TLDR 2020-09-14

Apple's 'Time Flies' event will be on September 15. While the event usually means the announcement of new iPhones, it is unlikely that new iPhones will be announced at the event as Apple has already said that new iPhones won't go on sale during the usual time this year. Several Apple Watch announcements are expected, including a Series 6 Watch, the launch of watchOS 7, and updates to the Series 5 and Series 3 watches. The iPad Air might get a redesign with an edge-to-edge screen, Touch ID on the power button, and a Smart Connector. The arrival of the new iPad could also mean that Apple intends to release iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 at the event. Apple has been working on a variety of different hardware projects, including headphones and AirTags, and also on a subscription bundle called Apple One.

Wildtype is a startup that makes lab-grown salmon. The company is still at least five years from commercial production but it is already looking to partner with select chefs around the country. Wildtype has produced lab-grown meat similar to the meat that would be ordered at a sushi restaurant. The startup developed its own technology for developing scaffolding for the cells to grow on that would replicate the taste and texture of wild-caught salmon. Images of Wildtype's lab-grown salmon are available in the article.

Scientists have developed a new system for seeing through clouds. Confocal diffuse tomography uses an algorithm that measures the movement of individual photons and then reconstructs obscured objects even if the light has been scattered and bounced by a barrier in the way. A gif is available in the article showing the system reading a symbol through a 1-inch layer of foam. This type of system would be especially useful for applications such as self-driving cars in heavy rain or capturing images of planets through cloud haze. At the moment, the technology is still slow, so there is a lot of development required before it becomes useful.

Launch facilities based at sea are expected to be a lot more common in the near future. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is developing a mobile launch facility off the coast of Haiyang city in the eastern province of Shandong, China. It will be used for launching light vehicles as well as for building and maintaining rockets, satellites, and other space machinery. The Eastern Aerospace Port will be China's fifth launch facility. Sea platforms help mitigate the risk to populated areas, as launches often result in spent stages falling back to Earth, requiring extensive safety and cleanup operations. The facility is part of China's evolving space plans that include the launch of the Chinese Large Modular Space Station from 2021 to 2023, as well as various lunar exploration programs.

The life of a new team member and the life of a senior engineer can be very different. Newer team members tend to code for longer and attend fewer meetings than senior engineers

This repository contains a large collection of resources for learning data science. The resources include courses, books, papers, articles, and videos. They are grouped by specific skills, such as implementing models in PyTorch, framing ML problems, or manipulating data in spreadsheets. 

AlphaZero is a more flexible and powerful successor to AlphaGo. Both artificial intelligences are capable of beating humans in games of Chess, Go, and Shogi. Using AI to beat games of hard logic has made the games more rigid, with champions at the highest levels playing out games by memorizing decisions that AI had created prior. Former chess champion Vladimir Kramnik has injected creativity back into the game by teaching AlphaZero to learn nine variants of chess. Each variant has different rules and resulted in a variety of different strategies. Now that machines are unbeatable, changing the rules like this could make the game more of an art form and result in a better game.

Phosphine is a chemical that can only be produced in extreme environments, such as in the depths of Jupiter or Saturn, through organic processes, such as the decaying organic matter, or through synthesis by humans. Traces of Phosphine were discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. Scientists have investigated other possibilities for where the molecules originated but it is likely the molecules come from organisms living in the planet's atmosphere. A 2-minute video is available in the thread that explains the discovery in detail.