Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 2014

Scientists are investigating whether an oral drug sprinkled with gold nanoparticles could one day treat neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

The experimental medicine, called CNM-Au8, has now shown success in boosting the brain’s metabolism in phase II clinical trials.

Research on the safety and efficacy of the daily drug is still ongoing, but the initial results have researchers hopeful. The medicine contains suspended nanoparticles of gold that can apparently pass the blood-brain barrier and improve energy supply to neurons, preventing their decline.

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An interesting new attack on biometric security has been outlined by a group of researchers from China and the US. PrintListener: Uncovering the Vulnerability of Fingerprint Authentication via the Finger Friction Sound [PDF] proposes a side-channel attack on the sophisticated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The attack leverages the sound characteristics of a user’s finger swiping on a touchscreen to extract fingerprint pattern features. Following tests, the researchers assert that they can successfully attack “up to 27.9% of partial fingerprints and 9.3% of complete fingerprints within five attempts at the highest security FAR [False Acceptance Rate] setting of 0.01%.” This is claimed to be the first work that leverages swiping sounds to infer fingerprint information.

Biometric fingerprint security is widespread and widely trusted. If things continue as they are, it is thought that the fingerprint authentication market will be worth nearly $100 billion by 2032. However, organizations and people have become increasingly aware that attackers might want to steal their fingerprints, so some have started to be careful about keeping their fingerprints out of sight, and become sensitive to photos showing their hand details.

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With less than three weeks until the R2 is finally unveiled, Rivian (RIVN) confirmed it will bring the more affordable electric SUV to Europe.

After opening the R2 website last week, Rivian gave us our first look at the new EV during a teaser video.

The shadowy image shows a smaller-looking version of the R1S, aligning with what we’ve seen in the past. A patent filed by Rivian last month showed a more compact electric SUV with slightly smaller headlights and a rear quarter panel.

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UCLA spinout Equatic has developed a carbon removal technology it believes can help the world meet its climate change goals — by converting CO2 in the ocean into seashell dust.

The challenge: To prevent the worst predicted effects of climate change, experts say we need to not only slash our carbon emissions, but also remove and permanently store some of the CO2 that’s already been released.

The ocean does this naturally: it already absorbs about 31% of human-made carbon emissions, but there’s a limit to the amount of CO2 that seawater can absorb before it starts to release the carbon back into the atmosphere. Absorbing CO2 from the air also causes ocean acidification, resulting in further environmental damage.

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