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Jun 28, 2022

Monkeypox found to be evolving at a faster rate than expected

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge in Portugal, working with a colleague at Lusófona University, also in Portugal, has found that the monkeypox virus has been evolving at a faster rate than expected. In their paper published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers describe their genetic study of the virus collected from 15 samples.

Monkeypox is a double-stranded DNA virus from the same genus as smallpox, and it mostly infects people in Africa. Scientist have known of its existence since the 1950s. Despite its name, the virus is more commonly found in rodents than monkeys. Prior research has shown that there are two main varieties of monkeypox: West African and Congo Basin—the former is far less deadly and is the clade that has infected several thousand people outside Africa. Prior research has also shown that viruses like monkeypox typically only mutate once or twice in a given year.

In this new effort, the researchers collected samples from 15 patients and subjected them to to learn more about how quickly the virus is evolving. They found the virus has mutated at a rate six to 12 times as high as was expected. The researchers suggest the sudden accelerated rate of mutation in the virus may be a sign that the virus has developed a new way to infect people—currently, it is believed to move from person to person through close contact with open lesions, through body fluids or by airborne droplets.

Jun 28, 2022

CSC FT1000MD high-powered electric bike review: Hitting 34 MPH on a 1,000W fat tire e-bike

Posted by in category: transportation

😳!!!


Anyone intending to toss the bike up on a car rack or into a truck should note that it isn’t lightweight, tipping the scales at 75 lb (34 kg). You can remove 9 lb (4 kg) of that just by taking the battery off. With a massive motor and large battery, you didn’t expect it to be a featherweight though, did you?

Continue reading “CSC FT1000MD high-powered electric bike review: Hitting 34 MPH on a 1,000W fat tire e-bike” »

Jun 28, 2022

APT Hackers Targeting Industrial Control Systems with ShadowPad Backdoor

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

APT hackers use shadowpad backdoor and MS exchange bug to target building automation systems.

Jun 28, 2022

Is the Militarization of Outer Space Inevitable?

Posted by in categories: military, space travel

Is the militarization of outer space a done deal? USTRANSCOM wants a fleet of militarized Starships.


USTRANSCOM, responsible for US military logistics ponders a fleet of Starships for cargo and personnel suborbital flights.

Jun 28, 2022

CAPSTONE Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast)

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, satellites

Watch the launch from New Zealand of CAPSTONE, a new pathfinder CubeSat that will explore a unique orbit around the Moon!

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, will be the first spacecraft to fly a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, where the pull of gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow for a nearly-stable orbit. CAPSTONE’s test of this orbit will lead the way for our future Artemis lunar outpost called Gateway.

Continue reading “CAPSTONE Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast)” »

Jun 28, 2022

Your liver is always less than three years old or younger

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Researchers have discovered that the human liver never ages beyond just three years old, no matter how old an individual is.


The liver is an amazing organ. Not only is it capable of regenerating itself to repair damage from toxins, like alcohol, but the liver apparently never ages, either.

According to new research, the liver is almost always just under three years old. The concept of liver age has been a medical conundrum for decades. Studying animal livers has yet to offer any kind of answer, so scientists with TU Dresden looked at human livers to try to discern more about our body’s filter.

Continue reading “Your liver is always less than three years old or younger” »

Jun 28, 2022

Messenger chatbots now used to steal Facebook accounts

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

A new phishing attack is using Facebook Messenger chatbots to impersonate the company’s support team and steal credentials used to manage Facebook pages.

Chatbots are programs that impersonate live support people and are commonly used to provide answers to simple questions or triage customer support cases before they are handed off to a live employee.

In a new campaign discovered by TrustWave, threat actors use chatbots to steal credentials for managers of Facebook pages, commonly used by companies to provide support or promote their services.

Jun 28, 2022

NASA Astronauts Harvest Delicious Space Vegetables, Sans Soil

Posted by in categories: space, sustainability

Earthly space travelers have been trying to perfect orbital botany for a while now. Stable, sustainable off world agricultural practices are needed to make longer term exploration missions possible, and though the International Space Station (ISS) has seen a few successful low-orbit gardening endeavors, all have used some sort of soil or soil-replacing growth media.

Now, thanks to NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins, that could be starting to change. According to a NASA blog published last week, Watkins has begun to harvest radishes and mizuna greens aboard the ISS — grown without any soil whatsoever.

Growing any edible plants in space is always exciting, but using dirt-like growth materials presents potential resource, mess, and sanitation problems. And that’s why Watkins’ triumphant soilless crop could be a thrilling step towards a new age of interstellar discovery.

Jun 28, 2022

After 19 years, the Mars Express spacecraft will get rid of Windows 98

Posted by in category: space travel

The Eurepean Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft’s software will be upgraded after 19 years, to make extended observations.

Jun 28, 2022

Researchers use GPUs to evaluate human brain connectivity

Posted by in categories: information science, neuroscience, robotics/AI

A new GPU-based machine learning algorithm developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) can help scientists better understand and predict connectivity between different regions of the brain.

The algorithm, called Regularized, Accelerated, Linear Fascicle Evaluation, or ReAl-LiFE, can rapidly analyze the enormous amounts of data generated from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) scans of the human brain. Using ReAL-LiFE, the team was able to evaluate dMRI data over 150 times faster than existing state-of-the-art algorithms.

“Tasks that previously took hours to days can be completed within seconds to minutes,” says Devarajan Sridharan, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neuroscience (CNS), IISc, and corresponding author of the study published in the journal Nature Computational Science.