SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Water's ultimate freezing point just got lower:

Knowing how and why water transforms into ice is essential for understanding a wide range of natural processes. Climate fluctuations, cloud dynamics and the water cycle are all influenced by water-ice transformations, as are animals that live in freezing conditions.

Wood frogs, for example, survive the winter on land by allowing their bodies to freeze. This allows them to come out of hibernation faster than species that spend the winter deep underwater without freezing. But ice crystals can rupture cell membranes, so animals that use this technique need to find a way to prevent ice from forming in their cells and tissues. A better understanding of how water freezes could lead to a better understanding of these extreme species.

While the rule of thumb is that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), water can actually stay liquid over a range of chilly temperatures under certain conditions. Until now, it was believed that this range stopped at minus 36 F (minus 38 C); any lower than that, and water must freeze. But in a study published Nov. 30 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers managed to keep droplets of water in a liquid state at temperatures as low as minus 47.2 F (minus 44 C).

'The Internet is on Fire'

upstart writes:

'The Internet Is on Fire':

The problem lies in Log4j, a ubiquitous, open source Apache logging framework that developers use to keep a record of activity within an application. Security responders are scrambling to patch the bug, which can be easily exploited to take control of vulnerable systems remotely. At the same time, hackers are actively scanning the internet for affected systems. Some have already developed tools that automatically attempt to exploit the bug, as well as worms that can spread independently from one vulnerable system to another under the right conditions.

Log4j is a Java library, and while the programming language is less popular with consumers these days, it's still in very broad use in enterprise systems and web apps. Researchers told WIRED on Friday that they expect many mainstream services will be affected.

For example, Microsoft-owned Minecraft on Friday posted detailed instructions for how players of the game's Java version should patch their systems. "This exploit affects many services—including Minecraft Java Edition," the post reads. "This vulnerability poses a potential risk of your computer being compromised." Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince tweeted Friday that the issue was "so bad" that the internet infrastructure company would try to roll out a least some protection even for customers on its free tier of service.

All an attacker has to do to exploit the flaw is strategically send a malicious code string that eventually gets logged by Log4j version 2.0 or higher. The exploit lets an attacker load arbitrary Java code on a server, allowing them to take control.

"It's a design failure of catastrophic proportions," says Free Wortley, CEO of the open source data security platform LunaSec. Researchers at the company published a warning and initial assessment of the Log4j vulnerability on Thursday.

upstart writes:

FAA to end commercial astronaut wings program - SpaceNews:

The FAA announced Dec. 10 that it will award wings to all non-government individuals that flew on FAA-licensed commercial vehicles to date in 2021, as well as those who fly on any remaining launches through the end of the year. However, it will not award wings to anyone, either crew members or spaceflight participants, that flies on FAA-licensed vehicles after this year.

The decision means that 15 people who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard, SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and who had not previously earned FAA wings will receive them. They include Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and actor William Shatner.

The six people flying on Blue Origin's next New Shepard flight, NS-19, would also be eligible if their flight takes place before the end of the year. That flight is scheduled for Dec. 11 from the company's Launch Site One in West Texas after a two-day delay because of winds.

upstart writes:

watching the grass grow and how 19th century scientists were right

Scientists solve the grass leaf conundrum:

Grass is cut regularly by our mowers and grazed on by cows and sheep, yet continues to grow back.

The secret to its remarkable regenerative powers lies in part in the shape of its leaves, but how that shape arises has been a topic of longstanding debate.

[...] Flowering plants can be categorised into monocots and eudicots. Monocots, which include the grass family, have leaves that encircle the stem at their base and have parallel veins throughout.

Eudicots, which include brassicas, legumes and most common garden shrubs and trees, have leaves that are held away from the stem by stalks, termed petioles, and typically have broad laminas with net-like veins.

In grasses, the base of the leaf forms a tube-like structure, called the sheath. The sheath allows the plant to increase in height while keeping its growing tip close to the ground, protecting it from the blades of lawnmowers or incisors of herbivores.

[...] They modelled different hypotheses for how grass leaves grow, and tested the predictions of each model against experimental results.

To their surprise, they found that the model based on the 19th century idea of sheath-petiole equivalence was much more strongly supported than the current view.

[...] The grass study shows how simple modulations of growth rules, based on a common pattern of gene activities, can generate a remarkable diversity of different leaf shapes, without which our gardens and dining tables would be much poorer.

Journal Reference:
A. E. Richardson, J. Cheng, R. Johnston, et al. Evolution of the grass leaf by primordium extension and petiole-lamina remodeling, Science (DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf9407)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Forbes accidentally exposed '30 Under 30' winners' private info, honoree finds:

The publication behind the annual 30 Under 30 list, which Forbes calls "the definitive list of young people changing the world," is itself receiving notoriety after one of its awardees discovered the site exposed a decade's worth of private data. Jane Manchun Wong, a 2022 30 Under 30 honoree and security researcher recognized for (among other things) her ability to undercover hidden features in apps, said that the Forbes list exposed the emails and birthdates of all awardees — both past and present.

"I discovered a personal data exposure in Forbes 30 Under 30 Directory while looking for my entry, including ~4000 emails and ~7000 birthdates of the honorees over the past 10 years," she wrote on Friday.

Jane discovered — and reported — the leak to Forbes on December 2. She did not receive a direct response.

[...] “Forbes was alerted that there was some information rendered deep in the JavaScript," replied a spokesperson. "When we were notified, we took immediate action and quickly corrected the problem. To the best of our knowledge, the data was not accessed by anyone else."

[Personal disclosure: I have an acquaintance who was on a prior year's list; I've sent them notice about the leak. --martyb]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

As Facebook plans the metaverse, it struggles to combat harassment in VR:

Sydney Smith had dealt with lewd, sexist remarks for more than a month while playing the Echo VR video game. But the 20-year-old reached her breaking point this summer.

[...] Smith tried to figure out which player had harassed her, so she could file a report. But that was tough because multiple people were talking at the same time. Since she hadn't been recording the match, Smith couldn't rewatch the encounter and look for a username.

[...] Smith isn't the only virtual reality player who's had trouble reporting an ugly run-in. Though Oculus and Echo VR, both owned by Facebook, have ways to report users who violate their rules, people who've experienced or witnessed harassment and offensive behavior in virtual environments say a cumbersome process deters them from filing a report. Content moderators have to examine a person's behavior, as well as words. (Oculus' VR policy says users aren't allowed to follow other users against their wishes, make sexual gestures or block someone's normal movement.)

As Facebook focuses on creating the metaverse -- a 3D digital world where people can play, work, learn and socialize -- content moderation will only get more complex. The company, which recently rebranded as Meta to highlight its ambitions, already struggles to combat hate speech and harassment on its popular social media platforms, where people leave behind a record of their remarks. The immersive spaces such as Horizon Worlds envisioned by CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be more challenging to police.

upstart writes:

Two-year follow up shows delaying umbilical cord clamping saves babies' lives: A minute's delay could make a lifetime of difference:

The new study compared outcomes for over 1500 babies from the initial study, 767 with caregivers aiming for 60 second delay in clamping and 764 with caregivers aiming for cord clamping before 10 seconds after delivery.

Researchers found that delaying clamping reduces a child's relative risk of death or major disability in early childhood by 17 percent. This included a 30 percent reduction in mortality before the age of two.

In addition, 15 percent fewer infants in the delayed-clamping group needed blood transfusions after birth.

The study is published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health today.

It is coordinated by the University of Sydney's NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre in collaboration with the IMPACT Clinical Trials Network of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network.

Study lead, Professor William Tarnow-Mordi, Head of Neonatal and Perinatal Trials at the Clinical Trials Centre and Professor of Neonatal Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health said the simple process of aiming to wait a minute before clamping will have significant impact worldwide.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The move is the latest effort by the country to rein in the power of technology companies.

Australia will create a licensing framework for cryptocurrency exchanges and consider launching a retail central bank digital currency as part of the biggest overhaul of its payments industry in a quarter of a century.

The country will also broaden its payment laws to cover online transaction providers like Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google as well as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers like Afterpay Ltd, ending their run of operating without direct supervision.

“If we do not reform the current framework, it will be Silicon Valley that determines the future of our payment system,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in prepared speech notes supplied to Reuters. “Australia must retain its sovereignty over our payment system.”

Australia’s conservative coalition government has been at the forefront of global efforts to rein in large technology companies as it prepares for a federal election by next May.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Julian Assange Loses Appeal: British High Court Accepts U.S. Request to Extradite Him for Trial:

In a London courtroom on Friday morning, Julian Assange suffered a devastating blow to his quest for freedom. A two-judge appellate panel of the United Kingdom's High Court ruled that the U.S.'s request to extradite Assange to the U.S. to stand trial on espionage charges is legally valid.

As a result, that extradition request will now be sent to British Home Secretary Prita Patel, who technically must approve all extradition requests but, given the U.K. Government's long-time subservience to the U.S. security state, is all but certain to rubber-stamp it. Assange's representatives, including his fiancee Stella Morris, have vowed to appeal the ruling, but today's victory for the U.S. means that Assange's freedom, if it ever comes, is further away than ever: not months but years even under the best of circumstances.

In endorsing the U.S. extradition request, the High Court overturned a lower court's ruling from January which had concluded that the conditions of U.S. prison — particularly for those accused of national security crimes — are so harsh and oppressive that there is a high likelihood that Assange would commit suicide. In January's ruling, Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected all of Assange's arguments that the U.S. was seeking to punish him not for crimes but for political offenses. But in rejecting the extradition request, she cited the numerous attestations from Assange's doctors that his physical and mental health had deteriorated greatly after seven years of confinement in the small Ecuadorian Embassy where he had obtained asylum, followed by his indefinite incarceration in the U.K.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

George Pérez announced his cancer diagnosis on his Facebook page, and fans quickly posted messages of support.

Even Marvel and DC fans who don't normally pay attention to the names of individual comics artists may know George Pérez. The retired artist penciled Marvel's The Avengers in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, drew DC's The New Teen Titans in the 1980s, penciled DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980s, and relaunched Wonder Woman in the 1980s as both writer and artist. He also worked on other popular comics, including Superman and Silver Surfer.

On Tuesday, Pérez posted a message on his official Facebook page announcing the sad news that he has stage 3 pancreatic cancer. 

"It is surgically inoperable and my estimated life expectancy is between 6 months to a year," he wrote.

Any fans wish to comment?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

'Super trees' may help save Houston ... and beyond: Live oaks, sycamores top ranking of trees that mitigate effects of pollution, climate change:

A new study by collaborators at Rice University, the Houston Health Department's environmental division and Houston Wilderness establishes live oaks and American sycamores as champions among 17 "super trees" that will help make the city more livable and lays out a strategy to improve climate and health in vulnerable urban areas.

Best of all for Houston, they're already implementing their plan in the city, and now offer what they've learned to others.

The open access study in the journal Plants People Planet -- led by Houston Wilderness President Deborah January-Bevers and colleagues at Rice and in city government -- lays out a three-part framework for deciding what trees are the right ones to plant, how to identify places where planting will have the highest impact and how to engage with community leadership to make the planting project a reality.

Using Houston as a best-case example, the collaborators determined what trees would work best in the city based on their ability to soak up carbon dioxide and other pollutants, drink in water, stabilize the landscape during floods and provide a canopy to mitigate heat.

upstart writes:

Italian regulator fines Amazon $1.28 billion for abusing its market dominance:

Italy's antitrust authority (AGCM) has fined Amazon €1.13 billion ($1.28 billion) for "abuse of dominant position," the second penalty it has imposed on Amazon over the last month. Amazon holds a position of "absolute dominance" in the Italian brokerage services market, "which has allowed it to promote its own logistics service, called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)," the authority wrote in a (Google translated) press release.

According to the AGCM, companies must use Amazon's FBA service if they want access to key benefits like the Prime label, which in turn allows them to participate in Black Friday sales and other key events. "Amazon has thus prevented third-party sellers from associating the Prime label with offers not managed with FBA," it said.

The authority said access to those functions are "crucial" for seller success. It also noted that third-party sellers using FBA are not subject to the same stringent performance requirements as non-FBA sellers. As such, they're less likely to be suspended from the platform if they fail to meet certain goals. Finally, it noted that sellers using Amazon's logistics services are discouraged from offering their products on other online platforms, at least to the same extent they do on Amazon.

DannyB writes:

Japanese Billionaire Arrives at Space Station for 12-Day Tourist Trip:

Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire and fashion retail mogul, arrived at the International Space Station for a 12-day stay on Wednesday. [Dec 8] He is the latest privately funded traveler to the orbital laboratory in a year that has seen more tourists making voyages to space than ever before.

Mr. Maezawa, the founder of Zozo, a Japanese online fashion retailer, launched to space from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 2:38 a.m. Eastern time (10:38 a.m. local time) on a Russian Soyuz rocket with Yozo Hirano, a production assistant who will document his trip. Alexander Misurkin, a Russian astronaut, was also on board. The three-man crew docked to the space station six hours later at 8:40 a.m. and boarded the outpost around 11:12 a.m.

[...] Mr. Maezawa, an animated adventure-seeker, drew international attention in 2016 when he spent $57.3 million at an auction for a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 2017, he paid $110.5 million for another painting by the same artist. In 2018, he declared his interest in spaceflight at an event at the Southern California headquarters of SpaceX, where he joined the company's founder, Elon Musk, onstage to announce that he would be the first passenger to ride SpaceX's Starship, a massive next-generation rocket that will one day ferry NASA astronauts to the lunar surface.

[...] The space station jaunt for Mr. Maezawa, 46, was announced in May, and he has been training for weeks at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center just outside Moscow.

Read more of the article for estimates of how much Yusaku may have paid for his ride to space.

Previously:

takyon writes:

Space sleeping bag to solve astronauts' squashed eyeball disorder

Scientists have developed a hi-tech sleeping bag that could prevent the vision problems that some astronauts experience while living in space.

In zero-gravity, fluids float into the head and squash the eyeball over time. It's regarded as one of the riskiest medical problems affecting astronauts, with some experts concerned it could compromise missions to Mars. The sleeping bag sucks fluid out of the head and towards the feet, countering the pressure build-up.

[...] The sleeping bag, developed with outdoor equipment manufacturer REI, fits around the person's waist, enclosing their lower body within a solid frame.

A suction device, that works on the same principle as a vacuum cleaner, creates a pressure difference that draws fluid down towards the feet. This prevents it from building up in the brain and applying damaging pressure to the eyeball.

Several questions need to be answered before the sleeping bag technology is used routinely, including the optimal amount of time astronauts should spend in the sleeping bag each day.

Journal Reference:
Christopher M. Hearon, Katrin A. Dias, Gautam Babu, et al. Nightly Lower Body Negative Pressure and Choroid Engorgement in Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, JAMA Ophthalmology (DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2021.5200)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Where did western honey bees come from? New research finds the sweet spot:

The western honey bee is used for crop pollination and honey production throughout most of the world, and has a remarkable capacity for surviving in vastly different environments -- from tropical rainforest, to arid environments, to temperate regions with cold winters. It is native to Africa, Europe and Asia, and was recently believed to have originated in Africa.

The research team sequenced 251 genomes from 18 subspecies from the honey bee's native range and used this data to reconstruct the origin and pattern of dispersal of honey bees. The team found that an Asian origin -- likely Western Asia -- was strongly supported by the genetic data.

"As one of the world's most important pollinators, it's essential to know the origin of the western honey bee to understand its evolution, genetics and how it adapted as it spread," says corresponding author Professor Amro Zayed of York University's Faculty of Science.

The study also highlights that the bee genome has several "hot spots" that allowed honey bees to adapt to new geographic areas. While the bee genome has more than 12,000 genes, only 145 of them had repeated signatures of adaptation associated with the formation of all major honey bee lineages found today.

Journal Reference:
Kathleen A. Dogantzis, Tanushree Tiwari, Ida M. Conflitti, et al. Thrice out of Asia and the adaptive radiation of the western honey bee, Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj2151)

Original Submission