science – Page 356

In Ukraine, Cyber War With Russia Heating Up

concertina226 writes “If you think the crisis in the Ukraine is limited just to being just on the ground, think again. A cyberwar is flaring up between Ukraine and Russia and it looks like just the beginning. On Friday, communication centers were hijacked by unknown men to install wireless equipment for monitoring the mobile phones of Ukraine parliament members. Since then, Ukrainian hackers have been defacing Russian news websites, while Russia’s Roskomnadzor is blocking any IP addresses or groups on social media from showing pro-Ukraine ‘extremist’ content.” Adds reader Daniel_Stuckey: “On the other side of the border, RT — the news channel formerly known as Russia Today and funded by the state — had its website hacked on Sunday morning, with the word ‘Nazi’ not-so-stealthily slipped into headlines. Highlights included ‘Russian senators vote to use stabilizing Nazi forces on Ukrainian territory, ‘ and ‘Putin: Nazi citizens, troops threatened in Ukraine, need armed forces’ protection.’ RT was quick to notice the hack, and the wordplay only lasted about 20 minutes.” Finally, as noted by judgecorp, “The Ukrainian security service has claimed that Russian forces in Crimea are attacking Ukraine’s mobile networks and politicians’ phones in particular. Meanwhile, pro-Russian hackers have defaced Ukrainian news sites, posting a list of forty web destinations where content has been replaced. The pro-Russians have demonstrated Godwin’s Rule — their animated GIF equates the rest of Ukraine to Nazis.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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In Ukraine, Cyber War With Russia Heating Up

Israel Is Putting Frickin’ Lasers on Its Commercial Airliners

It’s not just IDF forces and Israeli settlements that come under rocket fire; militant groups have been known to take pot shots at commercial airlines as well—such as when a pair of SAMs narrowly missed an Israeli charter shortly after it took off from a Mombasa, Kenya airfield, in 2002. To protect vulnerable aircraft from future attacks, Israel has developed this belly-mounted laser shield for commercial jets. Read more…

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Israel Is Putting Frickin’ Lasers on Its Commercial Airliners

The Amazing Ancient Machines of Hero of Alexandria

Two thousand ago, the Thomas Edison of the ancient world lived in Alexandria, Egypt where he tinkered, built and wrote about some of the most amazing and whimsical machines the pre-industrial world had ever seen. Read more…

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The Amazing Ancient Machines of Hero of Alexandria

Tor Is Building an Anonymous Instant Messenger

An anonymous reader writes in with news about a new anonymous instant messenger client on the way from Tor. “Forget the $16 billion romance between Facebook and WhatsApp. There’s a new messaging tool worth watching. Tor, the team behind the world’s leading online anonymity service, is developing a new anonymous instant messenger client, according to documents produced at the Tor 2014 Winter Developers Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

GCHQ Intercepted Webcam Images of Millions of Yahoo Users

An anonymous reader writes with more chilling news from the Snowden files. Quoting the Guardian: “GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not. … The system, eerily reminiscent of the telescreens evoked in George Orwell’s 1984, was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, to monitor GCHQ’s existing targets, and to discover new targets of interest. Such searches could be used to try to find terror suspects or criminals making use of multiple, anonymous user IDs.” Remember, friends don’t video conference with friends unless they’re using SIP and TLS. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Blood Test of 4 Biomarkers Predicts Death Within 5 Years

retroworks writes “The NHS and the Daily Telegraph report on two studies (original and repeat duplicating results) in Estonia and Finland which predict whether an apparently healthy human will likely die within 5 years. The four biomarkers that appeared to determine risk of mortality in the next five years were: alpha-1-acid glycoprotein – a protein that is raised during infection and inflammation; albumin – a protein that carries vital nutrients, hormones and proteins in the bloodstream; very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particle size – usually known for being ‘very bad’ cholesterol; and citrate – a compound that is an essential part of the body’s metabolism. Researchers found that people in the top 20% of the summary score range were 19 times more at risk of dying in the next five years than people in the lowest 20%.” The NHS’s summary of the news points out that “the implications of such a test are unclear. As this was an observational study, it can only show an association between the biomarkers and risk of death. It does not predict what the underlying cause of death would be for an individual and does not therefore provide an answer in terms of treatment.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Blood Test of 4 Biomarkers Predicts Death Within 5 Years

Find Along Chilean Highway Suggests Ancient Mass Stranding of Whales

sciencehabit writes “In 2010, workers widening a remote stretch of highway near the northwestern coast of Chile uncovered a trove of fossils, including the skeletons of at least 30 large baleen whales. The fossils—which may be up to 9 million years old—are the first definitive examples of ancient mass strandings of whales, according to a new study. The work also fingers a possible culprit.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Find Along Chilean Highway Suggests Ancient Mass Stranding of Whales

Teach Kids Frank Lessons About Anatomy With This Inside-Out Anglerfish

If you’re not the type to tiptoe around the truth with your kids, Rachel Ciavarella’s incredibly-detailed plush anglerfish ‘toy’ called Morris is the perfect way to give your children a somewhat disturbing crash course in anatomy. Read more…

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Teach Kids Frank Lessons About Anatomy With This Inside-Out Anglerfish

New Release of DICE, the CPU-Less Arcade Game Emulator, Adds Four Games

KingofGnG writes “DICE is a small emulator dedicated to recreating on a modern computer the arcade games based on discrete circuits: ancient and bizarre entertainment machines where the electronic components required for the game experience were soldered individually on the circuit board and where there was no trace of integrated circuit or CPU. It’s an obscure and fascinating kind of emulation, and the offering of emulated games grows richer with each release.” Released a few days ago, DICE 0.8 adds support for four new games: Atari’s Crossfire and Pin Pong, and Ramtek’s Clean Sweep and Wipe Out. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Release of DICE, the CPU-Less Arcade Game Emulator, Adds Four Games

The Teeny, Tiny Microhouse Revolution That’s Giving the Homeless Homes

When most of us hear the term “microhouse, ” we think of the chic, wedge-shaped homes that have colonized the world’s wealthiest cities. But in a number of U.S. cities, microhouses are being used to house a different demographic—the very poor. Read more…

Ken May

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