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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

The US' brief period of registration-free drone flight is over -- President Trump has signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018, and it revives the registration requirement for civilian drones. Robotic fliers between 0.5lbs and 55lbs need to be submitted to a database if they're going to remain legal. A Washington, DC appeals court had struck down the FAA's original requirement in May, arguing that it didn't have the authority to regulate model aircraft, but that clearly wasn't a deterrent. The FAA had said said it would rethink its approach to the regulation after its earlier defeat.

Naturally, the FAA is slightly giddy. In a statement to TechCrunch, the agency welcomed the return of registration arguing that it helped "promote safe and responsible drone operation."

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/12/trump-signs-bill-requiring-drone-registration/

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Phoenix666 writes:

Time to get the telescopes out:

If it's clear Wednesday night and Thursday before dawn, keep a lookout high overhead for the "shooting stars" of the Geminid meteor shower. That's the peak night for this annual display.

Sky & Telescope magazine predicts that, if you are viewing under a clear, dark sky, you might see a Geminid meteor every minute or two, on average, from 10 p.m. local time on December 13th until dawn on December 14th.

"The Geminids are usually one of the two best meteor showers of the year," says Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky & Telescope. "Sometimes they're more impressive than the better-known Perseids of August."

If it's cloudy on the night of the peak, some Geminid meteors should still be visible for a few nights before and after the peak. If you live under the artificial skyglow of light pollution, you'll see fewer meteors overall, but the brightest ones will shine through. This year there'll be no interference from a thin waning crescent moon, which doesn't rise until after 3 a.m.

takyon: The parent body of the Geminid meteor shower, the 5.1 km asteroid 3200 Phaethon, will make its closest approach to Earth on December 16 at about 0.0689 AU. It won't come closer until the year 2093.

The Mysterious Asteroid Behind the Year's Best Meteor Shower

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Fluffeh writes:

Democrat Doug Jones won a remarkable upset victory over controversial rival Roy Moore in the diehard Republican state of Alabama on Tuesday to win election to the US Senate.

By a margin of 49.5 to 48.9 with 91% of precincts reporting, Jones dealt a major blow to Donald Trump and his efforts to pass tax reform on Capitol Hill. Jones was able to become the first Democrat in a decade to win any statewide office in Alabama by beating Moore, who had faced multiple allegations of sexual assault during a campaign which exposed Republican party faultlines.

The Democratic victory will reduce the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49 once Jones takes his seat on Capitol Hill. This significantly reduces the margin for error as Republicans attempt to push through a major corporate tax cut.

takyon: The final count is:

Doug Jones - 671,151 votes (49.9%)
Roy Moore - 650,436 votes (48.4%)
Write-ins (total) - 22,819 votes (1.7%)

The margin for an automatic recount in Alabama is 0.5%. Roy Moore has yet to concede.

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takyon writes:

Android Oreo was released on August 21. Adoption is at 0.5% (among devices that accessed the Play Store in early December):

Yesterday, Google released some fresh platform data explaining how many devices are running each version. Android 8.0, as you might expect, is struggling with a measly 0.5 percent share. Google's latest Pixel phones run the software, but otherwise it's hard to come by. There are some outliers, of course — the quietly impressive HTC U11, for instance — but most are still shipping with a variant of Android Nougat. Which is, well, hardly ideal for Google.

Android 7.0 and 7.1 have a combined share of 23.3 percent. Respectable, but still behind 6.0 Marshmallow (29.7 percent) and Android Lollipop (26.3 percent).

Here's an article about changes in Android 8.1.

Also at 9to5Google and Wccftech.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Netflix tweeted that 53 people had watched its new Christmas film every day for 18 days in a row, highlighting its ability to track the viewing habits of its users:

Netflix has defended a tweet that revealed 53 people had watched its new Christmas film every day for 18 days in a row. "Who hurt you?" read the tweet, addressed to them.

The tweet caused controversy, with some saying it was "creepy" of the platform to keep such close tabs on its audience, and mock their choices. However, others found it entertaining - and unsurprising that Netflix should know what its customers were viewing.

In a statement, Netflix said the privacy of its members was important. "This information represents overall viewing trends, not the personal viewing information of specific, identified individuals," said a representative.

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takyon writes:

A fossilized partial skeleton of an ancient giant penguin has been described:

The remnants of an ancient penguin that stood as tall as a grown man have been found encased in rock on a beach in New Zealand.

Fossil hunters chanced upon the prehistoric bones in sedimentary rock that formed 55 to 60 million years ago on what is now Hampden beach in Otago on the country's south island.

Measurements of the partial skeleton show that the flightless bird weighed about 100 kilograms and had a body length of 1.77m (5ft 10in), equal to the average height of an American man. Emperor penguins, the tallest penguin species alive today, reach only 1.2m when fully grown.

[...] The pieces of the latest skeleton, including wing, spine, breast and leg bones, were first discovered more than a decade ago, but the rock holding the fossilised bones was so hard that it has taken until now for researchers to prepare and study the remains.

Also at NYT and LA Times.

A Paleocene penguin from New Zealand substantiates multiple origins of gigantism in fossil Sphenisciformes (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01959-6) (DX)

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takyon writes:

'Oumuamua's interstellar origin and unusually elongated shape has been enough to convince the billionaire-backed Breakthrough Listen to observe it to look for signs of alien technology:

The team's efforts will begin on Wednesday, with astronomers observing the asteroid, which is currently speeding away from our Solar System, across four different radio frequency bands. The first set of observations is due to last for 10 hours.

[...] Mr Milner's Breakthrough Listen programme released a statement which read: "Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimise friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust."

Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center, who is part of the initiative, said: "'Oumuamua's presence within our Solar System affords Breakthrough Listen an opportunity to reach unprecedented sensitivities to possible artificial transmitters and demonstrate our ability to track nearby, fast-moving objects." He added: "Whether this object turns out to be artificial or natural, it's a great target for Listen."

Previously: Possible Interstellar Asteroid/Comet Enters Solar System
Interstellar Asteroid Named: Oumuamua
ESO Observations Show First Interstellar Asteroid is Like Nothing Seen Before

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Fossil evidence suggests that feathered dinosaurs were infested with ticks:

Feathered dinosaurs were covered in ticks just like modern animals, fossil evidence shows. Parasites similar to modern ticks have been found inside pieces of amber from Myanmar dating back 99 million years. One is entangled with a dinosaur feather, another is swollen with blood, and two were in a dinosaur nest.

Scientists say the discovery, which has echoes of Jurassic Park, is the first direct fossil evidence that ticks fed on the blood of dinosaurs. The research is published in the journal, Nature Communications. "Ticks parasitised feathered dinosaurs; now we have direct evidence of it," co-researcher Dr Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History told BBC News. "This paper represents a very good example of the kind of detailed information that can be extracted from amber fossils."

Prototicks? On my nanoraptors?

Also at Science Magazine, NYT, and NPR.

Parasitised feathered dinosaurs as revealed by Cretaceous amber assemblages (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01550-z) (DX)

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AnonTechie writes:

NASA will be hosting a somewhat unusual press conference on Thursday (NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 14) to announce the latest find from its planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope. Kepler has found many hundreds of planets beyond our solar system over the years, but this week's announcement will be different because Google will be sharing in the science spotlight.

"The discovery was made by researchers using machine learning from Google," reads a release from the space agency, adding that the breakthrough "demonstrates new ways of analyzing Kepler data."

Exactly what has been discovered won't be revealed until Thursday, but with Kepler there's always a good chance that some new distant planets will be part of the reveal. Expect to hear something about a new era of planet-hunting assisted by artificial intelligence: That would be my guess for Thursday. We'll just have to wait and see if Google's A.I. is also helping to detect signs of alien life on the numerous worlds beyond our solar system as well.

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-nasa-kepler-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-planets/

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takyon writes:

Full moons and particularly "supermoons" have been linked to increased deaths of motorcyclists:

Distracted drivers, like those who text behind the wheel, are a danger to themselves and to others. Even a brief, momentary glance away from the road can result in life-threatening consequences.

Research published Dec. 11 in The BMJ [open, DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j5367] [DX] points toward another potential distraction for motorists: the full moon, gracing the sky with its brightness around 12 times a year, and the dazzling supermoon, which comes into focus around once a year.

The researchers found that on nights illuminated by a full moon, fatal motorcycle accidents increased by 5 percent compared to nights without a full moon. On evenings when the supermoon decorated the sky, this increased to 32 percent. The study included data from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

While this observational data cannot prove any firm conclusions, the researchers warn drivers of the risks of seemingly minor distractions, urging constant attention while driving at all times.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

[Ed's note: ASCII is the name given to the next release of Devuan]

"Dear D1rs,

there will be a Devuan ASCII sprint on 15-16-17th December 2017 (this coming weekend). The aim is to squash a few outstanding bugs in Devuan ASCII, with the view of preparing a beta release.

Some of the tasks require "hands-on" to the repos and other services, but virtually everybody else can help by testing packages, fixes, upgrade paths, patches, installation material, and so on, so anybody with some time to spare over the next week-end is welcome to join.

A list of currently outstanding bugs relevant for ASCII can be found at:

http://bugs.devuan.org//cgi/pkgreport.cgi?which=tag&data=ascii

If you can provide more info on those bugs, or patches, or anything, be prepared to do so.

There is no fixed schedule so far, but the best way to get in touch and "do things" is probably by hanging around on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on #devuan-dev. More detailed information will be provided sooner [closer?] to the date.

Come on, let's put ASCII out.

The Dev1Devs "

https://lists.dyne.org/lurker/message/20171211.190051.843303de.en.html

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Saturn's rings mess with the gas giant's atmosphere

Saturn's mighty rings cast a long shadow on the gas giant — and not just in visible light.

Final observations from the Cassini spacecraft show that the rings block the sunlight that charges particles in Saturn's atmosphere. The rings may even be raining charged water particles onto the planet, researchers report online December 11 in Science [DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4134] [DX] and at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

[...] Jan-Erik Wahlund of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala and Ann Persoon of the University of Iowa in Iowa City and their colleagues examined data from 11 of Cassini's dives through the rings. The researchers found a lower density of charged particles in the regions associated with the ring shadows than elsewhere in the ionosphere. That finding suggests the rings block ultraviolet light, the team concludes.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft during its first pass over Jupiter's Great Red Spot in July 2017 indicate that this iconic feature penetrates well below the clouds. Other revelations from the mission include that Jupiter has two previously uncharted radiation zones. The findings were announced Monday at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans.

"One of the most basic questions about Jupiter's Great Red Spot is: how deep are the roots?" said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Juno data indicate that the solar system's most famous storm is almost one-and-a-half Earths wide, and has roots that penetrate about 200 miles (300 kilometers) into the planet's atmosphere."

[...] Juno also has detected a new radiation zone, just above the gas giant's atmosphere, near the equator. The zone includes energetic hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur ions moving at almost light speed. [...] Juno also found signatures of a high-energy heavy ion population within the inner edges of Jupiter's relativistic electron radiation belt -- a region dominated by electrons moving close to the speed of light. The signatures are observed during Juno's high-latitude encounters with the electron belt, in regions never explored by prior spacecraft. The origin and exact species of these particles is not yet understood. Juno's Stellar Reference Unit (SRU-1) star camera detects the signatures of this population as extremely high noise signatures in images collected by the mission's radiation monitoring investigation.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Scientists Urge Endangered Listing for Cheetahs

A comprehensive assessment of cheetah populations in southern Africa supported by the National Geographic Society reveals the dire state of one of the planet's most iconic big cats. In a study published today in the open-access journal PeerJ, researchers present evidence that low cheetah population estimates in southern Africa and population decline support a call to list the cheetah as "Endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

With partial support from the National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative, an international team of 17 researchers, led by Florian Weise of the Claws Conservancy and Varsha Vijay of Duke University, analyzed more than two million collared cheetah observations from a long-term study by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and another 20,000 cheetah observations from the research community and the general public. Their findings show that free-ranging cheetahs were present across approximately 789,700 square kilometers in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2016.

[...] The study estimates only 3,577 adult cheetahs exist in this extensive area, which is larger than France, and a majority (55 percent) of individuals are found within only two habitats. This estimate is 19 percent lower than the IUCN's current assessment, supporting the call for the uplisting of cheetahs from "Vulnerable" to "Endangered."

The distribution and numbers of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in southern Africa (open, DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4096) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google has released three experimental apps developed by its researchers:

Each of the world's approximately two billion smartphone owners is carrying a camera capable of capturing photos and video of a tonal richness and quality unimaginable even five years ago. Until recently, those cameras behaved mostly as optical sensors, capturing light and operating on the resulting image's pixels. The next generation of cameras, however, will have the capability to blend hardware and computer vision algorithms that operate as well on an image's semantic content, enabling radically new creative mobile photo and video applications.

Today, we're launching the first installment of a series of photography appsperiments: usable and useful mobile photography experiences built on experimental technology. Our "appsperimental" approach was inspired in part by Motion Stills, an app developed by researchers at Google that converts short videos into cinemagraphs and time lapses using experimental stabilization and rendering technologies. Our appsperiments replicate this approach by building on other technologies in development at Google. They rely on object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies, and perhaps most importantly, fun!

Storyboard turns video into comic book style panels, Selfissimo! allows you to take selfie "photoshoots", and Scrubbies allows you to create video loops.

Also at The Verge.

Original Submission