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Freeman writes:

A zombie-fire outbreak may be growing in the north:

Each winter, as snow blankets Alaska and northern Canada, the wildfires of the summer extinguish, and calm prevails—at least on the surface. Beneath all that white serenity, some of those fires actually continue smoldering underground, chewing through carbon-rich peat, biding their time. When spring arrives and the chilly landscape defrosts, these "overwintering" fires pop up from below—that's why scientists call them zombie fires.

Now, a new analysis in the journal Nature quantifies their extent for the first time, and shows what conditions are most likely to make the fires reanimate. Using satellite data and reports from the ground, researchers developed an algorithm that could detect where over a decade's worth of fires—dozens in total—burned in Alaska and Canada's Northwest Territories, snowed over, and ignited again in the spring. Basically, they correlated burn scars with nearby areas where a new fire ignited later on.

[...] Northern soils are loaded with peat, dead vegetation that's essentially concentrated carbon. When a wildfire burns across an Arctic landscape, it also burns vertically through this soil. Long after the surface fire has exhausted the plant fuel, the peat fire continues to smolder under the dirt, moving deeper down and also marching laterally. In their analysis, Scholten and her colleagues found this is most likely to happen following hotter summers, because that makes vegetation drier, thus igniting more catastrophically. "The more severe it burns, the deeper it can burn into that soil," says VU Amsterdam Earth systems scientist Sander Veraverbeke, co-author on the new paper. "And the deeper it burns, the higher the chances that that fire will hibernate." Even when autumn rain falls or the surface freezes in the winter, water isn't able to penetrate the soil enough to entirely extinguish it.

Then spring arrives and the ice retreats. These hot spots can flare up, seeking more vegetation to burn at the edges of the original burn scar. "Basically, right after the snow melts, we already have dry fuel available," says Scholten.

Journal Reference:
Rebecca C. Scholten, Randi Jandt, Eric A. Miller, et al. Overwintering fires in boreal forests, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03437-y)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Announcing the Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just announced the Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT compliant with 802.3at (aka PoE+) and 802.3af standards and support for up to 25.5 Watts input.

It will replace the Raspberry Pi PoE HAT introduced in 2018 which was limited to 802.3af standard with a maximum of 15.4 Watts input and will become available around mid-June for $20 plus taxes and shipping.

HAT = Hardware Attached on Top.

Here is a competing Waveshare PoE HAT for Raspberry Pi 3B+/4B.

Also at CNX Software.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Huawei confirms a June 2, 2021 launch for HarmonyOS

Huawei has set a date for the launch of its first-party operating system, HarmonyOS, in its native China. The software may have originally been intended to replace Android on its smartphones, but may also ship with other new products such as the MatePad Pro 2 and Watch 3, which are also now expected to debut on the same day.

Huawei's HiSilicon Develops First RISC-V Design to Overcome Arm Restrictions

In a bid to overcome US restrictions on its Arm designs, Huawei's HiSilicon has turned to the open-source RISC-V architecture and has even released its first RISC-V board for Harmony OS developers. Due to being blacklisted by the U.S. government, Huawei and its chip division HiSilicon do not have access to development and production technologies designed in America. The restrictions include many Arm processor architectures, including those used in various microcontrollers that Huawei uses widely.

[...] The Hi3861 is aimed mostly at the IoT market, whereas HiSilicon's development efforts were historically aimed at high-margin smartphones, tablets, PCs, and embedded systems. But Huawei needs computing platforms to use for its other devices, so the HiSilicon Hi3861 is just what the doctor ordered at this time.

Huawei Expected to Develop a 3nm Kirin SoC but Release May Happen in 2022, Suggests Latest Trademark

takyon writes:

Potential organic salt detection from Curiosity yields further evidence for past organics on Mars

While organic compounds have been confirmed on the Martian surface and near-surface areas since 2018, new Earth-based experiments point to a potentially tantalizing series of signatures from Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument that could indicate the presence of organic salts at the rover's Gale Crater location.

What's more, the new research from a team led by J. M. T. Lewis, an organic geochemist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, points to further potential evidence that organic salts might be prevalent across the Martian terrain. The hard part is conclusively detecting them.

[...] While organic compounds and organic salts can form from the presence of microbial life, they can also form from geologic processes.

Though not confirmed, organic salts would be further evidence that organic matter once existed on Mars' surface, and, if they are still present, could support hypothetical microbial life on Mars today, as some life on Earth uses organic salt as food/energy.

Also at SciTechDaily.

Pyrolysis of Oxalate, Acetate, and Perchlorate Mixtures and the Implications for Organic Salts on Mars (open, DOI: 10.1029/2020JE006803) (DX)

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Incredible Microscope Sees Atoms at Record Resolution:

In 2018, Cornell researchers built a high-powered detector that, in combination with an algorithm-driven process called ptychography, set a world record by tripling the resolution of a state-of-the-art electron microscope.

As successful as it was, that approach had a weakness. It only worked with ultrathin samples that were a few atoms thick. Anything thicker would cause the electrons to scatter in ways that could not be disentangled.

Now a team, again led by David Muller, the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering, has bested its own record by a factor of two with an electron microscope pixel array detector (EMPAD) that incorporates even more sophisticated 3D reconstruction algorithms.

[...] Ptychography works by scanning overlapping scattering patterns from a material sample and looking for changes in the overlapping region.

"We're chasing speckle patterns that look a lot like those laser-pointer patterns that cats are equally fascinated by," Muller said. "By seeing how the pattern changes, we are able to compute the shape of the object that caused the pattern."

The detector is slightly defocused, blurring the beam, in order to capture the widest range of data possible. This data is then reconstructed via complex algorithms, resulting in an ultraprecise image with picometer (one-trillionth of a meter) precision.

"With these new algorithms, we're now able to correct for all the blurring of our microscope to the point that the largest blurring factor we have left is the fact that the atoms themselves are wobbling, because that's what happens to atoms at finite temperature," Muller said. "When we talk about temperature, what we're actually measuring is the average speed of how much the atoms are jiggling."

Journal Reference:
Zhen Chen, Yi Jiang, Yu-Tsun Shao, et al. Electron ptychography achieves atomic-resolution limits set by lattice vibrations [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.abg2533)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Washington State Removes All Barriers to Municipal Broadband:

Yesterday, following weeks of anticipation, State Gov. Jay Islee signed the Public Broadband Act (H.B. 1336), removing all restrictions on public broadband in the state of Washington, according to the bill's primary sponsor, State Rep. Drew Hansen, D-23. This critical leap forward in Washington drops the number of states with laws restricting community broadband to 17.

(...) The bill grants public entities previously restricted by statute from offering retail telecommunications services the unrestricted authority to provide Internet services to end-users. This includes Public Utility Districts (PUDs) and district ports, as well as, towns, second-class cities (defined as those with populations of 1500 or more which have not adopted a city charter) and counties, currently not operating under Washington's Optional Municipal Code. (Washington's charter counties, first-class cities, and cities operating under the state's Optional Municipal Code already had the power to construct telecommunications networks and offer Internet access services to their residents, without a third-party business overseeing network management operations.)

(...) The public reaction to the passage of Washington's Public Broadband Act has been highly celebratory, with many Washingtonians promptly calling on their local governments, regional ports and PUDs, to both demand public networks and air their grievances against incumbent, monopoly Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the region.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for mrpg:

The glow of fireflies is helping scientists find treatments for cancer:

There are many reasons why fireflies glow. One of the best-known examples of bioluminescent beings in nature, fireflies use their light as a warning to potential predators, to identify other fireflies, and of course, to attract a mate.

Harnessing the same chemical reaction that makes fireflies glimmer, the team has developed a medical imaging device that lights up when inserted inside the body.

Potential future uses for such a device, in both humans and animals, are already wide-ranging, including the development of better treatments for cancer, diabetes, and infectious diseases.

"This is the first example of a low-cost, portable bioluminescence imaging tool that can be used in large non-transgenic animals, such as dogs," said Elena Goun, the team's leader and an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri.

"The mobility and cost-effectiveness of this technology also make it a powerful tool for use in many areas of preclinical research, clinical research, and diagnostics".

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Coherent Storage of Light Over One-Hour Achieved – Great Stride Towards the Application of Quantum Memories:

Remote quantum distribution on the ground is limited because of the loss of photon in optical fibers. One solution for remote quantum communication lies in quantum memories: photons are stored in the long-lived quantum memory (quantum flash drive) and then quantum information is transmitted by the transportation of the quantum memory. Given the speed of aircraft and high-speed trains, it is critical to increase the storage time of the quantum memories to the order of hours.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, a research team led by Prof. LI Chuanfeng and Prof. ZHOU Zongquan from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) extended the storage time of the optical memories to over one hour. It broke the record of one minute achieved by German researchers in 2013, and made a great stride towards the application of quantum memories.

In the attempt to achieve optical storage in a zero-first-order-Zeeman (ZEFOZ) magnetic field, the complicated and unknown energy level structures in both the ground and excited states have challenged researchers for a long time. Recently, researchers used the spin Hamiltonians to predict the level structures. However, an error may occur in the theoretical prediction. To overcome the problem, researchers from USTC adopted the spin wave atomic frequency comb (AFC) protocol in a ZEFOZ field, namely ZEFOZ-AFC method, successfully implementing the long-lived storage of light signals.

Journal Reference:
Yu Ma, You-Zhi Ma, Zong-Quan Zhou, et al. One-hour coherent optical storage in an atomic frequency comb memory [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22706-y)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil:

Global Cactus Traffickers Are Cleaning Out the Deserts:

Cactuses and other succulents are hot business today. They have become the darlings of social media, promoted by indoor plant influencers for their outlandish looks and minimal care requirements. The pandemic only increased their popularity, with shops struggling to keep some species in stock.

[...] "A lot of what drives the interest and passion for these plants is their uniqueness and rarity," said Bárbara Goettsch, co-chair of the Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Many cactus species are highly localized, found, for example, only on certain steep limestone cliffs in Mexico, or a single sandy patch of less than one square mile on Peru's coast. They also tend to be extremely slow-growing. Larger specimens, which are more highly sought after, can be decades or even hundreds of years old. These features make cactuses particularly sensitive to over-harvesting, but also particularly attractive to collectors interested in exclusivity.

Purchasing rare species legally, however, can be difficult to impossible. All cactuses and many other types of succulents require permits to be traded internationally, if they can be legally traded at all. Most countries also prohibit collection of some or all of these species from the wild, including the United States.

[...] Once cactuses are poached from the wild, illicit trade often happens in the open. High-end plant shops in Japan display protected, wild-harvested species, while sellers around the world advertise them on eBay, Instagram, Etsy and Facebook. Online ads are often accompanied by disclaimers that the cactuses do not come with necessary permits for legal trade, and poachers sometimes livestream videos from the field, asking customers which plants they want. Traffickers are rarely caught or prosecuted. While American, British, European and Japanese collectors have traditionally driven the illegal trade, more recently, interest has also spread to China, Korea and Thailand.

Freenode hijacked

Free Software Projects Defenestrate The Freenode IRC Network
Freenode IRC staff resign en masse, unhappy about new management
Developers flee Freenode after 'takeover' by Korean crown prince
Freenode Debacle Prompts Staff Exodus, New Network
IRC Will Never Die
On freenode and its commitment to FOSS (Andrew Lee's May 19th response)
https://libera.chat/ (new network)

wirelessduck writes:

https://kline.sh/

Freenode IRC operators now engaging in routine abuses of power

wirelessduck writes:

https://www.devever.net/~hl/freenode_abuse

There have been several allegations of this since the handover of the Freenode infrastructure to its new custodians, but I can now provide a first-hand account of one incident — because I am the victim of it.

A channel which I registered, ##hntop, has been taken over by Andrew Lee (rasengan) without my knowledge or consent.

...

Conclusions. In other words, it appears that a Freenode services admin, presumably rasengan,

• forcibly dropped the channel and reregistered it so as to put themselves in control of it, and render me no longer in control of it;
• clearly did this with the express purpose of frustrating an attempt by that channel's founder (me) to relocate it to another IRC network; and
• cover up the fact that I had sought to do so.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Vulnerabilities in billions of Wi-Fi devices let hackers bypass firewalls:

One of the things that makes Wi-Fi work is its ability to break big chunks of data into smaller chunks and combine smaller chunks into bigger chunks, depending on the needs of the network at any given moment. These mundane network plumbing features, it turns out, have been harboring vulnerabilities that can be exploited to send users to malicious websites or exploit or tamper with network-connected devices, newly published research shows.

In all, researcher Mathy Vanhoef found a dozen vulnerabilities, either in the Wi-Fi specification or in the way the specification has been implemented in huge numbers of devices. Vanhoef has dubbed the vulnerabilities FragAttacks, short for fragmentation and aggregation attacks, because they all involve frame fragmentation or frame aggregation. Broadly speaking, they allow people within radio range to inject frames of their choice into networks protected by WPA-based encryption.

martyb writes:

This is a follow-up to our site crash.

If you are just tuning in, SoylentNews experienced a database crash on 2021-05-20. We tried to restore from recent backups, but found they were corrupted and unusable. Thanks to heroic work by mechanicjay the site is back up and running!

Many thanks to mechanicjay for his 16-hour(!) day on Thursday to get us back up and then move us to a single back-end configuration. He didn't stop there, but has continued on gathering information and guiding work to get us to a more stable foundation. We'll keep you posted as to our progress.

Read on if interested... otherwise, another story will be along presently.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

SpaceShipTwo makes first flight to space from New Mexico - SpaceNews:

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo made its first flight to space in more than two years May 22, completing the first in a series of four suborbital flights planned by the company over the next several months.

The SpaceShipTwo vehicle named VSS Unity, with pilots CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay on board, took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 10:34 a.m. Eastern, carried aloft by its WhiteKnightTwo aircraft. The plane released VSS Unity at 11:26 a.m. Eastern, at which time the spaceplane fired its hybrid rocket motor for approximately 60 seconds.

VSS Unity ascended on a suborbital trajectory before gliding back to a runway landing at Spaceport America at 11:43 a.m. Eastern. The company did not webcast the flight, providing only updates via social media, although NASASpaceFlight.com did webcast the successful release and powered ascent of the vehicle.

The flight was the first human launch to space from New Mexico. Besides the two pilots on board, the vehicle carried payloads for NASA's Flight Opportunities program.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Facebook faces prospect of 'devastating' data transfer ban after Irish ruling:

Ireland’s data regulator can resume a probe that may trigger a ban on Facebook’s transatlantic data transfers, the High Court ruled on Friday (14 May), raising the prospect of a stoppage that the company warns would have a devastating impact on its business.

The case stems from EU concerns that US government surveillance may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when their personal data is sent to the United States for commercial use.

[...] Facebook had challenged both the inquiry and the Preliminary Draft Decision (PDD), saying they threatened “devastating” and “irreversible” consequences for its business, which relies on processing user data to serve targeted online ads.

The High Court rejected the challenge on Friday.

“I refuse all of the reliefs sought by FBI (Facebook Ireland) and dismiss the claims made by it in the proceedings,” Justice David Barniville said in a judgment that ran to nearly 200 pages.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

4 vulnerabilities under attack give hackers full control of Android devices:

Unknown hackers have been exploiting four Android vulnerabilities that allow the execution of malicious code that can take complete control of devices, Google warned on Wednesday.

All four of the vulnerabilities were disclosed two weeks ago in Google’s Android Security Bulletin for May. Google has released security updates to device manufacturers, who are then responsible for distributing the patches to users.

Google’s May 3 bulletin initially didn’t report that any of the roughly 50 vulnerabilities it covered were under active exploitation. On Wednesday, Google updated the advisory to say that there are “indications” that four of the vulnerabilities “may be under limited, targeted exploitation.” Maddie Stone, a member of Google’s Project Zero exploit research group, removed the ambiguity. She declared on Twitter that the “4 vulns were exploited in-the-wild” as zero-days.

Original Submission