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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Whether you’re manufacturing cement, steel, chemicals, or paper, you need a large amount of heat. Almost without exception, manufacturers around the world create that heat by burning fossil fuels.

In an effort to clean up the industrial sector, some startups are changing manufacturing processes for specific materials. Some are even changing the materials themselves. Daniel Stack SM ’17, PhD ’21 is trying to address industrial emissions across the board by replacing the heat source.

Since coming to MIT in 2014, Stack has worked to develop thermal batteries that use electricity to heat up a conductive version of ceramic firebricks, which have been used as heat stores and insulators for centuries. In 2021, Stack co-founded Electrified Thermal Solutions, which has since demonstrated that its firebricks can store heat efficiently for hours and discharge it by heating air or gas up to 3,272 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to power the most demanding industrial applications.

Achieving temperatures north of 3,000 F represents a breakthrough for the electric heating industry, as it enables some of the world’s hardest-to-decarbonize sectors to utilize renewable energy for the first time. It also unlocks a new, low-cost model for using electricity when it’s at its cheapest and cleanest.

“We have a global perspective at Electrified Thermal, but in the U.S. over the last five years, we've seen an incredible opportunity emerge in energy prices that favors flexible offtake of electricity,” Stack says. “Throughout the middle of the country, especially in the wind belt, electricity prices in many places are negative for more than 20 percent of the year, and the trend toward decreasing electricity pricing during off-peak hours is a nationwide phenomenon. Technologies like our Joule Hive Thermal Battery will enable us to access this inexpensive, clean electricity and compete head to head with fossil fuels on price for industrial heating needs, without even factoring in the positive climate impact.”

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

As AI-generated content gets more ubiquitous in our everyday lives, you may be wondering, "How do I identify AI text?"

It's no surprise that these models get more difficult to detect as AI technology evolves. For now, the good news is that content such as images and video aren't that hard to parse with the human eye.

If you're a teacher or just a seasoned internet traveler, what's the secret to spotting AI-generated text? Well, it's simpler than you might think: use your eyes. There are actually ways to train the human eye to discern AI statements. Experts like MIT Technology Review's Melissa Heikkilä write that the "magic" of these machines "lies in the illusion of correctness."

No two people write in the same way, but there are common patterns. If you've ever worked a corporate job, you know how everyone uses the same generic phrasing when drafting memos to their boss. That’s why AI text detectors often flag content as "likely AI-generated" — because distinguishing between a bland human writing style and a generic AI-generated voice is nearly impossible.

So here's some tips and tricks to spot some potential AI-generated text:

• Look for frequent use of words like "the," "it," and "its."
• Absence of typos—AI text is often too perfect.
• Conclusionary statements that neatly sum up paragraphs.
• Overly verbose or padded writing.
• False or fabricated information and sources.
• A tone more advanced than the writer's usual submissions.
• Repetitive phrasing or oddly polished grammar.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The government of the United Kingdom on Monday announced the formation of a Laboratory for AI Security Research (LASR) to make the nation more resilient to AI-powered cyber threats from Russia.

"Be in no doubt: the United Kingdom and others in this room are watching Russia," said the Right Honourable Pat McFadden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, at the NATO Cyber Defence Conference on Monday. "We know exactly what they are doing, and we are countering their attacks both publicly and behind the scenes."

McFadden said that Russia is increasingly shifting its offense online rather than putting boots on the ground. As we've seen in the war against Ukraine, Russia has struck infrastructure targets digitally. The Chancellor warned that the situation will get worse, not better.

"Cyber war is now a daily reality. One where our defenses are constantly being tested. The extent of the threat must be matched by the strength of our resolve to combat it and to protect our citizens and systems. 75 years after its foundation, it is clear we need NATO more than ever," he added.

"NATO has stayed relevant over the last seven decades by constantly adapting to new threats. It has navigated the worlds of nuclear proliferation and militant nationalism," McFadden noted. "AI is already revolutionising many parts of life - including national security. But as we develop this technology, there’s a danger it could be weaponised against us. Because our adversaries are also looking at how to use AI on the physical and cyber battlefield."

[...] "Today we have launched a new, world-leading research lab to enhance AI security to ensure the UK and our allies reap the benefits of AI, while detecting, disrupting and deterring adversaries who would use it to undermine our national security and economic prosperity," added Stephen Doughty, the UK's Minister for Europe, North America and UK Overseas Territories.

[...] "Putin is a man who wants destruction, not peace. He is trying to deter our support for Ukraine with his threats. He will not be successful," McFadden pledged.

"We know from history that appeasing dictators engaged in aggression against their neighbours only encourages them. Britain learned long ago the importance of standing strong in the face of such actions."

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

AMD may not manufacture its own chips anymore, but that hasn't stopped it from investing in research and custom process technologies for its chips. Now, the company has its sights on the innovative material that's set to replace organic substrates and revolutionize chip packaging – glass. A new patent covers the use of glass core substrates, possibly for advanced multi-chiplet processors.

Glass substrates are ultra-thin, flat, transparent sheets made of high-purity silica or borosilicate glass. They serve as a base for semiconductor devices, enabling advanced packaging and interconnect solutions. Compared to silicon or organic substrates, glass offers superior thermal stability, reduced signal loss, and exceptional dimensional accuracy, making it ideal for high-frequency applications like 5G and AI processing.

However, integrating glass substrates into chip designs is not without its challenges. One of the key hurdles, as outlined in AMD's patent and summarized by Tom's Hardware, is the implementation of Through Glass Vias (TGVs) – vertical pathways within the glass core that transmit data signals and power. While techniques like laser drilling, wet etching, and magnetic self-assembly are being explored, the latter two remain relatively novel technologies in this domain.

Another crucial component addressed in the patent is the redistribution layers, which route signals and power between the chip and external components using high-density interconnections. Unlike the main glass core substrates, these layers will continue to utilize organic dielectric materials and copper and will be constructed on one side of the glass wafer.

Interestingly, the patent also describes a method for bonding multiple glass substrates using copper instead of traditional solder bumps. This approach not only ensures strong, gap-free connections but also enhances reliability and eliminates the need for underfill materials, making it suitable for stacking multiple substrates.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The Biden administration on Friday hosted telco execs to chat about China's recent attacks on the sector, amid revelations that US networks may need mass rebuilds to recover.

Details of the extent of China's attacks came from senator Mark R Warner, who on Thursday gave both The Washington Post and The New York Times insights into info he's learned in his role as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Warner told the Post, "my hair is on fire," given the severity of China's attacks on US telcos. The attacks, which started well before the US election, have seen Middle Kingdom operatives establish a persistent presence – and may require the replacement of "literally thousands and thousands and thousands" of switches and routers.

The senator added that China's activities make Russia-linked incidents like the SolarWinds supply chain incident and the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline look like "child’s play."

Warner told The Times the extent of China's activity remains unknown, and that "The barn door is still wide open, or mostly open."

[...] For what it's worth, China claims the US makes this stuff up – but hasn't offered an alternative explanation.

The day after Warner chatted to the newspapers, the Biden administration’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan and deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger met with telecom execs. According to a White House readout of the chat, they used the opportunity to "share intelligence and discuss the People's Republic of China's significant cyber espionage campaign targeting the sector."

Which rather suggests there's more info about this situation that's not available to the public.

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

Both KDE and GNOME to offer official distros

Leading Linux desktops boldly address the "not enough distros" non-problem

KDE and GNOME have decided that because they're not big and complicated enough already, they might work better if they have their own custom distributions underneath. What's the worst that could happen?

[....] Sitter proposed an official KDE Linux distribution. Now the proposal is gathering steam and a plan is coming together for an official KDE Linux – codenamed "Project Banana."

It's important to note at this point that there already is an official showcase KDE distro, which is called KDE Neon. Neon comprises the latest version of the KDE Plasma desktop, pre-installed on top of a recent LTS version of Ubuntu.

In case that sounds like it's too easy, it is: there are no fewer than four different editions of KDE Neon available for download, all for x86-64. This is entirely in keeping with how the KDE project as a whole works: : for instance, if you search the KDE Applications website for "text editor", you'll find three: Kate, KWrite, and Nota. If you search for "file manager", you'll find four; and "web browser", three. Within the desktop, there are multiple start-menu tools, multiple app-switching panel-button bars, and so on. Even the "About" option on the "Help" menu is duplicated [...]

[....]The other desktop's wallpaper is always greener

Not to be left out, a developer from the GNOME project, Adrian Vovk, has a corresponding proposal: to take GNOME OS mainstream. In his modest title, to build A Desktop for All [...]

I for one applaud KDE and Gnome's efforts to simply things by introducing [at least] two new distributions.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Code found online exploits LogoFAIL to install Bootkitty Linux backdoor

Researchers have discovered malicious code circulating in the wild that hijacks the earliest stage boot process of Linux devices by exploiting a year-old firmware vulnerability when it remains unpatched on affected models.

The critical vulnerability is one of a constellation of exploitable flaws discovered last year and given the name LogoFAIL. These exploits are able to override an industry-standard defense known as Secure Boot and execute malicious firmware early in the boot process. Until now, there were no public indications that LogoFAIL exploits were circulating in the wild.

The discovery of code downloaded from an Internet-connected web server changes all that. While there are no indications the public exploit is actively being used, it is reliable and polished enough to be production-ready and could pose a threat in the real world in the coming weeks or months. Both the LogoFAIL vulnerabilities and the exploit found on-line were discovered by Binarly, a firm that helps customers identify and secure vulnerable firmware.

"LogoFAIL was a theoretical vulnerability, and the PoC was not weaponized," Binarly founder and CEO Alex Matrosov wrote in an interview, referring to the proof-of-concept code released by Binarly as part of the company's earlier disclosure. "This discovery shows the issues, which are hard to fix around the ecosystem, could be exploited in the wild and weaponized. The funny part is it's almost a year since we disclosed it publicly, and this happens now when threat actors have adopted it."

See Also:

https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/bootkitty-analyzing-first-uefi-bootkit-linux/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-discover-bootkitty-first-uefi-bootkit-malware-for-linux

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Accused hacker unmasked after threatening woman online:

When the accused Kitchener-based hacker known online as "Waifu" threatened a woman on the messaging app Telegram, it was the beginning of his downfall.

'Waifu" had been bragging about his criminal exploits in open groups on Telegram. But when he threatened Allison Nixon, the chief research officer at the U.S. cybersecurity firm Unit221B, his days were numbered.

Nixon is the co-owner of the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm named after the home address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and when she saw the violent threats against her, Nixon tasked one of her researchers to uncover his real identity.

After making a critical mistake in what cybersecurity types call "operational security," a member of Nixon's team was able to follow the digital bread crumb on the internet, the dark web and messaging apps to reveal "Waifu's" real identity.

[...] "We put some time into that this year, and we are basically half of the reason he got identified," said Nixon during a telephone interview. "We have had that name for months; we have been waiting for the arrest."

A Washington court issued an arrest warrant for Connor Riley Moucka, 25, for conspiracy, computer fraud and abuse, extortion in relation to computer fraud and aggravated identify theft.

[...] Moucka is alleged to be the mastermind behind the Snowflake hack — one of the biggest data breaches in history.

[...] In the more than 10 years Nixon has spent identifying cybercriminals, the man known as "Waifu" stands out for the jaw-dropping stupidity that brought the police to the quiet residential street in Kitchener where he lived in his grandfather's house.

[...] In response, "Waifu" started writing Telegram posts full of false and misleading information under different names. But he was also bragging about his crimes, and then he started attacking Nixon.

"All this accomplished was to draw a tonne of attention from a bunch of people he should never have attracted attention from," said Nixon.

[...] "The whole situation is so ironic for this Moucka person," said Nixon.

He repeatedly threatened her and her company on Telegram, which were not even working on the Snowflake hack at the time.

"Why would he target a company that is not working on his case and specializes in identifying cybercriminals?" said Nixon. "It is just the stupidest thing ever."

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Rates of cervical cancer have decreased since a vaccine for human papillomavirus, or HPV, was introduced in 2006 (SN: 10/6/08). Now, a new study is the first to show a steep decline in cervical cancer deaths among the first women who were eligible for that vaccine in the United States.

“We had a hypothesis that since it’s been almost 16 years, that maybe we might be starting to see [the] initial impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer deaths,” says Ashish Deshmukh, an epidemiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “And that’s exactly what we observed.”

Deshmukh emphasizes that he and colleagues can’t say for certain that the vaccine is responsible for the decline in deaths, which the team reports November 27 in JAMA. That’s because it’s unclear whether the women in the study cohort were, in fact, vaccinated.

The HPV vaccine can prevent up to six HPV-related cancers: cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, oropharyngeal and anal (SN: 4/28/17). Deshmukh’s team analyzed specifically cervical cancer mortality data from 1992 to 2021 for women younger than 25.

Grouping the data into three-year periods, the team found a gradual decline of cervical cancer deaths of almost 4 percent per period through 2013–2015. In that last period, there were about 0.02 deaths per 100,000 people. The steady drop might be due to improved prior prevention and screening methods for cervical cancer, the researchers speculate.

Then, over the six subsequent years, the team saw a dramatic reduction in mortality of just over 60 percent. By the 2019–2021 period, the rate had dropped to about 0.007 deaths per 100,000 people.

From 1992 to 2015, the number of deaths due to cervical cancer among U.S. women under the age of 25 fell steadily from each three-year period to the next. From 2016 to 2021, mortality plummeted. The dashed line shows the projected trends if the decline in mortality from 1992 to 2015 had continued to 2021; the solid line represents the observed trends.

“They’re seeing this precipitous drop in mortality at the time that we would be expecting to see it due to vaccination,” says health economist Emily Burger of the University of Oslo. “Ultimately, we hope we are preventing mortality and death [with the introduction of vaccines], and this study is really supporting that conclusion.”

Fnord666 writes:

The Rise of Enshittification: Officially the Word of the Year

Enshittification is defined as the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.

It's a helpful term for describing many of today's tech products, from Google search being a slush of ads, link farms, forum posts, and useless AI content, to social media platforms becoming a hate-filled nightmare. Don't forget those products that move from being one-off purchases to subscriptions before their quality starts becoming diluted, or once-great video game franchises that become little more than a way for publishers to push more microtransactions and season passes onto people. Companies are putting yearly increases in profits and share prices above absolutely everything else, including making sure the products they offer aren't, well, shit.

Generative AI's ability to create unlimited amounts of crap and lies has exacerbated an already bad situation, of course.

We should thank author Cory Doctorow for coining a word to describe this phenomenon. He first used enshittification in a 2022 essay on how difficult and annoying it had become to shop on Amazon.

Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, has recognized the importance of the term enshittification in today's tech by crowning it the word of the year – it also won the people's vote. According to the dictionary's committee, it is "a very basic Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in affixes which elevate it to being almost formal; almost respectable."

"This word captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment," the committee said.

Original Submission

taylorvich writes:

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-himalayas-formation-destroyed-continental-crust.html

Earth's continents are slowly moving across the planet's surface due to plate tectonics, culminating in regions of crustal expansion and collision. In the latter case, high temperatures and pressures lead to the reworking of the crust, affecting its composition, as well as that of the underlying mantle. Furthermore, when two continental plates collide, distinct topographic features are produced, namely mountain ranges, which are surficial manifests of Earth's thickened crust.

Three such collision zones form the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, the European Alps and the Zagros Mountains in Iran, Iraq and Turkey, originating during the Cenozoic (last 66 million years). New research, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, has attempted to quantify the amount of continental crust lost to the mantle when two plates collide at each of these boundaries.

To do so, Dr. Ziyi Zhu, Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia, and colleagues developed a theoretical model for the mass/volume balance of continental crust and compared the amount of shortened crust with the crust being vertically thickened, laterally extruded and eroded at the surface.

Simplifying the utility of each of these parameters in the calculations, Dr. Zhu says, "Imagine squeezing a soft chocolate bar: the material compressed (horizontal shortening) forms a pile (vertical thickening).

"Additionally, the crust can move in directions perpendicular to the compression (extrusion) or undergo erosion. If crustal mass is conserved, the mass of the shortened crust should balance with the mass of the thickened crust, along with any crust lost to erosion or lateral extrusion. Any imbalance indicates that the missing crust likely sinks into the mantle."

The research team identified that at least 30% of continental crust was lost to the mantle during the formation of the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau and Zagros Mountains (potentially up to 64% for the latter, depending upon the initial crust thickness), while up to 50% of the Alps' volume may have been destroyed. Importantly, this loss to the mantle had double the destructive effect than that of surface erosion, which is estimated based on the volumes of sediment fans associated with each mountain range.

Journal Reference:
Ziyi Zhu, et. al.,Quantifying the loss of continental crust into the mantle from volume/mass balance calculations in modern collisional mountains, Earth and Planetary Science Letters Volume 648, 15 December 2024, 119070 (DOI: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012821X24005028)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Senators Say TSA's Facial Recognition Program Is Out of Control, Here's How to Opt Out:

A bipartisan group of 12 senators has urged the Transportation Security Administration's inspector general to investigate the agency's use of facial recognition, saying it poses a significant threat to privacy and civil liberties.

Their letter comes just before one of the busiest travel periods of the year when millions of Americans are expected to pass through the nation's airports.

"This technology will soon be in use at hundreds of major and mid-size airports without an independent evaluation of the technology's precision or an audit of whether there are sufficient safeguards in place to protect passenger privacy," the senators wrote.

The letter was signed by Jeffrey Merkley (D-OR), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Ron Wyden (D-OR),  Steve Daines (R-MT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

While the TSA's facial recognition program is currently optional and only in a few dozen airports, the agency announced in June that it plans to expand the technology to more than 430 airports. And the senators' letter quotes a talk given by TSA Administrator David Pekoske in 2023 in which he said "we will get to the point where we require biometrics across the board."

[...] To opt out of a face scan at an airport, a traveler need only say that they decline facial recognition. They can then proceed normally through security by presenting an identification document, such as a driver's license or passport.

Original Submission

Ingar writes:

Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger has been forced out less than four years after taking the helm of the company, handing control to two lieutenants as the faltering American chipmaking icon searches for a permanent replacement. Gelsinger, whose career has spanned more than 40 years, also stepped down from the company's board.

As reported by several news outlets: Reuters, The New York Times, The Guardian.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The reach of the China-linked Salt Typhoon gang extends beyond telecommunications giants in the United States, and its arsenal includes several backdoors – including a brand-new malware dubbed GhostSpider – according to Trend Micro researchers.

While the crew has made headlines recently for hacking "thousands and thousands" of devices at US telcos, research published on Monday by Trend Micro's threat intel team suggests Salt Typhoon (which Trend tracks as Earth Estries) has also hit more than 20 organizations globally since 2023. These span various sectors – including technology, consulting, chemical and transportation industries, government agencies, and non-profit organizations (NGOs) in the US, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and South Africa.

Affected countries include Afghanistan, Brazil, Eswatini, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.

It's "one of the most aggressive Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups," Trend Micro's Leon Chang, Theo Chen, Lenart Bermejo, and Ted Lee wrote.

"We found that in 2023, the attackers had also targeted consulting firms and NGOs that work with the US federal government and military," the threat intel team observed.

These intrusions not only compromised telcos' database and cloud servers, but also attacked the firms' suppliers – in at least one instance implanting the Demodex rootkit on machines used by a major contractor to a dominant regional telecommunications provider. Trend Micro's analysts think that shows Salt Typhoon wanted to gain access to more targets.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

One of the best features Google Maps offers is incident reporting. Users have the ability to report anything from crashes to lane closures and more. Speed trap reports are particularly handy as they can alert you to the presence of a hidden police officer. A recent update, however, has replaced the “Speed trap” option with something new.

[...] It seems that Google is aware of this misnomer and is making a change to the option. In a new update, the tech giant has quietly removed “Speed trap” and replaced it with a more appropriate, if not generic, “Police” option. In addition, the “Police” option sits higher on the list than where the “Speed trap” option was located. This brings incident reports in line with what Google showed us in an announcement back in July.

Original Submission