ShinyShiny daily round up: Mini goes vegan, ESA calls for disabled astronauts
One of the most iconic British car brands is going vegan. Mini, which is now owned by BMW, has announced that it is to cease offering leather interiors in all new models. It has replaced the leather with recycled fabric and an underlining that’s 70 percent recycled. “We don’t need leather any more in the future, because we don’t believe it’s sustainable,” Mini design boss Oliver Heilmer told Autocar. “We’re totally convinced that we will have modern and high-value products without leather.” See story here: https://www.transitionearth.co/2021/02/16/the-mini-goes-vegan-no-more-leather-in-new-models/
NASA’s Juno probe, currently circling Jupiter, has spotted what appears to be the fiery blast of a meteoroid plunging into the planet. The serendipitous discovery was made by one of the spacecraft’s spectrometers, which captures ultraviolet views of the planet. The instrument was observing the ultraviolet glow from aurorae dancing in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere when it detected a powerful burst of light appearing in the night-time skies. Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2268199-juno-spacecraft-spots-meteor-fireball-lighting-up-jupiters-skies/#ixzz6mju22OE4
A firm which reviews healthcare apps for several NHS trusts says 80% of them do not meet its standards. Failings include poor information, lack of security updates and insufficient awareness of regulatory requirements, according to Orcha chief executive Liz Ashall-Payne. Orcha’s reviews help determine whether an app should be recommended to patients by NHS staff. Currently, there are about 370,000 health-related apps available online, claims Orcha. See story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56083231
Organised crime groups have developed a new phishing tactic to fool people into handing over their financial details by claiming they have been selected to receive a vaccination. Unlike many COVID-19 phishing email campaigns, the new criminal effort is linking through to websites convincingly designed to resemble official government domains and written without any spelling errors, according to email security business Mimecast. See full details here: https://news.sky.com/story/covid-organised-crime-behind-convincing-fake-nhs-vaccine-invitation-emails-12219985
European space chiefs have launched a recruitment drive for new astronauts with particular emphasis on encouraging women and the disabled to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars. The European Space Agency (ESA) said it is looking to boost the diversity of its crews as it called for up to 26 permanent and reserve astronauts. Adapting technology that enabled humans to be in space could open the opportunity for people with disabilities, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said. “When it comes to space travel, we are all disabled,” she said. See story here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/feb/17/europe-launches-recruitment-drive-for-female-and-disabled-astronauts
The use of tracking tech in emails is now “endemic”, according to messaging service Hey’s which has analysed the use of the technology. According to Hey’s, two-thirds of emails sent to users’ personal accounts contain a “spy pixel”, even after excluding for spam. And while defenders of the trackers say they are a commonplace marketing tactic, information can be used to determine the impact of a specific email campaign, as well as to feed into more detailed customer profiles. Hey’s co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson says they amount to a “grotesque invasion of privacy”. See story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56071437
