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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Scintillating discovery: these distant 'baby' black holes seem to be misbehaving — and experts are perplexed:

Radio images of the sky have revealed hundreds of "baby" and supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, with the galaxies' light bouncing around in unexpected ways.

[...] Astronomers have long questioned why some radio galaxies host enormous lobes, while others remain small and confined. Two theories exist. One is that the jets are held back by dense material around the black hole, often referred to as frustrated lobes.

[...] The second theory to explain smaller lobes is the jets are young and have not yet extended to great distances.

[...] From the data, baby radio galaxies appear blue, which means they're brighter at higher radio frequencies. Meanwhile the old and dying radio galaxies appear red and are brighter in the lower radio frequencies.

We identified 554 baby radio galaxies. When we looked at identical data taken a year later, we were surprised to see 123 of these were bouncing around in their brightness, appearing to flicker. This left us with a puzzle.

Something more than one light year in size can't vary so much in brightness over less than one year without breaking the laws of physics. So, either our galaxies were far smaller than expected, or something else was happening.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Vale reaches $7bn settlement over deadly dam collapse in Brazil:

Vale SA reached a settlement agreement with Brazilian authorities for a dam collapse that killed 270 people and led to production cutbacks that stripped the company of the title of world's biggest iron ore producer. Its shares rose.

The deal comes two years after the Brumadinho disaster, giving affected communities a clear framework for compensation and reparations and removing a considerable legal overhang for Vale shareholders.

Vale will pay 37.7 billion reais ($7.03 billion) including cash payments to affected people and investments in environmental projects, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a statement. Vale estimates it will book an additional expense of 19.8 billion reais in 2020 results.

[...] The two sides come together after Vale initially presented a value of about 21 billion reais, while the state of Minas Gerais outlined 28 billion reais in material damages plus 26 billion reais in moral damages.

[...] With Vale benefiting from high iron ore prices, the Brumadinho settlement isn't expected to jeopardize any of its investment plans, according to Ativa Investimentos. Iron ore futures climbed 73% last year on strong Chinese demand.

Vale shares extended gains on the back of the news after trading was halted for more than half an hour in Sao Paulo. The stock was up 2.1% at 10:57 a.m. local time compared with a 0.6% advance for the Ibovespa.

Previously: Brazil Dam Collapse: Hundreds Missing after Mining Disaster

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Apple may finally fix its flimsy iPhone charger cables:

Every iPhone user likely has had one Lighting cable fray [on] them. It's been an annoying issue, and one that's driven third-party sellers to create braided cables that can withstand more abuse.

It seems that Apple is at the very least researching ways to make its cables more resilient. According to a patent filing first noticed by AppleInsider, Apple has been working on a "cable with variable stiffness" that gets thicker toward the ports.

Lightning cables are known for having thick connector points. It's what Apple internally refers to as the strain relief sleeve. While the ends of Apple cables are meant to keep the cable from fraying, often those areas become pressure and kink points. Apple acknowledged as much in its patent filing.

"In addition to making the cable locally stiffer, the strain relief sleeve also makes the cable thicker at the ends. In some instances, the added thickness may not be desired," the patent filing reads.

To get around this, Apple is essentially designing a cable that has denser material toward the ends that tapers off. [...]

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

IBM unveiled on Wednesday improvements to quantum computing software that it expects will increase performance of its complex machines by a factor of 100, a development that builds on Big Blue's progress in making the advanced computing hardware.

In a road map, the computing giant targeted the release of quantum computing applications over the next two years that will tackle challenges such as artificial intelligence and complex financial calculations. And it's opening up lower level programming access that it expects will lead to a better foundation for those applications.

Much of the software will be written using open-source technology that outsiders can contribute to and benefit from, IBM said in a statement, adding the improvements will "lead to a 100x speedup."

[...] IBM's quantum computing road map encompasses hardware and software improvements.

In coming years, IBM expects to add application modules and services to make those chores easier to tackle. At the lower level, it'll offer steady improvements in circuit technology through 2026.

Previously:
IBM Promises 1000-Qubit Quantum Computer

Original Submission

hendrikboom writes:

South African Government Releases Its Own Browser Just To Re-Enable Flash Support | Zdnet:

For some people, it's apparently easier to manage your own browser than port some web forms from Flash to HTML.

The South African Revenue Service [(SARS)] has released this week its own custom web browser for the sole purpose of re-enabling Adobe Flash Player support, rather than port its existing website from using Flash to HTML-based web forms.

Flash Player reached its official end of life (EOL) on Dec. 31, 2020, when Adobe officially stopped supporting the software.

To prevent the app from continuing to be used in the real-world to the detriment of users and their security, Adobe also began blocking Flash content from playing inside the app starting January 12, with the help of a time-bomb mechanism.

As Adobe hoped, this last step worked as intended and prevented companies from continuing using the software, forcing many to update systems and remove the app.

As SARS tweeted on January 12, the agency was impacted by the time-bomb mechanism, and starting that day, the agency was unable to receive any tax filings via its web portal, where the upload forms were designed as Flash widgets.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Novel Molecules Discovered to Combat Asthma and COVID-Related Lung Diseases:

A study designed to study how the immune system impacts gut bacteria — has led to the extraordinary discovery of two molecules that can not only provide profound protection in experimental models of asthma but can also substantially reduce the severity of an attack.

Neither of these molecules, one of which is already commercially available as a dietary supplement, were previously known to have an effect on asthma — and they also appear, from animal studies, to have a role in treating the respiratory illness that is prevalent, and often fatal, in people with serious COVID-19.

The researchers aim to test one of the molecules in a clinical trial in 2021 in asthmatics.

As further evidence that these two molecules could potentially protect against asthma the Monash University researchers found, through studying the literature, that these metabolites are present in higher amounts in two studies of children without asthma compared to those with the disease, according to Professor Benjamin Marsland from the Monash University Central Clinical School, whose paper is published today in Nature Immunology.

Journal Reference:
Tomasz P. Wypych, Céline Pattaroni, Olaf Perdijk, et al. Microbial metabolism of l -tyrosine protects against allergic airway inflammation, Nature Immunology (DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-00856-3)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

The dangers of drugged driving are outpacing drunk driving:

A recent study of drugged driving, by a team of University of Cincinnati researchers, shows that a sizable percentage of individuals reported the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs while operating behind the wheel

"We need to focus our efforts on drugged driving, in addition to drunk driving, because drugged driving causes such a high level of fatalities, says Andrew Yockey, a doctoral student in UC's College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and researcher at the UC Center for Prevention Science.

Yockey is lead author on the study "Drugged driving among U.S. adults: Results from the 2016-2018 national survey on drug use and health" -- published in the Journal of Safety Research.

"Even though less[sic] people are driving, drugs are increasing in availability and are being found in more reports of drugged driving in the U.S.," says Yockey.

[...] The most commonly reported drugs used while drugged driving are marijuana and opioids, with nearly one in five individuals reporting the use of marijuana while driving a vehicle, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[...] For example, Vidourek says that some cultures and communities are less likely to view marijuana as a drug and potentially harmful substance, which may affect its use while driving. "Identifying messages and strategies that are culturally relevant is imperative," she says.

"We need to be vigilant because the trends are increasing," says Yockey.

Journal Reference:
Drugged driving among US adults: Results from the 2016–2018 national survey on drug use and health, Journal of Safety Research (DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2020.10.006)

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

A silicon chip shortage is causing automakers to idle their factories

Automakers canceled orders due to COVID-19, and foundries switched to other customers.

You may have noticed that it's difficult to get ahold of new high-end graphics cards and game consoles these days. In large part, that's due to an ongoing global shortage affecting semiconductor foundries. As it turns out, the problem is even more pronounced in the auto industry. In fact, it's getting so bad that a number of OEMs, including Ford and General Motors, have had to go as far as idling shifts and even entire factories.

Ford had to stop production in Kentucky in December of 2020, and in January, it ordered a month-long pause at a German factory. Stellantis (the new company formed by a merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot) reduced output at factories in the US, Mexico, and Canada around the same time. As did Audi, which had to idle 10,000 employees in Germany, CEO Markus Duesmann said, telling the Financial Times that the problem involved "a very long chain with different supply levels on the components that we are short." Subaru's Gunma factory in Japan has been affected. Production of Toyota's Texas-produced Tundra has, too.

This week, more hits keep coming. Mazda just announced it might have to cut output by 34,000 units this year due to a lack of chips. Nissan's truck factory in Mississippi has reduced its hours. And on Wednesday, GM said it will halt production at factories in Kansas, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea. In many cases, the automakers are trying to prioritize their more in-demand products, but as some of those closures show, that isn't always possible.

Perhaps in the future scientists may discover a way to build automobiles without silicon chips.

Previously: Honda Cuts Car Production on Massive Chip Shortage
TSMC Agrees to Produce More Automotive Processors so Taiwan Can Get Vaccines

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canopic jug writes:

Several sites are covering an incident affecting Raspberry Pi OS deployments since last week. Quietly, without disclosure or warning, a package added a Microsoft repository and OpenPGP key to the system. The latter effectively gives the former full root access, in principle, to the whole system. The former checks in with Microsoft's servers any time APT refreshes its cache.

$ grep -i pretty /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"

How to know if you're affected/infected already:

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.
deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code
stable main

Issue has been taken with both what has been done and how it has been deployed. The official explanation is, for now, that resource hog Visual Studio was to be made available by default on the Raspberry Pi for development for their first entry into microcontrollers, the Raspberry Pi Pico. This is in spite of the established presence of many light weight editors and IDEs alredy[sic] available through vetted repositories. Not to mention the package could have been added to the established, vetted repositories. Threads on the topic over at the Raspberry Pi Forum are quickly locked by moderators and then deleted.

• TechRights. Raspberry Pi (at Least Raspbian GNU/Linux and/or Raspberry Pi Foundation) Appears to Have Been Infiltrated by Microsoft and There Are Severe Consequences
• TechRights. Raspberry Pi Foundation is Trying to Cover Up Its Deal With the Devil by Censoring Its Own Customers
• CyberCity. Heads up: Microsoft repo secretly installed on all Raspberry Pi's Linux OS
• Hot Hardware. Raspberry Pi Users Mortified As Microsoft Repository That Phones Home Is Added To Pi OS
• The Linux Gamer. Microsoft INFILTRATES Raspberry Pi OS

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Knowledge can be a terrible thing.

In my case, helping a newbie with circuit design found a beginner's mistake which causes a circuit to run slow. I used a technique which I learned from They Write the Right Stuff in which NASA improves hardware and software quality by looking for similar classes of bugs elsewhere. I wish that I hadn't looked. The newbie had copied a flawed template which has been used by more than 50 parties over 15 years. The flawed design has been promoted by an expert in the field and is used by other noted experts. The most likely explanation is that the design was devised when the expert was less knowledgeable. It has subsequently been propagated until it has become an unchallenged article of faith. An alternative explanation is that the design is deliberately flawed to detect plagiarism.

The published design works. However, I am very certain that moving one or two wires would make it work about 10% faster. This has very probably caused projects to fail unnecessarily, cause people to abandon projects or implement designs which have reduced throughput. In the worse case, a system can be fixed by making it operate at half speed. This leads to a professional quandary. It would be easiest to not mention the flaw. However, if I silently apply the fix to my own work, this design variation may be noticed sooner or later. Therefore, *completely* ignoring the problem willfully undermines the efficiency and reliability of my own work. Whereas, reporting the flaw publicly may undermine the expert or incur a "shoot the messenger" scenario. In either case, this may discourage people from using the flawed or fixed design and may reduce interoperability.

Perhaps a way out of this problem would be privately and jokingly mention that I found the deliberate mistake? The expert is uncharacteristically touchy about uncredited use of a design which can be derived independently using the Quine-McCluskey algorithm. This leads me to consider that the inefficiency is deliberate. That would make it the Quine-McCluskey-Dunning-Kruger algorithm.

Have you been in a similar situation? What did you do and how did it work out?

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Researchers have developed a unique inkjet printing method for fabricating tiny biocompatible polymer microdisk lasers for biosensing applications. The approach enables production of both the laser and sensor in a room temperature, open-air environment, potentially enabling new uses of biosensing technologies for health monitoring and disease diagnostics.

"The ability to use an inexpensive and portable commercial inkjet printer to fabricate a sensor in an ambient environment could make it possible to produce biosensors on-site as needed," said research team leader Hiroaki Yoshioka from Kyushu University in Japan. "This could help make biosensing widespread even in economically disadvantaged countries and regions, where it could be used for simple biochemical tests, including those for pathogen detection."

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optical Materials Express, the researchers describe the ability to print microdisk lasers as small as the diameter of a human hair from a specially developed polymer called FC-V-50. They also show that the microdisks can successfully be used for biosensing with the widely used biotin-avidin system.

"Our technique can be used to print on almost any substrate," said Yoshioka. "This means that it could one day be possible to print a sensor for health monitoring directly on the surface of a person's fingernail, for example."

Journal Reference:
Abdul nasir, Hiroaki Yoshioka, Nilesh vasa, et al. Fully room temperature and label free biosensing based on an ink-jet printed polymer microdisk laser [open], Optical Materials Express (DOI: 10.1364/OME.415000)

Original Submission

martyb writes:

This is not expected to be ready for another couple years, but a new theme park is under development which promises numerous new attractions and rides. Rides? Yes, rides. Lots of rides! Top of list is the "Falcon's Flight". No, not a SpaceX Falcon-9, a new roller coaster. When completed, it promises to be the fastest, tallest, and longest in the world!

Record-breaking roller coaster will travel more than 155 miles per hour:

(CNN) — A roller coaster now under development in the Middle East is set to smash existing records for speed, height and track length.

Called "Falcon's Flight," the ride will be the main attraction of Six Flags Qiddiya, due to open in Saudi Arabia outside of capital Riyadh in 2023.

According to a press release issued by the Qiddiya Investment Company, which has partnered with US-headquartered Six Flags to build the park, the coaster will travel across four kilometers (about 2.5 miles) of track.

Riders will experience the thrill of diving over a vertical cliff into a 160-meter-deep valley (525 feet) thanks to the use of magnetic motor acceleration (LSM technology), and "achieve unprecedented speeds of 250-plus km/h" -- about 155 miles per hour.

"The Falcon's Flight will also be the world's tallest free-standing coaster structure, featuring a parabolic airtime hill allowing a weightlessness airtime experience," says the release.

It will take up to 20 passengers on a three-minute long ride that and[sic] offers panoramic views of Six Flags Qiddiya. If the video rendering produced by Qiddiya is an accurate depiction of what guests will experience, this one's only for true thrill seekers.

Looking closely at the rendering of a ride on Falcon's Flight, I noticed numerous changes in the orientation of the ride's track. Sure, there stretches that are purely horizontal (parallel to the ground), but others where you are riding on what appears to be the outside of a huge basketball. Especially when the track is cantilevered out over a huge cliff! (You can catch a glimpse of it above you at 0m53s-0m55s into the video. There's a much better look at it from 1m1s-1m3s.)

More info about the park and rides can be found at https://content.sixflags.com/qiddiya/qiddiya-plan/ and https://qiddiya.com/en.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

The quick choice might be a choice-overload avoidance strategy:

A popular streaming service boasts a film inventory approaching 4,000 titles. When it's time to pick a movie, are you more likely to quickly make a decision or meticulously sift through the possibilities?

Psychologists refer to those who search minimally for something to arrive at an adequate choice as "satisficers." It's the "maximizers," meantime, who search exhaustively for what might be considered as the perfect option.

[...] "We might assume maximizers are having a negative experience in the moment, obsessing over the perfect choice. But it appears to be the satisficers -- and that might be why they're satisficing," says Thomas Saltsman, a psychology researcher in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and the paper's lead author. "We found evidence that compared to maximizers, satisficers exhibited cardiovascular threat responses consistent with evaluating themselves as less capable of managing their choice in the moment."

The findings, published in the journal Psychophysiology, break with traditional wisdom. The implications are relevant not just to everyday decision making, but speak as well to how people approach significant choices, according to Mark Seery, an associate professor of psychology at UB, and one of the paper's co-authors.

"Anyone who has had the experience of maximizing and thought about the energy and stress saved by satisficing might want to rethink that position," says Seery. "There's a time and a place for satisficing, but people who do so as a defense against the agony of choice might not be prepared to make critical decisions when they have to."

Journal Reference:
Thomas L. Saltsman, Mark D. Seery, Deborah E. Ward, et al. Is satisficing really satisfying? Satisficers exhibit greater threat than maximizers during choice overload, Psychophysiology (DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13705)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Hypnotic Suggestions Can Make a Complex Task Easy by Helping Vision Fill in the Blanks:

Popular folklore and anecdotal evidence suggest that people in a hypnotic or suggestible state can experience sensory hallucinations, such as perceiving sounds and sights that are not actually there. Reliable scientific evidence of these experiences, however, has been notoriously challenging to obtain because of their subjective nature.

New research published in the journal Psychological Science provides compelling evidence that hypnotic suggestions can help highly susceptible people "see" imaginary objects, equipping them with the missing details needed to solve an otherwise challenging visual puzzle.

"Hypnosis holds intriguing effects on human behavior," said Amir Raz, a researcher at McGill University and coauthor on the paper. "The careful, systematic study of hypnotic phenomena can answer important questions about mind-body interactions and advance novel therapies in medicine, psychology, and dentistry."

[...] "Our findings support the idea that, at least in some people, suggestions can add perceptual information to sensory input," said Raz. "This observation adds meaningful weight to theoretical, clinical, and applied aspects of the brain and psychological sciences."

Journal Reference:
Mathieu Landry, Jason Da Silva Castanheira, Jérôme Sackur, et al. Difficult Turned Easy: Suggestion Renders a Challenging Visual Task Simple:, Psychological Science (DOI: 10.1177/0956797620954856)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Apple Reportedly Teams With Kia to Produce Apple Car:

Apple is investing about $3.6 billion in a car partnership with Kia Motors, according to a report out of South Korea.

[...] Apple will set up production with Kia and build Apple cars at the company's facility in Georgia, Korean newspaper DongA Ilbo reported, though the report did not cite sources for the information, Bloomberg reported.

The newspaper also said that the two companies could sign a deal on Feb. 17 and are planning to introduce Apple cars in 2024, with an initial target to produce 100,000 vehicles a year.

Last month, South Korean automaker Hyundai, an affiliate of Kia's, announced it was in preliminary talks with Apple on developing a self-driving car, before quickly backing away from the statement and saying it has received requests from a number of technology suitors to develop autonomous electric vehicles.

Original Submission