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takyon writes:

Should the US hand over Minnesota's Northwest Angle to Canada?

It's a geographic curiosity - a bit of US land at the top edge of Minnesota, disconnected from the rest of the state. The Northwest Angle is known to local residents, people who love to fish - the region is famous for its walleye - and geography buffs. It is accessible by land only through the Canadian province.

Now, someone has anonymously launched a petition urging the US to hand the land over to its northern neighbours. "Make America great by correcting this critical survey error," states the petition posted on 30 December on the White House "We the People" site, which allows citizens to petition Congress on issues that matter to them. The petition is titled "Give Canada back the Northwest Angle located in Manitoba".

The nub of Minnesota state is roughly 123 square miles (318 square km) and is farther north than any other part of the contiguous United States. Living above the 49th parallel, Angleites - as local residents are known - are the northernmost American citizens, barring Alaskans. It can be reached by driving through Canada or by boat across the Lake of the Woods.

Northwest Angle.

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martyb writes:

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Shows up at Pad 39A, Nearly 8 Years after the Last Shuttle Left:

SpaceX took another step toward sticking humans atop its Falcon 9 rocket as one of the units, equipped with a crew version of the Dragon spacecraft, was erected at pad 39A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

The Falcon 9 went vertical at 2230 UTC last night [Thursday] to allow engineers to check all connections line up as expected. Once done, the vehicle will be rolled back to SpaceX's rocket shed nearby as the team works its way toward launch, planned for 17 January.

As promised: Proper photos of #SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 going vertical at Kennedy Space Center just before 1730 ET / 2230 UTC.

More + story: https://t.co/hTWaLZwiIX pic.twitter.com/0OKyykhMyx

— Emre Kelly (@EmreKelly) January 3, 2019

That launch date is, of course, highly likely to slip, and SpaceX will probably point a finger at the US government shutdown. The NASA resources needed to get the thing off the ground are most likely sat at home, twiddling thumbs, instead of signing off on mission reviews.

[...] The next flight for SpaceX's Crew Dragon will also be uncrewed, and will demonstrate the system's abort capability should something go south during ascent.

If all goes well, SpaceX's Demo-2 flight test will launch in June with actual humans onboard.

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"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

[...] When the Mozilla Foundation decided to turn the email client loose in May 2017, its future looked doubtful, but it's still here and, according to this post by community manager Ryan Sipes, donations are flowing freely enough for Thunderbird to expand its development team.

The current eight personnel are to be expanded to 14, and one of the roles to be resourced is an engineer who will focus on security and privacy.

"The UX/UI around encryption and settings will get an overhaul in the coming year," Sipes wrote.

While he couldn't guarantee that effort making it into the next release, "It is our hope to make encrypting Email and ensuring your private communication easier in upcoming releases."

-- submitted from IRC

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"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

[...] One of the most popular online weather services in the United States, the Weather Channel app has been downloaded more than 100 million times and has 45 million active users monthly.

The government said the Weather Company, the business behind the app, unfairly manipulated users into turning on location tracking by implying that the information would be used only to localize weather reports. Yet the company, which is owned by IBM, also used the data for unrelated commercial purposes, like targeted marketing and analysis for hedge funds, according to the lawsuit.

The city’s lawsuit cited an article last month in The New York Times that detailed a sprawling industry of companies that profit from continuously snooping on users’ precise whereabouts. The companies collect location data from smartphone apps to cater to advertisers, stores and investors seeking insights into consumer behavior.

[...] “If the price of getting a weather report is going to be the sacrifice of your most personal information about where you spend your time day and night,” said Michael N. Feuer, the Los Angeles city attorney, “you sure as heck ought to be told clearly in advance.”

-- submitted from IRC

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

In April this year drivers will be fined for using mobile phones if caught on the M4 mobile phone use detection system. Fair enough, we have some drongos, like the tool who was caught using both his hands to use his phone while his mate in the passenger seat held the wheel, but, seriously, is a camera system dedicated to detecting mobile use really needed? What's next, fun police?

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takyon writes:

Where ordering cannabis is easy as booking a taxi

Ordering cannabis in Los Angeles is now as easy as booking a taxi. Click on an app, choose your preferred product, pay for it and then sit back and wait for it to be delivered to your door.

Eaze is just one of several firms taking advantage of the legalisation of cannabis, for which the people of California voted overwhelmingly in favour in 2016. Since January last year, when the use of recreational cannabis became legal across the state, the start-up has seen an 80% increase in sign-ups. It had run a limited medicinal cannabis delivery service since 2014, with anyone who wanted to order having to download medical evidence that they needed it.

[...] The products Eaze sells range from $15 (£12) to $50, but are then hit with an additional 20% to 40% tax rate, depending on jurisdiction. "Our biggest competition is still the illicit market. One in five people are still shopping from there because of the taxes," said Ms Shiravi.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Meatless 'Beyond Burgers' come to Carl's Jr. restaurants

The competition in lab-made veggie burgers is heating up. Beyond Meat has brought its burgers to more than 1,000 Carl's Jr. locations in the US, marking its Beyond's largest restaurant deal to date. Order a $6.29 Beyond Famous Star and you can eat a vegetarian (sorry vegans, there's American cheese) burg that tastes much like its conventional beef counterparts. You can also pay $2 to add a Beyond patty to other burgers on the menu. [...] You can already eat Impossible burgers of various sizes at White Castle, Hopdoddy, [and] Umami Burger

takyon writes:

The veggie burgers won't be available at Hardee's (a nearly identical fast food chain operated by the same parent company). Sorry, "flexitarians".

Big Beef Prepares For Battle, As Interest Grows In Plant-Based And Lab-Grown Meats

The U.S. meat industry is gigantic, with roughly $200 billion a year in sales, and getting larger. But the industry faces emerging threats on two fronts: plant-based meat substitutes and actual meat grown in labs. Plant-based meat substitutes are a lot more, well, meaty than they used to be. They sear on the grill and even "bleed." They look, taste and feel in the mouth a lot like meat. Savannah Blevin, a server at Charlie Hooper's, an old-school bar and grill in Kansas City, Mo., says the vegetarian Impossible Burgers on the menu are popular with the meat-eating crowd. "I had a vegetarian actually turn it away, because it reminded them so much of meat, they sent it back," says Blevins. "It's delicious," she adds.

The industry that makes these products is taking off, growing 20 percent a year. "Business is booming," says Todd Boyman, co-founder of food company Hungry Planet. "We just can't keep up. We're actually having to expand our production facilities to keep up with the demand that's out there for this type of food."

[...] The meat industry is focused on shaping the regulatory environment for its new competitors, taking into account lessons learned from the rise of plant-based milks.

Previously: Would You Try Silicon Valley's Bloody Plant Burger(s)?
Impossible Foods Just Raised $75 Million for Its Plant-based Burgers
Inside the Strange Science of the Fake Meat that 'Bleeds'
FDA Approves Impossible Burger "Heme" Ingredient; Still Wants to Regulate "Cultured Meat"

Related: U.S. Cattlemen's Association Wants an Official Definition of "Meat"
Missouri Regulates Use of the Word "Meat" by Food Producers

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Unmuting large silent genes lets bacteria produce new molecules, potential drug candidates

By enticing away the repressors dampening unexpressed, silent genes in Streptomyces bacteria, researchers at the University of Illinois have unlocked several large gene clusters for new natural products, according to a study [DOI: 10.1038/s41589-018-0187-0] [DX] published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

[...] The researchers previously demonstrated a technique to activate small silent gene clusters using CRISPR technology. However, large silent gene clusters have remained difficult to unmute. Those larger genes are of great interest to [study leader Huimin] Zhao's group, since a number of them have sequences similar to regions that code for existing classes of antibiotics, such as tetracycline.

To unlock the large gene clusters of greatest interest, Zhao's group created clones of the DNA fragments they wanted to express and injected them into the bacteria in hopes of luring away the repressor molecules that were preventing gene expression. They called these clones transcription factor decoys.

[...] Of the eight new molecules produced, the researchers purified and determined the structure of two molecules, and described one in detail in the study – a novel type of oxazole, a class of molecules often used in drugs.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Netflix has issued a warning to its customers thanks to a meme challenge that has gone viral in which people are choosing to put blindfolds on and navigate the world around them just like the characters in the horror movie “Bird Box.”

[...] For those who spent the holidays visiting friends and not watching Netflix, here’s a quick summary. Netflix released a horror concept movie called Bird Box starring Sandra Bullock. In Bird Box, Bullock and her children, Boy and Girl, are forced to wear blindfolds and navigate a river and spooky forest to protect themselves against the evil monster that, if seen, causes people to kill themselves.

The movie not only broke viewership records, it inspired a bevy of #BirdBoxChallenge memes, including ones in which folks record themselves blindfolded and attempting to do complete tasks, many of which are depicted in the movie.

Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.

— Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019

Of course, these videos aren’t staying tucked away. They’re being shared with the world on social media. One viral meme shows a blindfolded family paddling away in their bathtub. Another shows a family running through their living room and one managing to hit the wall instead. There are numerous videos of random people walking blindfolded in cities like New York because sure, why not. One person put a hat over his head while driving.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/02/netflix-pleads-with-people-to-stop-doing-the-bird-box-challenge/

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canopic jug writes:

With an upcoming bill, Washington state might be able to start composting dead people. The bill aims to legalize composting human remains and the heat generated by natural microbes should bring the pile up to 55°C for 72 hours, which is hot enough to kill key pathogens.

The method is called “recomposting” and claims to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than traditional burial or cremation. It involves rapidly decomposing a body and converting the remains into soil. That nutrient-rich material can then be used to grow trees, flowers, and other new life.

The alternative practice hinges on a bill that state senator Jamie Pedersen plans to introduce next month, according to NBC. It would legalize recomposting in Washington where burial and cremation are currently the only acceptable ways to dispose of human remains.

Composting was prominent in the Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle science fiction novel, Footfall. However, the discussion in Washington was initiated by Katrina Spade in 2013 while working on her master’s in architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

How Economic Theory and the Netflix Prize Could Make Research Funding More Efficient:

In a paper published Jan. 2 in the journal PLOS Biology, co-authors Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, and Kevin Gross, a professor of statistics at North Carolina State University, use the economic theory of contests to illustrate how this competitive system has made the pursuit of research funding inefficient and unsustainable. They show that alternative methods, such as a partial lottery to award grants, could help get professors back in the lab where they belong.

[...] "When agencies only fund the top 10 or 20 percent, they aren't just separating bad ideas from good ideas," said Bergstrom. "They're also separating good from good."

"This has two effects on the grant-application process," said Gross. "First, professors must apply for more and more grants before they're awarded one. Second, the application process becomes a contest to determine who can write the best grant proposals -- so professors spend more and more time trying to perfect each individual application."

Freeman writes:

Steam's monthly hardware surveys suggest the proportion of PC players with a VR headset plugged in roughly doubled in 2018.

For those that own a VR headset, this is good news. A growing active user base means more interested publishers. It's not exponential growth, but it's definitely a good start. I only recently demoed my VR setup to extended family. Even my less tech savvy relatives were quite impressed. One of the things I demoed to each group was the Epic Roller Coaster demo. Really, I'd forgotten how impressive it is the first couple of times through. It's a sit down experience and all you're doing is looking around. It definitely cuts down on the whole getting used to the interface, etc and gets right to the fun part of VR. Here's hoping for at least another 2x increase of users in 2019.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/steam-survey-vr-headset-ownership-roughly-doubled-in-2018/

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takyon writes:

Neutrogena will 3D print custom face masks based on buyers' skin measurements

Last year at CES, Neutrogena introduced an iPhone accessory — the Skin360 — that scans users' faces to assess their skin condition and moisture levels. At this year's show, the company is building off that device to create custom face masks through a new iOS app called MaskiD.

The Skin360 isn't necessary to use the app, although Neutrogena says it'll give a more accurate assessment of users' skin needs. However, the app does rely on the TrueDepth camera in the iPhone X, XS, and XR to take a 3D image of users' faces, the idea being that every mask is customized to fit each person. The eye slits match up with an individual user's eyes, for example, as does the mouth opening.

The company will offer five main ingredients to start with: stabilized vitamin C, purified hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, feverfew, and N-Acetylglucosamine. Every mask has six zones, including the forehead, eye area, cheeks, nose, chin, and chin-to-cheek lines, and the ingredients in each area can be chosen based on users' concerns. For example, if your cheeks are particularly dull, you might opt to use stabilized vitamin C in that area. The masks are colored for now, to show off the different zones, but that could change before the app and masks are widely released.

People with the Skin360 can also monitor their skin's moisture levels and lines on a deeper level to see if the mask is improving their condition. Neutrogena hasn't announced the masks' price yet, but says they'll go on sale in Q3 of this year.

3D printing with snake oil gel?

Also at Allure.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

FCC Chairman Pai celebrates Congress failing to bring back net neutrality

As one Congress ends and another begins, many are looking forward to a rebalancing of power — especially in the House of Representatives, which Democrats handily retook in November. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is more pleased with what the House failed to do — namely, roll back his repeal of net neutrality rules.

To be fair, he does have reason to celebrate; no one likes to see their work undone. But a statement issued today tells a very selective message about congressional opposition to his master plan.

"I'm pleased that a strong bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives declined to reinstate heavy-handed Internet regulation," Pai said. The "heavy-handed" remark is the usual boilerplate in reference to 2015's rules, which used what the current FCC calls "depression-era" regulations to exert control over internet providers. That aspersion doesn't really make sense, as I've noted before.

And the "strong bipartisan majority" bears a bit of explanation as well. Indeed, the Democrats fell about 30 short of the votes they needed to put the Congressional Review Act into effect and undo the FCC's order. But that was only after the Senate, by a similar "strong bipartisan majority," as Pai would no doubt put it, voted for the rollback. No mention of that in his statement.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Source: Big Pharma ushers in new year with price hikes on hundreds of drugs

More than three dozen drug companies welcomed the new year with sweeping price hikes on hundreds of medicines, according to a new analysis from Rx Savings Solutions, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The drugs that saw list-price increases on January 1 ranged from generics and blood-pressure drugs to brand-name prescriptions such as the dry-eye treatment Restasis. The average price jump blew past inflation at 6.5 percent, with some medicines seeing double-digit increases—bucking many drug companies' vows to keep such periodic hikes under 10 percent.

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