Submission + - University of Cape Town announces cure for Malaria (gizmocrazed.com)
Diggester writes: Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It's a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there's a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome: human testing.
Submission + - Torchlight 2 Release Date (runicgames.com)
Cheeze ball writes: Due to the level of support by the forums community Runic games has released the Torchlight 2 Release Date early. Torchlight 2 will be available on 20 Sept 2012, Official announcement is tomorrow at PAX where the game is available for play. The Forums have been very support of the Dev team, primarily because of the Dev Team responsiveness in posting weekly updates and the way the Beta test was conducted. This support prompted Runic to inform it's Forum community first.
Submission + - Genome of ancient Denisovans may Clarify Human Evolution (latimes.com)
DevotedSkeptic writes: "Our ancestors didn't walk alone: Neanderthals and other ancient peoples shared Earth with them tens of thousands of years ago.
Now, using new technology, scientists have sequenced with high precision the genome of one of those close but little-known relatives: an extinct people known as the Denisovans, who lived in and around modern-day Siberia.
The Denisovan genome, reported online Thursday in the journal Science, was derived from tiny quantities of shredded DNA extracted from a finger bone found in a Russian cave in 2008, as well as a tooth found later.
What is striking, scientists said, is that it is every bit as detailed as a sequence generated with a fresh blood or saliva sample from someone alive today.
Analysis of the genome and comparisons with ours and the Neanderthals' will offer insights into the history of Homo sapiens — who we mated with, where and when — as well as the unique genetic changes that make modern humans who they are, scientists said.
The new genome gives scientists a sense of just how much of our genomes we owe to our extinct relatives. About 3% to 5% of the DNA in people native to Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and other islands nearby came from Denisovans, the study found, confirming reports based on a draft version of the Denisovan genome. The authors of the study didn't find any significant contribution of Denisovans to the DNA of people from mainland Eurasia, however.
The new gene-sequencing techniques also allowed scientists to more precisely calculate how much of modern humans' DNA came not from Denisovans but Neanderthals. They found, to their puzzlement, that Native Americans and people in East Asia have more Neanderthal DNA than do people whose ancestors are from Europe, where most Neanderthals lived."
Now, using new technology, scientists have sequenced with high precision the genome of one of those close but little-known relatives: an extinct people known as the Denisovans, who lived in and around modern-day Siberia.
The Denisovan genome, reported online Thursday in the journal Science, was derived from tiny quantities of shredded DNA extracted from a finger bone found in a Russian cave in 2008, as well as a tooth found later.
What is striking, scientists said, is that it is every bit as detailed as a sequence generated with a fresh blood or saliva sample from someone alive today.
Analysis of the genome and comparisons with ours and the Neanderthals' will offer insights into the history of Homo sapiens — who we mated with, where and when — as well as the unique genetic changes that make modern humans who they are, scientists said.
The new genome gives scientists a sense of just how much of our genomes we owe to our extinct relatives. About 3% to 5% of the DNA in people native to Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and other islands nearby came from Denisovans, the study found, confirming reports based on a draft version of the Denisovan genome. The authors of the study didn't find any significant contribution of Denisovans to the DNA of people from mainland Eurasia, however.
The new gene-sequencing techniques also allowed scientists to more precisely calculate how much of modern humans' DNA came not from Denisovans but Neanderthals. They found, to their puzzlement, that Native Americans and people in East Asia have more Neanderthal DNA than do people whose ancestors are from Europe, where most Neanderthals lived."
Submission + - Middle-Earth Skyrim mod shut down by WB (playerattack.com)
dotarray writes: The death bells have rung for MERP, an ambitious Middle Earth Roleplaying Project (geddit?) designed as a mod for Skyrim. The mod's developers have received a cease-and-desist letter, but not from Bethesda, owners of The Elder Scrolls. Instead, the notification came from Warner Bros., who owns the rights to various works by J.R.R. Tolkien — including, of course, names and events used in MERP.
The independent development team had been working on MERP for more than eight years, but following the C&D request, has decided to completely stop development on the mod.
The independent development team had been working on MERP for more than eight years, but following the C&D request, has decided to completely stop development on the mod.
Submission + - First evidence of gravity waves (redorbit.com) 1
gewalker writes: "This is supposed to be published soon in "The Astrophysical Journal Letters", but in short researchers claim they have detected gravity waves from the husks of 2 stars 3000 light years away. They are losing energy and circling each other faster over time as the gravity waves remove energy from the orbits of the pair. This energy loss agrees with the prediction of general relativity — not a direct observation of gravity waves."
Submission + - BBC Interviews Apple vs Samsung Jury Foreman (bbc.co.uk) 1
MrSteveSD writes: The BBC has published a long interview with Velvin Hogan, the jury foreman in the Apple vs Samsung case. He still seems to be sticking to a rather confused definition of what constitutes prior art.
I showed the jurors that the two methods in software were not the same, nor could they be interchangeable because the hardware that was involved between the old processor and the new processor — you couldn't load the new software methodology in the old system and expect that it was going to work.
Submission + - Bank Resists Refunding $12K To Skimming Victim (itworld.com) 1
jfruh writes: "Louay El-sayah is an Australian and a victim of a skimming attack — that is, the details of his ATM card were scanned and used to create a new card — and, over the course of six days, $12,000 was drained from his account with Commonwealth Bank via ATM withdrawls. Commonwealth was, shall we say, less than helpful in responding to the problem. They never alerted him to the series of withdrawls. They told him not to file a police report, then used the fact that he hadn't as a factor in denying his fraud claim. They told him he was a victim of skimming, then turned around claimed that it was impossible to tell from CCTV footage whether he was the one withrdrawing the money. It was only after he went public and the IDG News Service called the bank that Commonwealth agreed to refund his money."
Submission + - If Extinct Species Can be Brought Back... Should We? (theatlantic.com) 2
retroworks writes: "Rebecca J. Rosen interviews experts in this edtion of The Atlantic, to ask about the ethics and wisdom of using cloning, backbreeding, or genome editing. Over 90% of species ever to exist on earth are no more. The article ponders the moral and environmental challenges of humans reintroducing species which humans made extinct."
Submission + - Java 7 Update 7 released (oracle.com)
JavaBear writes: Oracle have just released the u7 release of their Java 7 with the following bug fix mentioned in their release notes:
This release contains fixes for security vulnerabilities. For more information, see Oracle Security Alert for CVE-2012-4681.
This release contains fixes for security vulnerabilities. For more information, see Oracle Security Alert for CVE-2012-4681.
Submission + - Samsung Sends Free Galaxy SIII to Dragon Doodler (theglobeandmail.com)
beerdragoon writes: A Canadian man received a one of a kind, customized Galaxy SIII from Samsung. How? He sent them a drawing of a dragon he made and asked for a new phone in return. The Samsung social media team responded instead by sending him a drawing of a kangaroo riding a unicorn. The exchange generated a lot of attention and as a way of saying thank you, Samsung provided a shiny new SIII, customized with the drawing of his dragon.
Submission + - The Truth About 'Rock-Star' Developers (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: "You want the best and the brightest money can buy. Or do you? Andrew Oliver offers six hard truths about 'rock-star' developers, arguing in favor of mixed skill levels with a focus on getting the job done: 'A big, important project has launched — and abruptly crashed to the ground. The horrible spaghetti code is beyond debugging. There are no unit tests, and every change requires a meeting with, like, 40 people. Oh, if only we'd had a team of 10 "rock star" developers working on this project instead! It would have been done in half the time with twice the features and five-nines availabilty. On the other hand, maybe not. A team of senior developers will often produce a complex design and no code, thanks to the reasons listed below.'"
Submission + - RasGas, 2nd Largest LNG Maker, Knocked Offline In Malware Attack (securityledger.com)
chicksdaddy writes: "Securityledger reports that, days after Saudi Aramco said it had cleansed its network of a malware infection, Quatari firm RasGas, the world's second largest producer of liquefied natural gas, has been knocked offline in a similar attack.
RasGas’s corporate web site was offline late Thursday and a RasGas spokesman, speaking to the website arabianoilandgas.com acknowledged that “an unknown virus has affected” the company’s office systems since Monday, August 27. The company has notified its suppliers by fax that the company is “experiencing technical issues with its office computer systems,” ArabianOilandGas.com reported. However, a company spokesperson said that the company’s LNG production and distribution operations were unaffected."
RasGas’s corporate web site was offline late Thursday and a RasGas spokesman, speaking to the website arabianoilandgas.com acknowledged that “an unknown virus has affected” the company’s office systems since Monday, August 27. The company has notified its suppliers by fax that the company is “experiencing technical issues with its office computer systems,” ArabianOilandGas.com reported. However, a company spokesperson said that the company’s LNG production and distribution operations were unaffected."
Submission + - Genome of Human Ancestor Mapped, There Might Be Other Undiscovered Ancestors Yet (medicaldaily.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have managed to map an entire genome of a human ancestor and also suspect that there are more species that existed in the past that we have not yet found, particularly in Asia.
Researchers have managed to map an entire genome of a human ancestor. The ancestor is a member of the Denisovan group, a cousin of the Neanderthals. Researchers are hesitant to label them as a different species, choosing to call them instead a different group of humans. They also suspect that there are more species that existed in the past that we have not yet found, particularly in Asia.
Researchers have managed to map an entire genome of a human ancestor. The ancestor is a member of the Denisovan group, a cousin of the Neanderthals. Researchers are hesitant to label them as a different species, choosing to call them instead a different group of humans. They also suspect that there are more species that existed in the past that we have not yet found, particularly in Asia.
Submission + - Samsung's revenge plan: Sue Apple if it dares release an LTE iPhone (bgr.com) 1
brocket66 writes: Samsung will soon go from licking its wounds to licking its chops if Apple’s next iPhone utilizes LTE technology. The Korea Times reports that Samsung has “confirmed that it will immediately sue Apple if the latter releases products using advanced long-term evolution (LTE) mobile technology.” Although Apple has already released an LTE-capable device with the latest version of its iPad, Samsung is likely waiting for Apple to put out an LTE-capable iPhone before busting out its extensive LTE patent portfolio to seek injunctions. An analysis conducted by IP research firm iRunway earlier this year found that Samsung holds fully 10% of all LTE patents issued so far.
Submission + - Universal Turing machine in Penrose Tile Cellular Automata (newscientist.com) 1
submeta writes: Katsunobu Imai at Hiroshima University has figured out a way to construct a universal Turing machine using cellular automata in a Penrose tile universe.
'Tiles in the first state act as wires that transmit signals between the logic gates, with the signal itself consisting of either a 'front' or 'back' state. Four other states manage the redirecting of the signal within the logic gates, while the final state is simply an unused background to keep the various states separate.'
He was not aware of the recent development of the Penrose glider, so he developed this alternative approach.
'Tiles in the first state act as wires that transmit signals between the logic gates, with the signal itself consisting of either a 'front' or 'back' state. Four other states manage the redirecting of the signal within the logic gates, while the final state is simply an unused background to keep the various states separate.'
He was not aware of the recent development of the Penrose glider, so he developed this alternative approach.
Submission + - Biodiesel From Sewage Sludge (acs.org) 1
MTorrice writes: "Scientists have developed a way to convert lipids from sewage sludge into biodiesel. The low cost and high yield of the sludge process may make it economically feasible as a source of biofuel, the researchers say. Today, biofuel producers use lipids in vegetable oils to derive biodiesel, a mixture of fatty-acid-like molecules. Biodiesel is compatible with existing diesel engines, burns with less pollution than petroleum-derived diesel does, and comes from renewable resources. But current biodiesel feedstocks are expensive, limiting the fuel’s widespread use. The researchers from South Korea found that sewage sludge, the semisolid material left over from wastewater treatment, can yield 2,200 times more lipids than soybeans and costs 96% less to process. To turn the sludge lipids into biodiesel, the researchers heated them with methanol."
Submission + - US colliders jostle for funds (nature.com)
DevotedSkeptic writes: "When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland seized the world record for the highest-energy collisions in 2010, it also sealed the fate of the leading US particle collider. The Tevatron, at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, was closed the following year to save money.
Now, physicists at another US physics facility, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, are trying to avoid a similar end. On 13 August, researchers at the ALICE heavy-ion experiment at the LHC at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics lab near Geneva, announced that they had created the hottest-ever man-made plasma of quarks and gluons. This eclipsed the record temperature achieved at RHIC two years earlier by 38%, and raised uncomfortable questions about RHIC’s future.
Tribble still hopes to avoid having to close any of the three facilities. In 2005, he notes, a similar crisis was averted after an advisory committee laid out the dire consequences of flat funding for the future of US nuclear science. In the end, Congress came through with the budgetary increases required. “What we want to do here is to spell out what will be lost under different budgets,” he says. His committee is planning to hold a final meeting in November, in time to influence the budget requests from US funding agencies for the next fiscal year."
Now, physicists at another US physics facility, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, are trying to avoid a similar end. On 13 August, researchers at the ALICE heavy-ion experiment at the LHC at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics lab near Geneva, announced that they had created the hottest-ever man-made plasma of quarks and gluons. This eclipsed the record temperature achieved at RHIC two years earlier by 38%, and raised uncomfortable questions about RHIC’s future.
Tribble still hopes to avoid having to close any of the three facilities. In 2005, he notes, a similar crisis was averted after an advisory committee laid out the dire consequences of flat funding for the future of US nuclear science. In the end, Congress came through with the budgetary increases required. “What we want to do here is to spell out what will be lost under different budgets,” he says. His committee is planning to hold a final meeting in November, in time to influence the budget requests from US funding agencies for the next fiscal year."
Submission + - Toyota Says Contractor Sabotaged Network & Stole Data (securityweek.com) 1
wiredmikey writes: Yet another "disgruntled" worker story today. According to court documents obtained by SecurityWeek, Toyota has filed a lawsuit against an ex-contractor who was working for the automaker in Kentucky, for sabotaging its supplier network and downloading sensitive information.
The day he was terminated, from midnight until approximately 06:30 a.m. on August 24, the contractor “sabotaged various programs and applications; and accessed, copied, downloaded and/or disseminated trade secrets and proprietary information.” Further, the automaker charges the former contractor with modifying 13 applications on toyotasupplier.com causing it to crash.
Toyota asked the court for a temporary restraining order preventing him from leaving the country and returning to India. The automaker asked the court for a temporary restraining order preventing him from leaving, but it wasn’t needed as he agreed to an order on Monday that he would not travel for 14 days. He remains free on a $2,500 bond until trial.
The day he was terminated, from midnight until approximately 06:30 a.m. on August 24, the contractor “sabotaged various programs and applications; and accessed, copied, downloaded and/or disseminated trade secrets and proprietary information.” Further, the automaker charges the former contractor with modifying 13 applications on toyotasupplier.com causing it to crash.
Toyota asked the court for a temporary restraining order preventing him from leaving the country and returning to India. The automaker asked the court for a temporary restraining order preventing him from leaving, but it wasn’t needed as he agreed to an order on Monday that he would not travel for 14 days. He remains free on a $2,500 bond until trial.
Submission + - World record as message in bottle found after 98 years near Shetland (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: 'The drift bottle — containing a postcard which promised a reward of six pence to the finder — was released in June 1914 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.
It was in a batch of 1,890 scientific research bottles which were specially designed to sink to help map the currents of the seas around Scotland when they were returned. Only 315 of them have been found.'
It was in a batch of 1,890 scientific research bottles which were specially designed to sink to help map the currents of the seas around Scotland when they were returned. Only 315 of them have been found.'
