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Category: futurism – Page 761

Microsofts new security tool will discover firmware vulnerabilities, and more, in PCs and IoT devices

In the future, Weston would like to see ReFirm become part of the certification. “To not only make sure that you’re shipping the device secure, but that it’s being scanned regularly by this ReFirm firmware technology and you’re keeping the firmware up to date.”

Despite the name, ReFirm might not stay restricted to firmware. Microsoft has static and dynamic analysis tools it can add to the product, which Weston compared to VirusTotal’s frequent updates with new analysis options. “I can keep putting layers of tools in that analysis pipeline. I think this has the opportunity to be a VirusTotal-like product that, rather than looking for malware, is looking for vulnerabilities in an arbitrary object. We’re focused on firmware because that seems like the right application, but it could be VM snapshots or many, many other things.”

There’s good news for fans of the open-source Binwalk tool, too. Microsoft will be investing heavily in that, because it’s already widely used by multiple teams across the company who have feature requests, says Weston: “I think we probably have a few years’ worth of backlog ideas already!”

Order from disorder in the sarcomere

Alpha-actinin can cross-link actin filaments and anchor them to the Z-disk in sarcomeres. Sarcomeres are a structural unit of myofibril in striated muscle. The FATZ (filamin, α-actinin-and telethonin-binding protein of the Z-disk) protein can interact with α-actinin and other core Z-disk proteins that contribute to myofibril assembly and maintenance. In a new report now on Science Advances, Antonio Sponga and an international research team in Austria, Germany, Russia, Poland and the U.K. detailed the first structure and cellular validation of the α-actinin-2 complex with a Z-disk partner, FATZ-1, to form a conformal ensemble. The FATZ-1 formed a tight fuzzy complex with α-actinin-2 with a proposed interaction mechanism via molecular recognition elements and secondary binding sites. The obtained integrative model revealed a polar architecture of the complex in combination with the FATZ-1 multivalent scaffold function to organize interaction partners and stabilize.

Sarcomere

The contracting muscles can regulate voluntary animal movement and involuntary heart beating, and sarcomeres are the basic contractile units of striated muscle cells. They are composed of arrays of thin (actin) and thick (myosin) filaments that slide past each other during contraction. The Z-disk can form the boundary between adjacent sarcomeres, where anti-parallel actin filaments are anchored. A suitably stable anchoring structure must be generated by the interaction between myosin and actin. The Z-disk can fulfill this role by acting as a mechanical hub and a signaling platform to allow the transmission of tension during contraction and the duration and transmission of information of biomechanical stress. As a result, any mutations that disrupt the Z-disk architecture and function could risk causing skeletal and cardiac dysfunction.

Earth tipped over on its side 84 million years ago and then righted itself, new study finds

If you’d been able to stare at Earth from space during the late Cretaceous, when Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops roamed, it would’ve looked like the whole planet had tipped over on its side.

According to a new study, Earth tilted by 12 degrees about 84 million years ago.

“A 12-degree tilt of the Earth could affect latitude that same amount,” Sarah Slotznick, a geobiologist at Dartmouth College and co-author of the new study, told Insider.

Researchers Manipulate Antimatter With Laser for the First Time

For the first time, scientists from the ALPHA collaboration at CERN reported successfully manipulating antimatter with the use of a laser system — potentially changing antimatter research and guide future experiments on the field.

Antimatter basically refers to the opposite of matter. Specifically, antimatter has sub-atomic particles whose properties (such as electric charge) are the opposite of normal matter. Most of the challenges surrounding the detection and observation of antimatter come from the fact that it immediately “annihilates” when it comes into contact with normal matter.

The ALPHA collaboration scientists report their findings in the article “Laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms,” appearing in the latest journal Nature, March 31.

Scientists Prepare for Next Coronavirus Pandemic, Maybe in 2028?

CHICAGO, IL — Scientists are already preparing for a possible next coronavirus pandemic to strike, keeping with the seven-year pattern since 2004.

In future-looking research, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine scientists have identified a novel target for a drug to treat SARS-CoV-2 that also could impact a new emerging coronavirus.

“God forbid we need this, but we will be ready,” said Karla Satchell, professor of microbiology-immunology at Feinberg, who leads an international team of scientists to analyze the important structures of the virus. The Northwestern team previously mapped the structure of a virus protein called nsp16, which is present in all coronaviruses. This new study provides critical information that could aid drug development against future coronaviruses as well as SARS-CoV-2.

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