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Comment Re:There's no floor (Score 1) 308

by wikdwarlock (#59969886) Attached to: Oil Plunges Below Zero for First Time With May Contract Ending
I totally advocate for renewable energy. However, the idea that those sources can't be price/availability manipulated is wholly wrong. Wind Trubines/Geothermal Plants/Solar Farms are expensive to make and maintain, and are therefore owned by corporations. Those corps can easily decide they need to put the whole portion of a specific regional grid into "maintenance" and lower production to control price. The transmission and balancing of that power can also be played with before it gets onto the grid to play games with pricing.

Comment Re:Is there a way to 3d print these things? (Score 1) 98

by wikdwarlock (#59844182) Attached to: People Are Trying to Make DIY Ventilators To Meet Coronavirus Demand
Think of this analogy: you can 3D print keyboard keycaps, but you can't make a 3D printed keyboard. At the very least, there are necessary components that are currently made out of non-3D printed materials (metal, rubber, some plastics) that would need to be made by some other method. And then, a good deal of the design complexity is customizing all the parts to work together, like getting the traces on the keyboard PCB to line up with the buttons while still having spots for mounting holes, connectors, etc. Printing one simple part out of an entire ventilator is not even close to the same thing as making a DIY or 3D printed ventilator. Source: I am a medical device engineer for the last 8 years.

Comment Re:Staff and beds, not vents (Score 1) 98

by wikdwarlock (#59844166) Attached to: People Are Trying to Make DIY Ventilators To Meet Coronavirus Demand
I AM a medical device engineer (for the past 8 years), and though I've not worked on breathing assist devices, I do know about the complexities of designing a safe and effective device AND THEN getting accurate and reliable prototypes and production parts made. The naive belief is that you just need an air pump, some buttons, and tubes and your good to go. Peoples' lungs are delicate and can easily be overinflated and damaged (potentially fatally) with incorrect air pressures. One of the very important aspects of a device like a ventilator is the software and sensors. Algorithms for monitoring breathing, dealing with sensor noise, calibration for different patients, fail-safe scenarios, usability and interfaces, etc. There are also logistical challenges like sourcing the tubing, getting things sterilized, having replacement parts on-hand, the list goes on and on. The idea of a DIY ventilator is cool but not anything that will be useful in the next 6 weeks or probably even 6 months.

Comment Re:I don't get it. (Score 1) 121

by wikdwarlock (#57893794) Attached to: Fortnite Star Ninja Says He Raked in Millions of Dollars Last Year
I started watching Ninja stream Fortnite after Penny Arcade made mention of him and how amazing it was to watch him play. I don't particularly care for him as a person, and his commentary is mostly vapid. However, watching his game play is quite impressive. In Fortnite, the game is equal parts building in 3D and running/hiding/shooting in 3D. Watching a very skilled player literally build the world around them as they and their opponents position and shoot in that world is an exciting and fascinating thing to behold. I have no skill in playing such games, but that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the skills of others as they develop real time strategies in 3D. That's the draw for me, seeing someone do something impressive and interesting at a much higher skill level than I could ever obtain.

Submission + - SPAM: Japan team maps 'semi-infinite' trove of rare earth elements

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Japanese researchers have mapped vast reserves of rare earth elements in deep-sea mud, enough to feed global demand on a “semi-infinite basis,” according to a new study.

The deposit, found within Japan’s exclusive economic zone waters, contains more than 16 million tons of the elements needed to build high-tech products ranging from mobile phones to electric vehicles, according to the study, released Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports. The team, comprised of several universities, businesses and government institutions, surveyed the western Pacific Ocean near Minamitori Island.

In a sample area of the mineral-rich region, the team’s survey estimated 1.2 million tons of “rare earth oxide” is deposited there, said the study, conducted jointly by Waseda University’s Yutaro Takaya and the University of Tokyo’s Yasuhiro Kato, among others.

The finding extrapolates that a 2,500-sq. km region off the southern Japanese island should contain 16 million tons of the valuable elements, and “has the potential to supply these metals on a semi-infinite basis to the world,” the study said.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Scientists 3D Print Liquid Materials (lbl.gov)

Submitted by omaha393
omaha393 writes: Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have successfully developed a technique to print liquid 3D structures. Using a modified 3D printer, the team demonstrated they can reliably print liquid tubes sheathed in surfactants, with precision that allows spiral and branching shapes with diameters ranging from micrometers to millimetres. The technique offers a means to finely control small scale synthetic reactions but the team suggest it could lead to wearable, stretchable electronics. A brief video showing the technology is available and the full paper is available at Advanced Materials.

Submission + - NASA Readies Big Announcement on Possible Alien Life (infosurhoy.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: NASA has announced a press conference for Thursday and is expected to confirm a major discovery about life beyond earth.

The announcement will be made by the team of scientists who have been studying the several thousand planets discovered by the Kepler space telescope. Kepler is the most successful planet-hunting probe in history, having identified more than 2500 planets with another 2000 candidates that still need to be studied.

Kepler has found several planets orbiting their star in the so-called "Goldilocks Zone," where it is warm enough for liquid water to flow. The announcement may be related to one of those planets.

In issuing the release on the press conference, NASA pointed to a new way of analyzing data from Kepler.

The team at the Kepler Space Telescope has been searching for extra-terrestrial life since 2009, and now they have found something spell bounding. In the course of time, the telescope has found many Earth-sized planets on the habitable zone, and researchers believe that some of them have the possibility to support life. According to NASA officials, this startling discovery was made using machine learning supported by Google.

“The discovery was made by researchers using machine learning from Google. Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analyzing Kepler data,” wrote NASA officials in a recently released press release.

Submission + - "Watershed" Medical Trial Proves Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Reversed (bbc.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: For those suffering from type 2 Diabetes, there is good news. Nearly half of the participants in a watershed trial of a new Diabetes treatment were able to reverse their affliction. The method is quite simple — an all liquid diet that causes participants to lose a lot of weight, followed by a carefully controlled diet of real solid foods. Four times a day, a sachet of powder is stirred in water to make a soup or shake. They contain about 200 calories, but also the right balance of nutrients. If the patient can keep away from other foods long enough, there is a chance of reversing type 2 Diabetes completely. Prof Roy Taylor, from Newcastle University, told the BBC: "It's a real watershed moment. Before we started this line of work, doctors and specialists regarded type 2 as irreversible. But if we grasp the nettle and get people out of their dangerous state (being overweight), they can get remission of diabetes." However, doctors are not calling this a cure. If the weight goes back on, then the diabetes will return. The trial only looked at people diagnosed with Diabetes in the last six years. Doctors believe — but do no know with absolute certainty yet — that in people who have had the affliction much longer than that, there may be too much permanent damage to make remission possible.

Submission + - Gamer Streams Pay-Per-View UFC Fight by Pretending to Play It

Submitted by WheezyJoe
WheezyJoe writes: A Pay-Per-View UFC Match was streamed in its entirety on Twitch and other platforms by a gamer pretending he was "playing" the fight as a game. The gamer, appearing in the corner of the image holding his game controller, made off like he was controlling the action of the "game" when in fact he was re-broadcasting the fight for free.

A tweet showing Lester’s antics went viral, with over 63,000 retweets and 140,000 likes at the time of publication. Another clip shows him reacting wildly yelling “oooooooooooooooh!!!” and “damnnnnnn!” in response to the match.

Submission + - Electric Cars Are Already Cheaper To Own and Run Than Petrol or Diesel (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, new research shows. The lower cost is a key factor driving the rapid rise in electric car sales now underway, say the researchers. At the moment the cost is partly because of government support, but electric cars are expected to become the cheapest option without subsidies in a few years. The researchers analyzed the total cost of ownership of cars over four years, including the purchase price and depreciation, fuel, insurance, taxation and maintenance. They were surprised to find that pure electric cars came out cheapest in all the markets they examined: UK, Japan, Texas and California.

Pure electric cars have much lower fuel costs — electricity is cheaper than petrol or diesel – and maintenance costs, as the engines are simpler and help brake the car, saving on brake pads. In the UK, the annual cost was about 10% lower than for petrol or diesel cars in 2015, the latest year analyzed. Hybrid cars which cannot be plugged in and attract lower subsidies, were usually a little more expensive than petrol or diesel cars. Plug-in hybrids were found to be significantly more expensive — buyers are effectively paying for two engines in one car, the researchers said. The exception in this case was Japan, where plug-in hybrids receive higher subsidies.

Submission + - Was Your Name Stolen To Support Killing Net Neutrality? (dslreports.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a new tool for users interested in knowing whether their identity was stolen and used to fraudulently support the FCC's attack on popular net neutrality rules. The NY AG's office announced earlier this month that it was investigating identity theft and comment fraud during the FCC's public comment period. Researchers have noted repeatedly how "someone" used a bot to fill the comment proceeding with bogus support for the FCC plan, with many of the names being those of folks who'd never heard of net neutrality — or were even dead. The new AG tool streamlines the act of searching the FCC proceeding for comments filed falsely in your name, and lets you contribute your findings to the AG's ongoing investigation into identity theft.

"Such conduct likely violates state law — yet the FCC has refused multiple requests for crucial evidence in its sole possession that is vital to permit that law enforcement investigation to proceed," noted Schneiderman. "We reached out for assistance to multiple top FCC officials, including you, three successive acting FCC General Counsels, and the FCC’s Inspector General. We offered to keep the requested records confidential, as we had done when my office and the FCC shared information and documents as part of past investigative work." "Yet we have received no substantive response to our investigative requests," stated the AG. "None." As such, the AG is taking its fight to the public itself.

Submission + - Two Stars Slammed Into Each Other And Solved ½ of Astronomy's Problems.Now (fivethirtyeight.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Progress, as they say, is slow. In science, this is often true even for major breakthroughs; rarely is an entire field of research remade in a single swoop. The Human Genome Project took a decade. Finding the first gravitational waves took multiple decades. So it’s hard to overstate the enormous leap forward that astronomy took on Aug. 17, 2017.

On that day, astronomers bore witness to the titanic collision of two neutron stars, the densest things in the universe besides black holes. In the collision’s wake, astronomers answered multiple major questions that have dominated their field for a generation. They solved the origin of gamma-ray bursts, mysterious jets of hardcore radiation that could potentially roast Earth. They glimpsed the forging of heavy metals, like gold and platinum. They measured the rate at which the expansion of the universe is accelerating. They caught light at the same time as gravitational waves, confirmation that waves move at the speed of light. And there was more, and there is much more yet to come from this discovery. It all happened so quickly and revealed so much that astronomers are already facing a different type of question: Now what?

Submission + - Bitcoin drops over $1000 in value over 48 hours (reuters.com)

Submitted by sqorbit
sqorbit writes: Bitcoin dropped below $7000 after hitting an all time high. After a possible fork was suspend bitcoin reached a peak at $7888 before dropping down below $7000. Some investors appear to be selling in order to buy "Bitcoin Cash" which was a split August 1st. Bitcoin cash reached $850.

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