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An amateur army of hackers formed by the Ukrainian government is bringing down the websites of Russian government departments and national banks Technology 15 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, requested help from amateurs to form the IT Army of Ukraine Ukrinform/Shutterstock Thousands of amateur hackers from countries around the … Read more
Russian forces have threatened safety at several nuclear power plants in Ukraine including Chernobyl, but the risk of a serious radiation release is thought to be low Physics 15 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Satellite photo of Chernobyl power plant taken on 10 March Maxar/DigitalGlobe/Getty Images Three weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, concerns are growing … Read more
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has broken the record for longest US human spaceflight, a title former astronaut Scott Kelly has held since 2016. Tuesday marks 341 consecutive days in space for Vande Hei, surpassing Kelly’s record-breaking 340-day stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But the achievement comes amid volatile relations between the US and … Read more
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, an information war is raging alongside the physical fighting. Russia’s recent attempts to spread disinformation have not yet found great success in the West. Within the country, however, President Vladimir Putin’s regime is controlling the narrative through censorship, state control of media and other forms of digital repression. … Read more
By Michael Le Page A wheat field in Ukraine Maksym Belchenko/Getty Images The war in Ukraine has already caused food prices to shoot up as global markets anticipate a loss of wheat and maize exports from one of the world’s largest producers of these crops. But Europe and the US could more than compensate for … Read more
The war in Ukraine is the subject of much online disinformation and propaganda but fact-checking organisations are tracking down how social media posts spread and debunking them Technology 14 March 2022 By Chris Stokel-Walker Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after a chemical warehouse was hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka village in Ukraine on … Read more
Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station (ISS) to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted. According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS. … Read more
Is Russia holding off on cyberwarfare while it has troops in Ukraine, or are cyberattacks failing to land thanks to vast international efforts to protect the country? Technology 10 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes People leaving the city of Irpin, Ukraine, on 10 March AFP As Russian forces built up near the Ukraine border at … Read more
A Russian-made video posted on Telegram a week ago is causing some anxiety about the status of a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS). As shared by NASA Watch on Saturday (March 5), the video by Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti shows NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei being left behind on the … Read more
Thermobaric weapons, sometimes called vacuum bombs, use powdered metal to create a rapidly expanding fireball. Under international law, they must only be used against military targets, not civilians. Technology 1 March 2022 , updated 10 March 2022 By David Hambling TOS-1 Buratino rocket launchers on display in Moscow, Russia Shutterstock / Shujaa_77 Update on 10 … Read more