SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

IRS reminds 10,000 taxpayers that cryptocurrency is subject to taxes

By the end of August, an estimated 10,000 taxpayers will receive letters from the IRS warning them that they may owe back taxes on unreported cryptocurrency earnings. While it might not be immediately obvious, you must include cryptocurrency earnings when you file federal taxes. As with tax evasion for traditional currency, anyone convicted of evading crypto taxes could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

In a press release, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said:

"Taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest and penalties. The IRS is expanding our efforts involving virtual currency, including increased use of data analytics. We are focused on enforcing the law and helping taxpayers fully understand and meet their obligations."

[...] While cryptocurrency may have once felt cutting edge, getting a letter from the IRS stating that you owe back taxes makes it automatically less cool.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

Physicists count sound particles with quantum microphone

Stanford physicists have developed a "quantum microphone" so sensitive that it can measure individual particles of sound, called phonons.

The device, which is detailed July 24 in the journal Nature, could eventually lead to smaller, more efficient quantum computers that operate by manipulating sound rather than light.

"We expect this device to allow new types of quantum sensors, transducers and storage devices for future quantum machines," said study leader Amir Safavi-Naeini, an assistant professor of applied physics at Stanford's School of Humanities and Sciences.

First proposed by Albert Einstein in 1907, phonons are packets of vibrational energy emitted by jittery atoms. These indivisible packets, or quanta, of motion manifest as sound or heat, depending on their frequencies.

Like photons, which are the quantum carriers of light, phonons are quantized, meaning their vibrational energies are restricted to discrete values—similar to how a staircase is composed of distinct steps.

"Sound has this granularity that we don't normally experience," Safavi-Naeini said. "Sound, at the quantum level, crackles."

[...] Mastering the ability to precisely generate and detect phonons could help pave the way for new kinds of quantum devices that are able to store and retrieve information encoded as particles of sound or that can convert seamlessly between optical and mechanical signals.

Such devices could conceivably be made more compact and efficient than quantum machines that use photons, since phonons are easier to manipulate and have wavelengths that are thousands of times smaller than light particles.

"Right now, people are using photons to encode these states. We want to use phonons, which brings with it a lot of advantages," Safavi-Naeini said. "Our device is an important step toward making a 'mechanical quantum mechanical' computer."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

Google will give 100,000 Home Minis to people with paralysis

Smart speakers aren't just cool gadgets to play with for some differently abled people, such as those dealing with mobility issues or vision loss. For them, a smart speaker could be an important tool that can help them become more independent in their day-to-day lives. According to Google's Nest team, they receive a lot of emails from people with disabilities, telling them how the Home speakers are giving them more independence. That's why the tech giant has teamed up with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to give away 100,000 Home Minis to people living with paralysis and their caregivers.

[...] Redd said the Home Mini gives him a way to control his lights and thermostat easily, and it can make sure he can call family and friends if he needs help. The speaker's ability to set alarms, play music and trivia and make lists could be especially useful to people with quadriplegia, as well. Those interested can check out the official partnership page to find out if they're eligible and to sign up for a free Home Mini.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

Like film editors and archaeologists, biochemists piece together genome history

Old-school Hollywood editors cut unwanted frames of film and patched in desired frames to make a movie. The human body does something similar—trillions of times per second—through a biochemical editing process called RNA splicing. Rather than cutting film, it edits the messenger RNA that is the blueprint for producing the many proteins found in cells.

In their exploration of the evolutionary origins and history of RNA splicing and the human genome, UC San Diego biochemists Navtej Toor and Daniel Haack combined two-dimensional (2-D) images of individual molecules to reconstruct a three-dimensional (3-D) picture of a portion of RNA—what the scientists call group II introns. In so doing, they discovered a large-scale molecular movement associated with RNA catalysis that provides evidence for the origin of RNA splicing and its role in the diversity of life on Earth. Their breakthrough research is outlined in the current edition of Cell.

"We are trying to understand how the human genome has evolved starting from primitive ancestors. Every human gene has unwanted frames that are non-coding and must be removed before gene expression. This is the process of RNA splicing," stated Toor, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, adding that 15 percent of human diseases are the result of defects in this process.

Toor explained that his team works to understand the evolutionary origins of 70 percent of human DNA—a portion made up of two types of genetic elements, which are both thought to have evolved from group II introns. Specifically, spliceosomal introns, which make up about 25 percent of the human genome, are non-coding sequences that must be removed before gene expression. The other 45 percent is comprised of sequences derived from what are called retroelements. These are genetic elements that insert themselves into DNA and hop around the genome to replicate themselves via an RNA intermediate.

"Studying group II introns gives us insight into the evolution of a large portion of the human genome," noted Toor.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser

How Hong Kong's Protestors Are Hindering (and Hijacking) the Tools of Surveillance

Simply moving through the physical world in regions with massive, powerful surveillance systems threatens to strip one of their anonymity, and in places with anti-government demonstrations, that threat is disturbingly amplified. But protestors in Hong Kong are countering these gross invasions of privacy.

In Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of civilians are estimated to have filled the streets in June to protest a bill that would allow the government to extradite suspected criminals to mainland China, a violation of their democratic freedom. Anti-extradition demonstrations have been ongoing for weeks in Hong Kong, and police are turning to increasingly aggressive and violent means to quash the efforts. In response, protestors created their own channel to identify plainclothes cops.

The channel, called Dadfindboy, was created on cloud-based messaging app Telegram and has over 50,000 subscribers, according to a report published on Friday by the New York Times. The channel was largely created in response to cops no longer wearing their identification badges, and reportedly doxxed officers with posts including their personal information, social media posts, and both intimate photos and photos of their family.

[...] The New York Times report also illustrated how protestors fought back against surveillance devices. During a demonstration on Sunday, some of them reportedly aimed laser pointers at cameras and spray painted surveillance cameras outside of the government liaison office.

A protestor detailed in the report, Colin Cheung, also began to develop a tool to deal with corrupt plainclothes cops, but ultimately ceased efforts because he didn't have the time. The concept for the tool, though, is an ironic display of how surveillance tools can be used to counter each other. Cheung had started creating a facial recognition tool that used an algorithm to match photos that had been posted on the internet with photos of police officers in an attempt to identify those who no longer identified themselves.

Original Submission

Australia's consumer watchdog has handed down 23 proposed changes in a new report into the behaviour of the world's biggest tech giants. If adopted, tech giants will be required to take the collection and use of user data more seriously. The recommendations include creating an independent ombudsman, a new specialist arm named the "ACCC digital platforms branch" for proactively investigating anti-competitive conduct, upgrading the Privacy Act, improve handling of fake news, and allow users to select their default search engine and browser on Android. The intent is to bring Australia in line with the protections the US and Europe have for user privacy.

Maybe they will finally make it law that users get root access to their devices by default.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Alibaba Crafts A 16-Core RISC-V Chip @ 2.5GHz

Alibaba this week announced a RISC-V 64-bit processor comprised of 16 cores at 2.5GHz. The Chinese RISC-V CPU is fabbed at 12nm and this RISC-V processor supports out of order execution. This Alibaba design achieves a 7.1 Coremark/MHz rating, a great deal faster than any other publicly announced RISC-V processor. It's still not as fast as say the newest AMD Ryzen 9 or Intel Core i7/i9 parts, but it's certainly much better than all of the other RISC-V processors/SoCs we've seen announced to date. Unfortunately additional details on this Alibaba design are light.

Also at Tom's Hardware.

Related: Alibaba Cloud Climbs to Top 5
Linux Foundation and RISC-V Proponents Launch CHIPS Alliance
Qualcomm Invests in RISC-V Startup SiFive

Original Submission

RandomFactor writes:

Researchers at King's College London have identified a new type of cell that can grow into the two main cell types in adult livers.

[...] new type of cell called a hepatobiliary hybrid progenitor (HHyP), [...] forms during our early development in the womb. Surprisingly, HHyP also persist in small quantities in adults and these cells can grow into the two main cell types of the adult liver (Hepatocytes and Cholangiocytes) giving HHyPs stem cell like properties.

According to lead author on the paper Dr. Tamir Rashid from the Centre for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine

For the first time, we have found that cells with true stem cell-like properties may well exist in the human liver. This, in turn, could provide a wide range of regenerative medicine applications for treating liver disease, including the possibility of bypassing the need for liver transplants.

Per Dr Rashid, possible next steps are working to figure out how to convert pluripotent stem cells into HHyPs or seeing if HHyPs can be reprogrammed within the body to repair livers without cell or organ transplantation.

Journal Reference
Joe M Segal, et. al. Single cell analysis of human foetal liver captures the transcriptional profile of hepatobiliary hybrid progenitors. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11266-x

Original Submission

takyon writes:

AMD says Valve is underestimating its success in the Steam Hardware Survey

AMD's hardware – especially its processors – seem to be on a roll, but every month the Steam Hardware Survey, which publishes data on the type of hardware PC gamers using Steam are running, suggests AMD is failing to catch up with Intel and Nvidia – and AMD thinks it knows why.

In a recent interview for Hot Hardware, AMD's Scott Herkelman suggests that a bug introduced in August 2017 caused AMD systems be underestimated – and he suggests the problem is still affecting results.

The error involves Steam counting every individual login at internet cafes (which are particularly popular in Asian countries) as separate PC configurations. So, if 10 people log into Steam on a single Intel-powered PC at an internet café – and opts in to the Steam Hardware Survey – then the survey will count it as 10 separate machines.

With AMD hardware not as widely used in internet cafes, Herkelman claims that this has resulted in AMD's hardware popularity being under represented compared to its competitors. This could explain why AMD seems to be doing so well recently – especially with its processor – yet recent Steam Hardware Surveys don't show a corresponding growth in AMD adoption.

Related: VR Usage Approximately Doubled in 2018
Linux Gaming is on a Life-Support System Called Steam
Internet Cafés on the Decline in Most Asian Countries

Original Submission

RandomFactor writes:

Deep in the North Island Forests of New Zealand, a zombie tree lays dreaming.

Ecologists [and co-equal authors] Sebastian Leuzinger and Martin Bader spotted [an] apparently dead kauri pine tree stump (Agathis australis) [...], but it showed something that dead trees don't have: sap running through it.

Testing of water flows in the stump and its neighbors reveals that the kauri pine tree's neighbors are keeping the foliage free stump alive. But why?

Leuzinger and his colleagues think the tree stump's roots have been grafted together with roots from other trees, something that is known to happen when trees sense they can share resources with the trees around them. These grafts allow trees to form a type of 'superorganism' in a forest, and help groups of trees improve their collective stability.

In this case however

It's not clear yet what the surrounding trees get out of a deal like this. The researchers say one possible[sic] is that the connections were formed when the stump was still a healthy tree, and it's simply not letting go.

Maybe the surrounding trees get to extend their own root networks, and gather more water and nutrients, by keeping the connection to the stump.

The ecologists note that "More research is going to be needed to find out for sure."

Not touched on is what we are all thinking - that the dead tree is in control, slowly and inexorably spreading as the other trees scream in terrified tree speak, a leaf rustle here, a scrape of bark there, crying out for our help in their desperation...but we cannot hear them.

Journal Reference
"Hydraulic Coupling of a Leafless Kauri Tree Remnant to Conspecific Hosts" M.K-F. Bader, S. Leuzinger. iScience, July 25,2019 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.05.009

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

In the last few years: millions of accounts have been breached, AWS contains have been compromised, and if a company is storing their data 'in the cloud' then it's probably just a matter of time until someone hacks into it.

Not so for an Australian bank who uploaded 13 thousand customers' records to a third party data service. The bank admitted fault and the "data service" has reportedly deleted the data which included "customer names, date of birth, contact details and in some cases, government identity numbers."

The breach comes a week after NAB hired Ross McEwan, the man credited with turning around Royal Bank of Scotland, as its new chief executive officer, as it hopes to win back customer trust after damaging findings in a public inquiry into the financial sector.

NAB was among the worst hit of the "Big Four" lenders, after the inquiry specifically cited its CEO and Chairman for failing to accept responsibility for the wrongdoings.

Both individuals resigned days later.

I trust my bank. As far as I can kick them. How do I tell if my bank gives my information out?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Cosmic Ray Update: New Results from the Moon

Note to astronauts: 2019 is not a good year to fly into deep space. In fact, it’s shaping up to be one of the worst of the Space Age.

The reason is, the solar cycle. One of the deepest Solar Minima of the past century is underway now. As the sun’s magnetic field weakens, cosmic rays from deep space are flooding into the solar system, posing potential health risks to astronauts.

NASA is monitoring the situation with a radiation sensor in lunar orbit. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) has been circling the Moon on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft since 2009. Researchers have just published a paper in the journal Space Weather describing CRaTER’s latest findings.

“The overall decrease in solar activity in this period has led to an increased flux of energetic particles, to levels that are approaching those observed during the previous solar minimum in 2009/2010, which was the deepest minimum of the Space Age,” write the authors, led by Cary Zeitlin of NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center. “The data have implications for human exploration of deep space.”

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Building on their research showing that an exciting new form of immunotherapy for cancer has activity in patients with glioblastoma, the most common and most deadly form of brain cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have created a new method that could make immune therapy more effective again brain tumors and expand its use against other types of solid tumors. Their study is published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The treatment, known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy, involves collecting and genetically modifying a patient's immune-fighting T cells to recognize specific targets (antigens) on the surface of tumors, and then returning them to the patient. Two CAR T cell products have been approved by the FDA for treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, respectively cancers of the lymphatic system and blood.

[...] So to boost the effectiveness of CAR T cells, they decided to target a second antigen, the naturally occurring or "wild type" of EGFR. But because EGFR is present in many cells in the body, drugs targeting the protein can cause serious side effects. To overcome this toxicity problem, Maus and colleagues crafted a CAR T cell that can be delivered into the cerebrospinal fluid at the base of the brain. When it gets into the brain, the CAR T then secretes a second type of immunotherapy, called a bi-specific T-cell engager, or "BiTE." BiTEs are antibodies that direct cell-killing T cells to a specific target, somewhat akin to a homing mechanism on a so-called "smart bomb."

[...] When they tested it in models of human glioblastoma, they found that the modified BiTE-secreting CAR Ts eliminated about 80% of the tumors.

The technique holds promise for treating other solid tumors as well, says lead author Bryan D. Choi, MD, from the department of Neurosurgery at MGH.

The biggest barrier they still face in their efforts to bring the research into human clinical trials is financial support, the investigators say.

Bryan D. Choi, et. al. CAR-T cells secreting BiTEs circumvent antigen escape without detectable toxicity. Nature Biotechnology, 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41587-019-0192-1

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Scorching temperatures across Europe coupled with prolonged dry weather has reduced French nuclear power generation by around 5.2 gigawatts (GW) or 8%, French power grid operator RTE’s data showed on Thursday.

Electricity output was curtailed at six reactors by 0840 GMT on Thursday, while two other reactors were offline, data showed. High water temperatures and sluggish flows limit the ability to use river water to cool reactors.

In Germany, PreussenElektra, the nuclear unit of utility E.ON, said it would take its Grohnde reactor offline on Friday due to high temperatures in the Weser river.

Interesting impact of the recent heat wave, right when electrical demand is on the rise.

Previously: Records Tumble as Europe Swelters in Heatwave and the Forecast Isn't Any Better

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/siri-records-fights-doctors-appointments-and-sex-and-contractors-hear-it/

Voice assistants are growing in popularity, but the technology has been experiencing a parallel rise in concerns about privacy and accuracy. Apple's Siri is the latest to enter this gray space of tech. This week, The Guardian reported that contractors who review Siri recordings for accuracy and to help make improvements may be hearing personal conversations.

One of the contract workers told The Guardian that Siri did sometimes record audio after mistaken activations. The wake word is the phrase "hey Siri," but the anonymous source said that it could be activated by similar-sounding words or with the noise of a zipper. They also said that when an Apple Watch is raised and speech is detected, Siri will automatically activate.

"There have been countless instances of recordings featuring private discussions between doctors and patients, business deals, seemingly criminal dealings, sexual encounters and so on," the source said. "These recordings are accompanied by user data showing location, contact details, and app data."

Apple has said that it takes steps to protect users from being connected with the recordings sent to contractors. The audio is not linked to an Apple ID and less than 1% of daily Siri activations are reviewed. It also sets confidentiality requirements for those contract workers. We reached out to Apple for further comment and will update the story if we receive it.

Original Submission