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Submission + - Scientists may have figured out why dead brains don't always rot. (smithsonianmag.com)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: Smithsonian magazine discusses a new study on how, under the right conditions — wet and oxygen-deprived — the same chemical reactions that cause tissue to break down can instead have the opposite effect on brain tissue and preserve it instead.

The brain is one of the first organs to begin decomposing after death. Yet archaeologists have discovered more than 4,400 preserved human brains around the world, some of which have remained intact for the last 12,000 years. In hundreds of cases, the brain was the only soft tissue left among otherwise skeletal remains.

But how and why do brains sometimes persist for millennia while all other types of soft tissue disappear? This preservation paradox has stumped scientists for years. Now, however, a team of researchers say they may have solved the mystery.

If a brain ends up in a wet, oxygen-starved environment, the processes that usually cause decay can have the opposite effect, researchers report in a study published in the August 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.

“Under the right conditions, preservation actually arises from decay itself: The same reactions that degrade tissue can also weld the breakdown products together into something far tougher,” study co-author Alexandra Seviour, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford in England, tells Live Science’s Victoria Atkinson.

Following experiments on 72 mouse carcasses (described in the article) the scientists think they know why. When oxygen is abundant, it triggers a cascading, chemical chain reaction that causes brain proteins to break down rapidly. This sequence hinges on free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that “steal” electrons from nearby atoms and molecules. The process happens in the brains of living people too, and if left unchecked, can cause health problems.

In low-oxygen environments, however, this chemical sequence appears to play out differently. The researchers’ analyses hint that free radicals instead react and bond with nearby proteins, making the overall tissue tougher and more resistant to decomposition, Seviour tells Chemical and Engineering News’ Anirban Mukhopadhyay.

The findings show that “decay is not the opposite of preservation but, under specific chemical constraints, one of its mechanisms,” the researchers write in the paper.

Submission + - BMW Blames Young People for Loss of Real Buttons in New Cars (caranddriver.com)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

In an interview with CarExpert, Vikram Pawah, the CEO of BMW Group Australia, said that young buyers prefer the newer controls. “We can see that voice and touch are becoming more and more common,” Pawah told the outlet. “Maybe it’s a generational thing as well. You would see that a lot of the younger generation, maybe 45 or below, they’re tapped into these technologies at a faster pace, using voice, using touch.”

This would be somewhat believable if this design only affected cars targeted at young buyers. It does not. Many of BMW are targeted at affluent boomers and Gen X due to high price.

Comment Re:AI will rot our brains (Score 2) 49

by sinij (#66303044) Attached to: Debian is Voting on Whether to Allow AI-Assisted Contributions
I don't think ignoring AI and remaining relevant is an option that is available to Debian, at least insofar as Information Security. AI code analysis in search of vulnerabilities is a significant force multiplier, to the point that we are flooded with CVEs for almost every major commercial product. AI's ability to identify vulnerabilities in existing code is already working very well, ability to preemptively fix these issues during AI-generated code is still being worked on. As such, very soon AI generated code will be a lot more secure than average human-generated code.

Submission + - Simulated shopping sites (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

The cart is full. The items have been picked. The checkout button is waiting. You click "place order" — and then nothing happens. There’s no delivery driver on the way. No charge to your credit card. No package waiting at your door. And that’s the point.

Comment Anecdata (Score 2) 245

by sinij (#66299890) Attached to: Are You Sure You Want a Car With a Giant Touch Screen?
Elderly parents of work acquaintance drive a high-end Buick SUV with wrap-around screen. A few months out of warranty screen died. Replacement part was quoted at about $12,000 and there is no possibility of a used part as these are coded to the car VIN. These are "engine failure" magnitude of issues. Insane, considering most people would be fine with analogue gauge screen and want more physical controls for HVAC.

Comment Re:No the only issue (Score 1) 245

by fahrbot-bot (#66299546) Attached to: Are You Sure You Want a Car With a Giant Touch Screen?

Next issue is how long will it be supported ?
7 years after last manufacture, so 8 years total if each year is a new model ?

I have a 2001 Honda Civic Ex and 2002 CR-V Ex, both 5spd manuals with 136k and 62k miles respectively. They're both in great condition. They don't have any of the modern electronic crap and I have trouble imagining that all this stuff will be supported on newer vehicles for 25+ years - or at least not inexpensively.

Comment Re:Doesn't it support it? (Score 4, Insightful) 97

Granted it's in a different discipline, but the instructor having to use AI to write backs up the claim that people are forgetting things by using AI. It's a bit ironic for other reasons, but still supports the point.

On the other hand, she was born in Bulgaria, so English is probably a second language, so getting help writing a piece to be published doesn't seem unreasonable. I imagine she also had other people review a more completed revision before submission.

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