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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Chinese scientist who allegedly created the first genetically engineered babies is being detained

The Chinese scientist who shocked the world with claims of creating the first genetically engineered babies is being detained in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to a report in The New York Times.

[...] The Southern University of Science and Technology, based in Shenzhen, has denied the reporting around Dr. He's whereabouts and fate, telling the Times, "Right now nobody's information is accurate, only the official channels are." Meanwhile, the official channels are staying silent.

Reporters found security personnel blocking access to the residence where Dr. He is reportedly staying and others denying access to the former offices Dr. He used to conduct his research. The scientist's name and biography remains on a board listing staff in the university’s biology department.

Previously: Chinese Scientist Claims to Have Created the First Genome-Edited Babies (Twins)
Furor Over Genome-Edited Babies Claim Continues (Updated)
Chinese Gene-Editing Scientist's Project Rejected for WHO Database (Plus: He Jiankui is Missing)

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The European Union will foot the bill for bug bounty programs for 14 open source projects, EU Member of Parliament Julia Reda announced this week.

The 14 projects are, in alphabetical order, 7-zip, Apache Kafka, Apache Tomcat, Digital Signature Services (DSS), Drupal, Filezilla, FLUX TL, the GNU C Library (glibc), KeePass, midPoint, Notepad++, PuTTY, the Symfony PHP framework, VLC Media Player, and WSO2.

The bug bounty programs are being sponsored as part of the third edition of the Free and Open Source Software Audit (FOSSA) project.

EU authorities first approved FOSSA in 2015, after security researchers discovered a year earlier severe vulnerabilities in the OpenSSL library, an open source project used by many websites to support HTTPS connections.

Announcement.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Our universe: An expanding bubble in an extra dimension

According to string theory, all matter consists of tiny, vibrating "stringlike" entities. The theory also requires there to be more spatial dimensions than the three that are already part of everyday knowledge. For 15 years, there have been models in string theory that have been thought to give rise to dark energy. However, these have come in for increasingly harsh criticism, and several researchers are now asserting that none of the models proposed to date are workable.

In their article, the scientists propose a new model with dark energy and our Universe riding on an expanding bubble in an extra dimension. The whole Universe is accommodated on the edge of this expanding bubble. All existing matter in the Universe corresponds to the ends of strings that extend out into the extra dimension. The researchers also show that expanding bubbles of this kind can come into existence within the framework of string theory. It is conceivable that there are more bubbles than ours, corresponding to other universes.

Journal Reference:
Souvik Banerjee, Ulf Danielsson, Giuseppe Dibitetto, Suvendu Giri, Marjorie Schillo. Emergent de Sitter Cosmology from Decaying Anti–de Sitter Space. Physical Review Letters, 2018; 121 (26) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.261301

Original Submission

martyb writes:

First off, it's been a week since we published Meta: The End of the Year is Nigh; End-of-the-Year Summary and Subscription Request and I am pleased to report we have received nearly $1000 in site subscriptions. Please accept my sincere and heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed! We are looking for another $1000 to make our funding goal. If you can help out either by starting a subscription, or extending a current one, that would be greatly appreciated! We have had a few people subscribe for $100; any amount you can provide will mean a lot.

As for IRC: it was brought to our attention a couple days ago that there was an issue in gaining access to SoylentNews' IRC securely.

tl;dr: Secure access to IRC should be functional; please reply in comments (with steps to reproduce) if you are still having issues. Read on for the scoop.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Discovery of topological LC circuits transporting EM waves without backscattering

In 2015, this research team successfully demonstrated topological properties in light and microwaves in a honeycomb lattice of dielectric cylinders, such as silicon. This time, the team revealed theoretically in a microstrip, a flat circuit, that electromagnetic waves attain topological properties when the metallic strips form a honeycomb pattern and the intra-hexagon and inter-hexagon strip widths are different. The team also fabricated microstrips and measured electric fields on their surfaces, and successfully observed the detailed structure of topological electromagnetic modes, where vortices of electromagnetic energy polarized in a specific direction are generated during the wave propagation.

This research demonstrates that topological propagation of electromagnetic waves can be induced using conventional materials in a simple structure. Because topological electromagnetic wave propagation is immune to backscatter even when pathways turn sharply, designs of compact electromagnetic circuits become possible, leading to miniaturization and high integration of electronics devices. In addition, the direction of vortex and the vorticity associated with topological electromagnetic modes may be used as data carriers in high-density information communications. All these features may contribute to the development of advanced information society represented by IoT and autonomous vehicles.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The Trump administration EPA says regulations to reduce power plant emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants are too costly and should no longer be considered legally "appropriate and necessary."

In another proposed reversal of an Obama-era standard, the Environmental Protection Agency Friday said limiting mercury and other toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants is not cost-effective and should not be considered "appropriate and necessary."

The EPA says it is keeping the 2012 restrictions in place for now, in large part because utilities have already spent billions to comply with them. But environmental groups worry the move is a step toward repealing the limits and could make it harder to impose other regulations in the future.

In a statement, the EPA said it is "providing regulatory certainty by transparently and accurately taking account of both costs and benefits."

The National Mining Association welcomed the move, calling the mercury limits "punitive" and "massively unbalanced."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Netflix drops the first trailer for 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'

Netflix is time-traveling back to the eighties in the first trailer for its upcoming Black Mirror movie, Bandersnatch. Fans have been piecing together clues from a teaser and now we're getting our first look at the flick. The official synopsis states the film is set in 1984 andfollows "a young programmer who begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge." Directed by Black Mirror alum David Slade, the creepy film stars Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Will Poulter (The Revanant) and Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing).

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

In Bandersnatch, viewers make decisions for the main character, the young programmer Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) who adapts a fantasy novel into a video game in 1984. Other characters include Mohan Thakur (Asim Chaudhry) and Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), who work at a video game company, Butler's father, Peter (Craig Parkinson) and Butler's therapist, Dr. Haynes (Alice Lowe). The film is based on a planned Imagine Software video game of the same name which went unreleased after the company filed for bankruptcy. A piece of horror and science fiction, Bandersnatch incorporates meta-commentary and rumination on free will.

Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones were approached by Netflix about making an interactive film in May 2017, during which time Netflix had several interactive projects for children underway. Difficulty in writing the highly non-linear script led to the creation of a bespoke Branch Manager for Netflix, and the unique nature of the content required adaptations in the platform's use of cache memory.

Black Mirror.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

  Naloxone has saved thousands of lives. But can patients be safely discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) just an hour after they receive the medication that curtails drug overdoses?

According to the St. Paul's Early Discharge Rule developed in 2000, that's how long providers should observe patients after naloxone treatment, so long as their vital signs meet specific criteria and they are ambulatory.

But the rule was never externally validated or assessed in light of the changes that have occurred in recent years with opioid use disorder.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Incorporating genetic diversity into a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease resulted in greater overlap with the genetic, molecular and clinical features of this pervasive human disease, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study also suggests that adding genetic diversity may be key to improving the predictive power of studies using mouse models and increasing their usability for precision medicine research for Alzheimer's. This research comes out of the newly established Resilience-Alzheimer's Disease Consortium (Resilience-AD) and was published online Dec. 27, 2018 in the journal Neuron.

"This is the first study to show that you can replicate many of the molecular features of Alzheimer's disease in a genetically diverse mouse model," said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. "It points to a strategy for better use of mouse models for precision medicine research -- both basic and translational -- for Alzheimer's disease."

Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out simple tasks. As many as 5.5 million Americans age 65 and older are estimated to be living with Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

Bomb disposal experts won't have to put their lives at stake every time they have to disarm an explosive if they can do their job with the help of a proxy -- like a robot they can control from afar. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the British Army has received four cutting-edge robots that can do just that. Unlike other bomb disposal machines, these ones come with "advanced haptic feedback" that allows their operators to feel what their mechanical arm holds or touches through a remote-control hand grip.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/25/british-army-bomb-disposal-robot-haptic-feedback/

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

LEIPZIG, GERMANY – Researchers hunting cyber-espionage group Sednit (an APT also known as Sofacy, Fancy Bear and APT28) say they have discovered the first-ever instance of a rootkit targeting the Windows Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in successful attacks.

The discussion of Sednit was part of the 35C3 conference, and a session given by Frédéric Vachon, a malware researcher at ESET who published a technical write-up on his findings earlier this fall (PDF). During his session, Vachon said that finding a rootkit targeting a system's UEFI is significant, given that rootkit malware programs can survive on the motherboard’s flash memory, giving it both persistence and stealth.

"UEFI rootkits have been researched and discussed heavily in the past few years, but sparse evidence has been presented of real campaigns actively trying to compromise systems at this level," he said.

The rootkit is named LoJax. The name is a nod to the underlying code, which is a modified version of Absolute Software's LoJack recovery software for laptops. The purpose of the legitimate LoJack software is to help victims of a stolen laptop be able to access their PC without tipping off the bad guys who stole it. It hides on a system’s UEFI and stealthily beacons its whereabouts back to the owner for possible physical recovery of the laptop.

Each time the system restarts, the code executes on boot, before the OS loads and before the system's antivirus software is launched. That means that even if the device's hard drive is replaced, the LoJack software will still operate.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Researchers analysing soil from Ireland long thought to have medicinal properties have discovered that it contains a previously unknown strain of bacteria which is effective against four of the top six superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA.

[...] They have named the new strain Streptomyces sp. myrophorea.

The soil they analysed originated from an area of Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, which is known as the Boho Highlands. It is an area of alkaline grassland and the soil is reputed to have healing properties.

The search for replacement antibiotics to combat multi-resistance has prompted researchers to explore new sources, including folk medicines: a field of study known as ethnopharmacology. They are also focusing on environments where well-known antibiotic producers like Streptomyces can be found.

One of the research team, Dr Gerry Quinn, a previous resident of Boho, County Fermanagh, had been aware of the healing traditions of the area for many years.

Traditionally a small amount of soil was wrapped up in cotton cloth and used to heal many ailments including toothache, throat and neck infections. Interestingly, this area was previously occupied by the Druids, around 1500 years ago, and Neolithic people 4000 years ago.

[...] The main findings of the research were that the newly-identified strain of Streptomyces:

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Let's do the time warp again. It's just a bend in the middle of your new apple device, a little legal shuffling and lawyers laughing all night. Let's do the bendgate again. This time it's the iPad Pro with new devices being shipped pre-bent to customers. Is this Apple subtly telling their customers to get bent? Will Apple ever learn? Will we get a Bendgate the third? Tune in six months from now to find out.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Alexa's advice to 'kill your foster parents' fuels concern over Amazon Echo

An Amazon customer got a grim message last year from Alexa, the virtual assistant in the company's smart speaker device: "Kill your foster parents."

The user who heard the message from his Echo device wrote a harsh review on Amazon's website, Reuters reported - calling Alexa's utterance "a whole new level of creepy".

An investigation found the bot had quoted from the social media site Reddit, known for harsh and sometimes abusive messages, people familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

The odd command is one of many hiccups that have happened as Amazon tries to train its machine to act something like a human, engaging in casual conversations in response to its owner's questions or comments.

The research is helping Alexa mimic human banter and talk about almost anything she finds on the internet. But making sure she keeps it clean and inoffensive has been a challenge.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Pilot project demos credit cards with shifting CVV codes to stop fraud

US-based PNC Bank is in the middle of a pilot project that aims to test out credit cards with constantly changing card verification values (or CVVs) to reduce online credit card fraud. The dynamic CVV is displayed on the back of such a card in e-ink, and changes according to an algorithm supplied by Visa.

[...] A static CVV number can provide some protection from online fraud, but sometimes CVVs can be stolen in tandem with the card number. Worse, researchers have shown that Web bots making random guesses on legitimate websites can often come up with the appropriate CVV and expiration date to pair with a card number.

A dynamic CVV should—at least in theory—be far more difficult to guess and use. The idea of a dynamic CVV isn't new: the cards are being supplied by a company called Idemia, which announced its "Motion Code" dynamic CVV cards in 2016. Since then, Visa has detailed a specification for the dynamic CVV pairing, called dCVV2, and Visa is also a partner in getting this pilot project off the ground.

Original Submission