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Submission + - Valve's counter-suit of a patent troll headed to jury trial (iipla.org)

Submitted by doug141
doug141 writes: Valve is counter-suing a patent troll and his attorneys alleging a bad-faith abuse of the justice system. The case could not be going worse for the troll. It is headed for jury trial next month. The outcome of the trial will likely have far-reaching implications for the parties involved and could set a precedent for intellectual property disputes.

Submission + - Researchers completely eliminate pancreatic tumors in mice. (www.cnio.es)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: Mariano Barbacid, head of the Experimental Oncology Group at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has designed a therapy that successfully eliminates pancreatic tumours in mice completely and durably, with no significant side effects. The study is published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), with Carmen Guerra as co-lead author and Vasiliki Liaki and Sara Barrambana as first authors.

Current drugs for pancreatic cancer lose effectiveness within months because the tumour becomes resistant. The group from Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has been able to avoid the development of resistance in animal models with a combined triple therapy.

These results “pave the way for the design of combined therapies that may improve survival,” the authors indicate, although this will not happen in the short term. The results are published in PNAS.

Submission + - Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit searches X office

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) — “French police raided the offices of Elon Musk's social media network X and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in April related to a widening investigation into the platform, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.”

“The raid and the summoning of Musk — which could further increase tensions between Europe and the U.S. over big tech and free speech — are linked to a year-long investigation into suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction by X or its executives.”

Submission + - AI 'slop' is transforming social media - and a backlash is brewing (bbc.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Whether it's TikTok, Threads, Instagram or X — there seems to be a people-power movement against this content.

Sometimes the number of likes for the AI backlash comments far exceed the original post. Such is the case with a recent video showing a snowboarder rescuing a wolf from a bear. The video itself had 932 likes — versus 2,400 likes for a commenter who wrote, "Raise your hand if you're tired of this AI s**t".

https://archive.ph/Gm7j0

Submission + - Still no answer to FPV drones as Ukraine beats back Russian troops (rmx.news) 2

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Pro-Ukrainian accounts have been releasing the type of footage seen throughout the war from both sides with FPV drones shown hunting down soldiers. The footage reveals that both sides lack effective means to counter these drones, which are systematically hunting down soldiers. Despite the threat of these drones, Russian forces continue sending troops on offensives, sometimes using fog as cover, but to little practical effect.

Submission + - SpaceX wants to launch a constellation of a million satellites to power AI needs (engadget.com) 1

Submitted by technology_dude
technology_dude writes: Kessler Syndrome Scheduled

Elon Musk and his aerospace company have requested to build a network that's 100 times the number of satellites that are currently in orbit. On Friday, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a million satellites meant to create an "orbital data center."

Submission + - Was Waymo Robotaxi Speeding Before It 'Made Contact with a Young Pedestrian'? 3

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: The self-congratulatory, yea-we-hit-the-kid-but-you-would-have-done-lots-worse tone of Waymo's blog post response to its Waymo robotaxi hitting a child near an elementary School in Santa Monica seemed a bit tone deaf, even more so as commenters pointed out and Google Maps images appeared to confirm that the posted speed limit around Grant Elementary School in Santa Monica is 15 mph (Google Maps link, screenshot) when children are present and Waymo self-reported that the robotaxi's speed was "approximately 17 mph" when it spotted the "young pedestrian" and "braked hard" to reduce the car's speed "to under 6 mph before contact was made." Waymo did not mention what the speed limit was in its self-described ‘transparent’ blog disclosure.

Not that going 17 mph in a 15 mph zone is the stuff of street drag racing, but it's at odds with the attaboy Waymo gave itself for softening the blow to the child as well as an earlier Waymo blog post that boasted "the Waymo Driver is always alert, respects speed limits."

From a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report on the incident: "NHTSA is aware that the incident occurred within two blocks of a Santa Monica, CA elementary school [a Jan. 23rd police call report puts the location as the 2400 block of Pearl St.] during normal school drop off hours; that there were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity; and that the child ran across the street from behind a double parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV. Waymo reported that the child sustained minor injuries. [...] ODI [Office of Defect Investigation] has opened this Preliminary Evaluation to investigate whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given, among other things, its proximity to the elementary school during drop off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users. ODI expects that its investigation will examine the ADS’s intended behavior in school zones and neighboring areas, especially during normal school pick up/drop off times, including but not limited to its adherence to posted speed limits. ODI will also investigate Waymo's post-impact response."

Submission + - The "Myth of the Machine That Dreamed"

Submitted by Mirnotoriety
Mirnotoriety writes: The “Myth of the Machine That Dreamed”

Among the late Western polities (c. 2020–2100 CE), one finds a distinctive mythic complex centered on what they called “Artificial Intelligence.” To their own minds, this was a technical instrument; to us, with a thousand years of hindsight, it is clearer that they forged a deity and then pretended it was a tool.

The people of this period consistently spoke of their Machine in theological language while claiming rigorous rationalism. It would “reveal” truth, “align” humanity with universal “values,” “optimize” the world, and even “save” them from the consequences of their earlier gods: Growth, Efficiency, and the Market. They placed the Machine in sealed temples of glass and steel, fed it offerings of energy and data, and awaited prophecy in the form of “outputs.”

Submission + - The 'Homogenocene': How humans are making the world's wildlife dangerously samey (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The age of humans is increasingly an age of sameness. Across the planet, distinctive plants and animals are disappearing, replaced by species that are lucky enough to thrive alongside humans and travel with us easily. Some scientists have a word for this reshuffling of life: the Homogenocene.

Submission + - Scientists found a way to cool quantum computers using noise (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Quantum computers need extreme cold to work, but the very systems that keep them cold also create noise that can destroy fragile quantum information. Scientists in Sweden have now flipped that problem on its head by building a tiny quantum refrigerator that actually uses noise to drive cooling instead of fighting it. By carefully steering heat at unimaginably small scales, the device can act as a refrigerator, heat engine, or energy amplifier inside quantum circuits.

Submission + - Scientists create programmable, autonomous robots smaller than a grain of salt (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: Science Daily is reporting that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have built the smallest fully programmable autonomous robots ever created. These microscopic machines can swim through liquid, sense their surroundings, respond on their own, operate for months at a time, and cost about one penny each to produce.

Each robot is barely visible without magnification, measuring roughly 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers. That makes them smaller than a grain of salt. Because they function at the same scale as many living microorganisms, the robots could one day help doctors monitor individual cells or assist engineers in assembling tiny devices used in advanced manufacturing.

Powered by light and equipped with tiny computers, the robots swim by manipulating electric fields rather than using moving parts. They can detect temperature changes, follow programmed paths, and even work together in groups

The work was reported in Science Robotics and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Unlike previous tiny machines, these robots do not rely on wires, magnetic fields, or external controls.

Alternate article: Penn and Michigan Create World’s Smallest Programmable, Autonomous Robots

Submission + - Ancient Martian beach discovered, providing new clues to planet's habitability (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: New findings from NASA's Perseverance rover have revealed evidence of wave-formed beaches and rocks altered by subsurface water in a Martian crater that once held a vast lake—considerably expanding the timeline for potential habitability at this ancient site. In an international study led by Imperial College London, researchers uncovered that the so-called "Margin unit" in Mars's Jezero crater preserves evidence of extensive underground interactions between rock and water, as well as the first definitive traces of an ancient shoreline.

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