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upstart writes:

Faster-acting graphene sensor detects opioid metabolites in wastewater - Technology Org:

A sensor that detects opioid byproducts in wastewater faster and cheaper than current commonly used methods has been developed by U.S. National Science Foundation grantee researchers.

The graphene field effect transistor device can detect four natural and synthetic opioids simultaneously. The device is an emerging application of the growing wastewater-based epidemiology field, a discipline that has recently been deployed to measure coronavirus levels.

"The new sensor is able to rapidly, cheaply and easily measure opioids in wastewater," said Kenneth Burch of Boston College, a lead author of the report. "Its sensitivity and portability allow for wastewater-based epidemiology at the local scale — as specific as block-by-block or dorm-by-dorm — while ensuring privacy."

Journal Reference:
Narendra Kumar, Muhit Rana, Michael Geiwitz, et al. Rapid, Multianalyte Detection of Opioid Metabolites in Wastewater, ACS Nano (DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c07094)

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/25/honda_civic_hack/

Any models made between 2016 and 2020 can have key fob codes sniffed and re-transmitted

"If you're driving a Honda Civic manufactured between 2016 and 2020, this newly reported key fob hijack should start your worry engine.

Keyless entry exploits are nothing new. Anyone armed with the right equipment can sniff out a lock or unlock code and retransmit it. This particular issue with some Honda vehicles is just the latest demonstration that auto manufacturers haven't adapted their technology to keep up with known threats.

This security weakness, tagged CVE-2022-27254, was discovered by Ayyappan Rajesh, a student at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and someone with the handle HackingIntoYourHeart. Their research indicated that Honda Civic LX, EX, EX-L, Touring, Si, and Type R vehicles manufactured between 2016 and 2020 all have this vulnerability.

According to the duo, who thanked professors Hong Liu and Ruolin Zhou and mentor Sam Curry, "various Honda vehicles send the same, unencrypted RF signal for each door-open, door-close, boot-open and remote start. This allows for an attacker to eavesdrop on the request and conduct a replay attack.""

[...] The CVE page for this vulnerability makes mention of another, CVE-2019-20626, the same vulnerability found in 2017 Honda HR-V vehicles, which Paraguayan security researcher Victor Casares demonstrated in a 2019 Medium post.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Low Power Mode For Custom GPS Tracker:

GPS has been a game-changing technology for all kinds of areas. Shipping, navigation, and even synchronization of clocks have become tremendously easier thanks to GPS. As a result of its widespread use, the cost of components is also low enough that almost anyone can build their own GPS device, and [Akio Sato] has taken this to the extreme with efforts to build a GPS tracker that uses the tiniest amount of power.

[...] [Akio Sato] imagines this unit would be particularly useful for recovering drones or other small aircraft that can easily get themselves lost. He's started a crowdfunding page for it as well. With such a long battery life, it's almost certain that the operator could recover their vessel before the batteries run out of energy. It could also be put to use tracking things that have a tendency to get stolen.

The advantages of this device are that it doesn't need a simcard or the ability to connect to any telephone system - it relies on LoRa which is free but its practicality will depend on coverage in your area. LoRa has become quite popular in Europe, Asia and (surprisingly?) parts of Africa. The tracker is also incredibly low power - the designer has managed to get a month's worth of operation out of a single coin-cell battery. It achieves this by having periods of sleep between periods of activity so it will not provide a real-time positional update but a periodic update. However, for its intended purpose this is entirely acceptable.

It is definitely worth a look, either to build one or to adapt some of its ideas to other projects.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Stunning Subsurface Images of Yellowstone National Park Reveal "Mystery Sandwich" Plumbing System:

The geysers and fumaroles of Yellowstone National Park are among the most iconic and popular geological features on our planet. Each year, millions of visitors travel to the park to marvel at the towering eruptions of Old Faithful, the bubbling mud cauldrons of Artists Paint Pots, the crystal-clear water, and iridescent colors of Grand Prismatic Spring, and the stacked travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Those who have visited the park may have asked themselves, "Where does all the hot water come from?" A study published last week in Nature, co-authored by Virginia Tech's W. Steven Holbrook and colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey and Aarhus University in Denmark, provides stunning subsurface images that begin to answer that question.

The research team used geophysical data collected from a helicopter to create images of Yellowstone's subsurface "plumbing" system. The method detects features with unusual electrical and magnetic properties indicative of hydrothermal alteration.

"The combination of high electrical conductivity and low magnetization is like a fingerprint of hydrothermal activity that shows up very clearly in the data," said Holbrook, a professor of geophysics and head of the Department of Geosciences in Virginia Tech's College of Science. "The method is essentially a hydrothermal pathway detector."

upstart writes:

Scans Show Weakened Brain Connections in Adolescents at Risk of Bipolar Disorder:

A brain imaging study of young people at high risk of developing bipolar disorder has for the first time found evidence of weakening connections between key areas of the brain in late adolescence.

Up until now, medical researchers knew that bipolar disorder was associated with reduced communication between brain networks that are involved with emotional processing and thinking, but how these networks developed prior to the condition was a mystery.

[...] The researchers used diffusion-weighted magnetic imaging (dMRI) technology to scan the brains of 183 individuals over a two-year period. They examined the progressive changes in the brain scans of people with high genetic risk of developing the condition over a two year period, before comparing them with a control group of people with no risk.

People with a parent or sibling who has bipolar disorder are considered high genetic risk, and are 10 times more likely to develop the condition than people without the close family link. In the brain image scans of 97 people with high genetic risk of bipolar disorder, the researchers noted a decrease in connectivity between regions of the brain devoted to emotion processing and cognition during the two years between scans.

But in the control group of 86 people with no family history of mental illness, they observed the opposite: strengthening in the neural connections between these same regions, when the adolescent brain matures to become more adept at the cognitive and emotional reasoning required in adulthood.

upstart writes:

NASA to delay Mars Sample Return, switch to dual-lander approach - SpaceNews:

NASA plans to delay the next phase of its Mars Sample Return campaign and split a lander mission into two separate spacecraft to reduce the overall risk of the program.

At a March 21 meeting of the National Academies' Space Studies Board, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, revealed that NASA and the European Space Agency had agreed to revise the schedule and design for upcoming missions that will return samples being cached by the Perseverance rover to Earth.

Original plans called for the launch of both a NASA-led Sample Retrieval Lander and ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter in 2026. The lander, using an ESA-built rover, would collect the samples cached by Perseverance and load them into a rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), which would launch them into orbit. The orbiter, using a NASA-provided collection system, would gather the samples and return them to Earth in 2031.

An independent review, though, recommended in November 2020 that NASA delay those future missions to 2027 or 2028 to provide a more reasonable development schedule. Another panel recommendation was for NASA to investigate turning the single Sample Retrieval Lander spacecraft into two separate landers, one carrying the rover and the other the MAV.

upstart writes:

Tesla owners cash in on used EV demand:

Values of electric vehicles are climbing to surprising heights, as buyers wary of fuel price increases look to replace conventionally-powered machines. Owners of electric cars are cashing in on demand for battery-powered vehicles following a spike in fuel prices.

Second-hand prices for in-demand electric cars can outstrip new prices by $30,000 or more as green customers look to jump the queue for a new car.

[...] "With the current fuel prices, people are realising how much they can save in fuel per year by owning an electric vehicle, where savings could be up to 70 per cent on fuel alone," he said.

"The electric car market is still very new to Australia, which is actually a massive benefit to purchasing electric vehicles second hand, as they are in such great condition usually only having been used for a few years, with previous owners now upgrading to the newer model electrics."

Second-hand examples of Australia's most popular electric car are also being listed for far more than their original price on websites [...] . The range-topping Model 3 Performance officially costs about $99,000 drive-away as a new model, with estimated delivery in six to nine months. But enterprising owners are asking for as much as $145,000 for the machine.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Got it! Gaia Observatory Snaps Photo of James Webb Space Telescope at L2:

Both spacecraft are located in orbits around the Lagrange point 2 (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth in the direction away from the Sun. Gaia arrived there in 2014, and Webb in January 2022.

[...] A few weeks before Webb's arrival at L2, Gaia experts Uli Bastian of Heidelberg University (Germany) and Francois Mignard of Nice Observatory (France) realized that during Gaia's continuous scanning of the entire sky, its new neighbor at L2 should occasionally cross Gaia's fields of view.

Gaia is not designed to take real pictures of celestial objects. Instead, it collects very precise measurements of their positions, motions, distances, and colors. However, one part of the instruments on board takes a sort of sky images. It is the 'finder scope' of Gaia, also called the sky mapper.

[...] After Webb had reached its destination at L2, the Gaia scientists calculated when the first opportunity would arise for Gaia to spot Webb, which turned out to be 18 February 2022.

After Gaia's two telescopes had scanned the part of the sky where Webb would be visible, the raw data was downloaded to Earth. In the morning after, Francois sent an email to all people involved. The enthusiastic subject line of the email was "JWST: Got it!!"

The astronomers had to wait a few more days for Juanma Martin-Fleitas, ESA's Gaia calibration engineer, to identify Webb in the sky mapper images. "I've identified our target" was the message sent by him, with the images attached and the two tiny specks labelled as 'Webb candidates'.

After scrutinizing these carefully, Uli replied: "Your 'candidates' can be safely renamed 'Webb'."

Original Submission

SomeGuy writes:

PCMag reports Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destroyed the Club 8-Bit retro computer museum in Mariupol.

The Club 8-Bit museum in Mariupol housed over a 120 retro computing devices, including some old-school Apple and Atari hardware, along with Soviet-era computers.

Earlier this week, the owner of the Club 8-Bit museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, reported the tragic news on Facebook page. "That's it, the Mariupol computer museum is no longer there," wrote Dmitry Cherepanov.

All that is left from my collection that I have been collecting for 15 years is just fragments of memories on the FB page, website and radio station of the museum, he added.

Founded in 2003, the Club 8-Bit museum contained a collection of over 120 retro computers [...]

The museum also had an Apple IIc computer, Compaq Portable III, Atari 400, and many Soviet-era computers from the 1980s and 1990s. In total, more than 500 exhibits of the IT sphere from the 1950s to the early 2000s were located at the museum, according to Club 8-Bit's website.

The destruction of the museum occurred as Mariupol is facing an intense siege from Russian military forces, which have been shelling residential buildings across the city. In his Facebook post, Cherepanov added: "There is neither my museum nor my house. And it hurts, but I will definitely survive it and find a new home."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

U.S. charges 4 Russian government workers with hacking energy sector:

The U.S. Justice Department fired another legal salvo against Russia on Thursday, announcing indictments against four Russian government employees for an alleged hacking campaign targeting the energy sector that lasted for years and targeted computers in 135 countries.

An indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, who worked at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute, conspired with others to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States, causing emergency shutdowns at one foreign facility. Thosecharged in the indictment, under seal since June 2021, also allegedly tried to hack the computers of a U.S. firm that managed similar facilities in the United States.

A separate indictment filed in Kansas alleges that a hacking campaign launched by Russian's federal security service, or FSB, targeted computers at hundreds of energy-related entities around the world. That indictment was also filed under seal last summer.

upstart writes:

Carbon-coated nickel enables fuel cell free of precious metals:

The new discovery could accelerate the widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells, which hold great promise as efficient, clean energy sources for vehicles and other applications.

[...] "This finding makes progress toward using efficient, clean hydrogen fuel cells in place of fossil fuels," said Abruña, professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University.

[...] Expensive precious metals, such as platinum, are currently required in hydrogen fuel cells to efficiently catalyze the reactions they employ to produce electricity. Although alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (APEMFCs) enable the use nonprecious metal electrocatalysts, they lack the necessary performance and durability to replace precious metal-based systems.

A fuel cell produces electricity through the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and an oxygen reduction reaction (OOR). Platinum, in particular, is a model catalyst for both reactions because it catalyzes them efficiently, and is durable in the acidic environment of a PEM fuel cell, Abruña said.

Recent experiments with nonprecious-metal HOR electrocatalysts needed to overcome two major challenges, the researchers wrote: low intrinsic activity from too strong a hydrogen binding energy, and poor durability due to rapid passivation from metal oxide formation.

[...] In February, Abruña and colleagues found that a cobalt nitride catalyst is nearly as efficient as platinum in catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction.

Funding for this research was provided by the Center for Alkaline-Based Energy Solutions, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, and the Zhuang research group at Wuhan University, China, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Journal Reference:"A Completely Precious-Metal-Free Alkaline Fuel Cell With Enhanced Performance Using a Carbon-Coated Nickel Anode," in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
(DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2119883119)

Original Submission

Thank you SO much! I had no idea that my work on SoylentNews had such a wide-ranging impact on so many people! Reading the comments to my resignation — This is Difficult in So Many Ways; I Must Resign from SoylentNews — brought me alternately to tears of joy and roars of laughter.

That said, the reality is that others have arguably played a larger role in making SoylentNews into the success that it is today. A few names that readily come to mind: NCommander (UID 2!), paulej72, TheMightyBuzzard, and LaminatorX (our first Editor-in-Chief). There are so many more!

As much as I appreciate the kind words, it would mean so much more to me to see these well-wishes turned into subscriptions to SoylentNews! This idea came to me when I received a gift subscription to the site. (Thanks drussell!) It costs roughly $7,000 per year to run this site — primarily web hosting fees. (Nobody has ever been paid anything for their work on this site!)

We have raised about $1,100 so far this year. Our goal for June 30th is only about $2,400 away (and for the year is only about $5,900 away). That is net to us after processing fees. It's a BIG stretch, but I have faith... let's see what this community can do!

[Update: Revised paulj72 to paulej72. - Fnord]

upstart writes:

Vidar spyware is now hidden in Microsoft help files:

A new cybercrime campaign has been discovered that abuses Microsoft HTML help files to distribute the Vidar malware.

Cybersecurity researchers from Trustwave reported of a threat actor distributing Vidar through an email spam campaign. In it, the attackers would send a relatively generic-looking email, with the attachment file "request.doc".

That file is not a .doc file, but instead, an .iso disk image, carrying two separate files: a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help file (CHM), often titled pss10r.chm, and an executable file, titled app.exe.

upstart writes:

Team Opens the Door for a New Class of Polymers That Can Improve Nanopatterning:

The microscopic components that make up computer chips must be made at staggering scales. With billions of transistors in a single processor, each made of multiple materials carefully arranged in patterns as thin as a strand of DNA, their manufacturing tools must also operate at a molecular level.

Typically, these tools involve using stencils to selectively pattern or remove materials with high fidelity, layer after layer, to form nanoscale electronic devices. But as chips must fit more and more components to keep up with the digital world's growing computational demands, these nanopatterning stencils must also become smaller and more precise.

Now, a team of Penn Engineers has demonstrated how a new class of polymers could do just that. In a new study, the researchers demonstrated how "multiblock" copolymers can produce exceptionally ordered patterns in thin films, achieving spacings smaller than three nanometers.

upstart writes:

Russia considers accepting Bitcoin for oil and gas:

Russia is considering accepting Bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas exports, according to a high-ranking lawmaker.> Pavel Zavalny says "friendly" countries could be allowed to pay in the crypto-currency or in their local currencies.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted "unfriendly" countries to buy its gas with roubles.

The move is understood to be aimed at boosting the Russian currency, which has lost over 20% in value this year.

[...] However, Russia is still the world's biggest exporter of natural gas and the second largest supplier of oil.