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PLANETARY SCIENCEMarss moon may be its kin

Researchers have long believed that Marss two moons, Deimos and Phobos, are captured asteroids. But the first close-up images of Deimos, taken by the United Arab Emiratess $200 million Hope spacecraft, suggest the 12-kilometer-wide body instead formed from the same material as Mars, researchers revealed this week at the annual meeting of the European Geosciences Union. The imagery, taken during a 10 March flyby, indicates that Deimoss surface is covered by volcanic basalts like those on Mars, with no signs of the carbon-rich rock more often found on asteroids. Hope began orbiting Mars in 2021 to study the martian atmosphere. When it completed its planned observations, controllers adjusted its orbit to take the images of the peach-shaped Deimos, the smaller of the two moons. Phoboss orbit is too low for Hope to have made similar observations.

A bid this week by a Japanese company to become the first to put a commercial lander on the Moon was unsuccessful. The company, called ispace, tracked the descent of its Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander until seconds before the scheduled landing in Atlas crater, after which it lost contact. The craft carried small rovers supplied by the United Arab Emirates and by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Tomy Company, a Japanese toymaker. ispace plans to launch another lander in 2024. A previous commercial lander, sent by an Israeli company in 2019, crashed as it attempted to land.

Attempting to succeed where his predecessors have failed, President Joe Bidens administration this week was expected to formally propose cutting carbon emissions from new and existing U.S. power plants. Courts blocked a previous effort by the Obama administration to limit these emissions and a less ambitious proposal from the Trump administration to achieve reductions through increased efficiency. Bidens plan is expected to incentivize carbon capture and storage technologies and discourage the construction of plants that burn natural gas, media organizations reported based on confidential sources. The administration has said it wants 80% of U.S. electricity to come from sources that emit no greenhouse gases by 2030 and for the power sector to be emissions-free by 2035. The new plan is likely to face legal challenges from utilities and states that produce fossil fuels.

It sounds like insanity to take money from drug companies and then do reports related to opioids.

Belief in the importance of childhood vaccination declined in 52 of 55 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a UNICEF report released last week. In most countries, women were more likely than men to doubt vaccines worth after the pandemic, according to survey data gathered by the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The number of people agreeing with the statement Vaccines are important for children to have plunged by more than 40% in South Korea and by up to 15% in most European countries, Canada, and the United States. Only China, India, and Mexico showed growth in this measure of confidence. Mostly because of the pandemics disruptions to health care, 67 million children missed routine childhood vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, and measles cases more than doubled from 2021 to 2022. Fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the [SARS-CoV-2] virus itself, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.

The worlds largest maker of batteries announced last week a major advance in the energy storage of its batteries, which the company claims could power electric aircraft and double the range of electric cars to 1000 kilometers between charges. China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) plans to begin mass-producing lithium-ion batteries this year that can store up to 500 watt-hours per kilogram, nearly twice as much as industry-leading cells produced by Tesla and other big batterymakers. The performance comes from improvements to the batterys electrodes and electrolyte, says Wu Kai, CATLs chief scientist. Last year, Amprius, a U.S. battery startup, announced it, too, is close to manufacturing such a battery.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is set to open the doors of a $431 million facility next week that showcases its vast collections in new ways. Visitors to the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation can watch conservators behind glass panels as they work with some of the 4 million specimens stored there. Other features include a room with 80 species of fluttering butterflies and an insectarium that hosts a live colony of a half-million leafcutter ants. The hockey rinksize Invisible Worlds exhibit offers an interactive, immersive experience about the connectedness of life at different scales, from DNA through ecosystems. The building is really emphasizing the process of research and where information comes from, so we are constantly communicating this message of evidence-based science, says evolutionary biologist Cheryl Hayashi, the museums provost of science.

An international group of researchers last week protested a bill approved by Ugandas Parliament that imposes the death penalty for some homosexual acts, telling Ugandas president that the science is crystal clear that homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human sexuality. The public letter by 15 scientists from South Africa, Canada, and the United States came after Ugandas president, Yoweri Museveni, in March called for a medical opinion on whether homosexuality is deviant. Last week, Museveni asked lawmakers to amend the bill to provide amnesty for rehabilitated people who renounce their homosexuality. The U.S. Department of State and some international groups have criticized the bill as a violation of human rights. The scientists who signed the letter include Dean Hamer, a geneticist emeritus at the U.S. National Institutes of Health who discovered the first evidence that homosexuality probably has some genetic basis.

Ask the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program a question about science or medicine, and it may spit out an answer that sounds plausible, even authoritative. But critics have knocked the output as containing errors and lacking references. Now, the software company Scite has developed an AI-powered remedy. When users type a question into its subscription-based tool Assistant, the software pulls an answer from ChatGPT and automatically annotates the text with references to relevant scholarly articles, choosing from millions in its database. Each reference provided by Assistant comes with an automatic fact-check in the form of a box listing how many newer papers cited the referenced article and how many provided evidence that supports, contrasts with, or is neutral about the relevant claim in that article.

The World Health Organization last week launched what it calls the largest and most detailed collection of data on population-level health and the factors that shape it. Half of countries do not report disaggregated health statistics; others categorize the figures only by sex, age, and place of residence. The new Health Inequality Data Repository includes nearly two dozen demographic and socioeconomic categories, including ethnicity and level of education. Sponsors hope to use the repositorys nearly 11 million data points, provided by 15 intergovernmental organizations, to identify and reduce disparities in immunizations and rates of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, for example.

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News at a glance: U.S. rules on carbon emissions, better vehicle ... - Science

Sejong is the most famous ruler in Korea's long history, known for his reforms and the development of the Hangul alphabet, which is still used in modern Korea some six hundred years later. In Civilization 6, he supplements Korea's famously Science-heavy gameplay with periodic bursts of Culture, letting players rush down both research trees simultaneously!

Related: Civilization 6: Tips For Playing As Theodora

If you've got the Great Builders pack as part of the Leader Pass DLC, you're probably eager to recreate the glory of the Joseon Dynasty. This guide has everything you need to win games as Sejong!

Korea has always been a Science powerhouse in Civilization, so it's no surprise that Sejong excels when his empire is cranking out new Technologies.

Sejong's leader ability is different from most because it only triggers once per Era. Whenever Sejong researches his first Technology from a new Era, he immediately gains Culture equal to twice his current Science output. This incentivizes you to maximize Science in every city - not hard at all while playing Korea!

Even with turbocharged Science, the extra Culture burst will, in most cases, just finish the Civic you're currently developing. It's especially handy in the late game, since you'll want powerful Policies to fuel your space race!

Korea has a slightly different approach to city layouts thanks to its Three Kingdoms ability. Farms produce one extra Food for each Seowon they're adjacent to, and Mines do the same with Science. In a perfect world, you'll be able to build your Seowons one tile apart, with Farms or Mines in between, to maximize this bonus. In practice, though, the restrictions on Seowon placement can make such a layout tough to achieve.

The Hwacha replaces the Field Cannon and is available earlier, being unlocked with the Gunpowder Technology. Like the Field Cannon, the Hwacha is a Ranged Unit, not a Siege Unit - an important distinction when you're trying to conquer a city!

Hwachas aren't any more powerful than Field Cannons, and are actually weaker if they get caught in melee, but their earlier availability and lower costs to produce and maintain make them a nasty surprise for anyone who picks a fight with Korea in the mid-game.

Mass-produce Hwacha when they become available, then consolidate them into Corps and Armies to earn Civic boosts as the game progresses.

The Seowon is Korea's not-so-secret weapons, the cornerstone of their gameplay. These centers of learning are the game's best Campuses, with half the cost to build and a flat adjacency bonus of four.

Seowons don't get any extra adjacency from terrain, but they do lose a point of adjacency for every District next to them, so be sure to build them away from your urban centers! Instead, build Mines and Farms next to your Seowon to get the full bonus from Three Kingdoms.

Unlike normal Campuses, Seowon can only be built on hills. Remember this when deciding where to settle your cities - if there's only one hill on otherwise flat land, settle the city in the lowlands and save the hill for the Seowon!

Related: Civilization 6: Tips For Playing As Ramses

It's important to plan out your cities ahead of time using map tacks (available near the mini-map in the lower-left corner of the screen) ahead of time in any game, but for Sejong it's absolutely critical. Korea thrives by making full use of Seowons and Three Kingdoms, so know where your research districts, Farms, and Mines are going as you settle your initial cities.

Volcanoes and Flood Plains, though dangerous, make great spots for Seowon, since the fertile soil nearby will further enhance the Seowon's Farms! Governor Liang can protect the city from natural disasters with Reinforced Materials if they start to become a problem.

Send out Scouts to try and make contact with another Civilization as soon as possible, since this triggers the Eureka for Writing. Once you have that Technology, build your Seowons and start your race to the stars.

Every city that can have a Seowon should have one, with Harbors and Commercial Hubs to fund your empire's growth. Gold can be used to keep your army ready to defend against attackers, or to buy Builders to ensure your tiles are improved. Korea should have no trouble getting the boosts for Apprenticeship (build three Mines) and Feudalism (build six Farms), both of which are among the most imporant early-game steps in Civ 6.

Once you have your engine going, larger cities can make good use of Theater Squares. You're not trying to compete with other Civilizations for Culture; rather, the Theater Squares are there to keep you on-track with Civics, with help from Hangul.

Granada is a great City-State to take as a vassal if they're available - their Alcazars provide both Culture and Science if built on high-Appeal tiles, and they double as forts if you find yourself facing an invasion!

Sejong's primary Victory Condition is always going to be Science - Korea isn't generally geared for anything else. Throughout the game, you should do everything you can to maximize your Science output; Research Alliances, City-States, and Wonders are all great ways to make this happen. Natural Philosophy and Rationalism should be taken as Policies the moment they're available and kept for the rest of the game.

Rush down the Technology tree to unlock Rocketry so that you can build Spaceports. Prepare your largest cities by making sure they have fully-upgraded and powered Industrial Zones to handle the massive projects they're about to undertake. Gaining suzerainty over Hong Kong is a good play as well, since they reduce the cost of city projects for their overlord.

While you're developing the tech to go into space, use Sejong's Culture boosts plus the extra that you're getting from Theater Squares and a Cultural Alliance to switch your government to Communism as soon as possible. The Class Struggle Civic is boosted by having three Factories, so this ties in nicely with the Industrial Zones you're building. Communism provides a bonus to both Production and Science, making it perfect for a Space Race Victory.

Once you've got a Spaceport, dedicate everything you have to the Space Race Projects; Launch Earth Satellite, Moon Landing, Mars Colony, and finally Exoplanet Expedition. Recall your Traders to the main Spaceport city (usually your capital) as they finish their routes and send them on routes that will provide high Production to speed the process.

When the Exoplanet Expedition launches, dedicate every city with a Spaceport to building LaGrange and Terrestrial Laser Stations. These are expensive, costing large quantities of Aluminum and Electricity, respectively. Trade for Aluminum if you have to, while your Builders construct renewable energy sources to power the Terrestrial Stations.

Upon reaching the Future Era, push for the Synthetic Technocracy government, which provides extra renewable energy and a Production bonus to city projects. If you have a fully-upgraded Government Plaza, you can use Communist Legacy in one of your Wildcard slots to keep the Production-per-Citizen bonus from your previous government as well!

Once your Exoplanet Expedition completes its journey, you'll be able to claim victory!

Next: Civilization 6: Tips For Playing As Ludwig

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How To Win As Sejong In Civilization 6 - TheGamer

The day has finally arrived for humanity to embark on a new adventure colonizing the Red Planet. On May 10th, 2023, Pyramid Games will release Occupy Mars: The Game in Early Access on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. This open-world, sandbox survival game will challenge players to face the harsh environment of Mars and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of successful colonization.

Occupy Mars: The Game is an open-world, sandbox survival game that revolves around Mars colonization. Players will have to contend with Mars challenging conditions, such as limited resources, energy, oxygen, and water. Managing these resources carefully and planning the missions subsequent stages will be critical to the success of the Martian colony. A single error could lead to disaster, so responsible resource management and strategic planning are essential.

In the game, players will have to manage their supplies, ensuring they have enough resources like water, oxygen, food, and energy to survive. Building and upgrading the base is crucial to maintain smooth operations, even in the face of unpredictable Martian weather. Before constructing a base, players must find suitable terrain with minimal adverse conditions, such as access to underground ice resources and a relatively flat surface.

Occupy Mars: The Game features a realistic day and night cycle, allowing players to experience the true atmosphere of life on Mars. Solar power will be vital for survival, so players must ensure their base has enough solar panels and batteries to store auxiliary power during the dark hours. On Mars, sunsets and sunrises appear blue, adding to the games immersive quality.

As players race against time to address outages and malfunctions, theyll need to hone their skills to respond quickly and efficiently. An impressive garage of vehicles, like quads and rovers, will be available to traverse the Martian surface. These vehicles can be upgraded and modified, making them invaluable tools for research and exploration.

Occupy Mars: The Game invites players to embark on an unforgettable journey to colonize the Red Planet. With its challenging gameplay and immersive Martian environment, the game promises a unique and thrilling experience for players ready to take on the ultimate test of survival and strategy.

Platforms: Microsoft Windows

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Occupy Mars: The Game - A Challenging Journey to the Red Planet ... - GLYFE Nation

Artist rendition of Lunar Colony exterior. (Credit: NASA; art by Rick Guidice)

Earlier this month, many of us were thrilled to learn that four astronauts had been selected for a mission to orbit Earths Moon, followed by the Artemis III Moon landing mission set to launch in late 2025. Although robot explorers have been sent to the Moon, humans last visited the Moon in 1972. Thats a hiatus that reminds me of the gap in visits to the South Pole, which went unvisited between 1912 and 1956.

However, just because humans were not visiting the Moon in actuality didnt prevent SF authors from imagining what it might be like were humans to establish an enduring presence there. Indeed, the lack of actual Moon bases permitted imaginations to roam freely, as these five examples should make clear.

Humans brought their vices with them when they settled the Moon. As a lunar cop, Lieutenant Anna-Louise Bachs job means investigating the same sorts of crimes she would face were she working in a Terrestrial city of a previous century, However, increasingly sophisticated technology introduces complications no 20th century investigator had to unravel. Take, for example, the Barbie Murders.

The Temple of the Standardized Church uses surgery to remove the genitals of devotees and transform them into identical copies, one virtually indistinguishable from the next. Uniformity comforts the faithful. When a serial killer begins targeting members of the church, uniformity complicates investigation. Bach is nothing if not determined, however, and will go to great lengths to arrest the guilty party.

has advanced surgical technology which is able to reshape flesh at whim. It does not, however, appear to have anything like DNA testing, which would have simplified matters greatly. It does have offensive slang terms, an example of which would be calling the Temples member Barbies, a term unauthorized by the faithful and by the Mattel company

On an unrelated note, the 1980 collection The Barbie Murders was later retitled Picnic on Nearside.

Teen Matt Roney lives on a developed Moon: a nation that won its independence decades ago, a world that is part of an interstellar trade network. Although Matts father might point out how limited lunar resources are, no Lunarian is homeless or hungry. This does not mean they are all happy.

Some teens might complain that everything of significance has been accomplished, that there is nothing left for them to do. Matts problem is exactly the opposite. Many alternatives present themselves. To choose one means rejecting all the others. How then can Matt be certain he will select the best alternative?

This being a John M. Ford novel, the author has lovingly worked out the intricate details of lunar infrastructure, then included in the novel only those details about which the characters would logically reflect. He trusted readers to fill in the blanks.

If you arent interested in blank-filling, Fords essay To the Tsiolkovsky Station provides more details. It can be found in the NESFA-published volume, From the End of the Twentieth Century.

Tae Toenji believes she knows how to make lunar tourism pay where all previous efforts have failed. Her key insight: wealthy couples will pay exorbitant fees for lavish weddings. A lunar wedding facility could cater to the hyper-rich at hundreds of millions of yen per person! Since Tae is only thirteen, others will have to handle the heavy lifting of turning her vision into reality.

Taes grandfather Sennosuke Toenji, chairman of Eden Leisure Entertainment, contracts the task to Gotoba Engineering. Engineer Aomine Sohya is selected for a central role in the decade-plus projects, possessing as he does (or so his boss believes) an ideal combination of talent and expendability. Can Taes vision be made reality? People like Sohya will find out.

One of the things that jumped out at me on reading this was that many characters are well aware that the financial case for a lunar wedding chapel is tenuous, although they are careful to ensure the CFO is kept in the dark about that. Page later I discovered that the actual goal of the project is not the stated goal and since that true purpose is a spoiler, I will restrict myself to a simple But surely, therapy would been more cost-effective?

In this ongoing webtoon, the world effort to save civilization was 10/11th successful. Only a small fraction of the approaching asteroid impacted on Earth. Of course, 1/11th of an apocalypse is still terrible. Resupply missions to the Moon colony will be affected, so it is decided that all the lunar staff will return to Earth before the impact.

One staff member, Moon Yoo, is left behind. He is overlooked, which is understandable, because he is introverted, lacks friends, and is so retiring as to be unmemorable.

Yoo is trapped up on the Moon. He briefly considers ending it all but discovers that available methods either do not work or scare him. Of course, he need not die immediately. The lunar facility is automated and filled with more supplies than Yoo can consume in decades. Yoo settles into a life of boredom and melancholy.

Unbeknownst to Yoo, his travails are intermittently transmitted to a recovering Earth. For the people of Earth, the fragmentary messages paint an inspirational picture of a heroic figure struggling to survive on the hostile Moon. Thats not how it seems to him.

This webtoon has a certain melancholy charm, like the manga Girls Last Tour.

A meteor impact has devastated much of the Earth and catastrophically affected the climate. Runaway greenhouse effects will turn the planet into a new Venus. Very luckily for humanity (and such species as we might see fit to preserve), the process is slow enough that

A functioning Moon colony is key to successful Mars colonization. Protagonist Nicole Wargin is a key player, both in her own right as one of the Lady Astronauts that give this series its title (this is the third book) and also because of her influence on her highly-placed, ambitious politician husband. When sabotage threatens the lunar space program, Nicole gets to develop a whole new skill set: counter-espionage.

Who would sabotage the colonization effort? Not all of Earths remaining human inhabitants are on board with the efforts to colonize Mars. Many groups suspect (with good reason) that they will deemed surplus to requirements and left behind. Saving some is better than none is probably a lot more convincing to people who think they will be part of the rescued remnant than those who are convinced that they will be left behind to die.

***

There are, of course, many post-Apollo Moon base stories I could have used but didnt (Bovas Millennium, for example, or Ruschs The Disappeared, for another). If I missed one of your favourites, feel free to mention them in comments below.

In the words of fanfiction author Musty181, four-time Hugo finalist, prolific book reviewer, and perennialDarwin Award nomineeJames Davis Nicoll looks like a default mii with glasses. His work has appeared in Interzone, Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites,JamesNicollReviews(where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis) and the2021 and 2022 Aurora AwardfinalistYoung People Read Old SFF(where he is assisted by web person Adrienne L. Travis). His Patreoncan be found here.

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Five SF Stories About Moon Bases and Lunar Settlements - tor.com

Developed by Haemimont Games, the same studio behind city-builders Surviving Mars and Tropico 5, Stranded: Alien Dawn requires less expertise from players, even on the hardest levels of difficulty. Although it doesn't go as deep as Rimworld when it comes to the building options, the game is easier and more streamlined to accommodate all kinds of players.

In Stranded: Alien Dawn, you guide a group of survivors who have just crashed on an alien planet. It's the same scenario that many of these games have used in the past, but since this is a full-fledged sandbox experience, there's not much of a story behind it. Before you jump into the game, though, Stranded: Alien Dawn lets you define the parameters of your scenario and choose the group of survivors to take with you on an alien planet.

It might not seem so at the beginning, but this is a very important part of the game since each survivor comes with their own skills, strengths, and weaknesses. This is one of those games where people start crying if they only eat emergency rations scavenged from your crashed ship for a very long time. Some might be vegans, while others require meat from time to time.

There's a lot to consider when choosing the planet where you want to start building your colony. Some have been overrun by lush vegetation and have the perfect climate for growing various types of crops, while others are arider and lack many of the basic resources and conditions that a starting colony might need.

Photo: autoevolution

I've played through multiple scenarios, and I have found that the best strategy is to build my first colony as close to the crashed ship as possible to cut down on the time required to move all the scavenged resources. Sometimes it can be just a temporary base if the terrain isn't suitable for building a much bigger colony, but it saves a lot of time to have a deposit near the ship.

Time is one of the most valuable resources in Stranded: Alien Dawn. There's no certain recipe for success in this game, you just have to figure out for yourself what to build and research first. Well, except for shelters for your survivors, which should be the first thing you build after you land. Food is the most important resource at the beginning of the game. A large amount of emergency rations can be scavenged from the ship, but your survivors will need some cooked meals too from time to time.

Keeping your survivors healthy and happy is one of the many things you need to pay attention to in Stranded: Alien Dawn. Survivors can have breakdowns for various reasons, especially if they are overworked and don't have enough entertainment (or not at all). I was surprised to see how my first colonists could find relaxation and refreshment in the simplest ways. Singing or just watching the local flora and fauna can provide much-needed moments of respite.

Although you'll be starting with small shacks without roofs, a pretty vast research tree will help you build the colony of your dreams. In between bug attacks, breakdowns, and random exploration events, your colonists can research various technologies that will help raise their quality of life and, of course, their chance of survival.

Photo: autoevolution

The game certainly lacks narrative elements, but it makes up for it with a great overall presentation. Perhaps more scenarios would've increased its replayability, but I'm not truly worried about that because Stranded: Alien Dawn does feature support for mods. I can't wait to see what the community comes up with in the coming months.

Its only fault is that the endgame quickly turns into a tower defense if you don't play with the "pacification" option enabled. Also, there are no other humans or alien species on any of the planets in the scenarios, just flora and fauna.

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Stranded: Alien Dawn Review (PC): One of the Best Colony ... - autoevolution