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chromas writes:

Indices of health under our feet

A treasure trove of information relevant to human and environmental health is hiding in an unexpected place. Samples of wastewater from homes, institutions, towns and cities around the world can now be probed for valuable data concerning community well-being, antibiotic use and resistance, recreational substance consumption and abuse, biomarkers of disease as well as environmental hazards and degradation.

This rapidly emerging health surveillance technique, termed wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), is an economical and powerful tool. It can teach us much about large populations contributing into a centralized sewerage system during the course of a full 24-hour cycle.

In a pair of new studies, Rolf Halden, director of the ASU Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering and author for the 2020 Book Environment, describes the process and highlights important new findings extracted from the municipal wastewater most of us contribute to on a daily basis.

[...] Advances in WBE technologies and applications are progressing rapidly. The method offers a low-cost strategy for obtaining health and environmental data on a local, regional, national and even continental scale. It can provide valuable information with acute spatial and temporal resolution. Because the method aggregates community-wide data, it is non-invasive and ensures the privacy of the population under study.

In addition to its ability to measure ingestion rates of drugs including cocaine and opioids, WBE has been proposed as a means of identifying exposure to agents including pesticides, personal care products, infectious pathogens, persistent organic pollutants, as well as for tracking community-wide incidence of illnesses including diabetes, allergies, stress-induced disorders and cancer.

[...] WBE represents an attractive alternative to community-wide monitoring through self-reported surveys, which may introduce sampling and reporting biases and are often comparatively costly to administer; how much more expensive, was one of the questions investigated in the study.

[...] In addition to monitoring health indices related to behavior, WBE could ultimately provide a low-cost means of carrying out infectious disease surveillance across populations, providing an early-warning system to alert researchers to disease outbreaks in near real time, within as little as 24 hours.

Journal Reference:

• Erin M. Driver, Adam Gushgari, Jing Chen, et al. Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine consumption on a public U.S. university campus determined by wastewater-based epidemiology, Science of The Total Environment (DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138492)
• Olga E. Hart, Rolf U. Halden. Simulated 2017 nationwide sampling at 13,940 major U.S. sewage treatment plants to assess seasonal population bias in wastewater-based epidemiology, Science of The Total Environment (DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138406)

Original Submission

chromas writes:

Ten Years Of The Sun In One Hour – Nasa Releases Mesmerising Space Film:

Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory[*] has gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the sun, from its launch in February 2010 until June this year, which have now been stitched together to form the video.

While the 20 million gigabytes of picture data captured over the decade have contributed to "countless new discoveries about the workings" of the sun, according to Nasa, the images have now been arranged into a 61-minute video showing events including transiting planets and eruptions.

The film shows the major changes the sun undergoes during a solar cycle, an approximately 11-year period which sees the sun's north and south poles flip, and the emergence of sunspots as a result of gas altering the star's magnetic fields.

Every second of the 61-minute video represents images taken over a single day, with the first frame showing the sun on 2 June 2010, and the last frame captured on 1 June 2020.

[*] The Solar Dynamics Observatory is in an inclined geosynchronous orbit around Earth.

Also at phys.org which notes:

While SDO has kept an unblinking eye pointed toward the sun, there have been a few moments it missed. The dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the sun. A longer blackout in 2016 was caused by a temporary issue with the AIA instrument that was successfully resolved after a week. The images where the sun is off-center were observed when SDO was calibrating its instruments.

YouTube video

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

'Ripple20' Bugs Impact Hundreds of Millions of Connected Devices:

A series of 19 different vulnerabilities, four of them critical, are affecting hundreds of millions of internet of things (IoT) and industrial-control devices.

The issue is based in the supply chain and code reuse, with the bugs affecting a TCP/IP software library developed by Treck that many manufacturers use. Researchers at JSOF uncovered the faulty part of Treck's code, which is built to handle the ubiquitous TCP-IP protocol that connects devices to networks and the internet, in the devices of more than 10 different manufacturers—and it's likely present in dozens more.

Affected hardware includes everything from connected printers to medical infusion pumps and industrial-control gear, according to researchers at JSOF's research lab. Treck users include "one-person boutique shops to Fortune 500 multinational corporations, including HP, Schneider Electric, Intel, Rockwell Automation, Caterpillar, Baxter, as well as many other major international vendors suspected of being of vulnerable in medical, transportation, industrial control, enterprise, energy (oil/gas), telecom, retail and commerce, and other industries," according to the research.

"The wide-spread dissemination of the software library (and its internal vulnerabilities) was a natural consequence of the supply chain 'ripple-effect,'" researchers said in a posting on Tuesday. "A single vulnerable component, though it may be relatively small in and of itself, can ripple outward to impact a wide range of industries, applications, companies and people."

The flaws, dubbed Ripple20, include four remote code-execution vulnerabilities. If properly exploited, data could be stolen off of a printer, a medical device's behavior could be tampered with, or industrial control devices could be made to malfunction.

"An attacker could hide malicious code within embedded devices for years. One of the vulnerabilities could enable entry from outside into the network boundaries; and this is only a small taste of the potential risks," according to JSOF.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for RandomFactor

A newfound spider species wears a striking red-and-white pattern on its back that resembles the grin worn by Batman's long-standing nemesis, the Joker. The resemblance is so uncanny that the researchers who described the arachnid named the species after actor Joaquin Phoenix, who portrayed the tormented, smiling villain in the 2019 film, "Joker."

Ironically, the colorful spider belongs to a genus that was named for the late punk rock icon Lou Reed, who famously wore black and rarely smiled.

Scientists discovered Loureedia phoenixi in Iran; it's the first Loureedia spider to be identified outside the Mediterranean region, they reported in a new study. The genus, first described in 2018, now includes four species.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/joker-spider-joaquin-phoenix.html

Journal Reference:
Alireza Zamani, Yuri M. Marusik. A new and easternmost species of Loureedia (Aranei: Eresidae) from Iran, Arthropoda Selecta (DOI: 10.15298/arthsel.29.2.09)

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.iafrikan.com/2020/06/30/do-we-really-own-our-digital-possessions/

During 2019, Microsoft announced that it will close the books category of its digital store. While other software and apps will still be available via the virtual shop front, and on purchasers' consoles and devices, the closure of the eBook store takes with it customers' eBook libraries. Any digital books bought through the service – even those bought many years ago – will no longer be readable after July 2019. While the company has promised to provide a full refund for all eBook purchases, this decision raises important questions of ownership.

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Mathematical noodling leads to new insights into an old fusion problem:

A challenge to creating fusion energy on Earth is trapping the charged gas known as plasma that fuels fusion reactions within a strong magnetic field and keeping the plasma as hot and dense as possible for as long as possible. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have gained new insight into a common type of hiccup known as the sawtooth instability that cools the hot plasma in the center and interferes with the fusion reactions. These findings could help bring fusion energy closer to reality.

"Conventional models explain most instances of the sawtooth crashes, but there is a tenacious subset of observations that we have never been able to explain," said PPPL physicist Christopher Smiet, lead author of a paper reporting the results in Nuclear Fusion. "Explaining those unusual occurrences would fill a gap in understanding the sawtooth phenomenon that has existed for almost 40 years."

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/06/foreign-adversaries-likely-to-exploit-critical-networking-bug-us-gov-says/

Foreign hackers backed by a well-resourced government are likely to exploit a critical vulnerability in a host and VPN and firewall products sold by Palo Alto Networks, officials in the US federal government warned on Tuesday.

In worst-case scenarios, the security vendor said in a post, the flaw allows unauthorized people to log in to networks as administrators. With those privileges, attackers could install software of their choice or carry out other malicious actions that have serious consequences. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-2021, can be exploited when an authentication mechanism known as Security Assertion Markup Language is used to validate that users gave the proper permission to access a network. Attackers must also have Internet access to an affected server.

[...] The vulnerability can be exploited only when authentication is enabled and the validate identity provider certificate option is disabled. In that case, the affected Palo Networks products fail to properly verify signatures. The failure is the result of flaws in PAN-OS SAML. Vulnerable releases are PAN-OS 9.1, PAN-OS 9.0 earlier then 9.0.9, PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.15, and all versions of PAN-OS 8.0. PAN-OS 7.1 is unaffected.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

China Enacts Security Law, Asserting Control Over Hong Kong

Beijing's top legislative body has unanimously passed a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong, a controversial move that could effectively criminalize most dissent in the city and risks widening the rift between China and western countries who have criticized the law.

The news was first reported by local Hong Kong media: cable televsion station NOWNews; the city's public broadcaster; and a slew of newspapers, including Wei Wen Po and Ta Kung Pao, two pro-Beijing outlets which often signal official Chinese policy.

Hours later, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported President Xi Jinping had already signed the measure into law. Xinhua said it will be incorporated into Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution, and become effective Wednesday, the anniversary of Hong Kong's 1997 handover from British to Chinese Rule.

Hong Kong security law: Anger as China's Xi signs legislation

One key pro-democracy group said it was now ceasing all operations. Demosisto announced the move on Facebook after Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong's most prominent activists, said he was leaving the group, which he had spearheaded.

[...] Demosisto said several members had asked to be delisted and it had decided to "dissolve and stop all meetings". It said that the fight against "totalitarian oppression" would have to continue in a "more flexible manner". Joshua Wong said the law marked "the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before".

Also at NYT, Reuters, and Hong Kong Free Press.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Apple's A12Z Under Rosetta Outperforms Microsoft's Native Arm-Based Surface Pro X

Apple's Developer Transition Kit equipped with an A12Z iPad Pro chip began arriving in the hands of developers this morning to help them get their apps ready for Macs running Apple Silicon, and though forbidden, the first thing some developers did was benchmark the machine.

Multiple Geekbench results have indicated that the Developer Transition Kit, which is a Mac mini with an ‌iPad Pro‌ chip, features average single-core and multi-core scores of 811 and 2,871, respectively.

As developer Steve Troughton-Smith points out, the two-year-old A12Z in the ‌Mac mini‌ outperforms Microsoft's Arm-based Surface Pro X in Geekbench performance, running x86_64 code in emulation faster than the Surface Pro X can run an Arm version natively.

So the DTK with a two year old iPad chip runs x86_64 code, in emulation, faster than the Surface Pro X runs it natively 😅 Oh boy Qualcomm, what are you even doing? https://t.co/UAlZiwSsF8 — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) June 29, 2020

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A vaccine targeting aged cells mitigates metabolic disorders in obese mice:

Aging is a multifaceted process that affects our bodies in many ways. In a new study, researchers from Osaka University developed a novel vaccine that removes aged immune cells and then demonstrated an improvement of diabetes-associated metabolic derangements by vaccinating obese mice.

Aged, or senescent, cells are known to harm their surrounding younger cells by creating an inflammatory environment. A specific type of immune cell, called T cell, can accumulate in fat tissues in obese individuals in senescence, causing chronic inflammation, metabolic disorders and heart disease. To reduce the negative effects of senescent cells on the body, senotherapy was developed to target and eliminate these rogue cells. However, as this approach does not discriminate between different types of senescent cells, it has remained unknown whether specific depletion of senescent T cells can improve their adverse effects on organ physiology.

[...] To achieve their goal, the researchers developed a novel vaccine targeting the surface protein CD153 that is present on senescent T cells populating fat tissues, thereby ensuring that normal T cells are not affected. To test the effects of their vaccine, the researchers fed mice with a high-fat diet to make them obese and ultimately to mimic the metabolic changes seen in diabetes. These include insulin resistance and an improperly functioning glucose metabolism, both of which can facilitate a deterioration of the eyes, kidneys, nerves and the heart. When they vaccinated these mice against CD153, the researchers observed a sharp decline of senescent T cells in the fat tissues of the mice, demonstrating the success of their approach.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/06/mercury-and-algal-blooms-poisoned-maya-reservoirs-at-tikal/

For centuries, Tikal was a bustling Maya city in what is now northern Guatemala. But by the late 800s CE, its plazas and temples stood silent, surrounded by mostly abandoned farms. A recent study suggests a possible explanation for its decline: mercury and toxic algal blooms poisoned the water sources that should have carried the city through dry seasons.

Tikal’s Maya rulers built the city’s reservoirs to store water from rain and runoff during the winter months. The pavement of the large plazas in the heart of the city tilted slightly, helping funnel rainwater into the reservoirs. Over the centuries, dust and litter settled into the bottom of the reservoirs, too, providing a record of what the environment around Tikal was like—and what was washing into the city’s water supply. University of Cincinnati biologist David Lentz and his colleagues sampled layers of sediment dating back to the mid-800s, and they found that two of Tikal’s central reservoirs would have been too polluted to drink from.

Journal Reference:
David L. Lentz, Trinity L. Hamilton, Nicholas P. Dunning, et al. Molecular genetic and geochemical assays reveal severe contamination of drinking water reservoirs at the ancient Maya city of Tikal [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67044-z)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Archaeologists in Turkey Have Uncovered a Mysterious Ancient Kingdom Lost in History:

Last year, archaeologists were investigating an ancient mound site in central Turkey called Türkmen-Karahöyük. The greater region, the Konya Plain, abounds with lost metropolises, but even so, researchers couldn't have been prepared for what they were about to find.

[...] With the aid of translators, the researchers found that the hieroglyphs on this ancient stone block – called a stele – boasted of a military victory. And not just any military victory, but the defeat of Phrygia, a kingdom of Anatolia that existed roughly 3,000 years ago.

The royal house of Phrygia was ruled by a few different men called Midas, but dating of the stele, based on linguistic analysis, suggests the block's hieroglyphics could be referring to the King Midas – he of the famous 'golden touch' myth.

The stone markings also contained a special hieroglyphic symbolising that the victory message came from another king, a man called Hartapu. The hieroglyphs suggest Midas was captured by Hartapu's forces.

[...] What's significant about this is that almost nothing is known about King Hartapu, nor about the kingdom he ruled. Nonetheless, the stele suggests the giant mound of Türkmen-Karahöyük may have been Hartapu's capital city, spanning some 300 acres in its heyday, the heart of the ancient conquest of Midas and Phrygia.

See also: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/oriental-institute-archaeologists-help-discover-lost-kingdom-ancient-turkey

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

A ‘Cure for Heart Disease’? A Single Shot Succeeds in Monkeys:

In the first gene-editing experiment of its kind, scientists have disabled two genes in monkeys that raise the risk for heart disease. Humans carry the genes as well, and the experiment has raised hopes that a leading killer may one day be tamed.

“This could be the cure for heart disease,” said Dr. Michael Davidson, director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research.

But it will be years before human trials can begin, and gene-editing technology so far has a mixed tracked record. It is much too early to know whether the strategy will be safe and effective in humans; even the monkeys must be monitored for side effects or other treatment failures for some time to come.

The results were presented on Saturday at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, this year held virtually with about 3,700 attendees around the world. The scientists are writing up their findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed or published.

The researchers set out to block two genes: PCSK9, which helps regulate levels of LDL cholesterol; and ANGPTL3, part of the system regulating triglyceride, a type of blood fat. Both genes are active in the liver, which is where cholesterol and triglycerides are produced. People who inherit mutations that destroyed the genes’ function do not get heart disease.

Freeman writes:

Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever:

Microsoft's retail stores, like many retailers throughout the nation, have been closed for months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. If you were hoping to visit one again as restrictions in your state ease up, however, you're out of luck: the Microsoft Store is done for good.

The company announced the closure today, amusingly, as the Microsoft Store taking "a new approach to retail," by which it means "not actually operating retail stores." Although four locations—in London, New York City, Sydney, and Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus—will remain open, they will become "experience centers," where one can see, touch, and play with Microsoft products but not actually purchase any.

Original Submission

chromas writes:

Zuckerberg once wanted to sanction Trump. Then Facebook wrote rules that accommodated him.

Hours after President Trump’s incendiary post last month about sending the military to the Minnesota protests, Trump called Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

The post put the company in a difficult position, Zuckerberg told Trump, according to people familiar with the discussions. The same message was hidden by Twitter, the strongest action ever taken against a presidential post.

To Facebook’s executives in Washington, the post didn’t appear to violate its policies, which allows leaders to post about government use of force if the message is intended to warn the public — but it came right up to the line. The deputies had already contacted the White House earlier in the day with an urgent plea to tweak the language of the post or simply delete it, the people said.

Eventually, Trump posted again, saying his comments were supposed to be a warning after all. Zuckerberg then went online to explain his rationale for keeping the post up, noting that Trump’s subsequent explanation helped him make his decision.

[...] Zuckerberg talks frequently about making choices that stand the test of time, preserving the values of Facebook and subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram for all of its nearly 3 billion monthly users for many years into the future — even when those decisions are unpopular or controversial.

At one point, however, he wanted a different approach to Trump.