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Phoenix666 writes:

Cashierless stores are popping up at gas stations, stadiums and even Dunkin':

Pretty soon you might find Amazon Go-like concepts just about everywhere.

Mastercard on Friday said it's joining the effort to create more of these kinds of cashierless stores, unveiling a platform it calls Shop Anywhere. It teamed up with retail tech company Accel Robotics to create a handful of new test concepts that let customers check into a store, grab what they want and walk out.

[...] For instance, the team created a new self-service Dunkin' store that allows people to check in at a kiosk, get doughnuts and coffee, and leave without stopping at a cashier. The store will be staffed with workers to restock items and provide customer service, but there won't be a register.

[...] The payment network pitched these concepts as more flexible than Amazon Go, with Shop Anywhere capable of going into all kinds of locations and being retrofitted into existing stores -- something Amazon Go hasn't yet done. Both Shop Anywhere and Amazon Go are powered by a series of cameras that are kitted with computer vision and AI.

Customers will no longer have to interact with proprietors or employees.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Elon Musk to show off working brain-hacking device:

Elon Musk is due to demonstrate a working brain-to-machine interface as part of his ambitious plans to give people superhuman powers.

His brain-hacking company, Neuralink, applied to start human trials last year.

But Friday's demonstration will involve a robot and "neurons firing in real time", a series of tweets reveals.

The interface could allow people with neurological conditions to control phones or computers with their mind.

But the long-term ambition is to usher in an age of what Mr Musk calls "superhuman cognition".

People need to merge with artificial intelligence, he says, in part to avoid a scenario where AI becomes so powerful it destroys the human race.

[...] The device the company is developing consists of a tiny probe containing more than 3,000 electrodes attached to flexible threads thinner than a human hair, which can monitor the activity of 1,000 brain neurons.

The company has been working with monkey brains to its realize brain/computer interface.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Structural colors are a way to colorize a material without using a dye. Instead, the transparent material generates color through the regular arrangement of its molecules or other elements, as seen, for instance, in the ripples in the scales of colorful fish and butterflies, or in nanocrystals arranged at certain distances, as in the color-changing skin of chameleons.

Manos Anyfantakis and colleagues at the University of Luxembourg have identified a means to control the pitch, the distance of a full helical turn in a polymer, as a structural element on which reflection might occur and structural colors appear. Scientists can prepare liquid crystalline phases of biopolymers with pitches generating structural colors—called cholesteric phases—but these preparations depend on many parameters and need a long time to reach equilibrium.

Now, Anyfantakis and colleagues have discovered a faster and better controllable method, using liquid marbles as a platform for the controlled self-assembly of biopolymer-based structural colors. Liquid marbles are millimeter-sized droplets of liquid crystalline solutions, which are coated with nanoparticles. The coating protects the liquid from mixing with the outside fluid, but still allows for some interaction, dependent on the nature of both liquids.

The technique is expected to find application in bio-based sensors and photonics.

Journal Reference:
Manos Anyfantakis, Venkata S. R. Jampani, Rijeesh Kizhakidathazhath, et al. Responsive Photonic Liquid Marbles [$], Angewandte Chemie International Edition (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202008210)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

One Database to Rule Them All: The Invisible Content Cartel that Undermines the Freedom of Expression Online:

Every year, millions of images, videos and posts that allegedly contain terrorist or violent extremist content are removed from social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. A key force behind these takedowns is the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), an industry-led initiative that seeks to "prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms."

[...] Hashes are digital "fingerprints" of content that companies use to identify and remove content from their platforms. They are essentially unique, and allow for easy identification of specific content. When an image is identified as "terrorist content," it is tagged with a hash and entered into a database, allowing any future uploads of the same image to be easily identified.

This is exactly what the GIFCT initiative aims to do: Share a massive database of alleged 'terrorist' content, contributed voluntarily by companies, amongst members of its coalition. The database collects 'hashes', or unique fingerprints, of alleged 'terrorist', or extremist and violent content, rather than the content itself. GIFCT members can then use the database to check in real time whether content that users want to upload matches material in the database. While that sounds like an efficient approach to the challenging task of correctly identifying and taking down terrorist content, it also means that one single database might be used to determine what is permissible speech, and what is taken down—across the entire Internet.

Countless examples have proven that it is very difficult for human reviewers—and impossible for algorithms—to consistently get the nuances of activism, counter-speech, and extremist content itself right. The result is that many instances of legitimate speech are falsely categorized as terrorist content and removed from social media platforms. Due to the proliferation of the GIFCT database, any mistaken classification of a video, picture or post as 'terrorist' content echoes across social media platforms, undermining users' right to free expression on several platforms at once. And that, in turn, can have catastrophic effects on the Internet as a space for memory and documentation.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Cosmic rays may soon stymie quantum computing: Building quantum computers underground or designing radiation-proof qubits may be needed, researchers find.:

[...] The team, working with collaborators at Lincoln Laboratory and PNNL [(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)], first had to design an experiment to calibrate the impact of known levels of radiation on superconducting qubit performance. To do this, they needed a known radioactive source -- one which became less radioactive slowly enough to assess the impact at essentially constant radiation levels, yet quickly enough to assess a range of radiation levels within a few weeks, down to the level of background radiation.

The group chose to irradiate a foil of high purity copper. When exposed to a high flux of neutrons, copper produces copious amounts of copper-64, an unstable isotope with exactly the desired properties.

"Copper just absorbs neutrons like a sponge," says [MIT physics professor Joseph] Formaggio, who worked with operators at MIT's Nuclear Reactor Laboratory to irradiate two small disks of copper for several minutes. They then placed one of the disks next to the superconducting qubits in a dilution refrigerator in [William] Oliver [associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and Lincoln Laboratory Fellow at MIT]'s lab on campus. At temperatures about 200 times colder than outer space, they measured the impact of the copper's radioactivity on qubits' coherence while the radioactivity decreased -- down toward environmental background levels.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine calls for elimination of daylight saving time:

The AASM supports a switch to permanent standard time, explaining in the statement that standard time more closely aligns with the daily rhythms of the body's internal clock. The position statement also cites evidence of increased risks of motor vehicle accidents, cardiovascular events, and mood disturbances following the annual "spring forward" to daylight saving time.

"Permanent, year-round standard time is the best choice to most closely match our circadian sleep-wake cycle," said lead author Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, a pulmonology, sleep medicine and critical care specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and vice chair of the AASM Public Safety Committee. "Daylight saving time results in more darkness in the morning and more light in the evening, disrupting the body's natural rhythm."

[...] "There is ample evidence of the negative, short-term consequences of the annual change to daylight saving time in the spring," said AASM President Dr. Kannan Ramar. "Because the adoption of permanent standard time would be beneficial for public health and safety, the AASM will be advocating at the federal level for this legislative change."

Journal Reference:
Muhammad Adeel Rishi, MD, et. al. Daylight saving time: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.8780)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

Researchers identify mechanism underlying cancer cells' immune evasion:

Researchers in China have discovered how brain cancer cells increase production of a key protein that allows them to evade the body's immune system. The study, which will be published August 27 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that targeting this cellular pathway could help treat the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma, as well as other cancers that are resistant to current forms of immunotherapy.

[...] In the new study, Lyu and colleagues, including co-senior author Zhimin Lu from Zhejiang University School of Medicine, identified two cell-signaling pathways that drive the production of PD-L1 in glioblastoma cells. These two pathways, known as Wnt signaling and EGF signaling, stabilize a protein called β-catenin, allowing it to enter the cell nucleus and activate the gene encoding PD-L1.

[...] The researchers found that glioblastoma patients with mutations activating this signaling pathway show increased levels of PD-L1 and reduced numbers of T cells within their brain tumors. "Our data demonstrates that EGF and Wnt signaling, which is often active in a wide variety of cancers, induce the upregulation of PD-L1," says Lyu. "Our results therefore provide a molecular basis for improving the clinical response rate and efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy in cancer patients."

Journal Reference:
Du, Linyong, Lee, Jong-Ho, Jiang, Hongfei, et al. β-Catenin induces transcriptional expression of PD-L1 to promote glioblastoma immune evasion, Journal of Experimental Medicine (DOI: 10.1084/jem.20191115)

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

LG's battery-powered face mask will "make breathing effortless":

Big Tech is here to save us from COVID-19! With every responsible, compassionate person running around with a mask on nowadays, it seems inevitable that the phrase "wearable technology" will soon regularly include overly complicated high-tech face masks. One of the first major tech companies out of the gate with a questionably useful product is LG. The "LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier" is a battery-powered face mask that the company says will "supply fresh, clean air indoors and out."

[...] A HEPA filter can stop respiratory particles (so does a normal N95 mask), but LG's press release only says the mask will "take in clean, filtered air"—it doesn't say anything about filtering exhalations.

The mask is out it[sic] the fourth quarter in "select markets," but you should probably just wear a normal, lighter, cheaper, more comfortable mask. Please wear a mask.

Call me crazy, but I don't want lithium batteries that close to my face.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/08/facebook-has-begun-ghosting-the-oculus-moniker-in-its-vr-division/

Our "Facebookening of Oculus" series continues today with the announcement of the Facebook Connect conference as a free, live-streamed event on September 16. You may remember years of "Oculus Connect" conferences, which focused on the company's efforts in virtual reality and other "mixed reality" mediums. That conference is dead. It's Facebook Connect now.

[...] What's more, Facebook used the Tuesday announcement as an opportunity to rename its entire Oculus VR division: Facebook Reality Labs. That name may sound familiar, since it was given to a number of skunkworks teams working on experimental VR-like features and hardware (including years of focus on 3D spatial audio at its Seattle-area office).

Facebook isn't shy about explaining why it is renaming everything: to collate and combine its disparate entities in order to "build the next computing platform to help people feel more present with each other, even when we're apart." That sure sounds like a bold admission of the so-called "Facebook operating system" that I keep hearing rumors about, with VR, mixed reality, and smartphone cameras at its core. Facebook has spent months hinting at mixed computing systems being combined in the workplace, which the company has conveniently summarized in a new Facebook Reality Labs post from today.

Previously:
Oculus to Begin Requiring Facebook Accounts to Use VR Headsets

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Scientists develop topological barcodes for folded molecules:

The team of Alireza Mashaghi at the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research has found a way to determine and classify the shape of proteins. Their new theory defines the topology of proteins as a simple and precise barcode that allows the identification of all types of folds. This barcode enables among others more profound research into diseases caused by misfolding proteins, such as neuromuscular diseases and some sorts of cancer.

[...] "We are all familiar with tying a rope into a knot," says Mashaghi. "Just like that, molecular chains in our cells are folded into proteins and genes. Our goal was to find a way to describe these knots in a mathematical way, to describe the topology (see text box below) of proteins." About half a century ago, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, predicted that one day it would become clear that this topology of biological molecules is as important in determining the physiological properties as the chemical structure of molecules. He also predicted that this insight would lead to great advances in biology and medicine.

The creators hope their taxonomy for the topology of proteins will aid research.

Journal Reference:
Anatoly Golovnev et al. Generalized circuit topology of folded linear chains, iScience (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101492

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

iOS 14 privacy settings will tank ad targeting business, Facebook warns:

Facebook is warning developers that privacy changes in an upcoming iOS update will severely curtail its ability to track users' activity across the entire Internet and app ecosystem and prevent the social media platform from serving targeted ads to users inside other, non-Facebook apps on iPhones.

The next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 14, is expected to hit an iPhone near you this fall. Along with its many new consumer-facing features, iOS 14 requires app developers to notify users if their app collects a unique device code, known as an IDFA (ID for Advertisers).

[...] The changes requiring users to opt in make the IDFA essentially useless, Facebook warned developers today. Facebook apps on iOS 14—which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and a host of others—will no longer collect users' IDFA.

When I read that, I had an inexplicable grin come to my face.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Software engineer, Debian developer, and recognized Free/Open Source Software innovator Daniel Pocock scratches the surface on the 2016 explusion of journalist, security researcher, and hacker Jacob Appelbaum from Debian. He asserts that the leadership in Debian at the time falsified evidence and hid conflicts of interest when dealing with the allegations against Appelbaum.

In 2016, there was an enormous amount of noise about Jacob Appelbaum from the Tor Project and winner of the Henri Nannen Prize for journalism.

An anonymous web site had been set up with allegations of harassment, abuse and rape. Unlike the #MeToo movement, which came later, nobody identified themselves and nobody filed a police complaint. It appears that the site was run by people who live in another country and have no daily contact with Appelbaum. Therefore, many people feel this wasn't about justice or immediate threats to their safety.

Long discussions took place in the private mailing lists of many free software communities, including Debian. Personally, as a I focus on my employer, clients and family and as there are so many long email discussions in Debian, I don't follow most of these things. I've come to regret that as it is now clear that at least some claims may have been falsified, a serious injustice has transpired and this could have been easily detected.

I don't wish to discount the experiences of anybody who has been a victim of a crime. However, in the correspondence that was circulated within Debian, the only person who has technically been harassed is Jacob Appelbaum himself. If Appelbaum does have a case to answer then organizations muddying the waters, inventing additional victims, may undermine the stories of real victims.

He then goes on to provide supporting evidence — including what was falsified and how the falsifications were used by the press — and then, from there, used against Appelbaum.

Previously:
(2016) Jacob Appelbaum Leaves the Tor Project
(2014) Hackers Replicate NSA's Leaked Bugging Devices

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Majority of groundwater stores resilient to climate change:

Fewer of the world's large aquifers are depleting than previously estimated, according to a new study by the University of Sussex and UCL.

[...] Previous global studies of changes in groundwater storage, estimated using data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission and global models, have concluded that intensifying human water withdrawals in the majority of the world's large aquifer systems are causing a sustained reduction in groundwater storage, depleting groundwater resources.

Yet this new study, published in Earth System Dynamics, reveals that depletion is not as widespread as reported, and that replenishment of groundwater storage depends upon extreme rainfall that is increasing under global climate change.

Aquifer depletion is occurring only in 5 localities.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

School run: Cutting car use will take much more than educating children and parents:

As the summer holidays come to an end and children return to school following lockdown, there couldn't be a better time for us to consider the school commute. Nowadays, many children in the UK commute to school by car. But getting more parents to ditch the car for school journeys and switch to more active modes of travel, such as walking or cycling, is of great public health importance.

[...] As cities have expanded under suburban sprawl, commuting distances to school have increased. They are longer now than they have ever been before. This is another reason more children travel to school by car now than they used to. Less than half of all children in England attend their most local school.

An education policy that lets parents choose their child's school compounds the issue of suburban sprawl. Those parents that are able to exercise choice do so, and in some cases travel great distances so that their child attends the best-performing school. Once school choice has been decided, so too has children's mode of travel to school. Longer school commutes equals more car travel.

[...] Tackling the real causes of car dependency on the school commute would benefit children, society and the environment. It would solve several public health challenges.

If all children attended their local school, fewer children would travel by car, and because of this, fewer children would be injured on the roads. There would be less noise pollution and less air pollution, which would reduce children's risk of developing respiratory conditions. We would see more people speaking to each other on our streets because of the increase in footfall, and there would be an improved sense of safety because there would be more "eyes on the street."

Will eliminating school choice for children make them healthier?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

World's biggest rooftop greenhouse opens in Montreal:

Building on a new hanging garden trend, a greenhouse [built] atop a Montreal warehouse growing eggplants and tomatoes to meet demand for locally sourced foods has set a record as the largest in the world.

It's not an obvious choice of location to cultivate organic vegetables—in the heart of Canada's second-largest city—but Lufa Farms on Wednesday inaugurates the facility that spans 160,000 square feet (15,000 square meters), or about the size of three football fields.

[...] It is the fourth rooftop greenhouse the company has erected in the city. The first, built in 2011 at a cost of more than Can$2 million (US$1.5 million), broke new ground.

Since then, competitors picked up and ran with the novel idea, including American Gotham Greens, which constructed eight greenhouses on roofs in New York, Chicago and Denver, and French Urban Nature, which is planning one in Paris in 2022.

A local Montreal supermarket has also offered since 2017 an assortment of vegetables grown on its roof, which was "greened" in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

The company estimates its rooftop gardens can feed 2% of Montreal's population now.

Original Submission