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Science

Quarks Know Their Left From Their Right 150

Posted by samzenpus from the spinning-away dept.
sciencehabit writes "How an electron interacts with other matter depends on which way it's spinning as it zips along—to the right like a football thrown by a right-handed quarterback or the left like a pigskin thrown by a lefty. Now, physicists have confirmed that quarks—the particles that join in trios to form the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei—exhibit the same asymmetry. The result could give physics a new weapon in the grand hunt for new particles and forces. Or they can search for subtle hints of exotic new things beyond their tried-and-true standard model by studying familiar particles in great detail. In the latter approach, the new experiment gives physicists a way to probe for certain kinds of new forces."
Security

NBC News Confuses the World About Cyber-Security 144

Posted by samzenpus from the think-of-the-athletes dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes "In a video report posted Feb. 4, NBC News reporter Richard Engel, with the help of a security analyst, two fresh laptops, a new cell phone, and a fake identity, pretended to go online with the technical naiveté of a Neanderthal housepet. (Engel's video blog is here.) Almost as soon as he turned on the phone in the Sochi airport, Engel reported hackers snooping around, testing the security of the machines. Engel's story didn't explain whether 'snooping around' meant someone was port-scanning his device in particular with the intention of cracking its security and prying out its secrets, no matter how much effort it took, or if the 'snooping' was other WiFi devices looking for access points and trying automatically to connect with those that were unprotected. Judging from the rest of his story, it was more likely the latter. Engel also reported hackers snooping around a honeypot set up by his security consultant which, as Gartner analyst Paul Proctor also pointed out in a blog posting, is like leaving the honey open and complaining when it attracts flies. When you try to communicate with anything, it also tries to communicate with you; that's how networked computers work: They communicate with each other. None of the 'hacks' or intrusions Engel created or sought out for himself have anything to do with Russia or Sochi, however; those 'hacks' he experienced could have happened in any Starbucks in the country, and does almost every day, Proctor wrote. That's why there is antivirus software for phones and laptops. It's why every expert, document, video, audio clip or even game that has anything at all to do with cybersecurity makes sure to mention you should never open attachments from spam email, or in email from people you don't know, and you should set up your browser to keep random web sites from downloading and installing anything they want on your computer. But keep up the fear-mongering."

Comment Sydney threat (Score 1) 190

by Wild Wizard (#45042301) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Time To Regulate Domestic Drones?

A similar incident just happened in Australia, where a small drone operated by an unknown owner crashed into the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Counter-terrorism officials felt they had to investigate, of course.

Well perhaps if the person who wrote the summery bothered to do some basic research they would know that Sydney is current at a high alert level and for a good reason.

http://www.navy.gov.au/ifr/

Comment Re:Actually: (Score 1) 113

by Wild Wizard (#44145477) Attached to: Australian Air Force's Recruiting Puzzle Shown To Be Unsolvable

After reading the article (yes I did) it would seem that the phone number was the solution to the equation but due to 2 typos on the last 2 lines it didn't work properly.

If you ignored the last 2 lines on the original then you would have still got the number as the last 2 were supposed to solve as 0.

Though if you need to solve the equation to get the number then they probably want you in intelligence anyway as anyone else would have known what it was due to it been advertised everywhere for years now.

Comment Actually the irony is ... (Score 3, Informative) 33

Actually the irony is that the contractor is in fact AusCERT who claim to be :-

AusCERT operates within a worldwide network of information security experts to provide computer incident prevention, response and mitigation strategies for members and assistance to affected parties in Australia.

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