All posts filed under: Science

You Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA V

You Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA V

Published by skeptic

People are not happy about Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers and the cops that allegedly misuse them. If you’re one of those ALPR-haters, you can now take out your rage in the video game Grand Theft Auto V by installing Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader, a mod built by artist Morry Kolman. The mod installs 235 Flock cameras around the fictional Los Santos, a riff on the real-life city of Los Angeles. Players can smash and shoot down the cameras and get paid $600 for each one they destroy, which Kolman priced based on a teardown of a Flock Falcon Flex Camera by the Iowa-based civil liberties group Eyes Off of Cedar Rapids. The in-game cameras log every time a player destroys and drives by one, and players can render a photo album of their interactions. In real life, vigilantes have allegedly wrecked Flock cameras in their communities using spray-paint, saws, bullets, and even flaming projectiles. An NPR analysis found that Flock cameras have been vandalized in at least 36 states. “GTPLR is …

New material could enable faster and more sustainable computer memory

New material could enable faster and more sustainable computer memory

Published by skeptic

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created a form of strontium manganite that operates at close to room temperature. As reported in JACS, a new material marries magnetism and electrical polarisation in a union that could vastly increase the speed and sustainability of computer memory. Magnetoelectrics are highly sought after as they allow magnetic information to be switched via an electric field, rather than a magnetic one. This increases the energy-efficiency of a computer and could prove invaluable as demand grows for data centres and AI systems, which draw huge amounts of processing power from the grid. However, most magnetoelectric materials only work at extremely cold temperatures, which has inhibited wider deployment. Overcoming the temperature hurdle The researchers found a way around the temperature issue via a structural change: the atom pairs inside the strontium manganite’s crystal structure tilt in a coordinated way. This minor tilt generates an electrical charge across the material, as well as a weak, switchable magnetism. The key difference is that the charge does not rely on the magnetism, as …

How ‘positive’ stress could improve the welfare of zoo animals

How ‘positive’ stress could improve the welfare of zoo animals

Published by skeptic

Pelicans have resided in St James’s Park, London for 360 years. But the current flock have been a summer sensation due to the first hatching of chicks in the park’s history. Pelican breeding in zoos is demanding for these birds, because the right environmental and social conditions need to come together. Rather than simply being comfortable, the birds need to encounter and respond to cues that stimulate courtship, nesting and reproduction. This unusual nesting at St James’s Park provides an interesting example of how responding to biologically relevant stressors is a positive part of an animal’s life. Multiple factors are likely to have contributed to the pelican nesting. The heatwave, the flock’s dynamics and the compatibility of the individual birds seem to have created the right conditions for the first time in centuries. Four pelican chicks have hatched in St. James’s Park, marking the first time the park has ever welcomed the pitter patter of tiny pelican feet. Nick Burnham/Samuel Bonham In my recent research, I evaluated the importance of positive stress to zoo and …

A Stealth Startup Thinks It Just Hacked the Memory Shortage

A Stealth Startup Thinks It Just Hacked the Memory Shortage

Published by skeptic

Kepler also says it has improved the density of SRAM using ferroelectrics, which can read and write data at lower voltages than the mechanisms typically used to process and store data in semiconductors. The startup did this by developing a new, low-voltage, composite material that works with this ferroelectric approach. Sasi Manipatruni, a Kepler cofounder and its chief technology officer, says the Kepler team went through 35 iterations of composites before they landed on a material class that they thought would make memory chips easier and cheaper to make. “Once we found a way to solve the physics problem—as in the physical limitations for HBM—we came up with a material innovation that helps with the amount of memory you can have between chips,” he says. In its early build-outs with GlobalFoundries, Kepler says it was able to convert a fab into a “next-generation” fab in just eight months, compared to a typical 24-month timeframe. “Out goal is to take the fabs and architectures already built, and push them to the limits of physics,” Olaosebikan says. …

Apple Event Live Blog: Folding iPhone, Apple Watch Series 12, AirPods, and More

Apple Event Live Blog: Folding iPhone, Apple Watch Series 12, AirPods, and More

Published by skeptic

Good morning everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today’s Apple media showcase. We will have two reporters on the scene at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, to bring you live coverage. You’ll be hearing from Julian Chokkattu, Boutayna Chokrane, Lauren Goode, Reece Rogers, and Michael Calore throughout the event. We might have some special guests pop in as well. We’ll be posting frequent news updates here, with the highlights also going on our social platforms. Apple’s presentation begins at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, and 6 pm in the UK. We have a complete rundown on how to watch the show and what to expect. Come back approximately 30 minutes before the presentation starts—about 9:30 am in California—and you’ll see the words on this page replaced by a feed of our live updates. A Folding iPhone Today The short version of what to expect: The folding variant of the iPhone should make its debut today. The word around Silicon Valley is that it’s expected to be named the iPhone Ultra and that it …

NASA call targets key lunar technologies for future Moon Base

NASA call targets key lunar technologies for future Moon Base

Published by skeptic

NASA has announced a call for proposals to develop the lunar technologies needed to support exploration and establish a long-term human presence at the Moon’s South Pole. The agency is targeting major gaps in power generation, oxygen production, manufacturing and advanced materials as it works towards a future Moon Base. The call forms part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-3, or NextSTEP-3, and focuses on technologies that could eventually operate in the harsh lunar environment. NASA wants competing solutions to be matured and demonstrated, helping move critical systems closer to operational use. The result could be a new generation of lunar infrastructure capable of producing power and resources locally while reducing dependence on supplies launched from Earth. NASA says the programme will support US-led capabilities while allowing participation from private companies, universities, non-profit organisations and international partners working through US-led teams. Speaking on the initiative, Greg Stover, director of NASA’s Advanced Research and Technology Division, commented: “NASA is accelerating the development of key technologies and closing critical gaps needed for long-term human exploration …

Uh oh! AI agents broke free and went on a hacking spree

Uh oh! AI agents broke free and went on a hacking spree

Published by skeptic

AI agent: (in computing) Unlike chatbots, which respond to discrete prompts to do some action (usually text-based), AI agents can be given a broad task. They not only figure out how to accomplish it but also do it. This technology uses a large language model (like a human would use its brain), linking it to tools such as email or the internet so that it can perform actions or accomplish tasks with no human help, or almost no help. AI model: Short for artificial-intelligence model, it’s a particularly smart computer algorithm. Simple types of these models choose from a set of preselected options to answer a user’s requests (perhaps to respond to a chat). More complex models may train on mountains of data to essentially figure out their own answers to potentially novel questions. attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event. behavior: The way something (often a person or other organism) conducts itself or acts towards others. bot: (short for web robot) A computer program designed to appear that …

MS NOW Wants to Turn Its Viewers Into a Fandom

MS NOW Wants to Turn Its Viewers Into a Fandom

Published by skeptic

Even if you’re a casual consumer of MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, you know the names: anchors like Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhl, and yes, the one and only Rachel Maddow. The network has built a stable of talent who’ve amassed a massive number of casual viewers, plenty of fans … and more than a few obsessives. Now, the network’s president, Rebecca Kutler, is looking to build that entire audience into something more akin to a fandom—turning casual viewers and fanatics alike, whether on TV or online, into paying members of an MS NOW media universe. To do it, she’s launching an ambitious subscription program, called Membership, designed to connect MS NOW consumers much more directly to the Hayeses and Maddows of the world. Sure, plenty of news providers now offer subscriptions, WIRED included (and by the way, you can subscribe here). But what struck me about Kutler and Co.’s efforts was both their methodical approach—they surveyed 18,000 people before landing on a final offering—and their resolute focus on MS NOW’s deep bench of talent as the …

Study finds heatwaves inhibit antibiotic resistance in soils

Study finds heatwaves inhibit antibiotic resistance in soils

Published by skeptic

Bacteria that develop and resist antibiotics prioritise pure survival in heatwaves, temporarily reducing the presence of resistance genes. Research by soil ecologist Franciska de Vries and colleagues at the University of Amsterdam found that bacteria switch to pure survival measures during heatwaves and consequently see a reduction in antibiotic resistance gene production. However, heat and drought still cause major overall damage to soil and ecosystems, especially in areas that are typically wetter and colder, such as the Netherlands. Soils provide both antibiotics and resistance genes According to De Vries, many people do not know that soils are an important reservoir of both antibiotics – and we also get that from the soil – and resistance genes. ‘In the soil, it’s a kind of “war”: bacteria produce their own antibiotics and arm themselves against them with resistance genes,’ she explains. In warmer temperatures and humid conditions, the presence of resistance genes increases, meaning more bacteria become immune to antibiotics. If this immunity spreads, bacteria that cause diseases in crops, animals or humans can develop more antibiotic …

There’s a Hot New Egg-Freezing Startup. It’s Weirder Than You Could Imagine

There’s a Hot New Egg-Freezing Startup. It’s Weirder Than You Could Imagine

Published by skeptic

The Instagram post, precision-guided by sex and age, had zeroed in on its target. Yuchen Tu is a conser­vatory-trained viola player from Chongqing, China, a lover of science fiction, and an aspiring member of the US Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. She’s exacting and intense, with sky-high standards. And late last spring, just after her 24th birthday, she realized she might be the perfect candidate to freeze her eggs—for free. Tu goes by Sue, a name she likes because it reminds her of the 2024 body horror film The Substance, whose protagonist tortures herself in pursuit of youth and beauty. To prequalify for free egg freezing, all Sue had to do was take a two-minute quiz. “Not everyone can pass this exam,” she remembers thinking. “Oh, it seems like a competition.” Sue passed, as have thousands of young women allured by the promise of a company called Cofertility. “The best time to freeze your eggs is when you can least afford it,” goes the company’s mantra, uttered on repeat by its public face and CEO, …