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upstart writes:

NASA solar probe 'touched the sun' but is enduring dangerous plasma explosions:

The Parker Solar Probe is an engineering marvel, designed by NASA to "touch the sun" and reveal some of the star's most closely guarded secrets. The scorch-proof craft, launched by NASA in August 2018, has been slowly sidling up to our solar system's blazing inferno for the past three years, studying its magnetic fields and particle physics along the way. It's been a successful journey, and the probe has been racking up speed records. In 2020, it became the fastest human-made object ever built.

But Parker is learning a lesson about the consequences of its great speed: constant bombardment by space dust.

Space dust is a pervasive element of our solar system and likely many other planetary systems in the universe. Tiny particles of dust, a quarter the width of a human hair and generated by asteroids and comets, are locked in a forever dance around the sun. Parker, whipping around the sun at almost unfathomable speeds, constantly collides with the grains, and as they hit its metallic body, they heat up, get vaporized and ionized, and become plasma.

Basically, Parker is being bombarded by dust at such speed that its body is constantly experiencing plasma explosions.

Using Fields, the probe's instrument for measuring magnetic fields, and Wispr, an imaging device that can snap photos of the sun and study the density of electrons in its corona, a team of scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory studied the severity of these impacts.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

TSMC and Sony officially create partnership to build $7 billion fab in Japan:

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Sony announced on Tuesday that they officially entered into a joint venture to build a new $7 billion fab in Japan, with the goal of mass-producing chips in that facility by 2024.

TSMC CEO CC Wei had already announced the new fab was in development last month, but it was yet to receive board approval until Tuesday. Rather than focus on building cutting edge chips, the new fab will primarily build chips with 22 and 28nm processes to help ease the current global chip shortage.

The new fab will be operated under a new joint venture between TSMC and Sony, called Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), with mass production scheduled to begin by the end of 2024.

Sony will invest $500 million into the joint venture, which will give it no more than a 20% equity stake, with the remainder to be funded by TSMC.

[...] The company [TSMC] has also announced plans to spend $100 billion over three years to boost capacity.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

New Atlas:

SpinLaunch has been developing its alternative launch system since 2015, imagining a future where satellites and spacecraft can escape the Earth's atmosphere with zero emissions. It aims to achieve this with the help of a giant accelerator powered by an electric drive that it says could cut fuel use by four times and the costs by 10 times compared to traditional rocket launches, while also firing multiple payloads into orbit each day.

Initially, it is pursuing these ambitions through its Suborbital Accelerator. This consists of an upright disc-shaped, vacuum chamber slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty that uses a carbon fiber tether to whip a projectile around to speeds of up to 5,000 mph (8,047 km/h), many times the speed of sound, before releasing it through a launch tube and upward through the atmosphere.

Goliath, beware!

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

Last of original SCO v IBM Linux lawsuit settled

While at the Linux Foundation Members Summit in Napa, California, I was bemused to find that an open-source savvy intellectual property attorney had never heard of SCO vs. IBM. You know, the lawsuit that at one time threatened to end Linux in the cradle? Well, at least some people thought so anyway. More fool they. But now, after SCO went bankrupt; court after court dismissing SCO's crazy copyright claims; and closing in on 20-years into the saga, the U.S. District Court of Utah has finally put a period to the SCO vs. IBM lawsuit.

I learned of this yesterday on a forum I visit every day that still follows this. It only took 18 and 1/2 years for the case, and 14 years of SCO in bankruptcy.

But...

takyon writes:

Google Makes Some Major Changes To Summer of Code 2022 - No Longer Limited To Students

Over the past nearly two decades Google Summer of Code (GSoC) has been known as an initiative for getting students involved with open-source software development over the course of a summer while receiving a stipend/grant from Google. Beginning next year, GSoC will no longer be limited to students but open to all adults. Additionally, other changes are also coming.

This year Google shortened the GSoC length and cut the stipend amount. They made those changes this year in the name of COVID-19 while for GSoC 2022 there are even more changes.

Google Open Source Blog.

See also: China Is Launching A New Alternative To Google Summer of Code, Outreachy

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Archaeologists discover ancient 'hangover prevention' ring:

Excavated in the city of Yavne, the ancient jewel was uncovered from the site of the Byzantine era's largest known winery, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. In an accompanying press release, archaeologists Amir Golani said that amethyst may have been worn to prevent the ill-effects of drinking too much alcohol.>

"Many virtues have been attached to this gem," he is quoted as saying, "including the prevention of the side effect of drinking, the hangover."

The ring was found just 150 meters (492 feet) away from the remains of a warehouse containing amphorae, a type of jar used to store wine. The excavation site has been dated to approximately the 7th century -- around the end of the Byzantine era and the start of the Early Islamic period -- though officials said the ring could be even older.

[...] Amethyst is not the only ancient hangover cure to have fallen out of favor. In 2015, an ancient Greek remedy was discovered on a 1,900-year-old papyrus, which recommended wearing a necklace of laurel leaves as a "drunken headache cure," according to Live Science. And in ancient Mesopotamia, a physician was recorded recommending a tincture of licorice, oleander, beans, oil and wine in the instance that a "man has taken strong wine and his head is affected."

Other than abstaining from the devil drink, what cures do you recommend?

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Fusion power plants use magnetic fields to hold a ball of current-carrying gas (called a plasma). This creates a miniature sun that generates energy through nuclear fusion. The Compact Advanced Tokamak (CAT) concept uses state-of-the-art physics models to potentially improve fusion energy production. The models show that by carefully shaping the plasma and the distribution of current in the plasma, fusion plant operators can suppress turbulent eddies in the plasma. These eddies can cause heat loss. This will enable operators to achieve higher pressures and fusion power with lower current. This advance could help achieve a state where the plasma sustains itself and drives most of its own current.

In this approach to tokamak reactors, the improved performance at reduced plasma current reduces stress and heat loads. This alleviates some of the engineering and materials challenges facing fusion plant designers. Higher pressure also increases an effect where the motion of particles in the plasma naturally generates the current required. This greatly reduces the need for expensive current drive systems that sap a fusion plant’s potential electric power output. It also enables a stationary “always-on” configuration. This approach leads to plants that suffer less stress during operation than typical pulsed approaches to fusion power, enabling smaller, less expensive power plants.

Reference: “The advanced tokamak path to a compact net electric fusion pilot plant” by R.J. Buttery, J.M. Park, J.T. McClenaghan, D. Weisberg, J. Canik, J. Ferron, A. Garofalo, C.T. Holcomb, J. Leuer, P.B. Snyder and The Atom Project Team, 19 March 2021, Nuclear Fusion.
DOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/abe4af

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

(Deliberately keeping summary politically neutral. There will be plenty of blame to go around if this goes anywhere.)

House Energy and Commerce Committee Unveil Comprehensive Strategy to Establish a National Privacy Standard:

Today, House Energy and Commerce Committee [...] issued the following statement on a comprehensive legislative draft that establishes a national privacy standard to protect Americans and sets clear rules for consumer privacy and data security in the U.S.

"We now share more of our personal information online than ever before. Everything from information about where we bank, what we buy at the grocery store, to where we drive, and how well we sleep. In order to ensure that our information is protected, we need one national privacy law that supports small businesses and innovation, promotes transparency, and incentivizes solutions for data security. [...]

I assume they mean "supports individuals" instead of "supports small businesses", and that by "small business", they mean any business smaller than the federal government.

Commerce Committee [...] privacy framework is guided by Leader Rodgers' four principles—which she outlines here [...]

Principle #1: The internet does not stop at state lines, so why should one state set the standard for the rest of the country? Creating arbitrary barriers to the internet may result in different options, opportunities, and experiences online based on where you live.

Principle #2: A lack of transparency has led to where we are today and any federal bill must ensure people understand how their information is collected, used, and shared. We must also ensure that companies who misuse personal information must be held sufficiently accountable.

Principle #3: Any federal bill must ensure companies are implementing reasonable measures to protect people's personal information.

Principle #4: We must also protect small businesses and innovation. We know that in Europe, investments in startups are down more than 40% since their data protection and privacy law—the General Data Protection Regulation—went into effect. We must guard against a similar situation here. We want small businesses hiring coders and engineers, not lawyers.

Maybe it's just me, but looking at Principle #1, it occurs to me that the internet does not stop at national borders any more than at state lines.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Can't find your keys? You need a chickadee brain: Scientists identify a link between spatial memory and genes in a bird:

"We all use spatial memory to navigate our environment," says lead author Carrie Branch at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Without memory there's no learning and an organism would have to start from scratch for every task. So, it really is life and death for these birds to be able to remember where they stashed their food. We've been able to show that natural selection is shaping their ability to remember locations."

If natural selection (survival of the fittest) is shaping chickadee memory, certain criteria have to be met. There has to be variation in the trait: some chickadees are indeed better than others at re-finding their stores. There has to be a fitness advantage: birds that perform better on a spatial memory task are more likely to survive and produce offspring. Importantly, variation in the trait must have a genetic basis.

"Environment does still matter a lot in terms of shaping behavior, but our work here suggests that genes may create the brain structures, and then experience and learning can build on top of that," Branch explains.

upstart writes:

NASA's stalwart Mars helicopter is back and better than ever:

Nearly seven months have passed since NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made its first groundbreaking flight on Mars. Since that initial tentative hovering above the surface of Mars, Ingenuity has flown a progression of longer, more significant, and scientifically important flights. It has flown as far as 625 meters in a single flight, as high as 12 meters, and for a duration of as long as 169.5 seconds.

But in September the small flying vehicle faced a growing threat from a thinning atmosphere due to seasonal variation. NASA's Perseverance mission had landed in Jezero Crater, in the northern hemisphere of Mars, during the planet's late winter in February. But since then summer has come on, and the density of Mars' atmosphere has fallen from about 1.5 percent that of Earth's atmosphere to 1.0 percent. For a helicopter already pushing the limits of flying in a thin atmosphere, this represented a significant decline. NASA engineers devised a plan to compensate by increasing the rotation rate of Ingenuity's blades from a little more than 2,500 rpm to about 2,800 rpm. An initial flight test at a higher rotation rate, in September, raised concerns after Ingenuity failed to take off. Was this the end for a helicopter that had already survived far longer than its design life?

No, it was not. After engineers diagnosed a problem with the helicopter's small flight control motors and implemented a solution, Ingenuity was ready to try again. On October 24, Ingenuity executed a short flight at 2,700 rpm, rising about 5 meters and moving a horizontal distance of about 2 meters. This successful test gave engineers more confidence in trying a longer flight in Mars' thinner atmosphere at a higher rpm. That happened this week, when Ingenuity completed its 15th overall flight on Mars, flying 128.8 seconds and about 400 meters across the surface of Mars. This flight proves that Ingenuity is capable of flying on Mars even in the thinnest atmosphere and sets the stage for future low-density-atmosphere scouting missions to check out scientifically interesting areas.

Original Submission

Judge Denies Apple's Request for a Stay After Epic Trial

upstart writes:

Judge denies Apple's request for a stay after Epic trial:

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has denied Apple's request for a stay of the injunction ordering it to let app developers link to non-Apple payment options. The company has 90 days from the verdict to comply.

As part of the Epic v Apple case that went to court this year, Apple was found to be in violation of California's Unfair Competition Law. A permanent injunction declared that, "Apple Inc. [...] are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app."

"It's going to take months to figure out the engineering, economic, business, and other issues," said Apple's attorney Mark Perry when requesting a stay on the order. "It is exceedingly complicated. There have to be guardrails and guidelines to protect children, to protect developers, to protect consumers, to protect Apple. And they have to be written into guidelines that can be explained and enforced and applied."

Epic's attorney Gary Bornstein suggested this was purely a delaying tactic. "Apple does nothing unless it is forced to do it," he said.

Judge Denies Apple's Request to Delay App Store Changes in Epic Games Case

upstart writes:

Judge denies Apple's request to delay App Store changes in Epic games case:

Judge Rogers seems to side with Epic's interpretation of Apple's request, writing in the ruling today:

"In short, Apple's motion is based on a selective reading of this Court's findings and ignores all of the findings which supported the injunction, namely incipient antitrust conduct including supercompetitive commission rates resulting in extraordinarily high operating margins and which have not been correlated to the value of its intellectual property. This incipient antitrust conduct is the result, in part, of the antisteering policies which Apple has enforced to harm competition. As a consequence, the motion is fundamentally flawed. Further, even if additional time was warranted to comply with the limited injunction, Apple did not request additional time other than ten days to appeal this ruling. Thus, the Court does not consider the option of additional time, other than the requested ten days."

See also: Judge orders Apple to allow external payment options for App Store by December 9th, denying stay:

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Freeman writes:

Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps:

Google is quietly enlisting the help of small businesses to help protect the nearly $2 trillion company from antitrust regulations. In response to Congressional bills like the "Ending Platform Monopolies Act," which would ban platform owners from favoring their own services over the competition, Google is telling small business owners that these bills would hurt their ability to find customers online and that they should contact their congressperson about the issue.

We've seen Google do political action before, usually in the form of headline-grabbing blog posts from CEO Sundar Pichai defending the latest product-bundling scheme. The strategy here seems new, though; rather than writing a public blog post, Google is quietly targeting users who have registered business listings on Google Maps. These users report receiving unsolicited emails and an "action item" in the Google Business Profile UI that both link to Google's new anti-antitrust site.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Anxiety effectively treated with exercise:

The study, now published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, is based on 286 patients with anxiety syndrome, recruited from primary care services in Gothenburg and the northern part of Halland County. Half of the patients had lived with anxiety for at least ten years. Their average age was 39 years, and 70 percent were women.

Through drawing of lots, participants were assigned to group exercise sessions, either moderate or strenuous, for 12 weeks. The results show that their anxiety symptoms were significantly alleviated even when the anxiety was a chronic condition, compared with a control group who received advice on physical activity according to public health recommendations.

Most individuals in the treatment groups went from a baseline level of moderate to high anxiety to a low anxiety level after the 12-week program. For those who exercised at relatively low intensity, the chance of improvement in terms of anxiety symptoms rose by a factor of 3.62. The corresponding factor for those who exercised at higher intensity was 4.88. Participants had no knowledge of the physical training or counseling people outside their own group were receiving.

"There was a significant intensity trend for improvement -- that is, the more intensely they exercised, the more their anxiety symptoms improved," states Malin Henriksson, doctoral student at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, specialist in general medicine in the Halland Region, and the study's first author.

Previous studies of physical exercise in depression have shown clear symptom improvements. However, a clear picture of how people with anxiety are affected by exercise has been lacking up to now. The present study is described as one of the largest to date.

DannyB writes:

Tuvalu looking at legal ways to be a state if it is submerged:

Tuvalu is looking at legal ways to keep its ownership of its maritime zones and recognition as a state even if the Pacific island nation is completely submerged due to climate change, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"We're actually imagining a worst-case scenario where we are forced to relocate or our lands are submerged," the minister, Simon Kofe, told Reuters in an interview.

[...] Tuvalu is an island with a population of around 11,000 people and its highest point is just 4.5m (15 ft) above sea level. Since 1993, sea levels have risen about 0.5cm (0.2 inches) per year, according to a 2011 Australian government report.

[...] When asked what Tuvalu's people think about the rising sea levels, Kofe said some of the older generation say they are happy to go down with the land, while others are leaving.

This is an interesting situation to ponder. A nation loses it's island to climate change. What if one day sea levels were to fall. Could the descendants of the island nation reclaim their land and nation? Or would the US decide to annex it for the good of all humanity?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Robinhood Trading Platform Data Breach Hits 7M Customers:

The cyberattacker attempted to extort the company after socially engineering a customer service employee to gain access to email addresses and more.

Investor trading app company Robinhood Markets has confirmed a data breach that affects the personal information of about 7 million customers – roughly a third of its user base. A cyberattacker made off with emails and more, which could lead to follow-on attacks for Robinhood customers.

The trading platform, which found itself in the middle of the infamous GameStop stock price run-up in January, acknowledged that the breach was a result of a system compromise that occurred on Nov. 3. The company said that the adversary was able to target an employee to gain access to sensitive company systems. After that, the perpetrator attempted to extort the company, demanding payment in return for not releasing the stolen data.

"The unauthorized party socially engineered a customer-support employee by phone and obtained access to certain customer support systems," Robinhood said Monday in a statement. It added, "After we contained the intrusion, the unauthorized party demanded an extortion payment. We promptly informed law enforcement and are continuing to investigate the incident with the help of Mandiant, a leading outside security firm."

For 5 million of the victims, the cybercrook made off with email addresses. For 2 million of them, the attacker also absconded with full names. Meanwhile, names, birth dates and ZIP codes were stolen for 310 people, and "more extensive account details" were heisted for 10 more, the company said.