upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Gravitational waves could prove the existence of the quark-gluon plasma: Computer models of merging neutron stars predicts how to tell when this happens:
stormwyrm writes:With a major pandemic sweeping the world, the standard process of clinical trials for drug approval has come under criticism as a needless source of bureaucracy and delay. Drug discovery chemist Derek Lowe in a blog post explains how clinical trials for drug approval work and the reasons behind the various requirements that the FDA and equivalent organisations around the world generally put in place before approving a new drug. He explains how most of these apparently pointless bureaucratic hurdles are actually there to help protect the integrity of the scientific process and ensure that the human subjects undergoing the trials are treated ethically. While a case can be made for relaxing some of these safeguards, especially in this time of pandemic, it is probably not a good idea to do so without at least understanding what these safeguards are for.Determining how much of a pharmaceutical is needed to prepare for the trial. Ensuring your are actually preparing just that drug and not a polymorph. Proper laboratory and manufacturing practices to ensure the desired drug is actually prepared without impurities and contaminants. Preparing a plan for a drug trial. Demographics — age, gender, weight, current medications being taken. Getting a representative distribution of these as participants. And there's much more.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
martyb writes:Hangovers (aka veisalgia) are nothing new — they were well-known even in biblical times. (See Proverbs 23:29-35.) Countless ideas have been offered over the millennia on how to avoid them or on how to lessen the effect. This colorful discussion offers (conflicting) rhymes to help remember the order one should consume beer, wine, and whiskey.An online search offersnumerousfolkremediesbut there is scant science to support these.Now, just in time for weekend, comes new research that offers hope to the sufferer. The research is published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and is available on-line for free (PDF link) and seems robust.Are they really on to something? What, if anything, did they miss?What follows is an extract from the BMJ summary. Plant extract combo may relieve hangover symptoms:
An Anonymous Coward writes:Hong Kong has deployed robots to clean public areas in the wake of COVID-19. Developed in Hong Kong, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) said their airport is the first in the world to use the sterilisation robots, which will roam around and sanitise various areas, including toilets. The airport will also introduce a 'full-body disinfection booth' for humans which perform a temperature check and "a 40-second disinfection and sanitising procedure".Also at: BBC and CNN.Anyone else reminded of the Microbe Eliminator cleaning bot in WALL-E?Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
martyb writes:Back before computers (and cell phones!) regularly sported multi-GHz processors and GBs of memory, there was the 6502 microprocessor. It was the CPU that powered computers made by Apple, Acorn, Atari, BBC Micro, Commodore, and others. Though the 6502 was introduced in 1975, it is far from being a dead parrot!Classic 8-Bit Computing The Atari Way:
An Anonymous Coward writes:YARA version 4.0.0 has been released.YARA is the name of a tool primarily used in malware research and detection. YARA was originally developed by Victor Alvarez of VirusTotal. The name is either an abbreviation of YARA: Another Recursive Acronym, or Yet Another Ridiculous Acronym. YARA by default comes with modules to process PE, ELF analysis, as well as support for the open-source Cuckoo sandbox. [1]From the YARA github page:
Runaway1956 provide a submission which inspired this story.Possibly paywalled: There's finally a Supreme Court battle coming over the nation's main hacking law (Alternative URL)
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and cloud-based IoT gear bricked by vendors. Looking at you, Belkin:
An Anonymous Coward writes:Ubuntu "mini.iso" Minimal Install .ISO for 20.04 LTS.Compared to the DVD-sized downloads for some distributions, the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS mini.iso is only 74 MB.I prefer using the mini.iso, but they moved it to a legacy directory. You can use the path on their downloads server, which appears to be HTTP only, or you can get an HTTPS connection to download it. Here is an example, from a mirror:
An Anonymous Coward writes:Spring Issue of 2600 Released - Important News:[For those who may be unfamiliar: 2600: The Hacker Quarterly "is an American seasonal publication of technical information and articles [...] on a variety of subjects including hacking, telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer 'underground.'" --Ed.]
martyb writes:Microsoft decrees that all high-school IT teachers were wrong: Double spaces now flagged as typos in Word:One space good, two spaces bad? (This story appears near the end of the article; scroll down to see it.)