Technologies

Jupiter’s Moon Callisto Has a Whole Lot of Oxygen Scientists Struggle to Explain

A recent analysis finds up to 1,000 times more molecular oxygen than can be explained by prevailing theories about where it comes from.

Jupiter’s four largest moons are some of the solar system’s most compelling worlds. Io is dotted with active volcanoes, and Europa hides a subsurface ocean many want to check for alien life. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, and Callisto is the system’s most heavily cratered object. Callisto is also home to an emerging mystery: The moon’s thick atmosphere holds a surprising amount of oxygen, and scientists aren’t sure why.

Observers have known about the presence of abundant molecular oxygen at Callisto for a while, with the working assumption being that the influence of Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere could be knocking molecules of water, hydrogen and oxygen out from Callisto’s icy surface and into the atmosphere.

But when a team of researchers ran the numbers, they found that Jupiter’s magnetism can’t fully explain the amount of molecular oxygen around Callisto.

«There’s a huge discrepancy,» said Shane Carberry Mogan, lead author on a paper about the findings published late last month in the journal JGR Planets. «We were off by something like two orders of magnitude to even three orders of magnitude.»

For the layperson, that means there is 100 to 1,000 times as much molecular oxygen present in Callisto’s atmosphere as the scientists would expect to find if Jupiter’s magnetosphere stripping it out of the icy surface were the sole source.

The discovery of so much oxygen on an alien world may sound like a boon for the possibility that Callisto may support life, but the frozen world is probably far too cold for life as we know it. That said, plentiful oxygen could be useful in generations to cometo explorers who may be able to use it for fuel and life support while traveling around deep space.

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It isn’t clear what’s happening at Callisto to produce so much oxygen, but Carberry Mogan hopes to get a better understanding of processes active in the moon’s surface that may yield an explanation or clues.

«That’s probably Callisto’s most enigmatic feature is its surface,» said Carberry Mogan, who’s a postdoctoral researcher in planetary science at the University of California at Berkeley. «It’s supposed to be an icy body, but when you look at it, it’s mostly this dark surface, anywhere from millimeters to kilometers deep.»

It’s still up for debate whether Callisto’s surface is more rock or ice. The dark material on its surface could also be ice-rich, providing a plentiful source for the mysterious amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.

For help with the mystery, Carberry Mogan is looking to upcoming robotic missions like ESA’s Juice and NASA’s Europa Clipper, which may swing close enough to Callisto to gather new data that could shed light on the puzzle.

«It’s really perplexing,» he said. «The next step is to figure out why there’s this gap between the source [of oxygen] and the observation.»

Technologies

CNET Debates: Is Apple’s New Crossbody Strap a Great Idea or a Terrible One?

Does the crossbody strap make it more or less likely that you’ll have your iPhone stolen? We have conflicting opinions.

One thing you can be sure of during an Apple event is that it will generate immense quantities of discourse among CNET’s seasoned nerds — and no, we don’t always agree with one another.

Is the iPhone Air totally pointless and uncalled for, or the best design innovation since very thinly sliced bread? Both can be true, depending on whom you ask.

Among the many announcements on Tuesday that sparked conflicting opinions was a crossbody strap for the iPhone. After a back-and-forth in Slack, my colleague Zach McAuliffe and I have decided to put forth our respective viewpoints and allow you to be the judge.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Great idea: Katie Collins, Principal Writer

Have you ever been walking down the street to meet your friend, navigating using Google maps and texting your pal to let them know you’re running late, when all of sudden: bam! A dude on a moped has whizzed past at high speed and removed your phone from your hand before you’ve even had a chance to realize what’s happened?

In London, this style of phone theft is a daily occurrence, and while it’s never happened to me personally, every time I step foot on the streets of the British capital, I’m immediately wary and vigilant.

Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that survey data from American insurance company SquareTrade showed that 39% of all European phone theft take place in the UK, and that 42% of British phone thefts occur in London. So common is it for your phone to be snatched by someone on a bike or moped that London’s Metropolitan Police issue special prevention guidance, featuring advice such as: «[when using your phone,] stand away from the roadside, close to a building or wall, so no one can come up behind you.»

I get that a crossbody is not a failsafe method to prevent iPhone theft. I would never advise someone to walk around a city in a state of blissful ignorance while their phone flaps hands-free against their body. But I do endorse it as a way to fend off opportunists on two wheels.

I can see other times the crossbody strap would come in handy, too. Frequently on my travels, I find myself on a boat, clutching the railing and taking pictures on my phone as the world passes me by. Always in these situations I’m concerned that just one clumsy slip could see my precious phone go the way of the Heart of the Ocean in Titanic. A crossbody strap would provide peace of mind in such moments to protect me against my own idiocy.

As a clumsy person who dreads having their phone stolen, I will be investing in one of Apple’s crossbody iPhone straps the moment they become available. I personally can only see the benefit in having my phone glued to my body as well as my hand.

Terrible idea: Zach McAuliffe, Staff Writer

When I saw Apple’s new crossbody strap for the iPhone, my first thought was, «I bet someone could cut that real easily and steal someone’s iPhone.»

But surely Apple thought of that and chose a cut-resistant strap made with something like Dyneema, right? Nope. According to Apple, the strap is made of recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) yarns. If you’re unfamiliar with this kind of yarn, it’s a synthetic fiber made from recycled plastic bottles.

If you had a razor or something similarly sharp, you could cut through the strap like a hot knife through butter. Then there’s nothing stopping you from taking the iPhone. The decision to dangle a thousand-dollar device off a strip of non-cut-resistant plastic gives me so much anxiety.

Some people on Reddit said they’ve had their crossbody bags and purses stolen because someone cut the straps and ran or rode off, so it does happen. Granted, so does someone snatching a phone from your hand. But if I’m wearing my iPhone as a bag, I’m advertising that I have an iPhone and all you have to do is follow me for a second in order to cut the straps and take off with it.

Plus, if I’m my iPhone is tethered to me by a strap, I might be more cavalier with how I handle it. The strap and corresponding case are meant to keep the device safe, so I might take for granted things that could damage it out in the world. What if a car kicks a rock up and hits it, or I bump into a metal railing a little too hard or any number of things happen and my iPhone gets a new scratch or breaks?

No, I’d much rather grip my iPhone like my life depends on it when the device is in my hand. And then I’ll slip my iPhone into my pocket for safe keeping like Bilbo Baggins after he finds the One Ring.

The crossbody strap is a bad idea. I know people have things taken all the time, but the strap is like wearing a sign around your neck that you have an iPhone and with a quick snip it could be yours! Hopefully Apple will make a cut-resistant strap in the future.

For more from Apple’s event, check out all the announcements and our hands-on with the ultra-thin iPhone Air.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 10, #352

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 10, No. 352

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. But if you’re a shoe junkie, you might ace the blue category. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Baseball grouping.

Green group hint: You might do this to a door.

Blue group hint: Just do it.

Purple group hint: Not real coaches, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: NL East teams.

Green group: Synonyms of slam, in basketball.

Blue group: Nike shoes.

Purple group: Actors who played football coaches.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is NL East teams. The four answers are Atlanta, Miami, New York and Philadelphia.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is synonyms of slam, in basketball. The four answers are drunk, flush, jam and stuff.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Nike shoes. The four answers are Blazer, Cortez, Pegasus and Shox.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is actors who played football coaches. The four answers are Pacino, Thornton, Washington and Winkler.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 10

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 10, No. 556

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a fun, timely theme. Once you figure out the topic, the answers come easily. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Keep it classy.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: School days.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

HOLE, DOLE, SCENE, SCENES, CURE, CURES, SLIM, SLIME, SLIMED, NICE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: