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Physicists reach one-fifth quanta cooling

hellcat writes:

Physicists at the NIST have cooled an object below the so-called "quantum limit."

Described in the Jan. 12, 2017, issue of Nature, showed that a microscopic mechanical drum could be cooled to less than one-fifth of a single quantum, or packet of energy, lower than ordinarily predicted by quantum physics.

The new technique theoretically could be used to cool objects to absolute zero, the temperature at which matter is devoid of nearly all energy and motion, NIST scientists said.

http://phys.org/news/2017-01-physicists-cool-microscopic-quantum-limit.html

Physicists Cool Object to Below "Quantum Limit"

takyon writes:

Physicists have used microwave light to cool an object to less than one-fifth of a quantum of energy:

"The colder you can get the drum, the better it is for any application," said NIST physicist John Teufel, who led the experiment. "Sensors would become more sensitive. You can store information longer. If you were using it in a quantum computer, then you would compute without distortion, and you would actually get the answer you want."

"The results were a complete surprise to experts in the field," Teufel's group leader and co-author José Aumentado said. "It's a very elegant experiment that will certainly have a lot of impact."

The drum, 20 micrometers in diameter and 100 nanometers thick, is embedded in a superconducting circuit designed so that the drum motion influences the microwaves bouncing inside a hollow enclosure known as an electromagnetic cavity. [...] NIST scientists previously cooled the quantum drum to its lowest-energy "ground state," or one-third of one quantum.

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takyon writes:

Intel announced the Intel Compute Card at CES 2017. The devices are slightly larger than a credit card and are intended for release in mid-2017. Actual dimensions are 94.5 mm × 55 mm × 5 mm (compare to 85.60 mm × 53.98 mm for an ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 credit card):

The Intel Compute Card has been designed to be a universal computing platform for different kinds of devices, including those that do not exist yet. The ultimate goal is to simplify the way companies develop equipment, use, maintain, repair, and upgrade it. Creators of actual devices have to design a standard Intel Compute Card slot into their product and then choose an Intel Compute Card that meets their requirements in terms of feature-set and price. For example, PC makers could create systems in all-in-one or clamshell form-factors and then use Compute Cards instead of motherboards. For corporate customers that need to provide a lot of flexibility (and, perhaps, solve some security concerns too) - every employee has a card and can switch between PCs. In other markets such as automated retail kiosks, vendors can easily provide upgrades to deliver better functionality as Intel releases new Compute Cards in the future.

From a technology standpoint, Intel's Compute Card resembles the company's Compute Stick PC. However, its purpose is much wider: it is a small device that packs an Intel SoC or SiP (including Kaby Lake-based Core processors with vPro and other technologies), DRAM, NAND flash storage, a wireless module and so on into a small enclosure. Nonetheless, there are a number of important differences between the Compute Card and the Compute Stick. The Compute Card is a sealed system with "flexible I/O" in the form of a USB Type-C and an extension connector. The "flexible I/O" is not Thunderbolt (obviously, due to power consumption concerns), but it handles USB, PCIe, HDMI, DisplayPort connectivity and has some extra pins for future/proprietary use. Intel is currently working with a number of partners to enable the Compute Cards ecosystem. The list of global players includes Dell, HP, Lenovo and Sharp. There are also regional partners interested in the new form-factor, including Seneca Data, InFocus, DTx, TabletKiosk and Pasuntech.

Wait a second, it's just a smartphone without the screen and cellular connectivity!

Intel's existing Compute Stick line is not being updated with Kaby Lake processors (although given the similarity between Skylake and Kaby Lake performance, that may not say much about the future of Compute Stick).

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takyon writes:

Mosquito species native to South America and the Caribbean have been discovered in South Florida:

South Florida's Zika-spreading, dengue-transmitting mosquito population just got a little more crowded. Two new tropical mosquitoes capable of carrying viruses dangerous to humans have been discovered in Homestead and Florida City by University of Florida researchers. The mosquitoes — native to Central and South America and the Greater Antilles — likely arrived on plants, spread across canals, ditches and ponds in South Florida and will almost surely rise in numbers. Although they join a growing number of exotic mosquitoes invading the state, researchers were still surprised to find the mosquitoes so far north of their native ranges.

[...] The latest invaders, Aedeomyia squamipennis and Culex panocossa, also both carry viruses and can easily spread in populated areas. They lay their eggs on water lettuce, an aggressive aquatic plant that state biologists have dubbed one of the worst invasive weeds. The plants prefer dirty urban water and can be found in thick floating mats in canals and drainage ponds all around the state. But the mosquitoes' similarities end there, Burkett-Cadena said.

The Aedeomyia mosquito mainly feeds on birds, which spread viruses like West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis. If enough birds are infected, the viruses can be passed along to humans and other mammals, Burkett-Cadena said. In its native range, the Aedeomyia has transmitted bird malarias like the kind that have wiped out many of the songbirds in Hawaii. The Culex panocossa, which belongs to the same family of mosquitoes found naturally in Florida, may pose a more urgent threat: it is a confirmed vector for Venezuelan equine encephalitis, which can be lethal to children or the elderly. That also means the mosquito likely carries the local Everglades virus, a member of the same set of diseases and commonly found in native culex mosquitoes. Because those native mosquitoes don't do well outside the Everglades and undisturbed wetlands, the virus so far has not been widespread. But Burkett-Cadena worries more cases will now turn up if the mosquito's tropical cousin begins transmitting it.

Also at SFGate (AP).

Culex (Melanoconion) panocossa from peninsular Florida, USA (DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2016.12.024) (DX)

Another article is/will be available in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

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takyon writes:

Microsoft is being sued for allegedly not doing enough to help two of its employees who were suffering while on "porn detail":

Two former Microsoft employees who were responsible for monitoring child pornography and other criminal material have filed a lawsuit against the company, The Daily Beast reports, alleging that they were not provided with psychological support to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The employees, Henry Soto and Greg Blauert, were part of Microsoft's Online Safety Team, where they were charged with reviewing material that had been flagged as potentially illegal. According to the lawsuit, Soto's job involved viewing "horrible brutality, murder, indescribable sexual assaults," and other content "designed to entertain the most twisted and sick-minded people in the world." Blauert had to "review thousands of images of child pornography, adult pornography and bestiality that graphically depicted the violence and depravity of the perpetrators," according to the complaint.

Both men say they suffered "vicarious trauma" and symptoms associated with PTSD, including nightmares, anxiety, and hallucinations. When they complained about their health, Microsoft offered a "Wellness Program," but the suit alleges that the therapist involved with the program was not qualified to treat their symptoms. Program supervisors also advised them to take smoke breaks and walks to deal with their problems, while Blauert was advised to play more video games, according to the complaint.

Also at BBC, The Guardian, and Courthouse News. Courthouse News also has a copy of the lawsuit.

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takyon writes:

Amid continuing tensions in the South China Sea, the People's Liberation Army Navy is showing off its new electronic reconnaissance ship:

China's Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship, state media said on Thursday, the latest addition to an expanding fleet and as Beijing's new assertiveness to territorial claims in the South China Sea fuels tensions. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) now operates six electronic reconnaissance vessels, the official English-language China Daily newspaper said, noting that the PLA "has never made public so many details about its intelligence collection ships".

Last year, the PLA Navy commissioned 18 ships, including missile destroyers, corvettes and guided missile frigates, the paper said. China has also said it is building a second aircraft carrier. China's only carrier is the second-hand, Soviet-built Liaoning, which this week unsettled neighbors with drills in the disputed South China Sea.

Previously: China's South China Sea Claims Rejected By "Binding" but Unenforceable Tribunal Ruling
Piracy on the Open Sea?

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takyon writes:

It's no pardon, but it will do:

President Obama has put Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified material, on his short list for a possible commutation, a Justice Department source told NBC News. A decision could come [...] for Manning, who has tried to commit suicide twice this year and went on a hunger strike in a bid for gender reassignment surgery.

"I have more hope right now than I have the entire time since she was sentenced," Manning's aunt, Deborah Manning, told NBC News.

[...] Manning's supporters believe the harshness of the sentence can be traced to another leaker; the scandal around former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was erupting around the same time. "I really believe the judge felt she needed to send some sort of message," the aunt said. "I think in a way she was a scapegoat for Edward Snowden." Snowden, who has asked Obama for clemency, tweeted his support of Manning shortly after NBC News' report about the commutation decision aired on TODAY on Wednesday morning.

Four former and current Army intelligence officers told NBC News the documents leaked by Manning pale in significance to highly classified top secret material released by Snowden. The officers, who would not allow their names to be used, said the Manning sentence seems excessive.

Also at The Hill.

Time magazine adds:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will agree to be extradited to the U.S. if President Obama grants whistle-blower Chelsea Manning clemency before his term ends on Jan. 20, the organization has said.

In a tweet posted on the group's official account Thursday, WikiLeaks said Assange would not oppose extradition to the U.S. "despite [the] clear unconstitutionality" of any potential criminal complaints that the Justice Department may have against the whistle-blower website, if U.S. Army private Manning is released.

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butthurt writes:

The OC Weekly reports on the case United States of America v. Mark A. Rettenmaier in which a California doctor is charged with knowingly possessing child pornography. The defendant came under investigation after he brought his computer to Best Buy's Geek Squad for service. A technician there discovered an image of an unclothed girl (which the defence asserts is not child pornography) in unallocated space of the computer's hard drive.

According to the defence attorney,

The OC Weekly story says that:

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

TechDirt reports:

[The week of January 12,] the FDA was forced to issue a warning, noting that security vulnerabilities in the St. Jude Medical implantable cardiac device and corresponding Merlin@home Transmitter could be a serious problem. It's notable as it's the first time we've seen the government publicly acknowledge this specific type of threat.

The St. Jude Medical Merlin@home Transmitter uses a home monitor to transmit and receive RF signals wirelessly to the pacemaker. But the FDA found that this transmitter was vulnerable to attack, with the press release politely tap dancing around the fact that said vulnerability could be used to kill:

"The FDA has reviewed information concerning potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with St. Jude Medical's Merlin@home Transmitter and has confirmed that these vulnerabilities, if exploited, could allow an unauthorized user, i.e., someone other than the patient's physician, to remotely access a patient's RF-enabled implanted cardiac device by altering the Merlin@home Transmitter. The altered Merlin@home Transmitter could then be used to modify programming commands to the implanted device, which could result in rapid battery depletion and/or administration of inappropriate pacing or shocks."

According to the FDA, they have no evidence of anybody dying because of the vulnerability yet. They're also quick to note that St. Jude Medical issued a patch on January 9 that fixes this vulnerability.

Apparently, the "Move on; nothing to see here" claims were wrong.
University of Michigan Says Flaws That MedSec Reported Aren't That Serious
...and the "Let's look closely at these" lot were right way back when.
US Security Agencies Look at Medical Device Security

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

US president-elect Donald Trump's freshly minted cyber-tsar Rudy Giuliani runs a website with a content management system years out of date and potentially utterly hackable.

Former New York City mayor and Donald loyalist Giuliani was [...] unveiled by Trump's transition team as the future president's cybersecurity adviser – meaning Giuliani will play a crucial role in the defense of America's computer infrastructure.

Giulianisecurity.com, the website for the ex-mayor's eponymous infosec consultancy firm, is powered by a roughly five-year-old build of Joomla! that is packed with vulnerabilities. Some of those bugs can be potentially exploited by miscreants using basic SQL injection techniques to compromise the server.

This seemingly insecure system also has a surprising number of network ports open – from MySQL and anonymous LDAP to a very out-of-date OpenSSH 4.7 that was released in 2007.

[Editor's note: The website in question appears to have been taken down after this story went public.]

Source: The Register

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takyon writes:

One of the Google X "moonshots", a plan to use solar-powered drone aircraft to provide Internet connectivity to rural areas, has been axed. Some of the engineers may be reassigned to Project Loon and other efforts:

Back in 2014 Google (now Alphabet) bought Titan Aerospace, a company specializing in solar-powered drones that could fly at high altitudes for long periods of time. The goal was to offer internet access to rural areas that lacked connectivity by beaming it down from on high. In that way it was similar to another moon shot, Project Loon, and to Facebook's Aquila.

Today, however, Alphabet confirmed to Business Insider that it had ended its exploration of solar-powered drones. In fact according to a spokesperson, the project ended almost a year ago. That would make it part of a big group of setbacks for X, formerly X Labs, the incubator for wild ideas that has suffered under the strict financial discipline being imposed by Alphabet and its CFO, Ruth Porat. Bloomberg offered a rundown of the high-level departures that have occurred since the creation of Alphabet as a holding company and the separation of X from Google

Also at 9to5Google and Bloomberg.

Previously: Google Releases New Project Loon Video
Google to Provide Sri Lanka with 3G Internet Using Balloons
Facebook's Laser Drones v Google's Net-Beaming Balloons
Google May Test Balloon Internet Service Over the United States
Google Testing Project Loon: Concerns Are Without "Factual Basis"
Google Asks for Airspace Access for Internet Balloons

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takyon writes:

A company is testing an autonomous electric shuttle bus on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, and intends to fully deploy shuttles later in the year:

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman took a cruise down Fremont Street Tuesday afternoon that made history. Goodman rode in the first completely autonomous, fully electric shuttle to ever be deployed on a public roadway in the United States. The driverless vehicle — called Arma and developed by the Paris-based company Navya — will be making trips down Fremont Street from today to Jan. 20 as developers test the product. "What a wonderful day for all of us to witness this," Goodman said. "Being the control freak that I am, I was very nervous to get on this vehicle, but it is clean, has beautiful air and moves sort of swiftly but so beautifully down Fremont East."

The vehicle holds a dozen passengers and operates safely at up to 27 miles per hour but will be limited to 12 mph during the trial period. [...] While the trial will last only two weeks, Cervantes says the driverless vehicles could be in full effect by late summer to early fall. "It's a matter of fine-tuning the technology to make sure it's safe," Cervantes said. "The last thing we want is for something to happen." The vehicle uses radar to detect and avoid obstacles in the road, as well as GPS technology to navigate the roads. Keolis, a world leader in public passenger transport, has partnered with NAVYA in the endeavor.

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takyon writes:

Just months after an outcry about a price hike for the life-saving "Epipen", CVS pharmacies will begin carrying a new generic injector at a cutthroat price:

Pharmaceutical giant CVS announced Thursday that it has partnered with Impax Laboratories to sell a generic epinephrine auto-injector for $109.99 for a two-pack—a dramatic cut from Mylan's Epipen two-pack prices, which list for more than $600 as a brand name and $300 as a generic.

The lower-cost auto-injector, a generic form of Adrenaclick, is available starting today nationwide in the company's more than 9,600 pharmacies. Its price resembles that of EpiPen's before Mylan bought the rights to the life-saving devices back in 2007 and raised the price repeatedly, sparking outcry. [...] The price of $109.99 for the alternative applies to those with and without insurance, CVS noted. And Impax is also offering a coupon to reduce the cost to just $9.99 for qualifying patients. [...] Meanwhile, backlash to Mylan's price hikes continue. This week, Cigna, a top health insurance company, said that it will no longer cover Mylan's brand name EpiPen—it will only cover the generic, which was rolled out in December.

Previously: AllergyStop: $50 EpiPen is Production-Ready but...
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens

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takyon writes:

http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-03

Searching for planets around other stars is a tricky business. They're so small and faint that it's hard to spot them. But a possible planet in a nearby stellar system may be betraying its presence in a unique way: by a shadow that is sweeping across the face of a vast pancake-shaped gas-and-dust disk surrounding a young star. The planet itself is not casting the shadow. But it is doing some heavy lifting by gravitationally pulling on material near the star and warping the inner part of the disk. The twisted, misaligned inner disk is casting its shadow across the surface of the outer disk.

A team of astronomers led by John Debes of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, say this scenario is the most plausible explanation for the shadow they spotted in the stellar system TW Hydrae, located 192 light-years away in the constellation Hydra, also known as the Female Water Snake. The star is roughly 8 million years old and slightly less massive than our sun. The researchers uncovered the phenomenon while analyzing 18 years' worth of archival observations taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

[...] Given the relatively short 16-year period of the clocklike moving shadow, the planet is estimated to be about 100 million miles from the star — about as close as Earth is from the sun. The planet would be roughly the size of Jupiter to have enough gravity to pull the material up out of the plane of the main disk. The planet's gravitational pull causes the disk to wobble, or precess, around the star, giving the shadow its 16-year rotational period.

TW Hydrae.

Chasing Shadows: Rotation of the Azimuthal Asymmetry in the TW Hya Disk

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takyon writes:

Scientists have created a kilometer of synthetic spider silk fiber using spider silk proteins made by genetically engineered bacteria:

Spiders make silk by secreting a protein solution through a narrow duct. As the solution goes through the duct, the pressure makes the proteins link together to make the silk fiber. For the study published today in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, researchers designed a machine that does the same thing using a combination of two natural spider proteins. The resulting material is the strongest artificial spider silk yet. It's almost as good as the real thing, it's biodegradable, and it's pretty cheap to make.

Also at Live Science:

[...] researchers combined spidroin genes from two spider species to create a hybrid spider silk gene called NT2RepCT. The NT2RepCT coded for a completely new protein that combined the best properties from the spidroins of the two species: high solubility and high sensitivity to pH. They then inserted the gene for the hybrid silk protein into the DNA of bacteria, which produced the proteins. In the end, this process produced a highly concentrated solution of spider silk proteins that looked cloudy and viscous, just as real spider silk proteins do inside the silk glands. They then pumped this solution through a thin glass capillary, which mimicked the shearing that produced spider silk fiber in the real world, the researchers wrote in the paper. This process produced 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) of fiber in a 0.26 gallon (1 liter) flask, the researchers reported.

"The as-spun NT2RepCT fibers had a qualitatively similar stress-strain behavior to native spider silk in that they displayed an initial elastic phase up until a yielding point," after which the silk began to deform, the researchers wrote in the paper. Also, while the synthetic spider silk acted much like the real thing, it had lower toughness and tensile strength than its natural counterpart, meaning it breaks more easily.

Biomimetic spinning of artificial spider silk from a chimeric minispidroin (DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2269) (DX)

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

OMG! Ubuntu! reports

[January 11,] the company announced the immediate availability of the Dell Precision 3520 mobile workstation (that's "professional laptop" to you and [me]).

Better yet, buyers can save over $100 by choosing Ubuntu 16.04 LTS pre-loaded instead of Windows 10--now that's what you call a deal!

[...] Dell's Barton George says more Ubuntu-powered Precision workstations will go on sale in the coming months, worldwide, including an Ubuntu version of the company's stylish new Precision 5720 All-in-One desktop PC.

Unlike other vendors, Dell [doesn't] ship their Linux option on no-frills reduced-power hardware. All models in the Dell Precision lineup pack powerful 7th generation Intel Core and Intel Xeon processors, support Thunderbolt 3 (ahem, USB-C), and can be kitted out with up to 32GB RAM!

The Dell Precision 3520 is available to buy & configure right now priced from $899 (base specs, with Ubuntu 1604 LTS). It ships worldwide.

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