SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Mathematician warns US spies may be weakening next-gen encryption:

A prominent cryptography expert has told New Scientist that a US spy agency could be weakening a new generation of algorithms designed to protect against hackers equipped with quantum computers.

Daniel Bernstein at the University of Illinois Chicago says that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is deliberately obscuring the level of involvement the US National Security Agency (NSA) has in developing new encryption standards for "post-quantum cryptography" (PQC). He also believes that NIST has made errors – either accidental or deliberate – in calculations describing the security of the new standards. NIST denies the claims.

"NIST isn't following procedures designed to stop NSA from weakening PQC," says Bernstein. "People choosing cryptographic standards should be transparently and verifiably following clear public rules so that we don't need to worry about their motivations. NIST promised transparency and then claimed it had shown all its work, but that claim simply isn't true."

[...] Although it is unclear when such computers will emerge, NIST has been running a project since 2012 to standardise a new generation of algorithms that resist their attacks. Bernstein, who coined the term post-quantum cryptography in 2003 to refer to these kinds of algorithms, says the NSA is actively engaged in putting secret weaknesses into new encryption standards that will allow them to be more easily cracked with the right knowledge. NIST's standards are used globally, so flaws could have a large impact.

Bernstein alleges that NIST's calculations for one of the upcoming PQC standards, Kyber512, are "glaringly wrong", making it appear more secure than it really is. He says that NIST multiplied two numbers together when it would have been more correct to add them, resulting in an artificially high assessment of Kyber512's robustness to attack.

"We disagree with his analysis," says Dustin Moody at NIST. "It's a question for which there isn't scientific certainty and intelligent people can have different views. We respect Dan's opinion, but don't agree with what he says."

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/10/canadas-84-year-radio-time-check-has-stopped-because-of-accuracy-concerns/

"The beginning of the long dash indicates exactly 1 o'clock Eastern daylight time."

Millions of Canadians grew accustomed to hearing a version of this daily affirmation on CBC Radio One. The National Research Council Time Signal, and the series of 800 Hz "pips" that preceded and followed the time-setting dash, worked its way into everyday rituals. Human listeners, and automated radio receivers at railways, shipping firms, and other entities, could set their mechanical clocks to it. That is why it started broadcasting on November 5, 1939, the same year as Canada's entry into World War II.

The long dash's last broadcast was, somewhat unexpectedly, October 9, 2023.

Both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the NRC have cited accuracy as the reason the 84-year ritual was halted. The CBC told its own reporters that because the CBC is now heard over satellite and Internet connections, not just terrestrial radio, there are delays when people hear it. A spokesperson acknowledged Canadians' "fondness" for the daily ritual but said it "can no longer ensure that the time announcement can be accurate."

Original Submission

Meeting Announcement: The next meeting of the SoylentNews governance committee is scheduled for Today, Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 at 21:00 UTC (5pm Eastern) in #governance on SoylentNews IRC. Logs of the meeting will be available afterwards for review, and minutes will be published when complete.

The agenda for the upcoming meeting will also be published when available. Minutes and agenda, and other governance committee information are to be found on the SoylentNews Wiki at: https://wiki.staging.soylentnews.org/wiki/Governance

The community is welcome to observe and participate--you are hereby invited to the meeting.

hubie writes:

Psychologist Steven Jay Lann and colleagues debunk common myths about hypnosis:

A strange mystic swings a pocket watch back and forth, repeating the phrase "You're getting sleepy, very sleepy," giving them absolute command over their subject. That's not how hypnotism really works, but it's the way it's often depicted in pop culture. Even some clinicians and hypnosis educators propagate harmful myths about hypnosis.

Steven Jay Lynn, a professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York, is an expert on hypnosis who has made major contributions to the judicial system for his insight on the practice. Lynn believes that hypnosis has many useful clinical applications, but that myths keep it from being utilized to its full potential.

[...] These are a few of the common myths that are widely believed and commonly circulated in popular culture.

Hypnotized people can't resist suggestions

A hypnotized person is believed to display "blind obedience," going along automatically with whatever the hypnotist suggests. [...]

Hypnosis is a "special state"

Hypnosis is often mischaracterized as a "special state" in which defense mechanisms are reduced and a "unique state of physical relaxation and conscious unconsciousness" allows us to enter our subconscious depths through hypnosis. [...]

People are either hypnotizable or they are not

Responsiveness to hypnosis can be relatively stable over time. Yet it is inaccurate to assume that people are either hypnotizable or not. [...]

Responsiveness to suggestions reflects nothing more than compliance or faking

Suggested behaviors during hypnosis can seem so much a departure from the mundane that questions inevitably arise regarding whether hypnotic responses are genuine. However, neuroimaging studies reveal that the effects of hypnotic suggestions activate brain regions (e.g, visual processing) consistent with suggested events (e.g., hallucinating an object). [...]

Hypnotic methods require great skill to administer

One popular misconception is that of the mesmerist, or a magician-like hypnotist with special powers of influence who can "hypnotize" anyone. [...]

Hypnotic age regression can retrieve accurate memories from the distant past

TV shows and movies often feature people being able to recall extremely accurate memories from a distant past life under hypnosis. But research suggests a contrary view.

Journal Reference:
Stein, M., Lynn, S., & Terhune, D. (2023). Reconciling myths and misconceptions about hypnosis with scientific evidence. BJPsych Advances, 1-2. doi:10.1192/bja.2023.30

Original Submission

Both Freeman and upstart wrote in with:

After ChatGPT disruption, Stack Overflow lays off 28 percent of staff:

Stack Overflow used to be every developer's favorite site for coding help, but with the rise of generative AI like ChatGPT, chatbots can offer more specific help than a 5-year-old forum post ever could.

[...] You might think of Stack Overflow as "just a forum," but the company is working on a direct answer to ChatGPT in the form of "Overflow AI," which was announced in July. Stack Overflow's profitability plan includes cutting costs, and that's the justification for the layoffs. Stack Overflow doubled its headcount in 2022 with 525 people. ChatGPT launched at the end of 2022, making for unfortunate timing.

[... ] OpenAI is working on web crawler controls for ChatGPT, which would let sites like Stack Overflow opt out of crawling. [...] Chandrasekar has argued that sites like Stack Overflow are essential for chatbots, saying they need "to be trained on something that's progressing knowledge forward. They need new knowledge to be created."

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

dbe writes:

This article [Paywalled-Subscribers Only] describes how GPT tools can be used for some tasks but will reduce the quality of workers output in others in a phenomenon dubbed "falling asleep behind the wheel".

Tasks where GPT assisted consultants did better: creative business idealization and selling concepts.

Participants were required to complete 18 tasks, or as many as they could within the given time frame, across four broad domains: creativity (e.g. "propose at least 10 ideas for a new shoe targeting an underserved market or sport"); analytical thinking (e.g. "segment the footwear industry market based on users"); writing proficiency (e.g. "draft a press release marketing copy for your product"); and persuasiveness (e.g. "pen an inspirational memo to employees detailing why your product would outshine competitors").

Tasks where relying too much on GPT tools reduced the output quality (but was faster): tasks where data analysis was required to draw the right conclusion

For this task, participants had to use interviews with company insiders and financial data from a spreadsheet to pinpoint which of a hypothetical company's brands held the most potential for growth.

So I guess as long as your work is not pushing fluff content, being skilled can still give you an edge.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/comcast-should-stop-advertising-slower-speeds-as-10g-industry-group-says/

An advertising industry group urged Comcast to stop its "10G" ads or modify them to state that 10G is an "aspirational" technology rather than something the company actually provides on its cable network today. The National Advertising Division (NAD), part of the advertising industry's self-regulatory system run by BBB National Programs, ruled against Comcast after a challenge lodged by T-Mobile.

In its decision announced Thursday, the NAD recommended that Comcast "discontinue its '10G' claims" or "modify its advertising to (a) make clear that it is implementing improvements that will enable it to achieve '10G' and that it is aspirational or (b) use '10G' in a manner that is not false or misleading, consistent with this decision."
[...]
Comcast isn't alone in its use of the 10G term, which was unveiled in January 2019 by cable industry trade group NCTA-The Internet & Television Association. We wrote at the time that 10G marketing was likely to confuse consumers and that it indicated cable companies were envious of the 5G hype generated by the wireless industry.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

ScienceAlert has a summary of a report on a new phase of superionic ice as developed in the lab.

Scientists confirmed in 2019 what physicists had predicted back in 1988: a structure where the oxygen atoms in superionic ice are locked in a solid cubic lattice, while the ionized hydrogen atoms are let loose, flowing through that lattice like electrons through metals.

This gives superionic ice its conductive properties. It also raises its melting point such that the frozen water remains solid at blistering temperatures.

In this latest study, physicist Arianna Gleason of Stanford University and colleagues bombarded thin slivers of water, sandwiched between two diamond layers, with some ridiculously powerful lasers.

Successive shockwaves raised the pressure to 200 GPa (2 million atmospheres) and temperatures up to about 5,000 K (8,500 °F) – hotter than the temperatures of the 2019 experiments, but at lower pressures.

"Recent discoveries of water-rich Neptune-like exoplanets require a more detailed understanding of the phase diagram of [water] at pressure–temperature conditions relevant to their planetary interiors," Gleason and colleagues explain in their paper, from January 2022.

X-ray diffraction then revealed the hot, dense ice's crystal structure, despite the pressure and temperature conditions only being maintained for a fraction of a second.

The resulting diffraction patterns confirmed the ice crystals were in fact a new phase distinct from superionic ice observed in 2019. The newly discovered superionic ice, Ice XIX, has a body-centered cubic structure and increased conductivity compared to its predecessor from 2019, Ice XVIII.

Superionic ice might be the most common form of water in the universe.

Cite: Dynamic compression of water to conditions in ice giant interiors

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Just when you thought it was safe to use your 12VHPWR cable with your RTX 4090 again, another incident of GPU meltdown pops up in the forums. Redditor Byogore reports that he bought an Asus 4090 in Germany a year ago because of US supply issues. The card worked totally fine until it self-immolated two days ago. This incident is unusual because typically failures have happened much sooner.

Other Redditors quickly questioned whether Byogore had the connectors seated securely since "user error" was one of Nvidia's excuses when the issue arose shortly after the RTX4090 launch. Byogore defended his ability to properly attach a computer component.

[...] "The fact that the 90-degree cable mod adapter [to prevent bending] was plugged in fully to the connector and the connector still melted, then we know that we have a problem with the card. We have a problem with the card. We do not have a problem with the cable. It's not user error, it's not a cable not plugged in properly problem, it's not a cable mod problem, but it's a problem with the design and the engineering of the card."

NorthridgeFix also points out that even if the problem was caused by user error, it's still Nvidia's fault. For instance, if a user is plugging in a cable as they do with any other, past or present, and it leaves a 1mm gap that causes failure, that is not the user's fault. When there is a tolerance issue like that, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to fix it or design a mechanism to prevent it, not blame the user for not plugging it in correctly and doing nothing more about it.

Byogore says that the meltdown happened while he was playing Battlefield 2042. The screen turned black, but the audio continued. Then, the computer rebooted itself. As it started up, he could smell burnt plastic. The card still worked, but only briefly before crashing and burning again. Byogore mentioned that he has a 1,000W Corsair PSU and that the 4090 was undervolted at the time of the catastrophic failure. However, he didn't note whether his PSU was ATX 3.0. The problem only seems to occur on older ATX 2.0 power supplies.

[...] Nvidia has been reluctant to accept any blame for the 4090's hot-button woes. It initially blamed users for not securing the cable tightly to the socket. Later, it said that "poorly designed" 12VHPWR adapters were to blame. The last time the issue popped up enough to make news was last May. The ongoing problem has even sucked Nvidia into a class-action lawsuit.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

New study finds that large group size and mating systems where males have multiple mates drove evolution of deeper male voices in primates, including humans:

Deeper male voices in primates, including humans, offer more than sex appeal — they may have evolved as another way for males to drive off competitors in large groups that favored polygyny, or mating systems where a male has multiple mates, according to researchers. The research is the most comprehensive investigation of differences in vocal pitch between sexes to date and has the potential to help to shed light on social behavior in humans and their closest living relatives.

The average speaking pitch of an adult male human is about half the average pitch, an octave lower, than that of an adult female human, said David Puts, professor of anthropology at Penn State and study co-author.

"It's a sex difference that emerges at sexual maturity across species and it probably influences mating success through attracting mates or by intimidating competitors," he said. "I thought it has to be a trait that's been subjected to sexual selection, in which mating opportunities influence which traits are passed down to offspring. Humans and many other primates are highly communicative, especially through vocal communication. So it seems like a really relevant trait for thinking about social behavior in humans and primates in general."

The researchers used specialized computer software to visualize vocalizations and measure voice pitch in recordings from 37 anthropoid primate species, or those most closely related to humans, including gorillas, chimpanzees and recordings of 60 humans evenly divided by sex. Samples for each species included at least two male and two female vocal recordings, for a total of 1,914 vocalizations. The team then calculated average male and female vocal fundamental frequency for each species to see how pronounced the difference was between sexes.

[...] The researchers used these data to test five hypotheses simultaneously to identify which factors may have played the strongest roles in driving sex differences in vocal pitch. The hypotheses were: intensity of mating competition, large group size, multilevel social organization, trade-off against the intensity of sperm competition, and poor acoustic habitats. Previous research has looked at one or two of these hypotheses at a time. The current study is the first to test multiple hypotheses simultaneously for vocal pitch differences using a robust dataset, ensuring data consistency and garnering convincing results, according to Puts.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The 69th Annual IEEE International Electron Device Meeting is set to start on 9 December, and the conference teaser shows that researchers have been extending the roadmap for a number of technologies, notably those used to make CPUs and GPUs.

Because chip companies can’t keep on increasing transistor density by scaling down chip features in two dimenstions, they have moved into the third dimension by stacking chips on top of each other. Now they’re working to build transistors on top of each other within those chips. Next, it appears likely, they will squeeze still more into the third dimension by designing 3D circuits with 2D semiconductors, such as molybdenum disulfide. All of these technologies will likely serve machine learning, an application with an ever-growing appetite for processing power. But other research to be presented at IEDM shows that 3D silicon and 2D semiconductors aren’t the only things that can keep neural networks humming.

Increasing the number of transistors you can squeeze into a given area by stacking up chips (called chiplets in this case) is both the present and future of silicon. Generally, manufacturers are striving to increase the density of the vertical connections between chips. But there are complications.

[...] Scaling down nanosheet transistors (and CFETs, too) will mean ever-thinner ribbons of silicon at the heart of transistors. Eventually, there won’t be enough atoms of silicon to do the job. So researchers are turning to materials that are semiconductors even in a layer that’s just one atom thick.

Three problems have dogged the idea that 2D semiconductors could take over from silicon. One is that it’s been very difficult to produce (or transfer) a defect-free layer of 2D semiconductor. The second is that the resistance between the transistor contacts and the 2D semiconductor has been way too high. And finally, for CMOS you need a semiconductor that can conduct both holes and electrons equally well, but no single 2D semiconductor seems to be good for both. Research to be presented at IEDM addresses all three in one form or another.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Chip designer Qualcomm has revealed it intends to shed over 1,000 California-based employees, delivering on previously foreshadowed plans to address its economic woes.

Qualcomm reported a near-sixty-percent profit plunge in August – largely due to a slowdown in demand for smartphones leading to lower sales of its silicon for such devices.

At the time, CEO Cristiano Amon told investors "We're taking a conservative view of the market, and we'll be proactively taking additional cost actions."

[...] Execs, including vice presidents, will be axed. So will hundreds of engineers: reportedly more than 750 of them. Qualcomm employs about 50,000 globally, up from 45,000 in 2021, the year it bought Nuvia.

Cruelly, the ax will fall starting from December 13.

A friend of The Reg tells us around 150 jobs will go in the UK, too. Yet Qualcomm recently found a rumored £180 million ($220m) to sponsor British soccer team Manchester United for three years, with the Snapdragon CPU brand to be featured on team shirts.

The sponsorship creates an interesting metaphor: Manchester United has underperformed for years, and its recent investments have not led to desired improvements in performance. Which is maybe not quite the story Qualcomm wants to associate with Snapdragon.

[...] Demand for engineers is high elsewhere: Taiwan's TSMC has flagged its intention to hire thousands of engineers.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Natural and man-made disasters have caused $3.8 trillion in crop and livestock losses over 30 years, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization said on Friday.

Floods, droughts, insect infestations, storms, disease and war have caused about $123 billion per year in lost food production between 1991 and 2021, the equivalent of five percent of total production or enough to feed up to half a billion people per year, the FAO said in a report.

This is the first time the UN body has tried to compile such an estimate, with the aim of putting into context the scale of the cost of disasters on both a global and personal scale.

"The international community is taking stock of the fact that disasters are... increasing tremendously... quadrupling since the 1970s" and are having an increasing impact on food production, the deputy head of FAO's statistics department, Piero Conforti, told AFP.

The FAO report, entitled "The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security", found that disasters are increasing in severity and frequency, from 100 per year in the 1970s to around 400 events per year in the past 20 years.

[...] It identified the "systemic drivers of disaster risk" as climate change, pandemics, epidemics and armed conflicts.

[...] The FAO further found that poorer nations suffered the highest losses due to extreme events in terms of the percentage of their agricultural output, at up to 10 percent.

upstart writes:

Discoveries at Kalambo Falls, Zambia offer insights into ancient human technology:

Recent research has revealed that nearly half a million years ago, ancient human ancestors, predating Homo sapiens, were already engaging in advanced woodworking.

The artifacts found indicate that these humans were building structures, potentially laying the foundation of platforms or parts of dwellings, much earlier than what was once believed.

A team from the University of Liverpool and Aberystwyth University excavated preserved wood at Kalambo Falls, Zambia, dating back to an impressive 476,000 years. Analyzing the stone tool cut marks on the wood, the team deduced that these early humans intentionally shaped and combined two logs, showcasing the deliberate crafting of logs to fit together. Prior to this discovery, humans were believed to only utilize wood for simpler purposes such as creating fire, crafting digging sticks, and making spears.

The preservation of this wood is in itself remarkable. Typically, wood from such ancient times deteriorates and disappears. However, at Kalambo Falls, high water levels have protected and preserved these ancient wooden structures.

These findings cast doubt on the previously held belief that Stone Age humans were strictly nomadic. The abundance of resources in the vicinity of Kalambo Falls suggests that these ancient humans could have settled, tapping into the perennial water source and the surrounding forest for sustenance, allowing them to engage in construction.

Professor Larry Barham from the University of Liverpool articulated the significance of this discovery, stating, "They used their intelligence, imagination, and skills to create something they'd never seen before, something that had never previously existed."

Journal Reference:
Barham, L., Duller, G. A. T., Candy, I., et al. Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago [open], Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06557-9)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Europe is subsidizing the launch of Internet satellites for Jeff Bezos:

Nearly a decade ago, the European Space Agency announced plans to develop the next generation of its Ariane rocket, the Ariane 6 booster. The goal was to bring a less costly workhorse rocket to market that could compete with the likes of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster and begin flying by 2020.

It has been well documented that development of the Ariane 6 is running years behind—the vehicle is now unlikely to fly before the middle of 2024 and subject to further delays. For example, a critical long-duration hot fire of the vehicle's Vulcain 2.1 main engine had been scheduled for "early October," but there have been no recent updates on when this key test will occur.

However, there are also increasing concerns that the Ariane 6 rocket will not meet its ambitious price targets. For years, European officials have said they would like to cut the price of launches by half with a rocket that is easier to manufacture and by flying an increased cadence of missions.

[...] However, as Ars previously reported, a 50 percent cost reduction is no longer achievable. Speaking in June at the Paris Air Show, the European Space Agency's Toni Tolker-Nielsen said the Ariane 6 is projected to come in at a higher cost per launch than first predicted. The Ariane 6's cost per flight will be about 40 percent lower than that of the now-retired Ariane 5, short of the previous goal.

[...] Since 2021, the publicly funded European Space Agency has provided a subsidy of 140 million euros annually to ArianeGroup in order to make the Ariane 6 rocket more competitive in the commercial market. That is to say, taxpayers are subsidizing the cost of building Ariane 6 rockets so that they will be more attractive to private satellite operators seeking a ride to space.

However, according to the French news report, ArianeGroup is asking for a substantial increase to this subsidy, to 350 million euros a year. If this were approved by the European Space Agency, it would blow any cost savings for the Ariane 6 rocket, compared to the Ariane 5, out of the water.