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ICYMI Oldest Known Version Of DOS Discovered |
by Paul Arnote (parnote) Image by Foto-RaBe from Pixabay According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, venomous snake bites kill thousands every year. A California doctor may have a solution. Matthew Lewin, expedition physician for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, hopes to develop a pill that would thwart the effects of a venomous snakebite in remote areas. While not a COMPLETE treatment for venomous snake bites, it aims to slow the effects of the venom and allow victims more time to seek treatment. Can Flow Batteries Finally Beat Lithium? That's the question that an article from the IEEE Spectrum attempts to answer. Nanoparticles may boost energy density enough for EVs. If you're unfamiliar with "flow batteries," don't feel alone. I hadn't heard of them either, until I read this article. In a nutshell, instead of hooking up to a recharging station for an extended amount of time as you typically have to do with LiON batteries, the depleted electrolyte solution in a flow battery is exchanged for an electrolyte solution that has been "recharged" and rejuvenated. This means that a "recharge" for a flow battery won't take much longer than it takes to fill your gas tank for your current car with an internal combustion engine. I'm not sure if this is from a horror movie script or a Sci-Fi movie script, but it is pretty concerning and scary. Resurrection biology - attempting to bring strings of molecules and more complex organisms back to life - is gaining traction in labs around the world, according to an article from CNN. There seems to be a lot going on in this field, from resurrecting viruses that have been entombed in the permafrost for tens of thousands of years (why?), to searching for new antibiotics, to resurrecting dodo birds and wooly mammoths.  The oldest-known version of MS-DOS's predecessor has been discovered and uploaded to The Internet Archive, according to an article from ArsTechnica. 86-DOS would later be bought by Microsoft and take over the computing world. This is version 0.1-C of 86-DOS, which came out in or around August 1980. It was later renamed QDOS. If you are interested, you can download a copy from here. Meet the lawyer leading the human resistance against AI, in an article from Wired. Matthew Butterick is leading a wave of lawsuits against major AI firms, from OpenAI to Meta. Win or lose, his work will shape the future of human creativity. From the "can you believe it?" department, Google is finally getting rid of cookies, according to an article from Lifehacker. That's a weird statement to process, considering the company generated many of its billions with the help of internet cookies. But, nonetheless, it's happening: The cookies are going in the trash, at least on Google's part, in a wider effort to limit cross-site tracking on the internet. Google made the announcement on their blog.  The monoclonal antibody nirsevimab (Beyfortus) reduced hospitalizations among infants with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated lower respiratory tract infection in a randomized trial, according to an article from MedPage Today. The new drug is over 80% effective in preventing the hospitalization of children with an RSV infection. The research team from Rice University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas, says the new approach is a marked improvement over another kind of cancer-killing molecular machine previously developed, called Feringa-type motors, which could also break the structures of problematic cells, according to a post on Slashdot. "It is a whole new generation of molecular machines that we call molecular jackhammers," says chemist James Tour from Rice University. "They are more than one million times faster in their mechanical motion than the former Feringa-type motors, and they can be activated with near-infrared light rather than visible light." In tests on cultured, lab-grown cancer cells, the molecular jackhammer method scored a 99 percent hit rate at destroying the cells. The approach was also tested on mice with melanoma tumors, and half the animals became cancer-free. The structure and chemical properties of aminocyanine molecules mean they stay in sync with the right stimulus - such as near-infrared light. When in motion, the electrons inside the molecules form what's known as plasmons, collectively vibrating entities that drive movement across the whole of the molecule. The plasmons have an arm on one side, helping to connect the molecules to the cancer cell membranes while the movements of the vibrations bash them apart. It's still early days for the research, but these initial findings are very promising. Have you ever wondered why these 6 items are not allowed in space? Are there chairs in space? From salt and pepper to a simple pen, find out why certain objects simply aren't allowed in space, thanks to an article from the Discover Magazine website.  Public Domain The beginning of a new year means the rights to additional intellectual properties passing from their original owners, to you, the public - and 2024 is a particularly monumental year in that regard, considering it marks the entry into the public domain of one Mickey Mouse, according to an article from Lifehacker. The article also has links to other works ... besides Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie ... that have passed into the public domain. Please exercise caution: copyright laws vary by jurisdiction, so check the laws for your region. A new experimental antibiotic can handily knock off one of the world's most notoriously drug-resistant and deadly bacteria - in lab dishes and mice, at least, according to an article from ArsTechnica. It does so with a never-before-seen method, cracking open an entirely new class of drugs that could yield more desperately needed new therapies for fighting drug-resistant infections. Starting with this build (Build 26020), the WordPad and People apps will no longer be installed after doing a clean install of the [Windows] OS, according to a blog on Windows.com. In a future flight, WordPad will be removed on upgrade. WordPad will not be reinstallable. WordPad is a deprecated Windows feature. WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. Microsoft recommends Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents, like .txt. Sayonara WordPad. You served well those of us who found the price of Microsoft Office prohibitive for 30 years. You can see a full list of deprecated "features" here ... and viruses aren't one of them.  Google is suggesting that users "turn it off and then on again" as their advice in 2024 for Gmail users following reports of a password change-resistant attack being exploited by information-stealing attackers, according to an article from Forbes. While the exploit survives a password change, it appears to not be able to survive a restart ... yet. One of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way is hiding a second galaxy behind it, new research reveals, according to an article on Space.com. New observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud show that it might actually be two galaxies disguised as one. Both the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Large Magellanic Cloud are dwarf galaxies that are gravitationally bound to the Milky Way and are being steadily drawn toward our galaxy for a collision and merger in the far future. A rocket is set to release the remains of 330 people, including George Washington, JFK and 'Star Trek' cast members James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols into space, forming a 'Permanent memorial', according to an article from the New York Post. Texas-based company Celestis Inc.'s inaugural Enterprise Flight is scheduled to launch at 2:18 a.m. Monday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, marking the first time human remains will be released on the moon and beyond by a commercial company.  NASA According to an article from The Debrief website, NASA has announced plans to unveil its X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft on January 12, 2024, the American space agency said in a statement on January 5, 2024. As part of NASA's Quesst mission, the X-59 will be flown above populated regions of the United States, after which the space agency will collect information from the public about responses to sound the aircraft produces, which will then be supplied to international regulators for assessment. Are you getting tired of your current browser, and thinking about switching to another? It's a real pain, because that typically means you have to worry about moving/transferring all of your bookmarks, history, passwords/logins, etc. BUT, with careful planning, you can minimize the "sting" of switching to another browser by a little careful planning, according to an article from Lifehacker. This one is from the "useless information you really can't do anything with" department. How many times must you fold a piece of paper to reach the Moon? Each time you fold a piece of paper, you double the paper's thickness. With an average thickness of around 0.1mm, it surprisingly doesn't take nearly as many folds as you might think to reach the Moon, according to an article from Big Think. Of course, before you attempt this on your own, you should also watch the Mythbusters episode (abridged ... less than four minutes) to see how many times they were able to fold a piece of paper. Their maximum effort didn't come close to the number of folds needed to reach the moon before it became impossible for them to continue folding the paper. In fact, they only managed about a quarter of the number of folds necessary.  DataBase Center for Life Science, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license A team of researchers has announced the discovery of a new species of Tyrannosaurus from New Mexico, one that appeared in the fossil record five million to seven million years before the familiar tyrant lizard, according to an article from the New York Times. Their research, published Jan 11, 2024 in the journal published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests a new chapter could be added to the origin story of Tyrannosaurus rex. Even though we're not done with COVID, you may have reason to worry about the origins of the NEXT pandemic. According to the Children's Health Defense website, The Defender, between 2000 and 2021, at least 16 pathogens reportedly escaped from research laboratories, according to a new study published in The Lancet Microbe. The study authors said their findings may "only represent the tip of the iceberg," due to a lack of standard reporting requirements. Microsoft topped Apple as the world's most valuable publicly traded company, driven by the success of its A.I. business, according to an article from the New York Times.  Image by adamlot from Pixabay We've all "double dipped" (once bitten food, usually bread, veggies or chips, going back into the dip or sauce that is meant to accompany it) when we have been home alone. But, scientifically, is it a bad idea to "double dip" in public? That's the question up for grabs in an article from Bon Appétit. "Absolutely," says Paul Dawson, PhD, who conducted various experiments with his students to study the germ trail left behind by double-dippers, like measuring the bacteria left behind after dipping bitten crackers in various dips. "There were between 100- and 1,000-times the number of bacteria transferred to the dip when a chip was bitten before dipping compared with when the chip was dipped without biting first." Dawson is a food scientist at South Carolina's Clemson University. By analyzing data on tens of thousands of people across four continents compiled between 15 existing studies, a team of researchers has landed on a more comfortable figure for the number of steps per day an individual needs to have to reduce the chance of a premature death: the optimal number is probably closer to 6,000 steps per day, depending on your age, according to an article from ScienceAlert. So from where did that 10,000 step figure often touted as the "goal" actually come from? Half a century ago, the Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company in Japan sought to cash in on the buzz left by the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by producing a pedometer they called 'Manpo-kei' - a word that translates into 10,000 steps. In other words, it is/was a marketing ploy. A Chinese company has developed a new nuclear battery that could keep your phone running for 50 years without charging, according to an article from TechRadar. Betavolt Technology claims to have successfully miniaturized atomic energy batteries, which measure less than a coin at 15 x 15 x 5mm. The compact battery uses 63 nuclear isotopes to generate 100 microwatts and a voltage of 3V of electricity through the process of radioactive decay. Betavolt says that after it has decayed the 63 nuclear isotopes become copper, which would be non-radioactive and not cause any environmental threat. It could even prove to be safer too, as Betavolt states that the BV100 will not catch fire or explode in response to punctures or even gunshots, unlike some current batteries that can be unsafe if damaged or when exposed to high temperatures.  Image by milolao from Pixabay DNA provided Neanderthals with advantages as they adapted to new environments, however they also brought negative consequences - and nicotine addiction was among the downsides of some genes, according to an article from the Mirror. There are six key indicators that show you have Neanderthal DNA, genetic experts say. Up to two per cent of our DNA comes from our ancient predecessors. Around 60,000 years ago, Africa and Asia interbreeding happened with Neanderthals. According to preclinical research published in Cell, researchers at City of Hope have discovered that a type of immune cell in the human body known to be important for allergy and other immune responses can also attack cancer, according to an article from MedicalXPress. Furthermore, these cells, called human type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), can be expanded outside of the body and applied in larger numbers to overpower a tumor's defenses and eliminate malignant cells in mouse models with cancer. "The City of Hope team has identified human ILC2 cells as a new member of the cell family capable of directly killing all types of cancers, including blood cancers and solid tumors," said Jianhua Yu, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope and the study's senior author. "In the future, these cells could be manufactured, preserved by freezing, and then administered to patients. Unlike T cell-based therapies like CAR T cells, which necessitate using the patient's own cells due to their specific characteristics, ILC2s might be sourced from healthy donors, presenting a distinct potential therapeutic approach as an allogeneic and 'off-the-shelf' product." Do you find your YouTube videos loading slower than they used to? You're probably not alone, especially if you use an ad blocker (and who doesn't these days?). According to an article from Android Police, YouTube, in a bid to push revenues (as if Alphabet corporation doesn't make enough), has long tried to convince its users to switch to the $14/month Premium tier. Failing to do so would result in viewers having to sit through ads, with YouTube at one point even testing up to eleven unskippable ads, although the subsequent backlash led the company to end this experiment. As for people who continue to use workarounds, like using ad blockers, the streaming platform had some other plans, including, but not limited to, slowing down load times. YouTube is now seemingly bringing back this particular anti-ad block campaign, as noted by Reddit user NightMean. Several other users on the thread concur, with some reportedly mistaking the slowdown for reduced internet speeds. The load times reportedly improve significantly when the ad blocker is disabled.  Image by Willfried Wende from Pixabay Do you need a/another reason to shy away from bottled water? Scientists say they'll cut back on bottled water after learning one liter contains a quarter of a million pieces of plastic, according to an article from People. A recent study analyzed three brands of bottled water, purchased from a major national retailer, and found a liter of bottled water contained an average of 240,000 pieces of plastic. People may be shying away from bottled water, as the news of potential harm from microplastics and nanoplastics comes to light. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to disseminate known indicators of compromise (IOCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with threat actors deploying Androxgh0st malware, according to the advisory. Multiple, ongoing investigations and trusted third party reporting yielded the IOCs and TTPs, and provided information on Androxgh0st malware's ability to establish a botnet that can further identify and compromise vulnerable networks. The FBI and CISA encourage organizations to implement the recommendations in the Mitigations section of this CSA to reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents caused by Androxgh0st infections. Scroll about half way down the page to read the recommended mitigations. ChatGPT and Google Bard are AI chatbots designed to generate responses to prompts. When used appropriately, ChatGPT and Google Bard can be used to support certain business processes in content production, development and more. An article from TechRepublic takes a look at each tool's features, pros and cons to see which AI chatbot would be best for you.  (Snipped from my own personal email) Recently, we [Google] announced that Google Podcasts is going away in 2024. In order to ease this transition, you now have access to a tool that allows you to easily migrate your show subscriptions to YouTube Music or to download a file of your show subscriptions, which you can upload to an app that supports their import. Just like Google Podcasts, with YouTube Music you can listen to podcasts on the go using background play, download podcasts, and more - with no paid membership required. After March 2024, users in the US will no longer be able to listen to podcasts in Google Podcasts. After June 2024, you will no longer be able to migrate or export your subscriptions. My reaction: people are still using Google Podcasts when there are WAY better options? Audacy and iheart radio are two popular alternatives among a ton of sites serving up podcasts. Still, the Google Death Drum beats for yet another Google "service." Buh-duh-boom-boom-boom another one bites the dust! A warming Earth and increase in human activity like shipping, mining may soon release ancient zombie viruses trapped in permafrost in Siberia, triggering a new pandemic, warns a study, according to an article from The Weather Channel. Known for years as 'Methuselah microbes', the viruses have stayed dormant in permafrost for tens of thousands of years, but carry the risk of propagating and spreading diseases. With 2023 being the warmest year on record, the risk of permafrost thawing and eventually releasing the zombie viruses is higher than ever, said researchers from the Aix-Marseille University in the south of France. The Doomsday Clock - which shows how symbolically close the world is to nuclear Armageddon - is to remain at 90 seconds to midnight, according to an article from BBC World News (and other media outlets). Scientists have listed reasons for keeping its hands the closest they have ever been to "Doomsday" - but stopped short of nudging it further forward. The threat of a new nuclear arms race, the Ukraine war and climate change concerns were all factors, they said. The clock is set annually by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Doomsday Clock was started in 1947, and is updated annually. Ring, a home security camera company owned by Amazon, said that it would stop letting police departments request users' footage in its app amid longstanding concerns from privacy advocates about the company's relationship with law enforcement, according to an article from the New York Times. Eric Kuhn, the general manager of subscriptions and software for the Ring app Neighbors, announced on January 24, 2024, that the company was shutting down a feature that allowed the police to request and receive videos from users of the app, a social platform similar to Nextdoor and Citizen where people can share alerts about crime near their home. |
