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Phoenix666 writes:

With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, questions about election security continue to dog the nation's voting system.

It's too late for election officials to make major improvements, "and there are no resources," said Joe Kiniry, a long-time election security researcher.

However, officials can take several steps for upcoming elections, security experts say.

"Nobody should ever imagine changing the voting technology used this close to a general election," said Douglas Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa. "The best time to buy new equipment would be in January after a general election, so you've got almost two years to learn how to use it."

• Stop using touchscreen electronic voting machines without printers
• Conduct more extensive pre-election voting machine tests
• Put better election auditing processes in place
• Hire hackers to test your systems
• Ensure that strong physical security is in place

Voters worried about vulnerable voting machines can rest easy--the fix is in!

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Phoenix666 writes:

Every material can bend and break. Through nearly a century's worth of research, scientists have had a pretty good understanding of how and why. But, according to new findings from Drexel University materials science and engineering researchers, our understanding of how layered materials succumb to stresses and strains was lacking. The report suggests that, when compressed, layered materials -- everything from sedimentary rocks, to beyond-whisker-thin graphite -- will form a series of internal buckles, or ripples, as they deform.

The finding was published in the journal Scientific Reports by a team of researchers from Drexel's College of Engineering, led by Michel W. Barsoum, PhD, distinguished professor and head of the MAX/MXene Research Group, along with Garritt J. Tucker, PhD, an assistant professor, and Mitra Taheri, PhD, Hoeganaes associate professor, all in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Barsoum had observed the latter phenomena during his studies of layered materials such as the MAX phases, mica and graphite. So when a paper published, in early 2015, by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested a new deformation micromechanism -- best described as an atomic scale ripple -- occurring near the surface of layered materials, he realized that the defect, dubbed a "ripplocation," had much broader implications.

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Phoenix666 writes:

The general picture about Amazonia is that the rain forest is rather uniform, but large rivers form dispersal barriers that limit species distribution and trigger speciation, i.e. the evolutionary formation of new species. An international team led by researchers from the University of Turku, Finland, has identified a 1,000-kilometre-long boundary between two geological formations that constrains plant species occurrences more effectively than a large river.

"This boundary intrigued us, because it is so long. It is clearly visible in satellite images even though superficially the rainforests on both sides look similar. We decided to find out if there are floristic differences across the boundary, because the result would have a great impact on how we interpret Amazonian biogeography," explains Docent Hanna Tuomisto, who led the study.

The geographical barrier, which comprised different soil types, cut across rivers. The finding could lead to greater understanding of what drives species diversity in the Amazon.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Dr. Lowe writes:

Radio Free Asia writes:

Phoenix666 writes:

A major seed bank in Aleppo, Syria, holds genes that might help researchers breed crops to survive climate change. But the conflict tearing the country apart has rendered the bank largely inaccessible for the past four years. Now an effort to duplicate its seed collection at more-accessible locations is ramping up.

On 29 September, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), which runs the bank in Aleppo, officially launched a sister bank in Terbol, Lebanon, which now hosts 30,000 duplicates. Together with a new bank in Rabat, Morocco, it will make thousands of seeds available to researchers.
...
Seed banks function as bank accounts for plant genes. Collectors deposit seeds, which can later be 'withdrawn' to replenish crops lost in conflict or disaster, to breed new traits into crops — such as pest or heat resistance — and to research the evolution of plants over the ages.

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takyon writes:

Theranos's troubles continue with the layoffs of about half its workforce:

Theranos is closing its labs and wellness centers, CEO Elizabeth Holmes announced today in a post on the company blog. And this isn't a temporary closure: the "approximately" 340 employees running them are out of a job. [...] The company pivoted away from working on its closely held "nanotainer" technology to a "miniLab" in August. The boxy device — unveiled at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry conference — collects small samples of blood and urine and then uploads them to a centralized system for further analysis. And it's a far cry from what the company, once valued at $9 billion, set out to do. According to several experts whom TechCrunch spoke to at the unveiling, it might not be very innovative, either. Although Theranos didn't want its new device referred to as a "lab on a chip," that's essentially what these experts said the miniLab was. And that has been done.

The new device hinges largely on FDA approval — something Holmes said she'd hoped to fast-track under the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Zika detectors. That plan didn't go so well, however. The FDA denied Theranos approval after finding the company failed to use proper patient safety protocols. [...] The news Theranos is shuttering its labs and wellness centers and laying off nearly half its workforce comes after a series of shocking revelations over the past year involving faulty test results and improperly trained workers. The company is now facing numerous lawsuits, was forced to shut down it's California lab facility, lost its main partner Walgreens and was subject to a Congressional inquiry. Finally in July regulators banned Holmes from stepping foot in her own labs.

Previously: Theranos Introduces New Product to Distract from Scandal

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stormwyrm writes:

Forbes staff reporter Thomas Fox-Brewster has an article (mirror here for those who won't turn off their ad blockers) reporting that Haifa-based spy tech company Wintego allegedly has the capability to break WhatsApp's encryption. From the article:

An Israeli company is marketing what appears to be an astonishing surveillance capability, claiming it can siphon off all WhatsApp chats, including encrypted communications, from phones within close proximity of a hidden Wi-Fi hacking device in a backpack.

Brochures leaked to FORBES, and published below, revealed a non-public offering from Haifa-based Wintego called CatchApp. It promises an "unprecedented capability" to break through WhatsApp encryption and grab everything from a target's account. It does so through a "man-in-the-middle" (MITM) attack; in theory the traffic is intercepted between the app and the WhatsApp server and somehow the encryption is decoded by the device, though that may not be possible with the latest upgrades to the software's cryptography.

According to the anonymous source who handed FORBES the documents, the product works on the most current versions of WhatsApp, noting the brochures were handed out at a policing event this year. They could not offer any proof of that claim, however, and the files may date from before WhatsApp added significantly stronger end-to-end encryption.

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takyon writes:

If you're going to overcharge the U.S. government, you don't want to get caught:

Mylan NV for years overcharged the U.S. Medicaid health program to buy its EpiPen shot, the government said Wednesday, despite being told that it needed to give bigger discounts under the law. From 2011 to 2015, the joint state-federal program for the poor spent about $797 million on EpiPens, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, said in a letter Wednesday. That included rebates of about 13 percent, but the U.S. should have been getting a larger discount of at least 23.1 percent.

While the agency didn't say exactly how much Mylan had overcharged, the amount could be substantial. Under law, companies are required to give [Medicaid] back any price increases they take on brand drugs above the rate of inflation, in addition to the 23.1 percent discount. Mylan, after acquiring the drug in 2007, has raised the price of EpiPen by about sixfold, to over $600 for a package of two. The government has in the past "expressly told Mylan that the product is incorrectly classified," CMS said in the letter, which came in response to an inquiry by Congress. "This incorrect classification has financial consequences for the amount that federal and state governments spend because it reduces the amount of quarterly rebates Mylan owes for EpiPen."

Previously:
EpiPen's Price Increased 400% since 2008
AllergyStop: $50 EpiPen is Production-Ready but...

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case about insider trading for the first time in two decades:

U.S. Supreme Court justices suggested they will make it easier to prosecute Wall Street figures for insider trading as the court heard arguments on the subject for the first time in two decades. Taking up the conviction of onetime Chicago grocery wholesaler Bassam Yacoub Salman, the justices weighed Wednesday whether someone can be sent to prison for making trades when the insider who provided the tip wasn't looking to make any money. A majority of the eight justices indicated a willingness to uphold the conviction.

A victory for the government would be a boost for prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission, restoring some of the leverage they lost in 2014 when a federal appeals court in Manhattan imposed new requirements on government lawyers. The New York court's ruling undercut U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's eight-year crackdown on Wall Street cheating and led to more than a dozen insider-trading convictions being thrown out. Justice Stephen Breyer said that ruling had changed decades-old rules for insider trading by requiring prosecutors to show that the insider received a concrete benefit. Salman's lawyer is urging the court to adopt that standard nationwide.

Also at Reuters and The New York Times .

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takyon writes:

A study analyzing data on over 1 million women has found an association between hormonal birth control and use/prescription of antidepressants:

"Today in vindication," wrote a woman on Twitter on Tuesday, summarizing the way many have received a striking new study [DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2387] [DX] that found those who use birth control — especially teenage girls — may be at a significantly higher risk of experiencing depression. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has been heralded as groundbreaking for its depth and breadth, even if it seems to only confirm what some women say they've been feeling for years — that their hormonal contraceptives make them sad.

Women who used the combined birth control pill, a mix of estrogen and progestin, were 23 percent more likely to be prescribed anti-depressants than nonusers, and progestin-only pills raised the likelihood by 34 percent. With the patch, antidepressant use doubled; risk increased by 60 percent for vaginal rings and 40 percent for hormonal IUDs. And for teens age 15 to 19 taking combined oral contraceptives, the use of anti-depressants spiked 80 percent. Although those percentages may seem shocking, the absolute change is a small but significant spike. Among women who did not use hormonal birth control, an average of 1.7 out of 100 began taking anti-depressants in a given year. That rate increased to 2.2 out of 100 if the women took birth control.

It's the first study to conclude there might be a link between birth control and depression, author Øjvind Lidegaard told The Washington Post. Mood swings are often listed as a known side effect, but not clinical depression.

Also at The Guardian and CBC.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Indonesian police have arrested a man accused of hacking into a public billboard in Jakarta and streaming a pornographic film.

The 24-year-old IT analyst has admitted the crime, said police, for which he could face up to six years in jail.

Motorists were left in shock last week when footage from a Japanese porn film was displayed on an electronic screen in south Jakarta.

The video ran for five minutes on Friday before power was eventually cut.

However the clip had already been captured on many mobile phones and soon spread across social media.

The man, who was arrested in his office, allegedly carried out the prank after seeing login details displayed on the billboard.

Now that's a hack!

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Antonio Guterres will become the next United Nations Secretary-General after winning a straw poll unanimously:

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is set to become the next United Nations secretary-general, after the 15 Security Council members agreed to put his name forward to a formal vote. Guterres, who was head of the UN's refugee agency for 10 years until 2015, emerged as the Security Council's runaway favorite after the latest in a series of straw polls on Wednesday. Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN and current Security Council president, told reporters that Guterres would face a vote in the Security Council on Thursday. "Today, after our sixth straw poll we have a clear favorite, and his name is Antonio Guterres," he said.

The BBC has some background information about Guterres.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A federal contractor was arrested in August for unlawful retention of classified documents:

A federal contractor suspected of leaking powerful National Security Agency hacking tools has been arrested and charged with stealing classified information from the U.S. government, according to court records and a law enforcement official familiar with the case. Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, was charged with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, authorities said. He was arrested in August after investigators searched his home in Glen Burnie, Md., and found documents and digital information stored on various devices that contained highly classified information, authorities said. The breadth of the damage Martin is alleged to have caused was not immediately clear, though officials alleged some of the documents he took home "could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States." Investigators are probing whether Martin was responsible for an apparent leak that led to a cache of NSA hacking tools appearing online in August, according to an official familiar with the case.

From the US DoJ release:

A criminal complaint has been filed charging Harold Thomas Martin III, age 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials by a government employee or contractor. According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Martin was a contractor with the federal government and had a top secret national security clearance. Martin was arrested late on August 27, 2016. The complaint was filed on August 29, 2016, and unsealed today.

Also at The New York Times , NBC, PBS, the Baltimore Sun .

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

http://newatlas.com/zume-pizza-future-pizza-delivery-robots/45698/

At first glance, it looks like a solution to a particularly first-world problem: To eliminate the sogginess in pizzas caused by dwell time (i.e. the interim period it spends waiting to be delivered), startup Zume Pizza has launched a delivery truck equipped with 56 specially designed ovens to guarantee that their pies arrive at customers' doorsteps fresh out of the oven, literally.

Only in Silicon Valley, right?

But hang on. This isn't really about lukewarm pies. It's about disrupting a US$38 billion market that is currently dominated by big-box chains. In fact, the Big Four in the US – Domino's, Little Caesars, Papa John's and Pizza Hut – currently control around 40 percent of the market. And while there are many ways to go about doing this, founders Julia Collins and Alex Garden have chosen to focus on the food-delivery experience, and for good reason: the surge in mobile ordering and demand for food delivery. In fact, digital ordering is growing 300 percent faster than dine-in traffic. At Domino's alone, more than 50 percent of its US customers order via digital platforms. Collins, who has a restaurant background, believes that Zume's advantage lies in its ability to deliver on price, quality and speed.

Customer: Why are all the toppings piled on one side? Driver: Got cut off in traffic...

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Assuming that SpaceX can refuel an orbiting spacecraft, build boosters capable of launching 1,000 times over, establish a propellant factory on another planet and of course, that you've got US$100,000 to spare, you could soon be faced with some pretty tough life choices. Earlier this week Elon Musk outlined his plan to send one million people off to colonize Mars, but there is a lot to consider when sizing up your own little patch of rock and dust. To get a handle on some of the likely settlement sites if Musk's interplanetary plans do materialize, New Atlas checked in with who we'll call realtors of the Red Planet to find out some prime locations to set up shop.

The fact of the matter is that there are tens, if not hundreds of potential Mars landing sites being bandied about by scientists concerned with such endeavors. At a NASA workshop last October, hundreds of researchers from around the world debated the strengths and weaknesses of 48 strong candidates, and the reality is these will be chopped and changed as we come to learn more about our dusty red neighbor. But hey, it's been a big week for Mars and the romantic notion of dreaming big, so we'll get into the spirit of things and let our imaginations run wild just a little.

What's your choice, the bottom of Valles Marineris, the Gale Crater, the Medusae Fossae Formation, or other?

Original Submission