Phys Org

• newPlayer behavior in the online game EVE Online may reflect real world country
  Virtual worlds may reflect social and economic behavior in the real world, according to a study published October 21, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andres M. Belaza and colleagues from Ghent University, Belgium.
  - 1 hour ago 21 Oct 20, 6:00pm -
• newTurbulent era sparked leap in human behavior, adaptability 320,000 years ago
  For hundreds of thousands of years, early humans in the East African Rift Valley could expect certain things of their environment. Freshwater lakes in the region ensured a reliable source of water, and large grazing herbivores roamed the grasslands.…
  - 1 hour ago 21 Oct 20, 6:00pm -
• newBuilding blocks of language evolved 30-40 million years ago
  The capacity for language is built upon our ability to understand combinations of words and the relationships between them, but the evolutionary history of this ability is little understood. Now, researchers from the University of Warwick have manage…
  - 1 hour ago 21 Oct 20, 6:00pm -
• newCaptive-bred salmon in wild may do more harm than good
  Releasing captive-bred Atlantic salmon into the ocean, a long-standing practice to boost stocks for commercial fishing, reduces the rate at which wild populations reproduce and may ultimately do more harm than good, researchers cautioned Wednesday.
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:24pm -
• newUK's 'Boaty McBoatface' polar vessel begins sea trials
  Britain's most advanced polar research ship in decades was set to begin technical sea trials on Wednesday before making its maiden voyage to Antarctica next year.
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:23pm -
• newSuit: Feds ignore risk of huge spills to endangered species
  Environmental groups asked a federal court Wednesday to throw out the Trump administration's assessment of oil and gas activity's likely effects on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, saying it dismisses the chance of another disastrous blowout…
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:22pm -
• newChili-shaped device could reveal just how hot that pepper is
  Some people love spicy food—the hotter, the better. Others go out of their way to avoid the palate-singeing burn of capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick. Now, researchers have developed a portable device (whimsically shaped l…
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:17pm -
• newDelivering proteins to testes could someday treat male infertility
  According to the Mayo Clinic, about 15% of couples are infertile, and male infertility plays a role in over one-third of these cases. Often, problems with sperm development are to blame. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have found a way to deli…
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:16pm -
• newA flexible color-changing film inspired by chameleon skin
  Chameleons can famously change their colors to camouflage themselves, communicate and regulate their temperature. Scientists have tried to replicate these color-changing properties for stealth technologies, anti-counterfeiting measures and electronic…
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:16pm -
• newThe soft power concept of German energy foreign policy
  As part of its foreign policy, Germany hopes to promote energy transitions abroad through international energy partnerships. A new study by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) analyzes these bilateral energy partnerships. Buildin…
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:02pm -

Wired

• newHow the ‘Diabolical’ Beetle Survives Being Run Over by a Car
  The puny insect can withstand forces 39,000 times its body weight. Scientists just discovered its super-strength secret—which could inspire new materials.
  - 4 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 3:00pm -
• newA Deepfake Porn Bot Is Being Used to Abuse Thousands of Women
  An AI tool that “removes” items of clothing from photos has targeted more than 100,000 women, some of whom appear to be under the age of 18.
  - 6 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 1:00pm -
• newSamsung Galaxy A71 5G Review: A Drab, but Reliable Phone
  This unlocked mid-range smartphone is a reliable buy, even if it's not all that exciting.
  - 6 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 1:00pm -
• newWhat Even Is Friction, Anyway?
  You might think of it as the force that slows things down, but you literally couldn't get anywhere without it.
  - 6 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 1:00pm -
• newThe Improbable Appeal of TikTok Tarot
  You'd think that have a reading delivered via machine algorithm would make it feel less useful or relevant. You'd think wrong.
  - 7 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 12:00pm -
• newPro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo Review: An Audio Nerd's Dream
  For $500, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo is a fantastic turntable that will last vinyl-loving audiophiles a lifetime.
  - 8 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 11:00am -
• newAmericans Took Prevagen for Years—as the FDA Questioned Its Safety
  From the memory supplement’s launch in 2007 through 2016, agency officials repeatedly raised concerns as the number of consumer complaints grew.
  - 8 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 11:00am -
• newThe Horny Internet Wants You to Vote
  From X-rated Twitter feeds to ErectionSeason.com, sex workers are using their talents to get fans to the polls.
  - 8 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 11:00am -
• newAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez Storms Twitch
  More than 400,000 people tuned into AOC's stream of a marathon Among Us session with representative Ilhan Omar and Twitch luminaries.
  - 15 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 3:42am -
• newThe Anticlimax of the Google Antitrust Suit
  The justice department's case against Microsoft in the 1990s was much stronger than the one it's concocted against the Mountain View tech giant.
  - 22 hours ago 20 Oct 20, 9:27pm -

Security

Popular Science

• newMeet the disk-shaped halo of hot gas you currently live in

  

  Scientists have determined that the Milky Way’s halo has a disk-like shape and a clumpy texture that suggests it’s constantly trading gas and energy with the galaxy as stars are born and die.
  - 2 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 5:11pm -
• newProsecutions under the Clean Air and Water acts dropped in half after Trump took office

  

  In the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Trump said: “I want crystal clean water and air. I want beautiful clean air.” But his administration has done a lot more to cloud the air with pollutants than to protect it.
  - 4 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 3:00pm -
• newThe 2022 GMC electric Hummer looks a lot different than you might expect

  

  With 1,000 horsepower and 350 miles of range on a charge, this off-road-ready vehicle looks impressive.
  - 5 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 2:37pm -
• newFive ways to help democracy even if you can’t vote

  

  If you’re too young or aren’t a US citizen, there is still a lot you can do to keep yourself active and engaged during this election and beyond.
  - 6 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 1:23pm -
• newIt’s about time adults start rising up against climate change

  

  The planet that young people are receiving is one stricken with disaster, and it’s unfair.
  - 6 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 12:43pm -
• newCheck out the breathtaking winners of the 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest

  

  This year's winners of the London Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition went above and beyond to capture beautiful scenes from all across the natural world.
  - 21 hours ago 20 Oct 20, 10:00pm -
• Watch live as the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft snags a chunk of asteroid
  NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to collect a sample of rock and dust from the asteroid Bennu, which may give scientists clues to how life on Earth originally formed.
  - 1 day ago 20 Oct 20, 5:00pm -
• Everyone should have a social life, especially older adults

  

  Researchers suggest that prescribing socialization could help older adults foster brain health.
  - 1 day ago 20 Oct 20, 3:17pm -
• Become a better writer with these online tools

  

  There are plenty of great tools that can flag the worst of your mistakes, offer advice, and help you communicate your thoughts and ideas more efficiently.
  - 1 day ago 20 Oct 20, 12:00pm -
• Meet the disease detectives fighting to understand COVID-19

  

  The CDC's special investigative unit quietly churns out the world's leading experts in hunting down newly emerging pathogens.
  - 1 day ago 20 Oct 20, 10:00am -

Singularity Hub

• newHey Google … What Movie Should I Watch Today? How AI Can Affect Our Decisions
  Have you ever used Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, or Amazon Alexa to make decisions for you? Perhaps you asked it what new movies have good reviews, or to recommend a cool restaurant in your neighborhood. Artificial intelligence and virtual assist…
  - 5 hours ago 21 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• Can We Trust AI Doctors? Google Health and Academics Battle It Out
  Machine learning is taking medical diagnosis by storm. From eye disease, breast and other cancers, to more amorphous neurological disorders, AI is routinely matching physician performance, if not beating them outright. Yet how much can we take those…
  - 1 day ago 20 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• Scientists Just Achieved Room Temperature Superconductivity for the First Time
  Superconductivity could be the key to groundbreaking new technologies in energy, computing, and transportation, but so far it only occurs in materials chilled close to absolute zero. Now researchers have created the first ever room-temperature superc…
  - 2 days ago 19 Oct 20, 2:16pm -
• When Did We Become Fully Human? What Fossils and DNA Tell Us About the Evolution of Modern Intelligence
  When did something like us first appear on the planet? It turns out there’s remarkably little agreement on this question. Fossils and DNA suggest people looking like us, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, evolved around 300,000 years ago. Surprising…
  - 3 days ago 18 Oct 20, 5:00pm -
• This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through October 17)
  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A Radical New Technique Lets AI Learn With Practically No Data Karen Hao | MIT Technology Review “Shown photos of a horse and a rhino, and told a unicorn is something in between, [children] can recognize the mythical creatur…
  - 4 days ago 17 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• NASA’s About to Try Grabbing a Chunk of Asteroid to Bring to Earth—and You Can Watch
  If you’ve seen the movie The Martian, you no doubt remember the rescue scene, in which (spoiler alert!) Matt Damon launches himself off Mars in a stripped-down rocket in hopes of his carefully-calculated trajectory taking him just close enough to h…
  - 5 days ago 16 Oct 20, 1:00pm -
• Estonia Is a ‘Digital Republic’—What That Means and Why It May Be Everyone’s Future
  People around the globe have been watching the buildup to the US election with disbelief. Particularly confusing to many is the furor over postal ballots, which the US president, Donald Trump, is insisting will lead to large-scale voter fraud—despi…
  - 6 days ago 15 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• Alphabet’s New Moonshot Is to Transform How We Grow Food
  In the 1940s, agronomist Norman Borlaug was tasked by the US government with improving the yield of wheat plants in Mexico. The thinking was that if America’s southern neighbor had better food security, relations between the two countries would imp…
  - 7 days ago 14 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• Scientists Found a New Way to Control the Brain With Light—No Surgery Required
  If I had to place money on a neurotech that will win the Nobel Prize, it’s optogenetics. The technology uses light of different frequencies to control the brain. It’s a brilliant mind-meld of basic neurobiology and engineering that hijacks the me…
  - 8 days ago 13 Oct 20, 2:00pm -
• Space Mining Should Be a Global Project—But It’s Not Starting Off That Way
  Exploiting the resources of outer space might be key to the future expansion of the human species. But researchers argue that the US is trying to skew the game in its favor, with potentially disastrous consequences. The enormous cost of lifting mater…
  - 9 days ago 12 Oct 20, 2:00pm -