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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

An Anonymous Coward writes:Equifax: US charges four Chinese military officers over huge hack:

DannyB writes:SpaceX’s first astronaut mission could take off in May

martyb writes:Easter Island society did not collapse prior to European contact, new research shows:

spiraldancing writes:www.phoronix.com

martyb writes:CityU new droplet-based electricity generator: A drop of water lights up 100 small LED bulbs:

[Update: 20200210_181822 UTC] The original source of the story reported the cost of the yacht to be £500; there were conversion errors in the stories quoted here. Click the spoiler for the details:The Telegraph (a UK publication):

hubie writes:Genetic ancestry tests are a multi-billion dollar industry. In exchange for a sample of genetic material, one receives charts and figures mapping them onto popular concepts of race. The problem with this approach is that although there are minor genetic differences that allow geneticists to trace population migrations, these differences don't support the idea that one can sort races on genetic differences alone. Social scientists have argued that given how race definitions have changed over time and place, that race classifications are more a social construct defined more in terms of geographic proximity and cultural norms than they are based on genetics. At the other end of the spectrum is the concept of genetic essentialism. This views the concept of race as being exclusively defined in terms of genetic makeup and how these differences imbue different races with different inherent abilities or liabilities. Genetic essentialist views promote the concept of genetic exclusivity and reinforces racial stereotypes, underpinning negative policies such as eugenics and apartheid.The problem with genetic ancestry testing, apart from the privacy issues that we typically see stories about here, is the inconsistency of analysis and popular misconceptions of what the results mean. With tens of millions of people taking these tests every year, an open question has been what effect these results have on people's concepts of race. Some have argued that they are likely to reinforce a genetic essentialist view of race because the results are broken down into distinct groups and people interpret the results as being objective and authoritative. Others have argued the opposite in that people have a more social construct idea of race when the results do not confirm their experience ("All my life I thought I was German, but I found out I'm actually Italian!").Researchers from the University of British Columbia attempted to answer this question with a paper published in the open access journal Plos One. They conducted a randomized controlled trial where they assembled a group of people who were willing to take a genetic ancestry test and provided half of them with a test. The group was then evaluated to gauge the extent that they supported genetic essentialism ideas. In addition, at the outset the group was also quizzed on their general knowledge of genetics. What the researchers found was that, on average, getting these test results did not change one's views on genetic essentialism; however, when considering a person's overall level of genetics understanding, they found that genetic essentialism ideas were strengthened in people who had lower knowledge of genetics after they received their ancestry test results. "Taking a test thus has a polarizing effect, magnifying differences in essentialist beliefs even further between those with weaker and stronger understandings of the science behind them."Roth WD, Yaylacı Ş, Jaffe K, Richardson L. (2020) Do genetic ancestry tests increase racial essentialism? Findings from a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE 15(1): e0227399. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227399Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

canopic jug writes:The presentations from FOSDEM 2020 are online. FOSDEM is an annual, non-commercial conference for Free and Open Source software developers and takes place for two days every year in Brussels, Belgium. This year it was the first weekend in February, Saturday the 1 and Sunday the 2. It is organized by volunteers and aims to promote the use of free and open source software. One beneficial aspect is the many developer rooms where various projects can meet and exchange ideas, plan, discuss, and hack. Participation is free of charge.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Who would have thought that providing good service at a reasonable price could be good for business?T-Mobile continues to rack up customers:

RandomFactor writes:The sheer expense of blasting things to orbit necessitates that we learn to do automated manufacture and assembly in space if humanity wants to truly become a space faring species. NASA is planning to show it can be done.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:US agencies using phone location data for immigration enforcement, report says:

martyb writes:Yarn created from skin cells can be woven into human textiles:

kreuzfeld writes:Readers here include many avid JRR Tolkien fans. Now, coming not long after the death of Christopher Tolkien (JRR's prolific son) comes a new fatality, Orson Bean:

takyon writes:AMD's 64-core, 128-thread processor for workstation/"prosumer"/enthusiast users has been reviewed:

martyb writes:Iran satellite launch fails, in blow to space programme

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

martyb writes:Why you can't bank on [just] backups to fight ransomware anymore:

hubie writes:Fingerprints contain a variety of substances that originate from both within the body and from what is on the surface of the skin, and as such they have the potential to convey a lot more information than just their ridge details. Forensic research has looked into fingerprint residue to determine whether illicit drugs were handled, and other research has investigated changes in fingerprint chemistry after drugs were ingested. Although it is possible to detect the primary metabolite of cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BZE), in fingerprints, it hasn't been possible to determine whether the presence of BZE residue was the result of handling or using the drug.Researchers from the UK and Republic of Ireland investigated the levels of cocaine and BZE found in fingerprints at various time intervals after contact with cocaine powder and with street cocaine. They compared them with fingerprints taken from a variety of patients attending a drug rehabilitation clinic, as well as non-drug users. In a paper in the open access journal Scientific Reports they showed that it is possible to distinguish between contact and ingestion of cocaine from a fingerprint, if (and only if) the fingerprints were obtained after the person had washed their hands.Paper Abstract:The finding that drugs and metabolites can be detected from fingerprints is of potential relevance to forensic science and as well as toxicology and clinical testing. However, discriminating between dermal contact and ingestion of drugs has never been verified experimentally. The inability to interpret the result of finding a drug or metabolite in a fingerprint has prevented widespread adoption of fingerprints in drug testing and limits the probative value of detecting drugs in fingermarks. A commonly held belief is that the detection of metabolites of drugs of abuse in fingerprints can be used to confirm a drug has been ingested. However, we show here that cocaine and its primary metabolite, benzoylecgonine, can be detected in fingerprints of non-drug users after contact with cocaine. Additionally, cocaine was found to persist above environmental levels for up to 48 hours after contact. Therefore the detection of cocaine and benzoylecgonine (BZE) in fingermarks can be forensically significant, but do not demonstrate that a person has ingested the substance. In contrast, the data here shows that a drug test from a fingerprint (where hands can be washed prior to donating a sample) CAN distinguish between contact and ingestion of cocaine. If hands were washed prior to giving a fingerprint, BZE was detected only after the administration of cocaine. Therefore BZE can be used to distinguish cocaine contact from cocaine ingestion, provided donors wash their hands prior to sampling. A test based on the detection of BZE in at least one of two donated fingerprint samples has accuracy 95%, sensitivity 90% and specificity of 100% (n = 86).Jang, M., Costa, C., Bunch, J. et al. On the relevance of cocaine detection in a fingerprint. Sci Rep 10, 1974 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58856-0Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

RandomFactor writes:Common wisdom is that mosquitoes use multiple methods to home in on their prey, including Carbon Dioxide in respiration and detection of body heat. Now, in a paper published in the journal Science, researchers describe the underlying temperature detection mechanism used, and interestingly it isn't a heat-seeking mechanism, but rather a cold-avoiding one.

spiraldancing sent in a link which became the inspiration for:Capture Carbon in Concrete Made With CO (Javascript required):

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Sand dunes can 'communicate' with each other:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Scientists unravel mystery of photosynthesis:

canopic jug writes:Mac Bowley at the Raspberry Pi blog asks about ending hardware upgrades for the sake of upgrades as well as ending planned obsolescence. The softwre for the Raspberry Pi, he notes, still runs on the first models even if the newer models are faster. In fact the old models are still being produced and bought. Fully exploiting the natural life spans of hardware would have a lot of advantages, not the least of which would be reduction of the enviornmental impact.

RandomFactor writes:The recently discovered galaxy XMM-2599 is three times the size of any other galaxy ever imaged. And models indicate it should have continued forming stars for well over a paltry billion years, but according to new research the supermassive galaxy only did so for about 800 Million years.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:Galaxy formation simulated without dark matter:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:Phishers impersonate WHO, exploit coronavirus-related anxiety - Help Net Security:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

MrPlow writes:Submitted via IRC for chopchop1

DeathMonkey writes:[Note: The announcement of these records just occurred; the highs actually occurred in the years: 1982, 1989, and 2015. --martyb]Highest Recorded Temperatures In Antarctica Announced And They May Surprise You:

Editor's Comment: The figures and statistics regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak are changing daily and there are differences between reports from different sources. The latest figures, which we believe to be from a reputable source and which are being regularly updated, can be found at the worldometers. If you have a favourite site for updated information please leave a link in the comments.Chinese Whistleblower Doctor Dies Due to Coronavirustakyon writes:Li Wenliang: Coronavirus kills Chinese whistleblower doctor

Two Soylentils sent in stories about the US TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and their handling of Ballaké Sissoko's kora (musical instrument).US customs dismantled 'impossible to replace' instrumentc0lo writes:Prominent Malian Musician Alleges that TSA Destroyed His Instrument:

RS3 writes:https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a30784690/chernobyl-fungus/

Phoenix666 writes:Scientists discover virus with no recognizable genes:

takyon writes:NASA safety panel calls for reviews after second Starliner software problem

PiMuNu writes:Phys.org:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:Pluto's icy heart makes winds blow:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

DeathMonkey writes:

chromas writes:Bloomberg:

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/02/when-your-used-car-is-a-little-too-mobile/

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:The CIA's Infamous, Unsolved Cryptographic Puzzle Gets a 'Final Clue':

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://photographylife.com/camera-companies-smartphone-survival

takyon writes:The Road to 80 TB HDDs: Showa Denko Develops HAMR Platters for Hard Drives

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:Oh ****... Sudo has a 'make anyone root' bug that needs to be patched – if you're unlucky enough to enable pwfeedback:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:Sketchy behavior? Wacom tablet drivers phone home with names, times of every app opened on your computer:

takyon writes:Casper's IPO is officially a disaster