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Biotech

Flatworms Defy Aging Through Cell Division Tricks 106

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the ail-hail-the-immortal-flatworm dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from The University of Nottingham have demonstrated how a species of flatworm overcomes the aging process to be potentially immortal. The discovery, published (abstract; full text PDF) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council and may shed light on the possibilities of alleviating aging and age-related characteristics in human cells." After finding the gene for telomerase synthesis in the worms, the researchers were able to observe that the worms "...dramatically increase the activity of this gene when they regenerate, allowing stem cells to maintain their telomeres as they divide to replace missing tissues."
Google

Indian Court Orders Google To Remove Content 477

Posted by samzenpus from the never-happened dept.
itwbennett writes "A Court in Delhi, India has ordered Google to remove content that 'is said to mock gods worshipped in India,' according to an IDG News Service report. Mufti Ajiaz Arshad Qasmi, a private citizen, 'had filed a civil suit against Google and other Internet companies including Facebook, objecting to certain content on their websites.' While Google agreed to remove the content, citing a 'long-standing policy of responding to court orders,' other Internet companies named in the suit are likely to appeal."
Biotech

Researchers Create First Genetically Modified Monkeys 134

Posted by Soulskill from the didn't-we-just-see-this-movie dept.
Several readers tipped news that U.S. scientists have created 'chimeric' monkeys, made with genetic material from as many as six different genomes (abstract). This is significant because it's the first time researchers have used the technique on a primate. From the article: "Researchers took very early stem cells, called totipotent stem cells, from separate developing embryos and basically glued them together, implanting the mixed embryos into surrogate mother monkeys. The cells — from totally different sources — didn’t fuse, but worked together in harmony, forming fully fledged, normal, healthy animals. ... The key here was the scientists’ use of totipotent cells, so named for their ability to differentiate into the totality of possible cells in an animal. A totipotent cell can give rise to a whole animal. Pluripotent stem cells, the type most frequently used in stem cell research, can differentiate into any cell in the body, but can’t become a whole animal, and can’t make other embryonic tissues like a placenta. Totipotent stem cells are only derived from the very earliest stages of a zygote, mere days after fertilization. In humans, totipotent cells differentiate into pluripotent cells after four days."
Censorship

Iran Developing 'Halal' Domestic Intranet 248

Posted by Soulskill from the taking-their-toys-and-going-home dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The WSJ reports that Iran is beginning a crackdown on Internet use by its citizens, creating new blocks against foreign content and stepping up surveillance of browsing habits. Internet cafes in Iran have 15 days to set up security cameras and start collecting information on customers, and people are finding it increasingly difficult to use social networking sites. The new restrictions are likely being implemented now to head off dissent and protests about the upcoming parliamentary elections. According to the article, 'The network slowdown likely heralds the arrival of an initiative Iran has been readying—a "halal" domestic intranet that it has said will insulate its citizens from Western ideology and un-Islamic culture, and eventually replace the Internet. This week's slowdown came amid tests of the Iranian intranet, according to domestic media reports that cited a spokesman for a union of computer-systems firms. He said the intranet is set to go live within a few weeks.'"

Comment BCrypt is great, but so is Drepper's SHA2 Crypt (Score 1) 333

by jonabbey (#38569184) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Writing Hardened Web Applications?

These days, you do have a quite reasonable alternative to BCrypt available as well, which is Ulrich Drepper's SHA2 based Crypt scheme. It's functionally the same as BCrypt but with the use of a different basic cryptographic operation. Like BCrypt, Drepper's sha-crypt is designed to be as slow as molasses, with the ability to make the operation even slower if you like by explicitly specifying the number of SHA256 or SHA512 passes to perform.

Drepper's SHA256 and SHA512 based Crypt routines are now standard in glibc on Linux, as well as on Solaris and HP-UX, and are likely to natively be supported by PHP and the like on those platforms. If you're looking for an implementation in Java, we have one at ftp://ftp.arlut.utexas.edu/java_hashes/.

Comment Check out their price list PDF (Score 1) 369

by jonabbey (#38494462) Attached to: Customers Gleefully Mock Best Buy's $1,095.99 HDMI

The first page of AudioQuest's North America November 2011 pricelist has a beautiful painting of a bunch of wolves staring right at you. A bit on the nose metaphor for AudioQuest's intent to wear you down and consume every last dollar on your carcass.

This company has to be a put-on, right? "Air-Tube Dielectric"?
The Military

The Future of Battle Tech 122

Posted by Soulskill from the i-wouldn't-bet-the-farm-on-lightsabers dept.
PolygamousRanchKid tips a story about research into futuristic military technology currently being funded by DARPA. The Disc-Rotor Compound Helicopter 'is propelled by rotor blades that extend from a central disc, letting it take off and land like a helicopter. But those blades can also retract into the disc, minimizing drag and letting the Disc-Rotor fly like a plane, powered by engines beneath each wing.' The Vulture program aims to keep a plane in the sky for five years or more, and 'LANdroids' are pocket-sized robots which soldiers can scatter around urban areas to seed a communications network. FastRunner is a 'two-legged robot that can cover a moderately rough terrain as fast as the best human sprinters.' The article mentions the flying humvees we've discussed in the past, as well as projects for 'smart' binoculars and a method for recycling space junk.
Cellphones

Nokia Exec: Young People Fed Up With iPhone and Android 532

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the skateboarding-is-a-crime dept.
jfruhlinger writes "Nokia's Windows Phones haven't hit the U.S., but at least one company executive thinks they'll be a slam dunk, since young people have soured on the iPhone and find Android baffling. Of course, much of the Internet commentariat found his remarks even more baffling. Is he right, is he delusional, or is he just trying to build buzz for his company's products the best he can?"
Power

Worldwide Support For Nuclear Power Drops 324

Posted by Soulskill from the neutrons-are-scary dept.
ProbablyJoe writes "A poll for the BBC shows that worldwide support for nuclear power has dropped significantly in the past 6 years. However, while support has dropped in most countries, the UK has defied the trend, where 37% of the public support building new reactors. Unsurprisingly, support in Japan has dropped significantly, with only 6% supporting new reactors. The U.S. remains the country with the highest public opinion of nuclear power, though support has dropped slightly. Much of the decline in approval has been attributed to the events in Fukushima earlier in the year, although a recent Slashdot poll indicated that many readers' opinions had not been affected by the events, and there was an even split between those who found the technology more or less safe since the events. With reports on the long lasting effects in Fukushima still conflicted, is nuclear power still a viable solution to the world's energy problems?"
Microsoft

MS To Build Antivirus Into Win8: Boon Or Monopoly? 748

Posted by Soulskill from the efficacy-to-be-determined dept.
jfruhlinger writes "Microsoft has quietly announced that it's planning on baking anti-virus protection right into the Windows 8 OS. Users have been criticizing Windows' insecurity for years — but of course this move is raising howls of protest from anti-virus vendors, who have built a nice business out of Windows' security holes. Is this a good move by Microsoft, or a leveraging of their monopoly as bad as bundling Internet Explorer?"
Science

Fine Structure Constant May Not Be So Constant 273

Posted by Soulskill from the pi-is-exactly-three dept.
BuzzSkyline writes "According to a post at Physics Buzz, 'Just weeks after speeding neutrinos seem to have broken the speed of light, another universal law, the fine structure constant might be about to crumble.' Astronomical observations seem to indicate that the constant, which controls the strength of electromagnetic interactions, is different in distant parts of the universe. Among other things, the paper may explain why the laws of physics in our corner of the universe seem to be finely tuned to support life. The research (abstract) is so controversial that it took over a year to go from submission to publication in Physical Review Letters, rather than the weeks typical of most other papers appearing in the peer-reviewed journal."
Microsoft

Microsoft Proposes Fix For E-Voting Attack 111

Posted by Soulskill from the taking-out-the-trash dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "Microsoft Research has proposed mitigation for a known potential attack against verifiable electronic voting machines that could help prevent insiders from being able to alter votes after the fact. The countermeasure to the 'trash attack' involves adding a cryptographic hash to the receipts that voters receive (PDF). Many verifiable voting systems already include hashes on the receipts, but that hash is typically made from the ballot data for each specific voter. The idea proposed by Microsoft Research involves using a running hash that would add a hash of the previous voter's receipt to each person's receipt, ideally preventing a privileged insider from using discarded receipts to alter votes. The trash attack that the mitigation is designed to address involves election workers or others who might be motivated to change votes gathering discarded receipts and then altering those votes."

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