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Phoenix666 writes:

Way to go, New York City! All 1,200 schools in the New York City public school district will now offer a vegan hummus option every day at the beginning of this school year, thanks to The Coalition for Healthy School Food (CHSF), a non-profit that helps introduce plant-based foods into schools. Vegan options for students that are available on the school’s vegetarian menu will range from Mexicali Chili, Lentil Stew, Lentil Sloppy Joes, Braised Black Beans with Plantains, and Zesty BBQ Crunchy Tofu. These yummy meals will be on rotation for the vegetarian menus.

And this isn’t CHSF‘s first initiative to help students have access to fresh, healthy food. CHSF has worked with the city’s department of education to help three NYC schools, Active Learning Elementary School in Queens (PS244), Peck Slip School in Manhattan (PS343), and The Bergen Elementary School (PS1) in Brooklyn, to transition to an all-vegetarian menu.

How can they have any pudding if they don't eat their meat?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Tabby's star, aka KIC 8462852, is likely surrounded by orbiting dust grains that block ultraviolet light:

The bizarre long-term dimming of Tabby's star—also known as Boyajian's star, or, more formally, KIC 8462852—is likely caused by dust, not a giant network of solar panels or any other "megastructure" built by advanced aliens, a new study suggests.

Astronomers came to this conclusion after noticing that this dimming was more pronounced in ultraviolet (UV) than infrared light. Any object bigger than a dust grain would cause uniform dimming across all wavelengths, study team members said.

"This pretty much rules out the alien megastructure theory, as that could not explain the wavelength-dependent dimming," lead author Huan Meng of the University of Arizona said in a statement. "We suspect, instead, there is a cloud of dust orbiting the star with a roughly 700-day orbital period."

Aliens left to roam free once again.

Previously: Tabby's Star Under Observation After Dimming Event Detected
Tabby's Star Dimming Could be Explained by a Saturn-Like Exoplanet

Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852 (DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa899c) (DX) (arXiv)

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

"It was known that green tea polyphenols are more effective and offer more health benefits than black tea polyphenols since green tea chemicals are absorbed into the blood and tissue," said Susanne Henning, the study's lead author and an adjunct professor at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. "Our new findings suggest that black tea, through a specific mechanism through the gut microbiome, may also contribute to good health and weight loss in humans."

That specific mechanism seems to be that it changes the ratio of bacteria in the intestine by increasing the microbes associated with lean body mass and decreasing those associated with obesity. While both green and black teas act as prebiotics in this way, it seems that black tea might have a leg up over its green partner.

The study fed four groups of mice different diets. One group ate low-fat, high-sugar foods,while another had high-fat, high-sugar meals. The other two were both on a high-fat, high-sugar diet but one got green tea extract, while the other received black tea extract.

[...] Because black tea seems to work in the gut, while green tea works in the liver as well as the gut, a combination of both drinks might be most helpful, especially since both beverages have been linked to multiple health benefits beyond weight loss.

The researchers did not specify how much sugar to mix with your black tea.

UCLA Newsroom

Susanne M. Henning, et. al. Decaffeinated green and black tea polyphenols decrease weight gain and alter microbiome populations and function in diet-induced obese mice, European Journal of Nutrition, doi:10.1007/s00394-017-1542-8

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

the Good Housekeeping Institute's recent publication of a dishwashing guide for all those young people (2 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the UK) who have never learned the ancient art of washing up. In a nutshell, use hot water and rubber gloves, pre-scrape and soak dirty pans, change your water halfway through, and wash in the following order: glasses, mugs, cups, saucers, side plates, dinner plates, cutlery, serving dishes, pans, roasting tins.

While not knowing how to wash dishes is kind of a big deal, it's the whole idea of not being to handle oneself as a versatile, independent adult that is most concerning. Young people lack a wide range of practical skills these days, as revealed in a recent study by YouGov. More than half of young people (18-24) do not know how to set up utility bills upon moving to a new place; 54 percent cannot replace a fuse in a plug; 34 percent can't reset the fuse box after a switch has tripped; 37 percent do not know how to defrost a freezer; and 11 percent is clueless when it comes to changing lightbulbs. (You can see the entire sad list here.)

So what? There's an app for that.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Scientists have developed a novel weapon in the battle against deadly hospital-acquired infections - a textile that disinfects itself.

And independent tests show it can reduce bacteria levels by more than 90 per cent.

By incorporating the specially-engineered textile in a device designed to be used on hospital doors instead of the traditional aluminium door plate, that part of the door that people push to open it - they aim to bolster hand hygiene.

The self-disinfecting device - known as Surfaceskins - has been developed by a spin out company from the University of Leeds and is the culmination of seven years research and development.

Hospital doors are recognised as a key weak link in hygiene because of the number of times people touch them.

You risk infection from hospital doors, not the homeless guy spewing in the bay next to you. This fabric will help.

E.L. Best et al, The potential of alcohol release doorplates to reduce surface contamination during hand contact, Journal of Hospital Infection (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.07.027

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Mattel will not sell an all-in-one voice-controlled smart hub / baby monitor, setting back the state of parenting by decades or even millennia:

Toymaker Mattel has shelved plans to build an "all-in-one voice-controlled smart baby monitor," after complaints about the device were raised by privacy advocates and child psychologists. According to a report from The Washington Post, the company said in a statement that the device, named Aristotle, did not "fully align with Mattel's new technology strategy" and would not be "[brought] to the marketplace."

Aristotle was unveiled back in January this year by Mattel's Nabi brand. It combined the smart speaker and digital assistant functionality of Amazon's Echo with a connected camera that acted as a baby monitor. But the Aristotle was intended to be a much more active presence in children's lives than an Echo speaker, with Mattel claiming it would read them bedtime stories, soothe them if they cried in the night, and even teach them their ABCs.

Mattel also appointed a new chief financial officer.

Also at Ars Technica and MSPoweruser.

Related: Amazon Declares War on YouTube by Launching Amazon Video Direct
Barbie Typewriter Toys Had a Secret Ability to Encrypt Messages — but They Didn't Think Girls Would
Amazon Dominates Voice-Controlled Speaker Market

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.

The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.

[...] Assisi's mayor, Stefania Proietti – a former climate mitigation professor – told the Guardian: "When we pay attention to the environment, we pay attention to poor people, who are the first victims of climate change.

"When we invest in fossil fuels, we stray very far from social justice. But when we disinvest and invest in renewable and energy efficiency instead, we can mitigate climate change, create a sustainable new economic deal and, most importantly, help the poor."

Are they putting their money where their mouth is, or making a smart economic bet?

Original Submission

martyb writes:

There is a story up on medium.com by Rob Malda (aka CmdrTaco) reflecting on Slashdot's start twenty years ago, on October 5th, 1997. For those who may be new here, the code driving this site you are reading is based on an old version of slashcode. If it weren't for Rob's efforts starting way back then, there would be no SoylentNews today.

Within a few days of DNS registration, Slashdot.org was live. I quickly added polls to answer urgent questions like "How many shots should Kurt drink". While he suffered the results of these polls, I would tail -f on the access_log and the residents of the so-called Geek House would boggle as names like 'mit.edu' and 'microsoft.com' streamed forward faster than we could read.

Rapid change followed: traffic soon created real expenses requiring hardware, colocation, and advertising. The code was in constant flux: adding user accounts, moderation, the submissions bin. And of course performance improvements to deal with the unyielding traffic growth. All the while I posted story after story, and our readers matched us with more comments than we thought possible.

My friends began contributing more and more. From code, to old hardware, to posting stories and coordinating advertising, we formed Blockstackers with a purpose. Slashdot went from from something with a stupid name that I was building into something we were building... with the help of thousands of nerds around the world that we would never meet in person.

I first visited Slashdot in its very early days. I saw the creation of UIDs and nicknames... and the database crash which lost all of the accounts so people had to sign up again. (Those with very low UIDs were very much not pleased!)

The code that drive the site you are reading is based on a version of Slashdot's code which they released as open source. Sadly, that version had not been maintained for years, so it had dependencies on out-of-date packages like Apache, and basically fell all over the floor — many long days were spent to get the code into shape. Our updated version of the code, rehash, is available on github.

I suspect I'm not the only one who came to SoylentNews who has many years' experience on Slashdot. Feel free to use this as an opportunity to share your remembrances of the early days there — and of SoylentNews, as well — which will be 44 months old on October 14th.

[Update: As mentioned in the story, these sites do not run or fund themselves. At the time of this writing, we have received approximately $537 towards our goal of $3000.00 for the half-year period ending 2017-12-31. We accept credit card payments and even Bitcoin. If you would like to contribute something to SoylentNews, please take a moment to go to our Subscribe page. The dollar amount is the minimum amount for the stated duration, but you are free to set it to whatever larger value you like. If you don't want the subscription for yourself, some folks make a gift subscription to NCommander who has UID 2. Oh, and in case you were not aware, none of the staff collect any kind of income for their work — we are all volunteers and give freely of our time and energy. --martyb]

Original Submission

takyon writes:

According to unverifiable sources, an NSA contractor stored classified data and hacking tools on his home computer, which were made available to Russian hackers through the contractor's use of Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software:

Russian government-backed hackers stole highly classified U.S. cyber secrets in 2015 from the National Security Agency after a contractor put information on his home computer, two newspapers reported on Thursday.

As reported first by The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources, the theft included information on penetrating foreign computer networks and protecting against cyber attacks and is likely to be viewed as one of the most significant security breaches to date.

In a later story, The Washington Post said the employee had worked at the NSA's Tailored Access Operations unit for elite hackers before he was fired in 2015.

[...] Citing unidentified sources, both the Journal and the Post also reported that the contractor used antivirus software from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, the company whose products were banned from U.S. government networks last month because of suspicions they help the Kremlin conduct espionage.

takyon writes:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers

At the top of the stack are two Core i7 Coffee Lake processors. In previous generations 'Core i7' meant that we were discussing quad-core parts with hyperthreading, but for this generation it moves up to a six-core part with hyperthreading. The Core i7-8700K starts at a 3.7 GHz base frequency and is designed to turbo to 4.7 GHz in single threaded workloads, with a thermal design power (TDP) of 95W.

[...] In the middle of the stack are the Core i5 processors, with the new generation matching the 'same configuration without hyperthreading' philosophy that followed in the previous generation. The two Core i5 parts operate at lower clockspeeds compared to the Core i7, and perhaps more so than we are previously used to, especially with the Core i5-8400 having a base frequency of 2.8 GHz. Intel sampled us the Core i5-8400 for our review, because it hits an important metric: six cores for under $200.

[...] It is interesting to note that in the last generation, Intel had processors with two cores and two threads (2C/2T), two cores with hyperthreading (2C/4T), quad cores with four threads (4C/4T) and quad cores with hyperthreading (4C/8T). This layout had staggered, regular steps. With the move to 6C/12T on the high-end Core i7, and 6C/6T on the mid-range Core i5, Intel completely skips the 4C/8T parts and moves straight to 4C/4T on the Core i3. This is likely because a 4C/8T processor might overtake a 6C/6T part in some multi-threaded tests (it would also explain why moving from a previous 4C/8T Core i7 processor to a 6C/6T Core i5 8th generation is not always an increase in performance).

However at the bottom of the stack are the 4C/4T Core i3 processors, where Intel is pushing out an overclockable Core i3 processor again. This is a little bit of a surprise: in our testing of the previous generation overclockable Core i3, the fact that it was dual core was a setback in a lot of testing. With the Core i3-K now being quad-core, and overclocking it to try and beat a six-core chip for less money, for certain things like gaming we might see less of a difference between the two.

Also at Ars Technica. Intel press release.

Previously: AMD's Ryzen Could be Forcing Intel to Release "Coffee Lake" CPUs Sooner
Intel's First 8th Generation Processors Are Just Updated 7th Generation Chips
Intel Launches 8th-Gen Core Desktop Chips; Claims New Core i7-8700K is its Best Gaming Chip Ever

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Scientists have long assumed that all the planets in our solar system look the same beneath the surface, but a study published in Geology on Oct. 4 tells a different story.

"The mantle of the earth is made mostly of a mineral called olivine, and the assumption is usually that all planets are like the Earth," said Jay Melosh, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue University, who led the study. "But when we look at the spectral signature of rocks exposed deep below the moon's surface, we don't see olivine; we see orthopyroxene."

Around 4 billion years ago, an asteroid collided with the moon and created the largest and deepest impact on the moon: the South Pole-Aitken basin. The collision exposed lunar mantle in the basin and splashed up material onto the far side of the moon.

Melosh's group used remote sensing to identify what minerals compose the splashed-up material. When sunlight hits the moon, it interacts with materials on the surface; because different materials absorb different wavelengths of light, researchers can tell what materials are on the surface by looking at the reflected signal.

Wallace and Gromit will be disappointed to learn it's not Stilton.

South Pole–Aitken basin ejecta reveal the Moon's upper mantle (DOI: 10.1130/G39375.1) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

An NHK employee died at age 31 after logging 159 hours of overtime and taking just two days off in the month before her death due to heart failure:

Japan has again been forced to confront its work culture after labour inspectors ruled that the death of a 31-year-old employee of the country's public broadcaster, NHK, had been caused by overwork.

Miwa Sado, who worked at the broadcaster's headquarters in Tokyo, logged 159 hours of overtime and took only two days off in the month leading up to her death from heart failure in July 2013.

A labour standards office in Tokyo later attributed her death to karoshi (death from overwork) but her case was only made public by her former employer this week. Sado's death is expected to increase pressure on Japanese authorities to address the large number of deaths attributed to the punishingly long hours expected of many employees.

The article mentions other instances of "karoshi", which can lead to heart failure, stroke, or suicide.

Miwa Sado was a political reporter for Japan's national public broadcaster NHK covering Tokyo and National Diet elections prior to her death. Japan, and particularly Tokyo, has been noted for the apathy of its voters.

Also at CNN and the Asahi Shimbun.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Silicon Valley celebrates artificial intelligence and robotics as fields that have the power to improve people's lives, through inventions like driverless cars and robot carers for the elderly.

That message isn't getting through to the rest of the country, where more than 70% of Americans express wariness or concern about a world where machines perform many of the tasks done by humans, according to Pew Research.

The findings have wide-reaching implications for technology companies working in these fields and indicates the need for greater public hand-holding.

"Ordinary Americans are very wary and concerned about the growing trend in automation and place a lot of value in human decision-making," said Aaron Smith, the author of the research, which surveyed more than 4,000 US adults. "They are not incredibly excited about machines taking over those responsibilities."

Once robots are perfected the 99% can be eliminated so they stop bumming the 1% out.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Some of the great moments of history sneak up on businesspeople. Two years ago, Britain looked to be Europe's most economically rational country; now its companies seem to be rolling from one economic earthquake to another, with Brexit looking increasingly likely to be followed by the election of a near-Marxist prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn.

Looking back, two things stand out. First, there were some deep underlying "irrational" causes that business ignored, such as the pent-up anger against immigration and globalization. Second, there was a string of short-term political decisions that proved to be miscalculations. For decades, for example, attacking the European Union was a "free hit" for British politicians. If David Cameron had it to do over again, would he really have made the referendum on whether to stay in it a simple majority vote (or indeed called a vote at all)? Does Angela Merkel now regret giving Cameron so few concessions before the Brexit vote? Would the moderate Labour members of Parliament who helped Corbyn get on their party's leadership ballot in the name of political diversity really do that again?

Now, another rupture may be sneaking up on Europe, driven by a similar mixture of pent-up anger and short-term political maneuvering. This one is between the old West European democratic core of the EU, led by Merkel and increasingly by Emmanuel Macron, who are keen to integrate the euro zone, and the populist authoritarians of Eastern Europe, who dislike Brussels. This time the arguments are ones about political freedom and national sovereignty.

Eastern Europe's gripes are nothing a little anschluss couldn't cure.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A new atomic clock is even more precise than its predecessors:

It's about time. The most precise atomic clock ever made has been created by arranging strontium atoms in a grid-like pattern and then stacking those grids like pancakes.

Most atomic clocks use atoms of the isotope caesium-133. The ticking of time is measured through microwaves emitted by the electrons around those atoms jumping from a lower to higher orbit as they absorb and then lose energy from a laser.

But these clocks are constrained in how precisely they can divide time because caesium electrons have a speed limit: they can only jump back and forth 9 billion times per second. The electrons in strontium atoms can transition nearly 1 million billion times per second.

"In 2014, the world's most accurate optical clock wouldn't lose or gain one second in the entire age of the universe," says Jun Ye at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Previous caesium clocks kept time accurately to within a second over the course of 300 million years.

Now, Ye's group has built a strontium clock that is so precise, out of every 10 quintillion ticks only 3.5 would be out of sync – the first atomic clock ever to reach that level of precision.

Also at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

A Fermi-degenerate three-dimensional optical lattice clock (DOI: 10.1126/science.aam5538) (DX)

A synchronous clock comparison between two regions of the 3D lattice yields a measurement precision of 5 × 10^–19 in 1 hour of averaging time.

Original Submission