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upstart writes:

A fridge-size asteroid skimmed Earth this week in the third-closest fly-by ever:

A sneaky space rock sped by Antarctica on Sunday without any advance warning and narrowly avoided being fully incinerated by Earth's atmosphere.

Asteroid 2021 UA1 goes down as the third-closest fly-by of our planet by a near-Earth object that didn't end in an impact. The cosmic boulder is estimated to be about two meters (6.6 feet) in diameter, the size of a large appliance or a golf cart.

[...] 2021 UA1 passed over Antarctica on Sunday evening Pacific time at an altitude of about 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers). That's higher than where the International Space Station orbits but significantly closer than the ring of large communications satellites in geostationary orbit.

[...] 2021 UA approached us from the direction of the sun -- just like the Chelyabinsk bolide[*], which was undetected before impact -- making it impossible for astronomers to spot ahead of time. Upcoming missions like NASA's NEO Surveyor are designed to eliminate this blind spot.

[*] Chelyabinsk meteor on Wikipedia.

Also at minorplanetcenter.net and Wikipedia.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Air-gapped networks are wired with Ethernet cables since wireless connections are strictly prohibited.

In this paper we present LANTENNA - a new type of electromagnetic attack allowing adversaries to leak sensitive data from isolated, air-gapped networks. Malicious code in air-gapped computers gathers sensitive data and then encodes it over radio waves emanating from the Ethernet cables, using them as antennas. A nearby receiving device can intercept the signals wirelessly, decode the data, and send it to the attacker. We discuss the exfiltration techniques, examine the covert channel characteristics, and provide implementation details. Notably, the malicious code can run in an ordinary user-mode process and successfully operate from within a virtual machine. We evaluate the covert channel in different scenarios and present a set of countermeasures. Our experiments show that with the LANTENNA attack, data can be exfiltrated from air-gapped computers to a distance of several meters away.

See LANtenna hack spies on your data from across the room! (Sort of) for a well-written (albeit a bit long) expansion of the report as well as some effective counter-measures.

Journal Reference:
Mordechai Guri. LANTENNA: Exfiltrating Data from Air-Gapped Networks via Ethernet Cables, (DOI: 10.1109/COMPSAC51774.2021.00106)

Original Submission

Intel Targeting Zettascale (1000 Exaflops) by 2027?

takyon writes:

'We will not rest until the periodic table is exhausted' says Intel CEO on quest to keep Moore's Law alive

[Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger] showed a chart tracking the semiconductor giant progressing along a trend line to 1 trillion transistors per device by 2030. "Today we are predicting that we will maintain or even go faster than Moore's law for the next decade,"[*] Gelsinger said.

[...] In a Q&A session after his keynote, Gelsinger revealed that achieving zettascale computing using Intel technology "in 2027 is a huge internal initiative."

Intel Aims For Zettaflops By 2027, Pushes Aurora Above 2 Exaflops

"But to me, the other thing that's really exciting in the space is our Zetta Initiative, where we have said we are going to be the first to zettascale by a wide margin," Gelsinger told The Next Platform. "And we are laying out as part of the Zetta Initiative what we have to do in the processor, in the fabric, in the interconnect, and in the memory architecture — what we have to do for the accelerators, and the software architecture to do it. So, zettascale in 2027 is a huge internal initiative that is going to bring many of our technologies together. 1,000X in five years? That's pretty phenomenal."

[...] If you built a zettaflops Aurora machine today, assuming all of the information that we have is correct, it would take 411.5X as many nodes to do the job. So, that would be somewhere around 3.7 million nodes with 7.4 million CPUs and 22.2 million GPUs burning a mind-sizzling 24.7 gigawatts. Yes, gigawatts. Clearly, we are going to need some serious Moore's Law effects in transistors and packaging.

upstart writes:

Chicago Car Thieves Now Target Locksmiths For Key Fobs And Programming Devices:

Robbers are targeting locksmiths and their fob programmers. Detectives issued an alert about two incidents and another one that happened just five days ago.

[...] Michael Payton talked about how a mobile locksmith was feeling after he was held at gunpoint near 38th and Wabash five days ago. Payton said the locksmith told him something strange.

"Someone called and said their keys were locked inside the car and when he got there, they pulled out weapons and took whatever property, equipment he had in the vehicle," Payton said.

The locksmith was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. The robbery is similar to two others involving mobile locksmiths. Police said in each case, the victims were responding to requests to reprogram vehicle keys.

When they arrived, they were surrounded by two to four armed men, then their vehicle reprogramming devices and key fobs were taken.

See also: Car thieves target Milwaukee locksmiths to steal key fob programmer

upstart writes:

Emergency Google Chrome update fixes zero-days used in attacks:

Google has released Chrome 95.0.4638.69 for Windows, Mac, and Linux to fix two zero-day vulnerabilities that attackers have actively exploited.

"Google is aware that exploits for CVE-2021-38000 and CVE-2021-38003 exist in the wild," Google disclosed in the list of security fixes in today's Google Chrome release.

upstart writes:

All Windows versions impacted by new LPE zero-day vulnerability:

looorg writes:

Facebook is changing its name to Meta as it focuses on the virtual world

Facebook is now a meta product.

I'm not certain which name is worse; meta or alphabet

I doubt it will wash away the stink, people will still refer to it as Facebook just as everyone just appear to call all things google related to alphabet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/28/facebook-meta-name-change/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/28/facebook-changes-company-name-to-meta.html

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Is a master's in computer science worth it? A consideration checklist:

A computer science master's degree could help you meet your career and salary goals. Read on to learn if it's right for you and how to choose a program.

While a computer science master's degree opens personal and professional opportunities, it may not be a good fit for everyone.

A master's degree in computer science incorporates theoretical content and practical activities and builds on existing knowledge and skills. Most computer science master's degree students have a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field.

With a master's degree, computer science professionals can advance to managerial and leadership roles. A master's in computer science also allows for increased specialization within the larger discipline.

Here are some things to consider while you determine if a master's in computer science is right for you and find the best one to meet your needs.

takyon writes:

NASA wants to buy SLS rockets at half price, fly them into the 2050s

NASA has asked the US aerospace industry how it would go about "maximizing the long-term efficiency and sustainability" of the Space Launch System rocket and its associated ground systems.

[...] In its request NASA says it would like to fly the SLS rocket for "30 years or more" as a national capability. Moreover, the agency wants the rocket to become a "sustainable and affordable system for moving humans and large cargo payloads to cislunar and deep-space destinations."

[...] Among the rocket's chief architects was then-Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who steered billions of dollars to Kennedy Space Center in his home state for upgraded ground systems equipment to support the rocket. Back in 2011, he proudly said the rocket would be delivered on time and on budget.

"This rocket is coming in at the cost of... not only what we estimated in the NASA Authorization act, but less," Nelson said at the time. "The cost of the rocket over a five- to six-year period in the NASA authorization bill was to be no more than $11.5 billion. This costs $10 billion for the rocket." Later, he went further, saying, "If we can't do a rocket for $11.5 billion, we ought to close up shop."

After more than 10 years, and more than $30 billion spent on the rocket and its ground systems, NASA has not closed up shop. Rather, Nelson has ascended to become the space agency's administrator.

Previously:

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

Artemis Program Requires More Cash to Reach Moon by 2024; SLS Could Cost 1,000x More Than Starship
NASA OIG: Tell Congress that Moon Rocket is Over Budget and Behind Schedule
NASA Spent a Decade and Nearly $1 Billion for a Single Launch Tower
NASA Will Pay a Staggering $146 Million for Each SLS Rocket Engine
Charlie Bolden Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: SLS Rocket Will Go Away
NASA Lays out $28 Billion Plan to Return Astronauts to the Moon in 2024
NASA SLS Megarocket Shortage Causes Tug-of-war Between Moon Missions, Europa Exploration
SLS: Nasa 'Megarocket' Assembly Begins in Florida
NASA's Europa Clipper has been Liberated from the Space Launch System
After a Decade, NASA's Big Rocket Fails its First Real Test
NASA's Massive Artemis Moon Rocket Set for Second Hot Fire Test Today 1500 EDT (1900 UTC)
NASA Has Begun a Study of the SLS Rocket's Affordability [Updated]
COVID-19 Pandemic Estimated to Cost NASA $3 Billion

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Neutrino result heralds new chapter in physics:

Current theories suggest that, shortly after the Big Bang, there were equal amounts of matter and its shadowy mirror-image anti-matter. However, when matter collides with anti-matter, they violently annihilate each other, releasing energy. If there were equal amounts in the early Universe, they should have cancelled each other out.

Instead, most of the Universe today is made of matter, with much smaller amounts of anti-matter.

Some scientists believe that, contained within the neutrino's flavour-changing, is the cosmic sleight-of-hand that enabled some matter to survive after the Big Bang and create the planets, stars and galaxies that make up the Universe.

In the 1990s, an experiment called the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector experiment at the US Department for Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico saw the production of more electron neutrinos than could be explained by the three-neutrino flavour-flipping theory. That result was confirmed by a separate experiment in 2002.

Physicists proposed the existence of a fourth flavour called the sterile neutrino. They believed this form of the particle could explain the over-production of electron neutrinos and, crucially, give an insight into why the particles change flavour.

chromas writes:

Microsoft now rolling out Windows 11 to more eligible devices:

Microsoft is now rolling out the Windows 11 upgrade to more eligible Windows devices as part of a phased rollout designed to deliver a smooth upgrade experience.

"The availability of Windows 11 has been increased and we are leveraging our latest generation machine learning model to offer the upgrade to an expanded set of eligible devices," Microsoft said in an update to the Windows health dashboard.

[...] Windows 10 users can upgrade to Windows 11 via Windows Update as long as their computers come with compatible hardware.

To install Windows 11 on eligible devices, they also need to run Windows 10 2004 and later and have installed at least the September 2021 updates.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New product: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W on sale now at $15

Priced at $15, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W uses the same Broadcom BCM2710A1 SoC die as the launch version of Raspberry Pi 3, with Arm cores slightly down-clocked to 1GHz, bundled into a single space-saving package alongside 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM. The exact performance uplift over Zero varies across workloads, but for multi-threaded sysbench it is almost exactly five times faster.

[...] Next to the large RP3A0 package, you'll find a large metal shield can, which covers the wireless circuitry on the board and protects it from external interference. Like all Raspberry Pi products since 3B+, Zero 2 W has FCC modular certification, which reduces the compliance workload involved in incorporating it into an end product.

The VideoCore IV GPU is unchanged, as is the 512 MB RAM capacity of the original Zero. The wireless chipset may be improved slightly from its new design, and Bluetooth 4.2 is supported. A 5V/2.5A power supply is recommended.

Also at CNX Software and The Register.

Related: Radxa Zero: Raspberry Pi Zero W on Steroids

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Is the air we're breathing reducing sperm counts? Scientists think so:

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have shown how air pollution reduces sperm count in mice, by causing inflammation in the brain.

[...] The whole team of researchers, composed of Ying, Lianglin Qiu, Minjie Chen, Xiaoke Wang and Sufang Chen, tested healthy mice and mice bred without a marker of inflammation in the brain called Inhibitor Kappa B Kinase 2, or IKK2.

Exposing both healthy and IKK2 mutant mice to polluted air, they observed the effects and then tested their sperm counts.

The outcome was clear: the mice bred without the IKK2 inflammation marker in their neurons did not see any reduction in their sperm counts, unlike the healthy mice.

As a second step in the study, the researchers then removed IKK2 markers from specific neurons in order to determine more precisely how air pollution was leading to lower sperm counts.

They found that one specific kind of neuron typically associated with the sleep cycle and obesity was responsible for the reduced sperm count due to air pollution.

These neurons are typically found in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain which controls hunger, thirst, and sex drive.

The hypothalamus also works with the brain’s pituitary gland, which makes hormones that communicate directly with reproductive organs.

Journal Reference:
Lianglin Qiu, Minjie Chen, Xiaoke Wang, et al. PM2.5 Exposure of Mice during Spermatogenesis: A Role of Inhibitor κB Kinase 2 in Pro-Opiomelanocortin Neurons, Environmental Health Perspectives (DOI: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP8868)

Original Submission

dalek writes:

As expected, the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recommended to amend the emergency use authorization for Comirnaty, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, for use by children of ages 5 to 11. The vote was 17-0 with one committee member abstaining. The committee was concerned about the possible side effect of myocarditis in children and the lack of data about its frequency. However, the committee decided the benefits from vaccination outweighed possible safety risks. This is based on a clinical trial involving 2,268 children, of which two-thirds were given the vaccine while the other third was given a placebo. During the clinical trial, 16 children who received the placebo developed COVID-19 compared with three children who were vaccined and became symptomatic with COVID-19, which is an efficacy of 91% at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

Some committee members expressed concern that the clinical trial was too small to properly quantify the risks of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart. Children will receive two doses spaced three weeks apart, each containing 10 micrograms of mRNA, which is a third of the dosage given to adults. Here is the briefing document submitted to VRBPAC by Pfizer containing results of the clinical trials of Comirnaty in young children. The document specifically notes that myocarditis is associated with COVID-19 in children:

takyon writes:

Intel 12th Gen Core Alder Lake for Desktops: Top SKUs Only, Coming November 4th

The first things we'll go into are the new CPUs that Intel is announcing today: the overclockable models of Intel 12th Gen Core. As with previous launches, we have Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5, with the key highlights including new support for DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, new overclocking features, and a change in how Intel is promoting its Thermal Design Power (TDP).[*]

Each processor has a number of performance cores (P-cores) and efficiency cores (E-cores). The P-cores have SMT, whereas the E-cores do not, so we're dealing with non-standard numbers of total threads. Inside the system, the P-core threads, E-core threads, and SMT threads are categorized for performance and efficiency, which we'll get to later in the article. But with a new hybrid design also comes with new ways to showcase frequencies, and each set of cores will have its own base frequency and turbo frequency. The way power is marketed and used has also changed, designed to be clearer.

All processors will come with 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 from the processor, and an additional 4 lanes of PCIe 4.0 for storage. Memory support is listed as both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200, although systems will only support one or the other, for a maximum of 128 GB. The K processors also feature 32 EUs of Intel's Xe-LP graphics, designated as UHD Graphics 770. Prices will start at $264 for the base Core i5 model, up to $589 for the top Core i9 model.

[*] This is the table:

gsomlo writes:

Missing hiker ignored calls from rescuers because it was an unknown number:

Lake County Search and Rescue [(LCSAR)] says it got a report last week that a hiker hadn't returned from a hike on Mount Elbert. The hiker had set out at 9 a.m. on October 18 and wasn't back at 8 p.m., LCSAR said in a post on its Facebook page.

Rescuers tried to call the person's cell phone multiple times, but weren't able to reach them.

Five LCSAR team members looked for the hiker in areas where people tend to get lost, but called off the search at 3 a.m. A three-person search team checked another area at 7 a.m.

They got a call at about 9:30 a.m. that the hiker, who was not identified, had returned to where they were staying.

The hiker had no idea that rescuers were looking for them, the post said.

"One notable take-away is that the subject ignored repeated phone calls from us because they didn't recognize the number," LCSAR wrote. "If you're overdue according to your itinerary, and you start getting repeated calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone; it may be a SAR team trying to confirm you're safe!"

Umm, ok, but why not leave a message if the callee doesn't answer? :)

Original Submission