score2 – Page 24

New Letters Added To the Genetic Alphabet

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Quanta Magazine: [A]fter decades of work, [organic chemist Steven] Benner’s team has synthesized artificially enhanced DNA that functions much like ordinary DNA, if not better. In two papers published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society last month, the researchers have shown that two synthetic nucleotides called P and Z fit seamlessly into DNA’s helical structure, maintaining the natural shape of DNA. Moreover, DNA sequences incorporating these letters can evolve just like traditional DNA, a first for an expanded genetic alphabet. In fact, the article continues, these new nucleotides can actually outperform their natural counterparts: “When challenged to evolve a segment that selectively binds to cancer cells, DNA sequences using P and Z did better than those without.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions

MarkWhittington writes: Boeing has had a patent approved for an aircraft engine that uses laser-generated nuclear fusion as a power source, according to a story in Business Insider. The idea is already generating a great deal of controversy, according to the website Counter Punch. The patent has generated fears of what might happen if an aircraft containing radioactive material as fuel were to crash, spreading such fuel across the crash site. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions

SpaceX Rocket Failure Cost NASA $110 Million

An anonymous reader writes: On June 28th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded just over two minutes into its attempt to reach the International Space Station. It was a contracted mission from NASA to resupply the astronauts living there. Today, NASA associate administrator William Gerstenmaier said the price tag to taxpayers for that failed launch is $110 million. SpaceX is leading the investigation into the cause of the failure, and NASA officials faced tough questions about whether private companies should be allowed to direct investigations into their own failed launches. A similar inquiry is underway at Orbital ATK. NASA inspector general Paul Martin said his office is looking into the matter. Gerstenmaier added that NASA is thinking about making these companies take out insurance policies that would cover the cost to taxpayers in the event of another failure. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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SpaceX Rocket Failure Cost NASA $110 Million

Samsung Releases First 2TB Consumer SSD For Laptops

Lucas123 writes: Samsung has released what it is calling the world’s first 2.5-in consumer-grade, multi-terabyte SSD, and it’s issuing the new drive a 10-year warranty. With up to 2TB of capacity, the new 850 Pro and 850 EVO SSDs double the maximum capacity of their predecessors. As with the previous 840 Pro and EVO models, Samsung used its 3D V-NAND technology, which stacks 32 layers of NAND atop one another in a microscopic skyscraper. Additionally, the drives take advantage of multi-level cell (MLC) and triple-level cell (TLC) (2- and 3-bit per cell) technology for even greater density. The 850 Pro, Samsung said, can manage up to 550MBps sequential read and 520MBps sequential write rates and up to 100, 000 random I/Os per second (IOPS). The 850 EVO SSD has slightly lower performance with 540MBps and 520MBps sequential read/write rates and up to 90, 000 random IOPS. The SSDs will range in capacity from 120GB to 2TB and in price from $99 to $999. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

8 Yelp Reviewers Hit With $1.2 Million Defamation Suits

New submitter goodboi writes: A Silicon Valley building contractor is suing 8 of its critics over the reviews they posted on Yelp. The negative reviews were filtered out by Yelp’s secretive ranking system, but in court documents filed earlier this month, Link Corporation claims that the bad publicity cost over $165, 000 in lost business. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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8 Yelp Reviewers Hit With $1.2 Million Defamation Suits

iPhone 6S New Feature: Force Touch

New submitter WarJolt writes: Apple is adding Force Touch to their iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. I’m not sure if Force Touch enough to convince an Android user like myself to switch, but there are definitely some interesting possibilities for app developers. A challenge for App developers will be to make apps compatible with both Force Touch iPhones and non-force touch iPhones. (Here’s the Bloomberg report Forbes draws from.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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iPhone 6S New Feature: Force Touch

The US Navy’s Warfare Systems Command Just Paid Millions To Stay On Windows XP

itwbennett writes: The Navy relies on a number of legacy applications and programs that are reliant on legacy Windows products, ‘ said Steven Davis, a spokesman for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego. And that reliance on obsolete technology is costing taxpayers a pretty penny. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which runs the Navy’s communications and information networks, signed a $9.1 million contract earlier this month for continued access to security patches for Windows XP, Office 2003, Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The US Navy’s Warfare Systems Command Just Paid Millions To Stay On Windows XP

Linux 4.1 Kernel Released With EXT4 Encryption, Performance Improvements

An anonymous reader writes: The Linux 4.1 kernel has been announced and its release brings expanded features for the Linux kernel including EXT4 file-system encryption, open-source GeForce GTX 750 support, performance improvements for Intel Atom / Bay Trail hardware, RAID 5/6 improvements, and other additions. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon Is Only Going To Pay Authors When Each Page Is Read

An anonymous reader writes: Amazon has a new plan to keep self-published authors honest: they’re only going to pay them when someone actually reads a page. Peter Wayner at the Atlantic explores how this is going to change the lives of the authors — and the readers. Fat, impressive coffee table books are out if no one reads them. Thin, concise authors will be bereft. Page turners are in. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Amazon Is Only Going To Pay Authors When Each Page Is Read

‘Brain-to-Text’ Interface Types Thoughts of Epileptic Patients

Jason Koebler writes with a link to Motherboard’s article about research from the Schalk Lab of Albany, New York, where researchers “have just demonstrated for the first time that it’s possible to turn a person’s thoughts into a legible phrase using what they’re calling a “brain-to-text” interface, ” writing “It’s still still the early days of this technology—electrodes had to be placed directly on the brain and the ‘dictionary’ of phrases was limited. Still, brainwaves of thought patterns were turned into text at a rate much better than chance.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ken May

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