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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

The six strains of SARS-CoV-2:

"The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change," explains Federico Giorgi, a researcher at Unibo and coordinator of the study. "This means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains."

Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain, that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation—the S strain—appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020.

Globally, strains G, GH and GR are constantly increasing. Strain S can be found in some restricted areas in the U.S. and Spain. The L and V strains are gradually disappearing.

Journal Reference:
Mercatelli, Daniele, Giorgi, Federico M.. Geographic and Genomic Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Mutations, Frontiers in Microbiology (DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01800)

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Who Gets a Vaccine First? U.S. Considers Race in Coronavirus Plans:

Federal health officials are already trying to decide who will get the first doses of any effective coronavirus vaccines, which could be on the market this winter but could require many additional months to become widely available to Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an advisory committee of outside health experts in April began working on a ranking system for what may be an extended rollout in the United States. According to a preliminary plan, any approved vaccines would be offered to vital medical and national security officials first, and then to other essential workers and those considered at high risk — the elderly instead of children, people with underlying conditions instead of the relatively healthy.

Agency officials and the advisers are also considering what has become a contentious option: putting Black and Latino people, who have disproportionately fallen victim to Covid-19, ahead of others in the population.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Decline of bees, other pollinators threatens US crop yields: Largest study of its kind highlights risk to global food security:

Most of the world's crops depend on honeybees and wild bees for pollination, so declines in both managed and wild bee populations raise concerns about food security, notes the study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

"We found that many crops are pollination-limited, meaning crop production would be higher if crop flowers received more pollination. We also found that honey bees and wild bees provided similar amounts of pollination overall," said senior author Rachael Winfree, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "Managing habitat for native bee species and/or stocking more honey bees would boost pollination levels and could increase crop production."

Pollination by wild and managed insects is critical for most crops, including those providing essential micronutrients, and is essential for food security, the study notes. In the U.S., the production of crops that depend on pollinators generates more than $50 billion a year. According to recent evidence, European honey bees (Apis mellifera) and some native wild bee species are in decline.

Journal Reference:
Crop production in the USA is frequently limited by a lack of pollinators, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0922)

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-vaccine/russia-preparing-mass-vaccination-against-coronavirus-for-october-idUSKBN24X3KO

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's health minister is preparing a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus for October, local news agencies reported on Saturday, after a vaccine completed clinical trials.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the Gamaleya Institute, a state research facility in Moscow, had completed clinical trials of the vaccine and paperwork is being prepared to register it, Interfax news agency reported.

He said doctors and teachers would be the first to be vaccinated.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

'Fool's gold' may be valuable after all: For the first time, researchers electrically transform material from non-magnetic to magnetic:

In a breakthrough new study, scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota have electrically transformed the abundant and low-cost non-magnetic material iron sulfide, also known as "fool's gold" or pyrite, into a magnetic material.

This is the first time scientists have ever electrically transformed an entirely non-magnetic material into a magnetic one, and it could be the first step in creating valuable new magnetic materials for more energy-efficient computer memory devices.

The research is published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"Most people knowledgeable in magnetism would probably say it was impossible to electrically transform a non-magnetic material into a magnetic one. When we looked a little deeper, however, we saw a potential route, and made it happen," said Chris Leighton, the lead researcher on the study and a University of Minnesota Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

[...] "We were pretty surprised it worked," Leighton said. "By applying the voltage, we essentially pour electrons into the material. It turns out that if you get high enough concentrations of electrons, the material wants to spontaneously become ferromagnetic, which we were able to understand with theory. This has lots of potential. Having done it with iron sulfide, we guess we can do it with other materials as well."

Leighton said they would never have imagined trying this approach if it wasn't for his team's research studying iron sulfide for solar cells and the work on magnetoionics.

"It was the perfect convergence of two areas of research," he said.

Leighton said the next step is to continue research to replicate the process at higher temperatures, which the team's preliminary data suggest should certainly be possible. They also hope to try the process with other materials and to demonstrate potential for real devices.

Journal Reference:
Jeff Walter, Bryan Voigt, Ezra Day-Roberts, et al. Voltage-induced ferromagnetism in a diamagnet [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb7721)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:

SpaceX now plans for 5 million Starlink customers in US, up from 1 million:

SpaceX has asked the US for permission to deploy up to 5 million user terminals for its Starlink satellite-broadband network in the US after nearly 700,000 people in the country registered interest in the service.

SpaceX in March received a Federal Communications Commission license for up to 1 million user terminals (i.e. satellite dishes) in the United States. That would allow for 1 million homes to receive the service, but SpaceX now wants to quintuple that number.

"SpaceX Services requests this increase in authorized units due to the extraordinary demand for access to the Starlink non-geostationary orbit satellite system," the company told the FCC in a license-change request on Friday. "Despite the fact that SpaceX has yet to formally advertise this system's services, nearly 700,000 individuals represented in all 50 states signed up over a matter of just days to register their interest in said services at www.starlink.com. To ensure that SpaceX is able to accommodate the apparent demand for its broadband Internet access service, SpaceX Services requests a substantial increase in the number of authorized units."

[...] SpaceX has FCC permission to launch nearly 12,000 satellites in low-Earth orbits that will allow for much lower latencies than traditional satellite services. SpaceX has launched 540 Starlink satellites so far, with its next launch set to increase that number to about 600.

Amazon last week received US approval to launch 3,236 low-Earth orbit satellites for its similar "Project Kuiper" broadband service.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:

Ancient part of immune system may underpin severe COVID:

One of the immune system's oldest branches, called complement, may be influencing the severity of COVID disease, according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Among other findings linking complement to COVID, the researchers found that people with age-related macular degeneration -- a disorder caused by overactive complement -- are at greater risk of developing severe complications and dying from COVID.

The connection with complement suggests that existing drugs that inhibit the complement system could help treat patients with severe disease.

The study was published on Aug. 3 in Nature Medicine.

The authors also found evidence that clotting activity is linked to COVID severity and that mutations in certain complement and coagulation genes are associated with hospitalization of COVID patients.

"Together these results provide important insights into the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and paint a picture for the role of complement and coagulation pathways in determining clinical outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2," says Sagi Shapira, PhD, MPH, who led the study with Nicholas Tatonetti, PhD, both professors at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Journal Reference:
Vijendra Ramlall, Phyllis M. Thangaraj, Cem Meydan, et al. Immune complement and coagulation dysfunction in adverse outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection [open], Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-1021-2)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Malware writer pleads guilty to helping $568 million cybercrime ring:

Another key member of the massive Infraud cybercrime ring is likely heading to prison. Software writer Valerian Chiochiu has pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy for helping Infraud Organization develop and use FastPOS malware that helped the group steal massive amounts of data. Infraud is now believed to have stolen enough identities, payment cards and other sensitive data to produce $568 million in losses.

Chiochiu will be sentenced on December 11th. A co-founder and administrator of Infraud, Sergey Medvedev, pleaded guilty on June 26th.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Computer mouse co-inventor William English dies at 91:

One of the pioneers of the modern computer interface has passed away: the New York Times reports that William "Bill" English died on July 26th from respiratory failure at the age of 91. Alongside Douglas Englebart at the Stanford Research Institute, English helped develop the first computer mouse and put together a 1968 "Mother of All Demos" that outlined many concepts that would come to PCs over the decades, such as graphical user interfaces, online text editing, video calls and hypertext links.

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DannyB writes:

Evolution turned this fish into a 'penis with a heart.' Here's how.

When it comes to dating in the abyssal depths of the ocean, appearance doesn't matter much. That's fortunate for anglerfish, which resemble nightmarish fanged potatoes with a little reading lamp on top. And those are just the females.

If you've never seen a male anglerfish before, you're not missing much. Measuring just a few centimeters long on average, male anglers are a mere fraction of their partners' size, and contribute a fraction of the work to their relationships. For many anglerfish species, the male's sole responsibility is to permanently latch onto an obliging mate, fuse his circulatory system with hers, then slowly allow his eyes, fins and most of his internal organs to degenerate until he becomes what biologist Stephen Jay Gould called "a penis with a heart." The male gets constant nourishment; the female gets sperm on demand. The anglerfish circle of life spins on.

It's beautiful, we know. But this unique mating ritual — which biologists call "sexual parasitism" — has long stumped researchers. How could the female angler's immune system even allow such a permanent, parasitic union to occur?

It's a good thing humans are more evolved and don't have this style of courtship and lifetime commitment.

Journal Reference:
Jeremy B. Swann, Stephen J. Holland, Malte Petersen, et al. The immunogenetics of sexual parasitism [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz9445)

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takyon writes:

Firefox Browser Use Drops As Mozilla's Worst Microsoft Edge Fears Come True

Back in April, we reported that the Edge browser is quickly gaining market share now that Microsoft has transitioned from the EdgeHTML engine to the more widely used Chromium engine (which also underpins Google's Chrome browser). At the time, Edge slipped into the second-place slot for desktop web browsers, with a 7.59 percent share of the market. This dropped Mozilla's Firefox – which has long been the second-place browser behind Chrome – into third place.

Now, at the start of August, we're getting some fresh numbers in for the desktop browser market, and things aren't looking good for Mozilla. Microsoft increased its share of the browser market from 8.07 percent in June to 8.46 percent in July. Likewise, Firefox fell from 7.58 percent to 7.27 percent according to NetMarketShare.

[...] As for Mozilla, the company wasn't too happy when Microsoft first announced that it was going to use Chromium for Edge way back in December 2018. Mozilla's Chris Beard at the time accused Microsoft of "giving up" by abandoning EdgeHTML in favor of Chromium. "Microsoft's decision gives Google more ability to single-handedly decide what possibilities are available to each one of us," said Beard at the time. "We compete with Google because the health of the internet and online life depend on competition and choice."

[...] Microsoft developer Kenneth Auchenberg fought back the following January, writing, "Thought: It's time for Mozilla to get down from their philosophical ivory tower. The web is dominated by Chromium, if they really *cared* about the web they would be contributing instead of building a parallel universe that's used by less than 5 percent."

Is the browser monoculture inevitable or will Firefox hang in there?

Previously:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Mozilla Teases Chromium-Based Firefox, Then Pulls Back
Firefox Tops Microsoft Browser Market Share for First Time
Netmarketshare Claims Mozilla Firefox Usage Drops Below Ten Percent
Microsoft Intercepting Firefox, Chrome Installation on Windows 10 Insider Build
Microsoft Reportedly Building a Chromium-Based Web Browser to Replace Edge, and "Windows Lite" OS
Mozilla CEO Warns Microsoft's Switch to Chromium Will Give More Control of the Web to Google
Microsoft Employee Sparks Outrage by Suggesting Firefox Switch Browser Engine to Chromium
Mozilla Was "Outfoxed" by Google
Microsoft Edge Shares Privacy-Busting Telemetry, Research Alleges

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takyon writes:

Linux 5.8 Released With AMD Energy Driver, F2FS LZO-RLE, IBM POWER10 Booting

As for changes over the past week, there was also a security fix making it harder to guess the network RNG's internal state.

See our Linux 5.8 feature overview for all the exciting changes from an AMD Energy Driver for Zen/Zen2 CPUs to new F2FS compression capabilities, POWER10 CPUs starting to boot with the mainline kernel code, power management improvements, and much more. This is also the first major kernel release featuring the new inclusive terminology guidelines.

Linus Torvalds.

See also: Eight Great Features Of Linux 5.8
Linux 5.8 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V Architectures
Changes Expected For The Linux 5.9 Kernel From Intel DG1 To AMD Navi 2 To New CPU Capabilities
IO_uring Has Many Improvements Set To Go Into Linux 5.9

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Homeland Security Shuts Down 'Intelligence' Reports on Journalists:

The acting secretary of homeland security said on Friday that he had shut down an intelligence examination of the work of reporters covering the government's response to protests in Portland, Ore., beginning an investigation into what he suggested was an infringement on First Amendment rights.

[...] The acting secretary, Chad F. Wolf, "is committed to ensuring that all D.H.S. personnel uphold the principles of professionalism, impartiality and respect for civil rights and civil liberties, particularly as it relates to the exercise of First Amendment rights," said Alexei Woltornist, the department's spokesman.

The intelligence office issued three "open-source intelligence reports" in the past week that summarized the Twitter posts of a Times reporter and the editor in chief for the blog Lawfare, noting that they had published leaked unclassified documents.

Mr. Wolf ordered the intelligence arm to "immediately discontinue collecting information involving members of the press" once he found out about the practice, Mr. Woltornist said.

[...] "The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that its intelligence reporting system, designed to combat terrorism, has instead been misused to target journalists who were reporting on the controversial activities of federal law enforcement officers," she said in a statement. "It is imperative that D.H.S.'s investigation determines how this happened and ensures it does not happen again."

[...] "If you're allowed to do this, what else are you allowed to do? If you're allowed to keep tabs on and file reports about my social media," he added, "are you allowed to gather all the other public record material that exists about me and create a dossier?"

The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the agency's actions on Friday, saying they were part of a larger pattern.

"Under Wolf's leadership, D.H.S. was caught just last year unconstitutionally targeting and building dossiers on journalists reporting on conditions at the border," the group's senior legislative counsel, Neema Signh Guliani, said in a statement. "For weeks, D.H.S. agents have been deliberately and brutally attacking journalists covering the Portland protests. And documents show that D.H.S. intelligence arm appears to be claiming authority it does not have. This administration's assault on the First Amendment continues to escalate."

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Astra ready for first in a series of orbital launch attempts - SpaceNews:

Small launch vehicle developer Astra says it's ready for an orbital launch attempt as soon as Aug. 2, but warns that it's "pretty unlikely" that launch will actually achieve orbit.

Astra's Rocket 3.1 vehicle is in final preparations for a launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Kodiak Island. The company is targeting a launch on Aug. 2 during a two-hour window that opens at 10 p.m. Eastern, but executives said in a July 30 call with reporters that there's a 60% chance of unfavorable weather that day. The company has additional launch opportunities each day through Aug. 7.

The launch is the first in a series of three the company plans to carry out to demonstrate the rocket's ability to achieve orbit. This launch is primarily focused on testing the performance of the rocket's first stage.

"We don't intend to hit a hole-in-one here," said Chris Kemp, chief executive and co-founder of Astra. "We intend to accomplish enough to ensure that we're able to get to orbit after three flights, and for us that means a nominal first-stage burn and getting the upper stage to separate successfully."

If all goes well, the rocket's five first-stage engines will fire for 2 minutes and 20 seconds, followed by the payload fairing separation and stage separation. The second stage's single engine would then ignite for a burn lasting about seven minutes.

[...] Astra attempted to launch a version of this vehicle, called Rocket 3.0, in March from Kodiak as the final competitor in the DARPA Launch Challenge. However, on the final day of the competition the company scrubbed its launch attempt less than a minute before liftoff.

Also at Everyday Astronaut which notes unfavorable weather conditions. It also notes that the launch will not be carried live, but instead suggests following Astra's Twitter feed.

Previously:
Smallsat Launcher Astra Preparing Two Consecutive Orbital Launches for DARPA Challenge

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Apple Emails Reveal Internal Debate on Right to Repair - iFixit:

The emails show the high profile of Right to Repair inside Apple as leaders debate how to respond to a request for comment on an upcoming column. "The piece is using [Senator] Warren's new right to repair for agriculture to talk about the broader right to repair effort and plans to use Apple as a symbol in that fight. We're meeting with everyone shortly about the overall strategy and then I'll connect with [Greg 'Joz' Joswiak]." The email goes on, "Appelbaum has, of course, talked with iFixIt [sic] and others." They're right about that!

The conversation resulted in a set of talking points that Kaiann Drance, VP of Marketing, talked through with Appelbaum. Afterwards, Apple PR wrote, "Kaiann did a great job and emphasized the need for a thoughtful approach to repair policy because of how important it is to balance customer safety with access to more convenient repairs."

Apple was less convincing than they hoped. The editorial, carrying the weight of the Times' entire Editorial Board, came out forcefully in favor of Right to Repair. Of Apple specifically, the Times remarked, "The company is welcome to persuade people to patronize its own repair facilities, or to buy new iPhones. But there ought to be a law against forcing the issue."

See, also: Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act.

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