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Comment Re: Extinguished (Score 1) 46

by h5inz (#65358731) Attached to: Microsoft Shuts Down Skype
"Back in the days".. You must be young. Back in the days when there were no video calls and Skype wasn't owned by Microsoft, it was the audio call software that just worked compared to others, and that's what made it big in the first place.

Submission + - SPAM: Waking up right after drifting off to sleep can boost creativity

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When Thomas Edison hit a wall with his inventions, he would nap in an armchair while holding a steel ball. As he started to fall asleep and his muscles relaxed, the ball would strike the floor, waking him with insights into his problems. Or so the story goes.

Now, more than 100 years later, scientists have repeated the trick in a lab, revealing that the famous inventor was on to something. People following his recipe tripled their chances of solving a math problem. The trick was to wake up in the transition between sleep and wakefulness, just before deep sleep.

The study team also identified a brain activity pattern linked to the creativity-boosting phase: moderate levels of brain waves at a slow frequency known as alpha, associated with relaxation, and low levels of delta waves, a hallmark of deep sleep.

Experts say researchers can now focus on this brain signature when investigating the neural mechanisms of creative problem-solving. One team has already planned an experiment to help people reach a creative zone by monitoring their brain waves in real time. “Edison’s intuition was somewhat right,” says the lead scientist, “and now we have a lot more to explore.”
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Scientists Discover How the SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evades Our Immune System (scitechdaily.com)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: A discovery by researchers at the Texas A&M College of Medicine could lead to new therapies to prevent the virus from proliferating in the human body.

The immune system is a complex network of cells and proteins that is designed to fight off infection and disease, especially those like the coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, that can cause numerous issues in the human body. But many individuals are still at risk of being infected with the coronavirus, letting it replicate in the body and further transmitting to other individuals.

The underlying mechanism of how SARS-CoV-2 escapes from the immune system has been poorly understood. However, researchers from the Texas A&M University College of Medicine and Hokkaido University have recently discovered a major mechanism that explains how SARS-CoV-2 can escape from the immune system and replicate in the human body. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

“We found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus carries a suppressive gene that acts to inhibit a human gene in the immune system that is essential for destroying infected cells,” said Dr. Koichi Kobayashi, adjunct professor at the College of Medicine and lead author of the paper.

Naturally, the cells in a human’s immune system are able to control virus infection by destroying infected cells so that the virus cannot be replicated. The gene that is essential in executing this process, called NLRC5, regulates major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes, which are genes that create a pathway that is vital in providing antiviral immunity. Kobayashi and his colleagues discovered this in 2012.

“During infection, the amount and activity of NLRC5 gene become augmented in order to boost our ability of eradication of viruses,” Kobayashi said. “We discovered that the reason why SARS-CoV-2 can replicate so easily is because the virus carries a suppressive gene, called ORF6, that acts to inhibit the function of NLRC5, thus inhibiting the MHC class I pathway as well.”

Submission + - The CIA Is Deep Into Cryptocurrency, Director Reveals (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: There's a long-running conspiracy theory among a small number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts that Bitcoin's anonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, was actually the CIA or another three-lettered agency. That fringe theory is having a fresh day in the sun after CIA Director William Burns said on Monday that the intelligence agency has "a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency" on the go. Burns made his comments at the tail end of a talk at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit. After discussing everything from the possible Russian invasion of Ukraine to the challenges of space, someone in the audience asked if the agency is on top of cryptocurrencies, which are currently at the center of the ransomware epidemic that U.S. officials are attempting to get a handle on and stamp out.

Here's what Burns said: "'This is something I inherited. My predecessor had started this, but had set in motion a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency and trying to look at second- and third-order consequences as well and helping with our colleagues in other parts of the U.S. government to provide solid intelligence on what we're seeing as well.'" Cryptocurrencies "could have enormous impact on everything from ransomware attacks, as you mentioned, because one of the ways of getting at ransomware attacks and deterring them is to be able to get at the financial networks that so many of those criminal networks use and that gets right at the issue of digital currencies as well," Burns said.

Submission + - Darpa Funded Researchers Accidentally Create the World's First Warp Bubble (thedebrief.org)

Submitted by Reeses
Reeses writes: The Debrief just reported that DARPA just "accidentally" created the world's first warp bubble. From the article:

Warp drive pioneer and former NASA warp drive specialist Dr. Harold G “Sonny” White has reported the successful manifestation of an actual, real-world “Warp Bubble.” And, according to White, this first of its kind breakthrough by his Limitless Space Institute (LSI) team sets a new starting point for those trying to manufacture a full-sized, warp-capable spacecraft.

There's also a video of the announcement, The Very First Warp-Bubble Created by DARPA Funded Team.

Submission + - Eurostar Tests Facial Recognition System On London Train Station (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Eurostar is testing a new biometric facial recognition technology on passengers traveling from London’s St Pancras International station to continental Europe. The passengers will be given the opportunity to complete their pre-departure ticket and passport checks via the new biometric system, called the “SmartCheck” lane. Those who take this option will be allowed to board the train without going through the typically tedious ID verification procedures. The system will involve two facial scans, one at the ticket gate to verify the ticket check and one at the UK Exit Checkpoint, to confirm that the passport information is valid.

The goal, according to Eurostar, is to eliminate queues and expedite the boarding process, not only improving customer satisfaction but also minimizing the chances for viral transmission. The system will be trialed with a limited number of invited passengers and won’t involve the UK’s or Schengen entry controls. Eurostar announced its intention to introduce a facial recognition system to replace physical tickets and passport checks last year, and facial recognition company iProov helped them build it. iProov is a proponent of what they call “passive authentication”, which is facial recognition without the user having to do anything. The user consents to the platform by visiting an online portal to register with their information and takes an image of their face with the smartphone or webcam. When they reach a physical checkpoint, they simply look at the camera, and the system authenticates them effortlessly.

Submission + - Giant Study Finds Viagra Is Linked to Almost 70% Lower Risk of Alzheimer's (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: Usage of the medication sildenafil – better known to most as the brand-name drug Viagra – is associated with dramatically reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests.

According to a study led by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, taking sildenafil is tied to a nearly 70 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's compared to non-users.

That's based on an analysis of health insurance claim data from over 7.2 million people, in which records showed that claimants who took the medication were much less likely to develop Alzheimer's over the next six years of follow up, compared to matched control patients who didn't use sildenafil.

It's important to note that observed associations like this – even on a huge scale – are not the same as proof of a causative effect. For example, it's possible that the people in the cohort who took sildenafil might have something else to thank for their improved chances of not developing Alzheimer's.

Nonetheless, the researchers say the correlation shown here – in addition to other indicators in the study – is enough to identify sildenafil as a promising candidate drug for Alzheimer's disease, the viability of which can be explored in future randomized clinical trials designed to test whether causality does indeed exist.

Submission + - Missouri was to thank "hacker" journalist before Governor accused him of crimes (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by UnknowingFool
UnknowingFool writes: Two days before Missouri governor Michael Parson (R) accused a newspaper reporter, Josh Renaud, of "hacking" for reporting about a fixed flaw in a state website, the state government of Missouri was planning to publicly thank Renaud for alerting them of the flaw, emails show in a public records request. Two days later, however, the Governor publicly accused Renaud of crimes. Also in the request, emails show that a day before the article was published the state's cybersecurity specialist informed other state officials that "[FBI Agent] Kyler [Storm] after reading the emails from the reporter that this incident is not an actual network intrusion".

St Louis Dispatch reporter, Josh Renaud, had discovered that the state's website was exposing the Social Security Numbers of teachers and other school employees in the HTML code of the state's site. He informed the state who fixed the flaw, and he delayed publishing the article until after the flaw was fixed. The article was published on October 14. The same day, Governor Parson accused Renaud of cyber crimes. A week later, Parson doubled down after criticism.

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