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Through-the-Earth Communication: Revolutionizing Underground Connectivity

2024-12-14

Traditional radio waves struggle to penetrate rock, making communication in mines and caves challenging. This article explores Through-the-Earth (TTE) communication, utilizing ultra-low frequency (300-3000 Hz) signals that propagate through rock strata. TTE systems, including portable magnetic-loop cave radios, Personal Emergency Devices (PEDs), and the innovative 'Miner Lifeline' technology, are highlighted for their crucial role in mine rescue operations and cave exploration, even after catastrophic events like fires or explosions.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Tech Through-the-Earth Communication Mine Communication Emergency Rescue

Mysterious Tablet with Unknown Script Unearthed in Georgia

2024-12-14

A basalt tablet inscribed with an enigmatic language has been discovered near Lake Bashplemi in Georgia's Dmanisi region. The 24.1 x 20.1 cm tablet, featuring 60 characters (39 unique), has baffled researchers. Its symbols, possibly related to military spoils, construction, or religious offerings, bear partial resemblance to scripts from the Middle East, India, Egypt, and West Iberia, yet are distinct. Dating potentially to the Late Bronze or Early Iron Ages, the tablet adds a layer of complexity to the cultural history of the Caucasus, hinting at possible ancient cultural exchange between diverse regions.

(archaeologymag.com)

Misc unknown script

Clojure Error Handling: No Silver Bullet, Only Choices

2024-12-14

Clojure offers a diverse range of error-handling approaches, with no single best practice. The article explores several methods: throwing native exceptions, using `ex-info` for data-carrying exceptions, returning error maps, and utilizing various libraries for more sophisticated error handling flows, such as the `anomalies` library or options like `pact` and `failjure`. The author emphasizes that the choice depends on the specific context and that a mix of approaches can coexist within a single project. Developers are empowered to select the most appropriate solution for their needs; Clojure embraces this freedom.

(www.daveliepmann.com)

Development error handling

Maps and Fantasy: Unveiling the Secrets of Fictional Geographies

2024-12-14

This article explores the evolution and symbolism of maps in fantasy literature. From Tolkien's "The Hobbit" to "Game of Thrones," maps are more than just geographical guides; they are essential tools for constructing worldviews and shaping cultural identities. The author analyzes common features of fantasy maps, such as vast western oceans and mysterious eastern lands, exploring the cultural and psychological factors behind these features and their relationship to real-world geography, colonial history, and cultural biases. Ultimately, the author argues that the appeal of fantasy maps lies in their unknown aspects and the possibilities they represent beyond reality.

(longreads.com)

Misc fantasy literature maps cultural symbolism

Antimatter Propulsion: The Future of Space Exploration?

2024-12-14

A groundbreaking technology, antimatter propulsion, holds the potential to revolutionize space exploration. Antimatter annihilation offers the highest known energy density, with 100% efficiency, theoretically enabling voyages across the solar system in mere weeks or even days. However, significant challenges remain in producing, storing, and controlling antimatter, keeping the technology firmly in the theoretical realm for now. Further research and development are crucial to unlock its immense potential.

(www.sciencedirect.com)

Tech antimatter space exploration propulsion technology

Hacking Physics with a Napkin

2024-12-14

This article explores unconventional approaches to solving physics problems using simple estimation and dimensional analysis. The author demonstrates the power of these methods by calculating the speed of falling raindrops, the length of the E. coli genome, and the mass of a proton, among other examples. The article suggests this napkin-based approach can greatly enhance physics education and learning. Further techniques like Fermi estimation and random walks are introduced and applied to problems like estimating the E. coli genome length and determining the optimal speed for walking or running in the rain, showcasing their practicality.

(hapax.github.io)

Misc dimensional analysis Fermi estimation

White House Near Collapse: An Unprecedented Reconstruction

2024-12-14

In 1948, the White House, worn down by war damage and hasty renovations, faced imminent collapse due to structural decay and inadequate foundations. President Truman and his family were relocated, initiating a three-year comprehensive reconstruction. This project not only repaired the critical structural issues but also modernized the White House, adding basements, expanding utility spaces, and nearly doubling the number of rooms. A secret atomic bomb shelter was also constructed, reflecting the anxieties of the Cold War era. While the renovated White House was modernized, the removal of original interior elements altered its historical character.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Misc White House Reconstruction Truman Historic Preservation

PhD Advisor Automates Writing Improvement with Shell Scripts

2024-12-14

To improve his PhD students' writing, an advisor created three shell scripts to detect passive voice overuse, weasel words, and duplicate words. Integrated into their LaTeX build system, these scripts encourage conscious choices for clarity and precision, rather than blind adherence to grammar rules. The advisor advocates for programmers using automation to combat writing weaknesses and recommends resources like "Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace".

(matt.might.net)

Development Shell scripts Technical writing Automation

LLVM C Library Speeds Up GPUs: Running C Code on GPUs

2024-12-14

The LLVM project has released an exciting GPU C library enabling developers to run libc and libm functions directly on the GPU within C/C++ code. The library supports two main modes: as a supplementary library for offloading languages like OpenMP, CUDA, or HIP; and by directly compiling C/C++ code for the GPU. The article details how to use both modes, including compilation options, linking, and specific builds for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. This library allows developers to leverage the parallel processing power of GPUs, significantly improving performance without needing deep knowledge of complex GPU programming models.

(libc.llvm.org)

Development GPU programming C library

Spark vs. DuckDB vs. Polars: Benchmarking Performance for Small to Medium Workloads

2024-12-15

This article benchmarks Spark, DuckDB, and Polars, comparing their performance, cost, and development ease on 10GB and 100GB datasets. Results show that for large datasets and ETL tasks, Spark remains dominant due to its distributed computing capabilities and mature ecosystem. DuckDB and Polars excel at interactive querying and data exploration on smaller datasets. The author recommends a strategic mix-and-match approach, using Spark for ETL, DuckDB for interactive queries, and Polars for niche scenarios, tailoring engine choice to specific needs.

(milescole.dev)

Development data processing engines benchmark

Svader: A Svelte Library for GPU-Rendered Components

2024-12-14

Svader is a library for creating GPU-rendered Svelte components using WebGL and WebGPU fragment shaders. Developers can write programs in fragment shaders to customize pixel colors and control rendering effects through parameter passing. Supporting Svelte 4 and 5, it offers WebGL and WebGPU rendering modes with built-in parameters like resolution, scale, and time. Svader simplifies GPU rendering with easy-to-use components and provides fallback rendering in environments lacking WebGL or WebGPU support.

(github.com)

Development

Agricultural Trade in Tropical Regions Causes Biodiversity Loss Three Times Higher Than Thought

2024-12-14

A study published in Nature Sustainability reveals that agricultural exports from tropical regions are three times more damaging to biodiversity than previously assumed. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich and ETH Zurich tracked how agricultural exports from 1995 to 2022 affected land-use changes in producing countries. International trade is responsible for over 90% of biodiversity loss during this period, impacting Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Madagascar particularly severely. The team used satellite data to more accurately assess the long-term impacts of land-use change on biodiversity, highlighting the complex link between global trade and biodiversity loss. The study calls for global action to address this challenge.

(phys.org)

Tech biodiversity agricultural trade land use change land-use change biodiversity loss

The 1955 Le Mans Disaster: A Day of Speed and Death

2024-12-14

The 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans ended in tragedy when a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, driven by Pierre Levegh, crashed into the spectators after colliding with a slower car. Mike Hawthorn's reckless pit maneuver triggered the chain of events, leading to over 80 deaths and numerous injuries. The disaster, a shocking display of the sport's inadequate safety standards, prompted sweeping changes in motorsport safety regulations and marked a turning point in the history of racing.

(www.essesmag.com)

Game Le Mans 24 Hours racing accident motorsport safety

18th-Century Dental Horror Stories: When Tooth Extraction Could Mean Losing Your Jaw

2024-12-14

This article recounts cases from Thomas Berdmore's 1768 treatise on dental disorders, painting a grim picture of 18th-century dentistry. Patients suffered immensely from oral ulcers, tartar buildup, and the often disastrous consequences of unqualified practitioners. One case describes a barber-surgeon removing a tooth along with a walnut-sized piece of jawbone! These stories highlight the primitive techniques and significant risks of the time, contrasting sharply with modern dentistry. While progress has been made, the article serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges of access and affordability in dental care.

(thequackdoctor.substack.com)

Misc 18th-century dentistry medical history dental treatment

The PHP Static Typing Debate: Flexibility and Efficiency of Dynamic Languages

2024-12-14

In this article, Tony Marston vehemently criticizes the enforced static type checking changes introduced in PHP 8.1. He argues that this change violates the core design principles of PHP's dynamic typing, clashing with PHP's long-standing flexible approach to data type handling and imposing a significant workload on developers. The article delves into the advantages of PHP's dynamic type system, such as automatic type conversion and flexible data handling, pointing out that the performance benefits of static typing are negligible in modern hardware, while hindering development efficiency. Marston contends that PHP's dynamic type system is better suited for handling HTML frontend and SQL backend data, and that enforcing static type checking is counterproductive, negatively impacting the PHP community.

(www.tonymarston.net)

Development static typing dynamic typing

Meta's Byte Latent Transformer (BLT): Outperforming Tokenization-Based LLMs

2024-12-14

Meta AI researchers introduced the Byte Latent Transformer (BLT), a novel large language model architecture that processes bytes directly, rather than tokens. BLT dynamically allocates computational resources based on byte entropy, resulting in significant improvements in inference efficiency and robustness compared to tokenization-based models. Scaling experiments up to 8 billion parameters and 4 terabytes of training data demonstrate BLT's ability to match the performance of token-based LLMs while offering enhanced reasoning capabilities and handling of long-tail data. This research showcases the feasibility of training large-scale models directly on raw bytes without a fixed vocabulary.

(ai.meta.com)

AI Byte-level Encoding Inference Efficiency

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Impeached Over Martial Law Decree

2024-12-14

South Korea's parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday over his controversial six-hour-long martial law declaration. The National Assembly voted 204-85 in favor of impeachment, suspending Yoon's powers and duties. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo assumed presidential authority. The Constitutional Court has 180 days to decide whether to remove Yoon from office; a new election would follow within 60 days if he is dismissed. The impeachment followed days of political turmoil and widespread protests, with public opinion overwhelmingly in favor of removing Yoon. While Yoon declared the martial law as a measure against the opposition, his actions are seen by many as an attempt to undermine democratic processes. The US and Japan expressed support for South Korea's democratic process.

(apnews.com)

Misc South Korea Impeachment Yoon Suk Yeol

CIA's Animal Spies: From Pigeons to Rats, Declassified Secrets of Nature's Arsenal

2024-12-13

The CIA's history of using animals in espionage is filled with creativity and challenges. From pigeons carrying miniature cameras, to the attempted use of a cat for eavesdropping in the 'Acoustikitty' program (ultimately failing due to the cat's independent nature), to robotic catfish 'Charlie' for underwater reconnaissance, and the dragonfly-mimicking miniature drone 'Insectothopter', the CIA showcased its imagination, leveraging animal characteristics for intelligence gathering. Additionally, they used animal remains as camouflaged dead drops, even employing rats soaked in cat repellent to deliver messages. These imaginative attempts highlight the CIA's innovative spirit in technology and intelligence, and also reflect the unique value of animals in special environments.

(www.cia.gov)

Misc animal spies CIA technological innovation

Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound

2024-12-13

Three new types of superconductors were discovered this year, challenging our understanding of this phenomenon. These two-dimensional materials, like graphene, exhibit unprecedented flexibility, switching between insulating, conducting, and superconducting states with simple adjustments. One even defies expectations by strengthening in a magnetic field. These discoveries deepen the mystery of superconductivity while offering hope for room-temperature superconductors, potentially revolutionizing energy and transportation.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Physics superconductors 2D materials quantum physics

Ultralytics Suffers Supply Chain Attack: A PyPI Security Incident Analysis

2024-12-14

The Python project Ultralytics recently suffered a supply chain attack. Attackers compromised the project's GitHub Actions workflows and stole a PyPI API token, resulting in tainted versions 8.3.41, 8.3.42, 8.3.45, and 8.3.46. The attack didn't exploit a PyPI vulnerability but targeted the GitHub Actions cache. PyPI, leveraging Trusted Publishing and Sigstore transparency logs, quickly identified and removed the malicious software. The incident highlighted shortcomings in API token and GitHub environment configurations. The article stresses securing software forges and build/publish workflows, providing developers with security recommendations: using Trusted Publishers, locking dependencies, avoiding insecure patterns, and enabling multi-factor authentication.

(blog.pypi.org)

Development supply chain attack PyPI security software security

NASA Visualizes Global Internal Ocean Tides

2024-12-13

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has released a stunning visualization of global internal ocean tides, created using satellite altimetry data and simulations. The animation showcases how internal tidal waves, generated by the interaction of underwater topography, such as the Hawaiian Ridge, and tidal energy, propagate across the ocean. While these waves have a subtle surface expression, they play a significant role in ocean mixing and circulation. The visualization also highlights other regions with strong internal tidal activity, including Tahiti, the Southwest Indian Ocean, and the Luzon Strait, offering new insights into ocean dynamics.

(svs.gsfc.nasa.gov)

Tech ocean tides data visualization

Hardware-Level Network Time Security: Netnod's FPGA Implementation of NTS

2024-12-13

Following a 2019 software implementation of Network Time Security (NTS), Netnod has deployed NTS at the hardware level using FPGAs for their NTP and NTS protocols. This hardware implementation offers enhanced security, mitigating side-channel attacks and improving efficiency and scalability. While challenges existed in processing complex NTS packets, Netnod overcame them with a multi-engine parallel processing solution. Their NTS service is now in production.

(labs.ripe.net)

Hardware network security hardware security

Asynchronous Rust on Cortex-M Microcontrollers: A Deep Dive

2024-12-14

This article delves into the world of asynchronous Rust programming on Cortex-M microcontrollers. It explains the mechanics of Futures, cooperative scheduling, and asynchronous Rust executors, showcasing their efficiency in resource management. The innovative Embassy framework, designed to empower asynchronous programming on microcontrollers, is introduced. Through practical examples like a Blinky and Button program, the article illustrates the application of asynchronous Rust in embedded systems, comparing its advantages and disadvantages against traditional RTOS approaches. The conclusion highlights the significant benefits of asynchronous Rust in terms of resource utilization and concurrency.

(interrupt.memfault.com)

Development Asynchronous Rust Embedded Systems

America's Healthcare System: A Total Breakdown, Beyond Insurance Companies

2024-12-14

The American healthcare system is broken, and the problem extends far beyond insurance companies. An oncologist argues that pharmaceutical firms, PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers), the FDA, CMS, hospitals, and doctors all share responsibility. Pharmaceutical companies push unproven drugs, PBMs profit excessively, regulators are lax, hospitals charge exorbitant fees and engage in predatory practices, and doctors order unnecessary tests and treatments. While insurance companies are frustrating, they are a scapegoat for a larger systemic issue. The author calls for sweeping reforms of the FDA and CMS to end corporate capture of regulatory agencies, addressing the high costs and inefficiency of the US healthcare system. The recent assassination of an insurance CEO highlights public frustration with the system.

(www.sensible-med.com)

Misc healthcare reform healthcare costs US healthcare

Mysterious Tablet with Unknown Script Unearthed in Georgia

2024-12-14

A basalt tablet inscribed with 60 enigmatic characters has been discovered near Lake Bashplemi in Georgia. The unique symbols, arranged in seven registers, bear partial resemblance to scripts from the Middle East, India, Egypt, and even West Iberia, but don't directly match any known writing system. Dating potentially to the Late Bronze or Early Iron Ages, its purpose remains a mystery, though theories include recording military spoils, construction projects, or religious offerings. The discovery suggests cultural exchange between the Caucasus and neighboring regions in antiquity.

(languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu)

Misc ancient script archaeological discovery Georgia

Hospitals Reporting Mothers to Child Welfare After Administering Medications During Childbirth

2024-12-14

A surge in reports to child welfare agencies is occurring across the U.S. Hospitals are administering medications like pain relievers and sedatives during labor, then reporting mothers to child welfare when subsequent drug tests on the mother or newborn come back positive for the same substances. These positive tests, often false positives due to commonly prescribed medications, lead to police involvement, child welfare investigations, and even child removal. The investigation reveals a lack of verification procedures and excessive surveillance of pregnant women. Experts call for improved hospital drug testing and reporting protocols to prevent harm to mothers and families.

(www.themarshallproject.org)

Misc Medical Malpractice Drug Testing Child Welfare

Veryfront Figma Kit: Design Stunning Websites in Minutes

2024-12-14

Veryfront's new Figma Kit allows users to design stunning websites in minutes. Boasting 100+ components, light and dark mode support, and full responsiveness, the kit streamlines the design process. Users simply choose components, build pages, add content, and seamlessly hand off designs to front-end developers. Its intuitive tools and pre-built components save time and boost creativity, earning praise from users who report a transformed design process and increased efficiency.

(veryfront.com)

Design Website Design UI Components

Meta FAIR Unveils Breakthrough AI Research, Open-Sourcing Key Models

2024-12-13

Meta FAIR released a suite of groundbreaking AI research artifacts, including Meta Motivo, a foundational model for controlling virtual embodied agents, and Meta Video Seal, an open-source model for video watermarking. This release focuses on advancements in agent capabilities, robustness, safety, and architectural innovations for more efficient learning. Other key contributions include the Flow Matching codebase, Meta Explore Theory-of-Mind for theory-of-mind reasoning, Large Concept Models (LCMs), and the Dynamic Byte Latent Transformer. By open-sourcing these tools and models, Meta aims to foster collaboration and accelerate responsible AI development.

(ai.meta.com)

AI

New Hash Functions Rain Hashes: Speed and Security Combined

2024-12-13

DOSAYGO Research has released Rain Hashes, a new family of hash functions featuring Rainbow and Rainstorm algorithms. Rainbow boasts exceptional speed, making it ideal for general-purpose hashing. Its C++ implementation has passed all SMHasher3 tests and is characterized by its concise and efficient code. Rainstorm prioritizes security; while not formally audited, its design incorporates elements from cryptographic hash functions and offers output sizes from 64 to 512 bits. The project provides C++, WASM, and Node.js implementations, along with a command-line tool and benchmark tests for easy evaluation and usage.

(github.com)

Development hash function

Security Vulnerabilities Stemming from Dart/Flutter's Weak PRNG

2024-12-13

Zellic's research uncovered multiple security vulnerabilities caused by a weak pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) in Dart/Flutter. A flaw in the initialization of the `Random()` function within the Dart SDK resulted in insufficient entropy in generated keys, making them susceptible to brute-force attacks. This allowed attackers to easily gain access to the Dart Tooling Daemon, enabling them to read or write workspace files and even execute arbitrary code. Furthermore, Proton Wallet and SelfPrivacy projects were also affected by this weak PRNG, experiencing encryption vulnerabilities and predictable password issues, respectively. While the vulnerability has been patched, developers are urged to exercise caution when using the `Random()` function and utilize `Random.secure()` when cryptographically secure random numbers are required.

(www.zellic.io)

Development Security Vulnerability

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