"After the recent Paris terror attacks, the French government is proposing to forbid and block the use of the Tor anonymity network, according to an internal document from the Ministry of Interior seen by French newspaper Le Monde.
That document lays out two proposed pieces of legislation, one around the state of emergency, and the other concerning counter-terrorism.
In the former, the French government is considering to "Forbid free and shared wi-fi connections" during a state of emergency. This comes from a police opinion included in the document: the reason being that it is apparently difficult to track individuals who use public wi-fi networks.
The latter piece of legislation, meanwhile, says the government is considering "to block or forbid communications of the Tor network." The legislation, according to Le Monde, could be presented as early as January 2016."
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http://motherboard.vice.com/read/after-paris-attacks-proposed-french-law-would-block-tor-and-forbid-free-wi-fi
Blood vessels are vital parts of the body's circulatory system that supply the organs with nutrients and remove waste. Scientists have developed artificial tissue from the heart, liver and lungs, but creating a synthetic network of blood vessels to support these organs has been a challenge. Scientists from the Universities of Sydney, Harvard, Stanford and MIT have been working together to overcome this challenge. Now, the researchers have created 'live' artificial blood vessels in a lab using 3D-printing methods.
Right now, the actual structures don't bear much resemblance to what you'd find in a person -- you get a "spaghetti bowl" of vessels. Scientists hope to organize these vessels the way they exist in nature, though. If that happens, you could one day see artificial tissue samples and even transplants that are about as realistic as you can get.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/06/scientists-3d-print-live-blood-vessels/
Research has boosted solar panel efficiency over time. But some scientists argue that to truly take advantage of the sun's power, we also need to expand the amount of real estate that can be outfitted with solar, by making cells that are nearly or entirely see-through, i-e transparent cells.
A Silicon Valley start-up named "Ubiquitous Energy" has succeeded in creating such transparent solar cells. ClearView is a transparent solar cell that can coat any surface, including displays and windows, to harvest ambient light and generate electricity. Ubiquitous Energy has redesigned the solar cell to selectively transmit light visible to the human eye while absorbing only the ultraviolet and infrared light and converting it into electricity.
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That doesn't seem to mesh with their goal of completely eliminating the need for batteries in small consumer gadgets and even smart phones, as LED lighting doesn't emit ultraviolet or infrared, and there isn't always a window nearby. Still a potentially revolutionary technology in other applications, but unfortunately it's in the very, very early stages of development.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ubiquitous-energy-transparent-solar-power-timeline/Google has announced that it will cover the legal fees for protecting the Fair use Rights of youTube video Creators. Google started this New Fair Use Protection Program by refusing to remove few youtubes videos that received DMCA take down notices from copyright owners.
Google's this new initiative is part of a growing effort to fight back against DMCA abuse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr6gUbQIB_s&list=PLK2ccNIJVPpAlYHL7UaTP5uUs6eux28ZG
Glass was first created in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago.
Glass can be molded, formed, blown, plated or sintered; its formal qualities are closely tied to techniques used for its formation.
Now We can 3D Print the Glass. i-e Glass can be used as Ink in 3D printers instead of plastics
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) unveiled a first of its kind optically transparent glass printing process called G3DP.
G3DP is an additive manufacturing platform designed to print optically transparent glass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lx2loldi6o&list=PLK2ccNIJVPpB_XqWWq_oaZGIDzmKiSkYchttp://3dprint.com/90748/g3dp-glass-3d-print/
The original Raspberry Pi Model B and its successors put a programmable computer within reach of anyone with $20-35 to spend. Today, I'm pleased to announce the immediate availability of Raspberry Pi Zero, made in Wales and priced at just $5. Zero is a full-fledged member of the Raspberry Pi family, featuring:
A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
A micro-SD card slot
A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
Micro-USB sockets for data and power
An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
An unpopulated composite video header
Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm
Raspberry Pi Zero runs Raspbian and all your favourite applications, including Scratch, Minecraft and Sonic Pi. It is available today in the UK from The Pi Hut and Pimoroni, and in the US from Adafruit and in-store at your local branch of Micro Center. We've built several tens of thousands of units so far, and are building more, but we expect demand to outstrip supply for the next little while.
You'll need a mini-HDMI and a micro-USB adapter/cable
Happy hacking!
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/Algae has been genetically engineered to kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The algae nanoparticles, created by scientists in Australia, were found to
kill 90% of cancer cells in cultured human cells. The algae was also successful at killing cancer in mice with tumours.
"By genetically engineering diatom algae - tiny, unicellular, photosynthesising algae with a skeleton made of nanoporous silica, we are able to produce an antibody-binding protein on the surface of their shells. Anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drugs are often toxic to normal tissues. [...]To minimise the off-target toxicity, the drugs can be hidden inside the antibody-coated nanoparticles. The antibody binds only to molecules found on cancer cells, thus delivering the toxic drug specifically to the target cells."
A lot of times the systems are politically mandated in the sense that you have somebody on the Hill or Congress who will mandate a system and they'll mandate a particular period of time and they'll mandate the amount of money to spend and they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. So what happens is, if you're there as a government person, you're trying to translate some political wish into something that's topical and it's not very easy," Bob Charette says. Another problem is that there isn't much accountability when it comes to projects that fail.
One infamous example of government failure is the system that handles disability claims for Social Security. In the early 2000s, Congress spent money to try and reduce the massive backlog in claim processing that had built up. The backlog, however, only grew. Then in 2007, they spent more money - an estimated $381 million - to try and integrate 54 different IT systems that the Social Security Administration uses to process claims in the state. In 2011 they spent another $200 million on the project. "After six years ... they found out that they really didn't have anything." The backlog for Social Security claims continues to grow, and the latest attempt to fix the problem failed again this past summer. "By any stretch of imagination, it's scandalous."
Back in 1950, a farmer would have been able to grow around 2,500 kilograms of wheat per hectare of cropland. Today, that figure has more than tripled. Advances in plant breeding and technical innovations will continue to be necessary in order to feed the growing global population. This is where Bosch's agricultural robot "Bonirob" can play a part.
According to estimates, agricultural yields need to increase by three percent a year to keep up with population growth. Along with innovative agricultural technology and improved crop protection, more efficient plant breeding will play a particularly important role.
In this area, Bonirob automates and speeds up analysis. The robot, which is approximately the size of a compact car, uses video- and lidar-based positioning as well as satellite navigation to find its way around the fields. It knows its position to the nearest centimeter. It also helps minimize the environmental impact of crop farming.
Read more...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_KM5tPtz-U&list=PLK2ccNIJVPpB_XqWWq_oaZGIDzmKiSkYc