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Submission + - Researchers Find "Achilles Heel" of Drug Resistant Bacteria

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Researchers in Britain are reporting that they have found a way to prevent bacteria from forming the "wall" that prevents antibiotics from attacking them. "At the heart of the breakthrough is the way 'gram negative' bacterial cells transport the carrier's molecular 'bricks' to the surface of the cell and form a wall." "The number of superbugs are increasing at an unexpected rate. This research provides the platform for urgently-needed new generation drugs."

Submission + - Make A Date With Fraud

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Netcraft is reporting that criminals are mounting massive phishing attacks through online dating sites. The scams are numerous and target multiple sites. Actual methods range from blackmail to 419-style scams. Characteristically, fraudsters hijack an existing account on one of the services, then use that as a portal to deliver a PHP script to compromise the site. 'The latest attacks make use of a phishing kit which contains hundreds of PHP scripts, configured to send stolen credentials to more than 300 distinct email addresses.' The BBC offers additional insights .

Submission + - Deforestation Depletes Fish Stocks

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Adding to the well-known fish-killing effects deforestation has in increasing turbidity and temperature in streams, a study published in Nature Communications, (abstract, PDF access), demonstrates deforestation causes a depletion of nutrients in associated lake aquatic ecosystems and, as a consequence, impacted fish stocks. Lead author Andrew Tanentzap is quoted as saying, 'We found fish that had almost 70% of their biomass made from carbon that came from trees and leaves instead of aquatic food chain sources.' This has troubling implications as, 'It's estimated that freshwater fishes make up more than 6% of the world's annual animal protein supplies for humans ...' Additionally, this may have significance in regard to anadromous species, such as salmon, which help power ocean ecosystems. The BBC offers more approachable coverage.

Submission + - Intel Strong on PC Demand

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Intel Corporation, on the basis of a bump in demand for desktop PCs, improved their outlook for the second quarter and the full year. Pundits are attributing the improved outlook to corporate sales, resulting from Microsoft's EOL on Win XP. Per Reuters, "Shares of Intel jumped 4.97 percent in extended trade after closing up 0.11 percent at $27.96 on Nasdaq."

Submission + - Portland Edges Closer to Google Fiber

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Portland, Oregon has taken another step toward finalizing a franchise agreement with Google Fiber. In a unanimous vote, the city council has approved the prospective contract. While existing Internet Service Providers fume, Mary Beth Henry, manager of Portland’s Office for Community Technology, pointed out that Google is prepared to make a major investment in the city's infrastructure, while the other firms are not. Ms. Henry also indicated that Google was not receiving any special treatment. Google spokesperson, Jenna Wandres, responded to events in an email, saying, 'There’s still a lot of work to do beyond this one agreement, but we hope to provide an update about whether we can bring Fiber here later this year.'

Submission + - Synaptics Buys Key Apple Supplier

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Synaptics Inc., of touchpad fame, is acquiring Renesas SP Drivers Inc, a division of Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. Renesas SP is the exclusive supplier of Apple's display driver chips for the iPhone. While Synaptics is a major supplier of touchscreen technology to clients such as Samsung, they have not done business with Apple for some eight years. Characterized as 'thrilled' to be back in Apple's supply chain, Synaptics CEO, Rick Bergman, is quoted as saying, '... I don't believe they do any driver chips internally so that would really be an opportunity for us.'

Comment Irrespective of the Comics Code ... (Score 1) 165

by Rambo Tribble (#47203153) Attached to: Recommendations For Classic Superhero Comic Collections?
... some of the best work in illustrated fiction can be found in the early "Conan the Barbarian" comics, penned by Barry Smith. Additionally, the earlier editions of Heavy Metal magazine, and its forebearer, Metal Hurlant, rank as some of the best such art and writing to ever meet a sheet of paper.

Submission + - Lose Sleep, Fail to Form Memory 1

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: A research team of Chinese and American scientists claim to have witnessed the mechanism by which sleep contributes to the formation of memories. Using advanced microscopy the researchers witnessed synapses being formed in the brain of sleeping mice recently exposed to a learning task. They compared this to similarly tasked mice, that were subsequently sleep-deprived. The sleeping mice showed a marked increase in the formation of new synapses. As one researcher explained, 'We thought sleep helped, but it could have been other causes, and we show it really helps to make connections and that in sleep the brain is not quiet, it is replaying what happened during the day and it seems quite important for making the connections.' Link to original publication [abstract, paywall]

Submission + - Defeating UEFI's SecureBoot (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: UEFI is ment to replace the BIOS firmware interface. But is it secure enough? Or, at least, more resilient than BIOS? Corey Kallenberg, Security Researcher for the MITRE Corporation explains how he and his team have been able to circumvent that protection on roughly half of the computers that have it enabled, in order to install a malicious bootkit, and what this means for the future of UEFI.

Submission + - Nanoparticles Used to Create Thermal "Barcodes"

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: Researchers from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts, have developed nanoparticles with distinct melting points, which they suggest be used as forensic "barcodes" to identify the origins and integrity of things such as explosives and currency [PDF]. To demonstrate the technique, the researchers used the explosive, TNT, as a test case. Commenting on the viability of the approach, researcher Dr Ming Su said, 'The nanoparticle does not participate in any chemical reaction, and it will not effect the function of the existing object. The only thing it will do is to provide a thermal signature.' He added, 'Nanoparticles are so small, they can be put into any objects.' The BBC has more approachable coverage.

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov

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