Exclusive: FCC Approval of SpaceX Starlink Satellites May Have Been Unlawful

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January 16, 2020

Dear Reader, No international regulations exist to protect the night sky, but a new paper argues that the Federal Communications Commission may have violated U.S. environmental law in approving SpaceX's Starlink mega constellation. Astronomers have voiced concern that the satellites will interfere with observations and potentially change their relationship with the cosmos. Will they sue the agency? Our main story has the scoop. In other space news, planet hunters report an update on their search for a second world around our solar system's nearest star, first detected in April 2019. Back on Earth, climate change made the 2010s the hottest decade in recorded history and global temperatures will continue to rise over the next ten years. And at Johns Hopkins, researchers are testing whether psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms, can treat everything from addiction to anorexia.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Exclusive: FCC Approval of SpaceX Starlink Satellites May Have Been Unlawful A new paper suggests that the agency broke U.S. environmental law in its approval of the satellites and that if it was sued in court, it would likely lose By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Space The Curious Case of Proxima C Astronomers continue to gather evidence for a second world around the sun's nearest neighboring star By Lee Billings

EARTH The 2010s Were the Hottest Decade--the 2020s Will Top Them By the mid-2030s, global temperatures will likely top 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels By Thomas Frank,E&E News

Medicine Johns Hopkins Scientists Give Psychedelics the Serious Treatment The first research center of its kind in the country is bringing renewed rigor to the investigation of the drugs' therapeutic uses By Tanya Lewis

Biology Bacteria-Filled Bricks Build Themselves The microorganisms transform sand and gelatin into a living construction material By Sophie Bushwick

Neurological Health Possible Missing Link in Alzheimer's Pathology Identified It may open the door to new treatments and explain why previous ones failed By Karen Weintraub

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 28, Issue 4s

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Here's How Much Climate Change Could Cost the U.S. Warming could exact a major economic toll, but reducing emissions and adapting to changes can alleviate those costs By Andrea Thompson | December 2018

QUOTE OF THE DAY "These new satellites are brighter than 99 percent of [those] in orbit at the moment. And really, that's the root of this concern." Ruskin Hartley, International Dark-Sky Association

WHAT WE'RE READING Moon 'shrooms? Fungi eyed to help build lunar bases and Mars outposts By Space.com Experts predict dozens more earthquake aftershocks in Puerto Rico By Popular Science This weird-looking pigeon is actually a drone that flies with real feathers By MIT Technology Review

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