Sampling the Atmosphere of Europa can provide insight into the composition of ocean beneath the miles of ice and signs of potential life if it exists

A spacecraft flying past Europa may be able to sample its colossal watery plumes – even if they stopped erupting weeks earlier. A new analysis suggests that jets spewing from Jupiter’s icy moon could produce complex, constantly shifting chemical patterns in its atmosphere, which we could use to figure out what is on, and even …

Read more

Robotics and automation will reduce mining employment by about 50% by 2030

Economist, lawyers and sustainable investment studies at the International Institute for Sustainable Development have a paper that looks at the mining industry. They look at how automation will effect mining jobs. Given the fundamental uncertainty and longterm nature of automation technologies, we do not focus on them in this study, instead assessing new technologies that …

Read more

Malaysia edging towards China with closer defense ties

Malaysia’s prime minister arrived in China on Monday with warm words for his hosts, a thirst for Chinese money and, for the first time, a promise of significantly closer defense ties with the purchase of Chinese naval ­coastal patrol ships. Najib Razak called himself a “true friend” of China, determined to take their relationship to …

Read more