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An Anonymous Coward suggests the following story: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-08/asa-rns081616.php

Ramen noodles are supplanting the once popular cigarettes as a form of currency among state prisoners, but not in response to bans on tobacco products within prison systems, finds a new study.

Instead, study author Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona School of Sociology, found that inmates are trying to figure out ways to better feed themselves as certain prison services are being defunded.

[...] "Prison staff members as well as members of the inmate population provided narratives of the history of changes in prison food -- the past few decades have seen steady decreases in the quality and quantity of inmate food," Gibson-Light said.

"Prisoners are so unhappy with the quality and quantity of prison food that they receive that they have begun relying on ramen noodles -- a cheap, durable food product -- as a form of money in the underground economy," he said. "Because it is cheap, tasty, and rich in calories, ramen has become so valuable that it is used to exchange for other goods."

Those other goods include other food items, clothing, hygiene products, and even services, such as laundry and bunk cleaning, Gibson-Light said. Others use ramen noodles as bargaining chips in gambling when playing card games or participating in football pools, he said.

[...] "Throughout the nation, we can observe prison cost-cutting and cost-shifting as well as changes in the informal economic practices of inmates," he said. "Services are cut back and many costs are passed on to inmates in an effort to respond to calls to remain both tough on crime and cost effective."

The US authorities and most citizens prefer a punitive instead of a rehabilitative approach, despite the fact that most prisoners are eventually let out of prison alive.

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takyon writes:

A new approach to gene therapy uses ultrasound and gas-filled microbubbles to pierce cell membranes:

Combining ultrasound energy and microbubbles to poke holes in cells may prove to be a new tool in the fight against cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. A study on this gene therapy approach, called sonoporation, appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"We can use ultrasound energy in combination with small, gas-filled bubbles to selectively open up cells to allow the delivery of therapeutic agents," said Brandon Helfield, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics at UPMC. "With a focused ultrasound beam, this approach lets us tune this delivery to the precise location of disease while sparing healthy tissue. Our study looks at some of the biophysics at play and helps us get closer to refining this technique as a clinical tool."

Current approaches to gene therapy often use viruses to gain access inside cells, which can cause severe side-effects, including inflammatory immune system reactions. To address this, researchers have developed gene-loaded intravascular microbubbles that can be targeted to release their payloads by direct navigation of focused ultrasound energy.

Biophysical insight into mechanisms of sonoporation (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1606915113) (DX)

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butthurt writes:

The Independent quotes France's interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, as saying

The same article says that Germany will make the same request.

Previously:
European Privacy Body Slams Shut Backdoors Everywhere

Original Submission

NASA Regains Contact With Long-silent Solar Science Spacecraft

fork(2) writes:

SpaceNews reports that NASA has made contact with a long-dead (almost exactly 2 years) solar science spacecraft.

NASA said that the Deep Space Network (DSN) established a lock on a carrier signal from the STEREO-B spacecraft at 6:27 p.m. Eastern Aug. 21. NASA monitored the signal for several hours, and plans additional contacts with the spacecraft to assess the state of the spacecraft.

The contact was the first time NASA had made contact with STEREO-B since Oct. 1, 2014. At that time ground controllers were testing the spacecraft's "command loss timer," which reboots the spacecraft's computer after three days without contact with the ground, in anticipation of an extended communications outage. At the end of the test, controllers only received a brief, weak signal from the spacecraft before losing contact entirely.

In recent months, NASA had carried out regular efforts to restore contact with STEREO-B, transmitting instructions in the blind in the hopes the spacecraft would be able to receive them and respond. NASA started those efforts late last year once STEREO-B was far enough from the sun, as seen from the Earth, so that radio interference from the sun was no longer an issue.

[...] A subsequent analysis of the limited telemetry STEREO-B returned before losing communications indicated to engineers that the spacecraft lost attitude control. "The telemetry showed that the Inertial Measurement Unit, or IMU -- which tells the spacecraft if and how fast it's rotating -- failed in a way we didn't expect," said Dan Ossing, STEREO mission operations manager, in a NASA statement last December. "Rather than cutting out altogether, it was feeding incorrect information into the guidance and control computer."

That incorrect information, engineers believe, led the spacecraft to think it was spinning even though it was not. The spacecraft, in turn, fired thrusters to correct the perceived spin, which instead caused the spacecraft to spin up in reality. That would have limited the ability of the spacecraft's solar panels to generate power, hindering recovery efforts.

NASA Reestablishes Contact With STEREO-B Satellite

takyon writes:

One of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, a pair of Sun-observing satellites, has made contact with NASA's Deep Space Network after nearly two years of silence:

The DSN established a lock on the STEREO-B downlink carrier at 6:27 p.m. EDT. The downlink signal was monitored by the Mission Operations team over several hours to characterize the attitude of the spacecraft and then transmitter high voltage was powered down to save battery power. The STEREO Missions Operations team plans further recovery processes to assess observatory health, re-establish attitude control, and evaluate all subsystems and instruments.

Communications with STEREO-B were lost during a test of the spacecraft's command loss timer, a hard reset that is triggered after the spacecraft goes without communications from Earth for 72 hours. The STEREO team was testing this function in preparation for something known as solar conjunction, when STEREO-B's line of sight to Earth – and therefore all communication – was blocked by the sun.

Also at TechCrunch and the Washington Post. See also: NASA's STEREO site.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A new study describes the development of a novel hybrid polymer suitable for producing 3D-printed scaffolds on which living cells can be seeded to create engineered tissues. The ability to use these hybrid polymer spools with easy-to-operate, commercial 3D printers is demonstrated in the study published in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.

Lucas Albrecht, Stephen Sawyer, and Pranav Soman, Syracuse University, NY, present the methods used to produce polycaprolactone-based polymers and to fabricate scaffolds using a Makerbot 3D Fused Deposition Modelling printer. In the article "Developing 3D Scaffolds in the Field of Tissue Engineering to Treat Complex Bone Defects," the researchers report how they overcame the challenges associated with creating composite polymer spools. The authors incorporated living cells mixed with gelatin hydrogels into the scaffolds and achieved high levels of cell survival. They discuss potential applications of these techniques, including tissue engineering to repair complex bone defects.

Developing 3D Scaffolds in the Field of Tissue Engineering to Treat Complex Bone Defects (open, DOI: 10.1089/3dp.2016.0006) (DX)

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

How should society handle breastfeeding in public and the workplace? Should there be any restrictions on the age of the child?

Breastfeeding has obvious benefits for a child's development, but breast milk is also a fluid of the body that can carry disease.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-still-breastfeeds-daughter-aged-4881835

http://www.livescience.com/55846-breast-feeding-mothers-united-states.html

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Opera is offering a free and "unlimited" VPN for Android users:

Security-conscious Android users can now tap into Opera's free and unlimited VPN service, which blocks ad-tracking cookies and tests wireless network security, among other things.

Users can change their virtual location by connecting to one of five regions—the US, Canada, Germany, Singapore, or the Netherlands—and borrowing an IP address from that area.

This week's launch comes just a few months after Opera rolled out the same service to iOS, where it has been downloaded by more than 1 million users. It was added to Opera's browser earlier this year, and all three versions were built by SurfEasy, the VPN company Opera acquired last year.

Android Police adds:

I do want to make clear that Opera VPN is not a substitute for a paid VPN. SurfEasy claims to not save logs of VPN activity from its users, but they obviously have to pay for their servers somehow (besides the advertisements in-app). SurfEasy is also under the legal jurisdiction of Canada, where privacy and VPNs don't always go hand-in-hand.

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butthurt writes:

The Verge reports on an announcement by Alphabet subsidiary Google that, beginning in January, it will change the way Web sites are ranked in results from its search engine. Sites featuring pop-up windows or interstitial adverts may appear lower in the results than they now do.

According to an Alphabet press release, 90% of Google's revenues during the first quarter of 2016 came from advertising.

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butthurt writes:

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico stores transuranic wastes. In February 2014, a 55-gallon (208 L) barrel there leaked, probably because cat litter made from wheat reacted chemically with nitrate salts. The facility is closed, pending clean-up.

The Los Angeles Times revisited the situation and its possible financial costs:

Previously:
Only U.S. Underground Nuclear Waste Dump-Site Needs More Down Time
Kitty Litter to Blame for Nuclear Waste Leak

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Russians are already being blamed for a newly revealed cyberattack on The New York Times and other U.S. media outlets:

The FBI and other U.S. security agencies are investigating cyber breaches targeting reporters at The New York Times and other U.S. news organizations that are thought to have been carried out by hackers working for Russian intelligence, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. "Investigators so far believe that Russian intelligence is likely behind the attacks and that Russian hackers are targeting news organizations as part of a broader series of hacks that also have focused on Democratic Party organizations, the officials said," CNN said.

[...] The intrusions were detected in recent months, according to CNN. Citing the U.S. officials, it said the Times had hired private security investigators to work with national security officials in assessing the breach.

Also at CNN, Politico, and The Hill.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Hawaiian spinner dolphins may not have to entertain bored primates much longer:

Tourists would be prohibited from swimming with dolphins near Hawaii under a new proposal from the Obama administration. The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed Tuesday to establish a 50-yard barrier that prevents people from getting too close to Hawaiian spinner dolphins, even though they are not listed as endangered or threatened species. This could affect tourism companies, including those that take people dolphin watching, as well as residents who attempt to swim, snorkel or kayak with Hawaiian spinner dolphins.

[...] "The number of commercial operators engaged in wild dolphin viewing has grown dramatically in Hawaii in recent years, putting new pressures on easily accessible groups of resting Hawaiian spinner dolphins," the agency wrote.

Also at Miami Herald (AP).

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

According to a New York Times story, earthquakes, including one estimated at 6.2 magnitude, have struck the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli in Italy's Rieti province and Pescara del Tronto in Ascoli Piceno province. In the latter town, two people were killed. The mayor of Accumoli Amatrice declared that "half the town no longer exists." The towns lie about 100 miles (160 km) from Rome.

takyon: BBC. USGS: M6.2 and M5.5.

Update: Death toll revised up to 120.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Microsoft has talked about a "holographic processing unit" powering its HoloLens augmented reality device. Now it has released details about the device's processors at the Hot Chips 2016 conference:

Microsoft today revealed a first look at the inside of its Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) chip used in its virtual reality HoloLens specs.

The secretive HPU is a custom-designed TSMC-fabricated 28nm coprocessor that has 24 Tensilica DSP cores. It has about 65 million logic gates, 8MB of SRAM, and a layer of 1GB of low-power DDR3 RAM on top, all in a 12mm-by-12mm BGA package. We understand it can perform a trillion calculations a second. It handles all the environment sensing and other input and output necessary for the virtual-reality goggles. It aggregates data from sensors and processes the wearer's gesture movements, all in hardware so it's faster than the equivalent code running on a general purpose CPU. Each DSP core is given a particular task to focus on.

The unit sits alongside a 14nm Intel Atom x86 Cherry Trail system-on-chip, which has its own 1GB of RAM and runs Windows 10 and apps that take advantage of the immersive noggin-fitted display.

Also at PCWorld.

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

Fast Company reports that Apple Inc. has bought a company called Gliimpse (sic) which operates a database in which people can store and disseminate their own health information. An Apple spokesperson said of the purchase,

From the article:

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Japanese whalers on Tuesday celebrated what they described as a court victory in the US to end years of high seas clashes with anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, which immediately vowed to fight on.

The arch enemies have waged a legal and public relations battle as Sea Shepherd has sought to disrupt an annual whale hunt in the Antarctic that Japan defends as scientific research.

However, the settlement between the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Japan's whaling body is unlikely to end the dispute as operations in Antarctic waters are mostly carried out by Sea Shepherd Australia, which does not come under the ruling.

[...] Sea Shepherd played down any suggestion of a global agreement, saying the settlement only applied to its US arm and that other branches, including its Australian office, would keep fighting.

"The ruling in the US courts affects ONLY our US entity," the group's global chief executive Alex Cornelissen said in a statement.

[...] Japan claims it conducts vital scientific research using a loophole in an international whaling ban, but makes no secret that the mammals ultimately end up on dinner plates.

It was forced to call off the 2014-2015 hunt after the United Nations' top court, the International Court of Justice, ruled in 2014 that its annual mission to the Antarctic was a commercial hunt masquerading as science.

The hunt resumed at the end of 2015, with the fleet returning to Japan in March of this year after having killed more than 300 of the mammals.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Sony's PlayStation Now game streaming service is coming to Windows PCs:

PlayStation Now has already been around for a couple of years on the PS4, PS3, PS Vita handheld, plus a handful of Blu-ray players and smart TVs. For $20 a month or $45 for three (£13 monthly in the UK, but alas, not available in Australia), the service gives players unlimited access to a long list of over 400 PlayStation 3 games. (The service is available only in those countries as well as in Canada and Japan, with Belgium and the Netherlands currently in beta.)

Remember OnLive? Sony acquired that company's patents in 2015.

Also involved, a $25 USB dongle to add DualShock 4 support to systems:

Sony is bringing official DualShock 4 support to Windows PCs and OS X. Today, alongside the announcement of PlayStation Now's upcoming release on Windows, the company revealed a new $24.99 USB adapter that will enable "every feature" of the PlayStation 4 gamepad. It will begin shipping in September. Specifically, Sony says the dongle opens up full access to "buttons, analog sticks, touch pad, light bar, motion sensors, vibration, and stereo headset jack" — so long as those features are all supported by whatever game application you're using. You can already use the DualShock 4 for the basics by pairing over Bluetooth or plugging it in directly with a USB cable, but now the controller's full capabilities will be unlocked.

Original Submission