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First Underground Radar Images From Mars Perseverance Rover Reveal Some Surprises

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

After a tantalizing year-and-a-half wait since the Mars Perseverance Rover touched down on our nearest planetary neighbor, new data is arriving—and bringing with it a few surprises.

[...] Perseverance is currently exploring a delta on the western edge of the crater, where a river once fed the lake, leaving behind a large deposit of dirt and rocks it picked up along its course. As the rover gathers more data, the researchers hope to clear up the complex history of this part of the Red Planet.

"We were quite surprised to find rocks stacked up at an inclined angle," said David Paige, a UCLA professor of Earth, planetary and space sciences and one of the lead researchers on the Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Experiment, or RIMFAX. "We were expecting to see horizontal rocks on the crater floor. The fact that they are tilted like this requires a more complex geologic history. They could have been formed when molten rock rose up towards the surface, or, alternatively, they could represent an older delta deposit buried in the crater floor."

[...] "RIMFAX is giving us the backstory of the samples we're going to analyze. It's exciting that the rover's instruments are producing data and we're starting to learn, but there's a lot more to come," Paige said. "We landed on the crater floor, but now we're driving up on the actual delta, which is the main target of the mission. This is just the beginning of what we'll hopefully soon know about Mars."

upstart writes:

Norway reportedly wants to fine Meta for illegal data transfers:

A month after the Irish data watchdog submitted a draft ruling to EU regulators, Norway has weighed in on the legal quagmire around EU-US data transfers.

Norway's data protection authority wants Facebook's parent company to be fined for continuing to transfer EU data to the US in violation of EU law, according to a document seen by Politico.

While Norway is not a member of the EU, it is part of the European Economic Area which has incorporated GDPR.

The proposal was a response to a draft ruling issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) to other EU regulators last month, following an investigation into whether Meta's transatlantic data-sharing practices comply with EU rules.

[...] Datatilsynet said that while limitations and bans can ensure future processing of personal data is in line with GDPR, sanctions such as administrative fines "are directed towards violations in the past and carry a punitive element".

[...] In March, Meta was fined €17m by the Irish DPC for not complying with GDPR requirements and having in place "appropriate technical and organisational measures" to protect user data in the context of a dozen data breaches.

But Meta could be waiting some time for a ruling from the DPC on the US-EU data transfers case. Politico reported earlier this month that the Irish watchdog has received objections from several other EU regulators to its draft order, delaying a final decision.

€17M is punitive? Zuckerberg's annual haircut budget is probably larger than that.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Even a relatively small nuclear war would create a worldwide food crisis lasting at least a decade in which hundreds of millions would starve, according to our new modeling published in Nature Food.

In a nuclear war, bombs dropped on cities and industrial areas would start firestorms, injecting large amounts of soot into the upper atmosphere. This soot would spread globally and rapidly cool the planet.

Although the war might only last days or weeks, the impacts on Earth's climate could persist for more than ten years. We used advanced climate and food production models to explore what this would mean for the world's food supply.

[...] We simulated six different war scenarios, because the amount of soot injected into the upper atmosphere would depend on the number of weapons used.

The smallest war in our scenarios was a "limited" conflict between India and Pakistan, involving 100 Hiroshima-sized weapons (less than 3% of the global nuclear arsenal). The largest was a global nuclear holocaust, in which Russia and the United States detonate 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.

[...] Even under the smallest war scenario we considered, sunlight over global crop regions would initially fall by about 10%, and global average temperatures would drop by up to 1–2℃. For a decade or so, this would cancel out all human-induced warming since the Industrial Revolution.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

T-Mobile is looking to SpaceX's satellites in the skies to help flesh out its network coverage. On Thursday, the two companies announced that they will be working together to "bring cell phone connectivity everywhere," including offering "complete coverage in most places in the US." 

The partnership aims to use SpaceX's constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to beam down connectivity that T-Mobile users can tap into. While SpaceX already offers home internet service around the globe through its Starlink program, with this program T-Mobile users should be able to connect to the SpaceX satellites through a "new network, broadcast from Starlink's satellites using T-Mobile's midband spectrum nationwide." 

Although the company hasn't yet offered specifics on where the network will appear, T-Mobile says it should deliver "nearly complete coverage almost anywhere a customer can see the sky," with the companies envisioning this service as a replacement for using satellite phones in remote areas like a national park or in the mountains.

The carrier will start offering service through SpaceX in a beta that will take place in "select areas by the end of next year" as SpaceX launches its Starlink V2 satellites. Once operational, the network should cover the continental US as well as Hawaii, "parts" of Alaska, Puerto Rico and "territorial waters."

The beta will initially be limited just to text messaging (via SMS, MMS and "participating messaging apps") though T-Mobile and SpaceX are open to adding voice and data support in the future (albeit with no timeline given beyond "the coming years"). 

[...] Because the new network is broadcasting over T-Mobile's midband spectrum, the wireless carrier said that the "vast majority of smartphones" already on its network will be compatible with the new service and that users won't necessarily need to buy a new phone to tap into the signal. The cellular network will be exclusive to T-Mobile customers and will exist alongside SpaceX's Starlink broadband program on future satellites that SpaceX launches. 

[...] As for pricing, Sievert said the company plans to include it on the carrier's "most popular plans," though older or cheaper plans may need to pay a monthly fee for the feature.

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hubie writes:

An experiment prepared by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will launch as part of NASA's scheduled Artemis I mission to orbit the moon Aug. 29:

The NRL experiment will use samples of fungi to investigate effects of the deep space radiation environment outside of Earth's protective magnetosphere.

[...] In addition to being found in human environments, fungi are notable for their natural mechanisms to protect and repair DNA damage caused by radiation. The experiment seeks to understand fungi's radiation protective qualities, as well as generally studying how biological systems adapt to deep space.

[...] "Looking at the impact of melanin and DNA repair pathways in the samples with the effects of both cosmic radiation and microgravity will increase our knowledge for how humans may be impacted at the Moon and beyond as we continue to explore further," said Zheng Wang, NRL microbiologist and the principal investigator on this project. "We also hope to gain knowledge for the development of new ways to protect astronauts and equipment during space travel. As the fungi adapt to the space environment they may also produce novel biomolecules that could have therapeutic potentials."

While NRL has a long history in space exploration, stretching back to the V-2 rocket test in the late 1940s, this experiment marks a first in space for the Lab. The fungal experiment will become the first biological project performed at NRL to be launched to space.

[...] The NRL experiment is one of four space biology investigations selected for Biological Experiment 01 (BioExpt-01) mission aboard the Orion spacecraft by NASA's Space Biology Program. During the Artemis I mission, the fungal samples will be stored in a specialized Biological Research in Canisters system within the crew compartment of NASA's Orion capsule. According to NASA, all of the investigations aim to study DNA damage and protection from radiation, which for Moon missions experience approximately twice as much radiation exposure as levels on the ISS.

Accompanying video

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The Chattanooga telecommunications company EPB is launching the first communitywide 25Gbps internet speed tier in the US.

[...] The 25,000Mbps plan, which features symmetrical download and upload speeds, is five times faster than AT&T's highly touted "hypergig" plan and Ziply Fiber's speediest tier. It's more than four times faster than the Gigabit Pro plan from Xfinity. 

Chattanooga might still be most familiar for some as the city name-checked in the popular 1941 Glenn Miller Orchestra song Chattanooga Choo Choo. But to observers in the tech industry, it's been known as "Gig City" for more than 10 years. It was an early adopter of Gig-speed internet, offering it communitywide back in 2010, and it was the first US city to have a residential, 10 gig plan, back in 2015.  

"We are once again breaking the typical approach for internet service providers by proactively upgrading to the latest technologies in anticipation of future needs," said EPB Board Chair Vicky Gregg in a press release. "Our goal is to enable new frontiers for technical innovation and job creation for our customers to the benefit of our whole community."

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upstart writes:

Nato investigates hacker sale of missile firm data:

NATO is assessing the impact of a data breach of classified military documents being sold by a hacker group online.

The data includes blueprints of weapons being used by NATO allies in the Ukraine conflict. Criminal hackers are selling the dossiers after stealing data linked to a major European weapons maker. MBDA Missile Systems admitted its data was among the stash but claimed none of the classified files belong to the firm.

The pan-European company, which is headquartered in France, said its information was hacked from a compromised external hard drive, adding that it was cooperating with authorities in Italy, where the data breach took place.

It is understood investigations are centred around one of MBDA's suppliers.

In a statement, a Nato spokesperson said: "We are assessing claims relating to data allegedly stolen from MBDA. We have no indication that any NATO network has been compromised."

Cyber criminals, operating on Russian and English forums, are selling 80GB of the stolen data for 15 Bitcoins (approximately £273,000) and claimed to have sold the stash to at least one unknown buyer so far.

In their advert for the stolen data, the hackers claimed to have "classified information about employees of companies that took part in the development of closed military projects" as well as "design documentation, drawings, presentations, video and photo materials, contract agreements and correspondence with other companies".

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upstart writes:

DuckDuckGo now offers anti-tracking email service to everyone:

DuckDuckGo's tracker-removing email service, which has been available in private beta for a year, is now open to anyone who uses a DuckDuckGo mobile app, browser extension, or Mac browser. It has also added a few more privacy tools.

The service provides you a duck.com email address, one intended to be given out for the kind of "Subscribe to our newsletter for 20 percent off" emails you know exist only to harvest data and target you for ads. Email sent to your duck.com address forwards to your chosen primary email—but with trackers removed.

Email Protection now also fixes up links, strips them of tracking modifiers, upgrades unencrypted HTTP URLs to HTTPS where possible, and, for the rare necessary reply, allows you to send directly from your duck address instead of exposing your primary email. During their closed beta, DuckDuckGo claims that 85 percent of the emails it processed contained hidden trackers.

[...] In my experience, using the company's apps, extensions, or browser isn't necessary to keep the email forwarding service running, but they allow you to autofill your duck address and create more individual throwaway email addresses, which is handy for email filtering.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The GPU shortage is over. The GPU surplus has arrived!:

How quickly things change: A year ago, it was nearly impossible to buy a GeForce GPU for its intended retail price. Now, the company has the opposite problem. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said during the company's Q2 2023 earnings call yesterday that the company is dealing with "excess inventory" of RTX 3000-series GPUs ahead of its next-gen RTX 4000 series release later this year.

To deal with this, according to Huang, Nvidia will reduce the number of GPUs it sells to manufacturers of graphics cards and laptops so that those manufacturers can clear out their existing inventory. Huang also says Nvidia has "instituted programs to price position our current products to prepare for next-generation products." When translated from C-suite to English, this means the company will be cutting the prices of current-generation GPUs to make more room for next-generation ones. Those price cuts should theoretically be passed along to consumers somehow, though that will be up to Nvidia's partners.

[...] Nvidia announced earlier this month that it would be missing its quarterly projections by $1.4 billion, mainly due to decreased demand for its gaming GPUs. Huang said that "sell-through" of GPUs, or the number of cards being sold to users, had still "increased 70 percent since pre-COVID," though the company still expects year-over-year revenue from GPUs to decline next quarter.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Power shortages in Ireland threaten to scupper plans by cloud giants AWS, Equinix and Microsoft to expand their data center footprints:

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Equinix and Microsoft may be forced to halt new data center projects in Dublin due to the city's power constricts.

The Times (Via Datacenter Dynamics) reports that Amazon and Microsoft are looking at alternative locations outside Dublin after state-owned electricity operator, EiGrid, imposed a moratorium on new connections in the capital city. The companies had earmarked nearly €2bn for data center expansion in the region.

EirGrid last year warned Dublin faced rolling blackouts due to excess demand, primarily from existing and new major data centers run by cloud giants. Ireland's Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in 2021 named data centers "the single largest homogenous demand driver" on the grid.

"EirGrid is now applying these criteria to all data center applicants, many of which have decided not to progress their developments," a spokesperson said.

According to The Times, Microsoft and Amazon had received permission to build new facilities but Amazon reportedly hasn't received a connection from EirGrid and was told it would not be eligible for one. Microsoft meanwhile is exploring locations in London, Frankfurt, and Madrid. Amazon is building a data center near London.

upstart writes:

James Webb Space Telescope makes first unequivocal detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere:

For the first time, astronomers have found unambiguous evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system).

[...] Natalie Batalha, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, leads the team of astronomers that made the detection, using JWST to observe a Saturn-mass planet called WASP-39b which orbits very close to a sun-like star about 700 light-years from Earth.

"Previous observations of this planet with Hubble and Spitzer had given us tantalizing hints that carbon dioxide could be present," Batalha said. "The data from JWST showed an unequivocal carbon dioxide feature that was so prominent it was practically shouting at us."

Carbon dioxide is an important component of the atmospheres of planets in our solar system, found on rocky planets like Mars and Venus as well as gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. For exoplanet researchers, it is important both as a gas they are likely to be able to detect on small rocky planets and as an indicator of the overall abundance of heavy elements in the atmospheres of giant planets.

"Carbon dioxide is actually a very sensitive measuring stick—the best one we have—for heavy elements in giant planet atmospheres, so the fact that we can see it so clearly is really great," said coauthor Jonathan Fortney, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC and director of the Other Worlds Laboratory.

takyon writes:

Intel Kicks Off Fab Co-Investment Program with Brookfield: New Fabs to be Jointly Owned

Intel this week introduced its new Semiconductor Co-Investment Program (SCIP) under which it will build new manufacturing facilities in collaboration with investment partners – a sharp departure from the company's traditional stance of wholly owning its logic fabs. As part of its SCIP initiative, Intel has already signed a deal with Brookfield Asset Management, which will provide Intel about $15 billion to build its fab new fab in Arizona in exchange for a 49% stake in the project. Furthermore, similar co-investment models are set to be used for other fabs in the future.

[...] Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will co-invest $30 billion in the ongoing expansion of the site [in Arizona] with Intel financing 51% and Brookfield backing 49% of the total project cost. Previously Intel planned to invest $20 billion in its Fab 52 and Fab 62, but together with Brookfield the sum has increased to $30 billion. In addition to getting access to additional funding, Intel could also take advantage of Brookfield's experience in developing infrastructure assets.

By working together with Brookfield, Intel will get $15 billion in free cash flow and will be able to invest more into its new fabs without raising new debt. Also, this will allow Intel to invest more in other projects while "continuing to fund a healthy and growing dividend." Meanwhile, the $15 billion benefit is "expected to be accretive to Intel's earnings per share during the construction and ramp phase."

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

A recent report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 80 percent of urine samples from children and adults in the U.S. contained the herbicide glyphosate. A study by Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University takes this research one step further and is the first to link the use of the herbicide Roundup, a widely used weed killer, to convulsions in animals.

Glyphosate, the weed killer component in Roundup, is the world's most commonly used herbicide by volume and by land-area treated. Glyphosate-resistant crops account for almost 80 percent of transgenic crop cultivated land, which has resulted in an estimated 6.1 billion kilos of glyphosate sprayed across the world from 2005 to 2014. Roundup is used at both industrial and consumer levels, and its use is projected to dramatically increase over the coming years. A major question, yet to be fully understood, is the potential impact of glyphosate on the nervous system.

[...] Results, published in Scientific Reports, showed that glyphosate and Roundup increased seizure-like behavior in soil-dwelling roundworms and provides significant evidence that glyphosate targets GABA-A receptors. These communication points are essential for locomotion and are heavily involved in regulating sleep and mood in humans. What truly sets this research apart is that it was done at significantly less levels than recommended by the EPA and those used in past studies.

"The concentration listed for best results on the Roundup Super Concentrate label is 0.98 percent glyphosate, which is about 5 tablespoons of Roundup in 1 gallon of water," said Naraine. "A significant finding from our study reveals that just 0.002 percent glyphosate, a difference of about 300 times less herbicide than the lowest concentration recommended for consumer use, had concerning effects on the nervous system."

upstart writes:

Former UK Supreme Court Judge Calls Out Online Safety Bill As Harmful By Itself:

We have discussed at great lengths the many problems of the UK's Online Safety Bill, in particular how it will be a disaster for the open internet. Unfortunately, it appears that important politicians seem to think that the Online Safety Bill will be a sort of magic wand that will make the "bad stuff" online disappear automatically (it won't).

It appears that more people — and prominent ones at that — are now speaking out against the bill. Former UK Supreme Court judge, Jonathan Sumption, has published a piece in the Spectator, the old school UK political commentary magazine that is generally seen as quite conservative. Sumption warns that the Online Harms Bill will, itself, be quite harmful.

The real vice of the bill is that its provisions are not limited to material capable of being defined and identified. It creates a new category of speech which is legal but 'harmful'. The range of material covered is almost infinite, the only limitation being that it must be liable to cause 'harm' to some people. Unfortunately, that is not much of a limitation. Harm is defined in the bill in circular language of stratospheric vagueness. It means any 'physical or psychological harm'. As if that were not general enough, 'harm' also extends to anything that may increase the likelihood of someone acting in a way that is harmful to themselves, either because they have encountered it on the internet or because someone has told them about it.

This test is almost entirely subjective. Many things which are harmless to the overwhelming majority of users may be harmful to sufficiently sensitive, fearful or vulnerable minorities, or may be presented as such by manipulative pressure groups. At a time when even universities are warning adult students against exposure to material such as Chaucer with his rumbustious references to sex, or historical or literary material dealing with slavery or other forms of cruelty, the harmful propensity of any material whatever is a matter of opinion. It will vary from one internet user to the next.

upstart writes:

Top Programming Languages 2022:

Python remains on top but is closely followed by C. Indeed, the combined popularity of C and the big C-like languages—C++ and C#—would outrank Python by some margin. Java also remains popular, as does Javascript, the latter buoyed by the ever-increasing complexity of websites and in-browser tools (although it's worth noting that in some quarters, the cool thing is now deliberately stripped-down static sites built with just HTML and simple CSS).

But among these stalwarts is the rising popularity of SQL. In fact, it's at No. 1 in our Jobs ranking, which looks solely at metrics from the IEEE Job Site and CareerBuilder. Having looked through literally hundreds and hundreds of job listings in the course of compiling these rankings for you, dear reader, I can say that the strength of the SQL signal is not because there are a lot of employers looking for just SQL coders, in the way that they advertise for Java experts or C++ developers. They want a given language plus SQL. And lots of them want that "plus SQL."

It may not be the most glamorous language...but some experience with SQL is a valuable arrow to have in your quiver.

This is likely because so many applications today involve a front-end or middleware layer talking to a back-end database, often over a network to eliminate local resource constraints. Why reinvent the wheel and try to hack your own database and accompanying network interface protocol when so many SQL implementations are available? Chances are there's probably already one that fits your use case. And even when a networked back end isn't practical, embedded and single-board computers can be found with enough oomph to run a SQL database locally.

("although it's worth noting that in some quarters, the cool thing is now deliberately stripped-down static sites built with just HTML and simple CSS") - Hey, so now we are cool? [JR]

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