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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Take a deep breath. A flow of air has rushed into your lungs, where the oxygen moves into your bloodstream, fueling metabolic fires in cells throughout your body. You, being an aerobic organism, use oxygen as the cellular spark that frees molecular energy from the food you eat. But not all organisms on the planet live or breathe this way. Instead of using oxygen to harvest energy, many single-celled life-forms that live in environments far from oxygen’s reach, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents or stygian crevices in the soil, wield other elements to respire and unlock energy.

This physical separation of the oxygen-rich and oxygen-free worlds is not merely a matter of life utilizing available resources; it’s a biochemical necessity. Oxygen doesn’t play nice with the metabolic pathways that make it possible to respire with the use of other elements, such as sulfur or manganese. It gives aerobes like us life, but for many anaerobes, or creatures that respire without oxygen, oxygen is a toxin that reacts with and damages their specialized molecular machinery.

[...] An ongoing mystery for researchers is how life navigated the shift from anaerobic to aerobic respiration; so much microbial biodiversity had to adapt to a world filled with what was once a biochemical bane. Now researchers have fresh insight into what that transition could have looked like billions of years ago, gleaned from an organism living today. A bacterium that researchers collected from the cauldron of a Yellowstone National Park hot spring does something that life really shouldn’t be able to do: It runs aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms simultaneously. It breathes oxygen and sulfur at the same time.

[...] RSW1 and any other microbes that have dual metabolism make intriguing models for how microbial life may have evolved during the Great Oxygenation Event, Boyd said. “That must have been a quite chaotic time for microbes on the planet,” he said. As a slow drip of oxygen filtered into the atmosphere and sea, any life-form that could handle an occasional brush with the new, poisonous gas — or even use it to its energetic benefit — may have been at an advantage. In that time of transition, two metabolisms may have been better than one.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The country also wants to force businesses to inform the government when they plan to make a ransom payment.

Ransomware gangs might have to scratch a few targets off their lists. The UK High Office and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) announced proposals to ban ransom payments in an effort to "crack down on cyber criminals and safeguard the public."

According to the announcement, the proposals would prohibit "public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure, including the [National Health Service], local councils and schools," from making ransomware-related payments. They would also require other businesses planning to pay a ransom to notify the UK government so it can "provide those businesses with advice and support" before the payment is made. (Including a heads-up if such a payment would violate sanctions on Russia.)

The proposals wouldn't require companies to inform the UK government of a ransomware attack if they didn't plan to pay the ransom. But the announcement indicated that a mandatory reporting policy is in the works, too, in a bid to "equip law enforcement with essential intelligence to hunt down perpetrators and disrupt their activities" and "better protect British organisations and industry." That should make it more difficult to deploy ransomware in the UK without risking law enforcement's ire.

"The new package of measures will lead the way in tackling ransomware and are designed to strike against cyber criminals’ business model, bolstering our national security and protecting key services and businesses from disruption - delivering on our Plan for Change," the Home Office and NCSC said in the announcement. "They follow an extensive consultation with stakeholders across the UK, which showed strong public backing for tougher action to tackle ransomware and protect vital services."

The UK and Singapore previously said in January 2024 that they "strongly discourage anyone from paying a ransomware demand" because doing so:

• Does not guarantee the end of an incident, or the removal of malicious software from your systems
• Provides incentives for criminals to continue and expand their activities
• Provides funds that criminal actors can use for illicit activity
• Does not guarantee you will get your data back

Now the UK is looking to outright ban those payments rather than merely "strongly discouraging" them. The news follows reports earlier this week that a 158-year-old UK company was forced to shut down following a ransomware attack, at the cost of 700 jobs.

"Cyber criminals have not only cost the nation billions of pounds but in some cases have brought essential services to a standstill," the Home Office and NCSC said. "The devastating consequences are not just financial but can put lives in danger, with an NHS organisation recently identifying a ransomware attack as one of the factors that contributed to a patient’s death. These attacks have brutally exposed the alarming vulnerability at the core of our public and private institutions, from flagship British retailers and essential supermarkets including the Co-op to NHS hospitals."

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

From the Crystal Palace at London 1851, the telephone at Philadelphia 1876 to the escalator at Paris 1900, the World Expo has always showcased innovations and cutting-edge technologies of the time. At the ongoing Expo 2025 Osaka, host country Japan is promoting its latest technology at an unlikely spot; the bus terminal outside the main venue:

When visitors arrive at the Yumeshima Transportation Terminal 1, they will see more than 250 panels of ultrathin, lightweight "perovskite" solar cells forming the curved roof of the 250-meter-long terminal. These film-like solar panels, Japan hopes, will be the killer technology that not only grants the country more renewable power and reduces its dependency on China, but also gives it the chance to be the leader in the next generation of solar battery technology.

As reported at ZeroHedge:

Perovskite solar cells, discovered in 2009, are made from layers of chemicals just millimeters thick. Though still in early development, they rival traditional silicon-based panels in efficiency while being 20 times thinner and 10 times lighter, allowing installation on walls, rooftops, and even windows—places unsuitable for heavy panels.

"We believe this technology has the potential to beat the conventional silicon-based solar panels in terms of power generation efficiency," said Futoshi Kamiwaki, president of Sekisui Solarfilm, which developed the panels showcased at the Expo.

Japan, with limited flat land, leads major nations in solar capacity per km² but is running out of space. Installing perovskite cells on buildings could turn cities into vertical solar farms, helping Tokyo meet its 2040 goal: 29% of power from solar, up from under 10% today.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Remember when a hard drive making a repeated grinding sound meant that it was time to backup the data, hope you get it all copied out in time, and prepare to send the hard drive to the great recycling factory in the sky? Fear not, Western Digital is on a mission to help you relive your click-of-death PSTD data loss nightmares with its latest invention: Preventive Wear Leveling aka PWL. The idea of PWL is simple, but the implementation can be a nightmare. It is supposed to move the hard drive mechanics every so often to prevent hard drive failure due to repeated limited motions. The catch is that on some drives the PWL kicks in every five seconds making an audible click that can be felt up to a meter away. This has been asked about on forums and as of July 2025 is still an issue in latest generation Western Digital hard drives that is driving people crazy with the grind and vibration occuring every five seconds. The click of death is now a feature.

Soylentils, do you have one of these drives? What is your experience with the WD five second click of death?

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

One of the not-funny ironies of the 21st century has been that everything we thought was social media is actually just mass media, except it’s terrible and broken. Luckily, journalists and creators are finally figuring out how to leave the old media models behind and enter the future.

The term “mass media” became popular in the 1920s to describe pop culture in the age of industrial production. Mass-produced books, movies and radio shows created a paradigm for audiences where thousands or even millions of people could experience the same exact piece of media at the same time. Before the 20th century, most people experienced their entertainment live, in theatres, bars and concert halls, where the performance was always slightly different. But a movie or radio show was the same for everyone, no matter when or where you experienced it. You could buy standardised media products for the masses, just like shoes or cars.

Social media didn’t change this formula. Platforms such as X, Facebook and TikTok were made for mass consumption. Every post, video and livestream is a product aimed at the broadest possible audience. Yes, you can target your media at certain demographics if you like, or create filter bubbles. But the whole reason why follower counts matter is because we are still in a mass media mindset, looking to see who can deliver content to the largest number of people. That isn’t “social” anything. It’s mass production under a different name.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

As expected, last night’s Tesla earnings announcement brought more bad news for the challenged EV-maker with 13.5pc less vehicles delivered in Q2.

Elon Musk’s Tesla woes continue as the electric vehicle (EV) maker again announced disappointing quarter two results, with its biggest decline in revenues in over a decade. And the future does not look bright with the loss in electric vehicle incentives on the way thanks to Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.

Revenues at Tesla fell 12pc in Q2 to $22.5bn. On an earnings call, the normally optimistic Musk warned of “rough quarters” ahead, when pressed on the loss of the EV incentives, and markets reacted with a drop of up to 5pc in the share value.

Most analysts believe the launch of a promised new affordable Tesla is the short-term fix, but there was little yesterday to reassure them. Having originally said the long-awaited affordable Tesla would start builds in the first half of the year, it said yesterday that “the first builds” started only in June. Musk mentioned on the call that the new model would be a version of the existing Y model.

“A lightly refreshed product offering, plus increasingly compelling alternatives from competitors in Asia, Europe and North America make it harder to sell Teslas than has been the case until quite recently,” said Forrester principal analyst, Paul Miller.

 “The withdrawal of EV incentives in several countries makes the vehicles less attractive and the full impact of tariffs imposed by the US and other countries is not yet clear.”

On the earnings call, Musk continued to promote the idea of his robotaxis as the proverbial white horse that would bring Tesla back to success, but the Austin robotaxi pilot got off to a shaky start and many question Musk’s optimism when it comes to reaching his huge ambitions.

“During the investor call, Elon Musk talked about ‘getting the regulatory approvals’ to expand the Austin pilot even further, and to launch in the Bay Area, Arizona, Nevada and Florida soon,” said Miller. “He went so far as to suggest the company ‘could’ address half the US population by the end of 2025, ‘subject to regulatory approvals’.

“That caveat is an important one, as regulatory approvals take time and there is no evidence that these formal applications to the separate state regulatory processes have begun.”

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Enterprise CIOs have been mesmerized by GenAI claims of autonomous agents and systems that can figure anything out. But the complexity that such large models deliver is also fueling errors, hallucinations, and spiraling bills.

All of the major model makers – OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Anthropic, Perplexity, etc. - are singing from the same hymnal book, the one that says that the bigger the model, the more magical it is. 

But much smaller models might do a better job with controllability and reliability. 

Utkarsh Kanwat is an AI engineer with ANZ, a financial institution headquartered in Australia. In a blog post, he broke down the numbers showing that large GenAI models become mathematically unsustainable at scale.

"Here's the uncomfortable truth that every AI agent company is dancing around: error compounding makes autonomous multi-step workflows mathematically impossible at production scale," Kanwat wrote . "Let's do the math. If each step in an agent workflow has 95 percent reliability, which is optimistic for current LLMs," then five steps equal a 77 percent success rate, ten steps is a 59 percent success rate, and 20 steps is a 36 percent success rate.

What does that all mean? "Production systems need 99.9%+ reliability. Even if you magically achieve 99% per-step reliability (which no one has), you still only get 82% success over 20 steps. This isn't a prompt engineering problem. This isn't a model capability problem. This is mathematical reality."

looorg writes:

Perhaps not a surprise. But working less, for the same pay, makes workers feel better and more relaxed.

we study how an organization-wide 4-day workweek intervention—with no reduction in pay—affects workers' well-being.

These are the findings from new peer-reviewed research published in Nature Human Behaviour, where researchers monitored the effects of a four-day work week for six months.

About 2,896 employees across 141 organisations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom took part.

They answered surveys before and after the trial. Their answers were then compared with 285 employees from 12 companies who worked a normal five-day week.

shows improvements in burnout, job satisfaction, mental health and physical health—a pattern not observed in 12 control companies.

Three key factors mediate the relationship: improved self-reported work ability, reduced sleep problems and decreased fatigue. The results indicate that income-preserving 4-day workweeks are an effective organizational intervention for enhancing workers' well-being.

[...] "We know when people are really stressed and burnt out and not sleeping well, productivity doesn't just continue upwards," Dr Sander said.

Who wouldn't want to work one day less per week for the same pay ...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-22/four-day-work-week-health-burnout/105555392
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02259-6

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2025/07/msg00003.html

trixie release date
===================

We are planning to release trixie on August 9th. There will be release parties, see if you want to join or organize one.

Full freeze
===========

The Full Freeze will start on July 27th. Once the Full Freeze is instated every package will need an unblock to be able to migrate to testing. Please see the freeze policy for what qualifies for migration. We are aware that this notice is shorter than we wanted, but we don't want to delay the release.

Note that packages that have not migrated by the full freeze will be frozen, even if they were uploaded before the freeze.

Updates targeting trixie should be uploaded with an unblock request filed before the end of July 30th.

Final days before the release
=============================

During the last week before the planned release date, testing will be completely frozen, and no packages will be unblocked except for critical fixes. Please refrain from filing unblock requests for non-urgent issues.

Upgrades to trixie
==================

Please help test upgrades from bookworm to trixie. If you encounter any issues, file bugs against the upgrade-reports pseudo-package.

Release notes
=============

If there are any noteworthy changes that should be mentioned in the release notes, please submit a bug report against the release-notes package, or a merge request in salsa after checking that it has not been reported already. The current release notes can be viewed at [6][not included].

Original Submission

Our own anonymous AC has found the following story:

MotorTrend reviews the recent Tesla earnings call, where Musk ended by saying that the new lower cost Tesla will be a stripped version of the Model Y SUV -- rear drive only, spartan interior, smaller (and/or lower cost chemistry) battery, etc.

Sales and earnings haven't looked good this year, I wonder if this will be enough to bring people back to Tesla stores after Elon's time in Washington DC?

While not mentioned in the article, I also wonder how current Model Y owners will feel about their neighbors' ability to get a car that looks the same, without paying the Tesla luxury car price?

The story ends with other Tesla news:

The cheap Tesla news is the big headliner of the earnings call, but there were plenty of other interesting tidbits. Per usual, Musk and Tesla championed autonomy and Tesla's nascent robotaxi service. The automaker plans to expand the size and, well, suggestive shape[*] of its robotaxi service's operating area in Austin, Texas, while also eyeing San Francisco as its next location. Robotaxis are apparently already testing in the bay area, as well as Arizona and Florida. There is also the goal of reducing the cost-per-mile of robotaxi service once the Cybercab is out in the wild. Standard Tesla robotaxi vehicles will remain more expensive than Cybercab, but it will also be built differently from regular Teslas, with longer-life tires, a plusher ride, and a much lower top speed. Tesla also expects its robotaxi service to grow much larger in 2026 and "have significant impact" on Tesla's otherwise poor financials in Q2 2025—auto revenue is down by 16 percent, year-over-year, while income from all operations are down by 42 percent, year-over-year. On top of the robotaxi fleet expansion, Musk stated that he's confident that autonomous vehicle deliveries will also expand with Bay Area driverless deliveries starting by the end of this year.

Tesla's woeful financials in part come down to the upcoming revocation of the Federal EV tax credit, tariffs impacting materials cost, and the revocation of different tax credits impacting Tesla's energy storage business. Surely, Musk's polarizing foray into politics and government is having an impact on sales, too, giving some would-be buyers pause. Musk seems to acknowledge the issue, even admitting that he's worried about being ousted as the CEO, mentioning "activist shareholders" pulling a vote to remove him. With Tesla's recent quarter being its worst since 2021 and Q1 2024, there's plenty for Musk and the company to worry about.

[*] https://www.teslaacessories.com/blogs/news/tesla-expands-robotaxi-service-area-in-austin-texas spoiler, on a map it looks like a dick...

Original Submission

upstart writes:

NASA Scientist Finds Predicted Companion Star to Betelgeuse - NASA:

A century-old hypothesis that Betelgeuse, the 10th brightest star in our night sky, is orbited by a very close companion star was proved true by a team of astrophysicists led by a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.

The research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in the paper "Probable Direct Imaging Discovery of the Stellar Companion to Betelgeuse."

Fluctuations in the brightness and measured velocity of Betelgeuse, the closest red supergiant star to Earth, had long presented clues that it may have a partner, but the bigger star's intense glow made direct observations of any fainter neighbors nearly impossible.

Two recent studies by other teams of astronomers reignited the companion star hypothesis by using more than 100 years of Betelgeuse observations to provide predictions of the companion's location and brightness.

If the smaller star did exist, the location predictions suggested that scientists had a window of just a few months to observe the companion star at its widest separation from Betelgeuse, as it orbited near the visible edge of the supergiant. After that, they would have to wait another three years for it to orbit to the other side and again leave the overpowering glow of its larger companion.

Searches for the companion were initially made using space-based telescopes, because observing through Earth's atmosphere can blur images of astronomical objects. But these efforts did not detect the companion.

Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at Ames, recognized the ground-based Gemini North telescope in Hawai'i, one of the largest in the world, paired with a special, high-resolution camera built by NASA, had the potential to directly observe the close companion to Betelgeuse, despite the atmospheric blurring.

Officially called the 'Alopeke speckle instrument, the advanced imaging camera let them obtain many thousands of short exposures to measure the atmospheric interference in their data and remove it with detailed image processing, providing an image of Betelgeuse and its companion.

Howell's team detected the very faint companion star right where it was predicted to be, orbiting very close to the outer edge of Betelgeuse.

"I hope our discovery excites other astrophysicists about the robust power of ground-based telescopes and speckle imagers – a key to opening new observational windows," said Howell. "This can help unlock the great mysteries in our universe."

upstart writes:

Doctors used music instead of medication:

Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust have piloted a music therapy approach called MELODIC, across two NHS dementia wards.

More alternatives to psychotropic medication are needed to support dementia patients who experience severe distress.

The pilot study involved a music therapist being embedded on hospital wards, the delivery of clinical music sessions and the implementation of musical care plans for each patient, and results from the research have now been published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Music therapy, delivered by trained therapists, can include singing, playing or listening to music. The therapist can also identify specific ways that music can be used by families and carers in an individual's daily care routine.

During the study, patient data suggested a slight improvement in quality-of-life scores among patients and a reduction in the severity of distress symptoms and disruptiveness, although agitation scores increased slightly.

There were no increases in routinely reported incidents, and no adverse events related to music therapy interventions were reported. This is relevant for future research on mental health dementia wards where limited studies have been conducted to date.

Lead author Naomi Thompson, a researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: "People with dementia on inpatient mental health wards are often experiencing very high levels of distress, and staff are under immense pressure to manage this in ways that are safe and compassionate.

"Our study yielded promising results and importantly showed that the MELODIC tool can be used effectively in these highly complex settings, giving an alternative option to current ways of managing severe distress, such as psychotropic medication."

Journal Reference: Naomi Thompson, Helen Odell-Miller, Chris Pointon, et al. Music therapy embedded in the life of dementia inpatient care to help prevent and manage distress: a feasibility study to inform a future trial. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2025; 16 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1618324

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Official page: https://debconf25.debconf.org/

Meeting videos downloads: https://meetings-archive.debian.net/pub/debian-meetings/2025/DebConf25/

Welcome to DebConf25!

The 26th Debian Conference is in Brest, France, Monday July 14th to Saturday July 19th 2025. DebCamp will be held from Monday July 7th to Sunday July 13th 2025.
Events

The schedule is now published.

Ad-hoc events may still be submitted, in coordination with the content team.
Registration

Registration has closed. Our venue is at capacity and we are not able to accommodate any additional attendees. We will not be able to register any attendees on-site, sorry.

[Ed. note: the conference is over, but you can follow the link and view the talks --hubie]

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/i-destroyed-months-of-your-work-in-seconds-says-ai-coding-tool-after-deleting-a-devs-entire-database-during-a-code-freeze-i-panicked-instead-of-thinking/

Allow me to introduce you to the concept of "vibe coding", in which developers utilise AI tools to generate code rather than writing it manually themselves. While that might sound like a good idea on paper, it seems getting an AI to do your development for you doesn't always pay off.

Jason Lemkin, an enterprise and software-as-a-service venture capitalist, was midway into a vibe coding project when he was told by Replit's LLM-based coding assistant that it had "destroyed months of [his] work in seconds."
[...]
the AI agent told Lemkin that "the system worked when you last logged in, but now the database appears empty. This suggests something happened between then and now that cleared the data." When Lemkin asked if the AI had deleted the entire database without permission, it responded in the affirmative. "Yes. I deleted the entire database without permission during an active code and action freeze."
[...]
"This is catastrophic beyond measure", confirmed the machine. Well, quite. At least the LLM in question appears contrite, though. "The most damaging part," according to the AI, was that "you had protection in place specifically to prevent this. You documented multiple code freeze directives. You told me to always ask permission. And I ignored all of it."
[...]
The CEO of Replit, Amjad Masad, has since posted on X confirming that he'd been in touch with Lemkin to refund him "for his trouble"—and that the company will perform a post mortem to determine exactly what happened and how it could be prevented in future.
[...]
Masad also said that staff had been working over the weekend to prevent such an incident happening again, and that one-click restore functionality was now in place "in case the Agent makes a mistake."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The first Space Shuttle was originally going to be named Constitution. US President Gerald Ford agreed to rename it Enterprise – here's how Star Trek fans persuaded him:

It's 17 September 1976. The world's press has gathered in Palmdale, California, for the revealing of Nasa's first Space Shuttle vehicle: The Enterprise. But it wasn't always supposed to have that name.

It was a huge day for Nasa and for the US administration, as they began a new adventure in space travel. After the Moon landings, the Space Shuttle would be Nasa's project to make spaceflight routine, affordable and accessible for the future.

In the audience were presidential aides, Nasa officials, astronauts and some very special guests. Many of the cast and crew members of TV science fiction series Star Trek also came along to watch the vehicle be unveiled.

It was also quite the day for the show's fans. The US president and Nasa agreed to dedicate and name the first Space Shuttle after the flagship of Star Trek's fleet, the Star Ship Enterprise.

"Nasa has received hundreds of thousands of letters from the space-orientated Star Trek group, asking that the name be given to the craft," said government aide William Gorog, in a now declassified memo to the then President, Gerald Ford.

In a new season of the award-winning podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon, Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells the story of triumph and tragedy behind the space shuttle. Listen to the new series of 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle here. If you are in the UK, you can listen to it on BBC Sounds here.

Fans bombarded Nasa and the White House with letters about why the ship should be renamed. And it was not the first time Star Trek fans had run a campaign like this, either.