Friday, May 31, 2019

Facebook loses bid to block landmark ECJ data security hearing

Ireland's supreme court on Friday dismissed a bid by Facebook to block a landmark data security case from progressing to the European Court of Justice.

* This article was originally published here

New mail and messaging tools expected for iPhones, WWDC

New iPhones won't be out until the fall. But Monday, we'll get a sneak peek at what new features Apple has planned for us, not just for the next models but recent iPhones and iPads as well.

* This article was originally published here

New organic flow battery brings decomposing molecules back to life

After years of making progress on an organic aqueous flow battery, Harvard University researchers ran into a problem: the organic anthraquinone molecules that powered their ground-breaking battery were slowly decomposing over time, reducing the long-term usefulness of the battery.

* This article was originally published here

Nailing digital fakes with AI-learned artifacts

We see the imaginative feats of photo fakery; now we have to figure out what to do about them. Being able to tell fake from real is the goal, but how to get there? Forensics is the key tool to hunt down fake photos and it does not appear to be an easy task in getting that tool to perform well.

* This article was originally published here

Variations on the plank: popular exercise for your core

(HealthDay)—The plank is one of the most popular exercises, surpassing sit-ups and crunches for effective core work.

* This article was originally published here

Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity

To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated an experimental technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline, from acquisition to delivery, using artificial intelligence (AI).

* This article was originally published here

Violent video games, unlocked guns a dangerous combo for kids

(HealthDay)—Shoot 'em up video games might be making your children far too comfortable with how they approach and handle real-life firearms, a new study argues.

* This article was originally published here

SpaceX says 60 Starlink satellites will grow harder to see

SpaceX said Friday that the first 60 satellites in its "Starlink" constellation, which is intended to provide internet from space, will be less and less visible from Earth as they reach their final orbit.

* This article was originally published here

From viruses to social bots, researchers unearth the structure of attacked networks

The human body's mechanisms are marvelous, yet they haven't given up all their secrets. In order to truly conquer human disease, it is crucial to understand what happens at the most elementary level.

* This article was originally published here

Native plant species may be at greater risk from climate change than non-natives

As spring advances across the Midwest, a new study looking at blooming flowers suggests that non-native plants might outlast native plants in the region due to climate change.

* This article was originally published here

Community impacts from extreme weather shape climate beliefs

Recent studies have suggested that people who experience the impacts of hurricanes, catastrophic flooding or other severe weather events are more likely to believe in, and be concerned about, climate change in the wake of the disaster.

* This article was originally published here

Patent talk: Apple has foldables, durability on its mind

Fact of life: Consumers chase the new and shiny, at least enough of them to justify constant trade-ins and barely necessary purchases.

* This article was originally published here

Google's rebellious employees take aim at contractor firms

Google workers on Thursday expanded their rebellion against company practices, sending letters to three firms they say provide contract workers to Google, asking them to end mandatory arbitration for those workers.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers avoid 'messy' hormonal female mice, and that hurts women

Is sexism getting in the way of good science?

* This article was originally published here

Facebook loses bid to block landmark ECJ data security hearing

Ireland's supreme court on Friday dismissed a bid by Facebook to block a landmark data security case from progressing to the European Court of Justice.

* This article was originally published here

Societal values and perceptions shape energy production and use as much as new technology

Societal values and perceptions have shaped the energy landscape as much as the technologies that drive its production and consumption, a new paper from an Oregon State University researcher suggests.

* This article was originally published here

New mail and messaging tools expected for iPhones, WWDC

New iPhones won't be out until the fall. But Monday, we'll get a sneak peek at what new features Apple has planned for us, not just for the next models but recent iPhones and iPads as well.

* This article was originally published here

Hyphens in paper titles harm citation counts and journal impact factors

According to the latest research results, the presence of simple hyphens in the titles of academic papers adversely affects the citation statistics, regardless of the quality of the articles. The phenomenon applies to all major subject areas. Thus, citation counts and journal impact factors, commonly used for professorial evaluations in universities worldwide, are unreliable.

* This article was originally published here

Flexible generators turn movement into energy

Wearable devices that harvest energy from movement are not a new idea, but a material created at Rice University may make them more practical.

* This article was originally published here

Shared control allows a robot to use two hands working together to complete tasks

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Naval Research Laboratory has designed and built a robotic system that allows for bimanual robot manipulation through shared control. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group explains the ideas behind their work and how well they worked in practice.

* This article was originally published here

Guidelines updated for radiotherapy after prostatectomy

(HealthDay)—Clinical guidelines on adjuvant and salvage radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy have been updated, according to the American Society for Radiation Oncology and the American Urological Association.

* This article was originally published here

Children who nap are happier, excel academically, and have fewer behavioral problems: study

Ask just about any parent whether napping has benefits and you'll likely hear a resounding "yes," particularly for the child's mood, energy levels, and school performance. New research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, published in the journal Sleep backs up that parental insight.

* This article was originally published here

Google's rebellious employees take aim at contractor firms

Google workers on Thursday expanded their rebellion against company practices, sending letters to three firms they say provide contract workers to Google, asking them to end mandatory arbitration for those workers.

* This article was originally published here

Radio-wave therapy proves effective against liver cancer cells

A new targeted therapy using non-thermal radio waves has been shown to block the growth of liver cancer cells anywhere in the body without damaging healthy cells, according to a study conducted by scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.

* This article was originally published here

Lab-grown diamonds: Technology is disrupting the diamond business

Forget what you know about cubic zirconia, crystals and any simulated diamonds. This isn't about that.

* This article was originally published here

Exercise, therapy may improve depression, diabetes outcomes

(HealthDay)—Exercise and/or behavioral treatment interventions may provide clinically meaningful improvements in depression outcomes in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and major depressive disorder (MDD), according to a study published online May 21 in Diabetes Care.

* This article was originally published here

REPLAB: A low-cost benchmark platform for robotic learning

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a reproducible, low-cost and compact benchmark platform to evaluate robotic learning approaches, which they called REPLAB. Their recent study, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, was supported by Berkeley DeepDrive, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Google, NVIDIA and Amazon.

* This article was originally published here

Three ways to travel at (nearly) the speed of light

One hundred years ago today, on May 29, 1919, measurements of a solar eclipse offered verification for Einstein's theory of general relativity. Even before that, Einstein had developed the theory of special relativity, which revolutionized the way we understand light. To this day, it provides guidance on understanding how particles move through space—a key area of research to keep spacecraft and astronauts safe from radiation.

* This article was originally published here

Native plant species may be at greater risk from climate change than non-natives

As spring advances across the Midwest, a new study looking at blooming flowers suggests that non-native plants might outlast native plants in the region due to climate change.

* This article was originally published here

Three ways to travel at (nearly) the speed of light

One hundred years ago today, on May 29, 1919, measurements of a solar eclipse offered verification for Einstein's theory of general relativity. Even before that, Einstein had developed the theory of special relativity, which revolutionized the way we understand light. To this day, it provides guidance on understanding how particles move through space—a key area of research to keep spacecraft and astronauts safe from radiation.

* This article was originally published here

A new way to predict complications after larynx cancer surgery

A technique that illuminates blood flow during surgery predicted which head and neck cancer patients were likely to have issues with wound healing. It could enable surgeons to make adjustments during surgery or recovery to improve outcomes.

* This article was originally published here

Tornado outbreaks reminder to make smartphones disaster-ready

Tornadoes have torn their way across the country as the natural disaster season starts, leaving hundreds displaced from their homes and lives in disarray.

* This article was originally published here

Occupational hazards account for more than one in ten people with range of lung diseases

More than 1 in 10 people with a range of non-cancerous lung diseases may be sick as a result of inhaling vapors, gas, dust or fumes at work, according to a joint American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society statement published in the ATS's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

* This article was originally published here

Tornado outbreaks reminder to make smartphones disaster-ready

Tornadoes have torn their way across the country as the natural disaster season starts, leaving hundreds displaced from their homes and lives in disarray.

* This article was originally published here

The magic behind the medals

When the Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen hung up her skis for the last time in April 2018, she was the winningest winter Olympian ever, with 8 Olympic gold medals, 18 world championship titles and 114 World Cup victories.

* This article was originally published here

Google's rebellious employees take aim at contractor firms

Google workers on Thursday expanded their rebellion against company practices, sending letters to three firms they say provide contract workers to Google, asking them to end mandatory arbitration for those workers.

* This article was originally published here

Report: Huawei cuts meetings with US, sends US workers home

The Financial Times reported Friday that tech giant Huawei has ordered its employees to cancel technical meetings with American contacts and has sent home numerous U.S. employees working at its Chinese headquarters.

* This article was originally published here

Hydrogen-power electric flying vehicle: Long road to liftoff

A transportation company is betting its sleek new hydrogen-powered electric flying vehicles will someday serve as taxis, cargo carriers and ambulances of the sky, but experts say they will have to clear a number of regulatory hurdles before being approved for takeoff years in the future.

* This article was originally published here

CDC: reported measles cases reach 971

(HealthDay)—Five months into 2019, the number of measles cases in the United States has now reached 971, the largest number since 1992 when 963 total cases were reported for the year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.

* This article was originally published here

More opioids given than prescribed in emergency department

(HealthDay)—The rate of emergency department visits with opioids only given during the visit is higher than the rate for visits with opioids only prescribed at discharge and for visits with opioids given and prescribed, according to a May data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

* This article was originally published here

'Miracle baby': Woman gets pregnant after having fallopian tubes removed

Elizabeth Kough had been pregnant before. She knew how it felt. She just couldn't believe it had happened this time.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers try to recreate human-like thinking in machines

Researchers at Oxford University have recently tried to recreate human thinking patterns in machines, using a language guided imagination (LGI) network. Their method, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, could inform the development of artificial intelligence that is capable of human-like thinking, which entails a goal-directed flow of mental ideas guided by language.

* This article was originally published here

Community impacts from extreme weather shape climate beliefs

Recent studies have suggested that people who experience the impacts of hurricanes, catastrophic flooding or other severe weather events are more likely to believe in, and be concerned about, climate change in the wake of the disaster.

* This article was originally published here

Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity

To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated an experimental technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline, from acquisition to delivery, using artificial intelligence (AI).

* This article was originally published here

Community impacts from extreme weather shape climate beliefs

Recent studies have suggested that people who experience the impacts of hurricanes, catastrophic flooding or other severe weather events are more likely to believe in, and be concerned about, climate change in the wake of the disaster.

* This article was originally published here

Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts into 5 US states

Smoke from large wildfires in Canada's Alberta province has drifted into five U.S. states and is causing haze and air quality issues.

* This article was originally published here

Sensor-packed glove learns signatures of the human grasp

Wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a variety of objects, MIT researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. The information could be leveraged to help robots identify and manipulate objects, and may aid in prosthetics design.

* This article was originally published here

Hyphens in paper titles harm citation counts and journal impact factors

According to the latest research results, the presence of simple hyphens in the titles of academic papers adversely affects the citation statistics, regardless of the quality of the articles. The phenomenon applies to all major subject areas. Thus, citation counts and journal impact factors, commonly used for professorial evaluations in universities worldwide, are unreliable.

* This article was originally published here

A deep neural network that can maximize or minimize coloring to blend into or stand out against a background

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol has developed a deep learning neural network that can identify the best way to minimize or maximize coloring to allow for blending into a background or standing out. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team describes their network and possible uses for it.

* This article was originally published here

Shared control allows a robot to use two hands working together to complete tasks

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Naval Research Laboratory has designed and built a robotic system that allows for bimanual robot manipulation through shared control. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group explains the ideas behind their work and how well they worked in practice.

* This article was originally published here

Water governance: Flexibility, uncertainty and participation

Whenever I start a presentation about water governance, I ask the audience if they know what the price of a litre of tap water is. Usually the room goes quiet, shoulders shrug and only a few make a guess, usually an overestimation. My next question is about the price of a litre of petrol. Within a split second, I get the right answer from the audience.

* This article was originally published here

Variations on the plank: popular exercise for your core

(HealthDay)—The plank is one of the most popular exercises, surpassing sit-ups and crunches for effective core work.

* This article was originally published here

Understanding identity in online worlds

For Rosa Mikeal Martey, professor in Journalism and Media Communication, the relationship between identity in the offline world and identity construction in a virtual world has always been of research interest. For her dissertation, Martey studied gender identity and perception in online job applications. Her current research involves understanding how social norms develop in digital spaces. "I'm interested in the way people interact with, use, and respond to technology as they perform and craft those identities," she says. "Identity is a fluid category that emerges in different spaces and is influenced by the space itself."

* This article was originally published here

Shared control allows a robot to use two hands working together to complete tasks

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Naval Research Laboratory has designed and built a robotic system that allows for bimanual robot manipulation through shared control. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group explains the ideas behind their work and how well they worked in practice.

* This article was originally published here

Nature's first aid kit: A fungus growing on the sides of birch trees

If you've ever stopped to admire a birch tree, you may unknowingly have something in common with a 5,300-year-old mummy called Ötzi. In 1991, hikers found Ötzi in an alpine glacier on the Austrian-Italian border, and perfectly preserved with him were pieces of fungus attached to leather cords, safely stowed in his bag. That fungus is the same one you can see growing on birch trees today: the birch polypore.

* This article was originally published here

ARCHANGEL: Securing UK national archives with AI and blockchain

The University of Surrey is using its state-of-the-art blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies to secure the digital government records of national archives across the globe—including the UK, Australia and the United States of America.

* This article was originally published here

Winter could pose solar farm 'ramping' snag for power grid

By adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York state, summer electricity demand from conventional sources could be reduced by up to 9.6% in some places.

* This article was originally published here

Tree of life brought to scale by Yale scientists

Examples of biological scaling are everywhere. The paw of a mouse is smaller than the human hand. Our own organs and limbs typically scale with our body size as we develop and grow.

* This article was originally published here

From viruses to social bots, researchers unearth the structure of attacked networks

The human body's mechanisms are marvelous, yet they haven't given up all their secrets. In order to truly conquer human disease, it is crucial to understand what happens at the most elementary level.

* This article was originally published here

New organic flow battery brings decomposing molecules back to life

After years of making progress on an organic aqueous flow battery, Harvard University researchers ran into a problem: the organic anthraquinone molecules that powered their ground-breaking battery were slowly decomposing over time, reducing the long-term usefulness of the battery.

* This article was originally published here

Defense against wireless attacks using a deep neural network and game theory

A growing number of devices are now connected to the internet and are capable of collecting, sending and receiving data. This interconnection between devices, referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), poses serious security threats, as cyberattackers can now target computers and smartphones, but also a vast array of other devices, such as tablets, smart watches, smart home systems, transportation systems and so on.

* This article was originally published here

Entrectinib gets edge over crizotinib against ROS1+ lung cancer

Crizotinib and entrectinib are both active against ROS1+ non-small cell lung cancer. But which is best? The answer seems easy: Just compare the drugs' clinical trial results. However, not all trials are created equal, and these differences in trial designs can lead to irrelevant comparisons—like comparing athletes' running times without noting that one ran a kilometer while the other ran a mile. Now results from an innovative, "virtual" clinical trial presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2019 attempt to place crizotinib and entrectinib on an equal playing field. In this analysis, patients taking entrectinib were able to stay on treatment longer and had about almost 6 months longer progression-free survival than patients treated with crizotinib.

* This article was originally published here

New algorithm may help people store more pictures, share videos faster

The world produces about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Storing and transferring all of this enormous—and constantly growing—number of images, videos, Tweets, and other forms of data is becoming a significant challenge, one that threatens to undermine the growth of the internet and thwart the introduction of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things.

* This article was originally published here

Hydrogen-power electric flying vehicle: Long road to liftoff

A transportation company is betting its sleek new hydrogen-powered electric flying vehicles will someday serve as taxis, cargo carriers and ambulances of the sky, but experts say they will have to clear a number of regulatory hurdles before being approved for takeoff years in the future.

* This article was originally published here

Exposure to airborne metal pollution associated with increased risk of mortality

Although there is ample evidence that air pollution—specifically airborne particulate matter—is associated with an increased risk of premature death, it is still not known which specific particles are responsible for this effect. The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by "la Caixa," participated in a study that used wild moss samples to estimate human exposure to airborne metal particles in order to analyse the relationship between atmospheric metal pollution and risk of mortality.

* This article was originally published here

How the immune system keeps the Epstein-Barr virus in check

A protein called PD-1, which is found on immune cells called CD8+ T cells, plays a key role in controlling infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, according to a study published May 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Christian Münz of the University of Zurich, and colleagues. The results from this study indicate that monitoring PD-1 signaling during future vaccination and immunotherapy studies may inform patient outcomes.

* This article was originally published here

REPLAB: A low-cost benchmark platform for robotic learning

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a reproducible, low-cost and compact benchmark platform to evaluate robotic learning approaches, which they called REPLAB. Their recent study, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, was supported by Berkeley DeepDrive, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Google, NVIDIA and Amazon.

* This article was originally published here

Understanding why virus can't replicate in human cells could improve vaccines

The identification of a gene that helps to restrict the host range of the modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) could lead to the development of new and improved vaccines against diverse infectious agents, according to a study published May 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Bernard Moss of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues.

* This article was originally published here

Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity

To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated an experimental technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline, from acquisition to delivery, using artificial intelligence (AI).

* This article was originally published here

Entrectinib gets edge over crizotinib against ROS1+ lung cancer

Crizotinib and entrectinib are both active against ROS1+ non-small cell lung cancer. But which is best? The answer seems easy: Just compare the drugs' clinical trial results. However, not all trials are created equal, and these differences in trial designs can lead to irrelevant comparisons—like comparing athletes' running times without noting that one ran a kilometer while the other ran a mile. Now results from an innovative, "virtual" clinical trial presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2019 attempt to place crizotinib and entrectinib on an equal playing field. In this analysis, patients taking entrectinib were able to stay on treatment longer and had about almost 6 months longer progression-free survival than patients treated with crizotinib.

* This article was originally published here

Pollution is a 'significant' problem at 401 national parks, report says

More than 96% of national parks assessed in a recent report are "plagued by significant air pollution problems," and some of California's most iconic parks are among the most troubled, according to one of the nation's largest nonprofit conservation associations.

* This article was originally published here

New framework helps gauge impact of mosquito control programs

Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space scales.

* This article was originally published here

Health progress threatened by neglect of gender

The Sustainable Development Goals offer the prospect of ensuring healthy lives for the world's population by 2030. But this ambition will not be realised without eliminating gender inequality and changing society's attitudes to women and men.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers add 'time-travel' feature to drives to fight ransomware attacks

One of the latest cyber threats involves hackers encrypting user files and then charging "ransom" to get them back. In the paper, "Project Almanac: A Time-Traveling Solid State Drive," University of Illinois students Chance Coats and Xiaohao Wang and Assistant Professor Jian Huang from the Coordinated Science Laboratory look at how they can use the commodity storage devices already in a computer, to save the files without having to pay the ransom.

* This article was originally published here

Dating app users may be more likely to control their weight in unhealthy ways

Use of dating apps may be associated with an increased risk of unhealthy weight control behaviors, including vomiting, laxative use, or diet pill use, a study in the open access Journal of Eating Disorders suggests.

* This article was originally published here

Opioid crisis hurting Canadians' life expectancy: official

An opioid crisis that has claimed thousands of lives across North America has become a drag on the average life expectancy in Canada, the government statistical agency said Thursday.

* This article was originally published here

Chicago winter without a furnace or gas bill: Passive houses make it possible and are slowly catching on

In the 1970s, long before the Prius and Green New Deal, a small group of engineers and architects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was already going green.

* This article was originally published here

Sensor-packed glove learns signatures of the human grasp

Wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a variety of objects, MIT researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. The information could be leveraged to help robots identify and manipulate objects, and may aid in prosthetics design.

* This article was originally published here

How the immune system keeps the Epstein-Barr virus in check

A protein called PD-1, which is found on immune cells called CD8+ T cells, plays a key role in controlling infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, according to a study published May 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Christian Münz of the University of Zurich, and colleagues. The results from this study indicate that monitoring PD-1 signaling during future vaccination and immunotherapy studies may inform patient outcomes.

* This article was originally published here