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Comment Re:Because capitalism, idiots. (Score 1) 245

by orient (#49137763) Attached to: The Peculiar Economics of Developing New Antibiotics
Capitalism, too.

When I was a child, the herpes simplex virus was found in my blood tests. A microbiology research institute in my country (as socialist as it could be) gave me an experimental drug. Thirty years passed and I never had a symptom.

They sold the patent to a Western drug company and this particular drug was never marketed. Instead, we have Acyclovir & friends, which "Taken daily, these medicines can lessen the severity and frequency of outbreaks.".

Comment Re:Because capitalism, idiots. (Score 1) 245

by orient (#49137641) Attached to: The Peculiar Economics of Developing New Antibiotics
Actually, health should not be a profit-driven industry. More to the subject: if private companies do not bother to research new antibiotics, why should we give them money for? Why not fund independent (university, government institutes) research and offer the results to any producing company, free of patents? That would be a better use for the tax payers' money.

Comment Re:Nope (Score 1) 243

by orient (#48859707) Attached to: Could Tizen Be the Next Android?

Apparently the new Blackberry OS was supposed to be able to run Android apps. It didn't help them at all. I think you were required to recompile the app for BlackBerry, [...]

Blackberry Z10 owner here: I just go to Google Play Store (using Snap, the BB10 client for Play Store - sideloaded), download the app, open the installer and the Android App appears on my screen, ready to use. Almost all apps work, except for those requiring Google Play Services. Google Maps works just fine, although it keeps nagging me to authenticate to Google - which itis unable to, anyway.

Submission + - New Zealand Spy Agency Deleted Evidence About Its Illegal Spying On Kim Dotcom (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The latest news in this: GCSB appears to have deleted key evidence in the case in a hamfisted attempt to cover up its illegal activities. Even more ridiculous, GCSB is trying to cover this up by claiming that the material had "aged off" — implying that it was deleted automatically. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key claims that they had to delete the information under the law.

Of course, there are a few problems with that. The first is that under New Zealand law, like most countries these days, parties have an obligation to preserve documents likely to be necessary in a legal case. But, even more damning is that there's video of John Key in the New Zealand Parliament trying to defend against an earlier claim that GCSB had deleted some evidence by insisting that GCSB does not delete anything ever:

Submission + - Exam Cheating Scandal Hits Navy Nuclear Force (go.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "In a new twist to a widening tale of ethical lapses in the military, the Navy is investigating cheating allegations against about one-fifth of its trainers at a school for naval nuclear power reactor operators.

It is the second exam-cheating scandal to hit the military this year, on top of a series of disclosures in recent months of ethical lapses at all ranks in the military as it transitions from more than a decade of war-fighting.

Unlike an Air Force cheating probe that has implicated nearly 100 officers responsible for land-based nuclear missiles that stand ready for short-notice launch, those implicated in the Navy investigation have no responsibility for nuclear weapons."

The trouble with eternal vigilance is that sometimes you blink and eventually you'll blink at just the wrong time....

Submission + - Slashdot beta sucks 9

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Maybe some of the slashdot team should start listening to its users, most of which hate the new user interface. Thanks for ruining something that wasn't broken.

Submission + - New Type of Star Can Emerge From Inside Black Holes, Say Cosmologists (medium.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Black holes form when a large star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own weight. Since there is no known force that can stop this collapse, astrophysicists have always assumed that it forms a singularity, a region of space that is infinitely dense. Now cosmologists think quantum gravity might prevent this complete collapse after all. They say that the same force that stops an electron spiralling into a nucleus might also cause the collapsing star to "bounce" at scales of around 10^-14cm. They're calling this new state a "Planck star" and say it's lifetime would match that of the black hole itself as it evaporates. That raises the possibility that the shrinking event horizon would eventually meet the expanding Planck star, which emerges with a sudden blast of gamma rays. That radiation would allow any information trapped in the black hole to escape, solving the infamous information paradox. If they're right, these gamma rays may already have been detected by space-based telescopes meaning that the evidence is already there for any enterprising astronomer to tease apart.

Submission + - Curiosity Has Breached 'Dingo Gap' Mars Dune's Crest (discovery.com)

Submitted by astroengine
astroengine writes: On Tuesday at precisely 12:55 p.m. EST (17:55 UTC), Mars rover Curiosity successfully breached the crest of the dune in “Dingo Gap.” The 1 meter-high dune stands between the rover and a smoother route to the mission’s next science target. The timestamps on the raw imagery suggests the short drive up the sandy slope took around 25 minutes, where it appears to have paused at the dune's apex.

Submission + - Build An Open-Source Electric Car In One Hour, For $4,000 1

Submitted by joe5
joe5 writes: Like what Elon Musk has done building an electric car and want to go all Etsy and build your own? That's apparently now possible now thanks to the OSVehicle Tabby — dubbed the first "Open source vehicle" (memo: it may be cool, but it ain't the first). The OSV guys are taking pre-orders for the Tabby starter kit, with both the two-seater or four-seater configurations going for €500. Then you click to add options (Note: seats is an "option" so that's the level of luxury you are dealing with here) When the transactions complete, OSV sends the parts to your home and you can download the plans and start building. Since the Tabby is open source, OSVehicle will also look to a community of owners and tinkerers for suggestions and recommendations.

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