Hot Links: Fukushima's Radiation Lies, Redneck Rocketeer Gets Close, and Solar Max is Coming

Hot Links is Motherboard’s weekly roundup of key stories that you need to read.

Forecasters say were are getting close to Solar Maximum, which means a whole lot of sunspots, flares, and auroras. (Video above via PhysOrg, image via NASA’s amazing SciJinks.)

Japan has successfully launched a robotic cargo ship up towards the International Space Station, which is a huge boost to the country’s space program.

A new report suggests that the recent scourge of dolphin deaths has been at least partly due to cold waters.

The AR-15 rifle (not the shotgun, nor the handgun) that James Holmes used in his atrocious killing spree was once federally restricted, but no more. True story: a friend once won an AR-15 in a raffle (that he received tickets for after buying tools, I grew up in the country). Even he admitted that’s absolutely absurd.

The Minecraft make has been sued by Uniloc, a notorious patent troll, over some abject ridiculousness.

So DARPA built a power strip that can hack your whole corporate network.

In an age of thermonuclear patent warfare, here’s an e-high five to Jack Daniels for sending one of the nicest, most helpful cease-and-desist letters ever to an infringing book (shown above, via Mashable). In the name of compliance, can’t we all just get along?

Good news for those affected by Hepatitis C, which is a nasty, nasty disease: a new nanoparticle completely destroys the disease, albeit only under laboratory conditions for now.

Absurd money grab of the week: Australian cell phone users have been barraged by text messages threatening assassination unless the user pays up, via the incredible email killerking247@yahoo.com.

The Black Hat conference, aka the bad guy hacker con, was barraged by a really weak phishing scam. You can do better, guys.

I’ve been waiting for this, but now some scientists are saying that reports stating fracking is bad maybe aren’t correct. As evidenced by all the goofballery in the climate change world, science is almost always more nuanced than what actually is reported in newspapers.

Whoa. Here’s an artificial jellyfish made with rat cells. That’s some Island of Dr. Moreau shit right there.

The “Redneck Rocketeer,” also known as Morris Jarvis, is only $10 million away from sending himself to space in what has to be craziest DIY saga in history.

Apparently at least one subcontractor at Fukushima is telling workers to try to hide how much radiation they’re being exposed to. That’s a bad look.

Also in Japan, government authorities arrested journalists for distributing a magazine that explained how to burn, copy, and archive DVDs.

For the first time, an entire organism has been simulated with software.

According to The Atlantic, space smells absolutely terrible.

Canon has finally released its first mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera. Does this mean DSLRs will soon be dead?

Amazon, sensing that tablets are kinda popular, is readying a massive launch of five or six new devices.

Tesla’s Model S, the electric sedan that theoretically hits on the right niche of luxury, status, and largesse that does well in the U.S. (see Porche’s Cayenne), is apparently not terrible. Hooray!

Follow Derek Mead on @derektmead.