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cafebabe writes:

ScienceDaily reports that:

After trapping the wild large-clawed scorpions (Scorpio Maurus Palmatus) in Israel's Negev desert the researchers filled their burrows with molten aluminum to make replica casts. Once solidified, they were unearthed and analyzed by a 3-D laser scanner and software.

The researchers found that the burrows followed a very sophisticated design, beginning with a short, vertical entrance shaft that flattened out a few centimeters below the surface into a horizontal platform. The burrows then turn sharply downwards, descending further below ground to form a dead-end chamber. This cool, humid chamber, where evaporation water loss is minimal, provides a refuge for the scorpions to rest during the heat of the day.

The design was common to all the scorpion burrows studied, which suggests that burrow building in scorpions has evolved by natural selection to meet the animals' physiological needs.

AnonTechie writes:

With the UN calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip an article written by Gary Brecher and first published in 2012 by NSFWCORP (now part of Pando), lessons from Gaza - suggesting that Palestinian durability may beat Israel's high-tech weaponry, remains remarkably relevant today.

What's going on in Gaza is war, but not the kind any commander from the past would understand. On paper, Israel should be winning easily, because they've got the weapons, the numbers, the organization. The weapons Hamas is firing into Israel are primitive things, unguided rocket artillery, the kind that couldn't hit the ground if it wasn't for the law of gravity. On the other side, the Israelis get the best weaponry the US can give them.

But it's not that simple. Israel may win this battle, but it's lost the war already. You see that in the confusion the IDF shows about what to do. They've tried stomping hard on Gaza. In late 2008 through early 2009, "Operation Cast Lead" sent IDF troops and planes smashing into this tiny overpopulated slum. They killed 1400 Palestinians, and it didn't do much but make everybody sick to their stomachs - including even some Israelis, once they got over their initial gloating.

cafebabe writes:

The BBC News reports that:

The agency that manages the dormant US military draft has apologised after sending conscription registration notices to men born in the late 1800s.

The Selective Service System (SSS) said the error occurred after a clerk neglected to select the century in a search for newly eligible young men.

It sent 14,250 notices to Pennsylvania men born 1893-97 in addition to 1993-97 before discovering the error.

Further:

Agency spokesman Pat Schuback said they did not catch the error because Pennsylvania used a two-digit code for the year of birth, meaning those born in 1893 and in 1993 had the same code.

"It's never happened before," Mr Schuback said.

Pennsylvania transport spokeswoman Jan McKnight said the error occurred when a clerk at the department, which manages driving licence information, transferred records to the SSS but forgot to select only the 20th Century.

Appalbarry writes:

Over at PLOS there's a report on a very cool workshop. They described it thus:

Open question: how much longer will researchers be limited to submitting manuscripts in formats like Word or LaTeX to STM journals? I caught a glimpse of a potential alternative at a recent Software Carpentry Bootcamp hosted by UC Davis.

Software Carpentry is a volunteer organization that teaches basic computing skills to researchers. Instruction typically takes the form of 2 to 3 day hands-on workshops aimed at helping researchers, typically graduate students, work more effectively with data. Aside from the larger discussion about to possibility of creating alternatives to Word and LaTeX, the actual two day workshop looks more than a bit interesting:

• Basic UNIX Shell Functions
• Data Munging
• Basic Version Control using Git
• Data Sharing with GitHub
• Intro to Programming in R for data manipulation and visualization
• Markdown and R Markdown for creating text documents that run R code
• Intro to ggplot2, a plotting system for R that make creating beautiful plots easy

Appalbarry writes:

Ever want to start your own CSI lab, but couldn't afford the cool (and usually somewhat imaginative) gear that they use?

The Public Lab Store will get you one step closer with their do it yourself, some assembly required, Desktop Spectrometry Kit!

Developed by Public Lab contributors, this open source instrument is capable of better than 3 nanometer spectral resolution and can record light from ~390 to ~900nm. Though experimental, this tool has already been used to collect spectral data on contaminated water, laundry detergent, wines, and fish tank lights.

Or, if the $40 price is still out of your budget, they also offer the Foldable Mini-Spectrometer, a smaller, cheaper spectrometer you can fold out of black card paper and attach to your smartphone!

Me? I'm waiting for the DIY Electron Microscope kit...

gizmobeast writes:

Wearable devices are the next big thing. And some experts say smartwatches will step up the game. But so far, we have seen poor reception from consumers. Globally, only 1.9 million units were sold in 2013. Could the recent release of Samsung's Gear Live and LG's G Watch change that fate?

Samsung's Gear Live and LG's G Watch are powered by Google's Android Wear. Clearly, these new devices shows huge improvement from the existing versions. And yet a lot were still disappointed. Yes, they can perform tasks such as accessing apps, taking photos or videos, checking email, sending text messages and the latest do online search through Google's voice recognition service. But still they cannot make phone calls on their own. And the battery life is a letdown.

With Android Wear, certainly we see plenty of potential for Gear Live, G watch and other future wearables. We can expect the smartwatch as a remote control for other devices and possibly a security passkey.

It seems to me that these features will not change the tide. Now, let me ask you. What features would be required for a smartwatch to hit it big? What would attract you to buy and wear it?

Read more : http://www.gizmobeast.com/tech-news/would-gear-live-and-gwatch-make-you-buy-a-smartwatch.html

Litigious Coward writes:

On June 25, the US Supreme Court ruled in Riley v. California that police generally must obtain a warrant before searching the digital contents of an arrestee's cell phone. Thus, merely having taken someone into custody cannot alone serve as justification for the uninhibited examination of his text messages, contact lists, apps, and other sensitive data; all nine justices unanimously affirmed that such searches violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. With good reason, civil liberties advocates hailed the decision as a landmark for privacy in the digital age.

Less noticed amid the initial fanfare was that the Court's reasoning may have actually further codified the curtailment of privacy rights among another, particularly-aggrieved demographic, members of which have proven uniquely vulnerable to encroachments of state power and inured to the constant predations of a system explicitly designed to screw them over: drivers.

janrinok writes:

Bell Labs has pumped data faster than ever before down antiquated copper wiring. The boffins used a frequency modulation system that they claim will be perfect for hooking up aging telco cables to future broadband fiber networks. The technique is based on the G.fast standard being considered by the International Telecommunications Union; it's a DSL standard designed to sustain 500Mbps connections over legacy copper cable networks using a 106MHz frequency range. The new Bell system, dubbed XG-FAST, increases the frequency range to 500MHz. We're told it can manage 10Gbps over a pair of copper cables 30 metres long, although speeds drops to 1Gbps of synchronous data over 70 meters.

"Our constant aim is to push the limits of what is possible to 'invent the future', with breakthroughs that are 10 times better than are possible today," said Marcus Weldon, president of Bell Labs. "Our demonstration of 10Gbps over copper is a prime example: by pushing broadband technology to its limits, operators can determine how they could deliver gigabit services over their existing networks, ensuring the availability of ultra-broadband access as widely and as economically as possible."

What's not clear is if Bell Labs can get even faster speeds over telco copper, but the team says that due to the limits of Shannon's Law (also known as the Shannon-Hartley theorem) this may not be possible.

frojack writes:

In a story the seemed perfect for SoylentNews (itself named after a meme), Pacific Standard discusses the current trend in TV and some print ads of hijacking internet memes in an attempt to appeal to an audience that has grown up on the web.

The meme, from early text only memes to the recent animated gif rage, is a staple of the net. Today, there are entire websites dedicated to cataloging memes, and other sites dedicated to extending them.

Turnabout is fair play, I suppose, since many memes grew out of TV commercials, TV shows, movies, and even games.

However, there is no agreement that going full circle and adding memes to advertising works, but that hasn't stopped big players from trying it. Fiat's new ad campaign, titled "Endless Fun" is a series of four television spots, each designed to look like animated gif loops, where we see images of bananas floating in outer space, men wearing horse masks, a guy twerking in a rabbit costume, the words "I CAN HAZ TURRBO".

But the feedback on the net is often negative: "This is the advertising equivalent of when your parents try to bump and grind at your high school dance. It's mortifying." All too often the commercials get the memes slightly wrong, but that may be on purpose, trying to avoid legal issues. The memes used also tend to be a little dated, but that too is probably by design.

Fiat/Chrysler's Chief Marketing Officer said of these ads "I thought they were crazy. Crazy weird. Crazy fun. Crazy cheap to produce as well. Maybe a new culture of commercial".

While his advertising ambitions may be a bit overstates, I suspect his cost conscious side is spot on. YMMV.

gewg_ writes:

The Center for American Progress reports

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision that closely held corporations like Hobby Lobby can refuse to offer coverage for certain types of contraception based on their owners' religious beliefs, thousands of people have made it clear they're unhappy with the ruling. Over the past two weeks, people have rallied at Hobby Lobby locations across the country and called for widespread boycotts of its products.

But in addition to those more traditional acts of protest, some activists are also getting pretty creative. Here are some of the more unusual ways they're making their feelings known:

1. Making their own IUDs out of pipe cleaners.

"Miss Sandy from Hobby Lobby" an entirely fictional character explains how to use pipe cleaners, glue guns, googly eyes, and glitter to create a homemade IUD. The video's creators specify that all of those craft supplies were actually purchased from Michael's, one of Hobby Lobby's direct competitors.

2. Rearranging craft displays to spell out pro-choice messages.

Several customers have visited Hobby Lobby stores to use the products on the shelves to spell out responses to the recent ruling. Several protesters have rearranged wooden blocks to spell the word "pro-choice". Another opted for "all women deserve birth control".

3. Filming X-rated videos.

Porn star Ela Darling partnered with the Funny or Die team to film an X-rated video called "How to Get Contraception From Hobby Lobby". Like Miss Sandy, Darling also favors making homemade birth control out of craft supplies she ends up creating a "sperm free zone" out of Popsicle sticks

Anonymous Coward writes:

At least 80 percent of all audio calls are gathered and stored by the NSA, whistleblower William Binney has revealed. The former code-breaker says the spy agency's ultimate aim is no less than total population control.

"At least 80 percent of fiber-optic cables globally go via the US", Binney said. "This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80 percent of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores."

Binney has no evidence to substantiate his claims as he did not take any documents with him when he left the NSA. However, he insists the organization is untruthful about its intelligence gathering practices and their ultimate aim. He says that recent Supreme Court decisions have led him to believe the NSA won't stop until it has complete control over the population.

janrinok writes:

From the article:

A ribbon-cutting ceremony near the base of the new NASA antenna within the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) marked the official beginning for the Near Earth Network (NEN) asset. Operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), the facility is a prime polar location for NASA and part of its globally distributing ground-based network providing communication services for orbiting spacecraft.

"You call this area the final frontier," said Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) to the Fairbanks crowd gathered for the ceremony. "At NASA, we see you as the first frontier because you are at the forefront of exploration activities. To everyone who worked to make this a reality, thank you. You have a special relationship with NASA, and we want to continue working with the university to expand this relationship."

Operation of the NASA-owned communication equipment, consisting of three antennas (AS-1, 2 & 3), is the responsibility of the university. The 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week services provide downlink, uplink and coherent tracking to support launches, early orbits and routine on-orbit operations. Development, building and verification testing of NASA's newest antenna were completed just in time to support the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) on July 2.

The NEN provides telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) services to an extensive and diverse customer base of approximately 35 missions. They include the high-rate Earth Observing System (EOS), Aqua, Aura and QuikSCAT; and Small Explorer (SMEX) missions such as SWIFT, AIM, IRIS and NuStar. The network provides TT&C services for orbiting satellites with periodic passes that average 140 per day. The NEN also supports orbiting satellites through short duration communications services. These missions require daily and sometimes hourly contact.

fleg writes:

An article from The Guardian discusses some basic strategies and tactics for playing video games.

Whatever you're playing, whether it's an intricate hardcore fantasy adventure or a time-killing casual puzzler, the experience is based around a combination of mechanisms, rule sets and conventions that have common roots.

You're never really beating the baddies or winning the world cup, you're only ever challenging the underlying system. However the clock face is decorated, underneath it's the same cogs and wheels making it all work.

So is there a defining set of instructions that can improve your understanding and ability with all games? Well, perhaps - and here's an attempt to find it.

kaszz writes:

Handheld scanners are installed with sophisticated malware by China-based threat actors in order to target shipping and logistics organizations all over the world says the security firm TrapX (report 15 MB PDF).

The attack begins at a Chinese company that provides hardware and software for handheld scanners used by shipping and logistics firms worldwide to inventory items they handle. The manufacturer installs the malware on the embedded Microsoft Windows XP devices.

Experts determined that the threat group target servers that stores corporate financial data, customer data and other sensitive information. A second payload downloaded by the malware then establishes a sophisticated C&C on the company's finance servers, enabling the attackers to exfiltrate the information they're after.

janrinok writes:

A just-published analysis of data received from a satellite in 2004 has shown that at least during that year, livestock in the U.S. emitted more methane into the atmosphere than did the oil and gas industry. In their article published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a team of researchers from Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and the University of California studying the data note that such emissions were far higher than was reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Specifically, the researchers found satellite data showed livestock emitted 13 million tons of methane over the summer in 2004 (the EPA reported 9.7 million tons). They found the satellite data also showed that the combined emissions of the oil and gas industry amounted to 7 million tons (the EPA reported 9.9 million tons).

Unfortunately the sensor on the satellite was unable to show methane amounts after 2004, thus more data is not available. That will, however, change soon as a new satellite with sophisticated atmospheric gas monitoring sensors aboard is set to launch next year. More information on the role that methane plays in changing our climate can be found here.