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Phoenix666 writes:

Motherboard:

About a decade ago, the average internet user might well have heard of RSS. Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary—what the acronym stands for depends on who you ask—is a standard that websites and podcasts can use to offer a feed of content to their users, one easily understood by lots of different computer programs. Today, though RSS continues to power many applications on the web, it has become, for most people, an obscure technology.

The story of how this happened is really two stories. The first is a story about a broad vision for the web's future that never quite came to fruition. The second is a story about how a collaborative effort to improve a popular standard devolved into one of the most contentious forks in the history of open-source software development.

Who killed RSS?

[NB: SoylentNews supports syndicated feeds — scroll to the bottom of almost any page on the site (for certain it is on the main page) and you will see links to our Atom and RSS feeds. --Ed].

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

[...] At the heart of the matter, geologists believe, is a disturbance in the outer core of the Earth’s interior (2900km below the surface). This superheated pool of molten metal is what generates the magnetic field.

“If we look at our best numerical simulations of a magnetic field reversal, this is the type of pattern we see right before a reversal,” says Professor Tarduno. “We don’t know if the current (anomaly) will lead to a full reversal.”

If the anomaly continues to grow, a larger patch of near-orbit and our planet will become increasingly exposed to harmful rays and solar storms.

The last time Earth’s magnetic poles reversed was some 780,000 years ago.

South Atlantic Anomaly: Study reveals magnetic pole ‘wobble’ has been growing for 1000 years

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Tomato plants emit an aroma in order to ward off bacterial attacks. This volatile compound is hexenyl butyrate (HB), and according to testing by researchers at the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology, it has great potential for protecting crops from infections, drought, etc.

[...] "The application of this compound in fields is a new natural strategy for improving crop yields. Treatments will protect crops from biotic and abiotic stress easily, efficiently and at a low cost," says Purificación Lisón, researcher at the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (UPV-CSIC.)

The compound closes the stomata, which is the key to protecting plants. According to the researchers at IBMCP, there are no other products on the market with these properties, making it significant for the farming industry. Another advantage is that it is easy to use. As a volatile compound, it can be applied by spraying onto plants and also by using diffuser devices.

Will "smells like tomatoes" come to describe crops the way "tastes like chicken" describes meat?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

CNet:

On the eve of the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, Cadillac has surprised the media with a first look at an upcoming electric crossover SUV, perhaps the first of many electric vehicles to come for the marque.

After recently learning that the Cadillac luxury brand would become General Motors' "lead electric vehicle brand," we all expected to see an EV unveiled soon, just not this soon. That said, we've only so far seen renderings of the electric crossover with few details regarding specs.

The EV's name and specific details regarding its powertrain and range will be revealed closer to an also yet-unspecified launch window. So far, what we do know is that it will be based on GM's upcoming future "BEV3" electric vehicle platform. The electric Caddy crossover will be just the first in a range of vehicles to make use of the platform, which has been designed to accommodate front-, rear- or all-wheel drive configurations. Expect to see BEV3 underpinning a wide range of GM vehicles globally over the next few years.

Has "Electric Vehicle" been cemented in automobile circles as a mark of luxury?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes in with this tidbit from NPR:

Two weeks into the government shutdown, National Parks are starting to close. The public has been getting free access, since there are no employees to collect entrance fees of up to $35 per car. But neither are employees there to collect trash and clean bathrooms. So, with overflowing trash cans and toilets posing a threat to human health and safety, parks are shutting down.

But in the nation's oldest national park, Yellowstone, local businesses are pitching in to pay park staff to keep it open — or at least parts of it.

[...] Jerry Johnson owns a business that rents snowmobiles and sends seven guided tours a day into Yellowstone in the winter. He calls it 'the trip of a lifetime.' When the shutdown began, he received a big spike in phone calls from people who had already booked trips, and he didn't want to tell them their Yellowstone adventure was cancelled because politicians in Washington D.C. couldn't resolve their differences.

[...] "If you don't groom," explained Johnson, "the trails will get very rough, and you get bumps, moguls, in them, and it'll be — it's just miserable."
So, during the shutdown, private businesses that operate inside the park are picking up the tab — about $7,500 dollars a day to groom Yellowstone's 300-plus miles of snow-covered roads, and to keep one paved road open to cars. Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which runs the only hotels operating inside the park in winter, is paying most of that — paying park service employees to perform the same grooming duties they do under normal circumstances.

Xanterra asked the 13 guide services that operate in the park to chip in to help pay, and all of them did. It adds up to about 300 bucks a day for each of the guide services.

Original Submission

Apparition writes:

GoDaddy has been caught sneakily injecting JavaScript into the websites it hosts.

I recently started having issues with the admin interface of a website I run and decided to check the browser console to see if any errors were being displayed there. There were and among them was an error stating that a JavaScript map file being loaded (and failing) that I did not recognise. This meant that the actual JavaScript file itself was already loaded via my website. This set off all sorts of alarms for me and I started to dig in further.

I checked the file system for any suspicious files, there were none. I checked the source code and templates for evidence of anything that has been added, there was nothing there. Yet all my pages were being served with the following script injected into them just before the closing html tag...

[...] Of course that comment in the script was a give away of what was going on but I didn't immediately want to believe that the website host itself would be injecting a JavaScript script into my website without my consent! Turned out that's exactly what GoDaddy was doing and they justified it as collecting metrics to improve performance.

The technology that's in use here is called Real User Metrics and GoDaddy has a page about it here - Why am I signed up for Real User Metrics?. If you happen to be a customer in US (which I am not but the website is hosted in a US data centre) then you are automatically opted into this service and all your website's pages will have this JavaScript injected into them.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NASA's deep-space nuclear-power crisis may soon end, thanks to a clever new robot in Tennessee

The US government says a new robot is poised to help it create a reliable, long-term supply chain of plutonium-238 (Pu-238): a radioactive material NASA requires to explore deep space.

NASA uses Pu-238 to power its most epic space missions— among them New Horizons (now beyond Pluto), the Voyagers (now in interstellar space), and Cassini (now part of Saturn).

[...] NASA tried to address the shrinking of its supply in the 1990s, but the agency and its partners didn't secure funding to create a new pipeline for Pu-238 until 2012. That work, which gets about $20 million in funding per year, is finally starting to move from the research phase toward full-scale production. By 2025, the Department of Energy hopes to meet the NASA-mandated need of 3.3 pounds (1,500 grams) per year.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is located in Tennessee and leading the work, says it recently proved there is a way to produce eight times as much Pu-238 as it made just a couple of years ago, thanks to a new automated robot. [...] This week, the lab said in a press release that it's ready to push annual production to more than 14 ounces (400 grams) per year, an eight-fold increase.

Cassini carried 33 kilograms of plutonium. New Horizons had 9,750 grams (lower than the 10,900 grams, 1/3 of the Cassini amount, called for in the original design).

It's time to send a probe to Uranus and Neptune already.

Previously: US Resumes Making Pu-238 after Decades Long Hiatus
NASA Unlikely to Have Enough Plutonium-238 for Missions by the Mid-2020s

Original Submission

martyb writes:

U.S. News Announces the 2019 Best Jobs:

U.S. News & World Report [...] today [January 8] unveiled the 2019 Best Jobs. The rankings offer a look at the best jobs across 15 categories – from best-paying jobs to sectors such as business and technology – to help job seekers at every level achieve their career goals. The rankings take into account the most important aspects of a job, including growth potential, work-life balance and salary.

For the second year in a row, software developer takes the No. 1 spot as the Best Job overall. Statistician ranks at No. 2, followed by physician assistant at No. 3 and dentist at No. 4. Occupations in health care continue to show promise due to a combination of high salaries and low unemployment rates, taking 44 of the 100 Best Jobs and the majority of the Best-Paying Jobs. With an average salary of $265,990, anesthesiologist tops the list, followed by surgeon, oral and maxillofacial surgeon and obstetrician and gynecologist, respectively.

"Health care occupations continue to dominate the U.S. News 2019 Best Jobs rankings, with demand in the field highest for workers to fill roles such as nurse practitioner, physician assistant and physical therapist," said Rebecca Koenig, careers reporter at U.S. News. "That's good news for students and career changers, because it takes less school time and tuition money to prepare for those positions than it does to become a physician or surgeon."

Nearly a decade after the end of the Great Recession, unemployment in the U.S. has reached historic lows. With an overwhelming need for labor, companies have started relaxing their standards and expediting their hiring processes, giving workers the upper hand in the job market.

How do these rankings match up with your experience?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Astronauts Could Be Growing Beans in Space in 2021

Following the much-celebrated harvest of a head of romaine lettuce aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, astronauts' vacuum-packed vittles may be kicked up a notch as early as 2021 with the addition of space-grown beans. More salad fixings are also in the cards. After that? The galaxy's the limit.

"The dream of every astronaut is to be able to eat fresh food like strawberries, cherry tomatoes or anything that's really flavorful," Silje Wolff, a plant physiologist at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Space (CIRiS) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), said in a statement. "Someday that will certainly be possible. We envision a greenhouse with several varieties of vegetables."

Wolff recently wrapped up an experiment where lettuce grew in space in specialized planters that regulate all the water, nutrients, gas and air the plants need.

Though she used artificial soil derived from lava rock as a substrate, Wolff says the goal is for the plants to grow directly in water infused with life-sustaining nutrients. In space, she noted, all the water and food must be recovered, which means that plant fertilization needs to be "as precise as possible."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Primitive life at Barnard's Star?

Here's more exciting work regarding the newly discovered super-Earth exoplanet orbiting the legendary Barnard's Star. This star is the closest single star (and now the second-closest star system) to our own sun at only six light-years away. Astronomers announced its new-found planet – labeled Barnard b (or GJ 699 b) – as recently as November 2018. Last week (January 10, 2019) – at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington – astronomers from Villanova University explained their new work showing that – although this world is likely cold (-170 degrees Celsius or -254 Fahrenheit) – it could still have the potential to harbor primitive life.

Here's the thing about Barnard's Star b, whose mass is just over three times that of Earth. It orbits Barnard's Star – a dim red dwarf – every 233 days, at roughly the same distance that Mercury orbits our sun. In the Barnard's Star system, though, this distance is near the star's snow line, that is, the point where heat from Barnard's star needed to keep water molecules as vapor ends. Past the snow line, water can become ice.

In order for Barnard b to have some form of life, these astronomers said, the planet needs another heat source. They suggested a large, hot iron/nickel core – much as Earth has – and enhanced geothermal activity. Edward Guinan and Scott Engle of Villanova made the announcement; you can see their paper as a poster from the AAS meeting. Guinan said:

Geothermal heating could support 'life zones' under its surface, akin to subsurface lakes found in Antarctica. We note that the surface temperature on Jupiter's icy moon Europa is similar to Barnard b but, because of tidal heating, Europa probably has liquid oceans under its icy surface.

Barnard's Star b.

Previously: Exoplanet Detected Around Barnard's Star, 6 Light Years Away

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Turkey's magical hangover cure

In an unassuming storefront tucked away on a bustling Istanbul street, an older man was assembling a vividly colourful package of pickles. Drawing from buckets of cauliflower, beetroot, plums and peppers, he mixed them into a plump bundle inside a sturdy, clear plastic bag and sealed them in a pool of their own juices.

Adem Altun, 64, is a third-generation pickle man who has practiced his craft since he was a boy. He operates the original location of Pelit Turşuları in Istanbul’s Kurtuluş neighbourhood, with branches in different pockets of the city. It’s one of a number of classic pickle shops in the city that adhere to decades-old techniques passed down from generation to generation.

“For us, a meal without pickles is not complete. There are pickles on every table. Sometimes this drops in the summer because pickles prefer the cold,” Altun said.

But I wasn’t there to learn about pickles, or to pick up an assorted mix for the dinner table. I’d come to his shop – conveniently located a few blocks away from my apartment – for a different purpose: I’d drunk a little too much the previous night, and a glass of pickle juice is famed as a quick, tasty and natural cure for even the fiercest of headaches.

“In terms of minerals it is very rich,” Altun said, offering an explanation as he served me a glass.   

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Steam-Powered Asteroid Hoppers Developed through UCF Collaboration

Using steam to propel a spacecraft from asteroid to asteroid is now possible, thanks to a collaboration between a private space company and the University of Central Florida.

UCF planetary research scientist Phil Metzger worked with Honeybee Robotics of Pasadena, California, which developed the World Is Not Enough spacecraft prototype that extracts water from asteroids or other planetary bodies to generate steam and propel itself to its next mining target.

UCF provided the simulated asteroid material and Metzger did the computer modeling and simulation necessary before Honeybee created the prototype and tried out the idea in its facility Dec. 31. The team also partnered with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to develop initial prototypes of steam-based rocket thrusters.

"It's awesome," Metzger says of the demonstration. "WINE successfully mined the soil, made rocket propellant, and launched itself on a jet of steam extracted from the simulant. We could potentially use this technology to hop on the Moon, Ceres, Europa, Titan, Pluto, the poles of Mercury, asteroids — anywhere there is water and sufficiently low gravity."

What if it gets stuck in a shadowed crater and loses access to solar power?

Original Submission

aristarchus writes:

Probably not that good of an article, but it actually exists, only at Wired, so it is certain that it probably is worth reading. But only if you go in with no preconceptions.

Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once asked his Caltech students to calculate the probability that, if he walked outside the classroom, the first car in the parking lot would have a specific license plate, say 6ZNA74. Assuming every number and letter are equally likely and determined independently, the students estimated the probability to be less than 1 in 17 million. When the students finished their calculations, Feynman revealed that the correct probability was 1: He had seen this license plate on his way into class. Something extremely unlikely is not unlikely at all if it has already happened.

Bayesian probability is all well and good, until it runs up against actuality. But the point here is all about having a Beautiful Mind or π, and seeing patterns everywhere, and how if you see them in Big Data, the patterns are bigger. But no less crazy.

Birth of a Black Hole or Neutron Star Captured for First Time

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Birth of a black hole or neutron star captured for first time: Mysteriously bright glow of this summer's 'Cow' event gained international interest

On June 17, the ATLAS survey's twin telescopes in Hawaii found a spectacularly bright anomaly 200 million light years away in the Hercules constellation. Dubbed AT2018cow or "The Cow," the object quickly flared up, then vanished almost as quickly.

After combining several imaging sources, including hard X-rays and radio waves, the multi-institutional team now speculates that the telescopes captured the exact moment a star collapsed to form a compact object, such as a black hole or neutron star. The stellar debris, approaching and swirling around the object's event horizon, caused the remarkably bright glow.

This rare event will help astronomers better understand the physics at play within the first moments of the creation of a black hole or neutron star. "We think that 'The Cow' is the formation of an accreting black hole or neutron star," said Northwestern's Raffaella Margutti, who led the research. "We know from theory that black holes and neutron stars form when a star dies, but we've never seen them right after they are born. Never."

takyon writes:

James Watson: Scientist loses titles after claims over race

Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson has been stripped of his honorary titles after repeating comments about race and intelligence.

In a TV programme, the pioneer in DNA studies made a reference to a view that genes cause a difference on average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said the 90-year-old scientist's remarks were "unsubstantiated and reckless". Dr Watson had made similar claims in 2007 and subsequently apologised.

He shared the Nobel in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins and Francis Crick for their 1953 discovery of the DNA's double helix structure.

Dr Watson sold his gold medal in 2014, saying he had been ostracised by the scientific community after his remarks about race. He is currently in a nursing home recovering from a car accident and is said to have "very minimal" awareness of his surroundings.

Previously: Disgraced Scientist is Selling his Nobel Prize

Original Submission