Meanwhile in science news.

[5pins]

Malicious code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it

Malicious code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it | TechCrunch

In a mind-boggling world first, a team of biologists and security researchers have successfully infected a computer with a malicious program coded into a strand of DNA.

Essentially the code in the DNA escapes the program as soon as it is converted from ACGTs to 00011011s, and executes some commands in the system — a sufficient demonstration of the existence of the threat vector. And there’s plenty of room for more code if you wanted to do more than break out of the app.

[Robinson]

Malicious code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it

Malicious code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it | TechCrunch

Interesting. This would require a certain type of bug/vulnerability to exist in the computer's software. Something like creating a pointer to a buffer and then allowing data read from the DNA sample to overflow the allocated memory space. Otherwise, the data would be treated as data and not as code. This type of bug exists due to human error -- a programmer made a mistake and didn't implement code to make sure the data read would fit into the memory space allocated when the pointer was set. This normally might just cause a crash or a memory leak since the data written to the buffer overlays the byte where a terminator would be expected in a well designed piece of code.

[5pins]

Interesting. This would require a certain type of bug/vulnerability to exist in the computer's software. Something like creating a pointer to a buffer and then allowing data read from the DNA sample to overflow the allocated memory space. Otherwise, the data would be treated as data and not as code. This type of bug exists due to human error -- a programmer made a mistake and didn't implement code to make sure the data read would fit into the memory space allocated when the pointer was set. This normally might just cause a crash or a memory leak since the data written to the buffer overlays the byte where a terminator would be expected in a well designed piece of code.

[Malamute]

Seventeen-year-old Igor Klymenko worked on his invention while sheltering in a basement from Russian attacks.

In February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, 17-year-old Igor Klymenko was forced to flee his home in Kyiv. He and his family moved to the countryside, sheltering in a basement as the war raged around them.

“I was living with eight people,” Klymenko says. “All this time we heard explosions, rockets, planes, and it was really hard to concentrate, to just focus, [and] not to think about the war.”

After three weeks, and with a renewed sense of urgency, the young engineer decided to revisit a past passion project: a prototype of a drone that could detect unexploded land mines and send their exact coordinates remotely to a user...


...While finishing his senior year and sheltering from the attacks, Klymenko worked with scientists and programmers to hone his Quadcopter Mines Detector. He now has two working prototypes of the device and two Ukrainian patents. Just this week, at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, Klymenko was awarded the Chegg.org Global Student Prize, a $100,000 award for a student making an impact on society, learning and the lives of their peers.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innov...ss_xbWE4axvt9w

[Caballoflaco]

I’m skeptical and haven’t read anything about this project beyond this article. But since this is a gun forum I thought the mechanics of how they are accelerating a projectile, even if it is tiny, to 25,920 mph or 38,016 fps was pretty neat. The article says the next prototype will use a rail gun.

https://www.iflscience.com/72-foot-f...s-energy-66139

First Light’s approach is altogether simpler, though that doesn’t detract from the incredible engineering. A large steel gun containing gunpowder and a piston is fired, accelerating the piston down the barrel and compressing hydrogen gas in front of it as it goes. Entering a cone-shaped area, the gas is compressed down into a tiny area and meets the projectile, which then shoots out of the gun at 7 kilometers per second (4.3 miles per second) into the fusion target. At this impact point, the pressure is sufficient to begin nuclear fusion.

ETA: this more detailed article about one of their experiments in April shows how far they have to go.

https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2022...uclear_fusion/

In its experiment, First Light said it was able to produce 50 neutrons from deuterium fusion. Hawker said the amount of energy released was "very little," and the company was working to increase the number of neutrons by 1,000 times in its next big run.

Before the technology can be used to power people's homes, First Light's equipment needs to achieve a fusion reaction capable of emitting a quintillion (1018) neutrons.

[Dog Guy]

Dino killer comet info. Nothing earth shaking but has a good simulation of the tsunami and resulting wave patterns, along with supporting evidence.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/aste...005413507.html

Original study at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley....9/2021AV000627

"Plain Language Summary
At the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid impact near the Yucatan peninsula produced a global tsunami 30,000 times more energetic than any modern-day tsunami produced by earthquakes. Here we model the first 10 min of the event with a crater impact model, and the subsequent propagation throughout the world oceans using two different global tsunami models. The Chicxulub tsunami approached most coastlines of the North Atlantic and South Pacific with waves of over 10 m high and flow velocities in excess of 1 m/s offshore. The tsunami was strong enough to scour the seafloor in these regions, thus removing the sedimentary records of conditions before and during this cataclysmic event in Earth history and leaving either a gap in these records or a jumble of highly disturbed older sediments. The gaps in sedimentary records generally occur in basins where the numerical model predicts larger bottom velocities."

[P30]

Not really new and not really science because no evidence is presented. But an interesting abstract of the history of Earth in less than 12 minutes:

[Dog Guy]

From the Sacramento Bee:

"If you’ve wondered how earthquake aftershocks work, this animation might help you visualize it.

The animation shows the shock wave from the 6.4-magnitude earthquake that hit Northern California as it rolled across North America and lit up sensitive seismic stations in its path. At least two people died and 12 were injured after the earthquake rattled Humboldt County, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The EarthScope Consortium posted the animation to Facebook on Wednesday, Dec. 21.


“This animation, called a Ground Motion Visualization (GMV), shows the motion of the ground as detected on seismometers across North America,” the consortium said. “Each dot is a seismic station and when the ground moves up it turns red and when it moves down it turns blue.”


https://www.yahoo.com/news/animation...004336782.html
https://www.facebook.com/EarthScope....6766432404619/

[Wondering Beard]

There are lots of incentives to cheat and if this happens at Harvard, what does that say about every other university?

[blues]

That they're better than Harvard?


(I had to get my shot in. I went up there years ago when I was still an undergrad to visit a friend. I was not impressed with the minds I encountered.)