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Mice brains store backup copies of memories

Turns out that even the human brain might use redundancy when it comes to storage. New research out of the Riken-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics suggests that memories are stored in two places in the brain: the hippocampus for short-term and the cortex for longterm. Previously, the prevailing theory was that once a memory was formed in the hippocampus , it would then move to the cortex for storage. But that may not be the case, according to a paper published in Science . Recently, researchers called in the mice (of course) and watched a cluster of brain cells that formed after the rodents were administered a shock. From there, the scientists used light to “control the activity of individual neurons, ” as the BBC reports , which let them turn memories on and off. As a result, the mice forgot about the jolt of electricity until the memories were manually activated in the cortex. This hasn’t been proven to hold true in humans just yet, and it’s only one experiment, but the learnings could shape how we understand brain disease in the future. Specifically, this might give us a chance to see how things like dementia and Alzheimers affect the way memories are formed and stored, and devise ways to sidestep those heartbreaking conditions. Via: BBC Source: Science

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Mice brains store backup copies of memories

Scuttlebutt: an "off-grid" P2P social network that runs without servers and can fall back to sneakernet

Dominic Tarr is a developer who lives on a self-steering sailboat in New Zealand; he created Scuttlebutt, a secure messaging system that can run without servers, even without ISPs. (more…)

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Scuttlebutt: an "off-grid" P2P social network that runs without servers and can fall back to sneakernet

Public Crowd-sourcing Finds New Exoplanets

brindafella writes: A participant in a TV program “Stargazing Live” on Australia’s ABC TV channel has found four planets closely orbiting a star, using an online database. Astrophysicist Dr Chris Lintott, the principal investigator of Zooniverse, reported on Thursday’s show that four “Super Earth” planets had been identified in the data. They orbit closer to their star than Mercury does to our Sun. The person responsible for the find, Andrew Grey, is a mechanic by day and amateur astronomer in his spare time, and lives in the city of Darwin, Northern Territory. The data is sourced from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. “Stargazing Live” host Professor Brian Cox said he could not be more excited about the discovery. “In the seven years I’ve been making Stargazing Live this is the most significant scientific discovery we’ve ever made. The results are astonishing.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Public Crowd-sourcing Finds New Exoplanets

Inuit cartography: maps carved in driftwood

The Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the littoral. These three wooden maps show the journey from Sermiligaaq to Kangertittivatsiaq, on Greenland’s East Coast. The map to the right shows the islands along the coast, while the map in the middle shows the mainland and is read from one side of the block around to the other. The map to the left shows the peninsula between the Sermiligaaq and Kangertivartikajik fjords. From The Decolonial Atlas , an antidote to all the other ones: Kurdistan in Kurdish , Lakota Territory , Agricultural Maps .

YouTube won’t put ads on videos from channels with fewer than 10K views [Update]

Enlarge (credit: YouTube Creator Hub ) YouTube has come up with a new restriction on who can make advertising money off of the online video platform. The company announced in a blog post that starting today it will not serve ads on videos produced by channels with fewer than 10,000 total views. That means any new creators looking to be in the YouTube Partner Program will have to wait until they accrue 10,000 total views on videos on their channel before they can start showing ads and collecting revenue. YouTube’s Partner Program began when the site was in its infancy. Creators who join get to monetize their videos, work with YouTube more closely to make better content, and receive general advice about creating online videos. The YouTube Partner Program only opened up to all YouTube users a few years ago, which let anyone with a YouTube account start getting paid for ads almost immediately. But now with the avalanche of backlash YouTube and Google have received for ads appearing over hate speech-infested videos, the company is placing stricter guidelines on who can make money from the Partner Program. Currently anyone can still apply to be in the YouTube Partner Program, but YouTube does state in the blog post that it’ll be adding a review process for new applicants in the coming weeks. It appears future applicants won’t be accepted into the Partner Program until they surpass that 10,000-view milestone. “After a creator hits 10k lifetime views on their channel, we’ll review their activity against our policies,” YouTube’s blog post states. “If everything looks good, we’ll bring this channel into YPP and begin serving ads against their content. Together these new thresholds will help ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules.” Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

New Destructive Malware Intentionally Bricks IoT Devices

An anonymous reader writes: “A new malware strain called BrickerBot is intentionally bricking Internet of Things (IoT) devices around the world by corrupting their flash storage capability and reconfiguring kernel parameters. The malware spreads by launching brute-force attacks on IoT (BusyBox-based) devices with open Telnet ports. After BrickerBot attacks, device owners often have to reinstall the device’s firmware, or in some cases, replace the device entirely. Attacks started on March 20, and two versions have been seen. One malware strain launches attacks from hijacked Ubiquiti devices, while the second, more advanced, is hidden behind Tor exit nodes. Several security researchers believe this is the work of an internet vigilante fed up with the amount of insecure IoT devices connected to the internet and used for DDoS attacks. “Wow. That’s pretty nasty, ” said Cybereason security researcher Amit Serper after Bleeping Computer showed him Radware’s security alert. “They’re just bricking it for the sake of bricking it. [They’re] deliberately destroying the device.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Destructive Malware Intentionally Bricks IoT Devices

Uber said to use “sophisticated” software to defraud drivers, passengers

(credit: freestocks.org ) Uber has devised a “clever and sophisticated” scheme in which it manipulates navigation data used to determine “upfront” rider fare prices while secretly short-changing the driver, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit against the ride-hailing app. When a rider uses Uber’s app to hail a ride, the fare the app immediately shows to the passenger is based on a slower and longer route compared to the one displayed to the driver. The software displays a quicker, shorter route for the driver. But the rider pays the higher fee, and the driver’s commission is paid from the cheaper, faster route, according to the lawsuit. “Specifically, the Uber Defendants deliberately manipulated the navigation data used in determining the fare amount paid by its users and the amount reported and paid to its drivers,” according to the suit filed in federal court in Los Angeles. Lawyers representing a Los Angeles driver for Uber, Sophano Van, said the programming was “shocking, “methodical,” and “extensive.” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Uber said to use “sophisticated” software to defraud drivers, passengers

JetBlue and Boeing Are Betting Big On Electric Jet Startup ‘Zunem Aero’

A new startup called Zunum Aero is aiming to reinvent how users travel short distances, such as from San Francisco to Los Angeles. “The Kirkland, Washington-based company plans to build a fleet of hybrid electric jets to sell to major carriers for service on densely traveled regional routes like San Francisco to Los Angeles or Boston to Washington, DC, “reports The Verge. Two aviation giants, Boeing and JetBlue, are reportedly backing the startup. From the report: Lower operating costs (i.e., no fueling) will allow carriers to reduce fares by 40 to 80 percent, they predict. And by flying a smaller aircraft that would be subject to fewer TSA regulations, Zunum claims it will take less time to go through security before boarding one of its planes. Zunum aims to build several models of hybrid-electric propulsion jets. At launch, its first class of aircraft will be tiny, in the 10-15 foot range, with a 10-passenger capacity and a range of up to 700 miles on a single charge. (Think San Francisco to Portland or Atlanta to DC.) Those planes can be expected to roll off the assembly line by the early 2020s, the company’s CEO Ashish Kumar told The Verge. By the 2030s, as electric battery technology improves, Zunum hopes to build larger aircraft that can carry up to 50 passengers and travel up to 1, 000 miles on a single charge. (Think Seattle to LA or Boston to Jacksonville, Florida.) Zunum’s aircraft will feature hybrid electric motors with the capacity to accept recharging power from a variety of sources. Because airplanes are typically kept in service for up to 30 years, Kumar says its important for Zunum’s aircraft to be future proof. That means designing them to be compatible with future battery designs and range-extending generators, with an eye toward ultimately switching from hybrid propulsion to fully electric motors once the technology catches up. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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JetBlue and Boeing Are Betting Big On Electric Jet Startup ‘Zunem Aero’

A startup wants to fill your house with projection-mapped effects, which are the cooolest thing ever

The most reliably impressive technology I’ve played with this decade is projection-mapping: using powerful LCD projectors to paint 3D surfaces with images tailored to map exactly over those surfaces, turning plaster and paint into stone, wood, or animated surfaces. (more…)

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A startup wants to fill your house with projection-mapped effects, which are the cooolest thing ever

Poisoned wifi signals can take over all Android devices in range, no user intervention required

Vulnerabilities in the Broadcom system-on-a-chip that provides wifi for many Android devices mean that simply lighting up a malicious wifi access point can allow an attacker to compromise every vulnerable device in range, without the users having to take any action — they don’t have to try to connect to the malicious network. (more…)

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Poisoned wifi signals can take over all Android devices in range, no user intervention required

Ken May

Author: kenmay