alternative_right - Slashdot User

Submission + - Robot clean-up crews tackle litter on Europe's seabed (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right on Friday February 20, 2026 @02:09PM

alternative_right writes: EU researchers are developing AI-guided robot fleets to take over the dangerous, dirty work of finding and removing marine litter from the sea floor. A ship with a crane floats in the Mediterranean sun at a marina in Marseille, France. The crane whirs as it hauls waste from the seabed and, when the wire breaks the surface, the gripper at the end is clutching a rubber tire covered in algae.

Submission + - Lion DNA helps convict poachers for first time (bbc.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Friday February 20, 2026 @12:01PM

alternative_right writes: Lion DNA has been used to successfully prosecute poachers for the first time in the world, it has emerged.

Wildlife crime experts have only just revealed how they were able to identify the individual animal from body parts found in a suspect's village, as they matched a profile on Zimbabwe's lion database.

A blood sample had previously been taken from the male lion, which was being tracked by authorities in Hwange National Park — using a radio collar.

Submission + - Atom-thin electronics withstand space radiation for centuries (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right on Friday February 20, 2026 @10:58AM

alternative_right writes: Atom-thick layers of molybdenum disulfide are ideally suited for radiation-resistant spacecraft electronics, researchers in China have confirmed. In a study published in Nature, Peng Zhou and colleagues at Fudan University put a communications system composed of the material through a gauntlet of rigorous tests—including the transmission of their university's Anthem—confirming that its performance is barely affected in the harsh environment of outer space.

Submission + - GDPR is legal junk (thecritic.co.uk)

Submitted by alternative_right on Thursday February 19, 2026 @10:04AM

alternative_right writes: For the uninitiated, GDPR (or General Data Protection Regulation) is the reason you are constantly bombarded with "accept cookies" pop-ups. It was designed, with a quintessentially German scepticism of corporate power, to give you control over your digital footprint, ensuring companies cannot hoard your data without permission.

But, while intended as a necessary check on privacy, it has instead fueled a burgeoning industry of litigation-funded class actions, costing businesses billions and making the UK a less attractive place to do business. The growth of group litigation in the UK and Europe has been exponential, with claimant law firms and litigation funders pursuing novel claims that previously would not have been economically feasible.

There's no doubt that you’ve seen the adverts: "Did you shop at the Co-op?", "Were you a Southern Water customer?", "Did you have an M&S Sparks card?", "Claim your compensation now." These are the fruits of a newly empowered litigation industry — the product of beefed-up GDPR rules.

Companies absolutely should prioritise consumer privacy. But these rules must be measurable and achievable. Right now, these class action lawsuits are often driven by lawyers in search of claimants, exploiting minor mishaps to secure a payout rather than addressing a genuine grievance.

Submission + - DNA Mutations Discovered in The Children of Chernobyl Workers (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Sunday February 15, 2026 @11:35AM

alternative_right writes: Rather than picking out new DNA mutations in the next generation, they looked for what are known as clustered de novo mutations (cDNMs): two or more mutations in close proximity, found in the children but not the parents. These would be mutations resulting from breaks in the parental DNA caused by radiation exposure.

"We found a significant increase in the cDNM count in offspring of irradiated parents, and a potential association between the dose estimations and the number of cDNMs in the respective offspring," write the researchers in their published paper.

Submission + - Brain inspired machines are better at math than expected (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Saturday February 14, 2026 @11:28AM

alternative_right writes: Neuromorphic computers modeled after the human brain can now solve the complex equations behind physics simulations — something once thought possible only with energy-hungry supercomputers. The breakthrough could lead to powerful, low-energy supercomputers while revealing new secrets about how our brains process information.

Comment Cynical take (Score 2) 90

by alternative_right on Wednesday February 11, 2026 @08:27PM (#65983746) Attached to: Are CDs Making a Comeback? A Statistical Analysis

Vinyl is really good for older releases where room sound matters a lot. For most stuff made after the 1970s, CDs are superior. I prefer CDs for classical because I think they actually capture better range with less false sustain.

Submission + - Old galaxies in a young universe? (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @05:27PM

alternative_right writes: The fact that some of these galaxies might be older than the universe within some significant confidence level is even more challenging.

The most extreme case is for the galaxy JADES-1050323 with redshift 6.9, which has, according to my calculation, an age incompatible to be younger than the age of the universe (800 Myr) within 4.7-sigma (that is, a probability that this happens by chance as statistical fluctuation of one in one million).

If this result is confirmed, it would invalidate the standard Lambda-CDM cosmological model. Certainly, such an extraordinary change of paradigm would require further corroboration and other stronger evidence.

Submission + - Quantum Teleportation Was Performed Over The Internet For The First Time (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Monday February 09, 2026 @11:56AM

alternative_right writes: In 2024, a quantum state of light was successfully teleported through more than 30 kilometers (around 18 miles) of fiber optic cable amid a torrent of internet traffic – a feat of engineering once considered impossible.

The impressive demonstration by researchers in the US may not help you beam to work to beat the morning traffic, or download your favorite cat videos faster.

However, the ability to teleport quantum states through existing infrastructure represents a monumental step towards achieving a quantum-connected computing network, enhanced encryption, or powerful new methods of sensing.

Submission + - Effects of exposure to nearby mobile phone base stations (tandfonline.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Saturday February 07, 2026 @10:12PM

alternative_right writes: Altogether, there is an indication that RF-EMF from mobile phones and MPBS together with age and gender can differentially impact leucocytes, indicating biological stress and potentially affecting health.

Submission + - Anthropic's newest AI model uncovered 500 zero-day software flaws in testing (axios.com)

Submitted by alternative_right on Thursday February 05, 2026 @01:44PM

alternative_right writes: Anthropic's latest AI model has found more than 500 previously unknown high-severity security flaws in open-source libraries with little to no prompting, the company shared first with Axios.

Submission + - Poop From Young Donors Reverses Age-Related Decline in The Guts of Older Mice (sciencealert.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @07:15PM

alternative_right writes: After receiving a fecal microbiota transplant from younger mice, one aspect of age-related decline in the guts of older mice was reversed, driven by increased intestinal stem cell activity that maintains the intestinal walls.

The findings suggest that such transplants could someday be a treatment pathway for age-related intestinal conditions, such as inflammation and obesity.

Submission + - Munich makes digital sovereignty measurable with its own score (heise.de)

Submitted by alternative_right on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @04:44PM

alternative_right writes: The city of Munich has developed its own measurement instrument to assess the digital sovereignty of its IT infrastructure. The so-called Digital Sovereignty Score (SDS) visually resembles the Nutri-Score and identifies IT systems based on their independence from individual providers and "foreign" legal spheres. The Technical University of Munich was involved in the development.

In September and October 2025, the IT Department already conducted a first comprehensive test. Out of a total of 2780 municipal application services, 194 particularly critical ones were selected and evaluated based on five categories. The analysis already showed a high degree of digital sovereignty: 66 percent of the 194 evaluated services reached the highest levels (SDS 1 and 2), only 5 percent reached the critical level 4, and 21 percent reached the most critical level 5. The SDS evaluates not only technical dependencies but also legal and organizational risks.

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

Submitted by alternative_right on Monday February 02, 2026 @03:06PM

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 on Monday February 02, 2026 @12:37PM

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.

Slashdot Top Deals