Stargazers the world over must be in heaven right now. Last year saw a number of gorgeous celestial events, and 2018 has started out strong on the cosmic front. On January 31, a “super blue blood moon” graced the skies. If that name seems like a mouthful, there’s a reason, as it is essentially three events happening all at once. Super blue blood moon is also a bit easier for most people to say than the more scientific term — “perigee syzygy.”
First, it was a supermoon, meaning the moon is closer to the Earth than it normally is, making the moon loom larger and shine brighter. When the moon is at the closest point in its orbit to Earth, it is known as “perigee.”
Secondly, it was a blue moon, which is the term for when a second full moon occurs in the same calendar month, which occurs every couple years or so (hence the phrase “once in a blue moon”).
Finally, the moon on January 31 was also a blood moon, which is what happens during a total lunar eclipse. In a lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, making it appear a deep red. Three celestial bodies aligning is known as “syzygy,” which is a word that will make anyone regret playing Scrabble with you.
The super blue blood moon arrived less than two months after the supermoon in December 2017, and watchers in North America may have to wait a while until the next one. According to NASA, the next combination of a lunar eclipse and supermoon — visible from North America — will occur January 21, 2019.
For those who managed to catch a glimpse of the super blue blood moon, the sight was spectacular; for everyone else, there are pictures. Although a photo might not have the same imposing presence as the real thing, there are gorgeous shots from around the world, and we’ve compiled some of the best.
When architecture meets nature, the results are stunning, as is evident in this photo of the supermoon lurking behind the Çamlıca Mosque in Istanbul.
It’s rare enough for the moon, Earth, and sun to line up in perfect syzygy, so why not add a plane to the mix?
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Lady Liberty basks in the light of the blood moon.
Photo: Gary Hershorn/Corbis via Getty Images
This photo from New Delhi plays with perspective.
Photo: Burhaan Kinu/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A crowd gathers to watch the super blue blood moon in Beijing, China.
Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.