SoylentNews

takyon writes:

Huawei Arrest Tests China's Leaders as Fear and Anger Grip Elite

The arrest of one of China's leading tech executives by the Canadian police for extradition to the United States has unleashed a combustible torrent of outrage and alarm among affluent and influential Chinese, posing a delicate political test for President Xi Jinping and his grip on the loyalty of the nation's elite.

The outpouring of conflicting sentiments — some Chinese have demanded a boycott of American products while others have expressed anxiety about their investments in the United States — underscores the unusual, politically charged nature of the Trump administration's latest move to counter China's drive for technological superiority.

In a hearing on Friday in Vancouver, Canadian prosecutors said the executive, Meng Wanzhou of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, faced accusations of participating in a scheme to trick financial institutions into making transactions that violated United States sanctions against Iran.

Unlike a new round of tariffs or more tough rhetoric from American officials, the detention of Ms. Meng, the company's chief financial officer, appears to have driven home the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China in a visceral way for the Chinese establishment — and may force Mr. Xi to adopt a tougher stance against Washington, analysts said. In part, that is because Ms. Meng, 46, is so embedded in that establishment herself.

Previously: Canada Arrests Huawei's Global Chief Financial Officer in Vancouver

Related: New Law Bans U.S. Government from Buying Equipment from Chinese Telecom Giants ZTE and Huawei
Australia Bans China's Huawei (and maybe ZTE) from 5G Mobile Network Project
Washington Asks Allies to Drop Huawei

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Fatal brain-eating amoeba may have come from woman's neti pot

A Seattle woman rinsed her sinuses with tap water. A year later, she died of a brain-eating amoeba. Her case is reported this week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2018.09.013] [DX].

The 69-year-old, whose name was not given, had a lingering sinus infection. For a month, she tried to get rid of it using a neti pot with tap water instead of using sterile water, as is recommended. Neti pots are used to pour saline into one nostril and out of the other to irrigate the sinuses, usually to fight allergies or infections.

According to the doctors who treated the woman, the non-sterile water that she used it thought to have contained Balamuthia mandrillaris, an amoeba that over the course of weeks to months can cause a very rare and almost always fatal infection in the brain.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google trainee puts up dummy advert by mistake

A Google training exercise that went wrong meant a dummy advert was placed on a "huge number" of webpages and apps, the Financial Times has reported. The mistake meant a blank yellow rectangle was active on the sites and apps for about 45 minutes on 4 December, it said. The ad was only visible to people in the US and Australia.

The mistake happened when trainees were being shown how to use Google's in-house ad placing system.

[...] The advert was placed at a far higher rate of return than any other ad and was routed through several third-party exchanges, so it reached a wide audience. [...] [Google] added that it would "honour" any payments to publishers which they incurred as a result of the mistake.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

After VW was outed for falsifying environmental data in its cars hundreds of thousand of VW vehicles were taken off the road now sitting in storage sites. Hundreds of thousands of cars now lie in lots in the Mojave Desert, a shuttered suburban Detroit football stadium, and a former Minnesota paper mill in America alone. These vehicles are now in the open slowly breaking down with pollutants entering the environment. Is the the modern cost of corporate greed? What can we do to ensure this never happens again?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Dr Colombano told Califoria's SETI-backed Decoding Alien Intelligence Workshop back in March that scientists need to broaden their idea of what an extra-terrestrial would like like.

'I simply want to point out the fact that the intelligence we might find and that might choose to find us (if it hasn't already) might not be at all be produced by carbon based organisms like us,' his report read.

He added that scientists must 're-visit even our most cherished assumptions', which has implications for everything from an alien's lifespan to its height.

'The size of the 'explorer' might be that of an extremely tiny super-intelligent entity,' he says.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6457259/NASA-expert-says-alien-life-visited-Earth.html

Also at Tiny aliens may have visited us and we just didn't know: NASA scientist

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Verizon takes aim at Tumblr's kneecaps, bans all adult content

Oath, the Verizon subsidiary that owns the Yahoo and AOL digital media brands, has announced that as of December 17, all adult content will be banned from the Tumblr blogging site. Any still or moving images displaying real-life human genitals or female nipples and any content—even drawn or computer-generated artwork—depicting any sexual acts will be prohibited.

Genitals and female nipples will only be permitted within the context of breastfeeding, childbirth, and in health-related subjects such as gender confirmation surgery. Written erotica will also remain on the site.

Nowadays, pornography represents a substantial element of Tumblr's content. A 2013 estimate said that around 11 percent of the site's 200,000 most-visited domains were porn, and some 22 percent of inbound links were from adult sites.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Scientists long believed that Earth's lower mantle was composed of Bridgmanite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and magnesiowüstite (Mg,Fe)O, in which Fe2+ dwells. This view changed when experiments showed that Fe2+ simply can't exist at the pressure and temperature of the lower mantle. What is present is Fe3+. The two phases (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and (Mg,Fe)O both shed Fe2+ and, in turn, MgSiO3 and MgO remain. However, what mineral hosts Fe3+ had remained unknown.

Now, scientists have a possible answer: Maohokite, a newly discovered high-pressure mineral. It may be what composes the Earth's lower mantle along with Bridgmanite MgSiO3 and magnesiowüstite MgO. The study reporting this new mineral was published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

[...] Maohokite, with a composition of MgFe2O4, has an orthorhombic CaFe2O4-type structure. The existing mineralogical model of the Earth's mantle shows that the ferromagnesian lower mantle is mainly composed of Bridgmanite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and magnesiowüstite (Mg,Fe)O. Therefore, the fact that Maohokite contains Mg and Fe, two major components of the lower mantle, only makes the case stronger that Maokohite is a key mineral in the lower mantle.

The researchers were under a lot of pressure to produce this result.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

BBC:

[...] Dr Asakawa is behind early digital Braille innovations and created the world's first practical web-to-speech browser. Those browsers are commonplace these days, but 20 years ago, she gave blind internet users in Japan access to more information than they'd ever had before.

Now she and other technologists are looking to use AI to create tools for visually impaired people.

For example, Dr Asakawa has developed NavCog, a voice-controlled smartphone app that helps blind people navigate complicated indoor locations.

Low-energy Bluetooth beacons are installed roughly every 10m (33ft) to create an indoor map. Sampling data is collected from those beacons to build "fingerprints" of a specific location.

Daredevil should soon be available to help Dr Asakawa with her work.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Paleontologists from Russia have described a new dinosaur, the Volgatitan. Seven of its fossilized vertebrae, buried in the ground for about 130 million years, were found on the banks of the Volga, not far from the village of Slantsevy Rudnik, five kilometers from Ulyanovsk. The study has been published in the latest issue of Biological Communications.

The Volgatitan belongs to the group of sauropods—giant herbivorous dinosaurs with a long necks and tails, which lived about 200 to 65 million years ago. Weighing around 17 tons, the ancient reptile from the banks of the Volga was not the largest among its relatives. The scientists described it from seven caudal vertebrae. The bones belonged to an adult dinosaur characterized by neural arches (parts of the vertebrae protecting the nerves and blood vessels), which completely merged with the bodies of the vertebrae.

In Soviet Russia, giant dinosaur finds you.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8cx, an 'extreme' processor for Windows laptops

The "X" stands for "extreme." That's what Qualcomm's marketing department wants you to think about the new eight-core Snapdragon 8cx.

It's a brand-new processor for always-connected Windows laptops and 2-in-1 convertible PCs, and from Qualcomm's perspective, it might seem a little extreme. Physically, it's the largest processor the company has ever made, with the most powerful CPU and GPU Qualcomm has devised yet. Qualcomm says it'll be the first 7nm chip for a PC platform, beating a struggling Intel to the punch, and the biggest performance leap for a Snapdragon ever. The company's promising "amazing battery life," and up to 2Gbps cellular connectivity.

The TDP is 7 Watts, and the chip supports up to 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM.

Previously, a "Snapdragon 1000" for laptops was said to be in the works, but with a 12 Watt TDP.

See also: Firefox running on a Qualcomm 8cx-powered PC feels surprisingly decent

Previously: First ARM Snapdragon-Based Windows 10 S Systems Announced
Snapdragon 845 Announced
ARM Aims to Match Intel 15-Watt Laptop CPU Performance
Intel Reportedly "Petitioned Microsoft Heavily" to Use x86 Instead of ARM Chips in Surface Go

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

‘Pandemic 1918’ and ‘Influenza’ chronicle the flu’s devastating history and uncertain future

[...] Grim eyewitness accounts chronicle the gory details of how this virus differed. Victims often bled from the nose or mouth, writhed in pain and grew delirious with fever. Their faces turned dusky blue as their lungs filled with pus. Healthy men and women in their prime were dying, sometimes within days of falling ill. And there was a smell associated with the sick, “like very musty straw,” recalled one survivor. Arnold’s graphic depictions of the carnage make for some gripping scenes, but the book is perhaps too ambitious. She zigzags between so many people and places that only the most careful reader will be able to keep track of who fell ill where.

Another book tied to the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu, Influenza, by long-time emergency room doctor Jeremy Brown, covers some of the same ground. Both Arnold and Brown, for instance, chronicle the hunt for the 1918 virus in bodies buried in Arctic permafrost and efforts to reconstruct the virus’s genetic code. But while Arnold’s book is rooted primarily in the past, Brown spends more time on recent research. He provides an in-depth look at what scientists now know about the 1918 strain, an H1N1 virus that originated in birds and spent time in an unknown mammalian host before infecting humans. In 2005, researchers managed to re-create the virus and test it in mice. The experiment provided insight into how the virus might have wrought so much damage in the lungs, but it also renewed a debate over the ethics of reconstructing deadly viruses. These kinds of experiments can help scientists better understand the inner workings of pathogens, but might also help people build biological weapons.

Two new books explore the science and history of the 1918 flu pandemic

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Medical cannabis advocates suing the state over Prop 2 override have a bigger goal: challenging the Legislature's disregard of the peoples' will

The medical cannabis advocates suing the state after Monday's passage of a Proposition 2 replacement bill are seeking to overturn that law, yes — but they also want to contest what they see as government overreach in muting the voice of the people in an election.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, the heads of the Epilepsy Association of Utah (EAU) and Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE) accuse the Legislature of abridging the rights of voters in an effort to appease The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And they argue that the Utah Medical Cannabis Act violates the state constitution's provision for ballot initiatives by sweeping aside the plan approved by a majority of voters.

"For three years, we advocated on the Hill," said Christine Stenquist, president of TRUCE. "For two years, we've been in a campaign for the proposition. And when I saw it undermined so quickly on the first business day, I started to wonder: Is the initiative process in Utah just a suggestion box? Are our votes really meaning anything in this political process? How long do we just have to let politics happen to us?"

The state constitution vests legislative power equally in the Legislature and "the people of the State of Utah." Some of the architects of the Proposition 2 replacement law, however, say the lawsuit stands on shaky legal ground.

Previously: Mormon Church, Politicians, and Advocates Back Medical Cannabis Compromise in Utah

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Bloodhound supersonic car project axed

A project to race a car at more than 1,000mph has been axed after it failed to secure a £25m cash injection.

The Bloodhound supersonic vehicle - built with a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter jet engine bolted to a rocket - is all but finished.

The Bristol-based team behind it was aiming to beat the existing land speed world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).

[...] The last two-to-three years have been an especially tough environment in which to raise financial support. The investment landscape is difficult, in part because of Brexit uncertainty, but principally because many large brands that might once have put their name on the side of a car to build awareness are now using other marketing tools, such as social media.

Previously: 3D-Printed Tech to Steer Bloodhound Supersonic Car
Bloodhound Supersonic Car to be Tested in October

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for boru

O2 network restored after Ericsson software outage left millions without 4G data access

O2 has blamed a global software problem for a network outage that has left frustrated customers without access to the internet and 4G services.

Mobile network O2 says its services have been restored after a technical fault left millions of customers unable to get online. The company said it would be closely monitoring data services over the coming days and promised to carry out a review to understand what went wrong. British customers reported not being able to use mobile data to access the internet and the operator's network on Thursday after disruption began at about 5am.

takyon: The problem was due to an expired software certificate.

O2 status checker.

Also at BBC, The Guardian, Forbes.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

National University of Singapore:

"The spin of the current carrying electrons, which basically represents the data you want to write, experiences minimal resistance in ferrimagnets. Imagine the difference in efficiency when you drive your car on an eight lane highway compared to a narrow city lane. While a ferromagnet is like a city street for an electron's spin, a ferrimagnet is a welcoming freeway where its spin or the underlying information can survive for a very long distance," explained Mr Rahul Mishra, who was part of the research team and a current doctoral candidate with the group.

Using an electronic current, the NUS researchers were able to write information in a ferrimagnet memory element which was 10 times more stable and 20 times more efficient than a ferromagnet.

For this discovery, Associate Professor Yang's team took advantage of the unique atomic arrangement in a ferrimagnet. "In ferrimagnets, the neighbouring atomic magnets are opposite to each other. The disturbance caused by one atom to an incoming spin is compensated by the next one, and as a result information travels faster and further with less power. We hope that the computing and storage industry can take advantage of our invention to improve the performance and data retention capabilities of emerging spin memories," said Associate Professor Yang.

The ferrimagnets are promised to make spintronics more practical.

Long spin coherence length and bulk-like spin–orbit torque in ferrimagnetic multilayers (DOI: 10.1038/s41563-018-0236-9) (DX)

Original Submission