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upstart and fx_68 write:

NSA Awards Secret $10 Billion Contract to Amazon:

The National Security Agency has awarded a secret cloud computing contract worth up to $10 billion to Amazon Web Services, Nextgov has learned.

The contract is already being challenged. Tech giant Microsoft filed a bid protest on July 21 with the Government Accountability Office two weeks after being notified by the NSA that it had selected AWS for the contract.

The contract's code name is "WildandStormy," according to protest filings, and it represents the second multibillion-dollar cloud contract the U.S. intelligence community—made up of 17 agencies, including the NSA—has awarded in the past year.

In November, the CIA awarded its C2E contract, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars, to five companies—AWS, Microsoft, Google, Oracle and IBM—that will compete for specific task orders for certain intelligence needs.

Details on the NSA's newly awarded cloud contract are sparse, but the acquisition appears to be part of the NSA's attempt to modernize its primary classified data repository, the Intelligence Community GovCloud.

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upstart writes:

Hackers steal $600m in major cryptocurrency heist:

Hackers have stolen some $600m (£433m) in what appears to be one the largest cryptocurrency heists ever.

Blockchain site Poly Network said hackers had exploited a vulnerability in its system and taken thousands of digital tokens such as Ether.

In a letter posted on Twitter, it urged the thieves to "establish communication and return the hacked assets".

In scale, the hack is on par with huge recent breaches at exchanges such as Coincheck and Mt Gox.

In its letter Poly Network said: "The amount of money you have hacked is one of the biggest in defi [decentralised finance] history. "Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued. "The money you stole are [sic] from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people."

[...] About $267m of Ether currency has been taken, $252m of Binance coins and roughly $85 million in USDC tokens.

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upstart writes:

Long-lasting immune abnormalities detected in recovered COVID-19 patients:

Eighteen months into this global pandemic researchers are increasingly investigating the long-lasting effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Dubbed "long COVID", growing numbers of patients are reporting persistent symptoms lingering for months following the acute disease.

The Australian research is following 69 recovered COVID-19 patients, the majority of whom (47) only suffered from mild disease. Because of Australia's unique position in the world, having temporarily eliminated the virus from certain regions, the ongoing project can track long-term immune responses to an infection without worrying about re-infection or vaccination status.

This new study, not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, outlines the effects of an infection on the peripheral immune system in the six months after initial recovery. Blood samples were taken from each subject at three points in the six-month study.

The researchers investigated levels of around 130 different immune cells, as well as tracking antibody responses and measuring the expression of thousands of different genes relating to immune functions.

stormwyrm writes:

Archaeologists excavating the site of ancient Troy at Hisarlik in Turkey have found pieces of wood in strange form that they suspect might be the remains of the legendary Trojan Horse. The wooden pieces fit the descriptions of the Trojan Horse in Virgil's Aeneid (the most detailed description; it actually isn't mentioned at all in Homer's Illiad which cuts out before the Trojan War ends, and is only briefly alluded to in the Odyssey) and other classical writers. The pieces date from the 12th to 11th centuries BCE, the approximate date of the Trojan War. From the Greek Reporter:

Turkish archaeologists claim they have found what they believe are pieces of the Trojan Horse. According to a report by newsit.gr, Turkish archaeologists excavating the site of the historical city of Troy on the hills of Hisarlik have unearthed a large wooden structure. Historians and archaeologists think what they have discovered are remains of the legendary Trojan Horse.

The excavations brought to light dozens of fir planks and beams up to 15 meters (49 feet) long. The remnants were assembled in a strange form, that led the experts to suspect they belong to the Trojan Horse. The wooden structure was inside the walls of the ancient city of Troy.

Wikipedia.

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DannyB writes:

Elon Musk offers for SpaceX to make NASA spacesuits, after watchdog says program to cost $1 billion:

NASA has spent over $420 million on spacesuit development since 2007 but, even with another $625 million in spending planned, the Inspector General report found that the spacesuits for the agency's lunar missions will "not be ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest."

Elon Musk offered SpaceX's services to help NASA make its next-generation spacesuits, after a watchdog report on Tuesday said the agency's current program is behind schedule and will cost over $1 billion.

"SpaceX could do it if need be," Musk wrote in a tweet.

[...] Musk's proposal came in response to a report by NASA's Inspector General – which is the investigative office which audits the agency for fraud and mismanagement – on the work being done to develop a new line of Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU), which are informally called spacesuits.

Astronauts on board the International Space Station use spacesuits "designed 45 years ago for the Space Shuttle" program, the report noted. IG also highlighted that those spacesuits have been "refurbished and partially redesigned" over the past decades to continue working.

[...] The spacesuits have a multitude of different components, which the Inspector General noted are supplied by 27 different companies. That's a point Musk also highlighted, saying in a tweet that it "seems like too many cooks in the kitchen."

See also: Elon Musk offers to make moon spacesuits as report calls out NASA lunar delays

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upstart writes:

Smoke from Siberia wildfires reaches north pole in historic first:

Smoke from raging forest fires in Siberia has reached the north pole for the first time in recorded history, as a Russian monitoring institute warned the blazes were worsening.

Devastating wildfires have ripped across Siberia with increasing regularity over the past few years, which Russia's weather officials and environmentalists have linked to climate change and an underfunded forest service.

[...] On Saturday, the US space agency Nasa said its satellite images showed wildfire smoke travelling "more than 3,000km (1,800 miles) from Yakutia to reach the north pole", calling it "a first in recorded history". It added that on 6 August most of Russia was covered in smoke.

Environmentalists blame the authorities for letting large areas burn every year under a law that allows them not to intervene if the cost of fighting fires is greater than the damage caused or if they do not affect inhabited areas.

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upstart writes:

Artificial Intelligence may diagnose dementia in a day:

Scientists are testing an artificial-intelligence system thought to be capable of diagnosing dementia after a single brain scan. It may also be able to predict whether the condition will remain stable for many years, slowly deteriorate or need immediate treatment. Currently, it can take several scans and tests to diagnose dementia.

The researchers involved say earlier diagnoses with their system could greatly improve patient outcomes.

"If we intervene early, the treatments can kick in early and slow down the progression of the disease and at the same time avoid more damage," Prof Zoe Kourtzi, of Cambridge University and a fellow of national centre for AI and data science The Alan Turing Institute, said. "And it's likely that symptoms occur much later in life or may never occur."

Prof Kourtzi's system compares brain scans of those worried they might have dementia with those of thousands of dementia patients and their relevant medical records. The algorithm can identify patterns in the scans even expert neurologists cannot see and match them to patient outcomes in its database.

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upstart writes:

Bayer loses appeal of ruling that its weed killer causes cancer:

Bayer AG's Roundup woes deepened as it lost another appeal of a jury verdict finding its weed killer causes cancer, the company's third consecutive appeals court loss of the cases that have gone to trial.

A California appeals court in San Francisco refused to overturn the 2019 verdict in which a jury awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed they fell ill after using the herbicide for more than three decades. It was the eighth-largest product-defect award in U.S. history. The appeals court left intact the trial judge's decision to reduce the award to $86.7 million.

The decision comes after Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer recently set aside an additional $4.5 billion to deal with thousands of Roundup suits, bringing its reserves for the cases to more than $16 billion. The company also said its Monsanto unit will pull the current version of Roundup off the U.S. consumer lawn and garden market in 2023.

The drugs and chemicals giant inherited the legal storm over Roundup with its $63 billion takeover of St. Louis-based Monsanto in 2018, a deal spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann early in his tenure. Monsanto started manufacturing Roundup in the 1970s.

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upstart writes:

NASA, DOE fund three nuclear thermal space propulsion concepts:

Nuclear-powered spaceships for fast trips to Mars may now be one step closer to reality.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have teamed up to fund three design concepts for reactors that could become part of a nuclear thermal propulsion system, a next-generation technology that could make the exploration of deep space faster and more efficient.

For example, a spacecraft powered by a nuclear thermal rocket could potentially get to Mars in just three to four months, experts say — about half the time required using traditional chemical rockets.

[...] The three companies that received contracts are Virginia-based BWX Technologies, Inc., which will work with Lockheed Martin on the project; General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems of San Diego, which will partner with X-energy LLC and Aerojet Rocketdyne; and Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies, whose partners are Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, Blue Origin, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy, General Electric Research, Framatome and Materion.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

New “Glowworm attack” recovers audio from devices’ power LEDs:

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have demonstrated a novel way to spy on electronic conversations. A new paper released today outlines a novel passive form of the TEMPEST attack called Glowworm, which converts minute fluctuations in the intensity of power LEDs on speakers and USB hubs back into the audio signals that caused those fluctuations.

Although the fluctuations in LED signal strength generally aren't perceptible to the naked eye, they're strong enough to be read with a photodiode coupled to a simple optical telescope. The slight flickering of power LED output due to changes in voltage as the speakers consume electrical current are converted into an electrical signal by the photodiode; the electrical signal can then be run through a simple Analog/Digital Converter (ADC) and played back directly.

Researcher's web page which has links to: download the paper, download pictures, and to play test samples and resulting captures.

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aristarchus and fx_68 both bring us news of a slight Perseverence hiccup:

Perseverance fails at first sample collection? At Endgadget

NASA's Perseverance rover just had a rare misstep. The space agency has revealed that the robotic vehicle failed to collect Mars rock samples during its first attempt. While the percussive drill, coring bit and sample tube processing worked "as intended," a probe indicated that the tube was empty — not exactly what scientists were expecting when everything else checked out.

Scientists are still investigating what happened and may not have an answer for a few days. Perseverance project manager Jennifer Trosper said the team suspected the rock might have reacted in an unexpected way during the coring process. The equipment is likely fine, in other words.

The Martian surface has created problems more than once. The Phoenix Lander had trouble gathering "sticky" soil in 2008, for instance, while Curiosity and InSight have also had trouble cracking into rocks and the surface itself.

Of course, there is not yet a mechanism in place to retrieve the tubes, if they managed to get filled. But if at first you do not succeed, practice saves stitching early worms.

And secondly:

NASA's newest Mars rover has come up empty in its first attempt to pick up a rock sample to eventually be brought back to Earth

The rover Perseverance drilled into the floor of the planet's Jezero Crater to extract a finger-sized sample from slabs of flat rocks. The drill seemed to work as intended, but it appeared no rock made it into the sample tube, the agency said Friday.

[...] The next step will be using a camera mounted on a robotic arm to inspect inside the hole "and see what's down there," said NASA project scientist Ken Farley. He said they might see the broken rock core, or might discover the sample had turned to sand. "The rock properties might be different than[sic] we expected," he said.

[...] NASA aims to collect up to 31 samples in tubes and stash them for pickup in about a decade. Plans call for the samples to be brought to Earth in the early 2030s in another mission with the European Space Agency.

Full story: https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/mars-rover-empty-1st-rock-sample-79326299

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upstart writes:

Japanese Scientists Tried Mailing Freeze-Dried Mouse Sperm on a Postcard – Here's What They Discovered:

Scientists no longer have to worry about their bottles of mouse sperm breaking in transit.

[...] "When I developed this method for preserving mouse sperm by freeze-drying it on a sheet, I thought that it should be able to be mailed on a postcard, and so when offspring were actually born after being mailed, I was very impressed," says first author Daiyu Ito of the University of Yamanashi in Japan. "The postcard strategy was easier and cheaper compared to any other method.

[...] Ito is part of Teruhiko Wakayama's lab, which had previously been the first team to succeed in freeze-drying and preserving mammalian sperm, which they sent to the space station to study the effects of space radiation on baby mice. The sperm was originally preserved in a glass ampule, which is a bottle made of glass; although these bottles were small, they were quite bulky and broke easily, rendering the sperm they carried unusable. The team needed large volumes of mouse sperm for their research in space, but because cushions had to be used to prevent breakage during the rocket launch, they could only carry a small amount.

Thus, with these setbacks in mind, the lab began its search for a new preservation method—one that didn't break or require much preservation space. Plastic sheets were the best fit because they were compact and wouldn't break. But the sheets were toxic for the sperm, so the team tried and failed as they tested various materials to go inside the plastic sheets. Finally, the researchers discovered that weighing paper was the easiest to handle and had the highest offspring rate.

Journal Reference:
Daiyu Ito, Sayaka Wakayama, Rina Emura, et al. Mailing viable mouse freeze-dried spermatozoa on postcards. iScience, 2021; 102815 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102815

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takyon writes:

Desktop and All-in-One Arm Linux computers launched with Baikal-M processor

The last time we wrote news about Baikal Electronics, the Russian company was offering MIPS-based processors, but they've now announced that several iRU-branded desktops and one all-in-one computer had been introduced with Baikal-M octa-core Cortex-A57 processor with Mali-T628 GPU, and support for up to 32GB DDR4 RAM, up to 3TB HDD.

The computers target the Russian market, especially business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) customers, with the use of Astra Linux distribution that contains Russian "data protection tools" such as ViPNet SafeBoot, PAK Sobol, and others.

[...] The all-in-one version of the computer pretty much has the same features with up to 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 3TB HDD, and a 23.8-inch IPS display with Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution.

Related:
Linux-Based, MIPS-Powered Russian All-in-One PC Launched
Programming Guide for Russia's "28nm" Elbrus-8CB CPU Published
Russia to Build RISC-V Processors for Laptops: 8-core, 2 GHz, 12nm, 2025

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upstart writes:

Tesla Claims 92% Battery Cell Material Recovery In New Recycling Process - Electrek:

For years now, Tesla has been working with third-party recyclers to recover materials from their end-of-life battery packs.

But the automaker has also been working on its own “unique battery recycling system.“

Today, with the release of its 2020 Impact Report, Tesla released more details on its battery recycling effort.

Tesla confirmed that the first phase of its own battery cell recycling facility was deployed late last year:

“In the fourth quarter of 2020, Tesla successfully installed the first phase of our cell recycling facility at Gigafactory Nevada for in-house processing of both battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. While Tesla has worked for years with third-party battery recyclers to ensure our batteries do not end up in a landfill, we understand the importance of also building recycling capacity in-house to supplement these relationships. Onsite recycling brings us one step closer to closing the loop on materials generation, allowing for raw material transfer straight to our nickel and cobalt suppliers. The facility unlocks the cycle of innovation for battery recycling at scale, allowing Tesla to rapidly improve current designs through operational learnings and to perform process testing of R&D products.”

The automaker shared a chart showing that it can recover over 92% of raw battery materials:

[...] The company says that it had 1,300 tons of nickel, 400 tons of copper, and 80 tons of cobalt recycled in 2020.

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upstart writes:

Anti-Piracy Firm Asks Google to Block 127.0.0.1 * TorrentFreak:

The fact that “infringing sites” show up in search results has become a source of frustration. As a result, Google and other search engines are facing a steady stream of DMCA takedown notices.

Google alone has processed more than five billion takedown requests and millions of new URLs are reported every week. While the majority of these correctly point to problematic links, there are plenty of mistakes too.

[...] This week we saw yet another problematic DMCA notice, which is perhaps even worse. TV channel TRK Ukraine asked Google to remove content hosted on the IP-address 127.0.0.1, which is the localhost of a device or server.

The request was sent by TKR’s anti-piracy partner Vindex, which essentially flagged a file on its own machine. The ‘infringing’ link is 127.0.0.1:6878/ace/manifest.m3u. This points to a playlist file, possibly for the P2P streaming platform Ace Stream that’s often used to pirate content.

[...] Since 127.0.0.1 refers to the host computer, Google is technically asked to remove a file from [Vindex’s] servers.

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