Two More Gamers May Be Charged in Fatal Kansas 'SWAT' Shooting

https://games.slashdot.org/story/18/01/27/0653225/two-more-gamers-may-be-charged-in-fatal-kansas-swat-shooting

Putting The Sister In Solar: The Movement Bringing Women Out Of Energy Poverty

"For Africans living in rural areas, electricity is scarce and unlikely to arrive any time soon. In rural Tanzania, just 7% of people have access to power and approximately 70 million people outside of Nigeria’s cities are without electricity.

. . .

" These are the issues that disproportionately affect women."

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/27/putting-sister-solar-movement-bringing-women-energy-poverty

#CoSoScience

NIST's superconducting synapse may be missing piece for 'artificial brains'

"Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a superconducting switch that 'learns' like a biological system and could connect processors and store memories in future computers operating like the human brain.

. . .

"'The NIST synapse has lower energy needs than the human synapse...'"

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-nist-superconducting-synapse-piece-artificial.html

#CoSoScience

Here's How Graphene Makes Photodetectors 100,000 Times More Responsive Than Silicon

"While the mechanism may not be too different than semiconductor photodetectors, these devices are based on proton transport as opposed with all current photodetectors today, which are based on electron transport."

https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/materials/graphene-photodetectors-100000-times-more-responsive-than-silicon-photodiodes

#CoSoScience

NASA’S INSIGHT LANDER SPREADS ITS SOLAR WINGS. IT’LL FLY TO MARS IN MAY, 2018

"May 2018 is the launch window for NASA’s next mission to Mars, the InSight Lander. InSight is the next member of what could be called a fleet of human vehicles destined for Mars. But rather than working on the question of Martian habitability or suitability for life, InSight will try to understand the deeper structure of Mars."

https://www.universetoday.com/138376/nasas-insight-lander-spreads-solar-wings-itll-fly-mars-may-2018/

#CoSoScience

Here’s why the epidemic of malicious ads grew so much worse last year

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/malvertising-factory-with-28-fake-agencies-delivered-1-billion-ads-in-2017

#CoSoInfosec

State of the climate: how the world warmed in 2017

https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-how-the-world-warmed-in-2017

#CoSoScience

The Effects of the Spectre and Meltdown Vulnerabilities

"Spectre and Meltdown aren't anomalies. They represent a new area to look for vulnerabilities and a new avenue of attack. They're the future of security­ -- and it doesn't look good for the defenders."

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/01/the_effects_of_3.html

#CoSoInfosec

A new 'atmospheric disequilibrium' could help detect life on other planets

"As NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and other new giant telescopes come online they will need novel strategies to look for evidence of life on other planets. A University of Washington study has found a simple approach to look for life that might be more promising than just looking for oxygen."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180124141603.htm

#CoSoScience

Repurposed drug found to be effective against Zika virus

"In both cell cultures and mouse models, a drug used to treat Hepatitis C effectively protected and rescued neural cells infected by the Zika virus -- and blocked transmission of the virus to mouse fetuses. Researchers say their findings support further investigation of using the repurposed drug as a potential treatment for Zika-infected adults, including pregnant women."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180125135529.htm

#CoSoScience

More Multiverse Madness

"The 'multiverse' – the idea that our universe is only one of infinitely many – enjoys some credibility, at least in the weirder corners of theoretical physics. But there are good reasons to be skeptical, and I’m here to tell you all of them."

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2018/01/more-multiverse-madness.html

#CoSoScience

Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs

"Coral reefs provide vital fisheries and coastal defense, and they urgently need protection from the damaging effects of plastic waste. Lamb et al. surveyed 159 coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. Billions of plastic items were entangled in the reefs. The more spikey the coral species, the more likely they were to snag plastic. Disease likelihood increased 20-fold once a coral was draped in plastic."

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6374/460

#CoSoScience

(As a fairly recent convert to using OpenBSD-powered networking equipment, I hope not)

Are the BSDs Dying? Some Security Researchers Think So

"The BSDs have lost the battle for mindshare to Linux, and that may well bode ill for the future sustainability of the BSDs as viable, secure operating systems, writes CSO's JM Porup."

https://bsd.slashdot.org/story/18/01/26/1636229/are-the-bsds-dying-some-security-researchers-think-so

#CoSoInfosec

The number of cyber incidents doubled in 2017

"The biggest threat: Ransomware, like WannaCry and NotPetya, “far outweighs” other attacks, says [Online Trust Alliance]."

https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/610074/the-number-of-cyber-incidents-doubled-in-2017/

#CoSoInfosec

U.S. doctors plan to treat cancer patients using CRISPR

"The first human test in the U.S. involving the gene-editing tool CRISPR could begin at any time and will employ the DNA cutting technique in a bid to battle deadly cancers.

"Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say they will use CRISPR to modify human immune cells so that they become expert cancer killers, according to plans posted this week to a directory of ongoing clinical trials."

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609999/us-doctors-plan-to-treat-cancer-patients-using-crispr/

#CoSoScience

#NSF 's Dr. Ashley Zauderer tells the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee that spectrum management, and defense of scientific uses of the radio spectrum, are crucial activities for astrophysics and other disciplines.

#AAAC #CoSoScience

New Antennas Will Take CubeSats to Mars and Beyond: By packing big antennas into tiny satellites, JPL engineers are making space science cheap

https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/new-antennas-will-take-cubesats-to-mars-and-beyond

#CoSoScience

Not bad for a turnaround time.

Intel Promises More Secure Chips This Year

"SAN FRANCISCO — Intel will begin releasing later this year redesigned chips that address recently disclosed processor security vulnerabilities, CEO Brian Krzanich said during a conference call with analysts after the company reported fourth quarter results and gave a first quarter forecast that beat Wall Street's expectations."

https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332900

#CoSoInfosec