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hubie writes:

Probably not the most profound of results, but this Scientific Reports paper is interesting nonetheless.

Abstract
Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedia ever created, is a global initiative driven by volunteer contributions. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and mobility restrictions ensued across the globe, it was unclear whether contributions to Wikipedia would decrease in the face of the pandemic, or whether volunteers would withstand the added stress and increase their contributions to accommodate the growing readership uncovered in recent studies. We analyze 223 million edits contributed from 2018 to 2020 across twelve Wikipedia language editions and find that Wikipedia's global volunteer community responded resiliently to the pandemic, substantially increasing both productivity and the number of newcomers who joined the community. For example, contributions to the English Wikipedia increased by over 20% compared to the expectation derived from pre-pandemic data. Our work sheds light on the response of a global volunteer population to the COVID-19 crisis, providing valuable insights into the behavior of critical online communities under stress.

How much time did you volunteer to Wikipedia or any other project during the pandemic?

Journal Reference:
Thorsten Ruprechter, Manoel Horta Ribeiro, Tiago Santos, et al. Volunteer contributions to Wikipedia increased during COVID-19 mobility restrictions [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00789-3)

Original Submission

driverless writes:

Canon have just unveiled their entry for the Worst Idea in Tech competition for 2021, an AI-camera that watches you 24/7 and streams anything it thinks is interesting.

Canon Unveils its First Smart Camera set to Transform how Families Photograph :

Canon Europe today introduces the PowerShot PX, a small, smart and friendly camera, which automatically captures high-quality 11.7MP images and 60p Full HD video. Part of Canon's continued commitment to redefining imaging technology, the PowerShot PX's smart features such as automatic capture of still imagery and video are set to reimagine how families capture memories.

[...] With automatic capture and priority shooting, the PowerShot PX is an innovative addition to the home that complements photographers' existing cameras, and a shining example of Canon's technology algorithm and the forward-thinking features constantly being added to its product line-up.

Here's granddad picking his nose! Here's dad scratching his butt! Here's [use your imagination] ...

Not to mention what will happen with the inevitable vulnerabilities that get disclosed that allow any random stranger to get AI-chosen video sequences of your children.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Pushing renewable power immediately could save trillions in health costs:

The use of fossil fuels comes with a wide variety of externalized costs. The big focus tends to be on the carbon dioxide fossil fuel produces and its role in warming the climate. But fossil fuels also cause environmental damage when they're extracted, and burning them produces particulate pollution and ozone. Those substances have downstream effects on human health and agriculture. If all of these costs were included in the price of fossil fuels, then alternatives would be far more competitive.

There have been numerous attempts over the years to quantify these externalized costs. Some look at the issue from a purely economic perspective, and others look at efforts to inform policy. These efforts tend to be based on our best understanding at the time; however, as our knowledge improves, the figures can be worth revisiting. That's exactly what's been done by a team of researchers at Columbia and Duke Universities who use current climate scenarios and updated health data.

The researchers' results say that, even if you ignore the climate benefits, moving away from fossil fuels rapidly would lead to benefits that, in the US alone, can add up to trillions of dollars before the century is over.

upstart writes:

Better diabetes treatment: New insulin molecule can self-regulate blood sugar:

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and biotech firm Gubra have developed a new insulin molecule that, in the future, will ensure that diabetics receive just the right amount of insulin.

The insulin on the market today is unable to identify whether a patient with type 1 diabetes needs a small or large effect from the insulin, which lowers blood sugar.

"That is why we have developed the first step towards a kind of insulin that can self-adjust according to a patient's blood sugar level. This has tremendous potential to vastly improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes," explains Professor Knud J. Jensen, of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Chemistry, one of the researchers behind a new study on this new insulin.

The researchers behind the study developed a type of insulin with a built-in molecular-binding that can sense how much blood sugar is in the body. As blood sugar rises, the molecule becomes more active and releases more insulin. As blood sugar drops, less is released.

"The molecule constantly releases a small amount of insulin, but varies according to need," says Knud J. Jensen, who continues:

[...] "The difficult thing with diabetes is that insulin always works the same way. It lowers blood sugar, even though that might not be what a patient requires. This is what we seek to address with our new molecule."

Journal Reference:
Karin Mannerstedt, Narendra Kumar Mishra, Ebbe Engholm, et al. An Aldehyde Responsive, Cleavable Linker for Glucose Responsive Insulins, Chemistry – A European Journal (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202004878)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Hubble remains in safe mode after latest glitch - SpaceNews:

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, offline for more than a week because of an issue with its instruments, is likely to remain out of service for another week as engineers investigate the problem.

Hubble's science instruments went into a safe mode early Oct. 25 after they issued error codes indicating the loss of "synchronization messages," which provide timing information used by the instruments. The safe mode stopped scientific operations of the telescope, although the instruments themselves, and the rest of the spacecraft, are in good health.

This was not the first time a problem with synchronization messages affected Hubble. Two days earlier, instruments also issued error codes because of a loss of a specific synchronization message, NASA said in a Nov. 1 statement. Controllers reset the instruments and science operations resumed the next day.

[...] Despite these problems, astronomers remain hopeful that Hubble can remain operations through much of the decade. At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in early June, officials with the Space Telescope Science Institute said they were working on initiatives to extend the life of the telescope and its instruments to as late as 2030.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Talk-to-tilt: head tilting in dogs:

Several animals, including humans, present an asymmetry in the way they move or perceive the environment through their senses. For instance, one can prefer an ear or an eye over the other, when processing a vocal signal or an image. In dogs, these asymmetries manifest in behaviours such as tail wagging, nostril use while sniffing, or even paw preference when trying to grasp something out of their reach. Lateralization is also present in brain functioning.

“Tilting the head is yet another asymmetrical movement in dogs, but it had never been studied. We investigated the frequency and direction of this behaviour in response to a specific human verbal vocalization: when the owner asks the dog to bring a toy by saying its name. We did so after realizing that it often happened when the dogs were listening to their owners” explains Dr. Andrea Sommese, lead researcher for this study, from the Family Dog Project, at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

The researchers analysed the videos collected during a previous study which showed that not every dog could learn toy names after 3 months of intensive training. The test was fairly easy to execute: the toys were placed in one room and the owner in another, together with the experimenter. In each trial, the owner asked the dog to fetch a specific toy by saying its name.

DannyB writes:

As teens left Facebook, company planned to lure 6-year-olds, documents show:

Internal posts and job listings show plans were moving forward.

[...] Even before investigations revealed that the company's products were destroying teens' mental health, interest in its flagship product was dropping off a cliff. Since 2019, teen usage of the app has declined by 13 percent, and over the next two years, it's expected to drop another 45 percent.

"Aging up is a real issue" a researcher wrote in an internal memo revealed last week. Perhaps that's why Facebook was considering new products targeted at children as young as six years old, according to a new document handed over to Congress by whistleblower Frances Haugen.

[...] "For many of our products, we historically haven't designed for under 13 (with the exception of Messenger Kids) and the experiences built for those over 13 didn't recognize distinctive maturity levels across the age spectrum."

[...] Two years ago, though, a bug in the Messenger for Kids app allowed users to create group chats with unauthorized users. It took Facebook nearly a year to discover the bug, and it patched it the next day. Parents weren't notified for another month, though.

In the wake of the disclosure, Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed Facebook on whether the company was violating COPPA. Kevin Martin, Facebook's vice president of public policy, replied saying that it takes children's privacy seriously and that the company thinks the app complies with COPPA.

Yet the senators weren't entirely convinced by Martin's letter. [...]

Long ago the biggest complaint about corporations and kids was the ads on Saturday morning cartoons.

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

NASA Delays SpaceX Launch Due to "Medical Issue":

"The issue is not a medical emergency and not related to COVID-19."

SpaceX's fourth crewed launch to the International Space Station on board a Crew Dragon spacecraft had to be delayed yet again — this time due to a medical issue.

The mission, dubbed Crew-3, was initially slated for Sunday, but has been pushed to no earlier than Saturday. The launch was already pushed to Wednesday due to "unfavorable" weather over the weekend.

NASA has yet to reveal details regarding the "minor medical issue [...]

SpaceX's Crew-3 astronaut launch for NASA delayed by 'minor medical issue':

NASA did not identify which crewmember is experiencing the medical issue, nor did it describe the issue in any detail. It's unclear if and when we'll learn much more, given the privacy concerns and considerations surrounding health.

The Crew-3 astronauts remain in quarantine at KSC, agency officials said. This is part of normal prelaunch routine. The Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 "are in good shape and will remain at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy," NASA officials wrote in the update.

[...] The agency is still evaluating dates for the departure of Crew-2 [...]

NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 Launch Delayed from Nov. 3:

Teams will continue to monitor crew health as they evaluate potential launch opportunities at the end of the week. The earliest possible opportunity for launch is 11:36 p.m. EDT Saturday, Nov. 6.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Yahoo pulls out of China over 'challenging' business conditions:

Yahoo has become the latest US tech company to end its presence in mainland China as tougher regulations are imposed there.

The firm said its decision was due to an "increasingly challenging business and legal environment" in the country".

Yahoo users in China are now greeted with a message saying its sites are no longer accessible.

The company says Yahoo products and services remain unaffected elsewhere around the world.

In a statement, it says: "Yahoo remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open internet. We thank our users for their support."

Yahoo's move follows closely behind Microsoft's announcement last month that it was removing LinkedIn - its business-focused social network - from China, something it also blamed on "a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements".

China is in the midst of a large-scale crackdown on big tech companies - both those from the US and its own native giants.

Also at CNN.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

High-Speed Laser Writing Method Could Pack 500 Terabytes of Data into CD-Sized Glass Disc

Researchers have developed a fast and energy-efficient laser-writing method for producing high-density nanostructures in silica glass. These tiny structures can be used for long-term five-dimensional (5D) optical data storage that is more than 10,000 times denser than Blue-Ray optical disc storage technology.

[...] In Optica, Optica Publishing Group's journal for high-impact research, [Yuhao] Lei and colleagues describe their new method for writing data that encompasses two optical dimensions plus three spatial dimensions. The new approach can write at speeds of 1,000,000 voxels per second, which is equivalent to recording about 230 kilobytes of data (more than 100 pages of text) per second.

[...] The researchers used their new method to write 5 gigabytes of text data onto a silica glass disc about the size of a conventional compact disc with nearly 100% readout accuracy. Each voxel contained four bits of information, and every two voxels corresponded to a text character. With the writing density available from the method, the disc would be able to hold 500 terabytes of data. With upgrades to the system that allow parallel writing, the researchers say it should be feasible to write this amount of data in about 60 days.

5 GB / 230 KB/s = ~6 hours
500 TB / 230 KB/s = ~69 years
500 TB / 60 days = ~96.45 MB/s

Funding for the research was provided by the European Research Council (ENIGMA, 789116) and Microsoft (Project Silica).

Also at Guru3D and PetaPixel.

High speed ultrafast laser anisotropic nanostructuring by energy deposition control via near-field enhancement (open, DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.433765) (DX)

Previously: "5D" Laser-Based Polarization Vortex Storage Could Hold Hundreds of Terabytes for Billions of Years (same university, Peter G. Kazansky on both research teams)
Microsoft Stores 75.6 GB on Glass Disc Designed to Last Thousands of Years

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/10/google-fi-is-getting-end-to-end-encrypted-phone-calls/

Google's MVNO cell phone service, Google Fi, is getting a surprise new feature: encrypted phone calls. Encrypted voice chats via messaging apps have been available for a while, but this is the first time we've seen a company hijack the regular phone system for end-to-end encrypted calls. Open the phone app, dial a number, and your call can be encrypted.

End-to-end encryption is not a normal phone standard, so both parties on the call will need to be firmly in the Google Fi ecosystem for the feature to work. Google's description says that "calls between two Android phones on Fi will be secured with end-to-end encryption by default." Google Fi works on the iPhone, too, but given that Google would have to use Apple's default phone app, it can't add encryption.

The Verge adds:

The feature is a little limited in its current form. Google's end-to-end encryption will only kick in for calls between two Android phones, where both users are Google Fi subscribers. So, for now, at least, iPhone Google Fi subscribers won't benefit. Google says you'll know when a call is end-to-end encrypted because it'll play a "unique dial tone" before it connects. There'll also be a lock icon shown on screen if you're making a call using Google's Phone app.

A couple of other things to note: calls made via the Messages by Google app won't be end-to-end encrypted, and it only works on one-on-one calls (so no conference calls). Leaving a voicemail is also not covered. The feature works over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections of LTE or greater, although somewhat confusingly, you turn it off by disabling the "Wi-Fi calling" option in the Google Fi app.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Student Cracks the High-Dimensional Quantum Code – Reveals Hidden Structures of Quantum Entangled States:

Isaac Nape, an emerging South African talent in the study of quantum optics, is part of a crack team of Wits physicists who led an international study that revealed the hidden structures of quantum entangled states. The study was published in the renowned scientific journal, Nature Communications.

Nape is pursuing his PhD at Wits University and focuses on harnessing structured patterns of light for high dimensional information encoding and decoding for use in quantum communication.

Earlier this year he scooped up two awards at the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) conference to add to his growing collection of accolades in the field of optics and photonics. He won the award for 'Best PhD oral presentation in applied physics', and jointly won the award for 'Best PhD oral presentation in photonics'.

In May, he was also awarded the prestigious 2021 Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship from the SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for his potential contributions to the field of optics, photonics or related field.

Now Nape and his colleagues at Wits, together with collaborators from Scotland and Taiwan offer a new and fast tool for quantum computing and communication. "Quantum states that are entangled in many dimensions are key to our emerging quantum technologies, where more dimensions mean a higher quantum bandwidth (faster) and better resilience to noise (security), crucial for both fast and secure communication and speed up in error-free quantum computing.

upstart writes:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/1/22757102/apple-iphone-car-crash-detection-feature-onstar

Apple is reportedly working on a new iPhone and Apple Watch feature that detects if you're in a car crash and dials 911 automatically. The current plan is to roll out such a feature next year, according to The Wall Street Journal [Paywalled].

Google's Personal Safety app on Pixel phones already includes a feature to call for help when it detects car crashes, just like connected car services in modern vehicles do, including GM's OnStar, Subaru's Starlink, and Fiat Chrysler's Uconnect. Many cars on the road today are not equipped with any connectivity features, so getting crash detection on an iPhone too means more drivers can get the help they need in an accident as long as they have one in their pocket or mounted to their dash.

Widely reported, including at:

• https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/apple-iphone-car-crash-automatic-911/
• https://www.engadget.com/apples-i-phone-could-soon-detect-a-car-crash-and-dial-911-automatically-134124164.html

What happens if you just drop your phone? Of course that never happens, but still I wonder...

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

John Carmack issues some words of warning for Meta and its metaverse plans:

Oculus consulting CTO John Carmack has been bullish on the idea of "the metaverse" for a long time, as he'll be among the first to point out. But the id Software co-founder spent a good chunk of his wide-ranging Connect keynote Thursday sounding pretty skeptical of plans by the newly rebranded Meta (formerly Facebook) to actually build that metaverse.

"I really do care about [the metaverse], and I buy into the vision," Carmack said, before quickly adding, "I have been pretty actively arguing against every single metaverse effort that we have tried to spin up internally in the company from even pre-acquisition times." The reason for that seeming contradiction is a somewhat ironic one, as Carmack puts it: "I have pretty good reasons to believe that setting out to build the metaverse is not actually the best way to wind up with the metaverse."

Today, Carmack said, "The most obvious path to the metaverse is that you have one single universal app, something like Roblox." That said, Carmack added, "I doubt a single application will get to that level of taking over everything." That's because a single bad decision by the creators of that walled-garden metaverse can cut off too many possibilities for users and makers. "I just don't believe that one player—one company—winds up making all the right decisions for this," he said.

[...] Carmack's full, hour-long keynote is worth a watch for anyone who wants to get into the head of a person who has been immersed in the conceptual and practical worlds of VR and the metaverse for years now. You can also skim through a copy of Carmack's notes for the speech if you don't have the time to listen for an hour.

Previously:
Meta Removing Facebook Login Requirement for Quest Headsets by Next Year
Facebook Changing Name to "Meta"
Two From Facebook - Investing Millions in VR Internet Replacement - AI Difficulties

Original Submission

owl writes:

CT scan of a pumpkin:

We performed a CT scan on a pumpkin, October 2016. The pumpkin was 28 cm [11 inches] in diameter, and weighed 5.9 kg [13 pounds].

If seeing this on your phone, I suggest bookmarking for viewing images later on a large screen; images on a phone may be limited.

It was scanned on a GE Revolution CT machine. The scan was performed using technique optimized for human extremities, and employed very thin slice thickness of 600 microns. The detail provided by these scans is exquisite. Why scan a pumpkin? Well, firstly, I enjoy occasionally scanning non-human things. I was also encouraged by Twitter user @Zedsquared who spontaneously asked me, "Does a CT scan of a pumpkin pick up nice patterns from the seeds?" Probably. I looked into it. A pumpkin has been scanned before, at a university in Wales. Here is a video, from 2012, moderate resolution. I decided to have a go at it as well, and thought we'd be able to produce some very good images with optimized parameters.

There are many more images at the linked site. Most appears to be color-enhanced, but extremely well done!

[NB: I was tangentially involved in an early GE research project which was investigating the feasibility of performing what were then called MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in 1980. Our first scan took about 5(?) minutes to perform. Then it took another half-hour of processing on a VAX 11/780 to generate the black&white image!--Ed.]

Original Submission