A research drone that looks like a torpedo. Yeah, this is going to end well. A sail buoy seen here during a test in waters near Bergen, will supposedly “revolutionize the monitoring of ocean and atmosphere,” according to Lars Hole, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, in a column for Aftenposten. The water drones can self-operate at sea for months and can more safely take measurements in dangerous areas, such as near a glacier, than manned vessels. They’re also cheaper and less disruptive to wildlife, he wrote. But while describing the buoys’ uses at length, there’s no elaboration about how some drones “look almost like torpedoes” which, given certain military tensions in the area lately, may be a questionable design choice…
We’ve already reported on one UFO sighting this week, but we could be greeting some aliens of a very different kind if the Green Party gets their way. They’re hoping to send refugees seeking asylum in Svalbard which, while many have called that legally and environmentally impractical, is strange for one other reason: the anti-refugee Progress Party suggested the same thing recently. We’re assuming the parties don’t have the same motivations.