SoylentNews

Phoenix666 writes:

Members of the public are being invited to help hunt for fossils in the Kenyan desert, in an online citizen science initiative called Fossilfinder.

Volunteers will sift one million images from the arid Turkana Basin, a key area for fossils of early human ancestors.

These photos were taken by archaeologists using a special aerial camera system mounted on kites, drones and other devices.

The site launched on Tuesday at the British Science Festival in Bradford.

"It's an opportunity for the public to take part in this immense search for new fossil material at Lake Turkana," Dr Andrew Wilson from the University of Bradford, one of the project's leaders, told journalists at the festival.

The effort is somewhat reminiscent of the search for Steve Fossey's crash site.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

But does everyone have a doppelganger? There's a fairly decent chance of it, actually, thanks to the limited number of genes that influence facial features.

"There is only so much genetic diversity to go around," said Michael Sheehan, an assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University, who routinely studies appearance variations and genetics in species such as paper wasps and house mice. "If you shuffle that deck of cards so many times, at some point, you get the same hand dealt to you twice."
...
people of the same ethnicity typically have a larger set of genes in common than they do with those outside their group, which is why, for example, South Asians usually have dark hair and brownish skin and Scandinavians usually have blond hair and light skin.
...
The biggest ethnic groups are the Han Chinese (about 1.3 billion people) and the Hindustani (perhaps as high as 1.2 billion people, from South Asia). If you're in either of these groups, you theoretically have better odds of running into an almost-you, almost-him or almost-her.

I once came face-to-face with a blue-eyed Uighur in a Beijing hutong who was the spitting image of a white kid I went to grade school with in the Rockies. Do Soylentils have any doppelganger stories?

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

One of the world's most advanced espionage groups has already been caught unleashing an extremely stealthy trojan for Linux systems that for years siphoned sensitive data from governments and pharmaceutical companies around the world. Now researchers have discovered a highly unusual method that members of the so-called Turla group used to cover their tracks. They hijacked satellite-based Internet links to communicate with command and control servers.

Most available satellite-based Internet remains almost as limited now as when it was introduced two decades ago. It's slow and provides users only with a unidirectional download link. But there's something about the connections that made them highly attractive to Turla members: most satellite links are unencrypted and can be intercepted by anyone within a radius of more than 600 miles. That means a connection between someone located in, say, a remote location in Africa and a satellite-based ISP can be monitored or even hijacked by an attacker. According to research published Wednesday by researchers from Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky Lab, that's precisely what Turla members did.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/09/how-highly-advanced-hackers-abused-satellites-to-stay-under-the-radar/

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes:

TorrentFreak reports

In a single week (beginning August 18, 2015) Google processed a mind-boggling 13,685,322 allegedly infringing URLs. That's almost 23 copyright complaints handled by the search giant every single second--or 100 URLs in the time it took to read this sentence.

In the most recently reported month, 5,991 copyright holders and 2,683 reporting organizations requested the removal of 55,702,393 URLs from 80,256 domains.

The most complained about services were all file-hosting sites including Chomikuj.pl (1,089,458 URLs), Rapidgator.net (711,175), and Uploaded.net (664,299).

[...] Two [...] sets of circumstances are undoubtedly inflating the figures reported by Google. Interestingly, they're both a direct result of copyright holder actions.

While domain takedowns have inconvenienced several large sites in recent times, those affected are increasingly using multiple domains to mitigate the problem. It's a strategy now being employed by many of the leading torrent sites--cut one head from the hydra and another appears, as the saying goes.

[...] Another big issue is caused by site blocking. Again taking The Pirate Bay as an example, there are now dozens if not hundreds of active proxies, mirrors, and clones, each of which attract their own sets of takedown demands.

[...] The tide of notices being sent to Google [...] [appears] to be having almost no effect on content availability. All popular movies and music tracks remain just a few clicks away. Let's not forget, Google takes down links to content, not the content itself.

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Income inequality in America has been growing rapidly, and is expected to increase [PDF]. While the widening wealth gap is a hot topic in the media and on the campaign trail, there's quite a disconnect between the perceptions of economists and those of the general public.

For instance, surveys show people tend to underestimate the income disparity between the top and bottom 20% of Americans, and overestimate the opportunity for poor individuals to climb the social ladder. Additionally, a majority of adults believe that corporations conduct business fairly despite evidence to the contrary and that the government should not act to reduce income inequality.

Even though inequality is increasing, Americans seem to believe that our social and economic systems work exactly as they should. This perspective has intrigued social scientists for decades. My colleague Andrei Cimpian and I have demonstrated in our recent research that these beliefs that our society is fair and just may take root in the first years of life, stemming from our fundamental desire to explain the world around us.

http://theconversation.com/lifes-not-fair-so-why-do-we-assume-it-is-45981

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

British architectural firm NBB​J has an intriguing idea for next generation public transport: moving sidewalks. The technology, of course, already exists, and is more associated with "trying to get around airports," but they have a fully envisioned way to keep it brisk: fast and slow lanes.

The fastest lane would move at 15 MPH, with passengers either lazily coming along for the ride or adding in their own 3 MPH walk to drive up that top speed. NBBJ even believes this could move them as fast as a train would, all stops considered. The concept also takes advantage of existing subway architecture, putting the entire thing underground and turning it into a sort of pedestrian concourse with small shops and stands.

Moving walkways debuted at the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A breakthrough discovery made by a Chinese-led international research team has raised hope for the development of a super-light, incredibly strong metal that could dramatically change the space race.
...
Led by Wang Weihua of the academy's Institute of Physics in Beijing, the researchers dipped a piece of the glass in liquid nitrogen for several minutes, then lifted it up and left to warm to room temperature.

After repeating this cycle a dozen times, like a blacksmith in reverse, they finally obtained what they dubbed the "ultimate solid", a long-life metallic glass capable of withstanding the elements.

According to the researchers, the quick ageing of the glasses was caused by the "intrinsic non-uniformity of the glass structure". In other words, the randomness of atom arrangement was not random enough, with orderly structures occurring sparsely here or there.

Repeated cryonic "baths" allowed the atoms to be randomised even further, eliminating defects that would lead to the material's internal instability.

You know the rest: Bird of Prey, Whales.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Your cat may love you, but it may not need you.

That's according to a new study by animal behavior specialists at England's University of Lincoln, which confirms the old trope about our feline friends: that unlike dogs, which perceive their owners as a safe base, adult cats don't necessarily rely on others to provide a sense of protection.
...
Felines, however, displayed little obvious distress when separated from their owners, the Lincoln researchers found. They observed the relationships between 20 cat-human pairs, noting the amount of contact sought by the cat, the level of passive behavior, and signs of distress caused by the absence of the owner.

"Although our cats were more vocal when the owner rather than the stranger left ... we didn't see any additional evidence to suggest that the bond between a cat and its owner is one of secure attachment," Mills said. The vocalization could simply be a sign of frustration or learned response, since the cats did not consistently display other signs of attachment.

Using the same technique to induce separation anxiety, dogs reacted similarly to infants.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Though it has been rumored to be in the works for a few years now, the big Apple announcement on Sept. 9 was the iPad Pro, a 12.9" tablet with a screen resolution of 2732×2048. The price starts at $799 for the 32 GB Wi-Fi version, increases to $949 for 128 GB of storage, and $1079 for 128 GB and LTE cellular connectivity. Two accessories are available: a $99 Apple Pencil with a 240 Hz input scanning rate, and a $169 Smart Keyboard, a form and price which may be familiar to you if you have seen Microsoft's Surface. Battery life of the iPad Pro should reach 10 hours, comparable to previous iPads. The iPad Mini 4 is a 7.85" tablet. Mini 4 weighs up to 304g (0.670 lbs) while the Pro weighs up to 723g (1.594 lbs).

The A9X chip in the iPad Pro will be built on either Samsung's 14nm or TSMC's 16nm FinFet process. Apple claims the CPU is 80% faster and the GPU is twice as fast compared to the A8X SoC. This would make the CPU 22 times more powerful than the one in the original iPad, and the GPU 360 times more powerful.

The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus replace the previous iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models. The new versions use the Apple A9 SoC with 70% faster CPU and 90% faster GPU performance than the A8. The M9 motion coprocessor is built onto the SoC, and Apple has added always-on Siri activation, similar to the Moto X. The display adds a "precise force sensing layer" called "3D Touch," similar to the "Force Touch" on Apple Watch. The front-facing camera has been increased from 1.2 to 5 megapixels, and can use the display as a flash to enable... low light selfies! The rear camera can now record 4K resolution (presumably Ultra HD) video.

The new Apple TV will cost a minimum of $149, more than double the $69 price of previous versions. The SoC inside has jumped from Apple A5 to Apple A8, and RAM has been quadrupled to 2 GB, which should allow it to act as a console, running a broader selection of more powerful games and apps. The tvOS UI can be controlled using voice recognition (Siri) or by remote. The remote comes with a "touch surface" and dedicated Siri button to initiate voice input.

iOS 9 and watchOS 2 will launch on Sept. 16. OS X El Capitan will launch on Sept. 30 with unchanged system requirements from the previous version, Yosemite.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Got rope? Then try this experiment: Cross both ends, left over right, then bring the left end under and out, as if tying a pair of shoelaces. If you repeat this sequence, you get what's called a "granny" knot. If, instead, you cross both ends again, this time right over left, you've created a sturdier "reef" knot.

The configuration, or "topology," of a knot determines its stiffness. For example, a granny knot is much easier to undo, as its configuration of twists creates weaker forces within the knot, compared with a reef knot. For centuries, sailors have observed such distinctions, choosing certain knots over others to secure vessels -- largely by intuition and tradition.

Now researchers at MIT and Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris have analyzed the mechanical forces underpinning simple knots, and come up with a theory that describes how a knot's topology determines its mechanical forces.

[...] "This theory helps us predict the mechanical response of knots of different topologies," Reis says. "We're describing the force it requires to close a loop, which is an indicator of the stiffness of the knot. This might help us to understand something as simple as how your headphones get tangled, and how to better tie your shoes, to how the configuration of knots can help in surgical procedures."

The article has a nice description of their approach.

The original MIT News report also contains video.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Chinese search engine giant Baidu announced on Tuesday [Ed: Javascript required] the launch of a new digital assistant that will be integrated into its latest mobile search app and use artificial intelligence to tailor suggestions to a user's tastes.

Similar to Google Now or Apple's Siri, Baidu Duer processes voice requests to connect users with services such as food delivery or film ticket sales.

"In the past, only the privileged few – those in very senior positions in companies or other organisations – had personal assistants," said Baidu chairman and founder Robin Li Yanhong.

"With Duer, every ordinary person can now have a powerful personal assistant who can provide valuable life services – for free," he added at the company's 10th annual Baidu World conference in Beijing.

It's an article of faith that more competition produces better products and services.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The Fingerprint Molecular Identification (FMID) process, as the company calls it, works like this: Scientists sprinkle the powder on the print at the crime scene, then remove it from the crime scene using lift tape. The samples are sealed and brought to the lab, where they are put into a mass spectrometer that scans the print with a laser. As the machine pans the surface, it vaporizes and ionizes the particles in the powder and molecules in the fingerprint residue, enabling the machine to detect molecular profiles in the residue.

Depending on the level of compounds in the secretions left in the print, the machine can detect not only the sex of the person but whether whomever left the print had consumed drugs like cocaine, marijuana, heroin, or methamphetamine; smoked or chewed nicotine; or had touched a gun or explosives. What's more, ArroGen says they can detect all this information up to a month after a fingerprint has been left—and they're testing for the ability to read prints left as long as a year ago.

Original Submission

John McAfee running for president

bart writes:

Anti-virus software tycoon John McAfee plans to run for President, the developer confirmed on Tuesday. He will run under his own newly created "Cyber Party."

http://time.com/4025991/john-mcafee-running-for-president/?xid=tcoshare

The self-described "eccentric millionaire," known for a strange run-in with authorities in Belize three years ago, said his primary motivation to enter the race was the government's problems with security and surveillance.

"We are losing privacy at an alarming rate — we have none left. We've given up so much for the illusion of security and our government is simply dysfunctional," he said, adding that he plans to release an explainer for his new Cyber Party.

John McAfee is running [for] president

Rashek writes:

McAfee, developer of the first commercial anti-virus program, has said he is going to announce a bid for the White House, and will create the Cyber Party to do so. "I have a huge underground following on the web," he told CNN. The website McAfee2016.com has also popped up.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

An Anonymous Coward writes:

I've been looking into jobs for data analysts, sometimes called data scientists. I see that there is lots and lots of money being thrown at people to take "big data" (eg millions of data points for hundreds of different variables) and plug it into a sort of black box algorithm.

Roughly, these algorithms look at how the various inputs are correlated with each other and some outcome of interest, then assign a set of model parameters (sometimes called coefficients) that minimizes some kind of error metric. Some percent of the dataset is used for training, then the other part is "held out" for testing. It is then called an "accurate prediction" when the model can fit the testing dataset relatively well (ie the error metric is less than some threshold).

It is then assumed that the relationship between future input variables and outcome will be similar to that observed for the testing dataset. Based on this, business/policy decisions are made. There are some simpler situations like facial recognition where I would be optimistic regarding this final assumption. However, I have my doubts it is approximately true when it comes to human behavior, and never seem to see any actual predictive skill being assessed. See, for example, the press release associated with this story: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/09/08/1437220 .

What examples are there of these "predictive" machine learning algorithms being accurate? I mean using the same parameters (no tweaking) and new data that was unavailable at the time the model was developed. If you have an algorithm that really worked, there should be a webpage listing all the predictions. It'd be easy to prove you know what you are doing. Right?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Samsung has announced the mass production of 12 Gb (1.5 GB) LPDDR4 DRAM chips on a 20nm process. The state-of-the-art was previously 8 Gb. The new DRAM chips could enable the production of smartphones with 6 gigabytes of RAM:

The production of 12Gb chips opens up the possibility of smartphones and tablets with 6GB of RAM using a four 12Gb chip DRAM package, as well as 3GB using just two chips in a package. A 6GB package would also only take up the same amount of space as existing 3GB packages which use 6Gb chips. The new 12Gb chips also end up being very slightly more than 30% faster than their 8Gb chips, with a per-pin speed of 4266Mbps which would give 34Gbps of bandwidth over a 64bit bus. With Samsung beginning mass production of this new memory it's only a matter of time before we start to see more devices move from 2GB to 3GB and from 4GB to 6GB of RAM.

There are several phones on the market with 4 GB of RAM, such as the Oppo Find 9, Xiaomi Mi Note Pro, ASUS ZenFone 2, Sony Xperia Z4, Lenovo K80, Huawei Ascend D8, and soon, Micromax's YU5050. These manufacturers could use 12 Gb chips to create phones with 6 GB of faster RAM without using additional chips.

Original Submission