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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Psychology research shows 'water cooler talk' can have big benefits: A newly described behavior shows how small talk brings balance to collaborative conversations:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Lidar startup goes public, makes founder a billionaire:

An Anonymous Coward writes:Onion-Location

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:China announces expansion to weather modification program, artificial rain to cover area bigger than size of India - ABC News:

upstart writes:Researchers discover life in deep ocean sediments at or above water's boiling point:

Tokolosh writes:Blogger Daniel Lange takes a look at the Linux Foundation's 2020 annual report, and concludes that it was produced with Adobe, which is not available on Linux. Further sleuthing by a commentator reveals that the original was created on Microsoft Word. Stock images used for illustration mostly show Apple MacBooks. This is what you get for a $148 million annual budget.No dog food today - the Linux Foundation annual report.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:The same vision for all primates: The world's smallest primate reveals the incredible preservation of our visual system through millions of years of evolution:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Chinese Robotaxi Firm AutoX Starts Operation In Shenzen With No Human Driver:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Does Tor provide more benefit or harm? New paper says it depends:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo_:Divers discover Nazi WW2 enigma machine in Baltic Sea:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Black holes may not exist, but fuzzballs might, wild theory suggests:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:What makes the world's biggest surfable waves?:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Justice Department accuses Facebook of discriminating against U.S. workers:

takyon writes:US ends era of emotional support animals on planes

hubie wrote in with a story which became:SOHO's Pioneering 25 years in Orbit:

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/feb/28/why-do-video-game-players-invert-the-controls

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:New study shows how methan breaks through icy barriers on the sea floor:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Half a million fewer children? The coming COVID baby bust:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:High-energy X-rays reveal the secrets of ancient Egyptian inks:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:Boeing's upgraded 737 MAX completes first flight with media onboard:

MostCynical writes:Australian Federal police and organised crime investigators will be able to take over the online accounts of international paedophile rings, terrorists and drug-traffickers operating on the "dark web", under new laws to be introduced in Federal Parliament.The Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission will also be able to hack into people's computer networks and modify or delete harmful content such as child exploitation material.As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the new powers were needed to "shine a light into the darkest recesses of the online world and hold those hiding there to account".

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Salesforce strikes deal to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Aftermarket truck mods pollute as much as 9 million extra pickups:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time:

MrPlow writes:Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Guam's most endangered tree species reveals universal biological concept:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Storing carbon through tree planting, preservation costs more than thought:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Microsoft Revamps 'Invasive' M365 Feature After Privacy Backlash:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:SpaceX's 1st crewed Mars mission could launch as early as 2024, Elon Musk says:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:Synergism of TNF-α and IFN-γ triggers inflammatory cell death, tissue damage, and mortality in SARS-CoV-2 infection and cytokine shock syndromes:(From the abstract):

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Teckla:iPhone zero-click Wi-Fi exploit is one of the most breathtaking hacks ever:

NPC-131072 writes:A medium article

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Neanderthals Didn't Use Their Thumbs Like We Do, New Research Suggests:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Scientists might know why astronauts develop health problems in space:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:SpaceX will launch remote controlled racecars to lunar surface:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:We've mapped a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Take the virtual tour here.:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:AstraZeneca's dosage error casts a cloud of doubt around the entire COVID-19 clinical trial:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:Discovery of mechanism that switches off fat production after eating:

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