Select Page ::

Tesla With Autopilot Engaged Rear-Ends Parked Police Car

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

A Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot engaged crashed into the back of a police cruiser parked on Connecticut's Interstate 95 to help a disabled vehicle.

Blind Spot

Early Saturday morning, a Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot engaged slammed into the back of a parked police cruiser. The driver told police he didn’t see the cruiser because he was checking on his dog in the backseat.

Thankfully, no one was hurt — but the incident is just the latest example of why Tesla owners need to stop relying on Autopilot to drive their cars.

No Excuse

The cruiser was parked on Connecticut’s Interstate 95 to help a stalled vehicle, NBC Connecticut reported on Saturday.

The troopers on the scene had placed flares on the road behind the vehicles, and the cruiser’s emergency lights were flashing. But that didn’t stop the Tesla from rear-ending the police car and then hitting the disabled vehicle before coming to a stop several hundred feet up the road.

Eyes on the Road

The driver of the Tesla received a misdemeanor summons for reckless driving and reckless endangerment. And based on a photo of his vehicle after the crash, he’s also in for some major repair costs.

Still, the situation could have been far worse. And as Connecticut State Police noted in a statement following the incident, having Autopilot engaged is no excuse to take your eyes off the road.

“Regardless of your vehicles capabilities,” it wrote, “when operating a vehicle your full attention is required at all times to ensure safe driving.”

More on Autopilot: A Tesla Driver Was Eating, Drinking During Autopilot Crash

The post Tesla With Autopilot Engaged Rear-Ends Parked Police Car appeared first on Futurism.

The rest is here:
Tesla With Autopilot Engaged Rear-Ends Parked Police Car

Iran’s President Wants to Build a State-Controlled Internet

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Iran is the latest country to propose its own state-run internet, a tool that would effectively end online freedom and crush protests.

State-Sanctioned

Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, announced plans to replace the country’s internet with a state-run intranet, granting the government increased control over online activity.

The announcement comes shortly after the Iranian government quelled mass protests by cutting off internet access across the country, CNET reports. With its own state-controlled network, Iran would be able to nip future protests in the bud by rapidly identifying dissidents and cutting them off from one another — a disturbing blow against online freedom and privacy.

Limited Access

Rouhani framed the announcement as a matter of national autonomy, according to CNET. He told Parliament that “people will not need foreign [networks] to meet their needs,” and that the decision came straight down from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his superior within the federal government.

But barring some sort of workaround, Iranians will only be able to see whatever information the state approves. That means increased censorship and a tighter concentration of political power among Iran’s leaders.

Growing Trend

Earlier this year, Russia also took steps to cut itself off from the global internet and build its own alternative, citing national security concerns. And China’s “Great Firewall” is an infamous example of a nation-state filtering out forbidden websites.

It’s an unfortunate trend: as more countries isolate their people from the rest of the world, monitoring abuses of power, freely exchanging ideas, and connecting across borders will become increasingly difficult.

READ MORE: Iran’s internet freedom is on life support [CNET]

More on internet shutdowns: Governments Are Shutting off the Internet to Squash Dissent

The post Iran’s President Wants to Build a State-Controlled Internet appeared first on Futurism.

View original post here:
Iran’s President Wants to Build a State-Controlled Internet

Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Waymo is now offering cusomters the chance to take rides in its self-driving taxis but without a human safety driver behind the wheel

No Hands!

Waymo, the Google-affiliated self-driving car company, has finally started to operate its self-driving taxi service without any humans sitting behind the wheel.

That means passengers using the company’s Uber-like Waymo One service might find themselves shuttled around Arizona in the back seat of an otherwise-empty minivan, as one reporter for The Verge did. Removing the drivers is a major milestone in the race for fully-autonomous transport — the vehicles are still supervised remotely, but Waymo is now confident enough in its cars to almost entirely take humans out of the loop.

Take The Wheel

Now, instead of putting a living person behind the wheel of its vehicles who could take over as needed, Waymo is trusting its software to drive safely all on its own. Though employees can guide confused vehicles through tricky scenarios remotely, the cars can apparently handle nearly everything.

Aside from a wrong turn, The Verge reports that the drive went surprisingly smoothly. Reporter Andrew Hawkins called the trip mundane — a compliment — and declared that “driverless cars are here. There’s no going back now.”

Sobering Up

Waymo told The Verge that the process of developing self-driving cars was more complicated and took much longer than expected — a way of acknowledging all of the unfulfilled promises and hyped-up announcements that Waymo and other companies kept making along the way.

“The world is a very complicated place,” Waymo software engineer Nathaniel Fairfield told The Verge. “This is a much bigger problem than we sort of imagined it 10 years ago when we got started.”

More on transport: Exclusive: A Waymo One Rider’s Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare’s Shortcomings

The post Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis appeared first on Futurism.

Link:
Waymo Is Taking the Safety Drivers out of Its Autonomous Taxis

NYC Is Planning Giant High-Rise Prisons

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

New York City plans to replace its infamous Riker's Island prison with four high-rise prisons spread throughout the NYC boroughs.

Room With A View

New York City may finally close down Riker’s Island, a prison infamous for violence and crowding.

And to replace it, the city has suggested constructing four high-rise buildings — one in each city borough other than Staten Island — to house inmates moving forward, according to The Guardian. And while immediate backlash has already reduced the scope of the project, the proposal is forcing the city to reckon with how it handles incarceration.

Updated Skyline

Opposition to the new prisons comes from a mix of perspectives, The Guardian reports. Some comes from NYC residents who don’t want new prisons in their neighborhoods, especially since the original plan was to build 45-story eyesores. Other opponents are prison reform advocates who want the city to close Riker’s without building replacements at all.

Others argue the skyscrapers would violate the rights of the aging prison population, arguing that tall, narrow buildings will pose a serious mobility issue for the incarcerated.

Population Bomb

But even so, the city government expects the transition to the new prisons — planned for 2026 — to coincide with a steep drop in the number of inmates.

“This is a decarceration plan,” Elizabeth Glazer, director of the mayor’s office of criminal justice, told The Guardian. “There’s been a real change in how we think about the purpose of punishment, how we treat people, how to develop a relationship between officers and incarcerated.”

READ MORE: New York’s high-rise jails: what could go wrong? [The Guardian]

More on prisons: U.S. Prisons Are Covertly Gathering Inmates’ Biometric Voice Data

The post NYC Is Planning Giant High-Rise Prisons appeared first on Futurism.

After Bone Marrow Transplant, Man’s Semen Contains Only Donor’s DNA

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Following a bone marrow transplant, a man's semen now contains only his donor's DNA — a strange case that could affect the future of forensic science.

Chris Long is an IT worker in the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department in Reno, Nevada. But all the DNA in his semen belongs to a German man he’s never met.

That’s because Long received a bone marrow transplant from the European stranger four years ago — and the unexpected impact it has had on his biology could affect the future of forensic science.

According to a newly published New York Times story, the purpose of the transplant was to treat Long’s acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer that prevents the body from producing blood normally.

Following the procedure, the healthy blood-forming cells from the donor replaced Long’s unhealthy cells, allowing his body to resume normal blood production. It makes sense, then, for Long’s blood to contain the DNA of his donor.

But Long’s colleague, Renee Romero, who ran the office’s forensics lab, posited that the bone marrow transplant might affect the DNA elsewhere in his body, so she encouraged him to have samples of his DNA collected before the procedure so the team could compare them to after samples.

Long agreed, and since his procedure, the team at the sheriff’s office has collected numerous additional samples of his DNA from various parts of his body.

Sometimes, they find both Long’s DNA and his donor’s in the samples, such as when they test swabs from his lip, cheek, and tongue. Samples of his chest and head hair, meanwhile, show only Long’s DNA.

But perhaps most surprisingly, four years after the procedure, samples of Long’s semen show only his donor’s DNA.

“I thought that it was pretty incredible that I can disappear and someone else can appear,” Long told the NYT.

The mechanism behind the shift is mysterious. Three bone marrow transplant experts consulted by the NYT all agreed that it would be impossible for the procedure to result in a recipient producing sperm containing their donor’s DNA.

Mehrdad Abedi, the doctor who treated Long at the University of California, Davis, meanwhile, told the newspaper that his patient’s surprising semen is likely due to the fact that Long had a vasectomy after his second child was born.

Still, Long’s situation raises all sorts of new questions about the use of DNA as evidence in court cases.

Forensic scientists already have to grapple with the issue of DNA from innocent people occasionally showing up at crime scenes due to bone marrow transplants. But at least in those cases, they have the “right” DNA to trace, too.

If someone in Long’s situation committed a sex crime and investigators collected semen samples, though, could their blood marrow donor be charged with the crime given the lack of any other DNA at the scene?

That’s one terrifying possibility that scientists must now consider — and all because Long’s colleagues decided to use him as their personal guinea pig.

The post After Bone Marrow Transplant, Man’s Semen Contains Only Donor’s DNA appeared first on Futurism.

Original post:
After Bone Marrow Transplant, Man’s Semen Contains Only Donor’s DNA

Bioethicists: GoFundMe Is Profiting off Medical Scams

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

A team of bioethicists argue that it's high time GoFundMe better regulate its platform to keep out medical scammers and unregulated treatments.

On GoFundMe, it’s not hard to find people raising money for unproven, illegal, or otherwise questionable medical treatments — and bioethicists want the company to finally do something about it.

In recent years, according to The Verge, GoFundMe campaigns have raised millions of dollars for unregulated stem cell treatments, unproven cancer cures, and medical scams. On Sunday, bioethics researchers from Simon Fraser University published a paper in the journal The Hastings Center Report that calls on the company to act as a gatekeeper, preventing medical misinformation from taking hold.

“They know this is happening. It can’t happen without their involvement,” paper co-author Jeremy Snyder told The Verge. “I think they should be ashamed of themselves for taking part in it.”

In response, GoFundMe told The Verge that it’s “reaching out to experts and medical regulatory authorities” to beef up its position on stem cell treatments, but that it’s otherwise up to the individual donor to decide whether or not they should contribute to a given campaign.

Credit where it’s due: GoFundMe has already banned antivaxxer campaigns and treatments from a dubious cancer clinic.

But LGBTQ conversion therapy, an abusive practice that really shouldn’t have the word “therapy” in its name, as well as untested neurological procedures, remain on the platform.

“I just don’t see that GoFundMe can continue to stick their head in the sand and pretend this isn’t a problem on this platform,” Snyder told The Verge.

The post Bioethicists: GoFundMe Is Profiting off Medical Scams appeared first on Futurism.

See the original post:
Bioethicists: GoFundMe Is Profiting off Medical Scams

Sword-Covered “Ninja Bomb” Reportedly Used to Crush Terrorist

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

United States forces reportedly killed a terrorist using an R9X missile — a

Ninja Bomb

On Tuesday, jihadist leader Abu Ahmad al-Muhajir was traveling by car in Atmeh, Syria, when he was killed by a missile strike.

Based on the aftermath of the attack, experts have told The Telegraph they suspect the United States military carried it out using an R9X missile — a weapon, evocatively nicknamed the “ninja bomb,” that crushes its target like an anvil while slicing them up with blades.

Secret Weapon

The existence of the R9X first came to light in May via a Wall Street Journal report.

Sources told the newspaper that the CIA and the Pentagon had modified an air-to-ground weapon known as a Hellfire missile to kill targets without the use of any explosives, which could cause collateral damage.

The weapon manages that feat by hurtling toward the ground at a speed nearing 1,609 kilometers per hour (1,000 miles per hour) and extending a series of six blades from itself moments before impact.

NEW – @WSJ confirms the @CIA & @DeptofDefense have a new "secret" missile – the R9X, or "flying Ginsu" – which kills a selected target with 6 blades, but no explosive payload.
— "To the targeted person, it's as if a speeding anvil fell from the sky."https://t.co/DIQfnfJYDq pic.twitter.com/iM87WUFLhg
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) May 9, 2019

Clear Clues

The U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in the area told The Telegraph it did not carry out the mission that killed al-Muhajir. However, according to Bellingcat investigator Nick Waters, it has all the signs of an R9X strike.

“This strike is very distinctive,” he told The Telegraph, “and although the coalition have denied carrying it out, it is possible that other U.S. agencies not under the control of the coalition, such as the CIA, may have carried out this strike unilaterally.”

More on the bomb: CIA’s Bizarre “Ninja Bomb” Crushes Enemies Like a “Speeding Anvil”

The post Sword-Covered “Ninja Bomb” Reportedly Used to Crush Terrorist appeared first on Futurism.

The rest is here:
Sword-Covered “Ninja Bomb” Reportedly Used to Crush Terrorist

After Years of Delays, NASA Unveils Its Most Powerful Rocket

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

After many years of delay, NASA has finally shown off its Space Launch System (SLS) that aims to ferry American astronauts to the Moon as soon as 2024.

After many years of delay, NASA has finally shown off its Space Launch System (SLS), which it plans to use to ferry American astronauts to the Moon as soon as 2024.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the public over the weekend that the rocket is “the most powerful rocket ever built,” Engadget reports.

Bridenstine also uploaded a video to Twitter yesterday of NASA running a test version of the SLS’s gigantic liquid hydrogen fuel tank through its paces last week, intentionally breaking it in the process. It was capable of withstanding “more than 260% of expected flight loads over five hours before engineers detected a buckling point,” according to a NASA statement.

The tank is part of the SLS core stage and will play a critical role in NASA’s Artemis cargo and astronaut missions to the Moon. NASA claims it’s the only rocket that can pack Orion, NASA’s deep space spacecraft, astronauts and supplies to the lunar surface in one go.

The SLS project has faced many years of delays and has reportedly gone way over budget, costing an estimated $17 billion to develop. NASA had also originally planned its first test flight to happen this year.

It’s truly humongous, making up most of the height of NASA’s 215-foot-tall test stand. In fact, the test is the “largest-ever controlled test-to-failure of a NASA rocket stage pressurized tank,” according to the lead test engineer for the tank Mike Nichols.

“We will be flying the Space Launch System for decades to come, and breaking the propellant tank today will help us safely and efficiently evolve the SLS rocket as our desired missions evolve,” Neil Otte, chief engineer of the SLS Stages Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said in the statement.

READ MORE: NASA unveils ‘the most powerful rocket ever built’ [Engadget]

More on SLS: Here’s How Boeing is Planning to Get Astronauts to the Moon

The post After Years of Delays, NASA Unveils Its Most Powerful Rocket appeared first on Futurism.

See the original post:
After Years of Delays, NASA Unveils Its Most Powerful Rocket

The ESA Is Sending a Robotic Junk Collector Into Space

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Space Junk

Earth’s orbit has become a graveyard of past space missions. Thousands of defunct satellites and bits of old rockets are careening through the skies at speeds averaging 20,000 kilometers per hour (12,500 miles per hour) — junk that’s a constant threat to new missions.

Now, to address the issue, the European Space Agency has officially approved the approximately $133 million needed to fund ClearSpace-1 — the world’s first mission dedicated to cleaning up space debris.

Self-Destruct

The ESA’s plan is for a team led by Swiss startup Clearspace to launch a robotic probe into space in 2025. The probe will use its four arms to grab Vespa, a single 100-kilogram (220-pound) piece of space junk left behind by the ESA’s Vega launcher.

Once it grabs hold of Vespa, the probe will drag it toward Earth, causing both the probe and the debris to burn up in the atmosphere.

It’s a Start

Getting rid of one piece of space junk won’t do much to address the core threat. And a $133 million system that essentially self-destructs each time it collects of piece of debris wouldn’t be cost effective.

Still, the ESA hopes the mission will demonstrate the technologies needed to start cleaning up space — and lead to the future creation of a garbage collector that can send debris hurtling toward Earth’s atmosphere without sacrificing itself in the process.

READ MORE: European Space Agency to launch space debris collector in 2025 [The Guardian]

More on space debris: Canada Wants Your Help Cleaning up Space Junk

The post The ESA Is Sending a Robotic Junk Collector Into Space appeared first on Futurism.

Go here to read the rest:
The ESA Is Sending a Robotic Junk Collector Into Space

Elizabeth Warren Announces Ocean-Protecting “Blue New Deal”

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Elizabeth Warren just announced a package of environmental protection policies focused on the ocean that she's calling the Blue New Deal.

Broader Focus

Elizabeth Warren just unveiled the Blue New Deal — a major package of environmental protections that focus on the ocean, offshore drilling, and coastal health.

The plan is the first major environmental package focusing specifically on the ocean offered by a presidential candidate, Earther reports, and extends some of the same policy solutions in the Green New Deal specifically to oceanic health.

Quick Turnaround

The Blue New Deal began when Warren was asked for her stance on ocean protections during a CNN town hall in September, according to Warren’s announcement.

Like the Green New Deal, the policy package includes sweeping environmental protections but also plans to protect and provide job training to oil industry workers who lose their jobs as the nation weans itself off fossil fuels.

Reality Bites

The proposal also includes contingency plans for how to deal with the worsening effects of climate change, like banning public housing from being built near the coastline where it might flood in the future.

“I will ensure that we do not build any new public housing within 1.5 meters of sea level,” Warren wrote in the announcement, “because it is the responsibility of the federal government to protect our most vulnerable families, not intentionally put them in harm’s way.”

READ MORE: Elizabeth Warren Proposes a Green New Deal for the Ocean [Earther]

More on environmental protections: Senators Opposing Green New Deal Are Drowning in Fossil Fuel Cash

The post Elizabeth Warren Announces Ocean-Protecting “Blue New Deal” appeared first on Futurism.

Go here to see the original:
Elizabeth Warren Announces Ocean-Protecting “Blue New Deal”

The U.S. Military Is Reportedly Testing Underwater Bullets

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

The U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is reportedly testing bullets that can be shot underwater.

Underwater Bullets

The U.S. Special Operations Command is reportedly testing bullets that can be shot underwater, according to Defense One. Regular bullets slow down significantly underwater, posing little threat, because water is eight times denser than air.

The goal is to allow frogmen, naval soldiers that are trained in underwater environments, to attack boats from under the surface, or for personnel stationed on helicopters to hit submarines.

Tungsten Tip

According to Business Insider, the bullets are being tested by the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.

Military contractor DSG Technologies created a bullet that has its tip coated in tungsten, allowing it to create a small air bubble in front of it — a process called “supercavitation.” The bubble reduces drag in the same way that similar air bubbles reduce drag of torpedoes, as Defense One reports. BI was also not able to confirm if DSG is working with the CTTSO or SOCOM.

CavX

DSG Technologies showed off its CavX Multi Environment Ammunition at a shooting range outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina by firing a Colt AR-15 through 13 blocks of 1.3 feet thick blocks of ballistic gelatin.

A .50 caliber CavX round can travel 60 meters underwater, according to Defense One.

More on bullets: Wanted’s Course-Changing Bullet is Now A Reality

The post The U.S. Military Is Reportedly Testing Underwater Bullets appeared first on Futurism.

Go here to see the original:
The U.S. Military Is Reportedly Testing Underwater Bullets

This Plastic Bunny Has DNA Explaining How to Make More Bunnies

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Scientists encoded instructions for creating a 3D-printed plastic bunny in DNA and then embedded the DNA right in the bunny itself.

Humanity is creating digital data at a breakneck pace — by 2020, experts predict that we’ll produce an average of 1.7 megabytes of data for each person on Earth every second.

And a tiny plastic bunny could be the key to storing all of it.

Today, most data is stored in 1s and 0s, usually on magnetic- or optical-based systems such as hard drives or DVDs. That’s far from ideal, given that the systems have a max lifespan of about a century and the amount of data each device can store is tiny compared to the massive amount humanity produces.

Enter: DNA data storage.

Past research has shown that it’s possible to translate the 1s and 0s of binary code into the As, Ts, Cs, and Gs of DNA and then create artificial DNA molecules containing that code. A single gram of this DNA can store a billion terabytes of data and preserve it for potentially thousands of years.

Now, a team of European scientists has found a way to store that DNA in essentially any object — a capability it demonstrated by encoding instructions for creating a 3D-printed plastic bunny right in the bunny itself.

For their study, which was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on Monday, the researchers first encoded the printing instructions for the bunny in DNA. They then encased that DNA in glass nanobeads and added the beads to the plastic used to 3D print the bunny.

“Just like real rabbits, our rabbit also carries its own blueprint,” researcher Robert Grass said in a press release.

The scientists demonstrated the technology in meta fashion.

After printing the first bunny, they lopped off a bit of its ear and extracted the DNA-containing beads. They then used a DNA sequencer to decode the instructions so they could create another bunny complete with the DNA-containing nanobeads — and then another, and another until they had five generations of identical bunnies

“With this method, we can integrate 3D-?printing instructions into an object,” Grass said, “so that after decades or even centuries, it will be possible to obtain those instructions directly from the object itself.”

Eventually, they believe their “DNA of Things” storage form could be used to embed data into countless physical objects — preserving it for far longer than today’s hard drives and discs.

READ MORE: 3D-printed bunny contains DNA instructions to make a copy of itself [New Scientist]

More on DNA data storage: Scientists Just Stored the Hottest Album From 1998 in Literal DNA

The post This Plastic Bunny Has DNA Explaining How to Make More Bunnies appeared first on Futurism.

Link:
This Plastic Bunny Has DNA Explaining How to Make More Bunnies

Scientists Are Planning a 1,000 Year Trip to Another Planet

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

A team of scientists wants to colonize and populate another world to protect humanity from Earth's eventualy demise or destruction.

Long Shot

In a bid to protect humanity in case Earth becomes uninhabitable, a team of scientists is trying to pull together a bold plan to colonize a distant exoplanet.

It’s a long shot in every sense of the word. Scientists from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies told OneZero that the plan to send a crew to a potentially-habitable exoplanet in another solar system — perhaps Proxima Centauri B — could take centuries or millennia. That means entire generations would be born and die during the journey.

Technically Possible

The challenges facing such a mission are so myriad, however, that the scientists’ comments sound a bit flip.

“There’s no principal obstacle from a physics perspective,” executive director Andreas Hein told OneZero. “There are a lot of challenges, but no fundamental principle of physics is violated.”

Long List

Among those challenges is figuring out how to sustain human life on such a long journey through space. Based on current research, even a trip to Mars is ill-advised because scientists haven’t yet figured out an effective way to shield astronauts from deadly cosmic radiation, and the medical issues caused by spending time in space are still poorly understood.

And that’s assuming that an exoplanet will actually be hospitable once people get there, speaking nothing of whether any of those space-born generations will change their mind about the mission they were assigned at birth.

More on space colonization: Reality Check: IT Would Take Thousands of Years to Colonize Mars

The post Scientists Are Planning a 1,000 Year Trip to Another Planet appeared first on Futurism.

Read this article:
Scientists Are Planning a 1,000 Year Trip to Another Planet

Study: Many Extreme Weather Events Were Caused by Climate Change

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

A new study reveals that extreme weather events have been linked, almost without fail, to the worsening effects of climate change.

See Clearly Now

Every year, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society releases a report about all the studies published within its pages that attempted to determine the cause of extreme weather events that year.

Ever since the first annual report was published in 2011, an increasing trend has emerged: more and more fires, disastrous storms, and other events have been identified as symptoms of worsening climate change around the world, according to E&E News. It’s a troubling pattern that drives home unfortunate realities: climate change means more than rising temperatures, and we can expect more meteorological devastation in the future.

Growing Trend

The latest report analyzed studies that were published over the course of 2018. Of those, an overwhelming majority causally linked the weather in question to climate change.

Only one paper didn’t, according to E&E News, but that may have been due to a limited data set — not because climate change wasn’t to blame.

Clear Link

Some of the studies found that the extreme weather events that they were analyzing were only possible in a world with a changing climate. For instance, a 2017 heat wave near Australia couldn’t have possibly happened unless climate change was real and driving the wave itself.

And as our worsening climate creates entirely new weather problems, we may be stuck an ever-rising amount of new storms.

READ MORE: Climate change is influencing more disasters — study [E&E News]

More on the environment: Scientists Are 99.9999 Percent Sure Humans Caused Climate Change

The post Study: Many Extreme Weather Events Were Caused by Climate Change appeared first on Futurism.

New AI Can Create a 3D Model of an Object From a Single 2D Image

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

NVIDIA has built an AI that can create a detailed 3D model of an object in less than 100 milliseconds from just a single image of it.

The Deets

NVIDIA has built an artificial intelligence that can create a detailed 3D model of an object — all from just a single image of it.

The system, dubbed the “differentiable interpolation-based renderer” (DIB-R), is the first AI to manage that feat, and also produces its models in less than 100 milliseconds — a capability that NVIDIA says could make the AI ideal for use in autonomous robots.

Bird Brain

According to a NVIDIA blog post, it takes about two days to train DIB-R to produce models of certain type of object.

After training the AI on photos of birds, for example, the researchers could feed it a photo of a bird it hadn’t seen before, and the system could speedily produce a 3D model of the bird predicting its shape, color, and texture.

Robot Vision

NVIDIA opined that autonomous robots could use DIB-R to improve their depth perception, allowing them to navigate their 3D environments more easily.

Conversely, it could also allow humans to one day create and virtually explore 3D models of environments captured in photographs.

“Imagine you can just take a photo and out comes a 3D model, which means that you can now look at that scene that you have taken a picture of [from] all sorts of different viewpoints,” researcher Sanja Fidler told VentureBeat. “You can… take old photographs in your photo collection and turn them into a 3D scene and inspect them like you were there, basically.”

More on NVIDIA: New AI Can Make a Vid of You Dancing Like a Pro From a Single Pic

The post New AI Can Create a 3D Model of an Object From a Single 2D Image appeared first on Futurism.

Forgery to thievery, a brief history of art crime at the UA Museum – Arizona Daily Wildcat

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

Art crime is woven throughout museums, galleries and private collections alike. From forgeries to the theft of its most valuable painting, the University of Arizona Museum of Art has an art crime history all of its own.

The art museums Curator of Exhibitions Olivia Miller gave a community talk called Crimes Against Art about incidents of the museum at the Murphy-Wilmot Library on Dec. 6.

The Forgeries

ccording to Miller, the museums curator discovered in the late 1970s that Wassily Kandinskys painting Ruhe was a forgery. The director happened upon a poster reproduction of Ruhe, which did not look like the original and began to inspect museum files to research its provenance.

It turned out that parts of paintings provenance was fictional. The original was still part of a private collection belonging to Nathan Cummings, making the one hanging in the museum a forgery.

After the Kandinsky painting was found to be a forgery, the curator began tracking all the other pieces sold by the same gallery from which it had been bought. Miller said a sculpture called Dancer Posing by Edgar Degas was also discovered to be a fake after being inspected by experts at Harvard.

The conservators called the sculpture a poor copy of a copy, Miller said. It was not even a good forgery.

After the Kandinsky painting was found to be a forgery, the curator began tracking all the other pieces sold by the same gallery from which it had been bought. Miller said that a sculpture called "Dancer Posing" by Edgar Degas was also discovered to be a fake after being inspected by experts at Harvard.

The conservators called the sculpture a poor copy of a copy, Miller said. It was not even a good forgery.

The two falsified artworks were gifts from Edward Gallagher Jr.

According to the art museums website, Gallagher Jr. donated about 200 world-class modern art pieces to the museum in honor of his son who passed away.

Miller said the Kandinsky and Degas artworks were sold to Gallagher Jr. by a gallery that had supplied him many pieces, the majority of which later turned out to be forgeries.

She mentioned that a preparatory sculpture by Henry Moore is currently not on display, as it is from the same untrustworthy gallery and the authenticity is still unknown.

[These forgery discoveries] were quite unfortunate because the gallery owner and Gallagher had been friends since high school, Miller said.

It was found out that the gallery owner established an elaborate scheme. Apparently, he had forged letters from a non-existent corporation owner and created a shell company, all to deceive Gallagher Jr. and knowingly sell him forged artwork, according to Miller.

I guarantee that there are museums right now that have forgeries on view and just dont know it yet, Miller said. In 2016, half of a museum in France happened to be fake.

Karen Barber is an adult services librarian who has taken part in the organization of the art talks since 2012. Apparently, the first talk they ever hosted was about the Gallagher collection. Now, seven years later, the talk is about how Gallagher was duped.

I had no idea that the [UA] had all those forgeries, Barber said after the talk. I think its fascinating that [the museum is] being so open about the forgeries.

The Stolen Painting

The museums talk was brought up during Millers re-telling of the story about Willem de Koonings Woman-Ochre painting that was stolen over 30 years ago.

According to UA Police Chief Brian Seastone, on the morning of Nov. 29, 1985, a man and a woman entered the museum. Police believe that the woman distracted the security guard while the man went up to the second floor.

The security guard was suspicious after they left and immediately went upstairs to check on the artworks, Miller said. He discovered that the painting had been cut from its frame shortly after they left.

It wasnt until 2009 when Lauren Rabb became the curator of art at the UA art museum that Woman-Ochre came back into the spotlight. According to Rabb, she was always interested in art theft.

Art crime fascinates me because while its usually considered a victimless crime, at the same time its a crime against humanity, Rabb said in an email. Humanity is deprived of that work of art of the ability to experience it anymore.

According to Rabb, awareness about the stolen de Kooning painting needed to spread if it were ever to be returned to the art museum. Rabb contacted the FBI to remind them about the robbery and to inquire about the status of their investigations.

It seemed like a good time to reopen the case and make sure there was publicity around the 30-year anniversary of the theft, Rabb said.

Miller said the museum hosted an event titled Out of the Vault Art Crime, prompted by Rabb in 2015. It was about past forgeries, Woman-Ochre and the FBIs progress on the stolen painting case.

This talk renewed interest toward the unsolved disappearance within the community. According to Miller, the event received international press attention and an article was written about the stolen painting a few weeks later by Anne Ryman for the Arizona Republic.

On Aug. 3, 2017, we got a call that changed our lives, Miller said.

David Van Auker, an owner of an antique store in New Mexico, called the art museum to say that he believed he found the stolen de Kooning after he researched the painting he bought and came across Rymans article.

At first, I was cautious about getting excited, Miller said. It wasnt that I didnt believe him, but we wanted more proof, especially after discovering so many other forgeries in the museum.

Finally, it was found that Van Auker was indeed in possession of the long-lost painting. According to Miller, if it werent for the transparency and educational reach of the Out of the Vault Art Crime event, Rymans article wouldnt have been written.

Museums are public institutions, Miller said. The public should be aware of what goes on inside them. Keeping the public informed is what helped us recover Woman-Ochre.

Today, Woman-Ochre is being tested and repaired at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Miller expects that the art museum will get to welcome the painting back home in Spring of 2021.

Over 30 years after the crime, UA Museum of Art employees and community members alike celebrate the paintings recovery.

Art crime is a real and current issue, Miller said. Just recently, a couple paintings were burglarized in Germany. For [the art museum], its about finding a balance between visitor experience and painting safety.

Follow Sunday Holland on Twitter

Read the original:

Forgery to thievery, a brief history of art crime at the UA Museum - Arizona Daily Wildcat

My first reaction was anger followed very quickly by deep sadness – The Recorder

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Danzig

First storm of the year and what a storm! After I cleared my and my neighbors drive today, and shoveled out the local fireplug, it was off to the cemetery to dig out and visit my recently deceased wifes grave. That section of the cemetery isnt plowed, but with four-wheel-drive, no problem. I knew as I pulled up and looked that something was amiss. There should have been a snowy lump in front of her stone where I placed an evergreen basket a short time ago. A little digging confirmed you had stolen it. (You might see this, so Ive chosen to address you directly.)

My first reaction was anger followed very quickly by deep sadness. Not for me, or my wife, but for you. Perhaps you needed a Thanksgiving gift, but lacked the money. A better gift would have been to tell your Mom, wife, or girlfriend (it seems likely youre male), I wanted to get you something, but I didnt have the money. I was going to steal a beautiful, wood-slab sided basket with a branch for a handle, filled with evergreens, pine cones and a red ribbon, from the cemetery. But then I thought of you, and what you would think of me, and I couldnt do it. I hope you forgive me.

But instead, you stole the basket from the grave of a woman you never met. Perhaps you didnt notice the date on the stone. Its nearly the first anniversary of her passing, so its still very raw for me, her family and friends. Or perhaps you did, and didnt care.

Since you have her basket, you should know a few things about her. She was 70 years old when she died, and more beautiful than the day we met nearly 40 years ago. She was, in younger days, a three-time Womens National Judo Champion. So, congratulations. You stole a souvenir from a nationally ranked athlete.

Midlife, she scrapped a successful career and became a well-respected criminal appellate attorney for Massachusettss prisoners serving life without parole, primarily murderers, people that, in many cases, started out like you, committing petty crimes. Things often escalate from there, and due to joint-venture laws, many got caught up in something they never would have dreamed of. She was revered by her clients for her kindness, and never judging them. She helped more than a few with prison education programs. So, congratulations. You stole a memorial basket from a woman who would have worked tirelessly to preserve your rights.

Theres so much else to know. She was a talented portrait painter, and exhibited and sold many works. She played the piano. She was eternally optimistic, even during the course of the undiagnosable disease that took her life. She only knew two kinds of people, friends and friends she hadnt gotten to know yet. Had she known you, its a pretty sure bet she would have liked you, despite your shortcomings.

Perhaps you thought this was a victimless crime. After all, shed never know, right? But there are several victims here, and youre the first. Because youre not a petty thief or larcenist anymore. No, you have a new name. Grave robber. Now its your secret shame, your secret stain, to bear throughout your life. You may believe theres no price to pay for that, and who am I to say differently? But, regardless of your beliefs, or mine, this world seems all about balance, and youve tipped the scales. I have no idea what form it may take, and certainly offer no prediction, but I think what you have thrown out of balance will be restored one day. Good luck with that. The grave has been dug out, so you could put the basket back, which would help. You could pause there for a moment, just another mourner, and tell her youre sorry, and that youre going to make a real effort to turn things around in your life, to avoid becoming a client of someone just like her.

Being an optimist, she would believe you just might do that. Yin to her Yang, I tend to doubt it. But no matter. I know your name now, and thats enough.

Read this article:

My first reaction was anger followed very quickly by deep sadness - The Recorder

Billion-year-old microbes could give us new food, fuel sourcesif we can figure out how to use them – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Danzig

Energy and food. These are the building blocks of any ecosystem. They are also the most important material components of any human society. The causes of wars, the motivation for inventions, the history of humankind itself is a struggle to find and secure these two resources. But a billion-year old group of microbes has the potential to provide us with food supplements, chemical feedstock and biofuels.

Photosynthetic microbes are a heterogeneous group of bacteria and eukaryotes that live on oxygenic photosynthesis. These green bugs have left their imprint on the planet long before the first multicellular organism appeared. Around 1.5 billion years ago, the early cyanobacteria enriched the Earths atmosphere with oxygen. The petroleum we use is algae and other plankton undergone millions of years of high temperatures and pressure.

Algae and cyanobacteria can grow biomass literally out of thin air. They have a remarkable biosynthetic potential. They can be used for synthetic biology applications. They can be turned into carbon fiber. The European Commission considers green microbes as an excellent food source. They can survive almost every imaginable ecosystem, even the outer space! Consequently, they can grow in areas not used for agriculture, in harsh environments, with minimal oversight.

However, the use of photosynthetic microbes in the biotech industry is limited at best. The organisms of choice are heterotrophic bacteria and yeasts for biomanufacturing, and of course crop plants as our major food source. But what are the reasons of this apparent oversight?

In terms of complexity, algae are defined by their photosynthetic machinery. Cyanobacteria have larger genomes than the average bacteria, and more subcellular compartments (such as thylakoids to accommodate the photosystems and carboxysomes to concentrate CO2. Eukaryotic algae have chloroplasts, compartments dedicated to photosynthesis. Photosynthetic microbes have evolved to make the best use of sunlight when available. These lifestyle choices set them apart from model heterotrophs, as well as photosynthetic land plants. And these differences require dedicated research on algae to understand them and better manipulate them for industrial applications.

Our knowledge about algae and cyanobacteria is lagging behind when compared to other microbes, plants and mammals. Their metabolism is not well studied, their response to environmental cues remains obscure, and their environmental diversity is unexplored. There are very few research labs dedicated on the biology and biotechnology of photosynthetic microbes. As a consequence, there are fewer tools, less expertise, and less familiarity with them. Their metabolism and regulation mechanisms are not fully known. This translates to reluctance for entrepreneurs to invest in algal applications. The attitudes are changing, and photosynthetic microbes become more popular both for basic and applied research studies. But the knowledge gap remains to be filled.

Escherichia coli, the molecular biology workhorse, duplicates every 45 minutes. Vibrio natriegens, the fastest growing bacterium, every 10 minutes. Synechocystis, a model cyanobacterium doubles every 6-18 hours, while the fastest cyanobacterium reported has a generation time of two hours. In simple words, this means that a culture of bacteria will reach its maximum biomass over a few hours, while an algal one will need several days.

A second related problem is the low cell density that photosynthetic microbes can reach in a liquid culture. The cells need ample sunlight to grow. As a result, they stop growing at night or in overcast weather. As the algae multiply, they start shading each other, making sunlight harder to penetrate. This crowding reduces the growth rate (even more) and limits the maximum biomass they can produce in a given culture volume.

Algae need specific bioreactors that differ from the typical fermentation tanks. Glass or plastic tubes, transparent bags, or raceway ponds are some of the growth facilities in use. But the development of an ideal cultivation system is yet to be achieved.

In the beginning of 2010s, the idea of algae-based biofuels was prominent and attracted significant investments. But a few years ago, the industry received a significant blow. Several biofuel companies went bankrupt amid fraud allegations. Sapphire Energy, an algae company that had attracted significant investment and backing by the Department of Energy, stopped its operations and was sold in 2017. The company didnt manage to reach its targets for yields and price for the crude oil they had developed.

Despite any technological shortcomings, the biofuel companies could not match the drop in the oil prices that happened at that time. And the market reaction to the yeast-made artemisinin teaches an important lesson: current suppliers will respond by dropping the prices, even below profit, to prevent the establishment of new players. All novel applications are vulnerable to such practices, but algae and cyanobacterial biotechnology even more so. And the bad biofuel experience fuels the reluctance for private and public investments in the field. As the technology needed for profitable operations is not yet mature, cyanobacterial and algal biotech would require significant support.

Photosynthetic microbes will not replace bacteria and yeast in fermentation processes. They cant and shouldnt compete in situations where they have no clear competitive advantage. On the contrary, they should act complementarily by expanding the application space. Algae and cyanobacteria do not need sugar and nutrients that could otherwise feed the population. They capture carbon dioxide and can grow in areas not suitable for agriculture. They can produce high quantities of metabolites difficult to make in other organisms, such as carotenoids, -3 fatty acids, and complex plant natural products.

The successful use of photosynthetic microbes needs different business models and unique niche areas. They are already strong in the market as food supplements (see Chlorella and spirulina), and they have a strong biotech potential. We cant afford to let it go to waste!

Kostas Vavitsas, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Athens, Greece. He is also community editor for PLOS Synbio and steering committee member of EUSynBioS. Follow him on Twitter @konvavitsas

Continued here:

Billion-year-old microbes could give us new food, fuel sourcesif we can figure out how to use them - Genetic Literacy Project

The ketone market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2019 to 2025 – P&T Community

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Danzig

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The ketone market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2019 to 2025.

The global ketone market is estimated to be valued at USD 443 million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 640 million by 2025, recording a CAGR of 6.3%. The increase in the consumption of convenience food, rise in health consciousness among consumers, and multifunctionalities of ketones are some of the major factors that have led to an increase in its applications and surge in demand for ketone supplements. These factors are projected to drive the growth of the global ketone market.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05830798/?utm_source=PRN

The supplement segment is projected to be the largest segment in the ketone market during the forecast period.Ketone increasingly finds application in supplements, food & beverages, and cosmetics & personal care products.It is gaining popularity as a popular solution for weight loss.

In addition, the exogeneous ketone supplements are projected to enhance the performance of athletes and sportsperson, which makes it a popular alternative among sports enthusiasts as compared to caffeinated energy drinks, which have certain side effects as well. With the increase in the trend of healthy living and the rise in disposable income, consumers are encouraged to spend on luxury food products, apart from the conventional source of nutrients.

The ketone salts segment to witness the fastest growth in the market during the forecast period.By supplement type, the ketone market is segmented into ketone salts, ketone esters, ketone oil, and raspberry ketones.The ketone salts segment held the largest market share, in terms of value and volume, in 2018.

This segment is projected to witness high growth due to the increasing consumer preferences, as various companies are focusing on marketing their products.As compared to ketone esters, extraction procedures for ketone salts are easier.

On the other hand, esters are difficult to extract and are offered at higher prices.A few companies can afford high capital investments and have started the production of ketone esters.

Esters are premium products, and hence, the adoption of ketone esters is quite less among the consumers.

North America is estimated to account for the largest market share due to its high demand from the US.The application of ketone salts is increasing in the US, as a dietary supplement, particularly among the younger population and athletes.Companies entering this market are focusing on increasing the production of ketones due to its high demand.

In addition, the cost of these sales is comparatively low, which further increases its consumption in comparison to the other supplement types.Hence, North America dominated the ketone salts market in 2018.

Further, the sales remain high attributed to its support in weight loss regimes. Due to these factors, ketone salts are gaining traction among the younger population in the Asian countries, thereby offering high growth opportunities in the region.

Break-up of Primaries By Designation: CXO 45%, Manager 33%, and Executive 22% By Value Chain: Manufacturers - 10%, End-users - 90% By Region: US 70%, India 10%, UK 10%, China 10%

Leading players profiled in this report Perfect Keto (US) HVMN Inc (US) BPI Sports (US) Ketologic (US) Pruvit (US) Ketone Aid Inc. (US) Compound Solution Inc. (US) Sapien Body (US) Zhou Nutrition (US) Know Brainer Foods (US) Finaflex (US) ION Labs (US) Keto & Company (US) Boli Naturals (US) Volken Chemicals (India) Union Pharmpro Company Limited (China) Nutrex Research (US) Ancient Nutrition (US) Zenwise Health (US) Ketond Nutrition LLC (US)

Research CoverageThis report segments the ketone market into application, supplement type, form, and region. In terms of insights, this research report focuses on various levels of analysescompetitive landscape, end-use analysis, and company profileswhich together comprise and discuss the basic views on the emerging & high-growth segments of the ketone market, the high-growth regions, countries, government initiatives, market disruption, drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.

Reasons to buy this report To get a comprehensive overview of the ketone market To gain wide-ranging information about the top players in this industry, their product portfolios, and key strategies adopted by them To gain insights about the major countries/regions, in which the ketone market is flourishing

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05830798/?utm_source=PRN

About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

__________________________ Contact Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ketone-market-is-projected-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-6-3-from-2019-to-2025--300971264.html

SOURCE Reportlinker

Here is the original post:

The ketone market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2019 to 2025 - P&T Community

Flomentum(TM) Launches as the First and Only USP Verified Prostate Supplement: – P&T Community

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Danzig

LAKE MARY, Fla., Dec. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Flomentum Healthannounces the launch of Flomentum, the first and only USP Verified prostate health supplement. The launch embodies the company's commitment to providing the highest quality, science-based natural prostate health supplement for men facing the urinary and prostate conditions commonly associated with aging.

"Men are increasingly asking their physicians about supplements,"says Dr. Leigh Vinocur, Medical Director at US Wellness Inc. and health contributor to the Today Show, Fox News and the Dr. Oz Show. "However, supplements are regulated differently from drugs, leading to physician concerns over the quality and safety. The USP Verification Mark means USP has tested and verified supplements for their ingredients, potency, and manufacturing process, helping ensure quality a physician can trust."

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is an almost 200-year-old non-profit organization that rigorously tests and verifies the quality of supplements through its USP Dietary Supplement Verification Program. It also publishes the United States Pharmacopeia and The National Formulary (USP-NF) in collaboration with scientists from industry, academia and government, which defines quality standards for drugs and dietary supplements.

"USP is pleased to recognize Flomentum as the first prostate health supplement to successfully complete the USP Dietary Supplement Verification Program,"said John Atwater, Ph.D., RAC, Senior Director of USPVerification Services. "Qualifying for this verification program is an accomplishment that demonstrates a commitment to quality and operating Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) quality systems for the manufacture of dietary supplements in compliance with officially recognized requirements."

Flomentum contains up to 8 times more of the clinically proven ingredient than saw palmetto berry powder products commonly found on store shelves.Each softgel of clinical strength Flomentum contains 320 mg of high-quality, saw palmetto oil extract from mature saw palmetto berries, the dose shown to be effective in clinical studies. Flomentumis comparable to the leading European saw palmetto herbal medicine recognized as effective in establishing the European Union herbal monograph on Serenoa repens (saw palmetto).

"We are committed to providing the highest quality prostate health supplement for men and the health care professionals that serve them,"said William Donovan, Senior Vice President at Flomentum Health. "We manage the entire supply chain, starting with the harvest of mature wild berries in Florida all the way through to the production and bottling of softgels. Our passion for supply chain excellence has been a major enabler to becoming the first and only USP Verified prostate health supplement in the United States. The USP Verification of Flomentum helps assure men that they are getting exceptional quality, purity, and potency."

About FlomentumTM

Located in Lake Mary, FL, Flomentum Health is committed to providing prostate and urinary health solutions which are sourced from nature, supported by science, responsibly manufactured, independently verified for quality, and recommended by healthcare professionals. For more information please visit http://www.flomentum.com.

About USP

USP is an independent scientific organization that collaborates with the world's top experts in health and science to develop quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. Through our standards, advocacy and education, USP helps increase the availability of quality medicines, supplements and food for billions of people worldwide. For more information about USP, visit http://www.usp.org.

For media inquiries, please contact Carolina Montes, at carolina@medtechmomentum.com or call (407)960-2994.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flomentum-launches-as-the-first-and-only-usp-verified-prostate-supplement-300968382.html

SOURCE Flomentum Health