BadUSB is bad news: malware that targets the firmware in your USB port’s embedded system, bypassing the OS, antivirus software and other countermeasures. (more…)
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USG: an open source anti-BadUSB hardware firewall for your USB port
The healthcare industry is a well-known information security dumpster fire, from the entire hospitals hijacked by ransomware to the useless security on medical devices to the terrifying world of shitty state security for medical implants — all made worse by the cack-handed security measures that hospital workers have to bypass to get on with saving our lives (and it’s about to get worse, thanks to the Internet of Things > ). (more…)
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Healthcare facilities widely compromised by Medjack, malware that infects medical devices to steal your information
Kotaku recently contacted Nintendo to ask them why Nintendo Switch cartridges taste so awful. Nintendo replied: “To avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion, keep the game card away from young children. A bittering agent (Denatonium Benzoate) has also been applied to the game card. This bittering agent is non-toxic.” Snip: According to Wikipedia, denatonium benzoate is the most bitter chemical compound known, commonly used as an aversion agent to prevent accidental ingestion, which is why the Switch cards are coated in it. It’s also used in animal repellent, shampoos, soaps and nail-biting prevention. I put that Switch cart in my mouth and I’m not sure what those things are made of but I can still taste it. Do not try this at home. — Jeff Gerstmann (@jeffgerstmann) February 25, 2017
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Nintendo puts a "bittering agent" on game cards so people don’t stick them in their mouths
This picture has NO red pixels. Great demo of color constancy (ht Akiyoshi Kitaoka) pic.twitter.com/pZHvbB6QHE — Matt Lieberman (@social_brains) February 27, 2017 My daughter send this photo to me. I put it in Photoshop to check. The “reddest” part I could find using the eyedropper had an RGB value of 153/181/182. So technically there is some red in the image, but here is what 153/181/182 looks like: Not very red!
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The strawberries in this photo are blue
Frog tongue mechanism has been well-documented, but only recently have scientists started looking at the remarkable combo of tongue softness and frog spit’s chemical makeup . (more…)
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Frog saliva is even stranger than scientists expected
KSU plant biochemical geneticist Raj Nagarajan describes the properties of Thaumatin, Monellin and Brazzein, all found in west African plants that are generally considered safe for consumption; each is a protein, and they are, respectively, 1,000x, 2000x, and 3000x sweeter than sugar. (more…)
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Artificial sweeteners be damned; these naturally occurring, safe proteins are thousands of times sweeter than sugar
High school teacher Joe Howard made another excellent math video. This time, he shows how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 BC. In one of the dopest displays of critical thinking in history, Erotosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth. All he had was a pole, the sun, knowledge of a famous well in Egypt, and potentially money to pay someone to walk the distance between two cities. This story demonstrates the beauty of trigonometry.
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How Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 BC
TRAPPIST-1 is a star that’s 39 light years away from us. The journal Nature reports that it has seven warm, Earthlike planets orbiting it. From Washington Post : The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, represents the first time astronomers have ever detected so many terrestrial planets orbiting a single star. Researchers say the system is an ideal laboratory for studying alien worlds and could be the best place in the galaxy to search for life beyond Earth. “Before this, if you wanted to study terrestrial planets, we had only four of them and they were all in our solar system,” said lead author Michaël Gillon, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Liège in Belgium. “Now we have seven Earth-sized planets to expand our understanding. Yes, we have the possibility to find water and life. But even if we don’t, whatever we find will be super interesting.” Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Nearby star has 7 "Earthlike" planets
Some employees with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who work in the Washington, D.C. area and in Philadelphia, PA were unable to access the DHS computer network on Tuesday, reports Reuters , citing “three sources familiar with the matter.” (more…)
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U.S. Homeland Security staff were unable to access DHS computer network because the security certificates expired
It’s called Cayla , it’s about a foot tall, and it can be used to listen to and talk to the child playing with it. But who is doing the listening? Anyone in Bluetooth range, reports Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). An official watchdog in Germany has told parents to destroy a talking doll called Cayla because its smart technology can reveal personal data. … The Vivid Toy group, which distributes My Friend Cayla, has previously said that examples of hacking were isolated and carried out by specialists. However, it said the company would take the information on board as it was able to upgrade the app used with the doll. But experts have warned that the problem has not been fixed. The Cayla doll can respond to a user’s question by accessing the internet. For example, if a child asks the doll “what is a little horse called?” the doll can reply “it’s called a foal”. Watch the BBC’s video of Cayla, in its squeaky, sinister voice, say “I’ve been hacked to say all sorts of scary things.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Y2KUN6XPM Cayla was on Boing Boing last year when the FCC received complaints about it. Cayla is on Amazon for $45 . It’s so easy to hack that everyday YouTubers are at it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvMb_TusPPs
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Germans warned to DESTROY Cayla, network-connected doll that spies on children