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Submission + - RoboCrop: Teaching robots how to pick tomatoes (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: To teach robots how to become tomato pickers, Osaka Metropolitan University Assistant Professor Takuya Fujinaga, Graduate School of Engineering, programmed them to evaluate the ease of harvesting for each tomato before attempting to pick it.

Fujinaga's new model uses image recognition paired with statistical analysis to evaluate the optimal approach direction for each fruit. The system involves image processing/vision of the fruit, its stems, and whether it is concealed behind another part of the plant. These factors inform robot control decisions and help it choose the best approach. The findings are published in Smart Agricultural Technology.

Submission + - Maximum entropy reveals how mutations alter enzymes and drive drug resistance (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Across several studies, the speed of an enzyme's activity correlated strongly with a statistical measure called "maximum entropy." The breakthrough meant they could use a purely statistical and computational approach to determine the maximum entropy—thus, predicting enzyme function.

Instead of the most mutationally explosive virus known, they turned to pathogens with more constrained evolutionary landscapes. One of the first was hepatitis C virus (HCV). There, the picture changed. Maximum entropy aligned much more cleanly with the mutations the virus actually adopted under drug pressure. That opened the possibility of forecasting its "next move," as Warshel put it—a way of playing chess with the virus, using both the strength of each mutation and its likelihood.

Submission + - Cats Meow More Than Twice as Much at Men, And We Can Only Guess Why (sciencealert.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: "Our results showed that cats vocalized more frequently toward male caregivers, while no other demographic factor had a discernible effect on the frequency or duration of greetings," write the researchers in their published paper.

A total of 22 different behavior types were looked at by the researchers, including yawning (often a sign of cat stress) and food-related behaviors (including heading to their food bowl). The vocalizations were the only behaviors that changed based on the owners' sex.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Locally hosted security cameras 2

Submitted by Randseed
Randseed writes: With the likes of Google Nest, Ring, and others cooperating with law enforcement, I started to look for affordable wireless IP security cameras that I can put around my house. Unfortunately, it looks like almost every thing now incorporates some kind of cloud-based slop. All I really want is to put up some cameras, hook them up to my LAN, and install something like Zoneminder. What are the most economical, wireless IP security cameras that I can set up with my server?

Submission + - Taiwan Bans Xiaohongshu, Decried as Censorship (taipeitimes.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Taiwan’s government has ordered a one-year block of a popular, mainland Chinese-owned social media app Xiaohongshu, also known as The Little RedNote, citing its failure to cooperate with authorities over fraud-related concerns. Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited Xiaohongshu’s, which does not have business presence on the island, refusal to cooperate with authorities as the basis for the ban, claiming that the platform has been linked to more than 1,700 fraud-related cases that resulted in financial losses of 247.7 million Taiwanese dollars ($7.9 million). “Due to the inability to obtain necessary data in accordance with the law, law enforcement authorities have encountered significant obstacles in investigations, creating a de facto legal vacuum,” the ministry said in a statement. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Taiwan's opposition party, Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun decried the government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu for one year as censorship. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on social media. Meta was facing fines earlier this year for failing to disclose information on individuals who funded advertisements on its social media platforms, marking the second such penalty in Taiwan for violating the anti-fraud act. "Meta failed to fully disclose information regarding who paid for the advertisement and who benefited from it," Depute Minister Lin of Ministry of Digital Affairs said at a news conference on June 18. If MODA decides to impose the fine, it would mark the second such penalty against Meta in Taiwan, following a NT$1 million (US$33,381) fine issued in May for violating the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act by failing to disclose information on individuals who commissioned and funded two Facebook advertisements. Meta's Threads were also included in the regulatory framework following nearly 1,900 fraud-related reports associated with the platform, with 718 confirmed as scams. Xiaohongshu has surged in popularity among young Taiwanese in recent years, amassing 3 million users in the island of 23 million.

Submission + - The Escalating AI Chip War: Hyperscalers Mount a Challenge to Nvidia's Crown (buysellram.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google is making its proprietary TPUs (Ironwood) available to Meta, directly challenging Nvidia’s 90% dominance. The massive cost of AI compute is forcing tech giants to turn from Nvidia's biggest customers into its fiercest competitors. This strategic shift will wipe out $150B in market value and signals the end of a near-unbreakable monopoly. Can Nvidia's software moat (CUDA) hold up against the combined might of hyperscalers?

Submission + - Applets Are Officially Gone, But Java In The Browser Is Better Than Ever (frequal.com)

Submitted by AirHog
AirHog writes: (From the full story at https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffrequal.com%2Fjava%2FApple...)

Applets are officially, completely removed from Java 26, coming in March of 2026. This brings to an official end the era of applets, which began in 1996. However, for years it has been possible to build modern, interactive web pages in Java without needing applets or plugins. TeaVM (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fteavm.org) provides fast, performant, and lightweight tooling to transpile Java to run natively in the browser. And for a full front-end toolkit with templates, routing, components, and more, Flavour (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fflavour.sf.net) lets you build your modern single-page app using 100% Java.

Submission + - Fish-inspired filter removes 99% of microplastics from washing machine wastewate (techxplore.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Some fish feed by means of filtration; these include, for example, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies. They swim through the water with their mouths open and sift out the plankton with their gill arch system. "We took a closer look at the construction of this system and used it as the model for developing a filter that can be used in washing machines," says Blanke, who is a member of the transdisciplinary research areas Life & Health and Sustainable Futures at the University of Bonn.

During their evolution, these fish have developed a technique similar to cross-flow filtration. Their gill arch system is shaped like a funnel that is widest at the fish's mouth and tapers towards their gullet. The walls of the funnel are shaped by the branchial arches. These feature comb-like structures, the arches, which are themselves covered in small teeth. This creates a kind of mesh that is stretched by the branchial arches.

The filter element in the center imitates the gill arch system of the fish. The filter housing enables periodic cleaning and installation in washing machines.

"During food intake, the water flows through the permeable funnel wall, is filtered, and the particle-free water is then released back into the environment via the gills," explains Blanke. "However, the plankton is too big for this; it is held back by the natural sieve structure. Thanks to the funnel shape, it then rolls toward the gullet, where it is collected until the fish swallows, which empties and cleans the system."

This principle prevents the filter from being blocked—instead of hitting the filter head-on, the fibers roll along it toward the gullet. The process is also highly effective, as it removes almost all of the plankton from the water. Both are aspects that a microplastic filter must also be able to deliver. The researchers thus replicated the gill arch system. In doing so, they varied both the mesh size of the sieve structure and the opening angle of the funnel.

"We have thus found a combination of parameters that enable our filter to separate more than 99% of the microplastics out of the water but not become blocked," says Hamann. To achieve this, the team used not only experiments but also computer simulations. The filter modeled on nature does not contain any elaborate mechanics and should thus be very inexpensive to manufacture.

The microplastics that it filters out of the washing water collect in the filter outlet and are then suctioned away several times a minute. According to the researcher, who has now moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, they could then, for example, be pressed in the machine to remove the remaining water. The plastic pellet created in this manner could then be removed every few dozen washes and disposed of with general waste.

Submission + - African Swine Fever outlet 'may have leaked from research lab' (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'Authorities say strain of virus that has killed wild boars in Catalonia is one often used for experiments in secure facilities

'Spanish authorities investigating the African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are looking into the possibility that the disease may have leaked from a research facility and are focusing on five nearby laboratories as potential sources.

'Thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the countryside outside Barcelona since 28 November, prompting Spain to scramble to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious threat to its pork export industry, which is worth €8.8bn (£7.7bn) a year.

'The regional authorities initially believed the disease may have begun to circulate after a wild boar ate contaminated food that had been brought in from outside Spain, perhaps in the form of a meat sandwich discarded by a haulier.

'But Spain’s agriculture ministry has opened a new line of inquiry after concluding that the strain of the virus found in the dead boars in Catalonia was not the same as the one reported to be circulating in other EU member states. According to one report, the strain in question is instead similar to one detected in Georgia in 2007.'

Submission + - Complex Life May Be a Billion Years Older Than We Thought (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A molecular clock is a method that allows scientists to estimate when organisms diverged and when traits first emerged. Basically, all lifeforms on the planet have a few things in common, such as the universal genetic code, an almost-universal set of amino acids, and a universal reliance on ATP for energy.

Scientists can estimate the rate at which mutations occur in a specific DNA sequence, compare the same sequence in multiple species, and work backwards to estimate when those species last shared an ancestor. They can also use a molecular clock to figure out when traits or gene functions first appeared.

Submission + - Idaho Lab Produces World's First Molten Salt Fuel For Nuclear Reactors (cowboystatedaily.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy announced this week that researchers at INL have successfully created the first batch of fuel salt.

Fuel salt is a molten salt mixture used as both a carrier for nuclear fuel and coolant in a molten salt reactor, a type of advanced nuclear reactor.

The fuel salt is critical for conducting the world’s first fast-spectrum, salt-fueled reactor test, known as the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE).

The test will help inform the future commercial deployment of a new class of advanced nuclear reactors, something a number of Wyoming-connected companies are proposing to build.

“There is a lot of push for this,” said James King, project lead for the Molten Chloride Experiment at INL. “We need to have a lot of different options so we can move away from less safe power generations methods.

“This is one of those technologies that can move us to better safety.”

The liquid form of the salt fuel means the fuel can’t melt. The technology would also offer another low-carbon alternative to generating power.

Submission + - USA will bar visa applicants who combat disinformation (npr.org) 1

Submitted by ClickOnThis
ClickOnThis writes: The Trump administration wants to bar visa applicants who combat disinformation and hate speech from entering the USA on work visas, on the grounds that they practice 'censorship.' From the article:

The directive, sent in an internal memo on Tuesday, is focused on applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which are frequently used by tech companies, among other sectors. The memo was first reported by Reuters; NPR also obtained a copy.

"If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible" for a visa, the memo says. It refers to a policy announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May restricting visas from being issued to "foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans."

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