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Submission + - Water Plume 'Unequivocally' Detected at Dwarf Planet Ceres (discovery.com)

Submitted by astroengine
astroengine writes: Astronomers analyzing data from the now defunct Herschel infrared space observatory have made a huge discovery deep inside the asteroid belt. Dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the region, is generating plumes of water vapor. “This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere,” said Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency in Spain and lead author of a paper published today (Jan. 22) in the journal Nature.

Submission + - Plastic Waste Threatens Marine Diversity (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: An article in Current Biology (abstract) details the finding that minute particles of plastic waste are affecting marine worms, potentially having grave impacts on marine biodiversity and leading to the accumulation of toxins in marine animals. Unfortunately, policymakers have routinely treated such wastes as benign. The BBC provides more approachable coverage of the findings.

Submission + - NSA media hysteria misses the mark, abney and associates news bulletin - Skyrock (skyrock.com)

Submitted by suefrancis01
suefrancis01 writes: Recent revelations about U.S. government spying have fueled a media firestorm that has tacitly implicated programs unrelated to the more controversial electronic eavesdropping. In reality, these programs help to secure critical infrastructure, protect intellectual property, and make commercial software more reliable.

On Friday, Bloomberg ran an exposé overviewing U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and other government initiatives to help software makers address security vulnerabilities. The programs it alludes to are voluntary and incentivize companies to share “zero day” information on security bugs and hardware specifications in return for access to classified intelligence information to defend their systems from hackers. The information is available to the U.S. government before it’s publicly disclosed. The fact that it’s happening isn’t very secret.

Cyber warfare puts infrastructure at risk from the power grid to stop lights. U.S. companies are frequently targeted in industrial espionage, and some systems have even been held for ransom by hackers. Ad networks like Google lose millions from sophisticated attempts at “click fraud” orchestrated by organized crime overseas. Companies that have been targeted and work with U.S. intelligence to protect their assets have said so.

Government involvement to address these issues is hot news in the wake of the PRISM leak controversy where it was “revealed” (some details were already known for years) that telecommunications and Internet companies were cooperating with the NSA to gather data. That snooping began illegally under the Bush administration, but Congress acted to shield participating companies from liability after it was done. President Obama carried the cyber spying forward and expanded its reach. It’s understandable that industry partnerships are under scrutiny, but it’s not another PRISM.

PRISM is presumably now legal, but secret interpretations of laws, shadow courts, a complete lack of judicial review, and the widespread nature of the program have upset civil libertarians and even some longstanding proponents. The author of the Patriot Act, which made some of this possible, now wants to see it amended. But none of that directly involves the aforementioned cyber security programs — even if press reports tie them in.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defense Department and NSA all work with thousands of U.S. tech companies to fight cyber warfare. It isn’t used for spying (at least domestically), and isn’t anything that hasn’t been disclosed publicly. For instance, the NSA hosts a public Web site which describes what it does, so it’s not a new “scandal” or news to anyone — just fodder that media outlets use to generate Web traffic.

The NSA participates in a public worldwide effort to design and evaluate secure software called the Common Criteria Evaluation. The NSA’s expertise led to the creation of at least one ultra-secure operating system that has protected U.S. troops overseas, ensures that the complex systems found in commercial jetliners are reliable, and keeps vital infrastructure safe from attack. What exactly is the scandal there? Nothing much.

More:
http://free.yudu.com/groups/items/3079
http://www.imdb.com/list/PiGRXxJdH5w/
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14543884-abney-associates-hong-kong-cybercrime-reports-internet-fraud-protection

Submission + - Server Farms Flourish in Iowa: Microsoft Ploughs $700M More into Des Moines (datacenterknowledge.com)

Submitted by 1sockchuck
1sockchuck writes: A big chunk of the Azure cloud will be living on the plains of Iowa. Microsoft will invest another $700 million to expand its Iowa data center campus near Des Moines, marking the third major server farm for the state this year. Facebook recently announced a new data center in Altoona. The same day, Google said it would plough another $400 million into its facility in Council Bluffs. Why Iowa? Aggressive tax incentives and a central location to bridge the distance between these companies' east and west coast server footprints.

Submission + - Somali Al Shabaab Live Tweet Attack on UN Development Program Compound (foreignpolicy.com)

Submitted by Koreantoast
Koreantoast writes: In another interesting example of the increasing use and sophistication of social media by non-governmental organizations, the Somali-based Islamic insurgency al-Shabab live tweeted their latest attack, a suicide assault against a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) facility in Mogadishu which left 15 dead. During the event, they denounced UNDP, tweeting during the attack that the UN is "a merchant of death & a satanic force of evil, has a long inglorious record of spreading nothing but poverty, dependency & disbelief" and proceeded to mock newly appointed UN Representative Nicholas Kay who is to arrive in Somalia later this month. Also of note is their initiation of communications with various press entities including the AP, BBC and IHS Janes through Twitter. Hat tip to Foreign Policy magazine for the story.

Submission + - Latest target in war on drugs: Google autocomplete (networkworld.com)

Submitted by netbuzz
netbuzz writes: The National Association of Attorneys General met in Boston this week and one panel focused on the “safe harbor” provision of 1996 Communications Decency Act. Within that broader discussion, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood cited the autocomplete feature in Google search as evidence the company has more control over content than it contends. "We know they manipulate the autocomplete feature," Hood said, with his point being that there should be more such manipulation, not less. His primary example: a search on "prescription drugs online" presents an autocomplete suggestion of "prescription drugs online without a prescription."

Submission + - Ecuador Proposal: Pay us to Keep the Oil Underground (thebulletin.org) 3

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Dawn Stover with a fascinating piece on Ecuador's Yasuní ITT Initiative, in which Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has offered to forego oil drilling in 3 areas of Yasuni National Park in exchange for $3.6 billion from the international community. In so doing, the country would leave some 850 million barrels of oil untouched, and about 400 million tons of carbon dioxide un-emitted. The area is prime Amazonian jungle, and the bio-diversity found within it is priceless. "It has invited other nations—most pointedly, those that grew rich on fossil fuels and are now worried about global climate change—to pay to leave the oil underground."

Submission + - Pin-sized battery printed in 3D packs a powerful punch (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: A new lithium-ion battery is one of the smallest ever made and the first battery to be created with a three-dimensional printer. Measuring less than a millimetre on each side, it fits comfortably on the head of pin and could potentially power tiny medical devices or miniature robots.
The final product weighed less than 100 microgrammes. Yet it stored almost as much energy, gram for gram, as larger lithium-ion batteries that run laptops and electric cars. And the power it dished out, 2.7 milliwatts per square centimeter of area covered, rivalled the capabilities of other cutting-edge microbatteries developed in recent years.

Submission + - US2020 and Pres. Clinton Announce Competition to Spur STEM Mentoring (conttent.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last week at CGI America, a nationwide gathering hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative, President Clinton announced that US2020, a new initiative chaired by a Skoll Awardee that aims to engage one million science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals by the year 2020, will launch a city competition to increase the amount of STEM mentoring in communities nationally. New US2020 partners were also announced at the event, including Tata Consultancy Services and HP.

Submission + - University of Maryland creates a battery made of wood (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of scientists working at the University of Maryland have managed to create an environmentally friendly rechargeable battery that counts wood as a major component.

The battery consists of wood fibers, tin, and sodium, to create a sodium-ion battery. As well as using materials that are abundant, the battery is classed as environmentally benign unlike lithium-ion batteries. This should also mean they are very cheap to produce.

Submission + - Length of Applause Not Tied to Quality of Presentation (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The next time you hear extended applause for a performance you didn't think was that great, don't feel like a snob. A new study reveals that audience response has more to do with the people in the seats than those up on stage. Applause, it turns out, is a bit like peer pressure. In a study of college students, individuals were more likely to start clapping if a larger percentage of the audience had already started. If 50% of the audience was clapping, for example, individuals were 10 times more likely to start clapping than if 5% of the audience was clapping. People stop clapping for the same reason. Even more surprising, the applause for a bad presentation could be just as long as applause for a good one. Random interactions in the audience can result in very different lengths of applause regardless of the quality of the talk.

Submission + - Thwarting Facial Recognition Systems With Privacy Visors

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Despite Google announcement that it won't allow facial recognition on Google Glass (yet) and Facebook turning it off in Europe, every person should be aware that it is only a matter of time until the option is widely used — and not just on social networks or futuristic projects. So far, you can't do much about it except keep your head down, covered with a wide-brimmed hat, and hope that someone won't snap a clear photo of you. But that's not a great solution if you don't want your life dramatically changed and your interactions with the world and the people in it made difficult. Professor Echizen has developed a device he dubbed "privacy visor", which uses 11 near-infrared LEDs to thwart face detection systems.

Submission + - Bad Piggies Android Malware Pulled From Google Play (pcmag.com)

Submitted by lipanitech
lipanitech writes: The chances of you encountering Android malware on the Google Play are relatively slim, but that doesn't mean it's not out there. Yesterday, an app masquerading as the Angry Birds sequel Bad Piggies was yanked from the Google Play store. Security company F-Secure wrote yesterday that they detected the unusual app and reported it to Google, who has since pulled the app from the Google Play store.

Submission + - Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Human Genes Unpatentable 1

Submitted by the eric conspiracy
the eric conspiracy writes: In a landmark decision the Supreme Court ruled that that mere act of extracting genetic material from the human body does not result in patentable material. However they did rule that synthetic derivatives of DNA can be patented. Known as complementary DNA or cDNA these derivative are essentially stripped down forms of the original DNA.

The result for Myriad is that they still have protection for their test, however the decision also allows researchers to work with the DNA sequences that are predecessors to the cDNA used in the test.

Submission + - Dotcom alleges Megaupload raid was part of deal to film The Hobbit (abc.net.au)

Submitted by c0lo
c0lo writes: Kim Dotcom alleges, in an 20 mins interview with the Australian public television, that Megaupload was offered up by the New Zealand's PM "on a silver platter" as part of negotiations with Warner Brothers executives for shooting the Hobbit in New Zealand. He promises that he'll substantiate the claims in court.

He also says that the extradition case the US govt is weak and the reason behind the latest delay in extradition hearing (postponed from August this year to March next year) is an attempt to bleed Dotcom dry of his money

Also interesting, Dotcom says that the latest debacle of the massive scale online online surveillance by US spy agencies has triggered an "explosion" of interest in mega.co.nz, the "cloud storage" site with user generated encryption

Kim Dotcom uploaded yesterday on youtube a footage of the raid, as captured by security cameras in his mansion: helicopters, anti-terror police, silenced rifles fitted with scopes, dogs, already prepared tow trucks for his car collection

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