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aristarchus writes:

CNet News reports this, about Tianwen-1.

It's a busy month on Mars. Three spacecraft missions are closing in on the red planet. China's Tianwen-1 is one of them, and it already has an eye on its new home in the solar system. The Chinese National Space Agency released Tianwen-1's first view of Mars on Friday.

CNSA described the image as "the first snapshot from the Chinese craft" in a statement, and said it was captured from about 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) away. The stark black and white photo shows Mars against the dark backdrop of space.

CNSA previously released a spacecraft "selfie" in September 2020 showing Tianwen-1 on its long flight.

The Chinese spacecraft has been making some corrections to its trajectory to bring it neatly into orbit on Feb. 10. The mission is made up of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It will spend some time traveling around Mars before attempting the harrowing landing part of the mission.

As SpaceX says, you have to work on the landing.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

SpaceX Starlink passes 10,000 users and fights opposition to FCC funding

Lobby groups for small ISPs are urging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether SpaceX can deliver on its broadband promises and to consider blocking the satellite provider's rural-broadband funding. Meanwhile, SpaceX says the Starlink beta is now serving high-speed broadband to 10,000 users.

[...] Electric co-ops that provide broadband raised concerns about both SpaceX's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology and fixed-wireless services that deliver Internet access from towers on the ground to antennas on customers' homes. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) submitted a white paper to the FCC claiming that the RDOF awards put "rural America's broadband hopes at risk."

The CEO of NRECA was blunt in his opposition to SpaceX's funding, as stated in a Bloomberg article today:

SpaceX's broadband-from-orbit "is a completely unproven technology," said Jim Matheson, chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which has members that vied for the funding. "Why use that money for a science experiment?"

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Physicists to look for quantum time dilation inside nuclear reactor:

We're all too familiar with the inexorable march of time, but why exactly it flows in one direction remains a mystery of physics. A few years ago Australian physicist Joan Vaccaro proposed a new quantum theory of time, and now a team is planning to test the hypothesis by searching for time dilation in a nuclear reactor.

[...] But according to Vaccaro's quantum theory of time, entropy is more of a symptom of the flow of time, rather than the root cause. She uses the analogy of a tree blowing in the wind – while the leaves (entropy) may appear to be shaking the tree, they aren't responsible for the motion themselves, but are the result of another force (wind). In this new theory, the "wind" is created by time reversal symmetry violations (T violations).

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The independent review of Australia's main environment law, released last week, provided a sobering but accurate appraisal of a dire situation.

The review was led by Professor Graeme Samuel and involved consultation with scientists, legal experts, industry and conservation organizations. Samuel's report concluded Australia's biodiversity is in decline and the law (the EPBC Act) "is not fit for current or future environmental challenges".

[...] To reverse Australia's appalling track record of protecting biodiversity, four major reforms recommended by Samuel must be implemented as a package.

1. Setting standards [...]
2. Greater government accountability [...]
3. Decent funding [...]
4. Increase ecological knowledge [...]

[...] Samuel recommends Regional Recovery Plans be adequately funded to help develop some knowledge. But we suggest substantial new environmental capacity is needed, including new ecological research positions, increased environmental monitoring infrastructure, and appropriate funding of recovery plans, to ensure enough knowledge supports decision making.

Samuel's report has provided a path forward that could make a substantial difference to Australia's shocking track record of biodiversity conservation and land stewardship.

But Environment Minister Sussan Ley's response so far suggests the Morrison government plans to cherry pick from Samuel's recommendations, and rush through changes without appropriate safeguards.

If the changes we outlined above aren't implemented as a package, our precious natural heritage will continue to decline.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:

Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments:

Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments.

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state's economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.

The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and courts and provide government services.

The measure to further economic development with the "alternative form of local government" has not yet been introduced in the Legislature.

[...] The governor's economic development office did not respond to questions about the zones Wednesday.

Original Submission

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

Original Submission

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. [...]

Original Submission

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)

Original Submission

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

Original Submission

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