SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Humans Hear Much Better Underwater Than Previously Thought – At Times Better Than Seals:

All mammals lived on land millions of years ago, but eventually, certain species abandoned the land and adapted to life in the sea: take seals and whales, which both can now live underwater.

The remainder of the species that persisted on land has similarly adapted to a life on land. That is why it shouldn't be a surprise that a group of experts came to the conclusion that people today hear better on land than under water in a recent study. However, the research also offers unexpected information on human hearing.

[...] "It is 26 dB lower than hypothesized in previous studies, so we must conclude that humans hear significantly better under water than previously reported by science. In fact, the threshold at 500 Hz is in line with how well animals such as cormorants and seals hear underwater," says Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard.

[...] "You should not expect to be able to jump into the sea and orient yourself perfectly using only your sense of hearing," says Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard, "Sense of hearing is not just about being able to pick up a sound. It is also about determining the direction of the sound — and this is very difficult for a person underwater."

Journal Reference:
K. Sørensen, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, M. Wahlberg, Is human underwater hearing mediated by bone conduction?, Hearing Research, Volume 420, 2022, 108484, (DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108484)

Original Submission

hubie writes:

A formidable space tourism industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated:

Published today in the journal Earth's Future, researchers from UCL, the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used a 3D model to explore the impact of rocket launches and re-entry in 2019, and the impact of projected space tourism scenarios based on the recent billionaire space race.

The team found that black carbon (soot) particles emitted by rockets are almost 500 times more efficient at holding heat in the atmosphere than all other sources of soot combined (surface and aircraft) – resulting in an enhanced climate effect.

Furthermore, while the study revealed that the current loss of total ozone due to rockets is small, current growth trends around space tourism indicate potential for future depletion of the upper stratospheric ozone layer in the Arctic in spring. This is because pollutants from solid-fuel rockets and re-entry heating of returning spacecraft and debris are particularly harmful to stratospheric ozone.

Study co-author Dr Eloise Marais (UCL Geography) said: "Rocket launches are routinely compared to greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions from the aircraft industry, which we demonstrate in our work is erroneous.

Journal Reference:
Robert G. Ryan, Eloise A. Marais, Chloe J. Balhatchet, and Sebastian D. Eastham, Impact of Rocket Launch and Space Debris Air Pollutant Emissions on Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate [open], Earth's Future, 10, 6, 2022. DOI: 10.1029/2021EF002612

Original Submission

I realise that this has been an unpleasant time for many of our anonymous community members, but I can assure you that it has been necessary. I am not yet prepared to go into details but I can at least update you with our findings so far. But first we have to look at some historical data.

Anonymous Cowards (ACs) have always been - and will hopefully continue to be - welcome members of our community. There are many perfectly understandable reasons for wishing to post as AC and how you chose to live your own personal life is of no concern of this site. Equally, you are welcome to use VPNs and other security measures to protect your privacy. We take similar measures to protect all of your data so that you will not be compromised by us. These measures are effective and to the SN administration ACs appear as a single user with the user identity of #1.

We cannot treat some ACs differently from others. While we can manage to sort out your comments etc with the aid of the hashes that we produce, they change so frequently as to be useless for any purpose outside of this site. But the Administration is only concerned with what happens within this site and so this point is moot. We have no interest in the rest of the internet so IP addresses are also of no interest to us. How your comments get from wherever you are to us is irrelevant. The bottom line is that ACs can only be treated as a single account. That account is granted certain permissions or not granted those permissions and they apply to every AC interaction.

Most of our community, both logged in and AC, participate in the discussions in an reasonable manner and discuss the topic that has been outlined and any threads that resulting from it. It is true that, particularly at weekends, there is a slight increase in the number of ACs appearing but on their own they are little more than a minor irritant. There is, however, a 3rd group, consisting of ACs who sole purpose seems to be to derail any sensible discussion. Over recent years they have become more aggressive and often use personal attacks rather than challenging what is being said. Some are more obvious than others and I am sure that you can all think of examples of such people for yourself. A very small number have stated that it is their aim to prevent SoylentNews from continuing.

upstart writes:

Birds warned of food shortages by neighbor birds change physiology and behavior to prepare:

Songbirds learning from nearby birds that food supplies might be growing short respond by changing their physiology as well as their behavior, research by the Oregon State University College of Science shows.

After receiving social information from food-restricted neighbors for three days, the red crossbills in the study raised their pace of consumption, increased their gut mass and maintained the size of the muscle responsible for flight when their own eating opportunities were subsequently limited to two short feeding periods per day.

Findings of the study by OSU's Jamie Cornelius, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest that birds can use social information about food shortages to effect an adaptive advantage for survival.

Journal Reference:
Advance social information allows red crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) to better conserve body mass and intestinal mass during food stress, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0516)

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Identifying Toxic Content Can Be a First Step To Addressing It:

Trolls, haters, flamers and other ugly characters are, unfortunately, a fact of life across much of the internet. Their ugliness ruins social media networks and sites like Reddit and Wikipedia.

But toxic content looks different depending on the venue, and identifying online toxicity is a first step to getting rid of it.

[...] To better understand what toxicity looked like in the open-source community, the team first gathered toxic content. They used a toxicity and politeness detector developed for another platform to scan nearly 28 million posts on GitHub made between March and May 2020. The team also searched these posts for "code of conduct" — a phrase often invoked when reacting to toxic content — and looked for locked or deleted issues, which can also be a sign of toxicity.

[...] "Toxicity is different in open-source communities," Miller said. "It is more contextual, entitled, subtle and passive-aggressive."

Only about half the toxic posts the team identified contained obscenities. Others were from demanding users of the software. Some came from users who post a lot of issues on GitHub but contribute little else. Comments that started about a software's code turned personal. None of the posts helped make the open-source software or the community better.

"Worst. App. Ever. Please make it not the worst app ever. Thanks," wrote one user in a post included in the dataset.

[...] "We've been hearing from developers and community members for a really long time about the unfortunate and almost ingrained toxicity in open-source," Miller said. "Open-source communities are a little rough around the edges. They often have horrible diversity and retention, and it's important that we start to address and deal with the toxicity there to make it a more inclusive and better place."

Paper pre-print and video of the talk.

Journal Reference:
Courtney Miller, Sophie Cohen, Daniel Klug, et al., "Did You Miss My Comment or What?" Understanding Toxicity in Open Source Discussions, 44th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2022), Pittsburgh, PA, 2022.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Millennials about to overtake Boomers as the largest generation:

Australians aged 25 to 39 years are overtaking Baby Boomers as the largest share of the population, with newly released census data placing Millennials neck-and-neck with their cashed-up parents.

Millennials, born between 1981 and 1995, have increased from 20.4 per cent of the population in 2011 to 21.5 per cent last year. Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1965, have decreased from 25.4 per cent of the population to 21.5 per cent in the same period.

[...] Census results categorise anyone born before 1945 as the Interwar generation. After Baby Boomers, Generation X covers births between 1966 and 1980. Generation Z takes over from Millennials, also known as Gen Y, covering births from 1996 until 2010. Generation Alpha covers births to 2021.

[...] The generational shift is also reflected in religious affiliation in Australia. Nearly 60 per cent of Boomers report a Christian religious affiliation, compared with 30 per cent of Millennials.

More than 45 per cent of Millennials reported having no religion, compared with 30 per cent of Boomers.

How someone born in the 1960s can be considered part of the same generation as the post-WWII "baby boom" babies has always mystified me.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Internet on the go: FCC greenlights Starlink service on moving cars, boats, and planes:

If you're ready for connectivity on the move, SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband may soon be the answer. The US Federal Communications Commission on Thursday gave the internet provider the greenlight to provide service on moving vehicles, boats, and planes.

The new authority should help SpaceX meet "the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move," wrote FCC International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan in the approval, "whether driving an RV across the country, moving a freighter from Europe to a U.S. port, or while on a domestic or international flight."

The new approval specifically grants SpaceX authority to operate consumer and enterprise Ku-band Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM) in the 12 GHz band. However, the FCC granted the approval with some conditions.

First, SpaceX has to accept that there could be interference from other current and future operators in the 12 GHz band. SpaceX's authority to operate in the band is unprotected, so if other services interfere with the quality of SpaceX's service, that's simply too bad. The FCC also is requiring SpaceX to disclose to its customers that there's no expectation of interference protection.

The FCC granted SpaceX its new authority over the objections of a handful of other service providers. Satellite broadband provider Viasat, RS Access (a wireless network service backed by Michael Dell), and DISH all petitioned against it. DISH and RS Access already operate in the 12 GHz band, while Viasat is a manufacturer of Ku-band equipment, a provider of Ku-band satellite connectivity, and a Ku-band ESIM licensee.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Ukraine targeted by almost 800 cyberattacks since the war started:

Ukrainian government and private sector organizations have been the target of 796 cyberattacks since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to Ukraine's cybersecurity defense and security agency SSSCIP (State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection), the country's networks have been under a constant barrage of hacking attempts since the war started.

"Enemy hackers continue to attack Ukraine. The intensity of cyberattacks has not decreased since the beginning of Russia's full-scale military invasion, although their quality has been declining," SSSCIP said on Thursday.

The country's government and local authorities, as well as its defense organizations, are the key sectors that have been targeted the most during the first months of the war, in a total of 281 attacks.

The list of industry sectors heavily impacted by cyberattacks also includes the financial, telecom, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

Some Viruses Make You Smell Tastier to Mosquitoes

hubie writes:

A sneaky way of increasing a virus's odds of transmission:

Zika and dengue fever viruses alter the scent of mice and humans they infect, researchers report in the June 30 issue of Cell. The altered scent attracts mosquitoes, which bite the host, drink their infected blood, and then carry the virus to its next victim.

[...] These viruses require ongoing infections in animal hosts as well as mosquitoes in order to spread. If either of these are missing—if all the susceptible hosts clear the virus, or all the mosquitoes die—the virus disappears. For example, during the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793, the coming of the fall frosts killed the local mosquitoes, and the outbreak ended.

In tropical climates without killing frosts, there are always mosquitoes; the virus just needs one to bite an infected host animal in order to spread. Zika and dengue viruses seem to have developed a sneaky way of increasing the odds.

[...] "The virus can manipulate the hosts' skin microbiome to attract more mosquitoes to spread faster!" says Penghua Wang, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study authors. The findings could explain how mosquito viruses manage to persist for such a long time.

Wang and his coauthors also tested a potential preventative. They gave mice with dengue fever a type of vitamin A derivatives, isotretinoin, known to increase the production of the skin's antimicrobial peptide. The isotretinoin-treated mice gave off less acetophenone, reducing their attractiveness to mosquitoes and potentially reducing the risk of infecting others with the virus.

Wang says the next step is to analyze more human patients with dengue and Zika to see if the skin odor-microbiome connection is generally true in real world conditions, and to see if isotretinoin reduces acetophenone production in sick humans as well as it does in sick mice.

Journal Reference:
HongZhang, YibinZhu, ZiwenLiu, et al., A volatile from the skin microbiota of flavivirus-infected hosts promotes mosquito attractiveness, Cell, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.05.016

upstart writes:

'Urgent' action needed in Europe over monkeypox spread: WHO:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for 'urgent' action to prevent the spread of monkeypox in Europe, noting that cases had tripled there over the past two weeks.

To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Infections in Europe represent about 90 percent of the global total of cases, and 31 countries in the European region have now identified cases, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri Kluge said on Friday.

"Today, I am intensifying my call for governments and civil society to scale up efforts ... to prevent monkeypox from establishing itself across a growing geographical area," Kluge said in a statement.

[...] Kluge also said in his statement that there are no reported deaths from the current outbreak so far.

[...] The UN agency estimates that the disease can be fatal, but smallpox vaccines are protective and some antiviral drugs are also being developed.

To date, there have been about 1,800 suspected monkeypox cases including more than 70 deaths in Africa. Vaccines have never been used to stop monkeypox outbreaks in Africa. The WHO's Africa office said this week that countries with vaccine supplies "are mainly reserving them for their own populations".

Original Submission

We have had to activate anti-spam measures.

Only logged in users may comment. Registered accounts may still post anonymously but must first log in and then select anonymous posting. These measures will be revoked as soon as possible

** Some stories will accept AC comments without having to log in. They are marked [* AC Friendly *] This is part of an experiment to assess the practicality of mixed stories. **

[Editor's Note - This story has been moved up the display queue so that new arrivals can see what has been happening. JR 02-07-22 09:52 UTC]

upstart writes:

NASA is developing small robots to swim the subsurface seas of other world:

Some of the most promising places to look for alien life beyond Earth are the hidden oceans that lie beneath thick icy shells on other worlds like Saturn's moon Enceladus. NASA is funding research to develop tiny, swimming robots that could search these darkened depths for marine extra-terrestrials.

Plumes of liquid water erupt into space through fissures in Enceladus's frozen surface and when NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew through that cosmic mist, it detected interesting molecules that are often associated with the presence of life, like methane.

NASA engineer Ethan Schaler has developed a concept involving an ice-melting probe and a school of cell phone-size aquatic drones to explore such eerie environments. It's called Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (SWIM), and it has recently received funding to create and test 3D-printed prototypes.

[...] The triangular swimming robots could be loaded into a larger "cryobot" design that tunnels its way through the ice by melting it, perhaps using radiation. Cryobot concepts are currently in development through other NASA programs.

[...] It will be some time before the little bots could touch an alien ocean. The concept isn't currently attached to any NASA mission to such a world. But the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to the Jovian moon of the same name will certainly provide valuable data from another frozen world hiding a subterranean sea. It launches in 2024 with a planned arrival at Europa in 2030.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Uber Reports Fewer Sexual Assaults but Greater Rate of Deaths During Rides:

After lawsuits and calls for greater rider protections, Uber released its second safety report, disclosing that during 2019 and 2020, there were fewer sexual assaults but a greater rate of deaths in the course of giving rides.

Uber reported that 1.4 billion rides were taken in the US in 2019 but only 650 million in 2020, a slowdown attributed to the pandemic when trips taken decreased by as much as 80% in April 2020. The report concluded that 99.9% of those trips ended without a safety issue, though there were also 101 deaths by crashes. Also, 20 people were killed in assaults related to a trip, an increase of 18% compared with 2017 and 2018, the period which Uber's first safety report covered.

Uber said the rise in assaults followed national trends of an increase in violent homicides, which rose 30% between 2019 and 2020, according to Pew Research. As for the 101 deaths caused by crashes, Uber says 67 were the fault of third-party drivers impaired by alcohol, speeding or driving the wrong way -- though three accounts linked a death to an Uber driver who was speeding. The remaining deaths involved unbuckled riders and other drivers, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists and third-party motorcyclists, though the report didn't explain who caused their deaths.

Even considering the fewer rides taken due to the pandemic, the rate of sexual assault related to Uber rides declined 38%, with 3,824 reports filed in 2019 and 2020 compared with the 5,981 sexual assaults in the 2017-2018 period, when Uber provided 2.3 billion rides. While most types of sexual assault dropped by 20% or more, rape had the least rate of reduction with 388 reports, down from 466 in the 2017-2018 period.

[...] Uber released its first report in late 2019 and has committed to releasing another every two years. The 2021-22 report will reflect other efforts Uber has made to increase safety for drivers and riders, like slowly rolling out the capability to record audio of rides and expanding its RideCheck feature to check in when rides take unexpected routes or make unscheduled stops.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The 27 EU countries agree to support the 2035 fossil fuel car ban and compromise on fund to shield citizens from CO2 costs:

European Union countries have reached a deal backing stricter climate rules that will eliminate carbon emissions from new cars by 2035 and a multibillion-euro fund to shield poorer citizens from carbon dioxide (CO2) costs.

The 27 EU members found a common agreement on Wednesday morning on draft legislation aimed at slashing EU greenhouse gases by at least 55 percent in 2030 compared with 1990 rather than by a previously agreed 40 percent.

[...] The decision to introduce a 100 percent CO2 emissions reduction target by 2035 for new cars and vans will effectively prohibit the sale of new cars powered by petrol or diesel in the EU nations.

After fraught negotiations, they agreed to form a 59 billion euros ($61bn) EU fund to shield low-income citizens from the policy's costs over 2027-32.

[...] Europe's leading clean transport campaign group, Transport and Environment, said the EU governments' agreement is "historic" as it "breaks the hold of the oil industry over transport".

[...] By declaring that only cars and light utility vehicles which emit no CO2 can be sold from 2035, "we are sending a clear signal that we need to meet the climate targets. This gives the car industry the planning security it needs," she said.

[...] The overall goal is to put the EU on track to become climate-neutral in 2050 and to prod other big polluters, including the United States and China, to follow suit.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

New single-mode semiconductor laser delivers power with scalability:

Berkeley engineers have created a new type of semiconductor laser that accomplishes an elusive goal in the field of optics: the ability to maintain a single mode of emitted light while maintaining the ability to scale up in size and power. It is an achievement that means size does not have to come at the expense of coherence, enabling lasers to be more powerful and to cover longer distances for many applications.

A research team [...] showed that a semiconductor membrane perforated with evenly spaced and same-sized holes functioned as a perfect scalable laser cavity. They demonstrated that the laser emits a consistent, single wavelength, regardless of the size of the cavity.

The study's results are particularly relevant to vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VCSELs, in which laser light is emitted vertically out of the chip. Such lasers are used in a wide range of applications, including fiber optic communications, computer mice, laser printers and biometric identification systems.