SoylentNews

eof writes:

The Boston Globe asks if the US Navy's new destroyer is a "marvel or floating boondoggle". The ship is unusual and reminiscent of "an Aztec pyramid welded atop a machete blade".[pictures and specifications in article]

After two decades on the drawing board and a tortured history, the $22 billion Zumwalt program is seen by numerous critics as a prime example of Pentagon budget bloat, delays, and misplaced priorities.

The Navy doomed the ship to sideline status when it slashed its order to just three of the vessels, from an original plan for 32. It disclosed in 2008 that the warship would be vulnerable to enemy missiles and submarines. And it has publicly questioned the destroyer's mission and usefulness.

Yet plans to build three of the pricey ships — at $4.3 billion each — went ahead.

Of course, the story includes politicians fighting for constituent jobs and maintaining the "industrial base" in their region.

[More after the break...]

HughPickens.com writes:

Carly Fiorina likes to boast about her friendship with Apple founder Steve Jobs but Fortune Magazine reports that it turns out Carly may have been outfoxed by Apple's late leader. In January 2004, Steve Jobs and Carly Fiorina cut a deal where HP could slap its name on Apple's wildly successful iPod and sell it through HP retail channels but HP still managed to botch things up.

The MP3 player worked just like a regular iPod, but it had HP's logo on the back and in return HP agreed to continue pre-loading iTunes onto its PCs. According to Steven Levy soon after the deal with HP was inked, Apple upgraded the iPod, making HP's version outdated and — because of Fiorina's deal — HP was banned from selling its own music player until August 2006. "This was a highly strategic move to block HP/Compaq from installing Windows Media Store on their PCs," says one Apple source. "We wanted iTunes Music store to be a definitive winner. Steve only did this deal because of that."

In short, Fiorina's "good friend" Steve Jobs blithely mugged her and HP's shareholders. By getting Fiorina to adopt the iPod as HP's music player, Jobs had effectively gotten his software installed on millions of computers for free, stifled his main competitor, and gotten a company that prided itself on invention to declare that Apple was a superior inventor. And he lost nothing, except the few minutes it took him to call Carly Fiorina and say he was sorry she got canned.

Levy concludes that Carly's experience with Steve Jobs is not an encouraging precedent for a person who wants to deal with Vladimir Putin. "It could not have been otherwise, really, because Steve Jobs totally outsmarted the woman who now claims she can run the United States of America."

Original Submission

mendax writes:

Who says there aren't some sensible people in Texas? Ars Technica is reporting:

The most prolific patent troll of last year, eDekka LLC, has had its patent [6,266,674] wiped out. [...] The ruling comes from a surprising source: US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, the East Texas judge who has been criticized for making life extra-difficult for patent defendants. Gilstrap, who hears more patent cases than any other US judge, will eliminate about 10 percent of his entire patent docket by wiping out the eDekka cases.

But more importantly:

The judge also invited the defendants to submit a joint brief as to why they should get attorneys' fees. Just the invite is a sign of changing times: in his four years on the bench, Gilstrap has never granted attorneys' fees to a defendant in a patent case, according to Texas Lawyer. It became easier to get such fees after the Supreme Court's Octane Fitness decision last year.

The judge's ruling can be found here.

Original Submission

eof writes:

The Los Angeles Times has a story about potential birth control drugs for men. The drugs, cyclosporine A (CsA) and FK506, are currently in use with transplant patients to reduce the possibility of rejection. They act by inhibiting an enzyme, calcineurin, one version of which is found only in sperm. Scientists studied 'knockout mice' that do not produce the proteins necessary for the enzyme, and compared them to regular mice.

The knockout mice still had sex with female mice, but the females didn't become pregnant.

[...] The sperm were unable to fertilize an egg as long as the egg was covered by its usual layer of cumulus cells.

[...] The knockout sperm were able to move at the about same velocity as the regular sperm, the researchers found. However, the knockout sperm were deficient at something called "hyperactivation." This is a particular type of movement that requires the sperm's whip-like tail to beat back and forth with extra force.

[...] They determined that the tails of the knockout sperm moved with the same "beat frequencies" as regular sperm. The problem was that the part of the sperm that connects the head to the tail was too rigid. That made the entire sperm cell too inflexible to move with enough force to penetrate the [membrane that surrounds the egg].

When researchers gave the immunosuppressants to regular mice, they found they had no effect on mature sperm cells, but worked better on developing sperm.

Regular male mice that got either CsA or FK506 for two weeks became infertile, because the middle part of their sperm was rigid. Further tests showed that it took only four days for FK506 to render the mice infertile, and five days for CsA to do the same.

When the mice stopped taking the drugs, their fertility returned after one week.

The research appears in Science.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

NASA is zeroing in on Venus and asteroids as potential targets for its next low-cost robotic exploration mission or missions, which will launch by the end of 2021.

The space agency has chosen five finalists for the next launch opportunity in its Discovery Program, which funds highly focused missions to destinations throughout the solar system. Two of the selected concepts would visit Venus, while asteroids are the objects of interest for the other three.

"The selected investigations have the potential to reveal much about the formation of our solar system and its dynamic processes," former astronaut John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a statement Wednesday (Sept. 30).

The first NASA missions to Venus were more than 50 years ago, and it has been the target of about 10 probes from NASA and many more from Russia and other space agencies.

Original Submission

Bobs writes:

"Researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new test capable of detecting nearly all viruses known to infect humans and animals. The test could potentially help doctors diagnose infection regardless if they do not have a clue what they are looking for."
...
"What make Virocap different is that physicians do not have to know what they are searching for, said pediatrics professor Gregory Storch."
Seems like it could help with some of those subtle/rare diseases that Dr's have trouble diagnosing.

Can someone with a medical research / science background comment on how significant this is? Real promising or just a sensational press release?

News story
Scientific Abstract

Original Submission

Techwolf wrote in to tell us about:

Today, users of the well-known "AdBlock" extension for many browsers received a popup notification telling them that the company has been sold, and the new AdBlocking Overlords have decided to allow some ads that are controlled by the "Acceptable Ads" program.

The program is opt-out, not opt-in, and will be (or has already been) enabled the next time your extension checks in. An article on how to opt-out of the Acceptable Ads program and continue to block all ads can be found here.

What advertisement blocking extension(s) do you use, and on what browser?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The hack of crowdfunding site Patreon may have taken a turn for the worse for its users:

The attackers that compromised Patreon have dumped the data on various bin sites.

[...] Microsoft security bod Troy Hunt has promised an analysis of the data, but warns it's a big dump that might take some time. His short take on Twitter is that the dumps look like the real thing.

Hunt expects to add Patreon members to his HaveIBeenPwned service once he's worked through the multi-gig data dump.

While of a different order to the Ashley Madison data dumps, there are two issues Patreon members could face. The first is that there may be personal or employment reasons for contributing anonymously to projects (or political reasons, for that matter); the second, that any leak of personal data helps identity thieves.

With 15 GB of data in the drop, there could be a lot of personal details in the leak (Vulture South is happy to leave it to others to pore over the data).

Previously: Patreon Announces Security Breach

Original Submission

HughPickens.com writes:

Kai Kupferschmidt reports in Science Magazine that Gangolf Jobb is revoking the license to use his bioinformatics software, Treefinder, for researchers working in eight European countries (Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark) because those countries allow too many immigrants to cross their borders. "Immigration to my country harms me, it harms my family, it harms my people. Whoever invites or welcomes immigrants to Europe and Germany is my enemy," says Jobb. Treefinder has been used in hundreds of scientific papers to build phylogenetic trees, diagrams showing the most likely evolutionary relationship of various species, from sequence data. Although the change in the license may be a nuisance for some researchers, the program is far from irreplaceable, several scientists say.

"I'd say not being able to use Treefinder would be no great loss to anyone," says Sandra Baldauf, a biologist at Uppsala University in Sweden. A paper co-authored by Baldauf last year in Current Biology used Treefinder primarily because a colleague had long worked with it, she says; now that that researcher has left, Baldauf uses "the underlying software (Consel), which is the real analytical power behind Treefinder anyway," she wrote in an email. And after reading Jobb's statement, "I would stop using [Treefinder] just on general principle, even if we had to resort to using pencil and paper." The affair shows that it is important for scientists to be knowledgeable about licensing issues when using software, says Antoine Branca. Because Jobb owns the licence, he can restrict it as he sees fit. Licenses like the GNU General Public License, on the other hand, grant users rights to use, study, share, and even modify the software freely. "Maybe people will be more aware of this now," Branca says.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Microsoft and Google have agreed to end a five-year battle over patents.

Eighteen lawsuits had been active between the companies, relating to uses of technologies in mobile phones, wifi and other areas.

Details of the deal were not shared, but in a joint statement the firms said they would "collaborate on certain patent matters".

It is the latest move by technology firms to keep patent rows out of the courts.

Don't be evil, Google.

Original Submission

HughPickens.com writes:

Caitlin Dewey reports in the Washington Post that 'Peeple' — basically Yelp, but for humans will launch in November. Subtitled "character is destiny", Peeple is an upcoming app that promises to "revolutionize the way we're seen in the world through our relationships" by allowing you to assign reviews of one to five stars to everyone you know.: your exes, your co-workers, the old guy who lives next door. You can't opt out — once someone puts your name in the Peeple system, it's there unless you violate the site's terms of service. And you can't delete bad or biased reviews — that would defeat the whole purpose. "People do so much research when they buy a car or make those kinds of decisions," says co-founder Julia Cordray. "Why not do the same kind of research on other aspects of your life?"

According to Caitlin one does not have to stretch far to imagine the distress and anxiety that such a system will cause even a slightly self-conscious person; it's not merely the anxiety of being harassed or maligned on the platform — but of being watched and judged, at all times, by an objectifying gaze to which you did not consent. "If you're one of the people who miss bullying kids in high school, then Peeple is definitely going to be the app for you!," says Mike Morrison. "I'm really looking forward to being able to air all of my personal grievances, all from the safety of my phone. Thanks to the app, I'll be able to potentially ruin someone's life, without all the emotional stress that would occur if I actually try to fix the problem face-to-face."

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

New research by Dr John Alroy in the Department of Biological Sciences suggests that current models describing the commonality and dominance of a few species in any one community are incorrect, and that there is actually a limit to the number of species thought of as 'rare'.

The research, published in Science Advances, is based on study of more than 1000 lists of species representing different ecological communities from around the world, from bats to trees to butterflies. It is the first study of its kind to include a global, diverse data set.

"The idea that communities of species are open to all newcomers goes back to theoretical work in the 1960s that argued in favour of certain mathematical models of communities. These models try to predict how many individuals belong to the most common species, and then to the second-most common one, and so on in any particular community," said Dr Alroy.

Previous models assumed either that species compete for just a single resource or that competition is not strong. Dr Alroy explained the data with a new model that assumes species compete strongly for two resources, such as light and nutrients or physical space and water.

"Common species in these ecological communities are simply not that common. It's almost never true that, for example, half of the individuals in any one place belong to a single species. Instead, there's often no significant difference between the abundance of the dominant species and the abundance of the next few species down the line," said Dr Alroy.

"For example, if you look at a group of frogs in a pond, there will generally be only a few species. Other species of frogs may try to join the community, but will be kept out by competition for resources. That's why common species and rare species are both not seen very often."

"In general, I found that there aren't nearly as many rare species as most ecologists would lead you to believe. In most places, there is actually a fairly equal distribution of abundances. If this is true, then the species richness of ecological communities and of the entire globe could be quite strongly limited," said Dr Alroy.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

University of Twente researchers have developed a method of incorporating bacteria into man-made materials, published in the journal ACS Nano:

Scientists from the University of Twente's MESA+ research institute have developed a method for naturally incorporating living cells in materials, while fully preserving all properties. They succeeded in changing bacteria in such a way that they can be incorporated in man-made materials with dynamic weak bonds (non-covalent bonds). This new method opens the way for 'living implants', such as stents on which cells from the lining of blood vessels can attach themselves. The research was published in the leading scientific journal ACS Nano.

[...] The researchers succeeded in changing the DNA of the E coli bacteria in such a way that the substance CB[8] (a small molecule of two nanometres in size with a namederived from the resemblance of this molecule with a pumpkin of the family of Cucurbitaceae) attaches to a protein on the cell membrane. This substance may then again attach to other building blocks, forming a sort of natural Velcro.

Found on KurzweilAI.net.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Since 2010, a fee of $2,000 per H-1B or L-1 visa applicant has been charged to companies where at least half the workforce is foreign. According to a Computerworld story from September 23, the fee will expire on October 1, but Congress can reinstate it at any time.

The fee, adopted in 2010, was sought by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chaired the Senate immigration subcommittee when Democrats were in power. Schumer described the overseas firms as "multinational temp agencies" that undercut U.S. wages.

The fee expires on Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year and there's is no immediate effort in Congress to extend it. The fee raises between $70 million and $80 million annually for the U.S., according to an Indian industry trade group. The money initially went to improve border security, but is now used to help pay the medical needs of 9/11 first responders.

Russ Harrison, director of government relations of the engineering association IEEE-USA, said eliminating the fee makes no sense, particularly after lawmakers in both parties have expressed outrage over the use of H-1B workers in recent layoffs.

When the fee was first imposed, Computerworld named Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services as companies which would be subject to it.

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Genetic diseases are the leading cause of death for infants in the United States. Many doctors treating these infants rely on whole-genome sequencing to target the exact cause of the illness, and hopefully treat the disease in time. However, even the fastest sequencing technique till now has taken about 50 hours to complete, and many severely ill infants simply can't wait that long.

Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, and the biotech company Edico Genome--the same group that developed the original 50-hour test--have managed to cut that time almost in half by using a new device that performs whole genome sequencing in 26 hours--the fastest sequencing technique to date. Their results were published Tuesday in the journal, Genome Medicine.

While genome sequencing could help diagnose any individual with an unknown genetic disease, its rapid results are critically important for infants, as their symptoms are relatively vague--often just a fever, weight loss, or a cough--and they don't yet have the ability to communicate the pain they feel. Whole genome sequencing can speak for that infant.

http://www.popsci.com/scientists-can-now-sequence-whole-genome-in-26-hours

[Also Covered By]: EurekAlert

A 26-hour system of highly sensitive whole genome sequencing for emergency management of genetic diseases [full paper]

Original Submission