86014551
submission
JThaddeus writes:
The BBC reports that a 17th Century mass grave uncovered in London confirms the identity of the bacteria responsible for the Great Plague of 1665-1666. "Testing in Germany confirmed the presence of DNA from the Yersinia pestis bacterium — the agent that causes bubonic plague — rather than another pathogen." The grave contains approximately 3,500 skeletons. Teeth were removed from some of the skulls, and their pulp tested at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Positive results were found in 5 of 20 individuals tested. It is estimated that the Great Plague killed nearly one quarter of London's population (then about 350,000). The article also adds, "To reassure anyone worried whether plague bacterium was released from the excavation work or scientific analysis, it doesn't survive in the ground."
56248367
submission
JThaddeus writes:
An article in TechWorld Australia summarizes the latest opinions on JavaScript from ThoughtWorks: "There is no end in sight to the rise of JavaScript... 'I think JavaScript has been seen as a serious language for the last two or three years; I think now increasingly we’re seeing JavaScript as a platform,' said Sam Newman, ThoughtWorks’ Global Innovation Lead." The article touches on new additions to JavaScript tools, techniques, and languages built on Javascript. As the fuller report (PDF) says, "The ecosystem around JavaScript as a serious application platform continues to evolve. Many interesting new tools for testing, building, and managing dependencies in both server- and client-side JavaScript applications have emerged recently."
55528679
submission
JThaddeus writes:
The Daily Caller reports a serious security flaw in the Starbucks phone app: "Starbucks confirmed late Tuesday that anyone could access the unencrypted data stored on the official Starbucks app simply by connecting the phone to a computer – bypassing lock screen or PIN security features with no hacking or jailbreaking necessary." The linked report is for iOS. No mention of Android, but do you think it is any different?
46048647
submission
JThaddeus writes:
Slashdot's own (or former) CmdrTaco has a posting on the Washington Post's website where he discusses how chat apps have overtaken SMS. Yeah, they are cheap. There's no telecom fee per message or for some number of messages per month. However "The problem of course is that these systems are annoyingly incompatible with each other. My phone can buzz with chat notifications from 3 different apps at any moment. My desktop has even more scattered across browser tabs and standalone apps." Ditto, nor do I want to hassle learning some app or trying to understand its who's-listening settings. I'll stick to email and to occasional SMS.
18072910
submission
JThaddeus writes:
The Associated Press reports that "After nine months of tests, researchers in France have identified the head of France's King Henry IV". Henry was assassinated in 1610, and his head has been missing his body was dug up and decapitated during the French Revolution. Researchers found features similar to those in royal portraits, and radiocarbon dating confirms that the head dates to the 17th Century. Interestingly, "Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors." The results have been published an online medical journal.
