All posts tagged: propose

Researchers propose a broader new way to detect life beyond Earth

Researchers propose a broader new way to detect life beyond Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

A single alien world can be misleading. A strange gas in an atmosphere might look promising, then turn out to come from ordinary chemistry. A seemingly unusual planet might only be unusual because astronomers do not yet understand it well enough. That uncertainty has long haunted the search for life beyond Earth, where one planet at a time is often treated like a possible smoking gun. Now, a research team led by Harrison B. Smith of the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Institute of Science Tokyo and Lana Sinapayen of the National Institute for Basic Biology is arguing for a different way to look. Instead of asking whether one distant planet carries a clear sign of life, they suggest scientists may eventually spot life through broader patterns spread across many planets. Their idea is built around what they call an agnostic biosignature. In plain terms, that means a way to search for life without needing a precise definition of what life is, or what chemistry it must use. In this example, life from a planet …

Treasury, IRS Propose Rules For 1 Percent Remittance Tax On Some Money Sent To Foreign Countries

Treasury, IRS Propose Rules For 1 Percent Remittance Tax On Some Money Sent To Foreign Countries

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury proposed regulations on Friday regarding the new excise tax, established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, on certain remittances made abroad. The Internal Revenue Service in Washington on March 10, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times “Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a 1 percent remittance transfer tax applies to remittances sent from the United States to recipients in foreign countries when the sender provides cash, a money order, a cashier’s check, or other similar physical instrument to the remittance transfer provider,” the IRS said in an April 10 statement. “The sender is liable for the tax, and remittance transfer providers are required to collect the remittance transfer tax from certain senders, make semimonthly deposits, and file quarterly returns with the IRS. If the remittance transfer provider does not collect the tax from the sender, the tax becomes a liability of the remittance transfer provider.” The proposed regulations clarify how the remittance transfer tax would be applied. According …

NASA Artemis II crew propose naming moon crater after astronaut Reid Wiseman’s late wife

NASA Artemis II crew propose naming moon crater after astronaut Reid Wiseman’s late wife

Published by Sam Flores

The crew of NASA’s historic Artemis II mission memorialized the late wife of one of its astronauts by proposing to name a crater on the moon after her, an emotional moment captured on NASA’s livestream. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed to mission control Monday that the crew wanted to “honor their mission by naming two craters on the moon.” One of the craters was dedicated to the wife of Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Carroll Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020 at 46. “We lost a loved one, her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katey and Ellie,” Hansen said. He described the crater as “a bright spot on the moon.” “We would like to call it Carroll,” Hansen said. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman with his late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman; craters on the moon as seen from the Orion spacecraft Monday. Wiseman family via NASA; NASA After Hansen read the emotional tribute, the group …

US lawmakers propose ban on death betting prediction markets

US lawmakers propose ban on death betting prediction markets

Published by skeptic

Members of Congress are moving to block a controversial corner of the prediction market industry by introducing legislation that would outlaw betting contracts tied to violence or death. The proposal, called the “Discouraging Exploitative Assassination, Tragedy, and Harm Betting in Event Trading Systems Act,” or the DEATH BETS Act, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Adam Schiff and in the House by Rep. Mike Levin. If enacted, the bill would change federal commodities law so regulated exchanges could not list event contracts tied to war, terrorism, assassination, or a person’s death. I’m introducing a bill to ban bets on war and death in prediction markets. Betting on war and death creates an environment in which insiders can profit off of nonpublic information, our national security is jeopardized, and violence is encouraged. Congress must act. pic.twitter.com/ahb9EczNvP — Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) March 10, 2026 The legislation would amend the Commodity Exchange Act, the federal law that governs derivatives markets and the platforms that host certain prediction markets. Concerns grow over prediction markets betting on death Under …

Bipartisan lawmakers propose limits on prediction markets involving war, elections, and sports

Bipartisan lawmakers propose limits on prediction markets involving war, elections, and sports

Published by skeptic

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers in the House wants federal regulators to clamp down on certain prediction markets, arguing that some platforms now allow trades tied to events that could raise serious national security and public safety concerns. U.S. Reps. Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah, and Salud Carbajal, a Democrat from California, have introduced legislation called the Event Contract Enforcement Act. Their proposal would direct federal regulators to block specific types of event-based trading contracts that lawmakers say are becoming increasingly controversial. Prediction markets let people buy and sell contracts that pay out depending on how real-world events unfold. For years, those tools were commonly used in industries such as agriculture to hedge against uncertainty. But Moore and Carbajal say the industry has moved far beyond that original purpose. They argue that some platforms now host contracts tied to issues such as terrorism, armed conflicts, elections, and sports competitions, areas they believe could invite manipulation or the misuse of sensitive information. Moore warned that allowing trades tied to these kinds of events could create …

“Pay a fair share”: Sanders, Khanna propose wealth tax on billionaires

“Pay a fair share”: Sanders, Khanna propose wealth tax on billionaires

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., announced new legislation on Monday designed to establish a wealth tax on American billionaires. “At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, this legislation demands that the billionaire class in America finally pay their fair share of taxes so that we can create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%,” Sanders said in a joint statement with Khanna. The Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act would “establish” a 5% wealth tax on roughly 1,000 individuals in the country with a net worth exceeding $1 billion. Collectively, those individuals have a net worth of $8.2 trillion, according to the Sanders and Khanna. Sanders called billionaires the result of a “corrupt tax code.” According to an economic analysis from University of California, Berkeley.   a 5% billionaire wealth tax could raise $4.4 trillion in federal revenues over the next decade. “Enough is enough. Billionaires cannot have it all,” Sanders said. Khanna said the tax is necessary to combat “extreme wealth” disparities in the …

Sanders, Khanna to propose federal billionaires wealth tax

Sanders, Khanna to propose federal billionaires wealth tax

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) speaks to the media outside of the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, on the day Bill Clinton appears for a deposition in the House Oversight Committee investigation of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Chappaqua, New York, U.S., February 27, 2026. Shannon Stapleton | Reuters Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna plan to introduce a bill to impose a federal wealth tax on billionaires, according to the senator’s office. The push from Sanders, I-Vt., and Khanna, D-Calif., for a federal wealth tax comes as the idea of taxing billionaires gains cachet in Democratic states across the country. While progressives like Sanders have long called for taxing the rich at higher rates, many Democrats are now seizing on refreshed anti-billionaire animus as they campaign against Republicans and President Donald Trump on an affordability agenda. A potential California ballot measure to tax billionaires in the state has spooked some of the state’s wealthy and prompted some of its elites to flee. Khanna’s support for the proposed California ballot measure …

Newly Unearthed Documents Propose Eastern Island Head Was Not Stolen

Newly Unearthed Documents Propose Eastern Island Head Was Not Stolen

Published by José Betancourt

A British archaeologist has proposed a revised account of the excavation of Hoa Hakananaiʻa, the moai better known as the Easter Island Head, arguing that its removal was not a unilateral act of imperial extraction but a collaborative effort between British explorers and Indigenous Rapa Nui islanders that ultimately led to its voyage to England. Hoa Hakananaiʻa was one of roughly 1,000 basalt statues scattered across Easter Island, a subtropical landmass about the size of Manhattan located off the coast of Chile. The Indigenous Rapa Nui people call these towering figures moai—monuments that serve as vessels for the spirits of their ancestors. The best-known of them, Hoa Hakananaiʻa, has been on view at the British Museum since 1869, fueling one of the world’s most high-profile restitution campaigns. Related Articles Since 2018, Rapa Nui community leaders, backed by the Chilean government, have formally requested its return, arguing that the statue holds vital cultural significance and that the British removed it without permission. The archaeologist Mike Pitts, however, has claimed that newly surfaced photographic evidence and eyewitness …

Physicists propose a new way to spot supermassive black hole pairs

Physicists propose a new way to spot supermassive black hole pairs

Published by Jenni Sidey

Supermassive black holes rarely travel alone. Most large galaxies hide one at the center, and when galaxies collide, the two central black holes can end up bound together. Astronomers have seen plenty of wide pairs. The tighter ones, the kind that spiral inward and eventually merge, have been much harder to pin down. Researchers at the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) think the missing systems may be giving themselves away anyway, in brief, repeating flashes of starlight. In a paper published today in Physical Review Letters, they argue that a tight supermassive black hole binary could act like a moving magnifying glass, repeatedly boosting the light from individual stars in the same galaxy. “Supermassive black holes act as natural telescopes,” said Dr Miguel Zumalacárregui from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics. “Because of their enormous mass and compact size, they strongly bend passing light. Starlight from the same host galaxy can be focused into extraordinarily bright images, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.” Artistic impression …

New York lawmakers propose a three-year pause on new data centers

New York lawmakers propose a three-year pause on new data centers

Published by skeptic

New Yorker state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would impose a moratorium of at least three years on permits tied to the construction and operation of new data centers. While the bill’s prospects are uncertain, Wired reports that New York is at least the sixth state to consider pausing construction of new data centers.  As tech companies plan to spend ever-increasing amounts of money to build AI infrastructure, both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns about the impact those data centers might have on surrounding communities. Studies have also linked data centers to increased home electricity bills. Critics include progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, who has called for a national moratorium, as well as conservative Florida Governor Ron De Santis, who said data centers will lead to “higher energy bills just so some chatbot can corrupt some 13 year old kid online.” More than 230 environmental groups including Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace recently signed an open letter to Congress calling for a national moratorium on the construction of new …