181077898
submission
alternative_right writes:
As human-caused climate change continues to raise temperatures across the globe, understanding how birds regulate their temperature is vital for their conservation. But how much heat birds emit—an invisible spectrum of radiation known as mid-infrared—has never been studied, until now.
181050964
submission
AleRunner writes:
"China is helping Cuba race to capture renewable solar energy as the United States imposes an effective oil blockade on the Caribbean island, creating its worst energy crisis in decades." reports the Washington post. later in the article it tells that "China’s decades-long push into clean energy technology is now helping to protect it from the soaring oil and gas crisis spurred by Trump’s war against Iran." and that "Chinese exports of solar equipment to Cuba skyrocketed from about $5 million in 2023 to $117 million in 2025 and show no sign of stopping,"
181036198
submission
alternative_right writes:
The utopia didn't last long. Early tech enthusiasts quickly realized how to monetize this collective consciousness by developing search engines, algorithms and collecting data.
"We see this in the ideology of early Facebook. The intention was very much like: 'Let me grab all of this data without permission and use it to build something that I can monetize'," says Mejias.
"We've moved from an age of connection to an age of extraction," Turner adds. "Digital media have become mining industries. We are now like oil or coal â" embedded in a social ground that corporations extract from and sell back to us as products and advertising."
181035588
submission
Dave Knott writes:
Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard have won this year’s Turing Award for their work on quantum cryptography and related technologies. The Turing Award, which was introduced in 1966, is often called the Nobel Prize of computing, and it includes a $1 million prize, which the two scientists will share. Dr. Bennett, 82, is a researcher at an IBM computer science lab in Yorktown, N.Y., and Dr. Brassard, 70, is a professor at the University of Montreal.
The two met in 1979 while swimming in the Atlantic just off the north shore of Puerto Rico. They were taking a break while attending an academic conference in San Juan. Dr. Bennett swam up to Dr. Brassard and suggested they use quantum mechanics to create a bank note that could never be forged. Collaborating between Montreal and New York, they applied Dr. Bennett’s idea to subway tokens rather than bank notes. In a research paper published in 1983, they showed that their quantum subway tokens could never be forged, even if someone managed to steal the subway turnstile housing the elaborate hardware needed to read them. This led to quantum cryptography. After describing their new form of encryption in a research paper published in 1984, they demonstrated the technology with a physical experiment five years later. Called BB84, their system used photons — particles of light — to create encryption keys used to lock and unlock digital data. Thanks to the laws of quantum mechanics, the behavior of a photon changes if someone looks at it. This means that if anyone tries to steal the keys, he or she will leave a telltale sign of the attempted theft — a bit like breaking the seal on an aspirin bottle.
181031620
submission
madbrain writes:
Federal Cyber Experts Thought Microsoft’s Cloud Was “a Pile of Shit.” They approved it anyway.
To move federal agencies to the cloud, the government created a program known as FedRAMP, whose job was to ensure the security of new technology.
FedRAMP first raised questions about Microsoft's Government Community Cloud High s security in 2020 and asked Microsoft to provide detailed diagrams explaining its encryption practices. But when the company produced what FedRAMP considered to be only partial information in fits and starts, program officials did not reject Microsoft’s application. Instead, they repeatedly pulled punches and allowed the review to drag out for the better part of five years. And because federal agencies were allowed to deploy the product during the review, GCC High spread across the government as well as the defense industry. By late 2024, FedRAMP reviewers concluded that they had little choice but to authorize the technology — not because their questions had been answered or their review was complete, but largely on the grounds that Microsoft’s product was already being used across Washington.
181014426
submission
symbolset writes:
More and more science is pushing back the Drake equation, reducing the parameters necessary for life to form. From the discovery that organic molecules are formed in the little red dot protogalaxies at the edge of our visible universe to AI models that identify a self replicating RNA molecule in only 45 nucleotides. Now comes Toshiki Koga et al with a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy reported on by phys.org finding all the nucleobases of RNA and DNA in pristine samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu. The bases being uracil adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. Ammonia was also found.
The universe it seems is made of soup.
181010308
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
A new survey from Gartner suggests consumers may not be as enthusiastic about generative AI in marketing as companies assume. According to the research firm, 50 percent of U.S. consumers say they would prefer to do business with brands that avoid using GenAI in consumer facing content such as advertising and promotional messaging. The survey of 1,539 Americans, conducted in October 2025, also found growing skepticism about the reliability of online information, with 61 percent saying they frequently question whether information they use for everyday decisions is trustworthy.
That broader distrust may help explain the pushback against AI generated messaging. Gartner found that 68 percent of consumers often wonder whether the content they see online is real, while fewer people now rely on intuition alone to judge credibility. Instead, more consumers are actively verifying information and checking sources. Gartner says brands that use AI should be transparent about it and focus on clearly helpful use cases rather than forcing AI driven experiences on customers.
180996694
submission
fjo3 writes:
Christopher Buck is fermenting a vaccine in his kitchen. You can too.
Specifically, Buck brews and quaffs a hazy beer that induces immunity against the BK virus, also known as human polyomavirus. Buck argues that you have the right to home-brew vaccines as a way to get around the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) yearslong vaccine approval process.
Buck joins the pantheon of pioneeringvaccine self-experimenters. Among them are French physician and Nobel Prize winner Charles Jules Henri Nicolle, who used crushed lice to inoculate himself against typhus; Jonas Salk, who injected himself with his own polio vaccine; and Albert Sabin, who ingested his oral polio vaccine. In 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers associated with Harvard launched the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative. They developed and self-administered a do-it-yourself nasal vaccine months before commercial vaccines against the coronavirus became available. They made their DIY recipe for the COVID-19 vaccine available to anyone.
180996198
submission
alternative_right writes:
Lithium dendrites, i.e. tiny crystalline thorns that grow off of lithium-ion battery anodes during charging, have been a persistent challenge for the world's most widely used form of energy storage. "Dendrites can penetrate the battery's separator, causing catastrophic short circuits and safety hazards," said Qing Ai, a former research scientist at Rice University who is a first author on a new study published in Science that reports for the first time exactly how these tricky structures behave inside batteries. "Despite decades of study, the fundamental nanomechanical properties of lithium dendrites remained a mystery—until now."
180979810
submission
He Who Has No Name writes:
In an incredibly in-depth researched post that was removed by Reddit mods almost as soon as it went up but is preserved at Archive.org, Reddit user Ok_Lingonberry3296 has dug deep into lobbying activity and records across multiple states and at the federal level to unearth what — or who — is behind the nationwide state-level and federal legislation blitz of nearly identical age verification laws targeting operating systems instead of companies — with no carveout for open source, no awareness of how these centralized control models break when applied to a FOSS operating system like Linux, and no apparent regard for the avalanche of second order effects the legislation could cause in contexts like embedded devices, VMs, and data centers.
The culprit that emerges isn't a huge surprise: a recently created lobbying org called the Digital Childhood Alliance, which appears to be functionally a front group for the lobbying efforts of... (drumroll) ...Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, formerly Facebook.
Ok_Lingonberry3296 writes: "...Rep. Kim Carver (R-Bossier City), the sponsor of Louisiana's HB-570, publicly confirmed that a Meta lobbyist brought the legislative language directly to her. The bill as drafted required only app stores (Apple, Google) to verify user ages. It did not require social media platforms to do anything.
...Senator Jay Morris, who expanded the bill to include app developers alongside app stores after Google's senior director of government affairs publicly questioned why "Mark Zuckerberg is so keen on passing these bills." When Morris introduced his amendment, Meta went silent. The conference committee compromise maintained dual responsibility but kept the primary burden on app stores, which is what Meta wanted from the start.
At that same Senate hearing, Morris directly questioned DCA Executive Director Casey Stefanski about who funds her organization. She reportedly deflected, said she "wasn't comfortable answering," then under continued pressure admitted tech companies provide funding but refused to name them."
The research gets into funding, connected groups (on both sides of the political aisle) involved with lobbying, messaging, funding, and other parts of the legislative push, and most of all, tracks the money.
For those that want to dig into the research itself, OK_Lingonberry3296 posted their entire folder of research and sources on github, here: github.com/upper-up/meta-lobbying-and-other-findings
A quick synopsis of where the US laws currently stand:
CA | AB-1043 | Enacted, effective Jan 1, 2027
CO | SB26-051 | Passed Senate, in House committee
LA | HB-570 | Enacted, effective July 1, 2026
UT | SB-142 | Enacted, first in nation
TX | SB-2420 | Enjoined by federal judge
NY | S8102A | Pending
IL | HB-3304, HB-4140, SB-2037 | Pending
Federal | KOSA, ASAA | Pending
180964808
submission
Mr. Dollar Ton writes:
Angela Lipps, 50, spent nearly six months in jail after Fargo police identified her as a suspect in an organized bank fraud case using facial recognition software, according to south-east North Dakota news outlet InForum. Lipps told the outlet she had never been to North Dakota and did not commit the crimes.
Lipps is now back home but says the experience has had lasting consequences. While jailed and unable to pay bills, Lipps lost her home, her car and her dog, she said. She also told WDAY News no one from the Fargo police department had apologized.
This isn't the first time "AI" and lazy police together have put innocent people away, concludes the article.
180964280
submission
hcs_$reboot writes:
After a phone call with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said the U.S. will temporarily ease some oil-related sanctions, potentially including restrictions affecting Russian oil exports.
The move is meant to reduce pressure on global energy supplies, which have been disrupted by the U.S./Israeli war with Iran and the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices above $100 per barrel.
Trump described the conversation with Putin as “positive,” saying they discussed both the Ukraine war and global energy stability.
But some argue that easing sanctions on Russian oil could undermine Western efforts to economically pressure Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
180961070
submission
joshuark writes:
Microsoft has filed an amicus brief on Tuesday in support of Anthropic's lawsuit asking the court to temporarily block the U.S. Department of Defense designation of the AI startup as a supply-chain risk. Microsoft backed Anthropic's request for a temporary restraining order against the Pentagon order, arguing that its determination should be paused while the court considers the case. Microsoft, integrates the AI lab's products and services into technology it provides to the U.S. military, said that it was directly impacted by the DOD designation.
"Should this action proceed without the entry of a temporary restraining order, Microsoft and other government contractors with expertise in developing solutions to support U.S. government missions will be forced to account for a new risk in their business planning," the company said.
Microsoft's filing argued the temporary restraining order is needed to prevent costly disruptions for suppliers, who would otherwise have to rapidly rebuild offerings that rely on Anthropic's products. The judge overseeing the case must approve Microsoft's request to file the brief before it is officially entered, but courts often permit outside parties to weigh in on important cases.
180954278
submission
silverjacket writes:
Sycophancy in AI, as in people, is something of a squishy concept, but over the last couple of years, researchers have conducted numerous studies detailing the phenomenon, as well as why it happens and how to control it. AI yes-men also raise questions about what we really want from chatbots. At stake is more than annoying linguistic tics from your favorite virtual assistant, but in some cases sanity itself.
180952984
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
A new study suggests the productivity boost from artificial intelligence may be far smaller than executives claim. According to research cited in Foxitâ(TM)s State of Document Intelligence report, while 89 percent of executives and 79 percent of end users say AI tools make them feel more productive, the actual time savings shrink dramatically once people account for reviewing and validating AI-generated output.
The survey of 1,000 desk-based workers and 400 executives in the United States and United Kingdom found executives believe AI saves them about 4.6 hours per week, but they spend roughly 4 hours and 20 minutes verifying those results. End users reported a similar pattern, estimating 3.6 hours saved but 3 hours and 50 minutes spent reviewing AI work. Once that âoeverification burdenâ is factored in, executives gain just 16 minutes per week, while end users actually lose about 14 minutes.
