is-just-an-outer-limits-episode-200937257.html?src=rss
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