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canopic jug writes:

Raspberry Pi OS "Bullseye" is getting some changes to improve its robustness. Gone is the default user 'pi' with the default password of 'raspberry'. On first-boot, a setup wizard walks through setting a normal user with a regular password, though there are still options for headless installation. Among other improvements, it is now also possible to do the setup with a bluetooth mouse/keyboard exclusively. The old way required at least a wired mouse, if not also a wired keyboard, to connect first.

There are also mechanisms to preconfigure an image without using Imager. To set up a user on first boot and bypass the wizard completely, create a file called userconf or userconf.txt in the boot partition of the SD card; this is the part of the SD card which can be seen when it is mounted in a Windows or MacOS computer. This file should contain a single line of text, consisting of username:encrypted- password – so your desired username, followed immediately by a colon, followed immediately by an encrypted representation of the password you want to use.

Since it is a full general-purpose computer, other distros and even other operating systems are available for the Raspberry Pi. Slackware, LInux Mint, and Devuan are all among the distros which run well. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD also support at least some Raspberry Pi models. However, the official guides and tutorials all point to Raspberry Pi OS, which is a Debian derivative.

Previously:
(2022) Long Interview with Eben Upton About Long Term Plans for RPi (journal entry)
(2022) Can't Get Hold of a Shiny New Raspberry Pi? Blame the Bots
(2022) Raspberry Pi 64-bit Armbian Gets New Release
(2021) Raspberry Pi Launches .com Website, Eyes Retail Expansion in Africa
(2021) The Ongoing Raspberry Pi Fiasco

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/doctors-fish-out-more-than-a-dozen-tiny-maggots-from-mans-eye/

On Wednesday, doctors in France reported a rare case of tiny sheep bot fly larvae—aka maggots—infesting the outer surface of a man's eyeball.

The small, spiky larvae were seen slithering around the man's peeper, which explained the redness and itchiness he was experiencing. Doctors counted more than a dozen of the disturbing grub-like critters outside the eyeball and surrounding tissue. Doctors had no choice but to pluck the bloodsuckers out, one by one, using forceps. The doctors also prescribed topical antibiotic treatments in case they missed any bugs
[...]
Regarding the case in France, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, the man was lucky. The infestation was only external ophthalmomyiasis, meaning the larvae didn't get inside his eyeball.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

New Breed of Honey Bees a Major Advance in Global Fight Against Parasitic Varroa Mite:

A new breed of honey bees provides a major advance in the global fight against the parasitic Varroa mite, new research shows.

[...] "The Varroa mite is the greatest threat to managed honey bee colonies globally," said Dr. Thomas O'Shea-Wheller, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"So far, new methods to control the mites – and the diseases that they carry – have had limited success, and the mites are becoming increasingly resistant to chemical treatments. It's a ticking time-bomb."

On the whole, European bees do not identify and remove bee larvae infested with the mites, known as Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH), but some hive individuals do. The researchers have been selectively breeding for this trait and have field-tested these colonies with great success, seeing a two-fold increase in colony survival.

"The great thing about this particular trait is that we've learned honey bees of all types express it at some level, so we know that with the right tools, it can be promoted and selected for in everyone's bees," said research molecular biologist Dr. Michael Simone-Finstrom, of the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Dr. O'Shea-Wheller said bee breeding and testing is expensive and takes time, but that breeding mite-resistant bees is cost-effective in the long term, and is likely to be the only sustainable solution to deal with the Varroa pandemic.

Journal Reference:
Shea-Wheller, Thomas A., Rinkevich, Frank D., Danka, Robert G., et al. A derived honey bee stock confers resistance to Varroa destructor and associated viral transmission [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08643-w)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

With 'Plant Armor' crop cover, insects have to navigate textile maze:

North Carolina State University researchers designed a textile "Plant Armor" that forces insects to navigate a maze-like path if they try to reach a plant. The design was more effective at blocking insects from reaching cabbage plants in multiple experiments, compared with an alternative crop cover.

[...] Previously, plant covers have been designed to exclude insects based on size alone—like a window screen—researchers said. However, that strategy can be problematic for trying to keep out insects as small as tobacco thrips, which are about the size of a pencil point.

[...] To that end, the researchers designed a three-layer, 3D cover knitted using clear yarn in the outermost and innermost layers. The yarn, which can be made from recycled plastic, still allows sunlight to pass through but restricts insects from reaching plants. A knitted inner layer is sandwiched perpendicular to the two surrounding layers, creating a maze-like structure within the Plant Armor.

[...] When researchers tested how well they could protect potted cabbage plants inside a cage with unfed caterpillars, uncovered plants were infested and almost completely eaten, while plants covered and sealed with Plant Armor were not. They did not find a single caterpillar on the covered plants after 10 days.

[...] "Part of what we're doing is finding new, smart textiles," said study co-author Andre West, associate professor of textile, apparel and technology management at NC State and director of Zeis Textiles Extension. "We think this design could help farmers in extreme environments or where crop production is limited in certain areas. It could also be an alternative for organic farmers. Not only is the product itself made with some recycled materials, but it could also be recycled again."

Journal Reference:
Grayson L. Cave, Andre J. West, Marian G. McCord, et al. Novel 3-D Spacer Textiles to Protect Crops from Insect Infestation and That Enhance Plant Growth [open], Agriculture (DOI: 10.3390/agriculture12040498)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that in 2021 atmospheric levels of methane, the second largest contributor to human-caused global warming, had increased by a record amount for the second straight year and that carbon dioxide continues to rise at a high rate.

NOAA’s preliminary analysis showed the annual increase in atmospheric methane during 2021 was 17 parts per billion (ppb), the largest annual increase recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983. The increase during 2020 was 15.3 ppb. Atmospheric methane levels averaged 1,895.7 ppb during 2021, or around 162% greater than pre-industrial levels. From NOAA’s observations, scientists estimate global methane emissions in 2021 are 15% higher than the 1984-2006 period.

Meanwhile, levels of carbon dioxide also continue to increase at historically high rates. The global surface average for carbon dioxide during 2021 was 414.7 parts per million (ppm), which is an increase of 2.66 ppm over the 2020 average. This marks the 10th consecutive year that carbon dioxide increased by more than 2 parts per million, which represents the fastest sustained rate of increase in the 63 years since monitoring began.

“Our data show that global emissions continue to move in the wrong direction at a rapid pace,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator. “The evidence is consistent, alarming and undeniable. We need to build a Climate Ready Nation to adapt for what’s already here and prepare for what’s to come. At the same time, we can no longer afford to delay urgent and effective action needed to address the cause of the problem — greenhouse gas pollution.”

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Abundant 'secret doors' on human proteins could reshape drug discovery:

The number of potential therapeutic targets on the surfaces of human proteins is much greater than previously thought, according to the findings of a new study in the journal Nature.

A ground-breaking new technique developed by researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona has revealed the existence of a multitude of previously secret doors that control protein function and which could, in theory, be targeted to dramatically change the course of conditions as varied as dementia, cancer and infectious diseases.

The method, in which tens of thousands of experiments are performed at the same time, has been used to chart the first ever map of these elusive targets, also known as allosteric sites, in two of the most common human proteins, revealing they are abundant and identifiable.

The approach could be a game changer for drug discovery, leading to safer, smarter and more effective medicines. It enables research labs around the world to find and exploit vulnerabilities in any protein—including those previously thought "undruggable."

"Not only are these potential therapeutic sites abundant, there is evidence they can be manipulated in many different ways. Rather than simply switching them on or off, we could modulate their activity like a thermostat. From an engineering perspective, that's striking gold because it gives us plenty of space to design 'smart drugs' that target the bad and spare the good," explains André Faure, postdoctoral researcher at the CRG and co-first author of the paper.

Journal Reference:
Faure, Andre J., Domingo, Júlia, Schmiedel, Jörn M., et al. Mapping the energetic and allosteric landscapes of protein binding domains, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04586-4)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Shock result in particle experiment could spark physics revolution

Scientists just outside Chicago have found that the mass of a sub-atomic particle is not what it should be.

The measurement is the first conclusive experimental result that is at odds with one of the most important and successful theories of modern physics.

The team has found that the particle, known as a W boson, is more massive than the theories predicted.

[...] The scientists at the Fermilab Collider Detector (CDF) in Illinois have found only a tiny difference in the mass of the W Boson compared with what the theory says it should be - just 0.1%. But if confirmed by other experiments, the implications are enormous. The so-called Standard Model of particle physics has predicted the behaviour and properties of sub-atomic particles with no discrepancies whatsoever for fifty years. Until now.

CDF's other co-spokesperson, Prof Georgio Chiarelli, from INFN Sezione di Pisa, told BBC News that the research team could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw the results.

"No-one was expecting this. We thought maybe we got something wrong." But the researchers have painstakingly gone through their results and tried to look for errors. They found none.

The result, published in the journal Science, could be related to hints from other experiments at Fermilab and the Large Hadron Collider at the Swiss-French border. These, as yet unconfirmed results, also suggest deviations from the Standard Model, possibly as a result of an as yet undiscovered fifth force of nature at play.

Also at Nature and Ars Technica.

Journal Reference:
T. Aaltonen. S. Amerio. D. Amedei, et. al.,High-precision measurement of the W boson mass with the CDF II detector, Science, (DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk1781)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The spider that looks like bird poo:

Animals do all sorts of disgusting things. While these gross behaviours might turn our stomachs, they're often crucial to an animal's survival.

I and my colleague Nic Gill have done the dirty work, and collected a bunch of unexpected facts about how these behaviours help animals live their best lives: making a home, finding mates and food, and surviving predators.

Our new book, titled Poo, Spew and other Gross Things Animals Do, is aimed at kids, but much of it will be news to adults, too.

So what does it take to survive and thrive in the wild? It's not always about being the biggest and fiercest. Many animals have evolved much more entertaining—if not impolite—strategies for evolutionary success.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Astronomers detect 'galactic space laser':

A powerful radio-wave laser, called a 'megamaser', has been observed by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. The record-breaking find is the most distant megamaser of its kind ever detected, at about five billion light years from Earth. The light from the megamaser has traveled 58 thousand billion billion (58 followed by 21 zeros) kilometers to Earth.

[...] The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers led by Dr Marcin Glowacki, who previously worked at the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

[...] "This is the first hydroxyl megamaser of its kind to be observed by MeerKAT and the most distant seen by any telescope to date.

[...] The record-breaking object was named 'Nkalakatha' [pronounced ng-kuh-la-kuh-tah] -- an isiZulu word meaning "big boss."

The MeerKAT telescope is a radio telescope comprised of 64 antennas that will make up part of the Square Kilometre Array. Nkalakatha was detected on the first night of an observing run known as LADUMA or "Looking at the Distant Universe with the MeerKAT Array." Megamasers are created during galactic collisions where dense gas regions create hydroxyl (OH) molecules that can coherently radiate energy under the right conditions, just as lasers do, but these emissions are at radiofrequency wavelengths.

Also at SARAO and Rutgers Today.

Journal Reference:

Marcin Glowacki, Jordan D. Collier, Amir Kazemi-Moridani, et al., LADUMA: Discovery of a luminous OH megamaser at z>0.5. The Astrophysical Journal Letters (accepted), 2022. [abstract]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Next Rocket Lab Launch Will Catch Returning Booster in Midair With a Helicopter:

The New Zealand- and US-based company plans to attempt recovering one of its Electron rocket boosters with the help of a chopper to conclude its next mission.

"Trying to catch a rocket as it falls back to Earth is no easy feat, we're absolutely threading the needle here," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck in a statement.

Rocket Lab has snatched rocket replicas using a helicopter, but has yet to grab an actual Electron as it falls back to Earth from a trip to space.

As they detail in their news release, the attempt will happen as part of their upcoming "There and Back Again" mission slated to deliver 34 small commercial satellites to orbit. A 14-day launch window opens April 19. They will use their Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to catch the Electron rocket's first stage as it returns to Earth on parachute and return it for refurbishment and reuse.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Zoom awarded $1.8 million in bug bounty rewards over 2021:

Zoom has awarded $1.8 million to researchers who submitted bug bounty reports over 2021.

Bug bounty programs, whether private and available to invitees-only or public, where anyone can submit a vulnerability report, have become a critical method for organizations to improve their security posture.

The industry is beset with talent shortages. Estimates suggest that there will be approximately 3.5 million unfilled job openings by 2025 in the US alone, and until there are more specialists available, companies often can't just rely on in-house security teams, who have more than enough of a workload.

This is where bug bounties come in: external researchers and bug hunters can perform tests on software and services, report any severe security issues, and receive credit and/or financial rewards in return.

The popularity of Zoom's teleconferencing video software exploded overnight due to COVID-19 and lockdowns, with many of us forced to work from home. However, the rapid increase in users also highlighted security problems that had to be addressed quickly. Hence, a bug bounty program was one of the firm's initiatives for improving the situation.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Uranium detectable in two-thirds of US community water system monitoring records: Highest concentrations were found for Hispanic communities:

Even at low concentrations, uranium in particular represents an important risk factor for the development of chronic diseases. Until now little epidemiological research had been done on chronic water uranium exposures despite the potential health effects of uranium exposure from CWSs. Uranium in particular, has been underappreciated in the literature as a public drinking water contaminant of concern. The study results are published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health.

"Previous studies have found associations between chronic uranium exposure and increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, and lung cancer at high levels of exposure," said Anne Nigra, PhD, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. "Our objectives were to estimate CWS metal concentrations across the U.S, and identify socio-demographic subgroups served by these systems that either reported high metal concentration estimates or were more likely to report averages exceeding the US EPA's maximum contaminant level (MCL)."

Approximately 90 percent of U.S. residents rely on public drinking water systems, with most residents relying specifically on community water systems that serve the same population year-round. The researchers evaluated six-year EPA review records for antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, selenium, thallium, and uranium to determine if average concentrations exceeded the maximum contaminant levels set by the EPA which regulates levels for six classes of contaminants. This included approximately 13 million records from 139,000 public water systems serving 290 million people annually. The researchers developed average metal concentrations for 37,915 CWSs across the country, and created an online interactive map of estimated metal concentrations at the CWS and county levels to use in future analyses.

upstart writes:

AMD's GPU drivers are overclocking some Ryzen processors without asking:

In September, AMD added support for simple CPU overclocking to its graphics drivers. If you had a Ryzen 5000-series CPU and wanted to benefit from the extra performance, this auto-overclocking function could save you from needing to download the more complex Ryzen Master utility. The overclock would also be conservative enough that it probably wouldn't cause system instability or other issues.

The problem for some users is that this auto-overclocking feature has become too automated—that is, it's changing systems' overclocking settings whether users want it to or not.

An AMD representative told Tom's Hardware that "an issue in the AMD software suite" caused the feature to begin "adjusting certain AMD processor settings for some users." Because the CPU overclocking feature is actually changing settings in your system's BIOS, that means it can change overclocking settings that users have changed themselves and apply an overclock where there was no overclock before. That second bit could be especially problematic since overclocking processors generally voids AMD's CPU warranty, even when you're using AMD-provided tools like Ryzen Master or using AMD-advertised features like Precision Boost Overdrive (though, anecdotally, this policy isn't consistently enforced).

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Flood risk for Iowa farmland:

The study from IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa is the first to detail the flood risk to farmland statewide. The researchers used flood maps developed at the Iowa Flood Center, and incorporated data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create the crop flood-risk analysis.

Among the main findings:

• Nearly 450,000 acres of Iowa farmland are located in a two-year flood return period, meaning there's a 50% chance the land will flood in a given year. That's less than 2% of the total farmable land analyzed in the study.
• Iowa agriculture sees crop losses, on average, of $230 million a year due to farming that takes place in flood-prone areas.

The researchers also identified four watersheds as most vulnerable to flooding and crop losses: Middle Cedar in east-central Iowa, North Raccoon and South Skunk in central Iowa, and West Nishnabotna in southwest Iowa.

upstart writes:

UC Berkeley ML pioneer wins top computing gong:

[...] This year's ACM Prize in Computing is going toward a machine learning specialist whose work, even if you haven't heard of him, is likely to be familiar.

Pieter Abbeel, UC Berkeley professor and co-founder of AI robotics company Covariant, was awarded the prize and its $250,000 bounty, which is given to those in the machine learning field "whose research contributions have fundamental impact and broad implications."

Abbeel is a professor of computer science and electrical engineering whose work has already received some recognition. Along with this new award, he was named a top young innovator under 25 by the MIT Technology Review and won a prize given out to the best US PhD thesis in robotics and automation.

[...] ACM said that one of Abbeel's most important contributions to the machine learning world was his work with deep reinforcement learning, which combines reinforcement learning with deep neural networks. "While early reinforcement learning programs were effective, they could only perform simple tasks... deep reinforcement learning can solve far more complex problems than computer programs developed with reinforcement learning alone," ACM said.

Deep reinforcement learning enables AI to learn more quickly with less prior knowledge because it's able to learn from abstract, unstructured data more effectively. The approach was used in high-profile applications like learning to beat humans at Go, Chess, and Poker, and others involve improving social media notifications and training self-driving cars.

Original Submission