Comment Re:not the priority (Score 1) 122
There's already proposals from NASA to create a shielding device between Mars and the Sun:
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-...
Comment Re: Just when I get sick of iOS bugs... (Score 1) 42
You've seen "The Truman Show" right? (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... )
That's what google is doing to you. You are the product. It's absolutely not limited to something benign as "viewing of ads".
Submission + - Recovered COVID-19 Patients Test Positive But Not Infectious, Data Finds (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: People who recover from COVID-19 but test positive for the virus again days or weeks later are not shedding viral particles and are not infectious, according to data released Tuesday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The so-called “re-positive” cases have raised fears that an infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, could “reactivate” in recovered patients or that recovering from the infection may fail to produce even short-lived immunity, allowing patients to immediately become re-infected if they are exposed. The new data from Korea should ease those concerns.
KCDC researchers examined 285 cases that had previously recovered from COVID-19 but then tested positive again. The patients tested positive again anywhere from one to 37 days after recovering from their first infection and being discharged from isolation. The average time to a second positive was about 14 days. Of those cases, researchers checked for symptoms in 284 of them. They found that 126 (about 48 percent) did indeed have symptoms related to COVID-19. But none of them seemed to have spread the infection. KCDC investigated 790 people who had close contact with the 285 cases and found that none of them had been infected by the “re-positive” cases. Crucially, additional testing of 108 “re-positive” cases found that none of them were shedding infectious virus.
KCDC researchers examined 285 cases that had previously recovered from COVID-19 but then tested positive again. The patients tested positive again anywhere from one to 37 days after recovering from their first infection and being discharged from isolation. The average time to a second positive was about 14 days. Of those cases, researchers checked for symptoms in 284 of them. They found that 126 (about 48 percent) did indeed have symptoms related to COVID-19. But none of them seemed to have spread the infection. KCDC investigated 790 people who had close contact with the 285 cases and found that none of them had been infected by the “re-positive” cases. Crucially, additional testing of 108 “re-positive” cases found that none of them were shedding infectious virus.
Submission + - First Human Trial In Europe of a Coronavirus Vaccine Has Begun In Oxford (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The first human trial in Europe of a coronavirus vaccine has begun in Oxford. Two volunteers were injected, the first of more than 800 people recruited for the study. Half will receive the Covid-19 vaccine, and half a control vaccine which protects against meningitis but not coronavirus. The design of the trial means volunteers will not know which vaccine they are getting, though doctors will. The vaccine was developed in under three months by a team at Oxford University. Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the Jenner Institute, led the pre-clinical research.
The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees that has been modified so it cannot grow in humans. The Oxford team has already developed a vaccine against Mers, another type of coronavirus, using the same approach — and that had promising results in clinical trials. The only way the team will know if the Covid-19 vaccine works is by comparing the number of people who get infected with coronavirus in the months ahead from the two arms of the trial. That could be a problem if cases fall rapidly in the UK, because there may not be enough data.
The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees that has been modified so it cannot grow in humans. The Oxford team has already developed a vaccine against Mers, another type of coronavirus, using the same approach — and that had promising results in clinical trials. The only way the team will know if the Covid-19 vaccine works is by comparing the number of people who get infected with coronavirus in the months ahead from the two arms of the trial. That could be a problem if cases fall rapidly in the UK, because there may not be enough data.
Submission + - Scientists find toolkit to aid repair of damaged DNA (upi.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have developed a technique for repairing damaged DNA. The breakthrough, published this week in the journal Nature Communications, could pave the way for new therapies for cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
The accumulation of DNA damage is responsible for aging, cancer and neurological diseases like motor neuron disease, also known as ALS.
Until now, scientists have struggled to find ways to repair this kind of damage. However, researchers have discovered a new protein called TEX264 that can combine with other enzymes to find and destroy toxic proteins that bind to DNA and trigger damage.
Scientists are hoping to identify ways to use TEX264 and its protein relatives to repair the DNA damage linked with disorders like cancer and ALS. New therapies inspired by the latest research could also be used to repair the purposeful DNA damage caused by chemotherapy.
The accumulation of DNA damage is responsible for aging, cancer and neurological diseases like motor neuron disease, also known as ALS.
Until now, scientists have struggled to find ways to repair this kind of damage. However, researchers have discovered a new protein called TEX264 that can combine with other enzymes to find and destroy toxic proteins that bind to DNA and trigger damage.
Scientists are hoping to identify ways to use TEX264 and its protein relatives to repair the DNA damage linked with disorders like cancer and ALS. New therapies inspired by the latest research could also be used to repair the purposeful DNA damage caused by chemotherapy.
Submission + - Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Could Make Greenhouses Self-Sufficient (newatlas.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Organic solar cells (OSCs) have a few advantages over other designs. They still collect energy from sunlight, but can be made more flexible, transparent (or at least semi-transparent) and can be tuned to only absorb certain wavelengths of light. That potentially makes them perfect for greenhouse roofing – they can let most light through for the plants, while harvesting enough to offset a decent chunk of the facility’s energy needs. “Plants only use some wavelengths of light for photosynthesis, and the idea is to create greenhouses that make energy from that unused light while allowing most of the photosynthetic band of light to pass through,” says Brendan O’Connor, corresponding author of the study [from North Carolina State University]. “However, until now it wasn’t clear how much energy a greenhouse could capture if it was using these semitransparent, wavelength selective, organic solar cells.”
To begin to answer that question, the researchers modeled how much energy would be coming in from a greenhouse with OSCs in the roof, versus the amount of energy it would normally consume. The idea was to find the point where the greenhouse becomes energy neutral – that is, it generates enough energy from the Sun to completely power itself. For this study, the theoretical greenhouses were modeled on the energy needed to grow tomatoes in three locations with different climates – Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin. As a bonus, the OSCs are effective insulators too, helping maintain the right temperature. The team found that there would be a small hit to the amount of usable light the plants inside would receive, but the benefits would be worth it. In the famously sunny Arizona, for example, a greenhouse with OSCs installed could become energy neutral while blocking just 10 percent of the light the plants need. This shouldn’t negatively affect the plants, the team says. In fact, the energy output could be doubled with just a little more light blocked. In North Carolina, sunlight is a little more sparse, so a greenhouse would need to block 20 percent of the photosynthetic light to become energy neutral. Chilly Wisconsin winters would be too much to ever achieve neutrality though, but these greenhouses could still generate almost half of their energy needs.
To begin to answer that question, the researchers modeled how much energy would be coming in from a greenhouse with OSCs in the roof, versus the amount of energy it would normally consume. The idea was to find the point where the greenhouse becomes energy neutral – that is, it generates enough energy from the Sun to completely power itself. For this study, the theoretical greenhouses were modeled on the energy needed to grow tomatoes in three locations with different climates – Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin. As a bonus, the OSCs are effective insulators too, helping maintain the right temperature. The team found that there would be a small hit to the amount of usable light the plants inside would receive, but the benefits would be worth it. In the famously sunny Arizona, for example, a greenhouse with OSCs installed could become energy neutral while blocking just 10 percent of the light the plants need. This shouldn’t negatively affect the plants, the team says. In fact, the energy output could be doubled with just a little more light blocked. In North Carolina, sunlight is a little more sparse, so a greenhouse would need to block 20 percent of the photosynthetic light to become energy neutral. Chilly Wisconsin winters would be too much to ever achieve neutrality though, but these greenhouses could still generate almost half of their energy needs.
Submission + - Companies That Buy Data Derived From Scraping the Contents of Your Email Inbox (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The popular Edison email app, which is in the top 100 productivity apps on the Apple app store, scrapes users' email inboxes and sells products based off that information to clients in the finance, travel, and e-Commerce sectors. The contents of Edison users' inboxes are of particular interest to companies who can buy the data to make better investment decisions, according to a J.P. Morgan document obtained by Motherboard. On its website Edison says that it does "process" users' emails, but some users did not know that when using the Edison app the company scrapes their inbox for profit. Motherboard has also obtained documentation that provides more specifics about how two other popular apps—Cleanfox and Slice—sell products based on users' emails to corporate clients.
Some of the companies listed in the J.P. Morgan document sell data sourced from "personal inboxes," the document adds. A spokesperson for J.P. Morgan Research, the part of the company that created the document, told Motherboard that the research "is intended for institutional clients." That document describes Edison as providing "consumer purchase metrics including brand loyalty, wallet share, purchase preferences, etc." The document adds that the "source" of the data is the "Edison Email App." On the product section of its website, Edison offers "Edison Trends" and "Trends Direct." The company says it can provide "Detailed behavior patterns to improve your customers' experience and business results." Edison is just one of several companies that offer free email apps which then sell anonymized or pseudonymised data derived from users' inboxes. Another company that mines inboxes called Foxintelligence has data that comes from users of the Cleanfox app, which tidies up users' inboxes.
Some of the companies listed in the J.P. Morgan document sell data sourced from "personal inboxes," the document adds. A spokesperson for J.P. Morgan Research, the part of the company that created the document, told Motherboard that the research "is intended for institutional clients." That document describes Edison as providing "consumer purchase metrics including brand loyalty, wallet share, purchase preferences, etc." The document adds that the "source" of the data is the "Edison Email App." On the product section of its website, Edison offers "Edison Trends" and "Trends Direct." The company says it can provide "Detailed behavior patterns to improve your customers' experience and business results." Edison is just one of several companies that offer free email apps which then sell anonymized or pseudonymised data derived from users' inboxes. Another company that mines inboxes called Foxintelligence has data that comes from users of the Cleanfox app, which tidies up users' inboxes.
Submission + - A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds (sciencealert.com)
schwit1 writes: Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years.
This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. The results make it an excellent candidate for studying the longevity of plant seeds. ;
From those date palm saplings, the researchers have begun to unlock the secrets of the highly sophisticated cultivation practices that produced the dates praised by Herodotus, Galen, and Pliny the Elder.
"The current study sheds light on the origins of the Judean date palm, suggesting that its cultivation, benefiting from genetically distinct eastern and western populations, arose from local or introduced eastern varieties, which only later were crossed with western varieties," the researchers wrote in their paper.
This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. The results make it an excellent candidate for studying the longevity of plant seeds.
From those date palm saplings, the researchers have begun to unlock the secrets of the highly sophisticated cultivation practices that produced the dates praised by Herodotus, Galen, and Pliny the Elder.
"The current study sheds light on the origins of the Judean date palm, suggesting that its cultivation, benefiting from genetically distinct eastern and western populations, arose from local or introduced eastern varieties, which only later were crossed with western varieties," the researchers wrote in their paper.
Submission + - FBI probes use of Israeli firm's spyware in personal and government hacks (reuters.com)
nickwinlund77 writes: From Reuters: "The FBI conducted more interviews with technology industry experts after Facebook filed a lawsuit in October accusing NSO itself of exploiting a flaw in Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service to hack 1,400 users, according to two people who spoke with agents or Justice Department officials.
Part of the FBI probe has been aimed at understanding NSO’s business operations and the technical assistance it offers customers, according to two sources familiar with the inquiry.
Suppliers of hacking tools could be prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) or the Wiretap Act, if they had enough knowledge of or involvement in improper use, said James Baker, general counsel at the FBI until January 2018.
The CFAA criminalizes unauthorized access to a computer or computer network, and the Wiretap Act prohibits use of a tool to intercept calls, texts or emails.
NSO is known in the cybersecurity world for its “Pegasus” software other tools that can be delivered in several ways. The software can capture everything on a phone, including the plain text of encrypted messages, and commandeer it to record audio."
Part of the FBI probe has been aimed at understanding NSO’s business operations and the technical assistance it offers customers, according to two sources familiar with the inquiry.
Suppliers of hacking tools could be prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) or the Wiretap Act, if they had enough knowledge of or involvement in improper use, said James Baker, general counsel at the FBI until January 2018.
The CFAA criminalizes unauthorized access to a computer or computer network, and the Wiretap Act prohibits use of a tool to intercept calls, texts or emails.
NSO is known in the cybersecurity world for its “Pegasus” software other tools that can be delivered in several ways. The software can capture everything on a phone, including the plain text of encrypted messages, and commandeer it to record audio."
Submission + - Study of YouTube Comments Finds Evidence of Radicalization Effect (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Research presented at the ACM FAT 2020 conference in Barcelona today supports the notion that YouTube’s platform is playing a role in radicalizing users via exposure to far-right ideologies. The study, carried out by researchers at Switzerland’s Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne and the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, found evidence that users who engaged with a middle ground of extreme right-wing content migrated to commenting on the most fringe far-right content.
Their paper, called “Auditing radicalization pathways on YouTube,” details a large-scale study of YouTube looking for traces of evidence — in likes, comments and views — that certain right-leaning YouTube communities are acting as gateways to fringe far-right ideologies. Per the paper, they analyzed 330,925 videos posted on 349 channels — broadly classifying the videos into four types: Media, the Alt-lite, the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) and the Alt-right — and using user comments as a “good enough” proxy for radicalization (their data set included 72 million comments). The findings suggest a pipeline effect over a number of years where users who started out commenting on alt-lite/IDW YouTube content shifted to commenting on extreme far-right content on the platform over time. The rate of overlap between consumers of Media content and the alt-right was found to be far lower.
Their paper, called “Auditing radicalization pathways on YouTube,” details a large-scale study of YouTube looking for traces of evidence — in likes, comments and views — that certain right-leaning YouTube communities are acting as gateways to fringe far-right ideologies. Per the paper, they analyzed 330,925 videos posted on 349 channels — broadly classifying the videos into four types: Media, the Alt-lite, the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) and the Alt-right — and using user comments as a “good enough” proxy for radicalization (their data set included 72 million comments). The findings suggest a pipeline effect over a number of years where users who started out commenting on alt-lite/IDW YouTube content shifted to commenting on extreme far-right content on the platform over time. The rate of overlap between consumers of Media content and the alt-right was found to be far lower.
Submission + - Huawei Drops Android and it's a Good Thing, Too! (androidpolice.com) 1
shanen writes: Kind of a complicated topic, but several aspects seem worthy of discussion. Does Slashdot still do those? But let me throw in a few points for consideration:
(1) Standards are good, but international standards depend on international cooperation. If the world is devolving into every country for itself, then the collateral damage is obvious.
(2) If Huawei wants to survive in a stable way, then it can't rely on American companies anymore. Best case is to profit from the sales opportunities in America, but it has to be downstream in sales, not upstream on the suppliers' side.
(3) Huawei actually has more leverage to protect its hardware from government intrusions than most American companies. Basically Huawei can honestly say to the Chinese government "If we put any kind of spying stuff into our hardware, then it is eventually going to be discovered, and that discovery would kill us in the international markets." (That could break down if they really believe they are so far ahead of other countries that their hardware can never be reverse engineered, but I think that would be a crazy belief.)
(4) Maybe international support is just too messy and unprofitable now?
(5) Then there's the wild card factor. This week's wild card is the Wukovi. (That's supposed to be a joke name for the new epidemic: WUhan COronoVIrus. It definitely needs a catchier name if it's going to catch on, eh?)
(1) Standards are good, but international standards depend on international cooperation. If the world is devolving into every country for itself, then the collateral damage is obvious.
(2) If Huawei wants to survive in a stable way, then it can't rely on American companies anymore. Best case is to profit from the sales opportunities in America, but it has to be downstream in sales, not upstream on the suppliers' side.
(3) Huawei actually has more leverage to protect its hardware from government intrusions than most American companies. Basically Huawei can honestly say to the Chinese government "If we put any kind of spying stuff into our hardware, then it is eventually going to be discovered, and that discovery would kill us in the international markets." (That could break down if they really believe they are so far ahead of other countries that their hardware can never be reverse engineered, but I think that would be a crazy belief.)
(4) Maybe international support is just too messy and unprofitable now?
(5) Then there's the wild card factor. This week's wild card is the Wukovi. (That's supposed to be a joke name for the new epidemic: WUhan COronoVIrus. It definitely needs a catchier name if it's going to catch on, eh?)
Submission + - Programmer Moneyball: Challenging the Myth of Individual Programmer Productivity (cmu.edu)
jbmartin6 writes: Academic study challenges the notion that "some programmers are much, much better than others (the times-10, or x10, programmer), and that the skills, abilities, and talents of these programmers exert an outsized influence on that organization's success or failure."
Instead, the author shows productivity variation is often a result of poor performing outliers and some wide variation in individual's productivity from day to day. Once these factors are eliminated, the gap between top performers and normal performers isn't that great, and there is a very small supply of consistent top performers anyway. This result has a lot of implications for how software teams and projects are managed.
Instead, the author shows productivity variation is often a result of poor performing outliers and some wide variation in individual's productivity from day to day. Once these factors are eliminated, the gap between top performers and normal performers isn't that great, and there is a very small supply of consistent top performers anyway. This result has a lot of implications for how software teams and projects are managed.
Submission + - SPAM: Is a vegan diet killing your IQ? 11
omfglearntoplay writes: The vegan diet is low in â" or, in some cases, entirely devoid of â" several important brain nutrients. Could these shortcomings be affecting vegans' abilities to think?
To see how crucial B12 is for the brain, take what happens when we donâ(TM)t get enough of it. In children, the consequences of B12 deficiency can be life-altering. âoeThere are some tragic cases of children whose brains failed to develop because of their parents being ill-informed vegans,â says Benton. In one example, the child was unable to sit or smile. In another, they slipped into a coma.
Later in life, the amount of B12 in a personâ(TM)s blood has been directly correlated with their IQ. In the elderly, one study found that the brains of those with lower B12 were six times more likely to be shrinking.
Even so, low B12 is widespread in vegans. One British study found that half of the vegans in their sample were deficient. In some parts of India, the problem is endemic â" possibly as a consequence of the popularity of meat-free diets.
For example, one 2007 study found that giving young women iron supplements led to significant intellectual gains.
Link to Original Source
To see how crucial B12 is for the brain, take what happens when we donâ(TM)t get enough of it. In children, the consequences of B12 deficiency can be life-altering. âoeThere are some tragic cases of children whose brains failed to develop because of their parents being ill-informed vegans,â says Benton. In one example, the child was unable to sit or smile. In another, they slipped into a coma.
Later in life, the amount of B12 in a personâ(TM)s blood has been directly correlated with their IQ. In the elderly, one study found that the brains of those with lower B12 were six times more likely to be shrinking.
Even so, low B12 is widespread in vegans. One British study found that half of the vegans in their sample were deficient. In some parts of India, the problem is endemic â" possibly as a consequence of the popularity of meat-free diets.
For example, one 2007 study found that giving young women iron supplements led to significant intellectual gains.
Link to Original Source
Submission + - Department of Interior Grounds Its Drones Over Chinese Spying Fears (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Department of the Interior has confirmed it has grounded its fleet of non-emergency drones amid concerns over cybersecurity. In a brief statement, the department said the move will help to ensure that “the technology used for these operations is such that it will not compromise our national security interests.” Interior spokesperson Carol Danko said the department affirms with a formal order the “temporary cessation of non-emergency drones while we ensure that cybersecurity, technology and domestic production concerns are adequately addressed,” months after the department said it was grounding its approximately 800 drones. But the drones will still be used for emergency purposes, such as search and rescue and assisting with natural disasters, the statement said.
The order did not specifically mention threats from China, but said that information collected during drone missions “has the potential to be valuable to foreign entities, organizations, and governments.” Danko told TechCrunch that the department currently has 121 drones made by DJI and 665 drones that are Chinese-built but not made by DJI. She added that 24 drones are made in the U.S. but have Chinese components. “The review is to help us identify and assess any potential threats or risks,” said Danko.
The order did not specifically mention threats from China, but said that information collected during drone missions “has the potential to be valuable to foreign entities, organizations, and governments.” Danko told TechCrunch that the department currently has 121 drones made by DJI and 665 drones that are Chinese-built but not made by DJI. She added that 24 drones are made in the U.S. but have Chinese components. “The review is to help us identify and assess any potential threats or risks,” said Danko.
Submission + - PHP in 202 (stitcher.io)
mbadolato writes: It's no secret among web developers and programmers in general: PHP doesn't have the best reputation. Despite still being one of the most used languages to build web applications; over the years PHP has managed to get itself a reputation of messy codebases, inexperienced developers, insecure code, an inconsistent core library, and what not.
While many of the arguments against PHP still stand today, there's also a bright side: you can write clean and maintainable, fast and reliable applications in PHP.
In this post, I want to look at this bright side of PHP development. I want to show you that, despite its many shortcomings, PHP is a worthwhile language to learn. I want you to know that the PHP 5 era is coming to an end. That, if you want to, you can write modern and clean PHP code, and leave behind much of the mess it was 10 years ago.
While many of the arguments against PHP still stand today, there's also a bright side: you can write clean and maintainable, fast and reliable applications in PHP.
In this post, I want to look at this bright side of PHP development. I want to show you that, despite its many shortcomings, PHP is a worthwhile language to learn. I want you to know that the PHP 5 era is coming to an end. That, if you want to, you can write modern and clean PHP code, and leave behind much of the mess it was 10 years ago.
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