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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil:China's Chang'e-5 successfully lands on moon to collect samples:

takyon writes:Leaked documents show China mishandled early COVID-19 pandemic: report

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for requerdanos:Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico Collapses Weeks After Suffering Major Damage:

Snotnose writes:As reported by ZDNet:

takyon writes:Mars' underground brine could be a good source of oxygen

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:New mechanism of pain control revealed:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:'Love hormone' oxytocin could be used to treat cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Alligators can regrow their tails, surprising scientists:

MrPlow writes:Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956Chemical Compounds in Foods Can Inhibit a Key SARS-CoV-2 Enzyme:

DeepMind's AI is Claimed to Make Gigantic Leap in Solving Protein StructuresHartree writes:DeepMind's program, called AlphaFold, outperformed around 100 other teams in a biennial protein-structure prediction challenge called CASP, short for Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction. The results were announced on 30 November, at the start of the conference — held virtually this year — that takes stock of the exercise.John Moult of the University of Maryland in College Park (founder of this conference) says: "In some sense the problem is solved."https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03348-4Many Caveats: This seems unusually breathless for Nature and this is a very hard problem that's been worked on for decades. Having worked in a group studying the protein folding problem back in the 80s, I've learned to be pretty skeptical of miracles in this over the years. That said if it is accurate that this works well enough to provide clues to x-ray diffraction determination of structure in hard cases, that alone makes it very worthwhile. If it works well in truly de novo cases without other information like x-ray diffraction or nuclear magnetic resonance then it would be just as revolutionary as the article says.Folding @ AlphaJoeMerchant writes:Google's Deepmind claims to have created an artificially intelligent program called "AlphaFold" that is able to solve protein folding problems in a matter of days.If it works, the solution has come "decades" before it was expected, according to experts, and could have transformative effects in the way diseases are treated.There are 200 million known proteins at present but only a fraction have actually been unfolded to fully understand what they do and how they work. Even those that have been successfully understood often rely on expensive and time-intensive techniques, with scientists spending years unfolding each structure and relying on equipment that can cost many millions of dollars.DeepMind worked on the AI project with the 14th Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14), a group of scientists who have been looking into the matter since 1994.Go, Chess, COVID...Also at Science Magazine and TechCrunch.Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/11/amid-pandemic-poopy-salads-still-pose-health-threat/

DeathMonkey writes:FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will step down on January 20

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Seemingly Ordinary Fossils May Be Hiding Some Major Clues to the Past:

takyon writes:OneWeb exits bankruptcy and is ready to launch more broadband satellites

takyon writes:Microsoft Pluton is a new processor with Xbox-like security for Windows PCs

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:She could have stopped at saving her husband. Instead they joined a 5-way kidney swap.:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:SLS: Nasa 'megarocket' assembly begins in Florida:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:6,000 years of arrows emerge from melting Norwegian ice patch:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RunawayXXXX:Laser fusion reactor approaches 'burning plasma' milestone:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Pesticide deadly to bees now easily detected in honey:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Tesla Model X gets hacked through new relay attack, Tesla says it is pushing a patch - Electrek:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:U.S. Army looks to use silent technology for next-generation aircraft:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Linus Torvalds doubts Linux will get ported to Apple M1 hardware:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Mystery Of London's 1952 Killer Fog Is Solved:

[Ed. note: I was tempted to pass over this article because it beggared believe and I was unfamiliar with the author. Come to find out, Sabine Hossenfelderupstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Warp Drive News. Seriously!:

hubie writes:Noninteger dimensions are fairly well known in mathematics, but they are also used in various branches of physics and engineering to explain the emergence of scale invariant phenomena, such as atmospheric turbulence, or for measuring coastlines. Subhash Kak of Oklahoma State University in the United States published a paper that shows that if you look at physical space through the lens of information theory, the optimal number of dimensions turns out to be not an integer.Kak shows the optimal dimension associated with the representation of information is e = 2.71828... and he argues that physical space is e-dimensional instead of 3-dimensional if one accepts optimality as a fundamental physical principle. He argues the discrepancy between 3 and e can be seen in existing data, and the example used has to do with the large scale structure of the universe.One of the "crises" in physics is reconciling the two different values of the Hubble constant, H. The two values are 67 km s Mpc if you use early universe data, and 74 km s Mpc if you use late universe data. If physical reality is e-dimensional and we insist on viewing it as being 3-dimensional then there is a discrepancy equal to e/3=0.9060. This number is very close to the divergence of 67/74=0.9054 from the experimental data.Journal Reference:

takyon writes:Hawaii's Fresh Water Leaks to the Ocean Through Underground Rivers (archive)

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:The ISS Is About to Receive a New Doorway to Space:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil:Boston Dynamics' Spot Is Helping Chernobyl Move Towards Safe Decommissioning:

canopic jug writes:The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure has a call for donations against the Unitary Software Patent Trolls after Thursday's disastrous Bundestag vote. On Thursday in Germany, the Bundestag voted on ratification of a proposal for a Unified Patent Court, largely seen as purely a vehicle for introducing software patents into Europe. As software patents in the US were on the way out, introducing them into Europe would bring them back into the US after further "harmonization". Thursday's vote is the result of the software patent lobby changing its strategy in Europe by creating a central patent court outside of the control of the individual member states under which it would make its own rules and avoid democratically elected legislators.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

oumuamua writes:Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spreads more indoors at low humidity.

c0lo writes:Straight for the horse's mouth ESA and ClearSpace SA sign contract for world's first debris removal mission

cmdrklarg writes:Sheep counters find a monolith:https://www.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-what-is-it-trnd/index.htmlSome geek on Reddit found it on Google Earth already:https://www.reddit.com/r/geoguessr/comments/jzw628/help_me_find_this_obelisk_in_remote_utah/

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:Missing Ink: Darwin Notebooks, Long Unseen, Now Believed Stolen:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Square Enix Launches Permanent Work-From-Home Program Next Month:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Tech giants face fines or even break-up if they breach new rules: EU's Breton:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Exclusive: Foxconn to shift some Apple production to Vietnam to minimise China risk:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Waste not, want not: Dutch students build electric car from recycled material:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:Fear response neurons identified as potential anxiety treatment target:

takyon writes:Vulkan update: we're conformant!

takyon writes:These Ants Suit Up in a Protective 'Biomineral Armor' Never Seen Before in Insects

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Scientists make insta-bling at room temperature:

First off, for those of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, please accept our best wishes for a safe and happy holiday. For those who are struggling themselves (or who have friends or family who are), please accept our sincere and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.For those who are not in the US, please be aware that Thursday is a national holiday. Further, it is traditional for most people, where possible, to also take off Friday, too. This allows for an extended period of time: Thursday through Sunday, inclusive.Our editorial staff has been happy to provide stories for the community's discussion. There is much that happens behind the scenes. I am taking this opportunity to publicly thank all of them for their hard work and their sacrifices of time and energy.I am encouraging the editorial staff to take a break during this holiday period. Therefore, we will be on a reduced, weekend schedule from Thursday through Sunday (UTC), inclusive. We will continue to check in during this period... we thank you in advance for continuing to send in your story submissions.Again, please accept our genuine best wishes for a safe and happy holiday!Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Starship SN8 successfully completes final testing ahead of flight - NASASpaceFlight.com:

MrPlow writes in with a submission, via IRC, for TheMightyBuzzard.Source: https://torrentfreak.com/amazon-patents-technology-to-track-down-streaming-pirates-201121/:

[With the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration in the US on Thursday and its history of over-indulgence, this seemed to be a timely warning.--Ed.]An Anonymous Coward writes:Do you take your phone to the loo? Spent half an hour a day in the peace and calm of the smallest room in the house safe and secure in the knowledge few will disturb you? Are you at all concerned your habit could be detrimental to your health? According to Sydney gastroenterologist Professor Chris Berney you should be. Doctor Berney has treated 16 people over the past 18 months for haemorrhoid related issues which he believes comes from spending too long on the loo. Regularly spending over 20 minutes with the rear sphincter relaxed can result in a decline in control which leads to blood clots developing. Prof Berney published his findings regarding young people spending too much time on the toilet in the Australia New Zealand Surgery journal.Where are the futuristic chairs with the built-in toilet?Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Women Scientists Are Calling Bullshit On a Study Claiming That Women Make Bad STEM Mentors:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Is This Trippy Cave Painting the Result of a Hallucination:

hubie writes:Biomimicry is the concept of drawing design inspiration from the natural world, such as for materials design, structural design, process flow, etc. The idea is that Nature has spent millennia optimizing structures and designs for cohabitation within the environment. We see stories all the time here that talk about materials inspired by spider silk, sea sponges, algae, etc. These are all typically focused studies that look at only a specific aspect of the material or design.In a paper to be published in the journal Earth's Future, researchers look at current resiliant design practices and recommend several pragmatic opportunities for infrastructure managers to make improvements by incorporating biomimicry principles within the design process. These six principles, dubbed Life's Principles are: evolve to survive, adapt to changing conditions, be locally attuned and responsive, integrate development with growth, be resource efficient, and use life-friendly chemistry. They find that current resilient design theory--in theory--addresses all of the biomimicry principles, but in practice they largely ignore and sometimes contradict these principles. They note that a lot of effort has been spent addressing efficiency, but that substantial design advantages would be realized if infrastructure managers tried to align to more biomimicry principles.Journal Reference: