SoylentNews

upstart writes:

In the visual thalamus, neurons are in contact with both eyes but respond to only one:

We have two eyes, but perceive the tree in front of us only once. Our brain therefore has the complicated task of combining the information of both eyes in a meaningful way. To do so, visual stimuli first travel from the retina via so-called ganglion cells to the visual thalamus. There, the information does end up in clearly defined areas -- depending on the type and eye-of-origin of retinal ganglion cells transporting the visual stimuli. Signals from the right and left eye are thus clearly separated in the visual thalamus and independently transmitted to the visual cortex. Only in this brain region, the incoming information is combined -- at least according to a long-standing theory.

However, recent anatomical studies describe that a surprising number of neurons in the mouse visual thalamus has contact to both eyes. Does the separation of 'left eye' and 'right eye' information channels not hold true in mice? Scientists from Tobias Bonhoeffer's department wanted to shed more light on this newly raised question. They further developed an optogenetic method, so that they could activate ganglion cells of both eyes successively with light of different colors and measure the corresponding electrical responses in a thalamic cell.

Journal Reference:
Joel Bauer, Simon Weiler, Martin H.P. Fernholz, David Laubender, Volker Scheuss, Mark Hübener, Tobias Bonhoeffer, Tobias Rose. Limited functional convergence of eye-specific inputs in the retinogeniculate pathway of the mouse. Neuron, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.05.036

Original Submission

gawdonblue writes:

The South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) failed to be Touched by His Noodly Appendage in a decision on Adelaide woman Tanya Watkins' claim that FSM was formed for a "religious, educational, charitable or benevolent purpose".

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) remains in the realms of satire in central Australia after an appeal for formal recognition was rejected by a South Australian legal authority on the grounds that it is a "sham" and a "hoax".

[...] In the ruling, Ms McEvoy noted that while various "Pastafarian texts" are set out in traditional religious forms, they "contain some surprising articulations", such as references to the books of the Bible as the "Old Testicle" and "New Testicle".

Story from the ABC: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-19/sa-church-of-the-flying-spaghetti-monster-proposal-rejected/100228038

Earlier ABC stories tell about how New Zealand is more accepting than Australians of our colander-headed brethren and sistren:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-18/nz-church-of-the-flying-spaghetti-monster-gets-recognition/7039796

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-16/noodly-knot-tied-in-first-legal-marriage-of-pastafarians/7332360

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Memory helps us evaluate situations on the fly, not just recall the past: Widely known as crucial for long-term memory, hippocampus also supports short-term memory:

The findings shed light on how the hippocampus contributes to memory and exploration, potentially leading to therapies that restore hippocampal function, which is impacted in memory-related aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, the study authors said.

In the study, scientists monitored participants' brain activity and tracked their eye movements while looking at different complex pictures. The scientists discovered that as we visually scan our environment and absorb new information, our hippocampus becomes activated, using short-term memory to better process new visual information to help us rapidly reevaluate situations.

[...] "At any given moment, your brain rapidly initiates eye movements that you are typically unaware of," said corresponding author James Kragel, a postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Our findings suggest the hippocampus uses memory to inform where your eyes look, thereby priming the visual system to learn and reevaluate our environment on the fly.

Journal Reference:
James E. Kragel, Stephan Schuele, Stephen VanHaerents, et al. Rapid coordination of effective learning by the human hippocampus [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf7144)

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/06/ukraine-arrests-ransomware-gang-in-global-cybercriminal-crackdown/

Ukrainian police have arrested members of a notorious ransomware gang that recently targeted American universities, as pressure mounts on global law enforcement to crack down on cybercriminals.

The Ukraine National Police said in a statement on Wednesday that it had worked with Interpol and the US and South Korean authorities to charge six members of the Ukraine-based Cl0p[sic] hacker group, which it claimed had inflicted a half-billion dollars in damages on victims based in the US and South Korea.

The move marks the first time that a national law enforcement agency has carried out mass arrests of a ransomware gang, adding to pressure on other countries to follow suit. Russia, a hub for ransomware gangs, has been blamed for harbouring cybercriminals by failing to prosecute or extradite them.

Cl0P is one of several ransomware cartels that seize a target’s data, demanding a ransom to release it. The group has also increasingly threatened to leak sensitive information online if a target refuses to pay, a tactic known as “double extortion.”

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Backscatter Radio at Gigabit Speeds

Backscatter radios encode data in reflected signals to offer wireless communications that consume as little energy as possible—but they can be limited by poor data rates. Now scientists at Nokia Bell Labs and their colleagues have developed backscatter radios capable of gigabit speeds, for potential use in the emerging Internet of Things and other devices, a new study finds.

[...] [The] low frequencies that backscatter radios often employ and the strategies they use to encode data in reflected signals typically limit their data rates. For example, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, which often employ backscatter radios at sub-gigahertz frequencies, transmit data at only kilobits per second rates. At the 2.4 gigahertz frequency often used by WiFi and Bluetooth, backscatter is generally limited to hundreds of megabits per second.

Now scientists have developed a backscatter radio operating at millimeter-wave frequencies of 24 to 28 gigahertz, the kind used in upcoming 5G cell phones. The new device is capable of data rates of 2 gigabits per second over distances of 0.5 meters, consuming just 0.17 picojoules per bit. This means it requires thousands of times less power than standard radios—whereas commonly used millimeter-wave radio components consume 600 to 700 milliwatts of power, the new device uses roughly 0.5 milliwatts.

The new device consists of an antenna array and a single high-frequency transistor. The transistor can apply a voltage or not to make the antenna respectively either receive or reflect incoming signals.

Journal Reference:
John Kimionis, Apostolos Georgiadis, Spyridon Nektarios Daskalakis, et al. A printed millimetre-wave modulator and antenna array for backscatter communications at gigabit data rates [open], Nature Electronics (DOI: 10.1038/s41928-021-00588-8)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Rocket Mining System Could Blast Ice from Lunar Craters

A mix of dust, rocks, and significant concentrations of water ice can be found inside permanently shaded lunar craters at the Moon's south pole. If that water ice can be extracted, it can be turned into breathable oxygen, rocket fuel, or water for thirsty astronauts. The extraction and purification of this dirty lunar ice is not an easy problem, and NASA is interested in creative solutions that can scale. The agency has launched a competition to solve this lunar ice mining challenge, and one of competitors thinks they can do it with a big robot, some powerful vacuums, and a rocket engine used like a drilling system. (It's what they call, brace yourself, their Resource Ore Concentrator using Kinetic Energy Targeted Mining—ROCKET M.)

This method disrupts lunar soil with a series of rocket plumes that fluidize ice regolith by exposing it to direct convective heating. It utilizes a 100 lbf rocket engine under a pressurized dome to enable deep cratering more than 2 meters below the lunar surface. During this process, ejecta from multiple rocket firings blasts up into the dome and gets funneled through a vacuum-like system that separates ice particles from the remaining dust and transports it into storage containers.

Unlike traditional mechanical excavators, the rocket mining approach would allow us to access frozen volatiles around boulders, breccia, basalt, and other obstacles. And most importantly, it's scalable and cost effective. Our system doesn't require heavy machinery or ongoing maintenance. The stored water can be electrolyzed as needed into oxygen and hydrogen utilizing solar energy to continue powering the rocket engine for more than 5 years of water excavation! This system would also allow us to rapidly excavate desiccated regolith layers that can be collected and used to develop additively manufactured structures.

[...] The Phase 1 winners are scheduled to be announced on August 13.

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

Windows 11 Look Inspired by KDE Plasma and GNOME?

The images of the upcoming Windows 11 Operating system from Microsoft resemble a mixture of our beloved KDE Plasma and GNOME. How much they are similar? We try to find out.

There's a saying which I remember – 'Good artists copy. Great artists steal'. I don't know the design team behind Windows 11, but it seems they are pretty good inspired by the Linux desktops. If you look at the Windows OS look over the years – from Windows XP to 7 to 10 – there is not much changed in terms of look and feel. Until now.

Windows OS have typically 5 to 7 years of life iterations with a new release. If you think about the options of customization Windows gives you, that remained the same over the years. Even the overall desktop experience in terms of Start Menu position, width, color – all remained constant.

But with the new look of Windows 11 – this is changing. Let me walk you through some of the screenshots I had a look at and how cunningly it is similar to the popular Linux desktop environments such as KDE Plasma and GNOME.

If Windows 11 really looks like KDE Plasma and GNOME, is this to have a more uniform UI when Windows Subsystem for Linux offers Linux GUI apps with an integrated seamless way for users to install Linux GUI apps?

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Just how do spiders walk straight up—and even upside-down across—so many different types of surfaces? Answering this question could open up new opportunities for creating powerful, yet reversible, bioinspired adhesives. Scientists have been working to better understand spider feet for the past several decades. Now, a new study in Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering is the first to show that the characteristics of the hair-like structures that form the adhesive feet of one species—the wandering spider Cupiennius salei—are more variable than previously thought.

"When we started the experiments, we expected to find a specific angle of best adhesion and similar adhesive properties for all of the individual attachment hairs," says the group leader of the study, Dr. Clemens Schaber of the University of Kiel in Germany. "But surprisingly, the adhesion forces largely differed between the individual hairs, e.g. one hair adhered best at a low angle with the substrate while the other one performed best close to perpendicular."

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/18/tech/estonia-cyber-security-lessons-intl-cmd/index.html

(CNN)When people like the German Chancellor Angela Merkel or the King of Belgium want to learn more about cybersecurity, they go to Estonia.

The Baltic country runs on the internet. From filing taxes and voting, to registering the birth of a new baby, nearly everything a person might want or need from the government can be done online. It's an approach that's incredibly convenient for Estonia's 1.3 million people -- but it also requires high level of cybersecurity.

Luckily for its residents, Estonia is punching way above its weight when it comes to online safety. It regularly places on top of security rankings. Its capital city of Tallinn is home to NATO's cyber defense hub, the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. When it took up the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council last year, it made cybersecurity one of the policy priorities.

"Estonia digitized a lot sooner than other countries, it was focusing on things like online schooling and online government services and it took a more proactive approach to technology," said Esther Naylor, a international security research analyst at Chatham House.

"And it recognized that it needs to be a secure country in order for citizens to want to use online systems and for businesses to want to do business in Estonia ... and I think that this is why Estonia's approach is often heralded as the model approach," she added.

upstart writes:

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ widespread in top makeup brands, study finds:

[...] The products that most frequently contain high levels of fluorine include waterproof mascara (82% of brands tested), foundations (63%) and liquid lipstick (62%).

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products such as food packaging, clothing and carpeting water and stain resistant. They are often dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and have been found to accumulate in humans.

The chemicals are linked at certain levels to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption, and a range of other serious health problems.

Original Submission

Anti-aristarchus writes:

From China, where all the new science seems to be occuring, reported in Gizmodo.

Giant rhinos are among the largest mammals to have ever walked this great Earth, and a newly discovered species that lived in northwest China some 25 million years ago is revealing just how magnificent these creatures were.

Gigantism is a biological trait typically associated with dinosaurs, but natural selection has produced some fairly huge mammals as well. In fact, the largest animal of all time, the blue whale, is a mammal. In terms of large terrestrial mammals, Steppe mammoths were pretty big, as were giant ground sloths, but giant rhinos were likely the biggest.

Several genera of giant rhinos are known, among them Paraceratherium. These extinct hornless rhinos lived primarily in Asia, with fossils spread throughout China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. The evolutionary history of giant rhinos is a bit vague, however, and paleontologists have struggled to discern their exact proportions owing to an abundance of incomplete fossils. What is clear, however, is that these mammals were very large.

This group can now claim a new member, Paraceratherium linxiaense, as reported in a study published today in Communications Biology. Paleontologist Tao Deng, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led the research.

Size?

An Anonymous Coward writes:

WSJ: What Keeps People From Using Password Managers?

No pay wall: https://archive.is/HCtcT

Many of us are vulnerable to hackers and eager to secure our online accounts, but lots of us also refuse to use an obvious solution: password managers.

Why? Our research has found that the typical reassurances and promises about password managers just don’t work. Fortunately, our research also suggests there are strategies that can persuade people to get past the psychological barriers and keep their data safe.

[...] In a study I conducted with my Ph.D. student Norah Alkaldi, we found that the two most common methods of persuasion were ineffective in getting people to adopt password managers. The first is the “push” approach—the idea that by showing people the dangers of using simple passwords, recording passwords on their computer or using the same passwords at different sites, we would push them to adopt a safer approach. Users, we found, don’t respond to the push strategy.

[...] The other, “pull,” approach—focusing on the positives of password managers—didn’t deliver any better results.

[...] We discovered two types of “mooring factors” that keep people from changing their behavior.

[...] First, there was the effort required to enter all your passwords into the password manager.

[...] People also fear they will lose all their passwords if they forget their master password.

Original Submission

Eratosthenes writes:

'Great Dimming' of Betelgeuse star is solved

[...] Two ideas were dominant. Perhaps there was a large cool spot on the surface of the star, because red supergiants like Betelgeuse are known to have very large convective cells that can cause hot spots and cold spots. Or maybe there was a cloud of dust forming right in front of the star as viewed from Earth.

The explanation turns out to be "a bit of both", says colleague Emily Cannon from KU (Katholieke Universiteit) Leuven in Belgium.

"Our overall idea is that there was a cool spot on the star which, because of the local drop in temperature, then caused gas ejected previously to condense into dust," she told BBC News.

Also at Ars Technica, c|net, and CNN.

Journal Reference:
M. Montargès, E. Cannon, E. Lagadec, et al. A dusty veil shading Betelgeuse during its Great Dimming. Nature, 2021; 594 (7863): 365 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03546-8

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

World Bank slams bitcoin, declines to help El Salvador's cryptocurrency plan:

Last week, El Salvador's government passed a law to accept bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar. The country receives $6 billion in remittances per year—nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product—and the hope is that bitcoin's lower transaction costs could boost that amount by a few percentage points.

The move was first proposed by the country's president, Nayib Bukele, who said he hoped that in addition to facilitating lower remittance fees, the bitcoin plan would attract investment and provide an avenue for savings for residents, about 70 percent of whom are unbanked. (What Bukele didn't say, but what Bloomberg has reported, is that he and members of his political party have owned bitcoin for years.)

Original Submission

MostCynical writes:

Channel 9 Australia and the Guardian are reporting major outages of several banks in Australia.

Outages are being reported by CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac and St George customers, according to DownDetector.

Virgin Australia has also been affected by the outage.

Twitter users are suggesting that Hosting and CDN provider Akamai is the company experiencing the issues and outages this afternoon. This is a global problem, of course the timezone makes it worst for us.

There is no official word from any impacted banks as to the root cause.

Additional coverage at Reuters and the BBC

Original Submission