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The Bloody Polenta: A Century of Serratia marcescens

2025-03-23

The Bloody Polenta: A Century of Serratia marcescens

From the 'bloody polenta' incident of 1819 to 20th-century biowarfare experiments, Serratia marcescens, a bacterium renowned for its striking red pigment, has left an indelible mark on science, medicine, and culture. Mistakenly implicated in 'miraculous blood' events, it's been used to study germ dispersal and even deployed as a biological weapon. Despite some strains' pathogenicity, it plays a vital role in immunotherapeutic and antimicrobial research, with its red pigment, prodigiosin, boasting diverse biomedical applications. This article recounts the century-long saga of this 'miracle bacterium', unveiling its fascinating and often overlooked scientific story.

(www.asimov.press)

Tech

Beginner's Guide to Linux/Unix Programming

2025-03-30

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to programming on Linux and Unix systems, even for those without prior programming experience. The author's friendly, conversational style, backed by over 40 years of teaching experience, guides readers through programming techniques, efficient workflow strategies, and the underlying design of Unix. Numerous diagrams and hands-on projects reinforce key concepts, building upon each other throughout the book. While prior C/C++ experience is helpful, it's not required; however, access to a Linux system is necessary.

(nostarch.com)

Development

Sleep's Brain-Washing Secret: A Controversial New Study

2025-03-27

Sleep's Brain-Washing Secret: A Controversial New Study

A new study suggests a link between norepinephrine, blood vessel movement, and cerebrospinal fluid flow, potentially key to the brain's 'washing' process during sleep. Researchers manipulated norepinephrine levels and blood vessel activity in mice, observing changes in cerebrospinal fluid flow. However, the study has faced criticism; some argue it presents more interpretation than data, and that fluid movement may simply be diffusion. Despite the controversy, the research offers a fresh perspective on brain waste clearance during sleep, fueling further exploration of the 'glymphatic system'.

(www.quantamagazine.org)

Tech cerebrospinal fluid norepinephrine

Open-Source Morpho: Revolutionizing Soft Material Shape Optimization

2025-03-13

Open-Source Morpho: Revolutionizing Soft Material Shape Optimization

Researchers at Tufts University have developed Morpho, an open-source software designed to tackle shape optimization problems for soft materials. Unlike traditional software that excels with rigid materials, Morpho simulates the response of soft materials like biological tissues, engineered tissues, and shape-shifting fluids under force. This is crucial for applications such as designing artificial hearts, heart valves, and robotic materials mimicking human soft tissue. Morpho's ease of use and broad applicability are revolutionizing the field of soft material design.

(now.tufts.edu)

Development soft materials shape optimization

Zyxel Firewall Bricked by Buggy Update: On-Site Fix Required

2025-01-29

Zyxel Firewall Bricked by Buggy Update: On-Site Fix Required

A faulty application signature update released by Zyxel last Friday is causing reboot loops, ZySH daemon failures, and login issues for some users. Affected devices include USG Flex and ATP Series devices running ZLD firmware with active security licenses and dedicated signature updates enabled in on-premises/standalone mode. The only workaround requires physical access to the firewall via a console/RS232 cable for recovery. Zyxel has disabled the application signature on its servers to prevent further impact.

(www.theregister.com)

Hardware Software Bug

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-03-31

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)

Development

Improving a Go HTTP Server: Unit Tests, Middleware, and Subrouters

2025-03-28

Improving a Go HTTP Server: Unit Tests, Middleware, and Subrouters

This blog post details improvements made to a Go HTTP server built from scratch. The author added unit tests, addressed reader feedback regarding case-insensitive headers and multiple header values, and improved handling of response streams and larger payloads. Key additions include middleware support for cleaner code and subrouters for enhanced route organization. The post showcases iterative development and practical problem-solving in Go.

(www.krayorn.com)

Development

Surprisingly Stable: Dyson Spheres and Ringworlds in Binary Systems

2025-03-22

Surprisingly Stable: Dyson Spheres and Ringworlds in Binary Systems

Science fiction staples, Dyson spheres and ringworlds, are typically considered gravitationally unstable and prone to collapse. However, a new study from Colin McInnes at the University of Glasgow reveals that specific configurations of these megastructures near a binary star system can, in fact, be stable. McInnes identified seven equilibrium points around a binary system where a ring structure could maintain stability. This research has significant implications for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), potentially guiding future surveys to look for bright stars orbiting with objects exhibiting strong infrared excesses—a potential technosignature indicating such megastructures.

(phys.org)

Tech Dyson Sphere Ringworld Gravitational Stability

Building a Spacefaring Mission in Lua: An EmptyEpsilon Tutorial

2025-03-23

This tutorial details creating custom spacefaring missions for the EmptyEpsilon game using Lua scripting. Starting with a basic scenario file, it guides you through adding space stations, nebulae, asteroids, and ships, designing encounters between player and enemy factions, and setting up mission objectives and events. The tutorial progresses step-by-step with complete code examples. Learn how to use Lua functions to manipulate game elements and build a compelling space adventure, such as a mission to rescue a stranded diplomat.

(daid.github.io)

Game Lua Scripting Game Tutorial

Wify: A React Native App for Effortless WiFi Connection

2025-03-16

Wify: A React Native App for Effortless WiFi Connection

Wify is a React Native application that simplifies WiFi connection by scanning images or using the camera to extract WiFi credentials. It supports OCR in multiple languages, uses fuzzy matching for WiFi names, and includes robust permission handling with user-friendly prompts. The app seamlessly connects to networks, even with minor discrepancies in names, making WiFi access quick and easy on both Android and iOS.

(github.com)

Development WiFi Connection

Is Abandoning the Internet the Next Big Thing?

2025-03-19

The author compares the current internet to a dangerous slum, filled with spam, malware, and constant attacks. Using personal anecdotes and website statistics, he illustrates the dark side: overwhelming spam, persistent DDoS attacks, and rampant malware. He argues the internet's average IQ is declining and may worsen. While not ready to abandon the internet himself, he's considering it, noting others have already quietly left.

(www.fourmilab.ch)

Tech cyberattacks future of internet

Anonymous Confessions: Exposing the Dark Side of Work

2025-03-26

A new platform allows employees to anonymously share the dark secrets of their workplaces, including shady deals, toxic bosses, and insane Slack messages. The platform guarantees complete anonymity and promises to adapt the truest, most detailed, and Glassdoor-unsuitable confessions into a new series. Contributors can share their own stories or others' (with names and identifiers changed), holding executives accountable for their actions.

(baserow.io)

Misc workplace confessions

Low-Tech Magazine's Compressed Book Edition: A Sustainable Publishing Experiment

2025-03-23

Low-Tech Magazine's Compressed Book Edition: A Sustainable Publishing Experiment

Low-tech Magazine, known for its low-energy website, has released a 'compressed' edition of its book series. This single volume condenses three previous books, reducing paper consumption and carbon emissions by nearly two-thirds through smaller fonts, images, and a two-column layout. The article compares the environmental impact of online and print reading, revealing that while the website's server footprint is low, reader device energy use is significant. The compressed edition lowers costs and tree usage, though recycled paper is explored as an ideal but practically limited solution. Ultimately, content compression, rather than paper choice alone, offers the greatest resource reduction.

(solar.lowtechmagazine.com)

Misc sustainable publishing

Can Earth's Rotation Power a Generator? Physicists Debate a Novel Claim

2025-03-29

Can Earth's Rotation Power a Generator? Physicists Debate a Novel Claim

A controversial new study claims that electricity can be generated from Earth's rotation. Researchers have devised a device that uses Earth's magnetic field to produce a minuscule current, although only 17 microvolts. While the amount of electricity generated is tiny, the implications are significant. If scalable, this technology could provide clean energy to remote locations or for medical applications. However, the findings are disputed; some scientists express skepticism and call for further evidence to rule out other contributing factors. This research opens a new avenue for clean energy exploration, but also highlights the challenges and uncertainties inherent in scientific discovery.

(www.scientificamerican.com)

Tech Earth's rotation electricity generation

Databricks' TAO: Outperforming Fine-tuning with Unlabeled Data

2025-03-26

Databricks' TAO: Outperforming Fine-tuning with Unlabeled Data

Databricks introduces TAO (Test-time Adaptive Optimization), a novel model tuning method requiring only unlabeled usage data. Unlike traditional fine-tuning, TAO leverages test-time compute and reinforcement learning to improve model performance based on past input examples. Surprisingly, TAO surpasses traditional fine-tuning, bringing open-source models like Llama to a quality comparable to expensive proprietary models like GPT-4. This breakthrough is available in preview for Databricks customers and will power future products.

(www.databricks.com)

AI Model Tuning

I Built the PS1 Backwards Compatibility Emulator for the PS2

2025-02-08

I Built the PS1 Backwards Compatibility Emulator for the PS2

A Sony Computer Entertainment engineer recounts his experience developing the PlayStation 2's PS1 backward compatibility. Initially tasked with emulating the PS1's sound hardware, his work became obsolete when the chip was integrated into the PS2. Unexpectedly, he was then assigned to emulate the PS1's graphics processor, a significant challenge. He successfully completed the task, enabling most PS1 games to run on the PS2 and contributing significantly to its launch success. This became the most important and proudest achievement of his career.

(freelansations.medium.com)

Game

Cursor 0.47 Released: Agent Mode Now Default, Major Performance Boost

2025-03-15

Cursor 0.47 Released: Agent Mode Now Default, Major Performance Boost

Cursor 0.47 focuses on stability and performance improvements, making existing features work better. Agent mode is now the default, unifying Chat, Composer, and Agent into a single, smarter interface. This release also includes enhanced keyboard shortcuts, new themes, UI improvements, multiple image uploads, improved rules and MCP support, and numerous bug fixes. Agent mode boasts automatic web search and smarter code editing and application capabilities.

(www.cursor.com)

Development Cursor update Agent mode

Quake's Precomputed Visibility: Demystifying the PVS Algorithm

2025-01-10

This is the first installment in the "Demystifying the PVS" series, exploring how Quake's engine optimized rendering performance using precomputed visibility sets (PVS). In the mid-90s, limitations of software rendering made reducing overdraw crucial. Quake used a portal system and PVS to address this. Portals divide the world into cells; the engine renders only cells visible to the camera and others visible through portals. The PVS algorithm precomputes a list of visible cells for each cell during map compilation, avoiding complex visibility tests at runtime and significantly improving rendering efficiency. This article delves into the PVS algorithm's implementation details, including portal definitions, the role of the BSP tree, and the algorithm's three steps: base visibility, full visibility, and result resolution.

(30fps.net)

Game PVS Algorithm

Secure and Efficient Rust-based RDP Client: IronRDP

2025-03-21

Secure and Efficient Rust-based RDP Client: IronRDP

IronRDP is a collection of Rust crates providing a secure implementation of the Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It supports various codecs including uncompressed raw bitmaps, RLE, RDP 6.0 bitmap compression, and Microsoft RemoteFX. A full-fledged asynchronous RDP client is included, along with a blocking example for easier integration. The project also details how to enable RemoteFX on the server for enhanced graphics performance.

(github.com)

Development

Tesla's Australian Sales Plummet: Stockpiles, Price Wars, and Damaged Brand Image

2025-03-29

A large stockpile of unsold Tesla Model Ys in a Perth parking lot highlights the brand's struggles in Australia. Increased competition, price wars, and Elon Musk's political activities have all contributed to declining sales. Dealers are slashing prices to clear inventory, hurting previous buyers and damaging customer trust. Inadequate charging infrastructure in Australia further exacerbates the issue, pushing consumers towards hybrid vehicles.

(au.news.yahoo.com)

Tech

NYU 2024 Admissions Data Leak: Analysis of Admission Standards Post-Affirmative Action Ban

2025-03-22

A top-secret leak of New York University (NYU) 2024 admissions data reveals that NYU may have continued using race-based admissions criteria after the Supreme Court ruled affirmative action in college admissions illegal. The leaked data, including average SAT, ACT, and GPA scores for different racial groups, raises questions about the fairness of college admissions. The data has been mirrored on Proton and MEGA.

(web.archive.org)

Misc data leak college admissions affirmative action

Privacy Isn't Dead: Ditch the All-or-Nothing Approach

2025-02-17

Privacy Isn't Dead: Ditch the All-or-Nothing Approach

Advocates for privacy often encounter two damaging narratives: that privacy is dead and thus efforts to protect data are futile, and that only perfectly private and secure tools are worth using. The author argues that both mindsets lead to inaction. The article encourages a gradual approach, celebrating small wins like switching from SMS to Signal, even if imperfect. Instead of aiming for perfection, incremental improvements gradually enhance privacy. Building a positive privacy culture is key.

(www.privacyguides.org)

Misc incremental improvement

Senators Eye Gutting Section 230: A Threat to Everyday Internet Users

2025-03-25

Senators Eye Gutting Section 230: A Threat to Everyday Internet Users

Several Senators are again attempting to dismantle Section 230, a crucial law protecting internet users. Contrary to claims that it only shields Big Tech, Section 230 provides limited liability for all platforms, disproportionately benefiting smaller ones and individual users. Repealing it would solidify Big Tech monopolies and harm individuals' ability to speak, organize, and create online. The law allows platforms to moderate content without facing publisher liability, incentivizing them to combat illegal activity and harmful content. Repeal would create the opposite effect, leading to a surge in harmful online material.

(www.eff.org)

Tech Section 230 online speech

Elegantly Solving the Problem of Anchor Links on Extremely Long Pages

2025-04-03

Elegantly Solving the Problem of Anchor Links on Extremely Long Pages

This article tackles the problem of anchor links failing to scroll to the correct heading on very long pages. The author explores several solutions, starting with simple padding adjustments, then shifting trigger lines, and finally employing a sophisticated approach involving virtual headings and an optimization algorithm. A cubic polynomial function ensures smooth transitions, addressing issues of layout and user experience. The optimal solution balances maintaining original heading positions with preserving section spacing, resulting in a robust and elegant solution for extremely long pages.

(thirty-five.com)

Development

Developer Marketing: Listen More, Sell Less

2025-02-22

Developer Marketing: Listen More, Sell Less

Daniel shares his insights on developer marketing, arguing that traditional marketing tactics are ineffective for developers. He emphasizes the importance of connecting with the developer community, understanding their pain points, and offering practical solutions. Using Permit.io as an example, he describes their approach of listening to developer needs, providing flexible tools and features, and engaging with the community through events like WeAreDevelopers Berlin. Their latest feature, Permit Share-If, pre-built UI components simplifying access sharing, exemplifies this approach. The article challenges the assumption that developers are a monolithic target audience and advocates for a multifaceted, community-driven marketing strategy.

(permit.substack.com)

Development developer marketing product launch

Trimethylaminuria (TMAU): The 'Fish Odor Syndrome'

2025-03-31

Trimethylaminuria (TMAU): The 'Fish Odor Syndrome'

Trimethylaminuria (TMAU), or 'fish odor syndrome', is a rare metabolic disorder causing sufferers to emit a strong fishy odor. More common in women, it's linked to FMO3 gene mutations hindering the breakdown of trimethylamine. This chemical builds up and is released through sweat, urine, and breath. While not life-threatening, TMAU significantly impacts quality of life. Treatment focuses on managing symptoms through diet modification (avoiding trimethylamine-rich foods), hygiene practices, stress reduction, and sometimes antibiotics or activated charcoal. There's currently no cure.

(www.livescience.com)

Misc genetic disorder metabolic disorder rare disease

Learn Japanese Grammar with TypeScript: Introducing Typed Japanese

2025-03-29

Learn Japanese Grammar with TypeScript: Introducing Typed Japanese

Typed Japanese is a TypeScript type-level library that allows you to express complete Japanese sentences using the type system. It creates a domain-specific language (DSL) based on Japanese grammar rules, enabling the writing and verification of grammatically correct natural language using TypeScript's compiler. The project also explores an intermediate format for AI in language learning, potentially replacing JSON with a type-checked representation for improved accuracy. It supports various verb and adjective conjugations, phrase and sentence construction, aiming to create a type system for learning and verifying Japanese grammar. While still in early stages and relying on LLM-generated rules, it offers a unique approach to language learning and grammar verification.

(github.com)

Development Japanese Language Learning

Volvo Recalls 7,483 PHEVs Due to Fire Risk

2025-03-29

Volvo Recalls 7,483 PHEVs Due to Fire Risk

Volvo is recalling 7,483 plug-in hybrid vehicles in the US due to a potential fire hazard. Affected models include the S60, V60, S90, V90, XC60, and XC90. The issue stems from a battery module production deviation that could cause a short circuit and thermal runaway. Owners are urged to stop charging their vehicles until the recall is addressed. Dealers will inspect and replace the battery module if necessary, and install new monitoring software. While two incidents have been reported, no injuries or accidents have occurred.

(www.carscoops.com)

Tech recall battery safety Volvo

Sony's New RGB LED Backlight Tech: A Mini LED Killer?

2025-03-19

Sony's New RGB LED Backlight Tech: A Mini LED Killer?

Sony announced a new TV display technology using individual RGB LEDs for backlighting. Called "General RGB LED Backlight Technology," it combines the high brightness of Mini LED with the high contrast of OLED. A prototype shown at Sony's Tokyo headquarters boasted 4000 cd/m² brightness and superior color gamut. Compared to Sony's existing Mini LED and QD-OLED TVs, the RGB LED prototype excelled in color reproduction and viewing angles, though some blooming was still present. While not entirely novel, Sony believes its expertise in backlighting and image processing will yield a reliable and stable product, offering a compelling alternative for large-screen, high-brightness TVs.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

Global Privacy Control (GPC): A User-Powered Solution to Web Tracking?

2025-03-16

Global Privacy Control (GPC): A User-Powered Solution to Web Tracking?

Unlike its predecessor, Do Not Track (DNT), the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal has backing from the California Attorney General and aims for alignment with the EU's GDPR, empowering users like never before. DNT's ineffectiveness stemmed from its lack of legal enforcement, but GPC changes that. It transmits users' "Do Not Sell" requests to websites, compelling compliance. With support from browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Brave, and DuckDuckGo's Privacy Browser, GPC signals a potential turning point in the fight against web tracking.

(developer.mozilla.org)

Tech web tracking

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