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Medicine

Submission + - Proteins behind mad-cow disease help brain to develop (nature.com)

Submitted by
ananyo
ananyo writes: "Prions are best known as the infectious agents that cause ‘mad cow’ disease and the human versions of it, such as variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease. But as slashdot noted in 2010, the proteins also have at least one known useful function, in the cells that insulate nerves, and are suspected to have more. Now researchers have provided the first direct evidence that the proteins play an important role in neurons themselves.
The team reports that prions are involved in developmental plasticity, the process by which the structure and function of neurons in the growing brain is shaped by experience, and also crucial for learning and memory."

Submission + - CNN/Money Reporter Drives Tesla - Confirms Company's Claims (cnn.com)

Submitted by
karlnyberg
karlnyberg writes: "Putting to rest the conflict between Tesla's Elon Musk and New York Times Reporter John Broder, CNN/Money's Peter Valdes-Dapena drives DC to Boston (primarily to test the SuperCharger network):

As he says in the money quote and byline of the article:

In the end, I made it — and it wasn't that hard.

As for the Supercharger network? Turns out that works, too."
Education

Submission + - 17-year-old Rutvik Oza Solves an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An Indian teen has recently proposed a solution to an unsolved problem in mathematics. The 17-year-old young achiever, Rutvik Oza, a student of The H. B. Kapadia New High School, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat has now put a full stop to another open problem in the field of maths by providing a closed formula for the problem called Reve's Puzzle (also commonly known as the 4-peg Tower of Hanoi Problem).

When asked about how was he feeling, "Thrilled! I really didn't realize at first that the problem that I had solved was an open problem in mathematics. It was only later that I reckoned after doing some resourcing on the web, that it was an open problem," said Oza. Brought up in a middle class family, the teen dedicates his achievement to his father, Mahesh Oza, "It's all due to my father. He sowed the seeds of mathematics in me from my childhood. I dedicate this to him." he says. "It almost took me a week's time to get to the formula. It involved data analysis and pattern recognition," said Rutvik Oza.

When asked about his favorite maths giant, he said, "Newton, Ramanujan, Gauss and a long list of others to follow. There are many. It gives me goosebumps when I think about those greats.

"Mathematics interests me a lot. May it be any area of it — arithmetic, algebra or geometry. I love them all. It strengthens the faculties of originality, creativity and novelty in one's brain. Memorizing it won't help. That's the way it's taught in our schools here. I criticize that method of teaching fervently. Hardly any real mathematics is taught at the schools. I do not consider the schools responsible for it but yes, the entire system is definitely at fault," he added. When asked for a message that he wished to give his fellow teenagers, he said, "Do what you love! Follow your dreams. Expect for no support from anybody and overcome all obstacles that hinder you. No other mantra."
Science

Submission + - Huge Meteor Blazes Across Sky Over Russia; Sonic Boom Shatters Windows (slate.com) 1

Submitted by dovf
dovf writes: The Bad Astronomer analyzes incoming reports about the aparent meteoric explosion over Russia: "Apparently, at about 09:30 local time, a very big meteor burned up over Chelyabinsk, a city in Russia just east of the Ural mountains, and about 1500 kilometers east of Moscow. The fireball was incredibly bright, rivaling the Sun! There was a pretty big sonic boom from the fireball, which set off car alarms and shattered windows. I’m seeing some reports of many people injured (by shattered glass blown out by the shock wave). I’m also seeing reports that some pieces have fallen to the ground, but again as I write this those are unconfirmed." This is the best summary I've found so far, and links to lots of videos and images. He also clarifies something I've been wondering about: "This is almost certainly unrelated to the asteroid 2012 DA14 that will pass on Friday. See below for details."

Submission + - Webmail and online banks targeted by phishing proxies (netcraft.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Netcraft confirms a recent increase in the number of malicious proxy auto-config (PAC) scripts being used to sneakily route webmail and online banking traffic through rogue proxy servers. The scripts are designed to only proxy traffic destined for certain websites, while all other traffic is allowed to go direct. If the proxy can force the user to keep using HTTP instead of HTTPS, the fraudsters running these attacks can steal usernames, passwords, session cookies and other sensitive information from online banking sessions.
Python

Submission + - Python trademark at risk in Europe

Submitted by mvar
mvar writes: It seems that a company in the UK is trying to trademark the "Python" term for all-things-computing and the PSF (Python Software Foundation) is asking for help. According to the PSF, they contacted the company in order to settle the matter but "They blew us off and responded by filing the community trademark application claiming the exclusive right to use "Python" for software, servers, and web services — everywhere in Europe. ". They now seek help from the community in several ways: By sending a letter to the EU council if you happen to work on a company that uses the Python programming language, by providing EU-published material regarding the Python language (articles etc) and/or financially supporting the PSF in the upcoming legal battle.
Idle

Submission + - Meteorite crashes in Russia

Submitted by mvar
mvar writes: Details are sparse now, but apparently several meteorites crashed into Russia earlier today, setting off giant explosions and forcing nearby schools and office buildings to be evacuated. The meteorites, or whatever they were, reportedly landed in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, where witness said the explosions shattered the window of nearby buildings. The regional Emergency Ministry said the flashes and explosions were caused by a meteorite shower, but locals think it might be the result of a jet crash or a missile. There's even a cool video from a passing driver's dashcam.

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