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Dec 28, 2022

Company recalling blood pressure pills because of potential impurity presence

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Lupin Pharmaceuticals issued a voluntary recall of some blood pressure medication due to the potential presence of a nitrosamine impurity, according to a notice published on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website.

The recall, issued last week, includes one batch of 20-milligram Quinapril Tablets USP — G102929 — and three batches of 40-milligram Quinapril Tablets USP – G100533, G100534 and G203071, the notice said.

Consumers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers can find the lot number on the side of the label affixed to bottles.

Dec 28, 2022

1st batch of SpaceX’s Gen2 Starlink satellites has just been delivered to LEO

Posted by in categories: internet, satellites

SpaceX/YouTube.

“This launch marks the first of Starlink’s upgraded network. Under our new license, we [can now] deploy satellites to new orbits that will add even more capacity to the network,” SpaceX explained in its mission description.

Dec 28, 2022

Brain area necessary for fluid intelligence identified

Posted by in categories: education, life extension, neuroscience

A team led by UCL and UCLH researchers have mapped the parts of the brain that support our ability to solve problems without prior experience—otherwise known as fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is arguably the defining feature of human cognition. It predicts educational and professional success, social mobility, health, and longevity. It also correlates with many such as memory.

Fluid intelligence is thought to be a key feature involved in “active thinking”—a set of complex mental processes such as those involved in abstraction, judgment, attention, strategy generation and inhibition. These skills can all be used in everyday activities—from organizing a dinner party to filling out a tax return.

Dec 28, 2022

SpaceX launches 54 upgraded Starlink internet satellites and nails rocket landing at sea in 60th flight of the year

Posted by in categories: internet, satellites

SpaceX launched the first batch of a new generation of Starlink satellites into orbit early Wednesday (Dec. 28) and nailed a rocket landing at sea to mark a record 60th flight of the year.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 54 upgraded Starlink internet satellites — the first generation 2 (Gen2) versions of the SpaceX fleet — lit up the predawn sky with a smooth launch at 4:34 a.m. EST (0934 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Dec 28, 2022

Military device with biometric database of 2K people sold on eBay for $68

Posted by in categories: government, military, privacy, terrorism

When a German security researcher, Matthias Marx, found a United States military device for sale on eBay—an instrument previously used to identify wanted individuals and known terrorists during the War in Afghanistan—Marx gambled a little and placed a low bid of $68.

He probably didn’t expect to win, since he offered less than half the seller’s asking price, $149.95. But win he did, and after that, he had an even bigger surprise coming, The New York Times reported. When the device arrived with a memory card still inside, Marx was shocked to realize he had unwittingly purchased the names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints, and iris scans of 2,632 people whose biometric data had allegedly been scanned by US military.

The device allegedly stored not just personal identifiable information (PII) of seemingly suspicious persons, but also of US military members, people in Afghanistan who worked with the government, and ordinary people temporarily detained at military checkpoints. Most of the data came from residents of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dec 28, 2022

Precise FAST observations reveal circular polarization in active repeating fast radio bursts

Posted by in category: space

A research team led by Prof. Li Di from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) has revealed circular polarization in active repeating fast radio bursts based on precise observations of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).

Their findings were published in Science Bulletin.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are the most luminous radio flashes in the universe. The estimated equivalent energy of one FRB event can rival the energy output the sun over a whole day or even a month to a year.

Dec 28, 2022

Newly proposed method harvests untapped sources of fresh water

Posted by in categories: climatology, economics, sustainability

While significant parts of the globe are already facing significant freshwater scarcity, the need for more freshwater is projected to increase in order to sustain the increasing global population and economic growth and adapt to climate change.

An almost limitless supply of fresh water exists in the form of water vapor above Earth’s oceans, yet remains untapped. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have proposed a new infrastructure capable of harvesting oceanic water vapor as a solution to limited supplies of fresh water in various locations around the world.

The study evaluated 14 water-stressed locations across the globe for the feasibility of a hypothetical structure capable of capturing water vapor from above the ocean and condensing it into fresh water – and doing so in a manner that will remain feasible in the face of continued climate change.

Dec 28, 2022

In a first! Scientists use artificial DNA to kill cancer cells: Here’s what you need to know

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

Researchers have found a new way to kill cancer cells by using artificial DNA which could pave the way for a cure for the disease in the future. The existing methods of treating cancer have their limitations, however, scientists believe that RNA and DNA-based drugs could potentially help beat the deadly disease.

The findings published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, last week, show that the researchers at the University of Tokyo have used the chemically synthesised, hairpin-shaped, cancer-killing DNA to target and kill human cervical cancer and breast cancer-derived cells. The DNA pairs were also used against malignant melanoma cells in mice.

The team of researchers at the University of Tokyo, led by Assistant Professor Kunihiko Morihiro and Professor Akimitsu Okamoto from the Graduate School of Engineering, indicated that they were inspired to move away from conventional anti-cancer drug treatments by using artificial DNA.

Dec 28, 2022

The 5 top AI stories I’m waiting for in 2023

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, security

Check out all the on-demand sessions from the Intelligent Security Summit here.

Tomorrow morning, I head south. Straight down I-95, from central New Jersey to northeast Florida, where I will be setting up my laptop in St. Augustine for the next two months. It’s about as far from Silicon Valley as I can be in the continental U.S., but that’s where you’ll find me gearing up for the first artificial intelligence (AI) news of 2023.

These are the 5 biggest AI stories I’m waiting for:

Dec 28, 2022

Successful hypothermia in nonhuman primate paves the way for future application in human torpor during spaceflight

Posted by in category: space travel

Hibernation is a state adopted by certain mammals as an adaptation to adverse winter conditions. Typical features of hibernation include greatly reduced metabolic activity and lowered body temperature.

As warm-blooded animals, primates (except lemurs) do not naturally hibernate or even experience torpor. But can we manipulate the body temperature of primates and make them fall into a hypometabolic state or even artificial hibernation?

A research team led by Dr. Wang Hong and Dr. Dai Ji from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently reported the first reliable hypothermia in caused by activating a group of hypothalamic neurons.