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Jul 20, 2021

China accused of cyber-attack on Microsoft — BBC News

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The UK, US and EU have accused China of carrying out a major cyber-attack earlier this year on Microsoft Exchange email servers.

The attack affected at least 30000 organisations globally.

Continue reading “China accused of cyber-attack on Microsoft — BBC News” »

Jul 20, 2021

Engineers develop practical way to make artificial skin

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, cyborgs, wearables

Chemical engineer Zhenan Bao and her team of researchers at Stanford have spent nearly two decades trying to develop skin-like integrated circuits that can be stretched, folded, bent and twisted — working all the while — and then snap back without fail, every time. Such circuits presage a day of wearable and implantable products, but one hurdle has always stood in the way.

Namely, “How does one produce a completely new technology in quantities great enough to make commercialization possible?” Bao said. Bao and team think they have a solution. In a new study, the group describes how they have printed stretchable-yet-durable integrated circuits on rubbery, skin-like materials, using the same equipment designed to make solid silicon chips — an accomplishment that could ease the transition to commercialization by switching foundries that today make rigid circuits to producing stretchable ones.


Stanford researchers show how to print dense transistor arrays on skin-like materials to create stretchable circuits that flex with the body to perform applications yet to be imagined.

Continue reading “Engineers develop practical way to make artificial skin” »

Jul 20, 2021

Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos launch on New Shepard: Live updates

Posted by in category: space travel

Liftoff is set for 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) on July 20, 2021.


Read live updates of Blue Origin’s First Human Flight that will launch Jeff Bezos and three others on July 20, 2021.

Jul 20, 2021

Transforming Brain Waves into Words with AI

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

New research out of the University of California, San Francisco has given a paralyzed man the ability to communicate by translating his brain signals into computer generated writing. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, marks a significant milestone toward restoring communication for people who have lost the ability to speak.

“To our knowledge, this is the first successful demonstration of direct decoding of full words from the brain activity of someone who is paralyzed and cannot speak,” senior author and the Joan and Sanford Weill Chair of Neurological Surgery at UCSF, Edward Chang said in a press release. “It shows strong promise to restore communication by tapping into the brain’s natural speech machinery.”

Some with speech limitations use assistive devices–such as touchscreens, keyboards, or speech-generating computers to communicate. However, every year thousands lose their speech ability from paralysis or brain damage, leaving them unable to use assistive technologies.

Jul 20, 2021

Chip Manufacturer GlobalFoundries Sets Significant Plant Expansion in U.S.

Posted by in category: computing

Investments will boost U.S. chip manufacturing amid a crippling global shortage of semiconductors that has damaged sales of consumer goods.

Jul 20, 2021

Crypto Miners Are Buying Up Entire Power Plants

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, energy

Bitcoin miners are setting up shop to take advantage of existing, unused energy infrastructure.

Jul 19, 2021

Feher Helmets 2018 ACH 1 Overview

Posted by in category: space

Thermoelectric cooling helmets for motorcycles can finally lead to spacesuits becoming electrically cooled.


530361 views • Aug 4, 2018 • The Feher ACH-1 is the world’s first and only self-contained air-conditioned motorcycle helmet. By utilizing thermoelectric technology, the patented full-face ACH-1 evenly distributes filtered, cooled air freely throughout the entire interior of the helmet. Integrating Feher’s patented Tubular Space Fabric with the helmets comfort liner allows the helmet to provide consistent, optimal temperature.

Jul 19, 2021

New Leak Reveals Abuse of Pegasus Spyware to Target Journalists Globally

Posted by in category: futurism

A new leak reveals how governments used Pegasus spy software to silence journalists, attack activists, and suppress dissent.

Jul 19, 2021

Researchers use high-speed cameras to reveal bubbles popping like blooming flowers

Posted by in categories: chemistry, physics

The oil industry, pharmaceutical companies and bioreactor manufacturers all face one common enemy: bubbles. Bubbles can form during the manufacturing or transport of various liquids, and their formation and rupture can cause significant issues in product quality.

Inspired by these issues and the puzzling physics behind , an international scientific collaboration was born. Stanford University chemical engineer Gerald Fuller along with his Ph.D. students Aadithya Kannan and Vinny Chandran Suja, as well as visiting Ph.D. student Daniele Tammaro from the University of Naples, teamed up to study how different kinds of bubbles pop.

The researchers were particularly interested in bubbles with proteins embedded on their surfaces, which is a common occurrence in the pharmaceutical industry and in bioreactors used for cell culture. In an unanticipated result, the researchers discovered that the protein bubbles they were studying opened up like flowers when popped with a needle. Their findings are detailed in a study published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on July 19.

Jul 19, 2021

Cheap, sustainable, readily available plasma tech could replace rare iridium

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, mobile phones, sustainability, transportation

A team led by a researcher from the University of Sydney has developed a low-cost, sustainable, and readily available technology that can dim the screens of electronic devices, anti-reflection automobile mirrors, and smart architectural windows at a fraction of the cost of current technology.

It would replace one of the world’s scarcest—yet highly ubiquitous in use—modern materials: indium. A rare chemical element, that it is widely used in devices such as smartphones and computers, windscreen glass and self-dimming windows.

Although small amounts are used to manufacture smart screens, indium is expensive as it is hard to source; it naturally occurs only in small deposits. Industrial indium is often made as a byproduct of zinc mining, which means a shortage could occur if demand for optoelectronic devices—such as LCDs and touch panels—ramps up.