August 15, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

🎮 Netflix games coming to TVs

🪐 Exoplanet hotter than the sun

📺 YouTube health misinformation

UP FIRST

Netflix games streaming is coming to TVs and browsers

A test is rolling out in Canada and the U.K.

Netflix is bringing game streaming to TVs, with a pilot for select customers beginning in Canada and the U.K. The streaming giant has been working its way into mobile gaming over the last few years, bringing cloud-based games to iOS and Android, but now it is testing out the waters of gaming on TVs as well.

Starting today, some users will be able to stream two of Netflix's games, the popular adventure game Oxenfree and a new arcade game called Molehaw's Mining Adventure, on their TVs. The company shared details in a blog post, specifying that games will be available to play via a range of smart TVs and also through a web browser for PC and Mac users.

The games are played using a controller app for smartphones that is available for iOS devices but isn't yet available for Android. It's also not clear when the gaming test will roll out to other countries like the U.S.

THE FINAL FRONTIER

This brown dwarf exoplanet is hotter than the sun

Its surface temperature is almost 14,000 degrees Fahrenheit

As extreme exoplanets go, this is a wild one: Astronomers have discovered a brown dwarf which is hotter than our sun by more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Brown dwarfs are halfway between planets and stars, and are sometimes called failed stars because they aren't massive enough to fuse hydrogen in their cores.

This particular brown dwarf, called WD 0032-317 B, is one of the most massive discovered to date with a mass between 75 and 88 times that of Jupiter. It was originally observed in 2019 and 2020, and recent follow-up observations revealed its extreme character.

It is also tidally locked, meaning one side of the brown dwarf always faces its star and is much hotter than the other. The hot side, called the dayside, is a mind-bending 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the cooler side, called the nightside.

MISINFORMATION WARS

YouTube cracks down on health misinformation videos

The platform is taking down videos promoting harmful cancer cures

YouTube has announced it will be removing videos that promote bogus cancer treatments as part of a broader effort to combat medical misinformation on the platform. YouTube said it was focusing on cancer treatments due to cancer's high public health risk and the fact it was a frequent target of misinformation.

While debate and discussion of medical topics will still be allowed, the platform says it will take down videos that promote unproven treatments or those deemed harmful, such as claims that garlic cures cancer or that vitamin C could be taken in place of radiation therapy.

The new policies are included within a long-term plan to grapple with medical misinformation stemming from moderation changes introduced during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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