Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | wigglestick)

The Federal Communications Commission hasn't raised its broadband speed standard since early 2015 when it adopted a metric of 25Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads.

That could finally change under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who is proposing a fixed broadband standard of 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads along with a goal of bringing affordable service at those speeds to all Americans. Under her plan, the FCC would evaluate broadband availability, speeds, and prices to determine whether to take regulatory actions to promote network deployment and competition.

Rosenworcel hasn't revealed anything about how affordability will be measured. But in a proposed Notice of Inquiry that would start an evaluation of broadband deployment across the US, she included affordability as one of the aspects to be considered.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | wigglestick)

The Federal Communications Commission hasn't raised its broadband speed standard since early 2015 when it adopted a metric of 25Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads.

That could finally change under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who is proposing a fixed broadband standard of 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads along with a goal of bringing affordable service at those speeds to all Americans. Under her plan, the FCC would evaluate broadband availability, speeds, and prices to determine whether to take regulatory actions to promote network deployment and competition.

Rosenworcel hasn't revealed anything about how affordability will be measured. But in a proposed Notice of Inquiry that would start an evaluation of broadband deployment across the US, she included affordability as one of the aspects to be considered.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | wigglestick)

The Federal Communications Commission hasn't raised its broadband speed standard since early 2015 when it adopted a metric of 25Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads.

That could finally change under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who is proposing a fixed broadband standard of 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads along with a goal of bringing affordable service at those speeds to all Americans. Under her plan, the FCC would evaluate broadband availability, speeds, and prices to determine whether to take regulatory actions to promote network deployment and competition.

Rosenworcel hasn't revealed anything about how affordability will be measured. But in a proposed Notice of Inquiry that would start an evaluation of broadband deployment across the US, she included affordability as one of the aspects to be considered.

Enlarge / Artist’s depiction of two dinocephalians, a group of land animals that died out in the Captitanian extinction(s). (credit: Dmitry Bogdanov: DiBgd at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The Capitanian mass extinction was once lumped in with the “Great Dying” of the end-Permian mass extinction, but the lesser-known extinction occurred 8–10 million years earlier. It may not have been great, but it was quite lethal, seeing as many as 62 percent of species go extinct, according to one estimate . Two new papers by different teams shed new light on the event, revealing a pattern of cause and effect that’s seen in other mass extinctions: huge volcanic eruptions, global warming, the collapse of the terrestrial ecosystem, and the spread of oxygen-starved ocean dead zones.

Ocean dead zones

Huyue Song of China University of Geosciences and colleagues from China, the US, and the UK studied mid-Permian-age rocks at a site called Penglaitan, about 300 miles west of Hong Kong. They found that there were two distinct pulses of Capitanian extinction, one about 262 million years ago and another around 260 million years ago. Those are both well before the more famous “Great Dying” end-Permian extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, and Song’s team set out to uncover what happened.

“In a way, the extinction losses have been hiding in the shadow of the end-Permian extinction,” said Paul Wignall, a professor at the University of Leeds and a co-author on Song’s paper. “It wiped out a lot of genera of all the usual things in the sea,” adding, “a bunch of animals died on land,” as well.

Enlarge / Artist’s depiction of two dinocephalians, a group of land animals that died out in the Captitanian extinction(s). (credit: Dmitry Bogdanov: DiBgd at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The Capitanian mass extinction was once lumped in with the “Great Dying” of the end-Permian mass extinction, but the lesser-known extinction occurred 8–10 million years earlier. It may not have been great, but it was quite lethal, seeing as many as 62 percent of species go extinct, according to one estimate . Two new papers by different teams shed new light on the event, revealing a pattern of cause and effect that’s seen in other mass extinctions: huge volcanic eruptions, global warming, the collapse of the terrestrial ecosystem, and the spread of oxygen-starved ocean dead zones.

Ocean dead zones

Huyue Song of China University of Geosciences and colleagues from China, the US, and the UK studied mid-Permian-age rocks at a site called Penglaitan, about 300 miles west of Hong Kong. They found that there were two distinct pulses of Capitanian extinction, one about 262 million years ago and another around 260 million years ago. Those are both well before the more famous “Great Dying” end-Permian extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, and Song’s team set out to uncover what happened.

“In a way, the extinction losses have been hiding in the shadow of the end-Permian extinction,” said Paul Wignall, a professor at the University of Leeds and a co-author on Song’s paper. “It wiped out a lot of genera of all the usual things in the sea,” adding, “a bunch of animals died on land,” as well.

Enlarge / Artist’s depiction of two dinocephalians, a group of land animals that died out in the Captitanian extinction(s). (credit: Dmitry Bogdanov: DiBgd at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The Capitanian mass extinction was once lumped in with the “Great Dying” of the end-Permian mass extinction, but the lesser-known extinction occurred 8–10 million years earlier. It may not have been great, but it was quite lethal, seeing as many as 62 percent of species go extinct, according to one estimate . Two new papers by different teams shed new light on the event, revealing a pattern of cause and effect that’s seen in other mass extinctions: huge volcanic eruptions, global warming, the collapse of the terrestrial ecosystem, and the spread of oxygen-starved ocean dead zones.

Ocean dead zones

Huyue Song of China University of Geosciences and colleagues from China, the US, and the UK studied mid-Permian-age rocks at a site called Penglaitan, about 300 miles west of Hong Kong. They found that there were two distinct pulses of Capitanian extinction, one about 262 million years ago and another around 260 million years ago. Those are both well before the more famous “Great Dying” end-Permian extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, and Song’s team set out to uncover what happened.

“In a way, the extinction losses have been hiding in the shadow of the end-Permian extinction,” said Paul Wignall, a professor at the University of Leeds and a co-author on Song’s paper. “It wiped out a lot of genera of all the usual things in the sea,” adding, “a bunch of animals died on land,” as well.

Enlarge / Elon Musk at the Viva Tech fair in Paris, France, on Friday, June 16, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

Elon Musk plans an appeal to the US Supreme Court after losing an attempt to terminate a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Musk claims violates his First Amendment rights. The 2018 settlement over Musk's false "funding secured" tweets required Tesla to impose controls on his social media posts.

"Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, confirmed on Tuesday that Musk plans an appeal to the Supreme Court," according to Reuters .

In April 2022, Musk's attempt to get out of the settlement was rejected by a judge in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Musk appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, but the ruling against Musk was affirmed unanimously by a three-judge panel.

Enlarge / Elon Musk at the Viva Tech fair in Paris, France, on Friday, June 16, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

Elon Musk plans an appeal to the US Supreme Court after losing an attempt to terminate a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Musk claims violates his First Amendment rights. The 2018 settlement over Musk's false "funding secured" tweets required Tesla to impose controls on his social media posts.

"Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, confirmed on Tuesday that Musk plans an appeal to the Supreme Court," according to Reuters .

In April 2022, Musk's attempt to get out of the settlement was rejected by a judge in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Musk appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, but the ruling against Musk was affirmed unanimously by a three-judge panel.

Enlarge / Elon Musk at the Viva Tech fair in Paris, France, on Friday, June 16, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

Elon Musk plans an appeal to the US Supreme Court after losing an attempt to terminate a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Musk claims violates his First Amendment rights. The 2018 settlement over Musk's false "funding secured" tweets required Tesla to impose controls on his social media posts.

"Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, confirmed on Tuesday that Musk plans an appeal to the Supreme Court," according to Reuters .

In April 2022, Musk's attempt to get out of the settlement was rejected by a judge in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Musk appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, but the ruling against Musk was affirmed unanimously by a three-judge panel.