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takyon writes:

Many asteroids might be remnants of 5 destroyed worlds, scientists say

For years, asteroids were thought of as the leftovers of planet formation - chunks of material that never quite made it to planet size and that were drawn into the crowded belt of rocky remnants that circles the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

But according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, these were once pieces of worlds, too. A vast majority of the half-million bodies in the inner asteroid belt may in fact be shrapnel from as few as five parent bodies called "planetesimals," scientists say. But the tangled orbits of those lost worlds meant they were doomed to collide, producing fragments that also collided, producing still more fragments in a cataclysmic cascade that's been going on for more than 4 billion years.

The finding doesn't only illuminate a "mystery" of the asteroid belt, said Katherine Kretke, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute who was not involved in the study. It could also help resolve a debate about the formation of the eight planets - including Earth. "I find it really exciting that we can look back in time and potentially see evidence of what were the building blocks that built up our solar system," she said. "If we can turn back the clock and see the asteroid belt was made by these big planetesimals, that really is telling us something quite definitive about the circumstances that formed our own planet."

[...] Scientists have previously known that roughly half of inner-belt asteroids belong to five "families." But Dermott and his colleagues say their analysis suggests that number is as high as 85 percent.

takyon writes:

New generation of deodorants 'on the way'

Experts believe they have found a better way to tackle body odour (BO). The key, they say, is understanding how skin bacteria create the smell from virtually odourless armpit sweat.

Two teams, at the Universities of York and Oxford, say they have now deciphered the first step in this molecular process. It could pave the way for a new generation of deodorants designed to block this unpleasant chain of events, the journal eLife [open, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34995] [DX] reports.

[...] Co-author Dr Gavin Thomas, from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: "Modern deodorants act a bit like a nuclear bomb in our underarms, inhibiting or killing many of the bacteria present in order to prevent BO. Only a small number of the bacteria in our armpits are actually responsible for bad smells."

These Staphylococus hominis bacteria use a "transport" protein to recognise and swallow up the odourless compounds secreted in sweat that they convert into BO. And Dr Thomas and colleagues say this could be used as a blueprint to develop a more guided weapon against BO - a new type of spray or roll-on deodorant containing a substance that would stop the transport protein from functioning.

Related: Get a Whiff of This: Man Hasn't Showered in 12 Years
"Smell-O-Vision" Comes to VR in the Form of "OhRoma" Gas Mask
Here's What Happens When You Add Scent to Virtual Reality
Sensor Detects How Bad Your Body Odor is
FDA Approves Topical Cloth for Excessive Armpit Sweating

Original Submission

martyb writes:

According to Wikipedia, Sepsis is: "a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs." and "Disease severity partly determines the outcome. The risk of death from sepsis is as high as 30%, from severe sepsis as high as 50%, and from septic shock as high as 80%."

So, if you have sepsis, it would be good to actually know it, so steps could be taken to treat it. Researchers have found some new clues to help with just such a diagnosis:

Researchers have found a clue in understanding how an infection can spiral into sepsis by blunting the body's immune response. This research may also help doctors identify the patients who may need immediate intensive treatment to save their lives.

[...] Sepsis can start with a simple infected cut. When the immune system fails to fight off the infection, sepsis occurs when inflammation spreads throughout the body, leaving patients vulnerable to organ damage, severe secondary infections, and death. While time is of the essence, doctors lack quick, efficient ways to diagnose this deadly condition.

[...] The immune system initially launches a vigorous attack against sepsis, but then the innate immune response shuts down. In a search to understand the underlying mechanism, Ghosh's team identified two microRNAs (miR-221 and miR-222) that are produced in immune cells during prolonged inflammation. These microRNAs silence inflammatory gene expression and in a mouse model of sepsis suppress the immune system at a time when the body desperately needs a full immune response.

Patients with suspected sepsis had a similar reaction. Among 30 hospitalized patients, those with evidence of organ failure exhibit higher levels of miR-221 and miR-222 in their blood samples. In septic patients, those with elevated miR-221 and miR-222 also exhibited evidence of immunosuppression.

[...] "When doctors face sepsis in the hospital, it is usually a mystery as to what is causing the infection, but they must act quickly. They can choose to use the broadest spectrum of antibiotics for an aggressive approach to cover every bacterial cause of infection, but this may later cause antibiotic resistance, a growing problem," says study co-author Daniel Freedberg, MD, assistant professor of medicine at CUIMC. "Any test that can identify the cause of sepsis to guide treatment options is invaluable."

Journal Reference:

John J. Seeley, Rebecca G. Baker, Ghait Mohamed, Tony Bruns, Matthew S. Hayden, Sachin D. Deshmukh, Daniel E. Freedberg, Sankar Ghosh. Induction of innate immune memory via microRNA targeting of chromatin remodelling factors. Nature, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0253-5

Definitions of sepsis can be found at Mayo Clinic and

Original Submission

DeathMonkey writes:

In a legal setback for the Trump administration's immigration policies, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled that the government may not arbitrarily detain people seeking asylum.

The ruling comes in a case challenging the administration's policy of detaining people even after they have passed a credible fear interview and await a hearing on their asylum claim.

The lead plaintiff in the case is a teacher from Haiti, Ansly Damus, who has been confined in Ohio for more than a year-and-a-half. He fled his homeland fearing violence and political persecution and asked for asylum in the United States. An immigration judge granted him asylum not just once, but twice. But Damus remains locked up indefinitely as the government appeals those decisions.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, in his 38-page opinion, said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated its own procedures by not granting Damus release under what's known as humanitarian parole.

"This Opinion does no more than hold the Government accountable to its own policy, which recently has been honored more in the breach than the observance. Having extended the safeguards of the Parole Directive to asylum seekers, ICE must now ensure that such protections are realized," Judge Boasberg wrote.

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/02/625504723/federal-judge-orders-administration-to-end-arbitrary-detention-of-asylum-seekers

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Ibrahim Diallo was allegedly fired by a machine. Recent news reports relayed the escalating frustration he felt as his security pass stopped working, his computer system login was disabled, and finally he was frogmarched from the building by security personnel. His managers were unable to offer an explanation, and powerless to overrule the system.

Some might think this was a taste of things to come as artificial intelligence is given more power over our lives. Personally, I drew the opposite conclusion. Diallo was sacked because a previous manager hadn't renewed his contract on the new computer system and various automated systems then clicked into action. The problems were not caused by AI, but by its absence.

The systems displayed no knowledge-based intelligence, meaning they didn't have a model designed to encapsulate knowledge (such as human resources expertise) in the form of rules, text and logical links. Equally, the systems showed no computational intelligence – the ability to learn from datasets – such as recognising the factors that might lead to dismissal. In fact, it seems that Diallo was fired as a result of an old-fashioned and poorly designed system triggered by a human error. AI is certainly not to blame – and it may be the solution.

This man was fired by a computer

What do you guys think about hiring and firing by AI? Would you agree with the article's premise?

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

[...] Tesla told Roadshow Tuesday evening it will, "in the coming days," open up invites for all remaining Model 3 reservation holders to design and finalize their Model 3s. This applies to the US and Canada, and the invites will be sent out based on when holders placed their reservations.

If you plunked down $1,000 for the deposit and are holding out hope for the short-range battery that'll be much closer to that magic $35,000 number, don't worry -- you can still hold onto your reservation and wait for your preferred trim to become available. According to Tesla's Model 3 design studio, which is still only available to reservation holders, the automaker estimates a six-to-nine-month wait for the more affordable battery pack.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-opens-model-3-invites-all-remaining-reservation-holders/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

While cryptocurrency has seen tremendous growth over the past year, sending cryptocoins still requires users to send the coins to long and hard to remember addresses. Due to this, when sending cryptocoins, many users will simply copy the address into memory from one application and paste it into another application that they are using to send the coins.

Attackers recognize that users are copying and pasting the addresses and have created malware to take advantage of this. This type of malware, called CryptoCurrency Clipboard Hijackers, works by monitoring the Windows clipboard for cryptocurrency addresses, and if one is detected, will swap it out with an address that they control. Unless a user double-checks the address after they paste it, the sent coins will go to an address under the attackers control instead the intended recipient.

While we have covered cryptocurrency clipboard hijackers in the past and they are not new, most of the previous samples monitored for 400-600 thousand cryptocurrency addresses. This week BleepingComputer noticed a sample of this type of malware that monitors for a over 2.3 million cryptocurrency addresses!

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/clipboard-hijacker-malware-monitors-23-million-bitcoin-addresses/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

"Leon" is a young Brazilian man who has long struggled with depression. He keeps an anonymous blog, in Portuguese, where he describes the challenge of living with a mental illness that affects some 300 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Leon is among the roughly 30 percent of those patients with treatment-resistant depression. Available antidepressant drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors do not alleviate his depressed mood, fatigue, anxiety, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.

A new study may offer hope for Leon and others like him.

Our team of Brazilian scientists has conducted the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of ayahuasca – a psychedelic drink made of Amazonian plants. The results, recently published in the journal Psychological Medicine, suggest that ayahuasca can work for hard-to-treat depression.

Source: Amazonian psychedelic may ease severe depression, new study shows

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Male mice grow ovaries instead of testes if they are missing a small region of DNA that doesn't contain any genes, finds a new paper published in Science.

The study, led by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, could help explain disorders of sex development in humans, at least half of which have an unknown genetic cause.

Mammals will develop ovaries and become females unless the early sex organs have enough of a protein called SOX9 at a key stage in their development. SOX9 causes these organs to become testes, which then direct the rest of the embryo to become male.

Source: https://www.crick.ac.uk/news/science-news/2018/06/14/non-coding-dna-changes-the-genitals-youre-born-with/

Sex reversal following deletion of a single distal enhancer of Sox9 (DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9408) (DX)

Original Submission

chewbacon writes:

Timothy Anderson, a former taxi driver, was arrested for the murder of a Uber driver in Okaloosa county, Florida. Filip Kirilov was found Sunday morning shot to death. Allegedly, he was a known opponent of Uber, citing declining business in an interview and recruiting other taxi drivers to take legal action against the ride share company. Anderson was identified and linked to the murder with surveillance equipment in the victim's car and Uber records. Police are calling the murder an isolated incident and believe the motive was revenge.

Original Submission

realDonaldTrump writes:

[...] "Plastic pollution is surpassing crisis levels in the world's oceans, and I'm proud Seattle is leading the way and setting an example for the nation by enacting a plastic straw ban," Mami Hara, the general manager of Seattle Public Utilities, told KOMO News.

The National Park Service estimates 500 million straws are used by Americans each day.

The Seattle ban actually began with an ordinance prohibiting one-time-use food service items in 2008, but the city has allowed exemptions on certain items every year since. For example, Styrofoam food packaging was banned in 2009, according to the Seattle Times. But because of the market, plastic utensils and straws have been exempted in Seattle's ban until now, the newspaper reported.

Seattle bans plastic straws, utensils, becoming first major US city to do so

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Lyft buys the biggest bike-sharing company in the US

Lyft has acquired Motivate, the bike-sharing company that operates Citi Bike in New York City and Ford's GoBike program in San Francisco. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though it was reported in June to be around $250 million.

Motivate, which Lyft says accounts for about 80 percent of bike-share trips in the US, also operates networks in Chicago; Boston; Washington, DC; Portland, Oregon; Columbus; and Minneapolis. Lyft says it "will invest to establish bike offerings in our major markets and pursue growth and innovation in the markets where Motivate currently operates," but it's unclear where or when it might expand beyond the cities Motivate is currently in. The company also did not share when Motivate's bikes will be available in the Lyft app.

Also at NYT and TechCrunch.

Previously: Uber May Try to Buy Citi Bike Parent Company Motivate

Related: New Electric Bikes, Scooters, and Dockless Bicycles Hitting U.S. Streets
Uber Buys Electric Bicycle-Sharing Startup JUMP Bikes

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Electrical brain stimulation may help reduce violent crime in future – study

It could be a shocking way to treat future criminals. Scientists have found that a session of electrical brain stimulation can reduce people's intentions to commit assaults, and raise their moral awareness.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore explored the potential for brain stimulation to combat crime after noting that impairment in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex has been linked to violent acts.

They recruited 86 healthy adults and gave half of them 20 minutes of brain stimulation before asking the whole group to read two hypothetical scenarios, one describing a physical assault, the other a sexual assault. Immediately afterwards, the participants were asked to rate the likelihood that they might behave as the protagonist had in the stories.

For those who had their brains zapped, the expressed likelihood of carrying out the physical and sexual assaults was 47% and 70% lower respectively than those who did not have brain stimulation. In the first scenario, Chris smashes a bottle over Joe's head for chatting up his girlfriend, and in the second, a night of intimate foreplay leads to date rape.

[...] Using a procedure called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, [Prof. Olivia] Choy and her colleagues Adrian Raine and Roy Hamilton at the University of Pennsylvania, delivered a 2 milliAmp current to the prefrontal cortex of volunteers to boost the region's activity.

Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex Reduces Intentions to Commit Aggression: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Stratified, Parallel-Group Trial (DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3317-17.2018) (DX)

Related: How Brain Implants (and Other Technology) Could Make the Death Penalty Obsolete
Study Uses Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Improve Piloting Abilities
Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation Could Speed Learning by 40%
Stanford Scientists Use Electric Jolts to Prevent Impulsive Behavior
Washington State Fusion Center Accidentally Releases Records on Remote Mind Control

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyGuest52256

According to the patent, spotted by Metro, the system would use 'a non-human hearable digital sound' to activate your phone's microphone.

This noise, which could be a sound so high-pitched that humans cannot hear it, would contain a 'machine recognisable' set of Morse code-style beeps

Once your phone hears the trigger, it would begin to record 'ambient noise' in your home, such as the sound of your air conditioning unit, plumbing noises from your pipes and even your movements from one room to another.

Your phone would even listen in on 'distant human speech' and 'creaks from thermal contraction', according to the patent.

TV advertisers would use this data to determine whether you had muted your TV or moved to a different room when their promotional clip played.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5882587/Facebook-wants-hide-secret-inaudible-messages-TV-ads-force-phone-record-audio.html

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Browser maker Opera has filed to go public

Norway-based company Opera Ltd. has filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. According to its F-1 document, the company plans to raise up to $115 million.

In 2017, Opera generated $128.9 million in operating revenue, which led to a net income of $6.1 million.

While many people are already familiar with the web browser Opera, the company itself has had a tumultuous history. Opera shareholders separated the company into two different entities — the browser maker and the adtech operations.

The advertising company is now called Otello. And a consortium of Chinese companies acquired the web browser, the consumer products and the Opera brand. That second part is the one that is going public in the U.S.

They offer an innovative, WebKit/Blink-based product.

Also at Android Police.

Related: Opera Browser Sold to a Chinese Consortium for $600 Million
Opera Discontinues its Mobile VPN App

Original Submission