The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[Se7enSword]

Copies of malware used by intelligence agencies to spy on journalists

Leaked Clips Show Windows 9 In Action

Three's a charm: NIST detectors reveal entangled photon triplets

Western Digital Announces World's first 10 TB Hard drives.

16-year-old Invents Device that Can Convert Breath to Speech

Wearable 4MM Jetpack Will Help You Run Faster

3D printed food looks amazing

Scientists develop a contact lens-like, microfluidic device that allows glaucoma patients to self-monitor eye pressure continuously so they don't have to go to doctor's office every week; results are read off by smart phone camera and app

Study sheds new light on why batteries go bad

The sound of an atom has been captured

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Everything Is Broken:

"Once upon a time, a friend of mine accidentally took over thousands of
computers. He had found a vulnerability in a piece of software and started playing
with it. In the process, he figured out how to get total administration access over
a network. He put it in a script, and ran it to see what would happen, then went
to bed for about four hours. Next morning on the way to work he checked on it,
and discovered he was now lord and master of about 50,000 computers. After
nearly vomiting in fear he killed the whole thing and deleted all the files
associated with it. In the end he said he threw the hard drive into a bonfire. I
can’t tell you who he is because he doesn’t want to go to Federal prison, which is
what could have happened if he’d told anyone that could do anything about the
bug he’d found. Did that bug get fixed? Probably eventually, but not by my friend.
This story isn’t extraordinary at all. Spend much time in the hacker and security
scene, you’ll hear stories like this and worse.

It’s hard to explain to regular people how much technology barely works, how
much the infrastructure of our lives is held together by the IT equivalent of baling
wire.

Computers, and computing, are broken."

See:

https://medium.com/message/everythin...n-81e5f33a24e1


Is it really as bad as that?

Is going open-source the only way to fix it?

I don't follow computer security issues closely, but really - there is no solution. Not even going open-source.

Why? Because security is hard work. Hard, expensive, continuous work. That almost none of us is willing to pay for or do, when it would need all of us. I mean, "asking nicely" is a valid way to obtain someone's password. It may not work all the time, but it works enough. Heck, if you're too shy for that, just try some variation of "password" - it'll work somewhere eventually.

[SaintessHeart]

British Researchers Win Ig Nobel Prize

And something to note in the section of economic science :

The entire Italian government won the economics prize for being the first European nation to increase its economy by factoring in revenues from prostitution, smuggling and the sale of illegal drugs.

[AnimeFan188]

MAVEN Arrives at Mars:

"NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)
spacecraft successfully entered Mars' orbit at 10:24 p.m.
EDT Sunday, Sept. 21, where it now will prepare to study
the Red Planet's upper atmosphere as never done before.
MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the
tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars."

See:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ma...l#.VB_XLhbCR-x

[Se7enSword]

Scientists discover that graphene can be used to detect cancer biomarkers at low levels, in minutes. Graphene silicon carbide chip with biosensors integrated into the graphene is 5 times as sensitive as ELISA testing, which allows for urine to be used to detect the DNA damage from certain cancers.

Scientists have generated a new star-shaped molecule made up of interlocking rings, which is the most complex of its kind ever created: Known as a ‘Star of David’ molecule, scientists have been trying to create one for over a quarter of a century

For the first time, researchers have been able to observe the "forbidden" infrared spectrum of a charged molecule: Such extremely weak spectra open up new avenues for highly precise measurement of molecular properties, for the development of molecular clocks and quantum technology

An international collaboration of scientists have established chemical bonds between a superheavy metal and carbon for the first time, making a new class of chemical compounds

Longer distance quantum teleportation achieved: Physicists at the University of Geneva have succeeded in teleporting the quantum state of a photon to a crystal over 25 kilometers of optical fiber

Computers 1,000 times faster? Quick-change materials break silicon speed limit for computers

[SaintessHeart]

Philanthropies, including Rockefellers and Investors pledge $50 billion fossil fuel divestment

The Rockefellers, who made their vast fortune on oil, and other philanthropies and high-wealth individuals on Monday will announce pledges to divest a total of $50 billion from fossil fuel investments.

The Global Divest-Invest coalition will announce new pledges and members one day before 120 heads of state address the United Nations on how their countries will contribute to a global effort to halt a dangerous rise in temperatures.

Since the divestment movement launched three years ago, some 650 individuals and 180 institutions, including 50 new foundations, which hold over $50 billion in total assets, pledged to divest from fossil fuels over five years using a variety of approaches.

One of the signatories is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Stephen Heintz, an air of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, said the move to divest away from fossil fuels would be in line with his wishes.

“We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy,” Heintz said in a statement.

Since January 2014, commitments by campuses, churches, cities, states, hospitals, pension funds, and others in the United States and abroad doubled, from 74 to 180, according to philanthropic giving consultancy Arabella Advisors.

One of the higher profile education institution divestments came in May, when Stanford University said it will no longer use any of its $18.7 billion endowment to invest in coal mining companies.

While some smaller liberal colleges have made divestment announcements, some larger institutions have been reluctant.

The University of California voted last week to maintain its investments in fossil fuels, frustrating a student-led effort to divest its portfolio in oil, natural gas and coal.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anti-Apartheid figure who has been a strong voice on the need for economic divestments, will add to Monday’s announcements in a recorded video announcement in which he will call for a freeze on all new fossil fuel exploration.

“We can no longer continue feeding our addiction to fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow, for there will be no tomorrow,” he said.

With the advent of 3D printing, I think he is planning to invest in high-efficiency solar/thermal energy. Malicious greedy bastards, them Rockefellers [/conspiracy].

[AHT]

http://www.cnet.com/news/japanese-co...vator-by-2050/

[Ithekro]

A space elevator within 35 years? Interesting.

[SaintessHeart]

Captain Crunch's health problems prompt funding drive

A fund has been started to help legendary hacker John Draper, aka Captain Crunch, recover after a long stay in hospital.

Mr Draper was in hospital getting treatment for a variety of age-related medical conditions.

Now 71, he was one of the first "phone phreaks" who hacked US phone networks.

Most famously, Mr Draper told Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs about phone hacking which helped them generate cash to found Apple.
Apple aid

The campaign on Qikfunder is aiming to raise $5,000 (£3,000) to help pay Mr Draper's day-to-day costs while he recovers.

The fund was started, said the page, so he could focus on getting better. So far, it is not clear who started the funding drive as the page only credits unnamed "friends".

Qikfunder is a relative newcomer to the crowdfunding world and a small number of campaigns have been run through it.

On Twitter, Mr Draper thanked from "the bottom of my heart" the people who set up the fund-raising account. So far, about 25% of the target total has been raised.

Mr Draper's age and a degenerative spine condition landed him in hospital in mid-August where he underwent surgery twice to tackle his back problem. Complications after surgery meant he was in hospital for a month.

Mr Draper got the name of Captain Crunch because he found out that a toy whistle given away with the cereal of the same name generated a tone at a frequency that controlled some functions on AT&T's phone network.

Experimenting with the whistle led Mr Draper to develop an electronic "blue box" that could generate other tones which, when played down a phone line, gave owners limited control over the US phone networks. Many people used the boxes to get free phone calls.

Mr Wozniak and Mr Jobs learned the secrets of "phone phreaking" from Mr Draper and started a business selling blue boxes to college students.

Once Apple was founded, Mr Draper was regularly used as a software programmer and worked on ways to connect early Apple machines to phones and on the EasyWriter word processing program.

After leaving Apple's employ, he spent many years working in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in California at a variety of established tech firms and start-ups.

The goal has been reached apparently. Well cheers.

[AnimeFan188]

The World’s First Genetically Modified Babies Will Graduate High School
This Year:

"Remember the sci-fi thriller GATTACA? For those who never saw the film and/or
eschewed all pop culture in the late 90’s for some reason, it was a popular movie
that came out in 1997 about genetically modified human beings. Now some literally
genetically modified human babies born that same year are entering their senior
year of high school."

See:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/28/the...usaolp00000591

[SaintessHeart]

Designer Builds A 3D-Printable “Imura Revolver” In Honor Of Arrested Japanese Maker

When Japanese police arrested Yoshitomo Imura for printing his own revolvers, 3D printing advocates in some circles were up in arms. The guns, which only fired blanks, were simple test models called the Zig-Zag. Now, in honor of Imura’s work in 3D printing, a CAD designer has created a newer, better gun that could be used to fire real bullets.

The designer, who calls himself WarFairy, is part of a team of creators called Free Open Source Software & Computer Aided Design. He has begun Tweeting images of the gun, adding it to an already impressive arsenal of models. Keep in mind that this gun hasn’t been fired yet but it is designed to withstand normal use.

WarFairy, who lives outside the US and preferred to remain anonymous, said that the model is quite difficult to design and print. The finished kit will include metal parts to comply with ATF regulations and to strengthen the firing chamber. WarFairy said that the design wasn’t a political statement. “We called it Imura because the grooving on the cylinder is cribbed from the revolving single action blank gun that Yoshimito Imura produced before being arrested in Japan. Any political statements are inferred by the users.”

“Its been a right bastard to get printing properly,” he said in an IRC chat. “It has a steel sleeve. The printed forward section of the frame bearing the inscription has .75″ of printed rifling to satisfy the ATF’s requirement of pistols being rifled. Currently every printer that was working on it has crashed their printer. We’re working on getting back into action,” he said.

When can you expect to download the new gun?

“In the time-honored words of the startup, ‘When its ready.'” said WarFairy. Until then, the team is releasing more models and videos in the spirit of exploration rather than, they say, political action.

[Shyni]

New Chemical Signals From The Middle Of Our Galaxy Are A Good Sign For Alien Life

Scitentists find iso-propyl cyanide, a compound important for organic molecules in the Sagittarius B2 region.

[sunset]

Why your baby looks like your Ex

Icky.

[AnimeFan188]

X-Men boffins demo nanomagnets to replace transistors; Moore's Law could
be saved by new chip tech:

"A team of scientists in Germany and the US have developed a new kind of logic
gate that could crack the size problems haunting the processor industry.

The problem is that the conventional CMOS method of producing chips requires
ever-smaller transistors, but once you get to working in measurements of single-
figure nanometers, the current production techniques don't work. Other building
systems are being trialed but none are ready for full-scale market production at the
right price.

Now scientists at the Technische Universität München (TUM) and Notre Dame
University in Indiana have published a new paper in the journal Nanotechnology
that suggests using 3D-stacked nanomagnets to build a new kind of logic gate."

See:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10...e_transistors/

[Shyni]

Swedish woman world's first to give birth after womb transplant

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish woman has become the world's first to give birth after having a womb transplant, opening up the possibility for thousands of infertile women to have babies, the doctor in charge of the research project said on Saturday.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Shyni

Swedish woman world's first to give birth after womb transplant

Soon transgirls can give birth too? Awesome.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

That is pretty impressive, still requires donor eggs though, I guess?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Mr Hat and Clogs

That is pretty impressive, still requires donor eggs though, I guess?

I guess so.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by Mr Hat and Clogs

That is pretty impressive, still requires donor eggs though, I guess?

Not sure if the womb comes with it's own ovaries and eggs

But would the dna of the child come from the donor womb or the mother? (most likely the donor)

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Well, that's why I asked. :P

Depends I guess where the eggs come from, if they are their own eggs then no.. the DNA should be their own. The womb shouldn't pass on to much of its original hosts DNA I would have thought, as the blood nutrients and the eggs themselves come from the mother. I could very well be wrong, as I'm not a girl and have never had to consider the thought of carrying a child (which to me seems like crazy talk - regardless how necessary it is - with how much pain and suffering they have to go through for the 'miracle of motherhood' - I'd probably have put any potential father in the dog house for the rest of his life, if I was in their position).

YouTube

https://youtu.be/7Pq-S557XQU

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Kinda controversial line of thought I guess. I do agree with a good amount of his points though. I'd say that unless some changes happen, we will suffer some sort of societal collapse as we can't support ourselves any longer. I'd also say it's not the automation at fault, but the single minded focus we have on money.