SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew returns home after history-making mission (4 minute read)
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission has returned to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday morning. The four astronauts made history as the mission reached a higher altitude than any human has traveled in five decades and also included the first spacewalk completed by a privately funded and operated mission. This was the third trip to space for the specific Crew Dragon capsule used in the mission. Besides the spacewalk, the crew carried out nearly 40 science experiments and research.
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TikTok is about to get its day in court (11 minute read)
On September 16, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments for TikTok's First Amendment challenge to legislation that it claims amounts to a ban. The US government argues that TikTok is a clear national security threat but says that revealing why would be a threat. Its claims rely on dozens of pages of redacted classified material that likely focus on the potential that the Chinese government could compel ByteDance to hand over the data of US users or push specific content onto US users. These risks are reportedly so significant that they override TikTok's First Amendment claims.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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An injectable HIV-prevention drug is highly effective — but wildly expensive (10 minute read)
The results from a landmark pair of major clinical trials of lenacapavir, an injectable HIV-prevention drug that only requires dosing every six months, show that it is 89% more effective at preventing HIV than daily oral preventative medication among gay, bisexual, and transgender people. It could be a game changer if rolled out broadly and equitably, but the drug is extraordinarily expensive. Its current list price for use as an HIV treatment is $3,450 per month. It is unclear whether it will have a different list price for use as a preventive.
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NASA confirms it's developing the Moon's new time zone (2 minute read)
NASA is developing a new lunar time system for the Moon. Time changes relative to speed and gravity - it moves slightly faster on the Moon because of its weaker gravity. The small difference in time could have large effects on calculations made in space. The project aims to be scalable to other celestial bodies in the future. NASA is aiming to have the standard ready by 2026.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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How we verify the correctness of a spreadsheet engine (11 minute read)
Spreadsheets have a ton of overlapping features, making them an interesting software domain. Spreadsheet engines ensure software quality by leaning on lightweight property-based testing. This article discusses property-based testing and how it is used to verify spreadsheets. It covers the different types of frameworks and tests, code for testing, examples, and more. Adding property tests to code can help reveal bugs. They provide immense value and are among the highest-value tests you can write.
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A (more) Modern CSS Reset (6 minute read)
This post presents a CSS reset and then breaks down its components and explains them. The CSS reset acts as a useful base to start projects. Modern browsers have improved to the point where CSS resets are almost unnecessary - developers are advised to take components that work well from different resets they find around the web and create their own.
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How To Succeed In MrBeast Production (Book)
This book, written by MrBeast, is aimed at helping his employees get up to speed on the channels' learnings over the past decade. It is designed to help them set themselves up for success by learning about the channel's problems and how they were overcome. The book covers how to make the best YouTube videos possible, what makes YouTube videos go viral, how to measure the success of content, and much more. It contains information about all of the parts of MrBeast productions.
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OpenAI is reportedly moving away from its complicated non-profit structure next year (2 minute read)
Sam Altman told OpenAI staff members during their weekly staff meeting that the company will be transitioning to a more traditional for-profit corporate structure next year. OpenAI will remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone. Altman did not specify exactly what the company's corporate structure will look like, but a spokesperson says that non-profit is core to OpenAI's mission and will continue to exist. The company started as a non-profit organization that relied on money from donors, but donations alone were not enough for the cost of computation power and talent required to push its core research forward.
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