Latest news with #ice
CNN
31 minutes ago
- Science
- CNN
A hunt for ghostly particles found strange signals coming from Antarctic ice. Scientists are still trying to explain them
Scientists are trying to solve a decade-long mystery by determining the identity of anomalous signals detected from below ice in Antarctica. The strange radio waves emerged during a search for another unusual phenomenon: high-energy cosmic particles known as neutrinos. Arriving at Earth from the far reaches of the cosmos, neutrinos are often called 'ghostly' because they are extremely volatile, or vaporous, and can go through any kind of matter without changing. Over the past decade, researchers have conducted multiple experiments using vast expanses of water and ice that are designed to search for neutrinos, which could shed light on mysterious cosmic rays, the most highly energetic particles in the universe. One of these projects was NASA's Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, experiment, which flew balloons carrying instruments above Antarctica between 2006 and 2016. It was during this hunt that ANITA picked up anomalous radio waves that didn't seem to be neutrinos. The signals came from below the horizon, suggesting they had passed through thousands of miles of rock before reaching the detector. But the radio waves should have been absorbed by the rock. The ANITA team believed these anomalous signals could not be explained by the current understanding of particle physics. Follow-up observations and analyses with other instruments, including one recently conducted by the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, have not been able to find the same signals. The results of the Pierre Auger Collaboration were published in the journal Physical Review Letters in March. The origin of the anomalous signals remains unclear, said study coauthor Stephanie Wissel, associate professor of physics, astronomy and astrophysics at the Pennsylvania State University. 'Our new study indicates that such (signals) have not been seen by an experiment … like the Pierre Auger Observatory,' Wissel said. 'So, it does not indicate that there is new physics, but rather more information to add to the story.' Larger, more sensitive detectors may be able to solve the mystery, or ultimately prove whether the anomalous signals were a fluke, while continuing the search for enigmatic neutrinos and their sources, scientists say. Detecting neutrinos on Earth allows researchers to trace them back to their sources, which scientists believe are primarily cosmic rays that strike our planet's atmosphere. The most highly energetic particles in the universe, cosmic rays are made up mostly of protons or atomic nuclei, and they are unleashed across the universe because whatever produces them is such a powerful particle accelerator that it dwarfs the capabilities of the Large Hadron Collider. Neutrinos could help astronomers better understand cosmic rays and what launches them across the cosmos. But neutrinos are difficult to find because they have almost no mass and can pass through the most extreme environments, like stars and entire galaxies, unchanged. They do, however, interact with water and ice. ANITA was designed to search for the highest energy neutrinos in the universe, at higher energies than have yet been detected, said Justin Vandenbroucke, an associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The experiment's radio antennae search for a short pulse of radio waves produced when a neutrino collides with an atom in the Antarctic ice, leading to a shower of lower-energy particles, he said. During its flights, ANITA found high-energy fountains of particles coming from the ice, a kind of upside-down shower of cosmic rays. The detector is also sensitive to ultrahigh energy cosmic rays that rain down on Earth and create a radio burst that acts like a flashlight beam of radio waves. When ANITA watches a cosmic ray, the flashlight beam is really a burst of radio waves one-billionth of a second long that can be mapped like a wave to show how it reflects off the ice. Twice in their data from ANITA flights, the experiment's original team spotted signals coming up through the ice at a much sharper angle than ever predicted by any models, making it impossible to trace the signals to their original sources. 'The radio waves that we detected nearly a decade ago were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice,' Wissel said. Neutrinos can travel through a lot of matter, but not all the way through the Earth, Vandenbroucke said. 'They are expected to arrive from slightly below the horizon, where there is not much Earth for them to be absorbed,' he wrote in an email. 'The ANITA anomalous events are intriguing because they appear to come from well below the horizon, so the neutrinos would have to travel through much of the Earth. This is not possible according to the Standard Model of particle physics.' The Pierre Auger Collaboration, which includes hundreds of scientists around the world, analyzed more than a decade's worth of data to try to understand the anomalous signals detected by ANITA. The team also used their observatory to try to find the same signals. The Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector that uses two methods to find and study cosmic rays. One method relies on finding high-energy particles as they interact with water in tanks on Earth's surface, and the other tracks potential interactions with ultraviolet light high in our planet's atmosphere. 'The Auger Observatory uses a very different technique to observe ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers, using the secondary glow of charged particles as they traverse the atmosphere to determine the direction of the cosmic ray that initiated it,' said Peter Gorham, a professor of physics at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. 'By using computer simulations of what such a shower of particles would look like if it had behaved like the ANITA anomalous events, they are able to generate a kind of template for similar events and then search their data to see if anything like that appears.' Gorham, who was not involved with the new research, designed the ANITA experiment and has conducted other research to understand more about the anomalous signals. While the Auger Observatory was designed to measure downward-going particle showers produced in the atmosphere by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, the team redesigned their data analysis to search for upward-going air showers, Vandenbroucke said. Vandenbroucke did not work on the new study, but he peer-reviewed it prior to publication. 'Auger has an enormous collecting area for such events, larger than ANITA,' he said. 'If the ANITA anomalous events are produced by any particle traveling through the Earth and then producing upward-going showers, then Auger should have detected many of them, and it did not.' A separate follow-up study using the IceCube Experiment, which has sensors embedded deep in the Antarctic ice, also searched for the anomalous signals. 'Because IceCube is very sensitive, if the ANITA anomalous events were neutrinos then we would have detected them,' wrote Vandenbroucke, who served as colead of the IceCube Neutrino Sources working group between 2019 and 2022. 'It's an interesting problem because we still don't actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they're most likely not representing neutrinos,' Wissel said. Oddly enough, a different kind of neutrino, called a tau neutrino, is one hypothesis that some scientists have put forth as the cause of the anomalous signals. Tau neutrinos can regenerate. When they decay at high energies, they produce another tau neutrino, as well as a particle called a tau lepton — similar to an electron, but much heavier. But what makes the tau neutrino scenario very unlikely is the steepness of the angle connected to the signal, Wissel said. 'You expect all these tau neutrinos to be very, very close to the horizon, like maybe one to five degrees below the horizon,' Wissel said. 'These are 30 degrees below the horizon. There's just too much material. They really would actually lose quite a bit of energy and not be detectable.' At the end of the day, Gorham and the other scientists have no idea what the origin of the anomalous ANITA events are. So far, no interpretations match up with the signals, which is what keeps drawing scientists back to try to solve the mystery. The answer may be in sight, however. Wissel is also working on a new detector, the Payload for Ultra-High Energy Observations or PUEO, that will fly over Antarctica for a month beginning in December. Larger and 10 times more sensitive than ANITA, PUEO could reveal more information on what is causing the anomalous signals detected by ANITA, Wissel said. 'Right now, it's one of these long-standing mysteries,' Wissel said. 'I'm excited that when we fly PUEO, we'll have better sensitivity. In principle, we should be able to better understand these anomalies which will go a long way to understanding our backgrounds and ultimately detecting neutrinos in the future.' Gorham said that PUEO, an acronym that references the Hawaiian owl, should have the sensitivity to capture many anomalous signals and help scientists find an answer. 'Sometimes you just have to go back to the drawing board and really figure out what these things are,' Wissel said. 'The most likely scenario is that it's some mundane physics that can be explained, but we're sort of knocking on all the doors to try to figure out what those are.'
Zawya
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Zawya
Size and substance - behind the scenes of the world's largest media library in the sky, Emirates ice
Dubai, UAE: Emirates has launched an innovative new video for ice that highlights the breadth of content that Emirates' 54 million customers can enjoy in the world's largest media library in the sky. Emirates invites readers to explore a behind-the-scenes look at the process of maintaining providing the best inflight entertainment globally. Emirates is the biggest licensee of content in the skies Movies, TV series, podcasts, language-learning courses, documentaries, animations and even live sport and news at 40,000 feet – Emirates has all bases covered. With a whopping 6,500 channels of high quality and acclaimed content, ice is the world's largest entertainment library in the sky by a long shot. The sheer quantity of content procured makes Emirates the biggest global licensee of content in the skies. As soon as global distributors open the 'non-theatrical' or post-cinema sales for movies, Emirates snaps up the best of them - allowing customers to enjoy up to 2,700 Hollywood and internationally acclaimed movies at any time. Catering to the varied tastes of millions of passengers, Emirates acquires rights to show more than 600 international movies in 50 languages from across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, over 150 documentary movies, more than 150 Arabic movies, and 300+ Bollywood and South Asian movies to name a few. For the film buff, ice even offers more than 350 classic films from the 1930's onwards, from Casablanca and Frankenstein to Spartacus and Ben Hur, recognising that a flight just might be the perfect time to watch a perfectly remastered and high quality piece of history on a personal screen. Emirates partners with the best providers HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Food Network, CBeebies, Discovery+, BBC, Bloomberg Originals, Shahid, BBC Earth, Animal Planet, HGTV, Nickelodeon - Emirates 'subscribes' to everything, so you can watch all your favourites when you travel. Customers have remarked that boarding an Emirates flight is like 'staying over at that movie-obsessed friend's house,' - the one who has all the leading streaming platforms and top media brands available at the touch of a button. Depending on their mood and preferences, travellers can settle in and choose from hundreds of complete TV series and full box sets including the latest trending shows. Emirates even has an agreement with Spotify - the world's most popular audio streaming subscription, offering passengers access to the best podcasts and playlists on the market. For all the planners out there, it's possible to curate your ice experience before a flight, by browsing and pre-selecting movies or TV shows on the Emirates app, which can then be synchronised to ice the moment you sit down. Emirates offers a huge yet carefully curated library Emirates library is vast, but the team behind the scenes invest a lot of time researching what's available worldwide that customers are likely to enjoy. The most recent or popular movies are placed at the top of the screen in the first positions. To provide a top notch entertainment experience, Emirates goes to great lengths to curate collections of content for customers - platforming movies, series and documentaries that are more niche, and often highly acclaimed. Highlighting thought leadership and trending topics, the ice team recommends 5 pieces of content each month, which might include a brilliant podcast, an informative docuseries, a TV show, or a movie that may not be on everyone's radar, and anything that is in the cultural zeitgeist. Recently, the ice team curated an entire folder of movies, shows and podcasts that related to Autism and Neurodiversity, to highlight Autism Awareness month. To highlight Earth month, Emirates' ice team prepared a folder of content about nature, including almost 60 documentaries and episodes about the earth and its creatures. To celebrate Emirates' brand ambassador Penelope Cruz, a folder of her movies was put together so that customers could familiarise themselves with Emirates' latest iconic collaboration. The Emirates ice team also work to ensure that each piece of content onboard meets Emirates' goals of being a family-friendly airline. Emirates takes great care to ensure appropriate versions of movies are featured on ice, suitable for a myriad of cultures and perspectives. This involves intensive monitoring of various international rating systems, as well as reviews by the ice team. For children specifically, content is carefully curated, with over 250 dedicated kids and family channels, including dozens of shows for pre-school kids. For further guidance on what to watch amidst the masses of options, Emirates produces an ice magazine every month, which highlights the best content to look out for, as well as tips on connecting to the Wi-Fi and what content is 'Coming Soon' onboard. The magazine is combined with EmiratesRED, allowing customers to browse the inflight retail offers and trending products while watching. Emirates keeps it fresh and refreshes content monthly Emirates content is switched up on a monthly basis, so that even frequent flyers will find the latest hits and a wide array of options. For the box office hit movies and popular TV series, Emirates aims to keep the content for as long as licensing will allow. As media server sizes differ across aircraft types, content sometimes does need to be removed to make space for the new shows and movies – although on Emirates' new A350 aircraft, the servers are notably huge - offering over triple the media storage capacity. With a goal to constantly innovate, the ice team identified a trend in recent years from customers interested in self-development and a desire to be more actively engaged with content. Emirates added a selection of premium content from LinkedIn Learning featuring topics like productivity, motivation, transparency and entrepreneurship, as well as UTalk language learning courses available in multiple languages – English, Arabic, Latin American, Spanish, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin and German. With a music library of over 3,500 albums and more than 500 curated playlists from both Spotify and Emirates' own ice team, a flight is a perfect place to delve into some world music and discover new genres trending across every corner of the world. From K-pop to P-pop, Afrobeats to Arabic Classics, there is 4,000 hours- worth of music and podcasts on ice, where flyers can get into the groove of their destination before arriving. Live TV is one of Emirates' game-changing entertainment options in the sky, ensuring customers never miss a match. ice currently has 5 channels of live TV, including 3 news channels and two channels with live sport coverage on most flights. For important finals and matches, Emirates even plays them on the big screen at the A380 Onboard Lounge, an unrivalled setting for a big game. Emirates makes its own content too Emirates even makes its own movie-style content. The latest promo for ice, now showing onboard, is a 3-minute whirlwind of epic action, as an Emirates cabin crew member hops on a motorbike to race an aircraft, joins a pirate battle, dances in a Bollywood scene, serves a drink on a mysterious planet, plays football in Antarctica, and is both crew and customer onboard an Emirates flight. Conceptualised by Emirates' Brand team, the video was brought to life by the multi award-winning CGI company – Framestore and took more than 6 months of post-production to produce the slick movie-style teaser that showcases ice's variety and versatility. The Emirates ice team personally plans and records 'Emirates World' podcasts with key figures from Dubai Government officials to international thought leaders and experts, authors and poets. Emirates World includes interviews about Emirates own products and services, such as its unmatched wine programme, Emirates' culinary creativity and Emirates' Skywards loyalty programme. Even going to the ends of the Earth for the best entertainment is possible with Emirates ice. The team conducted a live interview with UAE astronaut Dr Sultan AlNeyadi in 2023, chatting to him about his 'inflight experience' in space, while he floated 400 kilometres above the planet. Sprinkling some stardust on the ice experience, the interview was live on the Emirates World podcast on the same day the esteemed astronaut began his journey home to Earth, having completed a six-month science mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The interview was conducted from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Mission Control Centre, via NASA in Houston, through a space to ground communication link, exclusively for Emirates' ice. At an ISS altitude of 400 kilometres and an orbital speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour, the live footage is interspersed with Dr AlNeyadi enjoying his coffee in microgravity, conducting experiments, and strapping in for his daily workout where he overlooks spectacular views of planet Earth. Emirates is the original 'early adopter' of inflight technology Remember the days of everyone watching the same movie on an overhead monitor? Emirates was the first airline to introduce personal screens on every seat-back in 1992. This was during the pre-internet days and was considered a disruptive and costly industry innovation at that time. At a cost of $15,000 per seat, the system offered just 6 channels. In 1993, Emirates was one of the first airlines to introduce telecommunications on an Airbus, in all 3 classes, and in 1994, was the first to equip its Airbus fleet with an inflight fax facility for customers to stay in touch during a flight. In 2003, Emirates upgraded to ice and launched video-on-demand, with a more interactive system. In the same year Emirates became the first airline to offer live news text headlines inflight – from the BBC. By 2006, Emirates had installed personal in-seat email and SMS in all classes, and by 2008, Emirates was the first airline in the world to enable mobile phones to be used during a flight using AeroMobile systems. With innovation as a core pillar of the Emirates brand, ice holds a legacy for best in class entertainment after 33 years – but never rests on its laurels and continues to invest to maintain its position. Emirates ice is the most accessible inflight entertainment Emirates is committed to setting industry standards and accessibility for People of Determination and was the first airline in the world to introduce Audio Descriptive soundtracks and Closed Captions on movies on an inflight entertainment system in 2008. Emirates now offers over 600 movies with 'Closed Captions' and 200 movies with 'Audio Description', offering accessibility to the visually impaired. Emirates headphones are also compatible with hearing aids when set to the 'T' position. Onboard Emirates latest aircraft, the Airbus A350-900, a new user interface on ice has been designed in partnership with Thales and advocacy groups for visually impaired customers, to ensure all customers have an intuitive, high quality inflight entertainment experience. This imparts best practice experiences for visually impaired customers including audio-cue navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback, touch and swipe gesturing support and presents the large selection of audio-descriptive (AD) content available on ice. Need information? ice has you covered ice isn't just a cool name for the world's best entertainment in the sky, it's also an anagram for Information, Connectivity and Entertainment. If you're looking for updates, news headlines, flight times – this information is all available on ice. An inflight airshow capability invites customers to follow their flight's progress on a moving map, and see the world from 40,000 feet through external cameras. The 'I' section even has information on Events coming up in Dubai, fleet size, new destinations and routes, trending events and places in Dubai and top attractions, while the Connectivity section details how to connect to the EmiratesWiFi network after take off. The next generation of ice The new Emirates A350 introduced the first next-generation version of the ice inflight entertainment system with a suite of ground-breaking features designed to enhance the customer experience. Offering a cinematic display to Emirates customers, this includes the best picture quality on any aircraft with stunning 4K and 4K HDR, ultra-responsive touchscreens for seamless navigation and a vast media selection—up to triple the current content capacity. Customers will also enjoy handy new features like 'eye comfort mode' to reduce blue light exposure, the ability to skip credits and intros on videos, enhanced live TV, and simplified volume and brightness controls. An improved search function is complemented by iceMoments, a revolutionary way to explore content on ice in a short form video format. Kids will enjoy a new pictorially driven interface, while parents will appreciate the seat side parental controls for family-friendly settings.
India Today
a day ago
- Science
- India Today
Swiss glacier collapse that buried villages is so big it's visible from space
The tranquil Swiss village of Blatten was transformed in moments as a catastrophic avalanche of rock and ice from the Birch Glacier thundered into the valley on May 28, collapse was so big that it buried nearly 90% of the community and filled the Lonza disaster has been captured in stark detail by the OLI-2 instrument on Landsat 9. The images reveal a landscape dramatically altered by nature's The collapse was triggered after weeks of instability on the mountain slopes above the glacier. Rockfalls from the Kleiner Nesthorn peak accumulated on the glacier's surface, increasing pressure and accelerating the glacier's movement to an estimated 10 meters per day by May 27, according to ETH believe the added weight and resulting meltwater at the glacier's base reduced friction, making a catastrophic slide the glacier finally gave way, millions of tons of debris surged 2.5 kilometers down the valley, climbing as high as 240 meters up the opposite slope and forming a debris cone two kilometers long and 200 meters wide. Satellite images released in the aftermath show the vast swath of brown and grey debris cutting through the lush alpine landscape, a stark reminder of the power and unpredictability of glacial regions in a warming avalanche not only buried homes but also blocked the Lonza River, creating an artificial lake and raising fears of further early warning systems and visible signs of instability prompted authorities to evacuate all 300 residents and livestock by May 19, days before the disaster struck. Only one person remains continue to monitor the site, investigating the roles of rockfalls, glacier melt, and possibly permafrost thaw in this rare and devastating event.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Woman 'with no Botox and fillers' shows rubbing frozen cucumber on face brightens skin: Does it really and is it safe?
Chances are you might have heard of the frozen cucumber skincare hack, a trending hack. Beauty influencer Amal K has tried it and shared the benefits in a May 15 Instagram video titled, 'I am 37 with no Botox (Botulinum toxin — often referred to by the brand name Botox) or fillers: Frozen cucumber edition.' Also read | Woman shows rubbing banana peel on face works like Botox for brightening skin: But does it? In the accompanying video, Amal demonstrated how using a frozen cucumber provides a natural, cooling sensation, leaving skin feeling refreshed. The cold temperature also reduces puffiness, soothes inflammation, and tightens pores, she added. She said, 'I am 37 years old, and I have never had Botox or fillers. One thing I do daily is an ice facial; but today, we are going to use a frozen cucumber. Before you start, make sure your face is nice and clean.' Amal added, 'Cucumber contains vitamin K, so it is just going to help curb the appearance of dark circle, help the lymphatic around your eyes and reduce the appearance of puffiness. We all love that, right? It also helps blood circulation, brightens your skin, minimises pores. After you are done, don't throw the whole cucumber, just cut the top little piece off and throw it in the freezer (For use again).' In her caption, she wrote: 'Frozen cucumber in the am.' A post shared by Amal K (@amalkzad) But does this frozen cucumber skincare hack actually work? In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr DM Mahajan, senior consultant, dermatology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said that 'frozen cucumber massage can offer some temporary benefits to the skin, but it's not a miracle solution'. He said, 'Cucumbers are rich in water, antioxidants, and vitamins like C and K, which can help soothe the skin and reduce puffiness especially when chilled or frozen. When applied cold, they help constrict blood vessels, which can reduce under-eye bags, calm inflammation, and make the skin feel tighter and fresher.' Dr Mahajan added, 'Massaging the face with frozen cucumber may give your skin an instant glow by improving blood circulation. The cooling effect also helps close pores and reduce redness, making your skin look smoother and more even-toned. Plus, the act of massaging whether with cucumber or a cold roller stimulates lymphatic drainage and reduces puffiness.' However, from a clinical point of view, Dr Mahajan said 'the effect is temporary'. 'Frozen cucumber does not treat deeper skin concerns like acne, pigmentation, or wrinkles. Also, if used directly on very sensitive or dry skin, the extreme cold may irritate or damage the skin barrier. Dermatologists recommend wrapping the frozen cucumber in a thin cloth before using it or letting it thaw slightly to avoid cold burns.' According to Dr Mahajan, 'frozen cucumber massage is safe for most people and can refresh the skin temporarily'. It's a nice home remedy for quick results before an event or to start your day, but it shouldn't replace your regular skincare routine, Dr Mahajan said and added, 'For long-term skin health and beauty, consistent cleansing, hydration, sun protection, and dermatologist-approved products are more effective. So yes, enjoy that chilled cucumber rub now and then, but don't expect it to replace your sunscreen or anti-ageing cream.' Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
Al Bawaba
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Al Bawaba
Size and Substance - Behind the scenes of the world's largest media library in the sky, Emirates ice
Emirates has launched an innovative new video for ice that highlights the breadth of content that Emirates' 54 million customers can enjoy in the world's largest media library in the sky. Emirates invites readers to explore a behind-the-scenes look at the process of maintaining providing the best inflight entertainment globally. Emirates is the biggest licensee of content in the skies Movies, TV series, podcasts, language-learning courses, documentaries, animations and even live sport and news at 40,000 feet – Emirates has all bases covered. With a whopping 6,500 channels of high quality and acclaimed content, ice is the world's largest entertainment library in the sky by a long shot. The sheer quantity of content procured makes Emirates the biggest global licensee of content in the skies. As soon as global distributors open the 'non-theatrical' or post-cinema sales for movies, Emirates snaps up the best of them - allowing customers to enjoy up to 2,700 Hollywood and internationally acclaimed movies at any time. Catering to the varied tastes of millions of passengers, Emirates acquires rights to show more than 600 international movies in 50 languages from across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, over 150 documentary movies, more than 150 Arabic movies, and 300+ Bollywood and South Asian movies to name a few. For the film buff, ice even offers more than 350 classic films from the 1930's onwards, from Casablanca and Frankenstein to Spartacus and Ben Hur, recognising that a flight just might be the perfect time to watch a perfectly remastered and high quality piece of history on a personal screen. Emirates partners with the best providers HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Food Network, CBeebies, Discovery+, BBC, Bloomberg Originals, Shahid, BBC Earth, Animal Planet, HGTV, Nickelodeon - Emirates 'subscribes' to everything, so you can watch all your favourites when you travel. Customers have remarked that boarding an Emirates flight is like 'staying over at that movie-obsessed friend's house,' - the one who has all the leading streaming platforms and top media brands available at the touch of a button. Depending on their mood and preferences, travellers can settle in and choose from hundreds of complete TV series and full box sets including the latest trending shows. Emirates even has an agreement with Spotify - the world's most popular audio streaming subscription, offering passengers access to the best podcasts and playlists on the market. For all the planners out there, it's possible to curate your ice experience before a flight, by browsing and pre-selecting movies or TV shows on the Emirates app, which can then be synchronised to ice the moment you sit down. Emirates offers a huge yet carefully curated library Emirates library is vast, but the team behind the scenes invest a lot of time researching what's available worldwide that customers are likely to enjoy. The most recent or popular movies are placed at the top of the screen in the first positions. To provide a top notch entertainment experience, Emirates goes to great lengths to curate collections of content for customers - platforming movies, series and documentaries that are more niche, and often highly acclaimed. Highlighting thought leadership and trending topics, the ice team recommends 5 pieces of content each month, which might include a brilliant podcast, an informative docuseries, a TV show, or a movie that may not be on everyone's radar, and anything that is in the cultural zeitgeist. Recently, the ice team curated an entire folder of movies, shows and podcasts that related to Autism and Neurodiversity, to highlight Autism Awareness month. To highlight Earth month, Emirates' ice team prepared a folder of content about nature, including almost 60 documentaries and episodes about the earth and its creatures. To celebrate Emirates' brand ambassador Penelope Cruz, a folder of her movies was put together so that customers could familiarise themselves with Emirates' latest iconic collaboration. The Emirates ice team also work to ensure that each piece of content onboard meets Emirates' goals of being a family-friendly airline. Emirates takes great care to ensure appropriate versions of movies are featured on ice, suitable for a myriad of cultures and perspectives. This involves intensive monitoring of various international rating systems, as well as reviews by the ice team. For children specifically, content is carefully curated, with over 250 dedicated kids and family channels, including dozens of shows for pre-school kids. For further guidance on what to watch amidst the masses of options, Emirates produces an ice magazine every month, which highlights the best content to look out for, as well as tips on connecting to the Wi-Fi and what content is 'Coming Soon' onboard. The magazine is combined with EmiratesRED, allowing customers to browse the inflight retail offers and trending products while watching. Emirates keeps it fresh and refreshes content monthly Emirates content is switched up on a monthly basis, so that even frequent flyers will find the latest hits and a wide array of options. For the box office hit movies and popular TV series, Emirates aims to keep the content for as long as licensing will allow. As media server sizes differ across aircraft types, content sometimes does need to be removed to make space for the new shows and movies – although on Emirates' new A350 aircraft, the servers are notably huge - offering over triple the media storage capacity. With a goal to constantly innovate, the ice team identified a trend in recent years from customers interested in self-development and a desire to be more actively engaged with content. Emirates added a selection of premium content from LinkedIn Learning featuring topics like productivity, motivation, transparency and entrepreneurship, as well as UTalk language learning courses available in multiple languages – English, Arabic, Latin American, Spanish, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin and German. With a music library of over 3,500 albums and more than 500 curated playlists from both Spotify and Emirates' own ice team, a flight is a perfect place to delve into some world music and discover new genres trending across every corner of the world. From K-pop to P-pop, Afrobeats to Arabic Classics, there is 4,000 hours- worth of music and podcasts on ice, where flyers can get into the groove of their destination before arriving. Live TV is one of Emirates' game-changing entertainment options in the sky, ensuring customers never miss a match. ice currently has 5 channels of live TV, including 3 news channels and two channels with live sport coverage on most flights. For important finals and matches, Emirates even plays them on the big screen at the A380 Onboard Lounge, an unrivalled setting for a big game. Emirates makes its own content too Emirates even makes its own movie-style content. The latest promo for ice, now showing onboard, is a 3-minute whirlwind of epic action, as an Emirates cabin crew member hops on a motorbike to race an aircraft, joins a pirate battle, dances in a Bollywood scene, serves a drink on a mysterious planet, plays football in Antarctica, and is both crew and customer onboard an Emirates flight. Conceptualised by Emirates' Brand team, the video was brought to life by the multi award-winning CGI company – Framestore and took more than 6 months of post-production to produce the slick movie-style teaser that showcases ice's variety and versatility. The Emirates ice team personally plans and records 'Emirates World' podcasts with key figures from Dubai Government officials to international thought leaders and experts, authors and poets. Emirates World includes interviews about Emirates own products and services, such as its unmatched wine programme, Emirates' culinary creativity and Emirates' Skywards loyalty programme. Even going to the ends of the Earth for the best entertainment is possible with Emirates ice. The team conducted a live interview with UAE astronaut Dr Sultan AlNeyadi in 2023, chatting to him about his 'inflight experience' in space, while he floated 400 kilometres above the planet. Sprinkling some stardust on the ice experience, the interview was live on the Emirates World podcast on the same day the esteemed astronaut began his journey home to Earth, having completed a six-month science mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The interview was conducted from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Mission Control Centre, via NASA in Houston, through a space to ground communication link, exclusively for Emirates' ice. At an ISS altitude of 400 kilometres and an orbital speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour, the live footage is interspersed with Dr AlNeyadi enjoying his coffee in microgravity, conducting experiments, and strapping in for his daily workout where he overlooks spectacular views of planet Earth. Emirates is the original 'early adopter' of inflight technology Remember the days of everyone watching the same movie on an overhead monitor? Emirates was the first airline to introduce personal screens on every seat-back in 1992. This was during the pre-internet days and was considered a disruptive and costly industry innovation at that time. At a cost of $15,000 per seat, the system offered just 6 channels. In 1993, Emirates was one of the first airlines to introduce telecommunications on an Airbus, in all 3 classes, and in 1994, was the first to equip its Airbus fleet with an inflight fax facility for customers to stay in touch during a flight. In 2003, Emirates upgraded to ice and launched video-on-demand, with a more interactive system. In the same year Emirates became the first airline to offer live news text headlines inflight – from the BBC. By 2006, Emirates had installed personal in-seat email and SMS in all classes, and by 2008, Emirates was the first airline in the world to enable mobile phones to be used during a flight using AeroMobile systems. With innovation as a core pillar of the Emirates brand, ice holds a legacy for best in class entertainment after 33 years – but never rests on its laurels and continues to invest to maintain its position. Emirates ice is the most accessible inflight entertainment Emirates is committed to setting industry standards and accessibility for People of Determination and was the first airline in the world to introduce Audio Descriptive soundtracks and Closed Captions on movies on an inflight entertainment system in 2008. Emirates now offers over 600 movies with 'Closed Captions' and 200 movies with 'Audio Description', offering accessibility to the visually impaired. Emirates headphones are also compatible with hearing aids when set to the 'T' position. Onboard Emirates latest aircraft, the Airbus A350-900, a new user interface on ice has been designed in partnership with Thales and advocacy groups for visually impaired customers, to ensure all customers have an intuitive, high quality inflight entertainment experience. This imparts best practice experiences for visually impaired customers including audio-cue navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback, touch and swipe gesturing support and presents the large selection of audio-descriptive (AD) content available on ice. Need information? ice has you covered ice isn't just a cool name for the world's best entertainment in the sky, it's also an anagram for Information, Connectivity and Entertainment. If you're looking for updates, news headlines, flight times – this information is all available on ice. An inflight airshow capability invites customers to follow their flight's progress on a moving map, and see the world from 40,000 feet through external cameras. The 'I' section even has information on Events coming up in Dubai, fleet size, new destinations and routes, trending events and places in Dubai and top attractions, while the Connectivity section details how to connect to the EmiratesWiFi network after take off. The next generation of ice The new Emirates A350 introduced the first next-generation version of the ice inflight entertainment system with a suite of ground-breaking features designed to enhance the customer experience. Offering a cinematic display to Emirates customers, this includes the best picture quality on any aircraft with stunning 4K and 4K HDR, ultra-responsive touchscreens for seamless navigation and a vast media selection—up to triple the current content capacity. Customers will also enjoy handy new features like 'eye comfort mode' to reduce blue light exposure, the ability to skip credits and intros on videos, enhanced live TV, and simplified volume and brightness controls. An improved search function is complemented by iceMoments, a revolutionary way to explore content on ice in a short form video format. Kids will enjoy a new pictorially driven interface, while parents will appreciate the seat side parental controls for family-friendly settings.
