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- This week: Extraterrestrial Life?
This week: Extraterrestrial Life?
plus Google monopoly, geo locate, Blue Origin
Brett Bouchard
April 19, 2025
Wise Tech - Technology news for non-tech humans!
Have scientists really found evidence of extraterrestrial life?
1. Scientists Find Promising Indication of Extraterrestrial Life
What’s the Tech?
Astronomers used a special space telescope to study a planet 124 light-years away. They discovered a gas in the planet’s atmosphere that could only exist if life—like tiny living organisms—was creating it.
How It’s Used
They looked for chemical signs in the air around the planet, much like detectives looking for clues. Finding certain gases, like methane (a type of gas made by living things on Earth), helps scientists figure out if the planet might support life.
Why It’s News Now
This is one of the strongest signs we've seen that a planet outside our solar system could have life. It doesn’t confirm aliens, but it's a big step in the search for life beyond Earth.
Read more on Wired
2. Google Guilty of Ad Tech Monopoly
What’s the Tech?
Google runs much of the technology that decides which ads appear when you visit websites. This system is called ad tech (advertising technology), and it works behind the scenes every time an ad loads online.
How It’s Used
When you visit a website, ad tech helps pick and display the ads you see—based on what Google knows about you. It also helps companies decide how much to pay to show their ads to people like you.
Why It’s News Now
A U.S. judge just ruled that Google used its power unfairly, keeping other ad tech companies from competing. This decision could change how online ads are bought and sold, and might make the system fairer.
Read more on Reuters
What’s the Tech?
A new viral challenge online shows how the latest ChatGPT model, called "o3", can guess where a photo was taken just by looking at it. This process is called geo locating (figuring out a location from clues in an image).
How It’s Used
The AI looks at small details—like signs, trees, or even the style of buildings—to narrow down the location. It’s surprisingly accurate, even without clear landmarks.
Why It’s News Now
People are amazed—and a little worried—by how well this works. It shows how powerful AI has become, and raises big questions about privacy when posting photos online.
Read more on TechRadar
Bonus Topic: What Is Blue Origin?
What It Does
Blue Origin is a space company that builds rockets and sends people and cargo into space. It’s similar to NASA or SpaceX, but run by the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.
How It’s Used
Blue Origin offers space flights that take people just past the edge of Earth’s atmosphere for a few minutes of weightlessness before returning safely.
Why It’s Popular
It just completed a historic flight with an all-female crew, making headlines and showing how space travel is becoming more open to civilians—not just astronauts.
Conversation Starter
"Did you hear a group of women just flew to space together for the first time?"
Read more on The Verge
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