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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

The ISS Is About to Receive a New Doorway to Space:

The International Space Station (ISS) is about to take delivery of what NASA describes as a new "doorway to space."

The Bishop Airlock Module, that's its official name, was built by Texas-based Nanoracks and will arrive at the space station early next month as part of SpaceX's next supply mission. Astronauts currently serving as the station's Expedition 64 crew will then fit the module to an available port.

Nanoracks' Bishop Airlock Module is special in that it'll be the first permanent, commercial addition to the space station. Also, with a height of 1.8 meters and a diameter of 2 meters, it'll offer fives times the volume that can currently be moved in and out of the orbiting laboratory.

A new doorway to space is coming to the @Space_Station! ????✨

Launching on the 21st commercial resupply mission, @Nanoracks#BishopAirlock Module will allow more researchers and companies to move larger payloads inside and outside the station. Learn more: https://t.co/GiqgvW5hpgpic.twitter.com/Vpir46MyVJ

— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) November 25, 2020

[...] As we look forward to seeing how the module will be used by private companies and researchers, NASA notes that the space agency itself has already booked multiple slots for use of the airlock for more banal activities, namely the disposal of larger pieces of trash that will later burn up on entry into Earth's atmosphere.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil:

Boston Dynamics' Spot Is Helping Chernobyl Move Towards Safe Decommissioning:

In terms of places where you absolutely want a robot to go instead of you, what remains of the utterly destroyed Chernobyl Reactor 4 should be very near the top of your list. The reactor, which suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986, has been covered up in almost every way possible in an effort to keep its nuclear core contained. But eventually, that nuclear material is going to have to be dealt with somehow, and in order to do that, it's important to understand which bits of it are just really bad, and which bits are the actual worst. And this is where Spot is stepping in to help.

[...] The goal for Spot in the short term is fully autonomous radiation mapping, which seems very possible. It'll also get tested with a wider range of sensor packages, and (happily for the robot) this will all take place safely back at home in the U.K. As far as Chernobyl is concerned, robots will likely have a substantial role to play in the near future. "Ultimately, Chernobyl has to be taken apart and decommissioned. That's the long-term plan for the facility. To do that, you first need to understand everything, which is where we come in with our sensor systems and robotic platforms," Megson-Smith tells us. "Since there are entire swathes of the Chernobyl nuclear plant where people can't go in, we'd need robots like Spot to do those environmental characterizations."

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canopic jug writes:

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure has a call for donations against the Unitary Software Patent Trolls after Thursday's disastrous Bundestag vote. On Thursday in Germany, the Bundestag voted on ratification of a proposal for a Unified Patent Court, largely seen as purely a vehicle for introducing software patents into Europe. As software patents in the US were on the way out, introducing them into Europe would bring them back into the US after further "harmonization". Thursday's vote is the result of the software patent lobby changing its strategy in Europe by creating a central patent court outside of the control of the individual member states under which it would make its own rules and avoid democratically elected legislators.

oumuamua writes:

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spreads more indoors at low humidity.

The airborne transmission of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 via aerosol particles in indoor environment seems to be strongly influenced by relative humidity. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig and the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi from the analysis of 10 most relevant international studies on the subject. Therefore, they recommend controlling the indoor air in addition to the usual measures such as social distancing and masks. A relative humidity of 40 to 60 percent could reduce the spread of the viruses and their absorption through the nasal mucous membrane. To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it is therefore extremely important to implement standards for indoor air humidity in rooms with many people, such as hospitals, open-plan offices or public transport, writes the research team in the scientific journal Aerosol and Air Quality Research

And other findings dispute that: Temperature and Humidity Do Not Play a Major Role in Coronavirus Spread:

Research headed by The University of Texas at Austin is providing a little clarity on the role of weather in COVID-19 infection. The new study found that humidity and temperature do not play a major role in the spread of coronavirus.

A doctor's opinion: This winter, fight covid-19 with humidity:

c0lo writes:

Straight for the horse's mouth ESA and ClearSpace SA sign contract for world's first debris removal mission

ESA is signing an €86 million contract with an industrial team led by the Swiss start-up ClearSpace SA to purchase a unique service: the first removal of an item of space debris from orbit. As a result, in 2025, ClearSpace SA will launch the first active debris removal mission, ClearSpace-1, which will rendezvous, capture and bring down for reentry a Vespa payload adapter. Journalists are invited to follow an online round table for media on Tuesday, 1 December, at 13:30 CET. Mission experts will give an overview of the project status, explain the ambitious mission design and detail the next steps leading to launch.

[...] The ClearSpace-1 mission will target the Vespa (Vega Secondary Payload Adapter). This object was left in an approximately 801 km by 664 km-altitude gradual disposal orbit, complying with space debris mitigation regulations, following the second flight of Vega back in 2013. With a mass of 112 kg, the Vespa target is close in size to a small satellite.

In almost 60 years of space activities, more than 5550 launches have resulted in some 42 000 tracked objects in orbit, of which about 23 000 remain in space and are regularly tracked. With today's annual launch rates averaging nearly 100, and with break-ups continuing to occur at average historical rates of four to five per year, the number of debris objects in space will steadily increase. ClearSpace-1 will demonstrate the technical ability and commercial capacity to significantly enhance the long-term sustainability of spaceflight. The mission is supported within ESA's Space Safety Programme based at the agency's ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

The capture process

Commercial project's page

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cmdrklarg writes:

Sheep counters find a monolith:

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-what-is-it-trnd/index.html

Some geek on Reddit found it on Google Earth already:

https://www.reddit.com/r/geoguessr/comments/jzw628/help_me_find_this_obelisk_in_remote_utah/

That shining, eerily symmetrical silver monolith found in the Utah desert has everyone screaming "ET." The truth is likely far more terrestrial.

We still don't know who made the tall, metal rectangle or why they stuck it among the red rocks, where it was discovered this week in a helicopter flyover by Utah Department of Public Safety employees (they were counting bighorn sheep).

And though comparisons were quickly drawn to the fictional monoliths of film auteur Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," we can safely say this real-life monolith was not the work of aliens.

Still, it's a fittingly mystifying symbol in a year that's often felt stranger than fiction. And while we may eventually learn more about the artwork's origin, any piece of Kubrick-inspired art should leave some questions unanswered, said I.Q. Hunter, a film scholar and De Montfort University professor.

Also at:
Mysterious metal monolith discovered in rural Utah
Utah monolith: Internet sleuths got there, but its origins are still a mystery
Thanks aristarchus_, Runaway1956

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:

Missing Ink: Darwin Notebooks, Long Unseen, Now Believed Stolen:

Have you seen Charles Darwin's missing notebooks? If so, the authorities — and some "heartbroken" librarians — would like to have a word with you.

That's the bottom line of an appeal issued Tuesday by Cambridge University Library in the United Kingdom. The library, which manages a massive archive of the famed naturalist's work, said it's seeking two notebooks that have been missing for nearly two decades — and that, after an exhaustive search, they fear were stolen.

Cambridgeshire police confirmed Tuesday that they have opened a formal investigation into the disappearance. The library says the pair of journals, which it estimates being worth millions of dollars, have also been added to the Art Loss Register in the U.K. and Interpol's database of stolen works of art.

"It is deeply regretful to me that these notebooks remain missing despite numerous widescale searches over the past 20 years, including the largest search in the library's history earlier this year," Jessica Gardner, the Cambridge University librarian, said in a recorded plea for public help.

"We would be hugely grateful for anyone with information that might assist in their recovery," she added. "Someone, somewhere may be able to help us return these notebooks to their proper place at the heart of the U.K.'s cultural and scientific heritage."

Among the missing papers is a sketch that Darwin composed in 1837, shortly after returning from the voyage on the HMS Beagle that helped inspire his theory of evolution. The little drawing, better known among scholars as the Tree of Life sketch, reveals elements of Darwin's thinking more than two decades before he fleshed out his ideas in his groundbreaking On the Origin of Species.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Square Enix Launches Permanent Work-From-Home Program Next Month:

2020 has been a year like no other - with pretty much the entire tech and video game industry required to work from home during the height of the pandemic.

With this in mind, Square Enix - publishing upcoming releases like Balan Wonderworld and the recently revealed NEO: The World Ends With You - has announced it will offer employees and executive officers more flexibility with a "Work-From-Home" program.

The program will start on 1st December and Square Enix expects approximately 80% of its team to be home-based (working an average of at least three days per week from home). Office based roles will depend on the work required (with the employee working an average of at least three days per week from the office).

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Tech giants face fines or even break-up if they breach new rules: EU's Breton:

Tech giants that break new EU rules aimed at curbing their powers could face fines, be ordered to change their practices or even be forced to break up their European businesses, the bloc's digital chief Thierry Breton said on Wednesday.

Breton's comments come two weeks before he is due to present draft rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), which are likely to affect big U.S. players Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.

The DSA will force tech companies to explain how their algorithms work, open up their advertising archives to regulators and researchers, and do more to tackle hate speech, harmful content and counterfeit products on their platforms.

[...] The planned laws are still some way from taking effect, though. The European Commission will have to negotiate with EU countries and the European Parliament to agree on the final legislation, a process which could take a year or two.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Exclusive: Foxconn to shift some Apple production to Vietnam to minimise China risk:

Foxconn is moving some iPad and MacBook assembly to Vietnam from China at the request of Apple Inc, said a person with knowledge of the plan, as the U.S. firm diversifies production to minimise the impact of a Sino-U.S. trade war.

The development comes as the outgoing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump encourages U.S. firms to shift production out of China. During Trump's tenure, the United States has targeted made-in-China electronics for higher import tariffs, and restricted supplies of components produced using U.S. technology to Chinese firms it deems a national security risk.

[...] Foxconn is building assembly lines for Apple's iPad tablet and MacBook laptop at its plant in Vietnam's northeastern Bac Giang province, to come online in the first half of 2021, the person said, declining to be identified as the plan was private.

[...] "The move was requested by Apple," the person said. "It wants to diversify production following the trade war."

Foxconn said in statement: "As a matter of company policy, and for reasons of commercial sensitivity, we do not comment on any aspect of our work for any customer or their products".

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Waste not, want not: Dutch students build electric car from recycled material:

Dutch students have created a fully functioning electric car made mostly out of waste, including plastics fished out of the sea, recycled PET bottles and household garbage.

The bright yellow, sporty two-seater which the students named 'Luca', can reach a top speed of 90 kilometres (56 miles) per hour and has a reach of 220 kilometres when fully charged, the Technical University of Eindhoven said.

"This car is really special, because it's made out of waste", project manager Lisa van Etten told Reuters.

"Our chassis is made out of flax and recycled PET bottles. For the interior we also used unsorted household waste."

[...] The car was designed and built by a group of 22 students in around 18 months, Van Etten said, as an effort to prove the potential of waste.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:

Fear response neurons identified as potential anxiety treatment target:

Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine have discovered a set of neurons in the mouse brain that appear to control physiological responses to fear, like heart palpitations and pupil dilations. Tests in mice suggest that this region could be a new drug target for anxiety treatments.

[...] Inside the amygdala is the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), a small region previously found to be responsible for physiological fear responses. Within the BNST, the researchers zoomed in even further to a set of neurons that express a neurotransmitter gene called Pnoc.

Pnoc has previously been linked to pain sensitivity and motivation, and in the new study the team imaged the neurons that express it. Using two-photon microscopy, the researchers observed the activity of Pnoc neurons in mice while the animals were being exposed to either pleasant or unpleasant odors.

The team observed that in response to both smells, these neurons would fire and the pupils of the mice would quickly dilate – which can be either an anxiety and[sic] reward reaction, depending on the situation.

In the next experiments the researchers took a more active approach. They used optogenetics, a technique where laser light is used to either activate or silence specific cells – in this case, the Pnoc neurons. Then they measured the physical responses of the mice. Sure enough, activating Pnoc neurons caused the animals’ pupils to dilate and their heart rates to increase.

Journal Reference:
Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera. Prepronociceptin-Expressing Neurons in the Extended Amygdala Encode and Promote Rapid Arousal Responses to Motivationally Salient Stimuli, Cell Reports (DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108362)

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takyon writes:

Vulkan update: we're conformant!

In June we released the source code for our prototype driver, and last month we announced that the driver had been successfully merged to Mesa upstream.

Today we have some very exciting news to share: as of 24 November the V3DV Vulkan Mesa driver for Raspberry Pi 4 has demonstrated Vulkan 1.0 conformance.

Khronos describes the conformance process as a way to ensure that its standards are consistently implemented by multiple vendors, so as to create a reliable platform for application developers. For each standard, Khronos provides a large conformance test suite (CTS) that implementations must pass successfully to be declared conformant; in the case of Vulkan 1.0, the CTS contains over 100,000 tests.

Vulkan 1.0 conformance is a major milestone in bringing Vulkan to Raspberry Pi, but it isn't the end of the journey. Our team continues to work on all fronts to expand the Vulkan feature set, improve performance, and fix bugs. So stay tuned for future Vulkan updates!

Also at CNX Software.

See also: Raspberry Pi's V3DV Vulkan Driver Now Supports Wayland
Raspberry Pi V3DV Is Officially Vulkan Conformant, Lavapipe Also Nearing 1.0 Conformance

Previously: Raspberry Pi Foundation Begins Working on Vulkan Driver
Raspberry Pi 4 Gets 8 GB RAM Model, Also 64-bit OS and USB Boot (Both in Beta)

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takyon writes:

These Ants Suit Up in a Protective 'Biomineral Armor' Never Seen Before in Insects

Leaf-cutter ant colonies like Acromyrmex echinatior can contain millions of ants, split into four castes that all have different roles to maintain a garden of fungus that the ants eat.

These farming ants might make a top-tier team of gardeners, but that doesn't mean they don't get into the occasional scrap, and living in such large groups usually also means facing an increased risk of pathogens.

For these reasons, a little protection never goes astray, and although scientists aren't entirely sure why, it seems these little guys needed protection enough to evolve their own natural body armour.

A team led by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison analysed this 'whitish granular coating' on A. echinatior and came to the conclusion that the coating is a self-made biomineral body armour - the first known example in the insect world.

Also at Science News.

Biomineral armor in leaf-cutter ants (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19566-3) (DX)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Scientists make insta-bling at room temperature:

An international team of scientists has defied nature to make diamonds in minutes in a laboratory at room temperature - a process that normally requires billions of years, huge amounts of pressure and super-hot temperatures.

The team, led by The Australian National University (ANU) and RMIT University, made two types of diamonds: the kind found on an engagement ring and another type of diamond called Lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

[...] This new unexpected discovery shows both Lonsdaleite and regular diamond can also form at normal room temperatures by just applying high pressures - equivalent to 640 African elephants on the tip of a ballet shoe.

"The twist in the story is how we apply the pressure. As well as very high pressures, we allow the carbon to also experience something called 'shear' - which is like a twisting or sliding force. We think this allows the carbon atoms to move into place and form Lonsdaleite and regular diamond," Professor Bradby said.

[...] "Being able to make two types of diamonds at room temperature was exciting to achieve for the first time in our lab," Ms Huang said.

Journal Reference:
Dougal G. McCulloch, Sherman Wong, Thomas B. Shiell, et al. Investigation of Room Temperature Formation of the Ultra‐Hard Nanocarbons Diamond and Lonsdaleite, Small (DOI: 10.1002/smll.202004695)

Original Submission