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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

IBM has returned to the facial recognition market — just three years after announcing it was abandoning work on the technology due to concerns about racial profiling, mass surveillance, and other human rights violations.

In June 2020, as Black Lives Matter protests swept the US after George Floyd’s murder, IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna wrote a letter to Congress announcing that the company would no longer offer “general purpose” facial recognition technology. “The fight against racism is as urgent as ever,” he wrote. “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency.” Later that year, the company redoubled its commitment, calling for US export controls to address concerns that facial recognition could be used overseas “to suppress dissent, to infringe on the rights of minorities, or to erase basic expectations of privacy.”

Despite these announcements, last month, IBM signed a $69.8 million (£54.7 million) contract with the British government to develop a national biometrics platform that will offer a facial recognition function to immigration and law enforcement officials, according to documents reviewed by The Verge and Liberty Investigates, an investigative journalism unit in the UK.

hubie writes:

Complex organic molecules observed in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth:

The discovery of the molecules, which are familiar on Earth in smoke, soot and smog, demonstrates the power of Webb to help understand the complex chemistry that goes hand-in-hand with the birth of new stars even in the earliest periods of the universe's history. At least for galaxies, the new findings cast doubt on the old adage that where there's smoke, there's fire.

Using the Webb telescope, Texas A&M University astronomer Justin Spilker and collaborators found the organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away. Because of its extreme distance, the light detected by the astronomers began its journey when the universe was less than 1.5 billion years old — about 10% of its current age. The galaxy was first discovered by the National Science Foundation's South Pole Telescope in 2013 and has since been studied by many observatories, including the radio telescope ALMA and the Hubble Space Telescope.

[...] The data from Webb found the telltale signature of large organic molecules akin to smog and smoke —building blocks of the same cancer-causing hydrocarbon emissions on Earth that are key contributors to atmospheric pollution. However, Spilker says the implications of galactic smoke signals are much less disastrous for their cosmic ecosystems.

"These big molecules are actually pretty common in space," Spilker explained. "Astronomers used to think they were a good sign that new stars were forming. Anywhere you saw these molecules, baby stars were also right there blazing away."

The new results from Webb show that this idea might not exactly ring true in the early universe, according to Spilker.

hubie writes:

Metaverse could put a dent in global warming:

For many technology enthusiasts, the metaverse – a virtual 3D environment in which the physical and digital worlds converge – has the potential to transform almost every facet of human life, from work to education to entertainment.

New Cornell research shows the metaverse could have environmental benefits, too: lowering the global surface temperature by up to 0.02 degrees Celsius before the end of the century.

[...] The team used AI-based modeling to analyze data from key sectors – technology, energy, environment and business – to anticipate the growth of metaverse usage and the impact of its most promising applications: remote work, virtual traveling, distance learning, gaming and non-fungible tokens.

The researchers projected metaverse expansion through 2050 along three different trajectories – slow, nominal and fast – and they looked to previous technologies, such as television, the internet and the iPhone, for insight into how quickly that adoption might occur. They also factored in the amount of energy that increasing usage would consume. The modeling suggested that within 30 years, the technology would be adopted by more than 90% of the population.

"One thing that did surprise us is that this metaverse is going to grow much quicker than what we expected," You said. "Look at earlier technologies – TV, for instance. It took decades to be eventually adopted by everyone. Now we are really in an age of technology explosion. Think of our smartphones. They grew very fast."

owl writes:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/61116/why-did-old-phone-numbers-start-letters

On I Love Lucy, whenever Lucy or Ricky Ricardo gave out their phone number, they'd say it as "Murray Hill 5-9975." Even though that may look and sound like gibberish to modern phone-users, it was perfectly normal at the time. Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do.

Phone numbers looked like this in the middle of the 20th century because of telephone exchanges—the hubs through which an area's calls would be routed. Phone subscribers were given a unique five-digit number within their service area. These would be preceded by two digits, which were identified by letters, that denoted the telephone exchange you were connected to. (Before the 1950s, some cities used three letters and four numbers, while others had two letters and three numbers. The two letter, five number format—or "2L-5N"—was eventually standardized throughout the country).

Because these telephone exchanges could only facilitate around 10,000 subscribers, many large cities had multiple hubs. The Ricardo's MUrray Hill5-9975 meant their number was 685-9975 ("Hill" and its capital H served purely as a mnemonic), with the 68, or "MU," representing the east side of Manhattan's telephone exchange. This is also why phones still have letters over the numbers (three over 2 through 8, and four over 9).

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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

You may be surprised to know that Germany's wild boars are too radioactive to eat – and Chernobyl may not be solely to blame. Fallout from nuclear weapons testing decades ago during the Cold War is a significant contributor to that radiation, it turns out.

High levels of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 – or caesium-137 for those outside the US – found inside most animal species living in Bavarian forests have declined over time, except for wild swine. Scientists haven't been able to explain this so-called "wild boar paradox," though a team of researchers led by those at the Leibniz University Hannover may be one step closer to figuring out why.

They analyzed 48 wild boar meat samples to potentially pinpoint the source of the contamination. In 88 percent of the samples, the level of radiation from cesium-137 exceeded Germany's food safety limits of 600 Bq/kg. It's believed this radiocesium got into the boars' diet via truffles, which they root out from underground. The cesium-137 sinks down, is absorbed by the fungus, and then gobbled up by the pigs.

The radioactive cesium likely came from two possible sources: the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, and nuclear weapons testing during that century. To check for this, and using a mass spectrometer, the university team calculated the ratio of cesium-135 to cesium-137 in the wild boar, and found the ratio high enough to suggest that, as the scientists put it, "nuclear weapons fallout contributes significantly to the notorious contamination levels in wild boars in central Europe that were previously believed to be dominated by Chernobyl."

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

If you fancy creating a blog or website to discuss the Arm architecture or the Softbank-owned outfit that develops it, keep the British CPU designer's name out of the domain name you choose – or draw the wrath of its lawyers.

[...] Strictly speaking, the letter went to the web host provider for her Arm-related websites, who passed it onto Markstedter to handle. The missive demanded that the website come down as it featured Arm's "Arm" trademark in the domain name.

[...] Arm's rush to snatch up domain names is somewhat ironic, considering that in 2018 the biz create the website riscv-basics.com and used it to host content smearing rival RISC-V architecture and list multiple reasons why Arm's tech is superior. Arm pulled the dot-com after an internal revolt by its staff, and the domain has since lapsed into someone else's hands.

Arm's takedown comes just a week after the Neoverse designer officially filed for an IPO on the US Nasdaq. In the filing, Arm disclosed numerous risk factors, including many related to its operations in China. However, we don't recall any mention of experts writing tutorials about its ISA as something Arm thinks investors need to worry about.

That said, it did warn: "We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, trade secret protection and contractual protections ... to protect our IP rights.

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hubie writes:

The earliest reptiles, birds and mammals may have borne live young:

Until now, the hard-shelled egg was thought to be the key to the success of the amniotes - a group of vertebrates that undergo embryonic or foetal development within an amnion, a protective membrane inside the egg.

However, a fresh study of 51 fossil species and 29 living species which could be categorised as oviparous (laying hard or soft-shelled eggs) or viviparous (giving birth to live young) suggests otherwise.

The findings, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, show that all the great evolutionary branches of Amniota, namely Mammalia, Lepidosauria (lizards and relatives), and Archosauria (dinosaurs, crocodilians, birds) reveal viviparity and extended embryo retention in their ancestors.

Extended embryo retention (EER) is when the young are retained by the mother for a varying amount of time, likely depending on when conditions are best for survival.

While the hard-shelled egg has often been seen as one of the greatest innovations in evolution, this research implies it was EER that gave this particular group of animals the ultimate protection.

[...] "EER is common and variable in lizards and snakes today. Their young can be released, either inside an egg or as little wrigglers, at different developmental stages, and there appears to be ecological advantages of EER, perhaps allowing the mothers to release their young when temperatures are warm enough and food supplies are rich."

Professor Benton concluded: "Our work, and that of many others in recent years, has consigned the classic 'reptile egg' model of the textbooks to the wastebasket.

"The first amniotes had evolved extended embryo retention rather than a hard-shelled egg to protect the developing embryo for a lesser or greater amount of time inside the mother, so birth could be delayed until environments become favourable.

"Whether the first amniote babies were born in parchment eggs or as live, snapping little insect-eaters is unknown, but this adaptive parental protection gave them the advantage over spawning earlier tetrapods."

Journal Reference:
Jiang, B., He, Y., Elsler, A. et al. Extended embryo retention and viviparity in the first amniotes. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1131–1140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02074-0

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hubie writes:

19-Hour Days for a Billion Years of Earth's History: Study:

It's tough accomplishing everything we want to get done in a day. But it would have been even more difficult had we lived earlier in Earth's history.

Although we take the 24-hour day for granted, in Earth's deep past, days were even shorter.

Day length was shorter because the Moon was closer. "Over time, the Moon has stolen Earth's rotational energy to boost it into a higher orbit farther from Earth," said Ross Mitchell, geophysicist at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead author of a new study published in Nature Geoscience.

"Most models of Earth's rotation predict that day length was consistently shorter and shorter going back in time," said Uwe Kirscher, co-author of the study and a research fellow now at Curtin University in Australia.

But a slow and steady change in day length going back in time is not what Mitchell and Kirscher found.

[Continues...]

Journal Reference:
Mitchell, R.N., Kirscher, U. Mid-Proterozoic day length stalled by tidal resonance. Nat. Geosci. 16, 567–569 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01202-6

Original Submission

hubie writes:

This makes the chance of other habitable planets in the Universe more likely:

Up until now, researchers believed that it took more than 100 million years for the Earth to form. And it was also common belief that water was delivered by lucky collisions with water-rich asteroids like comets.

However, a new study from the University of Copenhagen suggests that it might not have happened entirely by chance.

"We show that the Earth formed by the very fast accumulation of small millimeter-sized pebbles. In this mechanism, the Earth was formed in just a few million years. Based on our findings, it appears that the presence of water on Earth is a byproduct of its formation" says Martin Bizzarro, who is a Professor at Globe Institute and one of the researchers behind the new study.

The results of the research not only show that the Earth was created much faster than previously thought, but that the presence of water is a predicted outcome of its formation process. This is important knowledge because it tells us something about planets outside our own Solar System.

"With this new planet formation mechanism, the chance of having habitable planets in the galaxy is much higher than we previously thought," says Martin Bizzarro.

Habitability is the potential for a planet to have the right ingredients at its surface for life to develop. One key ingredient for habitability is water.

[...] An example of this could be if comets, which are icy bodies, bombarded the surface of Earth towards the end of its formation.

"If that is how Earth was formed, then it is pretty lucky that we have water on Earth. This makes the chances that there is water on planets outside our Solar System very low," says Martin Schiller.

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The International Gemini Observatory, a key player in global astronomical research, has temporarily halted astronomical operations following a cyberattack. The culprits and their motives remain unknown.

The computer hack, which took place on the morning of August 1, led to the suspension of the Gemini North and South Telescopes, as detailed in an August 24 statement from the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). While the North telescope is situated in Hawaii, its southern counterpart is located on Cerro Pachón, Chili, with a few other smaller telescopes located in Cerro Tololo, also in Chile. Observatories stationed on Arizona’s Kitt Peak, however, remain unaffected by the intrusion, according to NOIRLab.

[...] “Like the entire astronomy community, we are disappointed that some of our telescopes are not currently observing. Fortunately, we have been able to keep some telescopes online and collect data with in-person workarounds,” NOIRLab stated in its release. “We are grateful for the support of the astronomy community during this difficult time and we thank everyone for their patience as our teams continue to work towards restoring normal operations.”

[...] For the time being, Gemini North has been securely positioned in its zenith-pointing orientation. NOIRLab credits the prompt actions of its security team for preventing any damage to the observatory. As to who is responsible for the hacks, or their motivations, that remains either unknown or undisclosed. NOIRLab has been tight-lipped about the incident, claiming that it is “limited” in what it can share about its “cybersecurity controls and investigatory findings.”

The nature of the hacks is not known, but as Space.com points out, the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) had previously alerted the public about such threats—and even the potential for espionage—in the space sector, emphasizing the critical importance of space assets to national security and economic strength.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Research could pave the way to new anti-malarials that work by "jet-lagging" the parasites that cause the disease:

Health officials warn that drug resistance could wipe out recent progress against malaria, particularly in Africa and southeast Asia. Now, researchers looking for other ways to fight the mosquito-borne parasites that cause the disease have zeroed in on a potential new target: biological clocks.

Most living things have internal clocks that govern fluctuations in everything from hunger and hormone levels to when genes are active throughout the day.

In a study published June 6 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers analyzed gene activity in patients who showed up at medical facilities along the Thailand-Cambodia border, showing signs of a malaria infection in their blood.

The team found that malaria parasites somehow sync their molecular rhythms with the internal 24-hour clocks of their hosts, their respective genes rising and falling in perfect lockstep with each other over the course of a day, like two pendulum clocks with synchronized swings.

[...] When someone has malaria, a deadly loop repeats itself inside their body. The disease's recurring fever spikes are caused by microscopic Plasmodium parasites that invade the person's red blood cells, multiply, and then burst out in unison, spewing into the bloodstream by the millions to invade other cells and begin the cycle anew.

This cycle repeats itself every 24, 48 or 72 hours depending on the Plasmodium species. Which got scientists wondering: could the parasites be coordinating in some way with the 24-hour circadian rhythms of their hosts?

owl writes:

https://gist.github.com/kj800x/be3001c07c49fdb36970633b0bc6defb

I recently bought an LG ULTRAGEAR monitor secondhand off of a coworker. I really love it and it's been great so far, but I ran into some minor issues with it in Linux. It works great on both Mac and Windows, but on Linux it displays just a black panel until I use the second monitor to go in and reduce the refresh rate down to 60 Hz.

This has worked decent so far but there's some issues:

It doesn't work while linux is booting up. The motherboards boot sequence is visible just fine, but as soon as control is handed over to Linux and I'd normally see a splash screen while I'm waiting for my login window, I see nothing.

It doesn't work on the login screen. This would be fine if login consistently worked on my second screen, but I need to manually switch the cables between my work computer and the desktop for the second screen and sometimes I don't feel like doing that. Even when I switch the cables, the second screen seems to be moody and doesn't always show the login screen either.

Once I've logged in and fixed the settings on my second screen it seems to go fine, unless I actually unplug the second screen. If I do, it looks like the graphics settings go reset back to default (settings that don't work) and I lose the main monitor too.

And down the rabbit hole we go.....

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Gentle cleansers are just as effective in killing viruses – including coronavirus – as harsh soaps:

Health care professionals often substitute harsh soaps or alcohol-based hand sanitisers with skin-friendly cleansers in order to treat or prevent irritant contact dermatitis - a common skin disease which causes red and swollen skin with a dry and damaged surface.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, incidence and severity of the disease amongst healthcare professionals increased from 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

Despite the widespread use of gentle cleansing products for handwashing, there has been limited evidence to show the antiviral efficacy of the products to prevent the spread of viruses such as human coronavirus, herpes simplex virus, norovirus and influenza.

[...] The findings, published in the journal Frontiers Virology, show gentle cleansers were effective in killing enveloped viruses, but non-enveloped viruses displayed resistance against skin-friendly cleansers, as well as harsh soaps.

Lead author of the study, Dr Munitta Muthana from the University of Sheffield's Department of Oncology and Metabolism, said: "Washing our hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds was a fundamental message advocated in the UK to help stop the spread of Covid-19. But for healthcare professionals, who can wash their hands as many as 100 times during a 12 hour shift, this may cause unintended adverse effects.

[...] "For the first time, our study has shown substituting harsh soaps with milder wash products such as gentle cleansers is effective in fighting against enveloped viruses, including human coronavirus, which is very encouraging - especially for those in jobs in which irritant contact dermatitis is an occupational hazard. We also found that using additional agents such as moisturisers to help protect the skin didn't prevent the products' antiviral activity, which means we don't have to use very harsh products on our skin in order to kill viruses."

upstart writes:

Comcast and other ISPs asked FCC to ditch listing-every-fee rule. FCC says "no":

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday rejected requests to eliminate an upcoming requirement that Internet service providers list all of their monthly fees.

Five major trade groups representing US broadband providers petitioned the FCC in January to scrap the requirement before it takes effect. In June, Comcast told the FCC that the listing-every-fee rule "impose[s] significant administrative burdens and unnecessary complexity in complying with the broadband label requirements."

The five trade groups kept up the pressure earlier this month in a meeting with FCC officials and in a filing that complained that listing every fee is too hard. The FCC refused to bend, announcing yesterday that the rules will take effect without major changes.

"Every consumer needs transparent information when making decisions about what Internet service offering makes the most sense for their family or household. No one wants to be hit with charges they didn't ask for or they did not expect," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said.

Yesterday's order "largely affirms the rules... while making some revisions and clarifications such as modifying provider record-keeping requirements when directing consumers to a label on an alternative sales channel and confirming that providers may state 'taxes included' when their price already incorporates taxes," the FCC said.

[...] Rejecting the broadband industry's request, the FCC order yesterday said:

[W]e affirm our requirement that providers display all monthly fees with respect to broadband service on the label to provide consumers with clear and accurate information about the cost of their broadband service. We thus decline providers' request that they not disclose those fees or that they instead display an "up to" price for certain fees they choose to pass through to consumers.

Specifically, "providers must itemize the fees they add to base monthly prices, including fees related to government programs they choose to 'pass through' to consumers, such as fees related to universal service or regulatory fees," the FCC said.

Ha Ha!

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Samsung's compliance committee chair has told local media the massive conglomerate is now on the straight and narrow, after years spent dealing with the legal fallout of past ethical lapses.

Lee Chan-hee told South Korean newswire Yonhap the chaebol's culture has changed, and potentially sensitive issues are now investigated by the committee he chairs.

"I think management now believes abiding by the law is much more helpful in doing business. They paid a costly price for caving to short-sighted gain and political pressure," said Lee.

The compliance committee Lee heads was launched in 2020 following a 2019 court order requiring Samsung to adopt preventative measures against ethical breaches.

Lee's comments come a week after Samsung reportedly decided to rejoin industry group the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).

Samsung left the group six years ago amidst scandal when South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, was found to have used FKI as a means to secure payments from member companies – including Samsung. That finding diminished the Federation's reputation and saw Park impeached and jailed for nearly five years.

[...] FKI since then has sought to rehabilitate its image. Last week it even changed its name to Korea Economic Association and set up an ethics committee.

In his inaugural address, the lobby group's newly appointed chairman, Ryu Jin, pledged to "clean up the dark past and cut off the wrong links," adding that the reconstituted org will "practice ethical management and ensure that a transparent corporate culture takes root throughout the business world."

Original Submission