Monthly Archives: October 2022

Meta has pumped $36 billion into its metaverse and VR businesses since 2019. These 4 charts show the scale of its extreme spending — and huge losses.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan Meta has pumped $36 billion into its Reality Labs division since 2019, an Insider analysis found. The division, comprising Meta’s metaverse and VR businesses, made a $30.7 billion operating loss over the same period. These four charts show the huge scale of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s big metaverse…

Summer heat and ‘flash drought’ dried up the Mississippi River, choking a crucial shipping corridor. It could devastate America’s agricultural exports.

Barges stranded by low water sit in the Mississippi River in Rosedale, Mississippi, on October 20, 2022. Scott Olson/Getty Images Drought has driven the Mississippi River to historic low levels, choking US agricultural exports. The crisis has increased shipping prices, and that cost may fall on consumers. Forecasts don’t show enough rainfall to replenish the…

Below Mars’ surface, life could endure for a shocking amount of time

Even the toughest microbe couldn’t survive for long on Mars‘ tortured desert ground. Deadly radiation from the cosmos pummels the surface. The temperature averages minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In the profoundly dry, sparse atmosphere, a cup of water would immediately vaporize. Yet beneath the hellish ground, hardy microbes — if they ever existed — could…