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Fnord666 writes:

Why there is no speed limit in the superfluid universe:

Helium-3 is a rare isotope of helium, in which one neutron is missing. It becomes superfluid at extremely low temperatures, enabling unusual properties such as a lack of friction for moving objects.

It was thought that the speed of objects moving through superfluid helium-3 was fundamentally limited to the critical Landau velocity, and that exceeding this speed limit would destroy the superfluid. Prior experiments in Lancaster have found that it is not a strict rule and objects can move at much greater speeds without destroying the fragile superfluid state.

Now scientists from Lancaster University have found the reason for the absence of the speed limit: exotic particles that stick to all surfaces in the superfluid.

The discovery may guide applications in quantum technology, even quantum computing, where multiple research groups already aim to make use of these unusual particles.

Journal Reference:
S. Autti, S. L. Ahlstrom, R. P. Haley, et al. Fundamental dissipation due to bound fermions in the zero-temperature limit [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18499-1)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

QR code use grows in popularity but poses hidden risks:

The use of QR codes has risen during the pandemic as they offer a perfect solution to contactless interaction. But many employees are also using their mobile devices to scan QR codes for personal use, putting themselves and enterprise resources at risk.

A new study from security platform MobileIron shows that 84 percent of people have scanned a QR code before, with 32 percent having done so in the past week and 26 percent in the past month.

In the last six months, 38 percent of respondents say they have scanned a QR code at a restaurant, bar or café, 37 percent at a retailer and 32 percent on a consumer product. It's clear that codes are popular and 53 percent of respondents want to see them used more broadly in the future. 43 percent plan to use a QR code as a payment method in the near future and 40 percent of people would be willing to vote using a QR code received in the mail, if it was an option.

However, QR codes are a tempting attack route for hackers too as the mobile user interface prompts users to take immediate actions, while limiting the amount of information available before, for example, visiting a website.

Have any Soylentils done anything interesting with QR codes?

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

TI And Cadence Make PSpice Free:

We like simulation software. Texas Instruments long offered TINA, but recently they've joined with Cadence to make OrCAD PSpice available for free with some restrictions. You've probably heard of PSpice — it's widely used in academia and industry, but is usually quite costly.

[...] The program requires registration and an approval step to get a license key. The downloaded program has TI models along with other standard models. There seem to be few limits as long as you stick to the supplied library. According to the datasheet, there are no size or simulation complexity limitations in that case. If you want to use other models, you can, but that's where the limitations hit you:

Are there any Soylentils who have experience using PSpice? Is there some other similar product which is better?

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

A 48,000 years old tooth that belonged to one of the last Neanderthals in Northern Italy:

A milk-tooth found in the vicinity of "Riparo del Broion" on the Berici Hills in the Veneto region bears evidence of one of the last Neanderthals in Italy. This small canine tooth belonged to a child between 11 and 12 that had lived in that area around 48,000 years ago. This is the most recent Neanderthal finding in Northern Italy.

[...] The genetic analysis reveals that the owner of the tooth found in Veneto was a relative, on their mother's side, of Neanderthals that had lived in Belgium. This makes this site in Veneto a key-area for comprehending the gradual extinction of Neanderthals in Europe.

"This small tooth is extremely important", according to Stefano Benazzi, professor at the University of Bologna and research coordinator. "This is even more relevant if we consider that, when this child who lived in Veneto lost their tooth, Homo Sapiens communities were already present a thousand kilometres away in Bulgaria".

[...] "The techniques we employed to analyse the tooth led to the following discovery: this is an upper canine milk-tooth that belonged to a Neanderthal child, aged 11 or 12, that lived between 48,000 and 45,000 years ago", as report Gregorio Oxilia and Eugenio Bortolini, who are co-authors of the study and researchers at the University of Bologna. "According to this dating, this little milk-tooth is the most recent finding of the Neanderthal period in Northern Italy and one of the latest in the entire peninsula".

Journal Reference:
Matteo Romandini, Gregorio Oxilia, Eugenio Bortolini, et al. A late Neanderthal tooth from northeastern Italy, Journal of Human Evolution (DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102867)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Here are the winners of the 2020 Ig Nobel Prizes to make you laugh, then think:

Ah, science, tirelessly striving to answer such burning questions as what alligators sound like when they breathe in helium-enriched air and whether knives fashioned out of frozen feces constitute a viable cutting tool. These and other unusual research topics were honored tonight in a virtual ceremony—thanks to the ongoing pandemic—to announce the 2020 recipients of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes. You can watch the livestream of the awards ceremony above.

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes that honors "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The unapologetically campy award ceremony usually features mini-operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds, and the second in just seven words. Acceptance speeches are limited to 60 seconds. And as the motto implies, the research being honored might seem ridiculous at first glance, but that doesn't mean it is devoid of scientific merit. Traditionally, the winners also give public talks in Boston the day after the awards ceremony; this year, the talks will be given as webcasts a few weeks from now.

The winners receive eternal Ig Nobel fame and a 10-trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe. It's a long-running Ig Nobel gag. Zimbabwe stopped using its native currency in 2009 because of skyrocketing inflation and hyperinflation; at its nadir, the 100-trillion dollar bill was roughly the equivalent of 40 cents US. (Last year, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the "zollar" as a potential replacement.) The 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for Mathematics was awarded to the then-head of the RBZ, Gideon Gono, "for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers—from very small to very big—by having his bank print bank notes with denominations ranging from one cent ($.01) to one hundred trillion dollars ($100,000,000,000,000)."

The 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

New high-speed test shows how antibiotics combine to kill bacteria:

Combinations of antimicrobial agents are invariably prescribed for certain infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. Bacterial infections that are not readily treatable, such as those affecting cardiac valves and prostheses, and lung infections in cystic fibrosis, are also usually subjected to a combination of antibiotics. The effect sought, "synergism", means that the joint action of the combined agents is more effective than could in fact have been expected, based on the efficacy of the separate agents. In contrast, the opposite phenomenon—that is, two antibiotics counteracting each other's effects ("antagonism")—is undesirable. However, knowing what the combined effect will be is not always easy.

With the newly developed method known as CombiANT (combinations of antibiotics), interactions between various antibiotics can be tested on agar plates and results obtained in 24 hours. The lead author of the study, Nikos Fatsis-Kavalopoulos, developed the method at Uppsala University. It is based on creating a "concentration gradient" of antibiotics that have been cast into an agar plate, using a 3-D-printed plastic disc.

On the agar plate, bacteria that have been isolated from an individual patient are then cultured to see how they react to different combinations of antibiotics.

Journal Reference:
Nikos Fatsis-Kavalopoulos, Roderich Roemhild, Po-Cheng Tang, et al. CombiANT: Antibiotic interaction testing made easy, PLOS Biology (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000856)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Bp Says We'Ve Already Reached Peak Oil:

BP is saying the quiet part loud: In the 2020 Energy Outlook report the energy giant published this week, it said that the world may have reached peak oil.

The covid-19 pandemic has done a serious number on the oil industry, with demand falling to historic lows amid lockdowns and prices falling into negative territory. In a report on Tuesday, the International Energy Agency warned that for the oil industry, the "path ahead is treacherous," reducing its forecast for global oil demand in 2020 by 200,000 barrels per day. And on Monday, OPEC lowered its predictions of demand in 2020 by 400,000 barrels per day.

In BP's new report, analysts said the market may never recover from this damage. The authors lay out three possible scenarios for the world's energy usage between now and 2050, which illustrate a rapid, moderate, and slow transition to renewables. The first two scenarios show demand for oil steeply falling over the next three decades. But even under the firm's most "optimistic" scenario for Big Oil where climate action doesn't accelerate, oil demand will plateau at 2019 levels before declining in 2035.

This is a vastly different picture from the one the firm sketched in its last outlook report just one year ago, which predicted oil consumption would continue to grow over the next decade, peaking sometime in the 2030s.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:

IBM promises 1000-qubit quantum computer:

Today, IBM made its aspirations more concrete by publicly announcing a "road map" for the development of its quantum computers, including the ambitious goal of building one containing 1000 qubits by 2023. IBM's current largest quantum computer, revealed this month, contains 65 qubits.

[...] The plan includes building intermediate-size machines of 127 and 433 qubits in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and envisions following up with a million-qubit machine at some unspecified date. Dario Gil, IBM's director of research, says he is confident his team can keep to the schedule. "A road map is more than a plan and a PowerPoint presentation," he says. "It's execution."

[...] IBM's declared timeline comes with an obvious risk that everyone will know if it misses its milestones. But the company decided to reveal its plans so that its clients and collaborators would know what to expect. Dozens of quantum-computing startup companies use IBM's current machines to develop their own software products, and knowing IBM's milestones should help developers better tailor their efforts to the hardware, Gil says.

[...] A 1000-qubit machine is a particularly important milestone in the development of a full-fledged quantum computer, researchers say. Such a machine would still be 1000 times too small to fulfill quantum computing's full potential—such as breaking current internet encryption schemes—but it would big enough to spot and correct the myriad errors that ordinarily plague the finicky quantum bits.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Highly efficient perovskite solar cells with enhanced stability and minimised lead leakage:

While the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PVSCs)—a future of solar cells—has already greatly improved in the past decade, the problems of instability and potential environmental impact are yet to be overcome. Recently, scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have developed a novel method which can simultaneously tackle the leakage of lead from PVSCs and the stability issue without compromising efficiency, paving the way for real-life application of perovskite photovoltaic technology.

The research team is co-led by Professor Alex Jen Kwan-yue, CityU's Provost and Chair Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science, together with Professor Xu Zhengtao and Dr. Zhu Zonglong from the Department of Chemistry.

[...] Currently, the highest power conversion efficiency of PVSCs has been on par with the state-of-the-art silicon-based solar cells. However, the perovskites used contain lead component which raises a concern for potential environmental contamination. "As the solar cell ages, the lead species can leak through the devices, e.g. through rainwater into the soil, posing a toxicity threat to the environment," explained Professor Jen who is an expert in PVSCs. "To put PVSCs into large-scale commercial uses, it requires not only high power conversion efficiency but also long-term device stability and minimized environmental impact."

Collaborating with Professor Xu whose expertise is materials synthesis, Professor Jen and Dr. Zhu led the team to overcome the above challenges by applying two-dimensional (2-D) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to PVSCs.

Journal Reference:
Shengfan Wu, Zhen Li, Mu-Qing Li, et al. 2D metal–organic framework for stable perovskite solar cells with minimized lead leakage, Nature Nanotechnology (DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-0765-7)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Rio Tinto expected to destroy 124 more Aboriginal sites:

[...] Mining giant Rio Tinto is feared to be pressing ahead with plans to destroy 124 Aboriginal heritage sites at an iron-ore development in Australia – despite the outcry over its destruction of sacred 46,000-year-old caves earlier this year.

Among the threatened sites in the mountainous region of Pilbara in Western Australia are rock shelters containing Aboriginal paintings, Stonehenge-like arrangements, and built structures that are believed to be of potential archaeological value.

[...] "Rio have stated in various forms that they will consider reviewing the agreement [but] we don't have a formal commitment," Grant Bussell, the Yinhawangka Aboriginal Corporation's chief executive, told a public inquiry led by the Australian parliament into the destruction of Juukan Gorge.

Rio Tinto, the second largest metals and mining company in the world, received widespread criticism for its treatment of the site, which led to the resignation of its CEO, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, and his two deputies earlier this month.

"We have 327 heritage sites and 124 will be destroyed by the Western Ranges expansion project by Rio Tinto," [archaeologist Anna] Fagan told the inquiry.

Previously:
Mining Co. Says First Autonomous Freight Train Network Fully Operational
Autonomous Train Completes First Journey Across Australian Outback
Mining 24 Hours a Day with Robots

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Senate's encryption backdoor bill is 'dangerous for Americans,' says Rep. Lofgren – TechCrunch:

A Senate bill that would compel tech companies to build backdoors to allow law enforcement access to encrypted devices and data would be "very dangerous" for Americans, said a leading House Democrat.

[...] Senate Republicans in June introduced their latest "lawful access" bill, renewing previous efforts to force tech companies to allow law enforcement access to a user's data when presented with a court order.

"It's dangerous for Americans, because it will be hacked, it will be utilized, and there's no way to make it secure," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, whose congressional seat covers much of Silicon Valley, told TechCrunch at Disrupt 2020. "If we eliminate encryption, we're just opening ourselves up to massive hacking and disruption," she said.

[...] "You cannot eliminate encryption safely," Lofgren told TechCrunch. "And if you do, you will create chaos in the country and for Americans, not to mention others around the world," she said. "It's just an unsafe thing to do, and we can't permit it."

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takyon writes:

Microsoft purchases Bethesda Softworks in industry-changing acquisition

Major game franchises like Doom, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and more will soon be Microsoft properties. That's because the Xbox and Windows maker announced Monday morning it is buying the corporate parent of Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax Media.

"Like us, Bethesda are passionate believers in building a diverse array of creative experiences, in exploring new game franchises, and in telling stories in bold ways," Microsoft wrote in its announcement. "All of their great work will of course continue and grow and we look forward to empowering them with the resources and support of Microsoft to scale their creative visions to more players in new ways for you."

Also at Wccftech.

See also: Microsoft's ZeniMax Media Acquisition Was A "Surprisingly Low Price," Claims Analyst

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Sweden: man goes on trial for 2004 murder after DNA matched to genealogy site:

A 37-year-old Swedish man has gone on trial for double murder after two killings that went unsolved for more than 15 years until police matched his DNA on a popular genealogy website.

Daniel Nyqvist, who confessed to the crime shortly after his arrest last June, has been charged with the 2004 murder of a 56-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy.

The two victims – who were unrelated – were stabbed in a random act in the quiet southern Swedish town of Linkoping [sic Linköping].

The crime shocked the nation, with investigators unable to come up with either a perpetrator or a motive, despite finding the suspect’s DNA at the scene, the weapon that was used, a bloody cap and witness descriptions of a young man with blond hair.

Police even called upon the FBI for help, but to no avail. Over the years, the case file grew to become the second biggest in Sweden’s history, after that of the 1986 murder of former prime minister Olof Palme.

The case was finally cracked when new legislation in January 2019 allowed police to search for matches to suspects’ DNA on commercial genealogy websites, which are popular among Swedes seeking long-lost relatives.

[...] “We received a match almost immediately. And several months later, the suspect could be arrested. His DNA was taken and matched 100%,” police said in a statement the day after his arrest.

How much might other repositories uncover, and are any fundamental freedoms violated by so trawling?

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upstart brings us the IRC submission:

Dismay as huge chunk of Greenland's ice cap breaks off:

An enormous chunk of Greenland's ice cap has broken off in the far northeastern Arctic, a development that scientists say is evidence of rapid climate change.

The glacier section that broke off is 110 square kilometers (42.3 square miles). It came off of the fjord called Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, which is roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide, the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said Monday.

[...] Annual end-of-melt-season changes for the Arctic's largest ice shelf in Northeast Greenland are measured by optical satellite imagery, the survey known as GEUS said. It shows that the area's ice losses for the past two years each exceeded 50 square kilometers (19 square miles).

[...] "What is thought-provoking is that if we ... had seen this meltdown 30 years ago, we would have called it extreme. So in recent years, we have become accustomed to a high meltdown."

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takyon writes:

Traders set to don virtual reality headsets in their home offices

Spare bedrooms and living rooms could soon become part of vibrant trading floors as one of the world's biggest investment banks considers providing staff with augmented reality headsets.

UBS has experimented with issuing its London-based traders with Microsoft HoloLenses, which would allow staff to recreate the experience of working in a packed trading floor without leaving their homes.

Banks have been desperate to bring workers back to the office, especially for regulatory-sensitive roles such as trading, but surges in coronavirus infection rates have meant many staff are wary about using public transport.

"If people really can't come to the office, can we create a virtual presence?" Beatriz Martin, UBS UK chief executive, told the Financial Times. "We are thinking about experimenting with the tools that are out there."

UBS has set up a working group focused on "reimagining the trading floor," which has also considered setting up screens on traders' desks with camera feeds from their co-workers to encourage collaboration.

The only reality is virtual. If you're not jacked in, you're not alive.

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