S. Korea Passes Bill to Curb Google, Apple's in-app Fee Monopolies
The South Korean parliament passed a bill that would rein in the dominance Google and Apple exert over payments on their respective app stores. It became the first nation in the world to enact such a law.
The South Korean lawmakers voted to approve the amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act, which bars app market operators from forcing certain payment systems on mobile content businesses by abusing their market positions.
The move comes amid growing global scrutiny of Google and Apple, who maintain a strong grip over mobile ecosystems, for requiring developers on their app stores to use their proprietary payment systems that charge fees of up to 30 per cent when users purchase digital goods within apps.
Sep 01, 2021
China's Mars Rover to Pause for about 50 Days
China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission will be inactivated for about 50 days from mid-September due to an expected disruption of its communication with Earth caused by the solar electromagnetic radiation.
Tianwen-1, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. It was the first step in China's planetary exploration of the solar system, with the aim of completing orbiting, landing and roving on the red planet in one mission.
During the disruption, which will end in early November, the Zhurong rover and the mission's orbiter will suspend their working mode.
Aug 31, 2021
New Cracks on International Space Station
Russian cosmonauts discovered cracks on the Zarya module of the International Space Station (ISS) and are concerned that the fissures could spread over time.
According to NASA, the Zarya module, also called the Functional Cargo Block, was the first component of the ISS ever launched, having blasted into orbit on November 20, 1998.
The emergence of these new cracks follows several recent incidents on the ISS.
Aug 30, 2021
Indian Researchers Discover 3 Black Holes from 3 Galaxies Merging Together
Indian researchers have discoverd three supermassive black holes from three galaxies merging together to form a triple active galactic nucleus in our nearby universe.
The active galactic nucleus is a compact region at the center of a newly discovered galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity. This rare occurrence a nearby universe indicates that small merging groups are ideal laboratories to detect multiple accreting supermassive black holes and increases the possibility of detecting such rare occurrences.
A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics comprising Jyoti Yadav, Mousumi Das, and Sudhanshu Barway along with Francoise Combes of College de France, Chaire Galaxies et Cosmologie, Paris, while studying a known interacting galaxy pair, NGC7733, and NGC7734, detected unusual emissions from the centre of NGC7734 and a large, bright clump along the northern arm of NGC7733.
Their investigations showed that the clump is moving with a different velocity compared to the galaxy NGC7733 itself. The scientists meant that this clump was not a part of NGC7733; rather, it was a small separate galaxy behind the arm. They named this galaxy NGC7733N.
Aug 28, 2021
Astronomers Identify New Class of Exoplanets
Hycean worlds are composed of water-rich interiors with massive oceans underlying hydrogen-rich atmospheres; with densities between those of rocky super-Earths and larger mini-Neptunes, these exoplanets can be optimal candidates in the search for exoplanetary habitability and may be abundant in the exoplanet population.
Of the thousands of exoplanets known today, the vast majority are low-mass planets with sizes of 1-4 Earth masses, between the terrestrial planets and ice giants of our Solar System.
With no analogs in the Solar System, these planets are variedly classed as super-Earths or mini-Neptunes depending on inferences about their bulk compositions based on their densities.
Earlier studies of such planets have found that the pressure and temperature beneath their hydrogen-rich atmospheres would be too high to support life.
However, Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer in the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, and colleagues recently found that in certain conditions these planets could support life.
The result led to a detailed investigation into the full range of planetary and stellar properties for which these conditions are possible, which known exoplanets may satisfy those conditions, and whether their biosignatures may be observable.
The investigation led the astronomers to identify a new class of planets, Hycean planets, with massive planet-wide oceans beneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres.
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