The US says Russia just tested an "anti-satellite weapon" in orbit

Lockdown was the longest period of quiet in recorded human history

Sponsored by IBM The Download Your daily dose of what’s up in emerging technology 07.24.20 Good morning! Today: the US claims Russia just tested an "anti-satellite" weapon, and lockdown was the longest period of quiet in recorded human history. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The US says Russia just tested an “anti-satellite weapon” in orbit The US Space Command says it’s found evidence that Russia recently conducted a test of anti-satellite weapons, albeit one that did not destroy or harm anything.  What did it do? A US SpaceCom spokesperson told MIT Technology Review that Kosmos 2543 had been operating “abnormally close” to a US government satellite in low Earth orbit, before it maneuvered away and over to another Russian satellite. On July 15, Kosmos 2543 then released another object in proximity to the Russian target satellite. This test, SpaceCom says, is “inconsistent” with Kosmos 2543’s stated purpose as an “inspector satellite,” and is actually a demonstration of anti-satellite weaponry.   Russia has form: Russia has a very long history of putting its satellites in close proximity with other objects in ways that suggest it’s testing potential weapons, or trying to spy on other countries’ assets.  Why it matters: The event “does bring up the idea of the importance of having agreed-upon norms of behavior so that all are on the same page in terms of what is considered responsible activity in space and what is considered threatening,” says Victoria Samson from the Secure World Foundation, an expert in space security. Read the full story. —Neel V. Patel Lockdown was the longest period of quiet in recorded human history All is quiet: When lockdown started in March, the world went instantly, strangely silent. City streets emptied. Construction projects froze. Stores closed. Now a network of seismic monitoring stations around the world has quantified this unprecedented period of quiet. The research was published in Science yesterday. “We can safely say that in modern seismology, we’ve never seen such a long period of human quiet,” says Raphael De Plaen at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Querétaro, one of the paper’s 76 authors. The research: The researchers used data collected from 268 monitoring stations around the world, including seismographs built and used by hobbyists. 69% of those stations showed significant reductions in noise. This silence began in late January in China; by mid-March, it had descended on the world. The group used these seismic data in tandem with anonymized mobility data collected from Google and Apple to detect human movement. This helped them figure out whether seismic events were likely to be human-caused or natural. Beneath our feet: Humans are the third-biggest source of seismic noise. Usually, this background noise muffles natural seismic activity. But lockdown, and the accompanying lack of activity, presented a unique chance for researchers not only to control for human sounds but also to hear seismic noise that otherwise gets drowned out. Read the full story.   —Tanya Basu We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + The history of the primary colors.   + Forgotten classics by women-led New Wave bands.   + Trying to figure out TikTok dances.   + Breathe better with these exercises.   + Someone has replaced every image on the BBC News website with pictures of cats and it's...amazing.  Sponsor Message How blockchain helps build smarter supply chains There's no way around it—modern supply chains are complex and rely on multiple parties and global networks to operate.  In most supply chains, communication is point-to-point, with no single, shared record of events across multiple parties. So when a B2B transaction goes awry, it can be stressful and time-consuming to identify the source before it leads to a potential dispute. Learn how your organization can benefit from multi-party shared visibility and trust with a blockchain-enabled application built for the supply chain. Get IBM's point of view. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Climate migration is already happening The devastating impact of climate change will far outweigh that of coronavirus. (NYT $) 2 The US surpassed four million covid-19 cases yesterday Nearly 144,000 people have died. (Ars Technica)   + Infections are way higher than reported in some parts of the country. (NYT $) 3 What to expect when the big tech CEOs come to Washington on Monday My prediction? A lot of heat and not very much light. (Protocol)   + This is what the CEOs of Facebook, Apple, Google, and Amazon will say. (Axios)   + Amazon met with startups about investing, then launched competing products. (WSJ $) 4 Coronavirus research will be a long game So much about this virus is still a mystery, and sacrificing quality science for speed will endanger public trust. (New Yorker $)   + These seem to be the four most viable vaccine candidates currently. (Ars Technica) 5 Is it safe to take a vacation this summer? 🏖️ Experts weigh in on the relative risks of pools, camping, and planes. (Buzzfeed) 6 Twitter might become a subscription service It’s looking for new ways to make money as ad revenue plummets. (CNN)   + More than 1,000 people at Twitter had access to the accounts that were hacked. (Reuters) 7 Facebook employees say the company is doing more harm than good Mark Zuckerberg is mentioned a lot in this piece. (Buzzfeed)   + Facebook staff say the company suppressed racial bias research. (NBC)   + Will Facebook ever stop relying on poorly-paid outsourced content moderators overseas? (Rest of World) 8 Criminals are turning to audio deepfakes to commit fraud 👂 If this clip is anything to go by, we don’t need to panic just yet. (Vice) 9 Neuroscience could help us convince people to wear masks A crucial lesson: don’t make stressed people more stressed. (Wired $)   + Luxury face masks are now a thing. (Quartz) 10 Chatroulette is back Except it’s now called Omegle. (NYT $) Not an expert? Not a problem. Our team is full of those. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today for an insightful look into technology for the future without getting bogged down by the jargon. Quote of the Day “It’s acting like Europe.” —Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, tells the New York Times how the US Northeast differs to the rest of the country in terms of virus control. Top image credit: Lockheed Martin Please send luxury face masks to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Leading with Innovation. Join us online, October 19-22. *View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with your email address  *Edit email preferences   |   *Unsubscribe from all emails Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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