46773017
submission
zrbyte writes:
One-time pads are the holy grail of cryptography — they are impossible to crack, even in principle. However, the ability to copy electronic code makes one-time pads vulnerable to hackers. Now engineers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, have found a way round this to create a system of cryptography that is invulnerable to electronic attack. Their solution is based on a special kind of one-time pad that generates a random key through the complexity of its physical structure, namely shining a light through a diffusive glass plate.
32299365
submission
zrbyte writes:
Fusion research would get a major boost in a Department of Energy (DOE) spending bill approved today by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. The panel rejected an Obama Administration proposal to cut funding for domestic fusion research in the 2013 fiscal year, which begins 1 October. It would also give more money than requested to an international collaboration building the ITER fusion reactor in France. This will allow the Alcator C-Mod fusion facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge to be kept open, which the Administration had proposed closing.
30675631
submission
zrbyte writes:
A growing number of complexity theorists are beginning to recognize some potential problems with cloud computing. The growing consensus is that bizarre and unpredictable behavior often emerges in systems made up of "networks of networks", such as a business using the computational resources of a cloud provider. Bryan Ford at Yale University in New Haven says that the full risks of the migration to the cloud have yet to be properly explored. He points out that complex systems can fail in many unexpected ways and outlines various simple scenarios in which a cloud could come unstuck.
21070106
submission
zrbyte writes:
TorrentFreak has a story on the latest developments in the french Hadopi saga.
The private company entrusted to carry out file-sharing network monitoring for the French government has been hacked. Trident Media Guard, which is responsible for gathering data for so-called 3 strikes warnings was hacked and now has some of its data out in the wild, an event which has the potential to upset the operation of Hadopi.
17014850
submission
zrbyte writes:
Are you the electronics hobbyist, or garden shed tinkerer? If so then move aside, because there's a new kid on the block: the DIY biotechnologist.
The decreasing price of bio-tech instrumentation has made it possible for everyday folks (read bio-tech geeks), with a few thousand $ to spare, to equip their garages and mother's basements with the necessary 'tools of the trade'. Some, like PCR machines are available on eBay, other utensils are hacked together from everyday appliances and some creativity. For example, microscopes out of web cams and armpit E-coli incubators. Nature News has an article on the phenomenon, describing the weird and wonderful fruits of bio-tech geek ingenuity, like glow in the dark yogurt.
One could draw parallels with the early days of computer building/programming. It may be that we're looking at a bio-tech revolution, not just from the likes of Craig Venter, but from Joe-next-door hacking away at his E-coli strain. What are the Steve Wozniaks of bio-tech working on right now?
