SoylentNews

takyon writes:

GCC 9.4 Compiler Released With 190+ Bug Fixes

GCC 9.4 is now available with this wide range of "fixes for regressions and serious bugs". No new features are provided by GCC 9.4 but for anything new you'll want to move up to the current GCC 11 series for the latest processor support, shiny new C/C++ features, and other improvements.

GCC 12 is the next feature release in development for debut next year.

GCC To No Longer Require Copyright Assignment To The Free Software Foundation

GCC has long required copyright assignment to the FSF for any patches and that's been an issue for some. Especially these days with the FSF coming under fire and even some talking of possible forks to the GNU Compiler Collection or being able to move this open-source compiler further away from the FSF, the steering committee decided to no longer require the controversial copyright assignment.

That copyright assignment (and the GPLv2 to GPLv3 change) blocked Apple from contributing to GCC a decade ago. The copyright assignment has also blocked other contributions to GCC in the past by other organizations.

GCC will continue to be developed under the GPLv3 but no longer require the FSF copyright assignment. Instead, contributors can use the Developer Certificate of Origin with a Signed-off-by tag in their Git messages.

Update to GCC copyright assignment policy

[*] (Because there's bound to be at least one person wondering) GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Ada, Go, and D, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++,...). GCC was originally written as the compiler for the GNU operating system. The GNU system was developed to be 100% free software, free in the sense that it respects the user's freedom.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

The US military is starting to get really interested in Starship:

As part of last week's federal budget rollout, a process during which the White House proposes funding levels for fiscal year 2022, the US Air Force released its "justification book" to compare its current request to past budget data. The 462-page book contains a lot of information about how the Air Force spends its approximately $200 billion budget.

For those tracking the development of SpaceX's ambitious Starship vehicle, there is an interesting tidbit tucked away on page 305, under the heading of "Rocket Cargo" (see .pdf). The Air Force plans to invest $47.9 million into this project in the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.

"The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity," the document states.

Starship, more than just an expensive ride. Quick military equipment delivery en route.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

30-year stellar survey cracks mysteries of galaxy's giant planets:

Current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have wrapped up a massive collaborative study that set out to determine if most solar systems in the universe are similar to our own. With the help of W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi, the 30-year planetary census sought to find where giant planets tend to reside relative to their host stars.

In our solar system, the giant planets—Jupiter and Saturn—are found in the chilly outer regions, while smaller planets tend to orbit closer to the Sun. Earth lives in an intermediate tropical zone well-suited to life, at a distance of 1 AU (astronomical unit) from the Sun. Jupiter is about 5 AU from the Sun, and Saturn is at 9 AU. An AU, the distance from the Earth to our Sun, is about 93 million miles.

"Dynamically speaking, Jupiter and Saturn are the VIPs—Very Important Planets—of the solar system," said IfA Parrent Postdoctoral Fellow Lauren Weiss. "They are thought to have shaped the assembly of the terrestrial planets, potentially stunting the growth of Mars and slingshotting water-bearing comets toward Earth."

martyb writes:

Escape From Oblivion: Innovative Experiment Shows How the Brain Reboots After Deep Anesthesia:

Millions of surgical procedures performed each year would not be possible without the aid of general anesthesia, the miraculous medical ability to turn off consciousness in a reversible and controllable way.

Researchers are using this powerful tool to better understand how the brain reconstitutes consciousness and cognition after disruptions caused by sleep, medical procedures requiring anesthesia, and neurological dysfunctions such as coma.

[...] In the study, 30 healthy adults were anesthetized for three hours. Their brain activity was measured with EEG and their sleep-wake activity was measured before and after the experiment. Each participant was given cognitive tests—designed to measure reaction speed, memory, and other functions—before receiving anesthesia, right after the return of consciousness, and then every 30 minutes thereafter.

[...] After the anesthetic was discontinued and participants regained consciousness, cognitive testing began. A second control group of study participants, who did not receive general anesthesia and stayed awake, also completed tests over the same time period.

Analyzing EEG and test performance, the researchers found that recovery of consciousness and cognition is a process that unfolds over time, not all at once. To the investigators' surprise, one of the brain functions that came online first was abstract problem solving, controlled by the prefrontal cortex, whereas other functions such as reaction time and attention took longer to recover.

The EEG readings revealed that the frontal regions of the brain were especially active around the time of recovery. Importantly, within three hours of being deeply anesthetized for a prolonged period of time, participants were able to recover cognitive function to approximately the same level as the group that stayed awake during that time. Furthermore, their sleep schedule in the days after the experiment did not appear to be affected.

Journal Reference:
George A Mashour, Ben JA Palanca, Mathias Basner, et al. Recovery of consciousness and cognition after general anesthesia in humans, (DOI: 10.7554/eLife.59525)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

AMD's Ryzen 5000G APUs now have a release date for the DIY market: August 5th. The 8-core Ryzen 7 5700G has a suggested price of $359, while the 6-core Ryzen 5 5600G will be $259.

AMD announced the Radeon RX 6800M, 6700M, and 6600M discrete GPUs for laptops, promising better performance, efficiency, and battery-constrained performance. The Radeon RX 6800M is a 40 compute unit design (equivalent to the Radeon RX 6700 XT on desktop) with 12 GB of VRAM.

AMD biggest announcements were the introduction of FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) and the demonstration of a 3D chiplet design. FSR uses a spatial scaling algorithm to upscale game graphics for higher frame rates at a given resolution. The algorithm competes with Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), but will be released as open source and work with some older AMD GPUs, integrated graphics, as well as competing products from Nvidia and Intel (it was shown running on an Nvidia GTX 1060).

AMD CEO Lisa Su also showed off a modified, delidded Ryzen 9 5900X CPU prototype, with "3D V-Cache technology". It was identical to the standard 5900X with the exception of through-silicon via (TSV) stacked L3 cache. This allowed the 5900X prototype to have 192 MB of total L3 cache instead of 64 MB (96 MB per 8-core chiplet). AMD claims it can run games with an average of +15% performance (simply due to the larger cache size), and some version of this will appear in products that are starting production at the end of 2021.

Related: TSMC "5nm", "3nm", Stacked Silicon, and More

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Antibody from cold can neutralize COVID-19 and could lead to vaccine against all coronaviruses:

Both the common cold and SARS-CoV-2 fall under a family known as coronaviruses, which cause upper-respiratory tract illnesses.

However, it was believed that antibodies that react to ordinary coronaviruses didn't work against the virus that leads to COVID.

But in blood samples of COVID survivors, researchers found high levels of immune cells generated during the common cold that 'remember' diseases and are called back into action if the threat returns.

The team, from the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, California, says the findings could help scientists develop a vaccine or antibody treatment that protects against all coronaviruses.

The team found the antibody is produced by a type of immune system cell known as a memory B cell.

Memory B cells lock onto the surface of invading pathogens and mark them for destruction by other immune cells.

They also can circulate in the bloodstream for years – even decades – and the immune system can call up on them if there is another infection.

[...] Results showed that levels of memory B cell antibodies were higher in blood samples of people who had been infected with COVID-19 than those who never had been.

Journal Reference:
Ge Song, Wan-ting He, Sean Callaghan, et al. Cross-reactive serum and memory B-cell responses to spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 and endemic coronavirus infection [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23074-3)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Space station robotic arm hit by orbital debris in 'lucky strike' (video):

A piece of space junk smacked into the robotic arm on the International Space Station, but near-term operations should not be affected, according to the agencies involved.

Robotic operators noticed a hole in the station's Canadarm2 provided by the Canadian Space Agency,  which has been in service in orbit since 2001, during a routine inspection on May 12, the CSA officials said in a blog post Friday (May 28). Officials called the hole a "lucky strike" given the relatively small size of the arm, which is 57.7 feet (17.6 meters) long and has a diameter of just 14 inches (35 cm).

The size of the hole is not apparent in the pictures, nor if the debris went all the way through. However, it does appear Canadarm2's role in keeping the space station properly maintained can continue without interruption, following careful work from both CSA and NASA.

"Results of the ongoing analysis indicate that the arm's performance remains unaffected. The damage is limited to a small section of the arm boom and thermal blanket," the CSA said in the blog post.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

How the Commodore Amiga Powered Your Cable System in the '90s:

In terms of planning our lives around what our TVs spit out, we've come a long way from the overly condensed pages of TV Guide.

In fact, the magazine was already looking awful obsolete in the 1980s and 1990s, when cable systems around the country began dedicating entire channels to listing TV schedules.

[...] But before all that was the Commodore Amiga[*], a device that played a quiet but important role in the cable television revolution.

The Amiga was a much-loved machine, huge among a cult of users who embraced its impressive video and audio capabilities, which blew away every other platform at the time of its release.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Two New Laws Restrict Police Use of DNA Search Method:

New laws in Maryland and Montana are the first in the nation to restrict law enforcement's use of genetic genealogy, the DNA matching technique that in 2018 identified the Golden State Killer, in an effort to ensure the genetic privacy of the accused and their relatives.

Beginning on Oct. 1, investigators working on Maryland cases will need a judge's signoff before using the method, in which a "profile" of thousands of DNA markers from a crime scene is uploaded to genealogy websites to find relatives of the culprit. The new law, sponsored by Democratic lawmakers, also dictates that the technique be used only for serious crimes, such as murder and sexual assault. And it states that investigators may only use websites with strict policies around user consent.

Montana's new law, sponsored by a Republican, is narrower, requiring that government investigators obtain a search warrant before using a consumer DNA database, unless the consumer has waived the right to privacy.

takyon writes:

Confronted By Aging Population China Allows Couples To Have Three Children

China will now allow married couples to have up to three children as the country attempts to halt a declining birthrate.

The policy is a dramatic change for a country which, less than a decayde ago, still performed forced abortions and sterilizations of women who had more than one child. The new three child limit raises the previous ceiling of two children. It is a recognition from the country's top leaders that China will need to undertake drastic measures to counter a rapidly aging society.

"Implementing the policy and its relevant supporting measures will help improve China's population structure, actively respond to the aging population, and preserve the country's human resource advantages," China's Politburo, a top Communist Party governing body, wrote in a statement published on China's state news agency Xinhua on Monday.

Only five years ago, China officially ended its One Child policy, a raft of restrictions that for more than three decades strictly limited couples to only one child. Those who had two or more children in violation of the policy were fined heavily. Pregnant women were sometimes effectively kidnapped by local family planning officials who cajoled, intimidated, or forced women to end the birth.

Also at BBC.

See also: China's new three-child policy sends baby and maternity stocks soaring
'Too much of a burden': Chinese couples react to three-child policy

Previously: China's 'Missing Girls' Theory Likely Far Overblown, Study Shows
China "Three-Child Policy" Hinted by Stamp Design?
Japan's Population Declines by 448,000; China May Reverse Childbirth Restrictions

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Microsoft discovers new Russian cyber attack on 150 government, NGO sites:

The group behind the SolarWinds cyber attack identified late last year is now targeting some 150 [US] government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organisations, Microsoft Corp said.

“This week we observed cyber attacks by the threat actor Nobelium targeting government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organisations”, Microsoft said in a blog post published late Thursday night Los Angeles time (Friday AEST).

The attackers, dubbed Nobelium by Microsoft after the radioactive element, originated from Russia, the company said, and is the same actor behind the attacks on SolarWinds customers in 2020.

“This wave of attacks targeted approximately 3000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations,” Microsoft said.

While organisations in the United States received the largest share of attacks, Microsoft said targeted victims came from at least 24 countries.

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Non-hallucinogenic Psychedelic Analog Rapidly Reverses Effects of Stress on the Brain:

A novel compound similar in structure to the psychedelic drug ibogaine, but lacking its toxic and hallucinogenic effects, has been found to rapidly reverse the effects of stress in mice.

Researchers found that a single dose of tabernanthalog (TBG) can correct stress-induced behavioral deficits, including anxiety and cognitive inflexibility, and also promotes the regrowth of neuronal connections and restores neural circuits in the brain that are disrupted by stress.

"It was very surprising that a single treatment with a low dose had such dramatic effects within a day," said corresponding author Yi Zuo, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz. "I had a hard time believing it even when I saw the initial data."

[...] Ibogaine has shown promise for treating addiction, but it causes dangerous heart arrhythmias in addition to being a powerful hallucinogen. TBG has not yet been tested in humans, but it lacks ibogaine's toxicity in animal tests, and it doesn't induce the head-twitch behavior in mice caused by known hallucinogens.

Initial studies of TBG found that it had antidepressant effects and reduced addictive behaviors in rodents. [...] The researchers conducted a range of tests to evaluate behavioral responses to stress and the effects of treatment with TBG. They also performed imaging studies to assess changes in the brains of the mice at the neuronal level.

Journal Reference:
Ju Lu, Michelle Tjia, David Olson, et al. An analog of psychedelics restores functional neural circuits disrupted by unpredictable stress [open], Molecular Psychiatry (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01159-1)

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Intermittent Fasting in mice demonstrably more effective at promoting long term memory retention:

A new study from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London has established that Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an effective means of improving long term memory retention and generating new adult hippocampal neurons in mice, in what the researchers hope has the potential to slow the advance of cognitive decline in older people.

The study [...] found that a calorie restricted diet via every other day fasting was an effective means of promoting Klotho[*] gene expression in mice. Klotho, which is often referred to as the "longevity gene" has now been shown in this study to play a central role in the production of hippocampal adult-born new neurons or neurogenesis.

Adult-born hippocampal neurons are important for memory formation and their production declines with age, explaining in part cognitive decline in older people.

The researchers split female mice into three groups; a control group that received a standard diet of daily feeding, a daily Calorie Restricted (CR) diet, and Intermittent Fasting (IF) in which the mice were fed every other day. The latter two groups were fed 10% less calories than the control.

Over the course of three months, the mice in the IF group demonstrated improved long-term memory retention compared to the other groups. When the brains of these mice were studied, it was apparent that the Klotho gene was upregulated, and neurogenesis increased compared to those that were on the CR diet.

[*] Klotho at Wikipedia.

Journal Reference:
Gisele Pereira Dias, Tytus Murphy, Doris Stangl, et al. Intermittent fasting enhances long-term memory consolidation, adult hippocampal neurogenesis, and expression of longevity gene Klotho [open], Molecular Psychiatry (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01102-4)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Sabrent Unveils The Ultra-High Endurance Plotripper & Plotripper Pro SSDs Specifically Designed For Mining The Chia Coin

Chia is a relatively new cryptocurrency that is based on a proof of storage model which differs from the more traditional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Chia is advertised as a greener, more environmentally-friendly cryptocurrency because the plotting process on the storage devices doesn't consume much energy when compared to traditional mining. However, the plotting process for Chia is very taxing on SSDs. Some of the best consumer SSDs can only last a few weeks before dying. Chia is best mined on an enterprise-level SSD or a hard drive. The two most important qualities in a storage device for mining Chia [are] write speed and endurance. Hard drives have great endurance, but not so great write speeds so people resort to using consumer SSDs.

With the Sabrent Plotripper and Plotripper Pro SSDs built specifically for mining the Chia coin, you can have all the advantages of using an SSD without the fear of your drive failing. Both the Plotripper features a capacity of Pro while the Plotripper Pro comes in 1TB and 2TB offerings, but the Pro features a greater endurance at 54,000 TBW for the 2TB model and 27,000 TBW for the 1TB model while the regular Plotripper has an endurance of 10,000 TBW. Compared to the popular Corsair MP600 PRO 2TB which has an endurance of 1,400 TBW, the Plotripper has 7.1 times more endurance and the Plotripper Pro 1TB has 19.2 times more endurance while the 2TB model has 38.6 times more endurance. The controller and read/write speeds, but should be rocking the Phison E18 controller which allows users to take advantage of the PCIe 4.0.

Do they use SLC NAND?

Ch-ch-ch-chia green paper.

See also: Chia Coin Hits Over 1 Exabyte Storage Capacity, Storage Makers Witness Huge Increase In Sales But Fear of Global HDD & SSD Shortage Looms
Storage-based cryptocurrency Chia grows 6x in April to 1 Exabyte as SSD makers register a major bump to sales
Bittorrent Creator Bram Cohen's Crypto Project Chia Sparks Hard Drive and SSD Shortages

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Tesla Will Have to Ship Its Texas-Built Cars Out of State to Sell Back to Residents:

Texas, the state that was once a country, has some unique features in its governance. One is that its state legislature meets only every other year for a maximum of 140 days, starting from “noon on the second Tuesday in January.” This year, the Legislature convened Jan. 12 and will wrap up its work on May 31 before breaking until 2023. And it will do so without making a widely expected change to Texas’ auto dealer franchise laws that would finally allow Tesla to sell its cars—many of which will be built at its new Austin factory next year—directly to the public in the nation’s second-largest state.

Teslas haven’t been completely unavailable to Texans this whole time; instead, buyers have had to use various inconvenient loopholes to take home their new electric cars. Now, Tesla is on the verge of having to jump through the most ridiculous one yet: having to ship its Texas-built vehicles out of the state before it can sell (and ship) them back to Lone Star buyers.