SoylentNews

eof writes:

The New York Times reports that a Chinese-American physicist, Xi Xiaoxing, has had espionage charges against him dropped after the Department of Justice was encouraged to consult experts before proceeding with prosecution.

It was an embarrassing acknowledgment that prosecutors and F.B.I. agents did not understand — and did not do enough to learn — the science at the heart of the case before bringing charges that jeopardized Dr. Xi's career and left the impression that he was spying for China.

"I don't expect them to understand everything I do," Dr. Xi, 57, said in a telephone interview. "But the fact that they don't consult with experts and then charge me? Put my family through all this? Damage my reputation? They shouldn't do this. This is not a joke. This is not a game."

[...] The science involved in Dr. Xi's case is, by any measure, complicated. It involves the process of coating one substance with a very thin film of another. Dr. Xi's lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, said that despite the complexity, it appeared that the government never consulted with experts before taking the case to a grand jury. As a result, prosecutors misconstrued the evidence, he said.

Dr. Xi was supposed to have passed along schematics of a sensitive technology, a pocket heater. One of the experts testifying that the schematics were not of the device was its co-inventor. This is the second Chinese espionage case dismissed in the last few months.

Original Submission + Alternate Submission

"gewg_" writes with the news that Red Springs Citizen reports

[Paul Flowers, PhD] has joined a revolution in academia that would change the way textbooks are published and delivered to students, drastically changing--or eliminating--expensive textbooks, which can cost more than $200.

A 26-year veteran of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke's Department of Chemistry and Physics, Flowers is lead author, or "content lead", of the textbook "Chemistry", which was published in March by OpenStax College. OpenStax is a nonprofit project of Rice University whose mission is to provide high-quality college texts in electronic format at no cost to students.

"Chemistry" boasts three senior contributors and 12 other contributors. It is a general chemistry textbook designed for a traditional two-semester introductory college course. OpenStax offers numerous other textbooks in what appears to be a growing national movement.

[...] In recent testimony before a U.S. Senate committee, OpenStax founder Richard Baraniuk testified: "We created OpenStax College to directly address the issue of affordability and access. In the short time they have been available, our books have been used millions of times online and at more than 360 institutions."

[...] "I was already familiar with OpenStax and was very impressed with the organization's mission and the quality of its textbooks, so the decision to accept an offer to serve as content lead was an easy one for me", said Flowers, who is a long-time proponent of open source products.

[...] The new rules of open [knowledge] textbook publishing also apply to compensation for authors. Flowers worked as a contractor on the book, which took about 18 months to complete. He took a flat fee with no royalties, further reducing costs.

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Fraser Cain speculates on the possibility of terraforming our Sun. Since, the Sun does not have any terra, should it called something else ?

In the list of crazy hypothetical ideas, terraforming the Sun has to be one of the top 10. So just how would someone go about doing terraforming our sun, a star, if they wanted to try?

In our series on terraforming other worlds. We've covered Mars, Venus, the Moon and Jupiter. Even though I solved the problem of how to terraform Jupiter (you're welcome, science), you wanted to take things to the next level and you demanded I sort out how to terraform the Sun. Seriously? The Sun. Fine... here we go.

Let's see what we've got to work with here. It's a massive ball of plasma, containing 333,000 times more mass than the Earth. It's about 74% hydrogen and 25% helium with a few other trace elements. There's no solid surface to stand on it, so we need to fix that.

[Video]: https://www.patreon.com/posts/could-we-sun-3317473?

[Also Covered By]: Phys.org

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

As a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill have created smarter immune cells that produce and deliver a healing protein to the brain while also teaching neurons to begin making the protein for themselves.

The researchers, led by Elena Batrakova, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, genetically modified white blood cells called macrophages to produce glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF, and deliver it to the brain. Glial cells provide support and protection for nerve cells throughout the brain and body, and GDNF can heal and stimulate the growth of damaged neurons.

"Currently, there are no treatments that can halt or reverse the course of Parkinson's disease. There are only therapies to address quality of life, such as dopamine replacement," Batrakova said. "However, studies have shown that delivering neurotrophic factor to the brain not only promotes the survival of neurons but also reverses the progression of Parkinson's disease."

Original Submission

Both "gewg_" and The Mighty Buzzard write about an El Reg report:

The Kilton Library in Lebanon, New Hampshire, had been hosting an exit relay on the Tor network since July as part of a pilot program to safeguard citizens' privacy online.

After meeting with [local cops, tipped off by the US Department of Homeland Security], however, the librarians have taken the box offline over fears it was being used for criminal activity.

[...] Kilton's exit node was the pilot for an effort by the Library Freedom Project to equip local libraries in the US with Tor nodes that could be accessed by users in areas where internet traffic is censored and closely monitored.

ProPublica claims that the police did not threaten any action against the library, but merely informed them of the possibility that their Tor node could be used for criminal activity.

The library's board of trustees will vote later this month on whether to bring the node back online.

[...] The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it was starting a campaign to flood library trustees with letters of support for the node in an effort to get the Tor box back up and running in the Kilton Library.

Additional reporting here.

SoylentNews is available through Tor, as well. Here is our .onion link. -Ed.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Is it just me or have ISP (Internet Service Provider) terms and conditions gotten a lot more one-sided about what you can't do and what they can do?

I was considering switching to the new Vodafone Connect broadband and phone service as there are some nice discounts for existing Vodafone customers (and I've had enough of BT's high prices for FTTC) but reading through the text of their Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) has caused me to think again. I'm sure a lot of the text in the agreement is fairly standard, and to be honest it's been a while since I switched providers, but some of these terms seem rather overreaching. For example:

Those words cover one hell of a lot of territory... sorry, did you deem my use of the "H" word offensive? What if I'm in a private chat with a friend and he calls me a "####" so I tell him to "#### off"? Use your imagination, we could be covering offensive, abusive, obscene and indecent right there (if not more).

Further on there's a section titled "Actions we may take" (where "we" is Vodafone) and this one really got my attention:

[More after the break...]

An Anonymous Coward wrote in with CBC's coverage of the snake anti-venom shortage facing Africa:

Doctors Without Borders says the world will run out of one of the most effective treatments for snakebites next year, putting the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk, mostly in developing countries.

In a statement issued on Monday, the medical charity warned that existing stockpiles of the anti-venom Fav-Afrique produced by Sanofi Pasteur will expire in June. The company stopped producing the anti-venom last year and has since switched to making a rabies treatment instead.

[...] A spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur said the pharmaceuticals company was driven out of the market by competitors selling cheaper products, and it announced in 2010 it would stop making anti-venom. Those cheaper drugs are often seen as less effective. "It's very strange that the relevant stakeholders are only realizing this problem five years later," said Alain Bernal, a Sanofi Pasteur spokesman. He said the company has offered to transfer the anti-venom technology to others.

[...] About 5 million people are bitten by snakes every year, including 100,000 deaths and several hundred thousand others who suffer amputations or other disabilities. When it's available, the anti-venom treatment costs $250 to $500. In poor countries, the drugs are bought and supplied by donors and aid groups.

Fav-Afrique is a "polyvalent" antivenom effective against 10 types of snakebites. The crisis has been two decades in the making, since Behringwerke quit producing antivenom. The need to "milk" venom from actual snakes, give it to large mammals, and finally extract blood in order to refine out antibodies contributes to the expense. This would seem to be a worthwhile humanitarian target for synthetic biology.

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes:

El Reg reports

Add California's Employment Development Department (EDD) to the list of groups that think Uber drivers are employees and not independent contractors, as the ride-sharer suggests.

The EDD has issued a ruling [PDF] that a former Uber driver met the criteria for an employee and was therefore able to collect unemployment benefits.

The case stemmed from a woman who drove for Uber part-time under the UberX service. When she was dismissed for failing to provide Uber with certain documents, she filed to collect unemployment citing Uber as her former employer. The dial-a-ride service objected, claiming the woman was an independent contractor and not an employee when she worked for Uber.

The EDD, which oversees unemployment insurance matters for the state, found that Uber required, among other things, the driver to display Uber's sign on her car, accept trip assignments handed out by Uber, and have ride fares processed and paid by Uber.

"The claimant did not have her own business license to provide services in public transportation and could not establish her own clientele," the EDD ruled.

Previous: Uber Drivers Granted Class-Action Status in California

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The BBC has launched its Make it Digital season with a website that it hopes will turn its audience into digital makers.

It is part of a nationwide push to increase digital skills in the UK.

The mixital website offers people the chance to create a range of content from popular BBC brands such as Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and EastEnders.

[...] "We are handing over creativity tools and BBC assets to the audience, and they can make their own BBC," he said.

The project grew out of a game-making tool developed for the programme Technobabble, which attracted huge interest from its audience of under-12s.

"Youngsters made 250,000 games. We were bowled over and felt it proved that young people have a great appetite for making things digitally," said Mr Wilson.

[Updated to add link to Mixital Website; javascript must be enabled to use. - Ed.]

Original Submission

albert wrote us about Elon Musk's ideas for warming Mars.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Elon Musk commented:

[...] the main problem with our red neighbor is that it's too cold for inhabitation. But, he noted, it can be made to more closely resemble Earth if we just warm it up. "There's the fast way and the slow way," Musk said, with the slow way being the gradual release of greenhouse gasses, which are famous on Earth for causing global warming and climate change.

"The fast way is to drop nuclear weapons over the poles," the Tesla, SpaceX, and PayPal founder told Colbert. To which the host responded, "You're a supervillain!"

No word on how he intends to increase the planet's magnetic field so as to shield the new atmosphere from the solar wind.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes with a story that appears to be from The New York Times :

Intel, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, is dropping its longtime support of the most prestigious science and mathematics competition for American high school students.

The contest, called the Science Talent Search, brings 40 finalists to Washington [D.C.] for meetings with leaders in government and industry and counts among its past competitors eight Nobel Prize winners, along with chief executives, university professors and award-winning scientists.

[...] Gail Dundas, a spokeswoman for Intel, could not say why it was ending its support, but she said the company, which has struggled with a shift to mobile computing devices but is still one of the tech industry's most influential names, is "proud of its legacy" in supporting the award.

Any theories why Intel is dropping its support?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

In one of the largest and most detailed studies of animal molecular biology ever undertaken, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Toronto discovered the assembly instructions for nearly 1,000 protein complexes shared by most kinds of animals, revealing their deep evolutionary relationships. Those instructions offer a powerful new tool for studying the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer.

Proteins come together to form protein complexes, or molecular machines, to carry out many specific biological functions in cells. The authors of the study, published this week in the journal Nature, identified nearly 1,000 molecular machines critical for the development and survival of species as diverse as sea anemones, worms, mice and humans. For example, the researchers found identical protein complexes required by the cells that organize the proper formation of the head and eye across the different species.
...
"Essentially, we were able to construct a sort of assembly diagram of how thousands of different proteins come together to carry out their proper roles inside the cells of most kinds of animals," said lead UT Austin researcher Edward Marcotte, a professor of molecular biosciences. "Protein assemblies in humans were often identical to those in other species. This not only reinforces what we already know about our common evolutionary ancestry, it also has practical implications, providing the ability to study the genetic basis for a wide variety of diseases and how they present in different species."

It's a powerful testament to the parsimony of nature.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Following a September 3-4 meeting in Manchester, England, the Hinxton Group, "a global network of stem cell researchers, bioethicists, and experts on policy and scientific publishing" has published a statement backing the genetic modification of human embryos, with caveats:

It is "essential" that the genetic modification of human embryos is allowed, says a group of scientists, ethicists and policy experts. A Hinxton Group report says editing the genetic code of early stage embryos is of "tremendous value" to research. It adds although GM babies should not be allowed to be born at the moment, it may be "morally acceptable" under some circumstances in the future. The US refuses to fund research involving the gene editing of embryos. The global Hinxton Group met in response to the phenomenal advances taking place in the field of genetics.

From the statement:

Genome editing has tremendous value as a tool to address fundamental questions of human and non-human animal biology and their similarities and differences. There are at least four categories of basic research involving genome editing technology that can be distinguished: 1) research to understand and improve the technique of genome editing itself; 2) genome editing used as a tool to address fundamental questions of human and non-human animal biology; 3) research to generate preliminary data for the development of human somatic applications; and 4) research to inform the plausibility of developing safe human reproductive applications. These distinctions are important to make clear that, even if one opposes human genome editing for clinical reproductive purposes, there is important research to be done that does not serve that end. That said, we appreciate that there are even categories of basic research involving this technology that some may find morally troubling. Nevertheless, it is our conviction that concerns about human genome editing for clinical reproductive purposes should not halt or hamper application to scientifically defensible basic research.

BBC has this beginner's guide to the designer baby debate.

Related:

The Rapid Rise of CRISPR
NIH Won't Fund Human Germline Modification
Chinese Scientists Have Genetically Modified Human Embryos
UK Approves Three-Person IVF Babies

Original Submission

HughPickens.com writes:

For fans of Stanley Kubrick's classic paranormal thriller, "The Shining," Julie Turkewitz has an interesting article in the NY Times about how operators of the Stanley Hotel, Stephen King's inspiration for the Overlook Hotel, have used "The Shining" and its paranormal plot as pure marketing gold. The resort retains an in-house psychic, offers ghost tours to tens of thousands of visitors a year, and hosts a film festival at which townspeople dress up as zombies and eat "brains." Kubrick was asked not to depict room #217 (featured in the book) in The Shining, because future guests at the Lodge might be afraid to stay there. So a nonexistent room, #237, was substituted in the film. Curiously and somewhat ironically, room #217 is requested more often than any other room at Timberline.

But generations of real-life visitors to the Stanley have been let down to find that the fictional labyrinth is just that. "People kept on looking for the maze," says John W. Cullen, owner of the property. The hotel held a contest seeking designs for a maze to be built on one of its lawns and judges selected Mairim Dallaryan Standing of New York as the winner. The contest earned 329 entries from 40 different states as well as countries from all over the world, including Brazil, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Ukraine and Australia. The only trouble is that Cullen chose to form the maze from juniper trees, making the Stanley's maze far less imposing than the 13-foot labyrinth in the Kubrick film. "However these will grow up with us and in about five years, they will be 5 to 6 feet in height, and we will be sending search parties out for little ones," says Cullen. While there is no hedge maze in King's original novel, it's an important symbol in Kubrick's film, says Ernesto R. Acevedo-Muñoz, chair of the film studies program at the University of Colorado Boulder. "It's a much more eloquent way to represent Jack's mind and his insanity," the professor says.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

McDonald's is giving itself an entire decade for its egg suppliers to comply with the cage-free directive, but Shapiro said he thinks the changeover will be much swifter. Herbruck, a major egg supplier to McDonald's, Shapiro said, is located in Michigan, where a law is already on the books forcing egg producers to go cage free by 2019.

Egg producers will likely switch to what is known as cage-free aviary systems, which are multi-tiered cages that give hens more freedom to engage in natural behaviors. It's not as if these aviary systems are like the great outdoors - hens are still closely crowded in big indoor barns, but they do have the freedom to move around up and down through the different levels of the aviary.

Shapiro said the Humane Society of the United States has been working with McDonald's to get them to go cage free, and that the organization had two other 'wish list' goals: the first was for Mickey D's to discontinue the use of gestation cages for pigs, which the fast food behemoth already pledged to do.

Corporations can make such decisions for cynical reasons, but it is possible for good to result anyway. Walmart's pledge to sell 100 million CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs is cited for its role in putting an end to inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

Original Submission