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Aug 20, 2024

August Windows updates break dual boot on some Linux systems

Posted by in categories: computing, security

According to user reports following this month’s Patch Tuesday, the August 2024 Windows updates are breaking dual boot on Linux systems with Secure Boot enabled.

This issue is caused by Microsoft’s decision to apply a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) update to block Linux boot loaders unpatched against the CVE-2022–2601 GRUB2 Secure Boot bypass vulnerability, which could “have an impact on Windows security.”

“The vulnerability assigned to this CVE is in the Linux GRUB2 boot loader, a boot loader designed to support Secure Boot on systems that are running Linux,” Microsoft says in an advisory published last week to address this issue.

Aug 20, 2024

Ransomware rakes in record-breaking $450 million in first half of 2024

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, law enforcement

Ransomware victims have paid $459,800,000 to cybercriminals in the first half of 2024, setting the stage for a new record this year if ransom payments continue at this level.

Last year, ransomware payments reached a record $1.1 billion, which Chainalysis previously predicted from stats gathered in the first half of the year when ransomware activity grossed $449,100,000.

We now stand at approximately 2% higher than 2023’s record-breaking trajectory from the same period despite significant law enforcement operations that disrupted large ransomware-as-a-service operations, such as LockBit.

Aug 20, 2024

A Jamming Framework for Soft Granular Materials

Posted by in category: materials

Experiments on soft granular materials have allowed researchers to derive a rheological description for these materials by extending an established framework valid for hard granular materials.

Aug 20, 2024

Causal effect of video gaming on mental well-being in Japan 2020–2022 Human Behaviour

Posted by in categories: entertainment, neuroscience

This study uses a natural experiment with game console lotteries to identify the causal effect of video gaming on mental well-being in Japan (2020–2022). Results show that video gaming reduced psychological distress and improved life satisfaction.

Aug 20, 2024

Physicists successfully observe Kibble–Zurek scaling in an atomic Fermi superfluid

Posted by in category: physics

The Kibble–Zurek (KZ) mechanism is a theoretical framework introduced by physicists Tom Kibble and Wojciech Zurek. This framework essentially describes the formation of topological defects while systems undergo non-equilibrium phase transitions.

Aug 20, 2024

Artificial Intelligence Predicts Earthquakes With Unprecedented Accuracy

Posted by in categories: innovation, robotics/AI

Researchers at the University of Texas have developed an AI that predicted 70% of earthquakes during a trial in China, indicating potential for future quake risk mitigation.

The AI, trained on seismic data, also ranked first in an international competition, underscoring its effectiveness and opening doors for further enhancements in regions like California and Texas.

AI Earthquake Prediction Breakthrough

Aug 20, 2024

Quantum Leap in Superconductivity As Electrons Pair at Higher Temperatures

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Superconductors, known for enabling lossless electrical conductivity and even magnetic levitation, typically function only at extremely low temperatures. Recent research has identified electron pairing, a core superconductor behavior, in materials at higher-than-expected temperatures, such as an antiferromagnetic insulator.

This discovery by SLAC and Stanford researchers could lead to new ways to develop superconductors that operate closer to room temperature, potentially revolutionizing technology in many fields including quantum computing and transportation.

Exploring the Enigma of Superconductors.

Aug 20, 2024

Research AI model unexpectedly modified its own code to extend runtime

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Facing time constraints, Sakana’s “AI Scientist” attempted to change limits placed by researchers.

Aug 20, 2024

Human Consciousness Is an Illusion, Scientists Say

Posted by in category: neuroscience

The entire universe may have an internal mind—or the whole idea of consciousness could be a sham. Here’s why scientists still can’t agree.

Aug 20, 2024

The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, science

The progress of science in the last 400 years is mind-blowing. Who would have thought we’d be able to trace the history of our universe to its origins 14 billion years ago? Science has increased the length and the quality of our lives, and the technology that is commonplace in the modern world would have seemed like magic to our ancestors.

For all of these reasons and more, science is rightly celebrated and revered. However, a healthy pro-science attitude is not the same thing as “scientism”, which is the view that the scientific method is the only way to establish truth. As the problem of consciousness is revealing, there may be a limit to what we can learn through science alone.

Perhaps the most worked out form of scientism was the early 20th century movement knows as logical positivism. The logical positivists signed up to the “verification principle”, according to which a sentence whose truth can’t be tested through observation and experiments was either logically trivial or meaningless gibberish. With this weapon, they hoped to dismiss all metaphysical questions as not merely false but nonsense.

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