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Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/the-senate-just-lobbed-a-tactical-nuke-at-nasas-mars-sample-return-program/

The US Senate on Thursday slashed the budget for NASA's ambitious mission to return soil and rock samples from Mars' surface.

NASA had asked for $949 million to support its Mars Sample Return mission, or MSR, in fiscal year 2024. In its proposed budget for the space agency, released Thursday, the Senate offered just $300 million and threatened to take that amount away.

"The Committee has significant concerns about the technical challenges facing MSR and potential further impacts on confirmed missions, even before MSR has completed preliminary design review," stated the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee in its report on the budget.

The committee report, obtained by Ars, noted that Congress has spent $1.739 billion on the Mars Sample Return mission to date but that the public launch date—currently 2028—is expected to slip, and cost overruns threaten other NASA science missions.

[...] The Senate's proposed budget for the Mars mission follows a report by Ars three weeks ago that delved into its exploding costs. Internally, NASA has been discussing scenarios in which the total mission costs might reach $9 billion.

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upstart writes:

A novel biosensor for detecting neurodegenerative disease proteins:

By combining multiple advanced technologies into a single system, EPFL researchers have made a significant step forward in diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

This novel device is known as the ImmunoSEIRA sensor, a biosensing technology that enables the detection and identification of misfolded protein biomarkers associated with NDDs. The research, published in Science Advances, also harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) by employing neural networks to quantify disease stages and progression.

This significant technological advance holds promise not only for early detection and monitoring of NDDs, but also for assessing treatment options at various stages of the disease's progression.

[...] It is hypothesized that healthy proteins misfold first into oligomers in early stages and into fibrils in later stages of the disease. These misfolded protein aggregates circulate in the brain and biofluids and also accumulate as deposits in the brains of deceased NDD sufferers. But the development of tools to detect these tell-tale signs of disease—known as biomarkers—has remained elusive until now. The hurdles to accurate detection are multiple, including limits of current technology to accurately separate and quantify different protein aggregates. Combing multiple advanced technologies into one sensor

[...] "Unlike current biochemical approaches which rely on measuring the levels of these molecules, our approach is focused on detecting their abnormal structures. This technology also allows us to differentiate the levels of the two main abnormal forms implicated in the development and progression of NDDs, oligomers and fibrils," says Lashuel

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/07/ohio-bans-doctor-after-botched-surgeries-on-tiktok-threaten-patients-lives/

Yesterday, an Ohio plastic surgeon, Katharine Grawe—who accumulated nearly 15 million likes by livestreaming operations on TikTok as "Doctor Roxy"—was permanently banned from practicing medicine and surgery in Ohio.

The decision came following a November 2022 suspension temporarily barring Grawe from seeing patients after the State Medical Board of Ohio reviewed "clear and convincing evidence" from multiple patients who were harmed during Grawe's livestreamed surgeries. The board decided to suspend Grawe's license, saying that her "continued practice presents a danger of immediate and serious harm to the public."

Related: (Don't do dumb things while operating. Sure doesn't help, if you screw things up and it's all on video either.)
Dentist Accused of Extracting Teeth While Riding Hoverboard - 20170426

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owl writes:

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/07/human-powered-air-compressor-and-energy-storage-system/

When I look around my motorcycle shop, pneumatic tools are everywhere. From handheld tools such as impact guns, sanders, shears, saws and grinders to large equipment including a sandblast cabinet and tire machine; air is a vital part of taking on a wide variety of tasks.

The air compressor I've used since the 1990's uses a 220V, 7hp electric motor to turn a two stage air pump at 800 rpm, which fills the 80 gallon tank to 150 psi in about five minutes. It has been a very reliable machine, to the point where I hardly ever think about it. Only when there is a power outage do I realize how much I rely on a ready supply of compressed air.

In a rapidly changing world where inexpensive and reliable energy going forward is no longer a given, I set out to build a system to fill my air tanks without the use of electricity or fuel. My design would be free of electronics of any type, and with minimal maintenance the components should last a lifetime. I wanted to use as many second hand parts as possible, in an effort to reduce costs and inspire recycling and repurposing.

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Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/07/fran-drescher-we-are-all-going-to-be-in-jeopardy-of-being-replaced-by-machines/

On Thursday, members of the SAG-AFTRA actors' union (and its president, actor Fran Drescher) announced their decision to go on strike in solidarity with the WGA strike that has been ongoing since May. One of the central issues raised in this conflict is the threat of using artificial intelligence models to replace human labor, a concern echoed in the writers' strike.

As reported by The Verge and Reuters, The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is particularly concerned about the use of AI to create digital likenesses of actors without ongoing consent or appropriate compensation. These digital replicas, powered by advancements in computer graphics techniques and machine learning, are becoming increasingly lifelike, creating new challenges and ethical considerations for the film and television industry. SAG-AFTRA represents over 160,000 film and television actors.

During a press conference on Thursday, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, best known as the star of the 1990s sitcom The Nanny, underscored the union's concerns, warning of a future where AI-powered digital doubles might replace human actors. As she put it, "If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines."

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upstart writes:

Cloudflare CEO Says Twitter's Traffic Is 'Tanking':

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has shared a graph that shows a steady decline in Twitter's traffic since January 2023, hitting an all-year low in July. Prince didn't go into details about why Twitter's traffic has taken a nosedive, but other data analytics services paint a similar picture, including Ahrefs and Statista. The latter company claims that Twitter's global visits dropped from 6.9 billion monthly in January 2023 to 6.4 billion in April 2023.

[...] As Twitter's traffic goes on a downward spiral, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has been having fun on Threads, taking cheeky jabs at Musk, reveling in the explosive sign-up rate, and discussing how Threads can replace Twitter at its own game. "I've always thought there would be a town square app with 1 billion+ people," Zuckerberg replied to a user's analysis of Twitter's monthly active users and its appeal as a public town square. "It's wild that after a few days it seems possible to people that Threads has a shot."

Twitter loses nearly half advertising revenue since Elon Musk takeover:

Twitter has lost almost half of its advertising revenue since it was bought by Elon Musk for $44bn (£33.6bn) last October, its owner has revealed.

He said the company had not seen the increase in sales that had been expected in June, but added that July was a "bit more promising".

[...] Meanwhile, Twitter is struggling under a heavy debt load. Cash flow remains negative, Mr Musk said at the weekend, although the billionaire did not put a time frame on the 50% drop in ad revenue.

In a tweet he said: "Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else."

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hubie writes:

Tunnels deep underground in North Yorkshire are providing a unique opportunity to study how humans might be able to live and operate on the Moon or on Mars:

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have launched the Bio-SPHERE project in a unique research facility located 1.1 km below the surface, in one of the deepest mine sites in the UK. The project investigates how scientific and medical operations would take place in the challenging environments of the Moon and Mars.

It is the first of a series of new laboratory facilities planned to study how humans might work – and stay healthy – during long space missions, a key requirement for ensuring mission continuity on other planets.

[...] The Bio-SPHERE project is based in a 3,000m³ tunnel network adjacent to the Boulby Laboratory, which go through 250-million-year-old rock salt deposits, consisting of Permian evaporite layers left over from the Zechstein Sea. This geological environment, together with the deep subsurface location, have enabled researchers to recreate the operational conditions humans would experience working in similar caverns on the Moon and Mars. This includes remoteness, limited access to new materials and challenges in moving heavy equipment around.

At the same time, thanks to the ultra-low radiation environment provided by that depth, the location will enable scientists to investigate how effective underground habitats might be in protecting space crews from deep-space radiation, which is a significant risk in space exploration, as well as other hazards, such as falling debris from meteorites, which risks damaging the life-support infrastructure.

[...] Lead researcher Dr Alexandra Iordachescu, in the University of Birmingham's School of Chemical Engineering, said: "We are excited to be partnering with the fantastic science team at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. This new capability will help to gather information that can advise on the life support systems, devices and biomaterials which could be used in medical emergencies and tissue repair following damage in deep-space missions.

"These types of metrics can guide system design and help to assess the scientific needs and acceptable timeframes in bioengineering operations under the constraints of isolated environments, such as space habitats. The data is likely to bring numerous benefits for Earth-based applications as well, such as delivering biomedical interventions in remote areas or in hazardous environments and more generally, understanding biomedical workflows in these non-ideal environments."

Journal Reference:
Iordachescu, A., Eisenstein, N. & Appleby-Thomas, G. Space habitats for bioengineering and surgical repair: addressing the requirement for reconstructive and research tissues during deep-space missions [open]. npj Microgravity 9, 23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-023-00266-3

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hubie writes:

A placebo effect can make users overconfident when they think tech is helping them:

A new study suggests that a placebo effect is at play when people expect their performance to be enhanced by augmentation technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). The researchers found that individuals with high expectations of these technologies engage in riskier decision-making, which could be a problem as people adopt these technologies without properly understanding their benefits and limits.

Augmentation technologies boosting our physical, cognitive, or sensory performance have become commonplace. Some are so widely in use that they've become invisible – spellcheck, for example – and new technologies are emerging that could push our abilities beyond human limits, like exoskeletons and AI-based vision-enhancement. But the hype around these technologies also builds expectations, which could lead people to change their behaviour.

'Individuals are more inclined to take risks when they believe they are enhanced by cutting-edge technologies like AI or brain-computer interfaces,' says Robin Welsch, assistant professor at Aalto University. 'This occurs even if no actual enhancement technology is involved, indicating that it's about people's expectations rather than any noticeable improvement. The findings also imply that a strong belief in improvement, based on a fake system, can alter decision-making.'

[...] 'The hype surrounding these technologies skews people's expectations,' says Steeven Villa, doctoral researcher at LMU Munich. 'It can lead people to make riskier decisions and favourable user evaluations, which can have real consequences.'

[...] 'AI-based technologies that enhance users are increasingly common and play a role in real-life decisions that impact people's lives, well-being, confidence, and safety.' says Thomas Kosch, professor at HU Berlin. 'To ensure the effectiveness of new technologies beyond the hype, placebo-controlled studies are necessary for accurate evaluation and validation to tell apart snake-oil from real innovation.'

Journal Reference:
Steeven Villa, Thomas Kosch, Felix Grelka, Albrecht Schmidt, Robin Welsch (2023). The placebo effect of human augmentation: Anticipating cognitive augmentation increases risk-taking behavior, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 146. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107787

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upstart writes:

This should prevent future buyers from experiencing the worst that 12VHPWR connectors have to offer:

Nvidia's melting 12VHPWR power connectors are still out there, although a wave of media coverage last year has increased awareness of the dangers posed by improper contact or bending the power cables too much to make them fit inside compact PC cases. Fortunately, Team Green has been quietly replacing the power connector on newly-manufactured RTX 40 series graphics cards, so those of you who have yet to upgrade will have a lower chance of encountering the problematic 12VHPWR design.

Earlier this month, we learned that the PCI-SIG had developed a new and improved specification for the controversial 16-pin power connector known as 12VHPWR, which has been a major source of headaches for owners of Nvidia's higher-end RTX graphics cards. AMD has yet to adopt the standard, so it has largely avoided criticism in this area, with reviewers mostly lamenting about the high price of RDNA 3 cards and their relatively low energy efficiency compared to Nvidia's Ada Lovelace counterparts.

If a recent post from the Nvidia subreddit is any indication, the company is silently upgrading RTX 4090 Founders Edition cards with the updated 16-pin power connector. Notably, the company has also applied the same treatment to recently manufactured Founders Edition RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti cards, and partners like MSI have also integrated the new connector on upcoming PSU designs showcased at Computex.

That's good news for RTX 40 series users, some of whom have seen their connectors melt from not making proper contact. Those who were lucky enough to avoid that would sometimes find their cards did not perform at their best even though the power plug appeared to be fully inserted into the card's connector.

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fab23 writes:

Bruce Schneier published:

French Police Will Be Able to Spy on People through Their Cell Phones

The French police are getting new surveillance powers:

French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday, July 5.

[...]

Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow the geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail. Devices could also be remotely activated to record sound and images of people suspected of terror offenses, as well as delinquency and organized crime.

[...]

During a debate on Wednesday, MPs in President Emmanuel Macron's camp inserted an amendment limiting the use of remote spying to "when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime" and "for a strictly proportional duration." Any use of the provision must be approved by a judge, while the total duration of the surveillance cannot exceed six months. And sensitive professions including doctors, journalists, lawyers, judges and MPs would not be legitimate targets.

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upstart writes:

May be about to join systemd as the new tech for graybeards to scorn... but adopt anyway:

It has taken about 15 years to get there, but there is mounting evidence that the Wayland display server may soon topple X11 as the most common way to get a GUI on Linux.

We've reported on growing endorsement for Wayland recently. The team developing Linux for Apple Silicon Macs said they didn't have the manpower to work on X.org support. A year ago, the developers of the Gtk toolkit used by many Linux apps and desktops said that the next version may drop support for X11. But this sort of thing feels to us like it's trying to push users towards Wayland, rather than actually attracting anyone.

One of the developers of the Budgie desktop, Campbell Jones, recently published a blog post with a wildly controversial title that made The Reg FOSS desk smile: "Wayland is pretty good, actually." He lays out various benefits that Wayland brings to developers, and concludes:

Primarily, what I've learned is that Wayland is actually really well-designed. The writing is on the wall for X, and Wayland really is the future.

Partly as a result of this, it looks likely that the next version of the Budgie desktop, Budgie 11, will only support Wayland, completely dropping support for X11. The team point out that this is not such a radical proposition: there was a proposal to make KDE 6 sessions default to Wayland as long ago as last October.

caseih writes:

A thoughtful post on the Adafruit Blog chronicles the problems facing open-source hardware companies, and how more and more companies, including Sparkfun, Arduino and Prusa, are becoming more and more proprietary and closed source. In Arduino's case, they are deliberately trying to stamp out the clones undercutting them. The new Arduino Pro is not open source in any way, and the web site has now removed references to being an open source company. This is indeed sad news and I'm not sure how this will impact the vibrant maker community.

As always there are subtleties and nuances. In the case of Prusa, not only are Chinese companies taking Prusa designs and source to make proprietary, closed-source products, they are also actively patenting designs and algorithms they've taken from open source, freezing out the companies and developers that made it all possible.

With Red Hat moving to be a proprietary software company (which happens to use and work on open source projects) and now these reports, what are soylenters' thoughts on the future of open source companies and economics? Are truly open source companies doomed to failure, especially when overseas companies do not respect or even understand the principles of open source development? To me this reinforces the importance of the GPLv3, not that that stops dishonest companies.

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hubie writes:

Communities should reconsider walking away from curbside recycling, study shows:

Curbside recycling can compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions from garbage destined for landfills, says a new study that encourages towns and cities to continue offering recycling services to meet their climate goals.

The study's authors took a deep dive into the economic and environmental value of community recycling efforts and compared it to the value of other climate change mitigation practices. They concluded that recycling provides a return on investment similar to or better than environmentally friendly strategies like transitioning to electric vehicles or purchasing green power, which is electricity from clean, renewable energy sources.

[...] Towns and cities across the country have canceled or scaled back recycling programs due to rising costs. Recent restrictions on recyclable material collected by major international markets have contributed to the cost increase, according to the study, which was published today in Nature Sustainability.

[...] When recycling markets were most lucrative in 2011, U.S. recycling costs were as little as $3 a year per household. Beginning in 2018 and through 2020, tighter restrictions went into place and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the markets, and the cost for recycling ranged from $34 to $42. The study asserts that even with higher costs, the investment offsets the greenhouse gas emissions from non-recycled waste buried in landfills.

Townsend and Anshassi say that if local governments restructure their curbside recycling programs to target materials with the greatest market value and the highest potential for carbon offset, recycling can pay for itself and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They identify higher-value materials as newspaper, cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, and HDPE and PET plastic bottles.

[...] Researchers also suggest that local and state governments could implement policies to help relieve the cost burden of recycling, like establishing a minimum amount of recyclable materials that manufacturers must use in packaging or products and placing some of the responsibility for recycling costs on the manufacturers.

"If we learn collectively to recycle better, we can reduce the costs to pretty much break even," Townsend says. "From an environmental perspective, that's a good return on your investment."

Journal Reference:
Anshassi, M., Townsend, T.G. The hidden economic and environmental costs of eliminating kerb-side recycling. Nat Sustain (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01122-8

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takyon writes:

Senators move to require release of US government UFO records

The Senate in the coming days is expected to consider a bipartisan measure that would compel the U.S. government to publicly release records relating to possible UFO sightings after decades of stonewalling.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has teamed up with Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican, in leading an effort to force the disclosure of information relating to what the government officially calls "unidentified anomalous phenomena," or UAPs. Their 64-page proposal is modeled after a 1992 U.S. law spelling out the handling of records related to the 1963 assassination of President John Kennedy.

They plan to offer the measure as an amendment to sweeping legislation moving through Congress that would authorize U.S. defense funding for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1.

[...] It also establishes that the federal government would have "eminent domain" over any recovered technologies of unknown origin and any biological evidence of "non-human intelligence" that may be controlled by private individuals or entities.

Also at NewsNation:

Schumer's announcement comes after whistleblower David Grusch, a former member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, told NewsNation about his allegations that government officials are retrieving extraterrestrial, nonhuman spacecraft.

And The New York Times:

Support in the House is also likely. On Wednesday, the chamber included a narrower measure in its version of the annual defense bill that would push the Pentagon to release documents about unidentified aerial phenomena.

[...] President Biden would appoint the nine-person review board, subject to Senate approval. Senate staff members say the intent is to select a group of people who would push for disclosure while protecting sensitive intelligence collection methods.

See also: Schumer, Rounds Introduce New Legislation To Declassify Government Records Related To Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena & UFOs – Modeled After JFK Assassination Records Collection Act – As An Amendment To NDAA

Amendment PDF (64 pages)

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upstart writes:

Ofcom launches investigation into whether telco is making it difficult for people to cancel services:

Virgin Media, which provides broadband, phone and TV services in the UK, is in hot water with regulators over allegations that the company is making it difficult for customers to cancel their contracts.

Ofcom announced that it had opened an investigation into the broadband provider today after receiving a number of similar complaints.

"Being able to switch provider easily is an important part of a competitive market," Ofcom said. "Telecoms customers can choose from a wide range of providers, services and packages, and can often save hundreds of pounds by switching to a new deal. This ability for customers to shop around, switch and save is particularly important given the current cost-of-living crisis facing UK households."

[...] Ofcom expressed concern at the number of complaints it had received from subscribers who tried to leave but claimed the company made it difficult.

"Some struggled to get through to an agent on the phone," the regulator said. "Some found their call was dropped mid-way through or they were put on hold for long periods. And many said they had to make lengthy and repeated requests to cancel, as their initial instruction was not actioned."

[...] "If Ofcom's investigation finds the company in breach of its rules the damage to its reputation is likely to far outweigh any fine. Hopefully when the long-awaited One Touch Switch process is launched later in the year it will mean an end to out-of-contract customers having to announce their intention to leave their current provider before moving to a new one. In the meantime, any Virgin Media customers wanting to cancel should persevere and make sure they don't overpay by staying on a rolling deal."

"One Touch Switch" refers to new Ofcom rules designed to make it easier for customers to change telecoms providers. The regulation, which is much like the mobile arena's text-to-switch rules enforced in 2019, was supposed to be implemented by April 3, but Ofcom noted that industry missed the deadline.

See also: Publishers and Advertisers Push Back at FTC's 'Click-to-Cancel' Proposal

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