547816
submission
GSGKT writes
"Results from several studies find a genetic cause for autism. About 1% of people with autism have deletion or duplication of a region of chromosome 16 that involves about 25 genes. (In a very very simplified review of human genetics: except for two sex (X/Y) chromosomes, the other 22 chromosomes in the cell come in pairs, one from each parent. Each gene exists in two copies (alleles), one on each chromosome. Events like duplication and deletion will change the number of copies, the copy number, for genes in the affected region.) Change in the copy number of genes could change the amount of proteins expressed, thus affects human cognitive abilities and results in autism or other disorders. In most cases, the deletion/duplication occurs during duplication of the chromosomes in early development rather than inheritance. However, some people with deletions and mutations in this region are without signs of autism disorder. These mutations can be found in 0.1% among those with a psychiatric or language disorder, and about 0.01% in the general population. Autism could have multiple and complex causes (both environmental and genetic-predisposition like cancer)."Link to Original Source
545274
submission
GSGKT writes
"India has tested the K15 sea(submarine)-launch ballistic missile (SLBM), a two-stage solid fueled nuclear-warhead capable missile with 700-km range, from a submerged platform on Tuesday successfully. Currently only US, Russia, China, France and UK have this capability. This test would be the final stage before integrating K15 with India's 3 indigenous nuclear-powered submarines. These submarines, each can carry 12 vertical-launched SLBM's, are scheduled for sea trial next year. India already has the capability to launch ballistic missiles from land and airplanes. This article in The Times of India indicates that India has developed this missile and submarine systems) specifically against China."Link to Original Source
526776
submission
GSGKT writes
"Google's Anti-Malware Team has made available some of their research data on malware distribution mechanism while the research paper is under peer review.
The lead author, Niels Provos, wrote,
"It has been over a year and a half since we started to identify web pages that infect vulnerable hosts via drive-by downloads, i.e. web pages that attempt to exploit their visitors by installing and running malware automatically. During that time (Jan 07 to Oct. 07) we have investigated billions of URLs and found more than three million unique URLs on over 180,000 web sites automatically installing malware. During the course of our research, we have investigated not only the prevalence of drive-by downloads but also how users are being exposed to malware and how it is being distributed." The technical report [PDF] is available.
Salient points in this report are:
(1) 4% of chance a URL might direct you to one of the 180 thousand malicious sites, with an average about 1.3% actually getting hit with a malicious result.
(2) The distribution sites are concentrated to a few nations: China (67.0%), US (15.0%), Russia (4.0%) and Malaysia and (South) Korea (~2%).
(3) The likelihood of a web page harboring malwares has no strong correlation to its contents. Visiting adult web pages is no more dangerous than visiting website about games, finance, online communities, etc.
(4) Malware delivery is like by mis-directing ads on web pages during ads synchronization to malware distribution sites."Link to Original Source
488412
submission
GSGKT writes
"Panda Security has found 2 new worms, Nuwar.OL and Valentin.E, use the topic of Valentine's Day to spread. These use the same tactics as the "I_LOVE_YOU virus back in May 4, 2000. There are no love in these malwares. From PS's news release:
These malwares reach you by email with
subjects like "I Love You Soo Much," "Inside My Heart" or "You ... In My
Dreams.". One can download these malwares through the link in the text body to a webpage the looks like a romantic
greeting card or run the attached file called "friends4u." After infection, the worm makes several copies of itself on the computer and sends
out emails with copies of itself from the infected computer to spread and
infect more users."
Don't be fooled!"Link to Original Source
463296
submission
GSGKT writes
"Today's Washington Times runs a story about the increasing problem with space junks orbiting the earth. Debris from the anti-satellite missile test by the Chinese military last year threatens the integrity of more than 800 operating satellites, half of them belongs to the US. Two orbiting U.S. spacecraft were forced to change course to avoid being damaged soon after the incident. Air Force Brig. Gen. Ted Kresge, director of air, space and information operations at the Air Force Space Command in Colorado, estimates that
"essentially (Chinese anti-satellite tests) increase the amount of space debris orbiting the Earth by about 20 percent", and the debris might threaten spacecraft for up to 100 years."Link to Original Source
425310
submission
GSGKT writes
"Two former employees of Lego has written a book: "Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against" was published in August by No Starch Press. These authors used to work in LEGO Mindstorms' robotics division (they have that?) and now working for an independent robotic firm. Their work promises ""Try your hand at a toy gun that shoots LEGO plates, a candy catapult, a high voltage LEGO vehicle, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher, and other useless but incredibly fun inventions." This book review is a good place to understand the appeal (and how-to) of giving your childhood toys more firing power. Read the book review on Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, and check out examples of escalating LEGO arm race on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcytA4BVjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgiUSEpg8Xc&NR=1"Link to Original Source
400333
submission
GSGKT writes
"On ABCNews' website there is a story about 3 arrested for smugging and selling radioactive material for $1 million. From ABC News story:
The Slovakian police today arrested three people for trying to sell more than 2 pounds of radioactive material, a police spokesman told ABC News.
The radioactive material was seized near the border of Ukraine, between Slovakia and Hungary, Slovakian police spokesman Martin Korch said. He did not know the type of radioactive material seized, and the police did not reveal any information about the alleged intended buyer.""Link to Original Source
377991
submission
GSGKT writes
"The iconic "Earthrise" photo taken during Apollo 8 mission has been hailed as "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken". Japanese lunar explorer, Kaguya (a moon princess in Japanese folklore), has entered lunar orbit on Oct 19. It has been sending back pictures/movies of the moon taking with its high-resolution camera before that. Movies of earthrise and earthset taken by the Kaguya are now available. This is the first of such a movie since NASA's 1969 Appolo 11 mission, and the first taken using HD camera, according to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's press release."Link to Original Source
