BenjaminHCCarr

BenjaminHCCarr, 9 months ago to random

The Electronic Frontier Foundation will award #AlexandraElbakyan, founder of the 'pirate' #library #SciHub, for her efforts to provide access to scientific knowledge. According to #EFF, #Elbakyan's site is a vital resource for millions of students and researchers. Some medical professionals have even argued that the site helped to save lives. https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hubs-alexandra-elbakyan-receives-eff-award-for-providing-access-to-scientific-knowledge-230728/

BenjaminHCCarr, 5 months ago to india

#Reuters Takes Down Blockbuster Hacker-for-Hire Investigation After #Indian Court Order
The investigation gave unprecedented insight into how hacker-for-hire shops operated. “Reuters has temporarily removed the article ‘How an Indian startup hacked the world’ to comply with a court order issued Dec. 4, 2023, in #NewDelhi, #India. Reuters stands by its reporting and plans to appeal,” the editor’s note reads.
https://www.404media.co/reuters-takes-down-blockbuster-hacker-for-hire-investigation-after-indian-court-order/
Archive of story is on Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20231116164611/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-appin/

BenjaminHCCarr, 3 months ago to random

The next generation of #mRNAvaccines is on its way
Japan recently approved a new #mRNA #vaccine for #covid. And this one is pretty exciting. Just like the mRNA v#accines you know and love, it delivers the instructions for making the #virus’s #spikeprotein. But here’s what makes it novel: it also tells the body how to make more mRNA. Essentially, it provides instructions for making more instructions. It’s self-amplifying.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/02/1087536/the-next-generation-of-mrna-vaccines-is-on-its-way/

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to random

Millions of #Homes Still Being Kept #Vacant as #Housing Costs Surge, Report Finds
The nation's 50 largest metro areas have millions of homes that aren't being used. There are under 500,000 unhoused people in the entire country. #Census data on the nation’s 50 largest #metropolitan areas and found there are 5.47 million vacant #housingunits, with an average vacancy rate of 7.22%! https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkam9v/millions-of-homes-still-being-kept-vacant-as-housing-costs-surge-report-finds

BenjaminHCCarr, 4 months ago to random

#TraderJoe's Sued Its #Union Over #ToteBags. A Judge Just Threw the Case Out.
Trader Joe's #trademark #lawsuit was an "obvious" ploy to gain an edge over the union, #TraderJoesUnited, the judge from the California Central #DistrictCourt said in their decision to dismiss. https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjyq4/trader-joes-sued-its-union-over-tote-bags-a-judge-just-threw-the-case-out #unionize

BenjaminHCCarr, 9 days ago to random

Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s #plastic #pollution
Study confirms #Altria, #PhilipMorris International, #Danone, #Nestlé, #PepsiCo and #CocaCola are worst offenders https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/24/survey-finds-that-60-firms-are-responsible-for-half-of-worlds-plastic-pollution

BenjaminHCCarr, 5 months ago to ai

Make no mistake— #AI is owned by #BigTech
If we’re not careful, #Microsoft, #Amazon, and other large companies will leverage their position to set the policy agenda for AI, as they have in many other sectors. With vanishingly few exceptions, every #startup, new entrant, and even AI research lab is dependent on computing infrastructure of Microsoft, Amazon, and #Google to train their systems, and on those same firms’ vast consumer market reach to deploy and sell their AI. https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/12/05/1084393/make-no-mistake-ai-is-owned-by-big-tech/

BenjaminHCCarr, 5 months ago to climate

#JetStream will get faster as #climatechange continues
Research suggests that as the world warms, the fastest upper-level jet stream #winds will get faster and faster—by about 2% for every degree Celsius the world warms. The fastest winds will speed up 2.5x faster than average wind. They strongly influence weather on the ground—especially temperature, winds and weather as well as occurrence of severe storms, tornadoes, hail and severe wind. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-jet-stream-faster-climate.html #globalheating #climatecrisis

BenjaminHCCarr, 4 months ago to linuxphones

#postmarketOS 23.12 has been released as the latest stable update to this #AlpineLinux-based #operatingsystem for #mobile devices introducing new features, support for new devices, and other enhancements. They introduce support for many more #Chromebook devices, including #Chromebooks with 64-bit processors; several mobile devices from #Xiaomi; and the #ODROID-XU4 single-board computer. With this, postmarketOS is now supported on a total of 45 devices.
https://9to5linux.com/postmarketos-23-12-brings-the-gnome-45-desktop-to-linux-phones-and-tablets

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to transgender

Evidence Undermines ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ Claims
Fears of “#socialcontagion,” used to support anti-#transgender legislation, are not supported by science
“It is not rapid-onset #genderdysphoria,” says Diane Ehrensaft, director of mental health at the University of California, San Francisco, #Child and #Adolescent #Gender Center . “It’s rapid-onset parental discovery.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evidence-undermines-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria-claims/ #LGBTQA+ #LGBT

BenjaminHCCarr, 8 months ago to california

Why putting #solarpanels beside #highways is a no-brainer!
#California could generate enough #electricity to power 270,000 homes by putting solar panels in the empty land next to highway interchanges in just 3 Southern California counties.There is a lot of “dead” space between highways, which is currently not used for much of anything. It’s not a usable space for wildlife, either, due to the proximity of so many cars. These locations are often near #transmissionlines
https://electrek.co/2023/08/31/why-putting-solar-panels-beside-highways-is-a-no-brainer/

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to Russia

#Zerodays for hacking #WhatsApp are now worth millions of dollars

#Russia #zeroday seller offers $20M for hacking #Android and #iPhones
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/27/russian-zero-day-seller-offers-20m-for-hacking-android-and-iphones/

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 days ago to privacy

#Carmakers Will Give Your #Location to #Police Without a #Warrant, Senators Say
Eight manufacturers reportedly told Congress they’d comply with a request for driver data without a court order. https://www.thedrive.com/news/automakers-will-give-your-location-to-police-without-a-warrant-senators-say #privacy #surveillance

BenjaminHCCarr, 4 days ago to Dogs

#Microplastics found in every #human #testicle in study
#Scientists say discovery may be linked to decades-long decline in #sperm counts in men around the world
Scientists tested 23 human #testes and 47 from #dogs. They found microplastic #pollution in every sample. The human testicles had been preserved and so their sperm count could not be measured. However, the sperm count in the dogs' testes could be assessed and was lower in samples with higher contamination with PVC
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts

BenjaminHCCarr, 8 days ago to asia

#ExtremeHeat continues to scorch large parts of #Asia
Large swathes of Asia are sweltering through a #heatwave that has topped temperature records from #Myanmar to the #Philippines and forced millions of children to stay home from school. Experts say #climatechange has made #heatwaves more frequent, longer and more intense, while the #ElNino #weather phenomenon is also driving this year's exceptionally warm weather.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/extreme-heat-continues-to-scorch-large-parts-of-asia

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to random

Discovery of half-million-year-old wooden structure shows we're wrong to underestimate our ancient relatives
A team led by archaeologist Larry Barham at the University of Liverpool recently published robust and well dated evidence for the earliest known use of wood technology. The wooden structure, along with artifacts, date to 476,000 years ago and have been excavated from waterlogged deposits at Kalambo Falls, Zambia. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-discovery-half-million-year-old-wooden-wrong-underestimate.html

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to random

The loss of dark skies is so painful, #astronomers coined a new term for it
Humanity is slowly losing access to the night sky, and astronomers have invented a new term to describe the pain associated with this loss: "#noctalgia," meaning "sky grief."
https://www.space.com/light-pollution-loss-dark-skies-noctalgia #lightpollution

BenjaminHCCarr, 6 months ago to coffee

'No #Contract, No #Coffee': #Starbucks Workers Hold Largest #Strike in Company History
Workers participating in the "#RedCup Rebellion" told Motherboard that all they were asking was that the company come to the table with them.
Workers from hundreds of stores refused to come to work, instead holding #picketlines demanding Starbucks bargain with their #union, #StarbucksWorkersUnited. Since first store #unionized, #NLRB has tallied ballots in 454 elections, 369 successful.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkavg7/starbucks-union-protest-red-cup-day

BenjaminHCCarr, 3 months ago to random

Scientists are finding signals of #longcovid in #blood. They could lead to new treatments.
Faults in a certain part of the #immunesystem might be at the root of some long #covid cases, new research suggests.
The scientists found that people with long covid exhibit changes in a suite of proteins involved in the complement system, which helps the immune system destroy #microbes and clear away cellular debris. The results echo what at least one other group has found.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/19/1086874/long-covid-biomarkers-treatments-complement-system/

BenjaminHCCarr, 4 months ago to random

#US verges on #vaccination tipping point, faces thousands of needless deaths: #FDA
Top regulatory officials call for clinicians to speak up and drown out #misinformation.
Data from #CDC last year found that, for the third consecutive year, vaccination rates among #kindergartners had continued to slip, with rates of non-medical vaccination exemptions rising to an all-time high. 10 states with vaccination exemption rates over 5 percent!
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/anti-vaccine-nonsense-will-likely-kill-thousands-this-season-fda-officials-say/ #RSV #Flu #COVID #Measles #Influenza

BenjaminHCCarr, 3 months ago to fishing

Seabed trawling found to be a major source of global #CO2 #emissions
#BottomTrawling releases around 340 million tonnes of #carbondioxide into the atmosphere each year, according to the first study to estimate these emissions. That is nearly 1 per cent of all global CO2 emissions, a major contribution that has been overlooked until now. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2412752-seabed-trawling-found-to-be-a-major-source-of-global-co2-emissions/ #fishing #climate #climatecrisis #climatechange

BenjaminHCCarr, 3 months ago to ocean

Skyrocketing #ocean temps have scientists scratching their heads, "it’s looking like it’s already June out there"
Oceans steadily warmed over decades, absorbing ~90% of extra heat humans have added to the atmosphere. “The oceans are our saviors, in a way,” says #oceanographer #FranciscoChavez of #MBARI “Things might be a lot worse in terms of #climate impacts, because a lot of that heat is not only kept at the surface, it’s taken to depths.”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/skyrocketing-ocean-temperatures-have-scientists-scratching-their-heads/ #climatechange #climatecrisis

BenjaminHCCarr, 2 months ago to ocean

Scientists Are Freaking Out About #Ocean Temperatures
“North Atlantic has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now,” said Brian McNoldy, a researcher at Univ of Miami. “It’s just astonishing. Like, it doesn’t seem real.”
“#Seaice around #Antarctic is just not growing,” said Matthew England, professor at Univ of New South Wales who studies ocean currents. “The temperature’s just going off the charts. It’s like an omen of the future.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/climate/scientists-are-freaking-out-about-ocean-temperatures.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Y00.5KtY.pFaakcBLdnkJ&smid=url-share #climatechange #climatecrisis

BenjaminHCCarr, 18 days ago to math

Teens come up with #trigonometry proof for #PythagoreanTheorem, a problem that stumped #math world for centuries
A #highschool teacher didn't expect a solution when she set a 2,000-year-old Pythagorean Theorem problem in front of her students. Then Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson stepped up to the challenge.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-come-up-with-trigonometry-proof-for-pythagorean-theorem-60-minutes-transcript/

BenjaminHCCarr, 7 months ago to internet

#FCC to reintroduce rules protecting #netneutrality
The Federal Communications Commission, now with a Democratic majority, aims to reinstate net neutrality rules that would stop #internet service providers (#ISP) playing favorites with traffic, charging more to certain users, or #censoring material that displeases them.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/tech/fcc-net-neutrality-internet-providers/index.html