Gizmorama - April 1, 2013

Good Morning,

Here's something we can all look forward to - journalism drones' on the horizon. Great for TMZ, bad for everyone else.

Learn about this and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Lawmaker calls for 'virtual' Congress --*
WASHINGTON - Congress should create a telecommuting plan using videoconferencing and other remote work technology to create a "virtual Congress," a U.S. lawmaker says. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has introduced a resolution that would allow lawmakers to hold hearings, debate and vote on legislation virtually from their district offices, The Hill reported. Such a system would ease the need for members to jet back and forth from their districts to Washington each weekend, and would give them more to spend time with their constituents, Pearce said. "Thanks to modern technology, members of Congress can debate, vote, and carry out their constitutional duties without having to leave the accountability and personal contact of their congressional districts," he said in a statement. "Keeping legislators closer to the people we represent would pull back Washington's curtain and allow constituents to see and feel, first-hand, their government at work." Telecommuting is becoming more common, although not everyone is happy with it; recently-appointed Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer has eliminated the policy that had allowed some employees to work at home for at least part of the workweek. But the trend is something Congress should look at, Pearce said. "Corporations and government agencies use remote work technology; it's time that Congress does the same."


*-- 'Tatooine' planet found orbiting two stars --*
GRENOBLE, France - European astronomers say they've captured the first image of a planet orbiting two suns, like the fictional "Tatooine" of the Star Wars films. Philippe Delorme of the Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, and colleagues took the picture of the massive world, dubbed 2MASS0103(AB)b, using a telescope in Chile, NewScientist.com reported Astronomers said they aren't sure exactly how to classify the object orbiting the binary pair of stars at a distance of about 7.7 billion miles That's close enough to suggest it may have been born from a disc of dust surrounding them, like a planet forms, but at 12 to 14 times the mass of Jupiter it is near the dividing line between planets and failed stars called brown dwarfs. "It's either one of the most massive planets you can form or the lowest-mass star you can imagine," Delorme said. The dividing line between the two, based on studies of bodies' mass, "is more of a working definition, as it is easier to measure the mass of an object than its past formation history," he said. Confirming its true nature could yield new clues to how stars and planets form, the researchers said.


*-- Journalism drones' on the horizon --*
COLUMBIA, Mo. - New cameras may soon take to the skies in drones as journalism students at a U.S. college are now taking courses on how to use drones to report stories. Undergraduate journalism students at the University of Missouri Journalism School in Columbia could someday find themselves using small, camera-equipped drone helicopters to gather footage of a crime scene or capture the advance of a raging wildfire, ABC News reported Friday. "We have a class here of journalism students who are learning to fly J-bots, for journalism robots, or drones," journalism Professor William Allen, who developed the course, said. The Senate Judiciary Committee has held hearings on the future use of drones in America and is expected to lift the current ban on drone use in populated areas by 2015 as they consider whether to create new laws by then to govern their use. But the Missouri students aren't waiting, Allen said. "So they learn to fly them, and also do what reporters do: brainstorm ideas, go out and do reporting, do drone-based photography and video," he said. "We're trying to see if this is going to be useful for journalism." Allen acknowledges the use of journalism drones will have to be balanced with concerns about invasion of privacy. "I just hope people will not throw the baby out with the bathwater," he said, "the baby here is the great benefit of using drones, and the bathwater is the dirty stuff about privacy concerns." "But part of my job is to get students ready to go into these new organizations, and to know how to fly and do a story safely, legally, ethically, and responsibly, and tell stories that way."

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