Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - China Proposes Further Export Curbs On Battery, Critical Minerals Tech (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: China's commerce ministry has proposed export restrictions on some technology used to make battery components and process critical minerals lithium and gallium, a document, opens new tab issued on Thursday showed. If implemented, they would be the latest in a series of export restrictions and bans targeting critical minerals and the technology used to process them, areas in which Beijing is globally dominant. Their announcement precedes the inauguration later this month of Donald Trump for a second term during which he is expected to use tariffs and various trade restrictions against other countries, in particular China. [...]

The proposed expansion and revisions of restrictions on technology used to extract and process lithium or prepare battery components could also hinder the overseas expansion plans of major Chinese battery makers, including CATL, Gotion, and EVE Energy. Some technologies to extract gallium would also be restricted. Thursday's announcement does not say when the proposed changes, which are open for public comment until Feb. 1, could come into force.

Submission + - Space Station keeps dodging debris from China's 2007 satellite weapon test (msn.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: The International Space Station had to fire thrusters from a docked spacecraft last month to avoid a piece of debris that has been circling the globe for the nearly 18 years since the Chinese government blasted apart one of its own satellites in a weapons test.

The evasive maneuver was the second in just six days for the space station, which has four NASA astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts aboard. That is the shortest interval ever between such actions, illustrating the slowly worsening problem of space junk in orbit. Debris is an increasingly vexing issue not only for NASA, but also for companies such as SpaceX and OneWeb seeking to protect the thousands of small satellites they send into space to provide high-speed internet.

Submission + - Energy Prices Drop Below Zero in UK Thanks to Record Wind-Generated Electricity (ecowatch.com) 1

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Record wind-generated electricity across Northern Ireland and Scotland Tuesday night pushed Britain’s power prices below zero.

Wind output peaked at a record high 22.4 gigawatts (GW), breaking the previous high set Sunday evening, the national system operator said, as Bloomberg reported. The record output provided more than 68 percent of the country’s power.

From 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the half-hourly price fell to 6.57 pounds per megawatt-hour, according to data from European power exchange Epex Spot.

Submission + - 'Alien' Signal Decoded (esa.int)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: White dots arranged in five clusters against a black background (PNG). This is the simulated extraterrestrial signal transmitted from Mars and deciphered by a father and a daughter on Earth after a year-long decoding effort. On June 7, 2024, media artist Daniela de Paulis received this simple, retro-looking image depicting five amino acids in her inbox. It was the solution to a cosmic puzzle beamed from ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in May 2023, when the European spacecraft played alien as part of the multidisciplinary art project ‘A Sign in Space.' After three radio astronomy observatories on Earth intercepted the signal, the challenge was first to extract the message from the raw data of the radio signal, and secondly to decode it. In just 10 days, a community of 5000 citizen scientists gathered online and managed to extract the signal. The second task took longer and required some visionary minds.

US citizens Ken and Keli Chaffin cracked the code following their intuition and running simulations for hours and days on end. The father and daughter team discovered that the message contained movement, suggesting some sort of cellular formation and life forms. Amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life. Now that the cryptic signal has been deciphered, the quest for meaning begins. The interpretation of the message, like any art piece, remains open. Daniela crafted the message with a small group of astronomers and computer scientists, with support from ESA, the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory. The artist and collaborators behind the project are now taking a step back and witnessing how citizen scientists are shaping the challenge on their own.

Submission + - New Study Reveals Oceans Absorb More CO2 Than Previously Thought (scitechdaily.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: New research confirms that subtle temperature differences at the ocean surface, known as the “ocean skin,” increase carbon dioxide absorption. This discovery, based on precise measurements, suggests global oceans absorb 7% more CO2 than previously thought, aiding climate understanding and carbon assessments.

Until now, global estimates of air-sea CO2 fluxes typically ignore the importance of temperature differences in the near-surface layer.

Dr Gavin Tilstone, from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), said: “This discovery highlights the intricacy of the ocean’s water column structure and how it can influence CO2 draw-down from the atmosphere. Understanding these subtle mechanisms is crucial as we continue to refine our climate models and predictions. It underscores the ocean’s vital role in regulating the planet’s carbon cycle and climate.”

Submission + - BBC Interviews Charley Kline and Bill Duvall, Creators of Arpanet (bbc.com)

Submitted by dbialac
dbialac writes: Charley Duvall states: I saw the work we were doing at SRI as a critical part of a larger vision, that of information workers connected to each other and sharing problems, observations, documents and solutions. What we did not see was the commercial adoption nor did we anticipate the phenomenon of social media and the associated disinformation plague. Although, it should be noted, that in [SRI computer scientist] Douglas Engelbart's 1962 treatise describing the overall vision, he notes that the capabilities we were creating would trigger profound change in our society, and it would be necessary to simultaneously use and adapt the tools we were creating to address the problems which would arise from their use in society.

Charley Kline and Bill Duvall were early inventors of networking, networks that would ultimately lead to what is today the Internet. Duvall had basic ideas what might come of the networks, but they had no idea of how much of a phenomenon it would turn into. Today marks the 55th anniversary of the first communications they made over what was then called Arpanet.

Submission + - It Is Now Legal to Hack McFlurry Machines (and Medical Devices) to Fix Them (404media.co)

Submitted by samleecole
samleecole writes: It is now legal to hack or otherwise bypass technical protection measures on McFlurry machines and other commercial food preparation machines in order to repair them thanks to a new rule issued by the Federal government. After a challenge it has also remained legal to circumvent manufacturer locks that prevent the repair of medical equipment. This is good news in several long-running yet somehow related sagas that has resulted in both a huge number of McDonald’s ice cream machines and a large number of medical devices being broken at any given moment and which often cannot be fixed without the help of their manufacturer due to arbitrary software locks that prevent McDonald’s stores and also hospitals from fixing the devices they own.

The new exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows for the circumvention of DRM and software locks, which are often called “TPMs” or technical protection measures, on equipment made for “commercial food preparation when circumvention is a necessary step to allow the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such a device.” The exemption that allows for the circumvention of software locks on “a lawfully acquired medical device or system, and related data files, when circumvention is a necessary step to allow the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such a device or system,” was also renewed, as were exemptions for farm equipment and a host of other devices.

Submission + - Shrinkwrap "Contract" Found at Costco on... Collagen Peptides 1

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: The user Wraithe on the Mastodon network is reporting that a bottle of Vital Proteins(TM) collagen peptides purchased at Costco came with a shrinkwrap contract. Collagen peptides are often used as an anti-aging nutritional supplement. The top of the Vital Proteins bottle has a pull-to-open seal. Printed on the seal is the following: "Read This: By opening and using this product, you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions, fully set forth at vitalproteins.com/tc, which includes a mandatory arbitration agreement. If you do not agree to be bound, please return this product immediately."

So-called "shrinkwrap contracts" have been the subject of controversy and derision for decades since their first widespread appearance in the 1970's, attempting to alter the terms of sale after the fact, impose unethical and onerous restrictions on the purchaser, and absolving the vendor of all liability. Most such contracts appear on items involving copyrighted works (computer software, or any item containing computer software). The alleged "validity" of such contracts supposedly proceeds from the (alleged) need that the item requires a copyright license from the vendor to use (because the right to use/read/listen/view/execute is somehow not concomitant with purchase), and that the shrinkwrap contract furnishes such license.

The application of such a contract to a good where copyright has no scope, however, is something new. The alleged contract itself governs consumers' use of, "the VitalProteins.com website and any other applications, content, products, and services (collectively, the “Service”)...," contains the usual we're-not-responsible-for-anything indemnification paragraph, and unilaterally removes your right to seek redress in court of law and imposes binding arbitration involving any disputes that may arise between the consumer and the company. Indeed, the arbitration clause is the first numbered section in the alleged contract. Consumers of collagen peptide supplements (or, indeed, any nutritional supplement) may want to consider carefully before giving their money to a company that is trying to immunize itself from lawsuits.

Submission + - Canada Will Legalize Medically Assisted Dying For People Addicted to Drugs (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Canada will legalize medically assisted dying for people who are addicted to drugs next spring, in a move some drug users and activists are calling “eugenics.” The country’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law, which first came into effect in 2016, will be expanded next March to give access to people whose sole medical condition is mental illness, which can include substance use disorders. Before the changes take place, however, a special parliamentary committee on MAID will regroup to scrutinize the rollout of the new regulations, according to the Toronto Star.

Currently, people are eligible for MAID if they have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition”, such as a serious illness or disability, that has put them in an advanced state of irreversible decline and caused enduring physical or psychological suffering—excluding mental illness. Anyone who receives MAID must also go through two assessments from independent health care providers, among meeting other criteria. [...] As Canada prepares to legalize MAID for people with mental disorders, each province will have to develop its own protocol for how to assess people. Dr. Simon Colgan, lead physician for the Community Allied Mobile Palliative Partnership which provides palliative care to homeless people, said MAID requests “must be understood within the context of a person's lived experience and this takes time and relationship." He said any MAID protocols for people with substance use disorders should be made with the input of people with lived experiences.

Submission + - Age of Universe Nearly Twice As Old As Previously Believed (phys.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Our universe could be twice as old as current estimates, according to a new study that challenges the dominant cosmological model and sheds new light on the so-called "impossible early galaxy problem." "Our newly-devised model stretches the galaxy formation time by a several billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years old, and not 13.7 as previously estimated," says author Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics in the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa.

For years, astronomers and physicists have calculated the age of our universe by measuring the time elapsed since the Big Bang and by studying the oldest stars based on the redshift of light coming from distant galaxies. In 2021, thanks to new techniques and advances in technology, the age of our universe was thus estimated at 13.797 billion years using the Lambda-CDM concordance model. However, many scientists have been puzzled by the existence of stars like the Methuselah that appear to be older than the estimated age of our universe and by the discovery of early galaxies in an advanced state of evolution made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope. These galaxies, existing a mere 300 million years or so after the Big Bang, appear to have a level of maturity and mass typically associated with billions of years of cosmic evolution. Furthermore, they're surprisingly small in size, adding another layer of mystery to the equation.

Zwicky's tired light theory proposes that the redshift of light from distant galaxies is due to the gradual loss of energy by photons over vast cosmic distances. However, it was seen to conflict with observations. Yet Gupta found that "by allowing this theory to coexist with the expanding universe, it becomes possible to reinterpret the redshift as a hybrid phenomenon, rather than purely due to expansion." In addition to Zwicky's tired light theory, Gupta introduces the idea of evolving "coupling constants," as hypothesized by Paul Dirac. Coupling constants are fundamental physical constants that govern the interactions between particles. According to Dirac, these constants might have varied over time. By allowing them to evolve, the timeframe for the formation of early galaxies observed by the Webb telescope at high redshifts can be extended from a few hundred million years to several billion years. This provides a more feasible explanation for the advanced level of development and mass observed in these ancient galaxies.

Submission + - SPAM: RAI's Certification Process Aims To Prevent AIs From Turning Into HALs

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: [T]he Responsible Artificial Intelligence Institute (RAI) — a non-profit developing governance tools to help usher in a new generation of trustworthy, safe, Responsible AIs — hopes to offer a more standardized means of certifying that our next HAL won’t murder the entire crew. In short they want to build “the world’s first independent, accredited certification program of its kind.” Think of the LEED green building certification system used in construction but with AI instead. Work towards this certification program began nearly half a decade ago alongside the founding of RAI itself, at the hands of Dr. Manoj Saxena, University of Texas Professor on Ethical AI Design, RAI Chairman and a man widely considered to be the "father” of IBM Watson, though his initial inspiration came even further back.

Certifications are awarded in four levels — basic, silver, gold, and platinum (sorry, no bronze) — based on the AI’s scores along the five OECD principles of Responsible AI: interpretability/explainability, bias/fairness, accountability, robustness against unwanted hacking or manipulation, and data quality/privacy. The certification is administered via questionnaire and a scan of the AI system. Developers must score 60 points to reach the base certification, 70 points for silver and so on, up to 90 points-plus for platinum status. [Mark Rolston, founder and CCO of argodesign] notes that design analysis will play an outsized role in the certification process. “Any company that is trying to figure out whether their AI is going to be trustworthy needs to first understand how they're constructing that AI within their overall business,” he said. “And that requires a level of design analysis, both on the technical front and in terms of how they're interfacing with their users, which is the domain of design.”

RAI expects to find (and in some cases has already found) a number of willing entities from government, academia, enterprise corporations, or technology vendors for its services, though the two are remaining mum on specifics while the program is still in beta (until November 15th, at least). Saxena hopes that, like the LEED certification, RAI will eventually evolve into a universalized certification system for AI. He argues, it will help accelerate the development of future systems by eliminating much of the uncertainty and liability exposure today’s developers — and their harried compliance officers — face while building public trust in the brand. “We're using standards from IEEE, we are looking at things that ISO is coming out with, we are looking at leading indicators from the European Union like GDPR, and now this recently announced algorithmic law,” Saxena said. “We see ourselves as the ‘do tank’ that can operationalize those concepts and those think tank’s work."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Toyota and Dean Kamen team up for Powered Wheelchair

Submitted by necro81
necro81 writes: Most people know about the two-wheeled Segway invented by Dean Kamen. Most people don’t know that the two-wheeled balancing technology was first developed by Kamen’s company in the early 2000s for the iBot — an advanced wheelchair that could climb stairs and curbs, had 4-wheel drive, and could balance on its rear wheels. An impressive piece of technology, it was also a commercial flop: the iBot was discontinued in 2009 after selling hundreds of units (many still in operation a decade later). Today, however, Toyota announced a partnership with Dean Kamen to upgrade the iBot and bring it back to market.

Submission + - India to Test Reusable Launch Vehicle (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by William Robinson
William Robinson writes: India will use a mini-rocket with a booster to fly a winged reusable launch vehicle into lower earth orbit on May 23 for demonstrating the technology. Called as RLV-TD, a nine meter 1.7-tonne will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. If everythig goes well, it will reach about 70 km from the earth, and will plunge into the Bay of Bengal. This flight is using dummy vehicle to demonstrate hypersonic and aero-thermo dynamics of the winged re-entry vehicle with autonomous mission management to land after passing through very high temperatures during re-entry.

Submission + - How stingray is zapping the fourth amendment

Submitted by Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: How Militarized Cops Use the Intrusive Technology Stingray, and Much More, to Intrude on Our Rights — Police nationwide are secretly exploiting intrusive technologies with the feds' complicity.

Thanks to this call-and-response process, the Stingray knows both what cell phones are in the area and where they are. In other words, it gathers information not only about a specific suspect, but any bystanders in the area as well. While the police may indeed use this technology to pinpoint a suspect’s location, by casting such a wide net there is also the potential for many kinds of constitutional abuses—for instance, sweeping up the identities of every person attending a demonstration or a political meeting. Some Stingrays are capable of collecting not only cell phone ID numbers but also numbers those phones have dialed and even phone conversations. In other words, the Stingray is a technology that potentially opens the door for law enforcement to sweep up information that not so long ago wouldn’t have been available to them.

This is why it matters who wins the mayor and city council races. Localities do not have to accept this technology.

Submission + - How big was the Universe when it was first born?

Submitted by StartsWithABang
StartsWithABang writes: Looking out at the distant stars, galaxies and radiation in the Universe today, we’ve been able to determine not only what it’s made out of, but how long it’s been since the Big Bang: 13.8 billion years. Put all that information together, and you can also figure out how large the observable part of that Universe is today. From our point of view, it appears to extend for 46.1 billion light years in all directions. So what if you extrapolate backwards, to the very end of inflation and the start of the hot, dense state we identify with the Big Bang, and ask how large that 46.1 billion light year “size” was back then? How big would it be? Depending on the particulars of when inflation came to an end, the answer is somewhere between the size of a soccer ball and the size of a city block, no smaller and no larger.

Slashdot Top Deals

I never cheated an honest man, only rascals. They wanted something for nothing. I gave them nothing for something. -- Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil

Close