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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for GrandFireWizard:

Abusive partners have found new and ‘nasty’ ways to target their victims:

It’s a bizarre and “nasty” new form of psychological abuse and thousands of Australians are doing it every day.

Commonwealth Bank has said it uncovered at least 8000 separate individuals sending threatening and abusive messages to people via its apps and online banking systems.

In one instance, CBA’s general manager of customer vulnerability Catherine Fitzpatrick told news.com.au, a single person sent their victim hundreds of abusive messages, one every few seconds, over a two-hour period.

[...] Ms Fitzpatrick spoke to news.com.au at the launch of a new initiative launched by CommBank that aims to support people impacted by domestic and family violence, including financial abuse.

[...] As part of CBA’s research prior to the program’s launch it found a number of its customers were being harassed by people during the process of sending them low value online payments, often as low as one cent.

[Ed. note: I had mixed feelings about running this story. It reads like a slashvertisement, but might be of genuine use to some members of our community (or people whose systems they help support). Decided to give it a try — please provide feedback in the comments.]

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware review: A free tool that actually works:

Ransomware is malicious software that can lock your computer and files while demanding a ransom be paid to unlock it. This sort of attack can be much more serious than a typical virus or malware attack because much of the time, you end up losing all of your files that weren't backed up. Ransomware can be especially hard to prevent because it typically comes disguised as another trusted file.

Anti-ransomware software comes packed in with most of the best antivirus software or PC security packages including Windows Security. Anti-ransomware software needs to get very frequent updates to stay in front of threats. Since ransomware often comes disguised as something a user wants, they can let it through the first lines of security before they know there's a problem.

Kaspersky's Anti-Ransomware Tool looks for behavior and commonly infected files to offer a last line of defense on your system. It's also backed by a cloud-connected set of definitions to stay updated without waiting for a scheduled definitions update.

Always updated Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool

Bottom line: When it comes to PC security, you can never be 100% sure your PC is risk-free, Kaspersky Anti-Ransomware Tool adds another layer of security with an up-to-date and well-reviewed knowledgebase of safe and risky applications. It's also able to watch out for suspicious app behavior in case a threat is new enough that it hasn't been detected yet.

The author notes some shortcomings in the tool, as well, so it's a mixed recommendation. Read the full article for details. Would you get/use it?

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Launch time: one hour from now: 2100-0055 GMT (5:00-8:55 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Weather Forecast: 70% favorable
Drone Ship: Just Read the Instructions
Fairing Recovery Attempt: Unknown
Live Stream: YouTube (Starts approximately 15 minutes before launch).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Anasis 2, or KMilSatCom 1, communications satellite for the South Korean military. The spacecraft was built by Airbus Defense and Space. Delayed from July 14. [July 14]

Notable: If successful, at 51 days this would be the fastest turnaround ever for an orbital rocket (beating the 54 day turnaround for the Space Shuttle Atlantis).

Also at Ars Technica.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Another cyber warning has been issued about the risk from compromised chargers—but this time data theft is not the issue...

Hackers Can Now Trick Usb Chargers To Destroy Your Devices—This Is How It Works:

Not all cyber attacks focus on data theft. Sometimes the intent is "to achieve destruction of the physical world through digital means," Chinese tech giant Tencent warns. The company's researchers have just disclosed a serious new vulnerability in many of the mass-market fast chargers now used around the world.

[...] Tencent’s researchers have now proven that a compromised charger can override this negotiation, pushing more power down the cable than the device can safely handle, likely destroying the device and potentially even setting it on fire.

Because the fast charger is essentially a smart device in its own right, it is open to a malicious compromise. An attack is very simple. With malware loaded onto a smartphone, an attacker connects to the charger, overwriting its firmware and essentially arming it as a weapon for whatever plugs in to it next.

The interesting twist here is that the malware might even be on the target device. An attacker pushes that malicious code to your phone. The first time you connect to a vulnerable fast charger, the phone overwrites its firmware. The next time you connect to that same charger to [recharge] your device, your phone will be overloaded.

Tencent has produced a demo video, showing how a charger can be compromised and then used to overload a device.

Tencent have dubbed this issue "BadPower," and warn that "all products with BadPower problems can be attacked by special hardware, and a considerable number of them can also be attacked by ordinary terminals such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops that support the fast charging protocol."

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Scientists achieve major breakthrough in preserving integrity of sound waves:

In a breakthrough for physics and engineering, researchers from the Photonics Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY (CUNY ASRC) and from Georgia Tech have presented the first demonstration of topological order based on time modulations. This advancement allows the researchers to propagate sound waves along the boundaries of topological metamaterials without the risk of waves traveling backwards or being thwarted by material defects.

The new findings, which appear in the journal Science Advances, will pave the way for cheaper, lighter devices that use less battery power, and which can function in harsh or hazardous environments. Andrea Alù, founding director of the CUNY ASRC Photonics Initiative and Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and postdoctoral research associate Xiang Ni were authors on the paper, together with Amir Ardabi and Michael Leamy from Georgia Tech.

[...] "The result is a breakthrough for topological physics, as we have been able to show topological order emerging from time variations, which is different, and more advantageous, than the large body of work on topological acoustics based on geometrical asymmetries," Alù said. "Previous approaches inherently required the presence of a backward channel through which sound could be reflected, which inherently limited their topological protection. With time modulations we can suppress backward propagation and provide strong topological protection."

[...] As a bonus, their design allows for programmability. This means they can guide waves along a variety of different reconfigurable paths, with minimal loss. Ultrasound imaging, sonar, and electronic systems that use surface acoustic wave technology could all benefit from this advance, Alù said.

Journal Reference:
Amir Darabi, Xiang Ni, Michael Leamy, et al. Reconfigurable Floquet elastodynamic topological insulator based on synthetic angular momentum bias [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba8656)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for GrandFireWizard:

Sorry Telstra but this is my F@ST 5355 router:

Roughly a week ago I decided to give https://pi-hole.net/ a go having endured yet another ad laden website. All went we'll[sic], installation was smooth and was up and running 15 minutes later.

All that remained was to set my routers(sic) DNS server to the pi's and my home devices would be safe. I remember seeing the option in there for it.

WTF, it was now disabled. A quick google around revealed that about a year ago (June 2017) Telstra simply decided to remove that functionality.

Surely it had nothing to do with the Australian government implementing DNS based censorship in June 2017?

So fuck you Telstra, that's my router you made me purchase. Time to find out how to take it back.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

Scientists 3D print gunpowder substitute, achieve 420m/s bullet velocity - 3D Printing Industry:

Researchers from the Xi'an Modern Chemistry Research Institute in China have 3D printed a functional gun propellant using SLA technology. The gunpowder-esque substance is a carefully constructed blend of photopolymer resin, RDX (a high explosive), and other reactive additives. Initial gun testing of the 3D printed propellant has garnered some promising results, as the scientists managed to achieve a more-than-lethal muzzle velocity of 420m/s. This, of course, depends on your definition of 'promising'.

[...] Currently, the main ways to improve the ballistic efficiency and damage potential of propellants are to increase the burning surface or the burning rate. This is commonly done by foaming the propellants, coating them, or packing them in their casings in selective layers. According to the researchers, simply filling the cylindrical casing with a granular propellant works but is quite limited in its energy release efficiency. So, the team looked to 3D printing to see if it could pack a greater punch.

[...] Once the UV safety of the newly formulated explosive was confirmed, the team 3D printed a set of thin disks, each about 40mm in diameter. These disks could be stacked on top of each other to form a longer cylinder, resembling the body of a bullet casing. Each layer featured a honeycomb-like structure with holes and was about 5mm thick.

Then came time for the grand finale – the gun test. The cylindrical stack was loaded into a 30mm barrel with a 200g mass acting as the bullet, although at 200g it's probably closer to a mini cannonball. The team set up a high speed camera and an internal pressure gauge in the barrel before pulling the trigger. Once the smoke cleared, the researchers calculated a rather high pressure exponent value of 1.46 and a muzzle velocity of 420m/s, with plans to increase the chamber pressure in future tests.

Journal Reference:
Weitao Yang, Rui Hu, Lin Zheng, Guanghu Yan, Wenrong Yan. Fabrication and investigation of 3D-printed gun propellants [open], Materials & Design (DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108761)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Atomtronic device could probe boundary between quantum, everyday worlds: Clouds of supercooled atoms offer highly sensitive rotation sensors and tests of quantum mechanics:

A new device that relies on flowing clouds of ultracold atoms promises potential tests of the intersection between the weirdness of the quantum world and the familiarity of the macroscopic world we experience every day. The atomtronic Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) is also potentially useful for ultrasensitive rotation measurements and as a component in quantum computers.

"In a conventional SQUID, the quantum interference in electron currents can be used to make one of the most sensitive magnetic field detectors," said Changhyun Ryu, a physicist with the Material Physics and Applications Quantum group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "We use neutral atoms rather than charged electrons. Instead of responding to magnetic fields, the atomtronic version of a SQUID is sensitive to mechanical rotation."

Although small, at only about ten millionths of a meter across, the atomtronic SQUID is thousands of times larger than the molecules and atoms that are typically governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. The relatively large scale of the device lets it test theories of macroscopic realism, which could help explain how the world we are familiar with is compatible with the quantum weirdness that rules the universe on very small scales. On a more pragmatic level, atomtronic SQUIDs could offer highly sensitive rotation sensors or perform calculations as part of quantum computers.

Journal Reference:
C. Ryu, E. C. Samson, M. G. Boshier. Quantum interference of currents in an atomtronic SQUID [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17185-6)

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

The CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) issued its judgment on the Schrems II case, formally called Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems (Case C-311/1). The gist is that US companies are now put back to an average status, same as most others, with no special access to EU data due to operating in the US. It will take a while before the decision is published at the government site. Max himself has also issued his first statement on the CJEU judgment, notably that the European Commission bowed to US pressure and that now reform of US surveillance is unavoidable:

US Surveillance reform is unavoidable - CJEU just says it out loud

The Court was clear that the far-reaching US surveillance laws are in conflict with EU fundamental rights. The US limits most protections to "US persons", but does not protect the data of foreign customers of US companies from the NSA. As there is no way of finding out if you or your business are under surveillance, people also have no option to go to the courts. The CJEU found that this violates the 'essence' of certain EU fundamental rights.

Schrems: "The Court clarified for a second time now that there is a clash between EU privacy law and US surveillance law. As the EU will not change its fundamental rights to please the NSA, the only way to overcome this clash is for the US to introduce solid privacy rights for all people – including foreigners. Surveillance reform thereby becomes crucial for the business interests of Silicon Valley."

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

NASA Ominously Chooses Halloween 2021 to Launch Long-Delayed Space Telescope:

NASA hopes to launch the much-anticipated James Webb Space Telescope [(JWST)] from French Guiana on October 31, 2021, the agency announced today. Ongoing technical challenges and the covid-19 pandemic were cited as reasons for the latest delay to the project.

[...] The new date—October 31, 2021—represents a seven-month delay from the most recent launch target of March 2021 atop an Ariane 5 rocket.

[...] James Webb is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which is now 30 years old. The project is currently in the integration and testing phase of development, the final phase before it gets transported to French Guiana. Once in space, some million miles away from Earth, Webb will use its infrared telescope to observe some of the oldest galaxies in the universe, study star-forming nebulae, and even scan the atmospheres of distant exoplanets.

[...] At a NASA press conference earlier today, Gregory Robinson, JWST program director, said the decision to move the launch from March 2021 to October 2021 had to do with lingering development challenges and hardships imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. NASA, he said, was planning to re-evaluate the project's schedule margins prior to covid-19, but the pandemic forced the issue, resulting in yet another delay.

When asked to account for the seven-month delay, Robinson said three months had to do with covid-19 and two months had to do with existing technical issues, such as pending vibration testing, a review of the telescope's new sunshield, risk-reduction measures, among other outstanding tasks. The remaining two months were added as a buffer, said Robinson.

NASA's press release.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Freeway project unearths a time when camels roamed San Diego:

At a freeway construction project in Otay Mesa, paleontologists have found fossils that may open a window into what this part of the world looked like about 15 million years ago.

It was a place where early camels roamed, and prehistoric hoofed mammals, and probably a carnivore or two. And where volcanoes erupted.

“The finds suggest that we have a whole new chapter of our history that we get to explore,” said Thomas Deméré, curator of paleontology at San Diego Natural History Museum and director of its PaleoServices team, which located the fossils while monitoring the freeway project.

The discovery in June joins a roster of significant unearthings during construction projects in San Diego County — mastodons, dire wolves, sea cows, giant sloths, armored dinosaurs — that are painting a fuller picture of the region and how it’s changed over time.

[...] “We found a concentration of vertebrate fossils, limb bones and jaws from a variety of mammals,” Deméré said. “We found the upper teeth of an early horse, the first horse fossils found here that are older than 3 million years.”

They also unearthed remains of a camel — not a new discovery for this region, but always interesting. A lot of people are surprised to learn camels originated in North America before moving to Europe and Asia. They became extinct here about 11,000 years ago.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Blood iron levels could be key to slowing ageing, gene study shows:

The international study using genetic data from more than a million people suggests that maintaining healthy levels of iron in the blood could be a key to ageing better and living longer.

[...] Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany focused on three measures linked to biological ageing - lifespan, years of life lived free of disease (healthspan), and being extremely long-lived (longevity).

[...] The researchers pooled information from three public datasets to enable an analysis in unprecedented detail. The combined dataset was equivalent to studying 1.75 million lifespans or more than 60,000 extremely long-lived people.

The team pinpointed ten regions of the genome linked to long lifespan, healthspan and longevity. They also found that gene sets linked to iron were overrepresented in their analysis of all three measures of ageing.

[...] Blood iron is affected by diet and abnormally high or low levels are linked to age-related conditions such as Parkinson's disease, liver disease and a decline in the body's ability to fight infection in older age.

Journal Reference:
Paul R. H. J. Timmers, James F. Wilson, Peter K. Joshi, et al. Multivariate genomic scan implicates novel loci and haem metabolism in human ageing [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17312-3)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

KFC is working with a Russian 3D bioprinting firm to try to make lab-produced chicken nuggets:

KFC is trying to create the world’s first laboratory-produced chicken nuggets, part of its “restaurant of the future” concept, the company announced. The chicken restaurant chain will work with Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to develop bioprinting technology that will “print” chicken meat, using chicken cells and plant material.

KFC plans to provide the bioprinting firm with ingredients like breading and spices “to achieve the signature KFC taste” and will seek to replicate the taste and texture of genuine chicken.

It’s worth noting that the bioprinting process KFC describes uses animal material, so any nuggets it produced wouldn’t be vegetarian. KFC does offer a vegetarian option at some of its restaurants; last year it became the first US fast-food chain to test out Beyond Meat’s plant-based chicken product, which it plans to roll out to more of its locations this summer.

Bioprinted nuggets would be more environmentally friendly to produce than standard chicken meat, KFC says, citing (but not linking to) a study by the American Environmental Science and Technology Journal it says shows the benefits of growing meat from cells, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption compared to traditional farming methods.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Laser-Textured Metal Surfaces Kill Bacteria Faster:

Copper surfaces kill microbes that come into contact with them in a matter of hours. A new technique makes the familiar metal even deadlier—by zapping it with lasers.

Bacteria “are becoming more aggressive and resistant to therapeutics; it's the same thing for viruses,” says Rahim Rahimi, a materials engineer at Purdue University and senior author of a paper on the new process, published in April in Advanced Materials Interfaces.

[...] Copper's germ-destroying power, [microbiologist Michael Schmidt] explains, comes from its ability to conduct electricity. When a microbe touches a metal surface, the substance carries electrons away from the microbe's cellular membrane. This reaction sets off a chemical process that ultimately forces open the organism's pores and destroys it.

[...] To enhance the process, Rahimi's team hit a copper sample with laser light for a few milliseconds, thereby creating nanoscale pores in the flat metal and increasing its surface area.

[...] The researchers tested this newly rugged terrain by placing several bacterial strains, including Escherichia coli and a drug-resistant Staphylococcusaureus strain, on both flat and laser-treated pieces of copper. As soon as the cells hit the textured metal, their membranes began to suffer damage; that surface completely eradicated the bacteria, in some cases much more quickly than the untreated one. The surface killed some microbes immediately on contact and took from 40 minutes to two hours to wipe out a full colony, depending on the species and concentration.

Journal Reference:
Vidhya Selvamani, Amin Zareei, Ahmed Elkashif, et al. Hierarchical Micro/Mesoporous Copper Structure with Enhanced Antimicrobial Property via Laser Surface Texturing [$], Advanced Materials Interfaces (DOI: 10.1002/admi.201901890)

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Holding its own against aerospace giants like pan-European Airbus Space or French-Italian Thales Alenia, German minnow OHB has carved out a space as a national champion in satellite building.

Its latest coup was claiming a hefty slice of business from contracts signed in early July by the European Space Agency (ESA) as it builds up its Earth observation programme known as Copernicus.

Among the six new satellites, an OHB-built orbiter will keep an eye on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions stemming from human activity over the coming decades.

The aim: offering policymakers the data they need to find ways of reducing greenhouse gas output.

"Some space missions are mostly relevant to science. At OHB, we like projects that help people in their everyday lives," chief executive Marco Fuchs told AFP.

Thales Alenia may have secured the lion's share of ESA orders this time around, but OHB is "ideally positioned" to play a role in "permanent observation of the Earth in environmental, climate and security terms", Fuchs said.

Original Submission