[NEWS] Four sci-tech links: new non-Western star names, anti-pollution bacteria, Fitbit, 'Oumuamua

[rfmcdonald]

• Universe Today notes that the IAU has just assigned new names to 86 stars, drawing from Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Mayan and Aborigine traditions. Delta Velorum is Alsephina, for instance.


• Genetically engineered superbacteria from China may be set to consuming the waste from that country's fashion industry. Bloomberg reports.


• Erin Griffith at Wired notes how Fitbit is slowly edging from a fitness device to something like a medical monitor.


• This article in The Atlantic looking at the upcoming efforts to see if extrasolar visitor 'Oumuamua is a technological artifact is fascinating.