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Going Viral: How Two Pakistani Brothers Created the First PC Virus
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Jason Kersten
filed under: technology
first-pc-virus_6.jpg


Before vigilante hackers like Anonymous tamed the Internet, two brothers started their own fight against software piracy. Their weapon: the first PC virus.

In 1986, students at the University of Delaware began experiencing strange symptoms: temporary memory loss, a lethargic drive, and fits of rage. This wasn’t just any old flu—it was the world’s first personal computer virus. Known as Brain, the bug destroyed memory, slowed the hard drive, and hid a short copyright message in the boot sector, introducing the world to two soon-to-be hacker celebrities.

At the time, coders Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi were just 17 and 24, respectively, running a computer store in Lahore, Pakistan. When they discovered that customers were circulating illegal copies of software they’d written, the brothers decided to retaliate. Brain was their attempt to scare pirates straight, but, as the creators tell it, the virus was never intended to be malicious. In a 2011 interview with F-Secure, a Finnish anti-virus company, the brothers called the bug a “friendly virus,” one that “was not made to destroy any data.” Why else would they have stamped the virus code with their names, their phone numbers, and the address of their shop?

“The idea was that only if the program was illegally copied would the virus load,” Amjad said in a Pakistani TV interview a few years ago. The Alvis also had an ingenious method for keeping track of how far the virus had spread. “[We] had a ‘counter’ in the program, which could keep track of all copies made and when they were made.”

OUTBREAK
The brothers claim they never knew that Brain would grow into a monster beyond their control. But a 1988 TIME magazine article reveals a more complicated truth: As concerned as they were with piracy of their own software, that didn’t stop them from making and selling bootleg copies of other expensive programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3. In fact, the ethics of their computer vigilantism are a little murky. Computer software isn’t copyright protected in Pakistan, Basit has argued in interviews, so therefore it’s not piracy for people to trade bootleg disks.

Under that rationale, the brothers sold clean bootleg copies to Pakistanis—and virus-infected versions to American students and backpackers. When Americans flew home and attempted to copy the programs, they ended up infecting every floppy disc subsequently inserted into their computers, even discs that had nothing to do with the original program.

Shortly after the University of Delaware outbreak, Brain began popping up at other universities, and then at newspapers. The New York Times reported that a “rogue computer program” had hit the Providence Journal-Bulletin, though the “damage was limited to one reporter losing several months of work contained on a floppy disk.”

While there was never any legal action, the media response was explosive. Basit and Amjad began receiving calls from all over the world. They were as surprised as anyone that their little experiment had traveled so far. After all, unlike today’s computer viruses, which spread at lightning speed, Brain had to transmit itself the old-fashioned way—through human carriers toting around 5.25-inch floppy discs.

But the binary genie was out of the bottle. Today, there are more than a million viruses vying to infect your computer; it’s estimated that half of all PCs are or have been infected. Consumers shell out more than $4 billion per year for software to fight these digital dragons.

As for the brothers, the virus hasn’t been bad for business. Their company, Brain Net, is now the largest Internet service provider in Pakistan. While they maintain that they never meant to hurt anyone, they have nevertheless embraced Brain as a device that exposed the global nature of piracy. “The virus could not have spread unless people were copying the software illegally,” Amjad said during his Pakistani TV interview.

The brothers, who told reporters that they stopped selling contaminated software sometime in 1987, are still based at the same address in Lahore—the one stamped into Brain’s code.

This article originally appeared in mental_floss magazine, available wherever brilliant/lots of magazines are sold. Get a free issue here!

Going Viral: How Two Pakistani Brothers Created the First PC Virus | Mental Floss



Learning from suicide blasts
By Salman Siddiqui
Published: July 26, 2010

011-640x480.jpg

The software Usmani has developed can simulate suicide bomb explosions in three dimensions.


KARACHI: Even though catching suicide bombers may be difficult, it is possible to minimise casualties and injuries from their attacks by putting in place pre-emptive measures based on studying past explosions, says a 32-year-old Pakistani scientist.

Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, who currently teaches at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Topi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, completed his PhD in computer science from the US-based Florida Institute of Technology where he went to study on a Fulbright scholarship. His PhD topic, “Modelling and Simulation of Explosion Effectiveness as a Function of Blast and Crowd Characteristics,” was inspired by a desire to save lives, Usmani says. The software Usmani has developed can simulate suicide bomb explosions in three dimensions. The computer programme has wide-ranging applications, including blast forensics and post-disaster management.

It was this software which helped Usmani figure out that the Ashura blast in Karachi was planted and not the work of a suicide bomber. Soon after the blast, the authorities claimed that it was a suicide attack. However, based on post-blast forensic signatures and injury patterns, Usmani demonstrated that it was a planted explosive.

Usmani has worked as a consultant for the Sindh police, as well as the Anti Narcotics Force. He is now looking at the possibility of working on a project for the Punjab government.

According to Usmani’s research, just by changing the way a crowd of people stand near a suicide bomber can reduce deaths by 12 per cent and injuries by seven per cent on average.

“The average deadliest crowd formation for casualties was found to be the zigzag scenario like people at a concert, where 30 per cent of the participants are in the lethal zone and 45 per cent in the injury zone. Row-wise crowd formations were found to be the best for reducing the effectiveness of an attack, with on average 18 per cent of the crowd in the lethal zone and 38 per cent in the injury zone,” the scientist says.

His simulation software incorporates the effects of stampedes, which usually occur when people start running in the same direction following an attack. The analysis also shows that announcing the threat of a suicide blast in a crowd could result in higher casualties.

What surprises Usmani is that in spite of 260 bombings and 3,841 fatalities since 1995, the authorities are not studying data or incorporating changes that could minimise the effects of these deadly attacks.

“Despite a large number of such blasts, it seems we’re bent upon not learning anything from them. Even today a large number of buildings which were struck in the past don’t incorporate any changes to their design or increase exit doors,” Usmani says. He suggests that his software can be used in identifying whether a building such as a mosque or imambargah have proper safety measures in place.

The backbone of the software Usmani has developed is the database, which comprises bombing and injury details from records of suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan, beginning November 15, 1995 to the present day. Usmani also maintains the count on his online portal Home | PakistanBodyCount.org

“The study is based on the records of patients compiled painstakingly from hospitals, which in most cases include medico legal reports, X-rays, electrocardiograms, post-traumatic stress disorder profiles, and injury types and characteristics. The database also contains blast characteristics, such as explosives type, weight, shape, fragmentation signatures, and temperature of the day, crowd characteristics, such as crowd density, gender, age ratio, weight, and the distance from the bomber with plus or minus two feet of error,” says Usmani.

One very interesting finding which Usmani was able to make through this data was that attacks claimed by different militant groups have caused different wounds.

“In a typical suicide blast in Pakistan, we have at least four times more punctured wounds, two times more injuries on the lower limbs, and five times more injuries on the human torso, compared to a non suicidal blast,” says Usmani.

According to the scientist, suicide attacks claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) have 35 per cent laceration and eight per cent punctured wounds rate, while those claimed by Harkatul Mujahideen (HM) have 31 per cent abrasion rate compared to 13 per cent of the LJ. On the other hand, the laceration rate of attacks claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the HM is quite similar. The BLA suicide attacks have more than 30 per cent torso injuries compared to eight per cent in the HM and 20 per cent LJ attacks. Usmani claims: “If you give me the description of wounds, I can provide you with the name of the probable culprits”.

Usmani’s programme can also predict whether security measures put in place to thwart terrorist attacks at high-profile targets, such as the Presidential House, are effective. In most cases, Usmani says, his analysis is that “the heavy road blocks and barbed wires put in place [for security] will in fact act as shrapnel and may seriously damage or destroy the buildings”. Commenting on why global products such as Injury 8.1 or Blast/FX are unable to match his software, Usmani says that such applications are either restricted to the US army/military domain or are too expensive (usually $25,000 per licence) to be used in Pakistan. “On the other hand, my product can perform similar or even better analysis in case of a suicide attack for as low as Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 per assignment.”

Hinting at the poor forensic standards of our law enforcement authorities, Usmani says that most police officials hide vital data in the name of confidentiality. “However, the truth is that in most cases they don’t even keep a record of the data, to say nothing about determining patterns and analysis.”

To correct this state of affairs, Usmani says there is a dire need to establish a suicide bombing research centre (SBRC) that is independent and takes input from all stakeholders, including hospitals, agencies, police and the media, to determine patterns in suicide attacks. Sadly, “Pakistan today is the best place on earth to study suicide bombings,” he says. “In fact, we could even provide consultation to the world in this area.”

However helpful the software might be, according to the director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies Muhammad Amir Rana, “our investigators don’t have the capacity to use such high-end tools”. He cites the example of Chinese scanners installed by the authorities at the gateway of Islamabad to check vehicles for bombs, which according to Rana, the police haven’t been able to operate properly.

“Also, simple things such as computerisation of the process of registering an FIR haven’t seen the light of day,” he says. Nevertheless, the counter-terrorism expert believes that if Pakistan is to win the war against militancy, all possible tools, including the one created by Usmani, would have to be employed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2010.

Learning from suicide blasts – The Express Tribune
 
A Kashmiri, a Lahoriyaa and a fan of C&C Generals ! :o:
Na karo not you too... you would not be into football and arsenal... u look like ur a man u fan personally :P

Also, since I know you appreciate medicine as much as I do, check this thread if you haven't already done so:
ive been tagged but insomnia attacks yet again so im kinda brain dead have not slept and it is nearly 9 am
 
Na karo not you too... you would not be into football and arsenal... u look like ur a man u fan personally :P

Football is my beloved ! :kiss3:

And I am a Liverpool FC fan - You'll Never Walk Alone ! :smokin:

Arsenal - Pfft....pretty little ballerinas ! :tongue:
 
Going Viral: How Two Pakistani Brothers Created the First PC Virus

first-pc-virus_6.jpg


Before vigilante hackers like Anonymous tamed the Internet, two brothers started their own fight against software piracy. Their weapon: the first PC virus.

In 1986, students at the University of Delaware began experiencing strange symptoms: temporary memory loss, a lethargic drive, and fits of rage. This wasn’t just any old flu—it was the world’s first personal computer virus. Known as Brain, the bug destroyed memory, slowed the hard drive, and hid a short copyright message in the boot sector, introducing the world to two soon-to-be hacker celebrities.

At the time, coders Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi were just 17 and 24, respectively, running a computer store in Lahore, Pakistan. When they discovered that customers were circulating illegal copies of software they’d written, the brothers decided to retaliate. Brain was their attempt to scare pirates straight, but, as the creators tell it, the virus was never intended to be malicious. In a 2011 interview with F-Secure, a Finnish anti-virus company, the brothers called the bug a “friendly virus,” one that “was not made to destroy any data.” Why else would they have stamped the virus code with their names, their phone numbers, and the address of their shop?

“The idea was that only if the program was illegally copied would the virus load,” Amjad said in a Pakistani TV interview a few years ago. The Alvis also had an ingenious method for keeping track of how far the virus had spread. “[We] had a ‘counter’ in the program, which could keep track of all copies made and when they were made.”

OUTBREAK
The brothers claim they never knew that Brain would grow into a monster beyond their control. But a 1988 TIME magazine article reveals a more complicated truth: As concerned as they were with piracy of their own software, that didn’t stop them from making and selling bootleg copies of other expensive programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3. In fact, the ethics of their computer vigilantism are a little murky. Computer software isn’t copyright protected in Pakistan, Basit has argued in interviews, so therefore it’s not piracy for people to trade bootleg disks.

Under that rationale, the brothers sold clean bootleg copies to Pakistanis—and virus-infected versions to American students and backpackers. When Americans flew home and attempted to copy the programs, they ended up infecting every floppy disc subsequently inserted into their computers, even discs that had nothing to do with the original program.

Shortly after the University of Delaware outbreak, Brain began popping up at other universities, and then at newspapers. The New York Times reported that a “rogue computer program” had hit the Providence Journal-Bulletin, though the “damage was limited to one reporter losing several months of work contained on a floppy disk.”

While there was never any legal action, the media response was explosive. Basit and Amjad began receiving calls from all over the world. They were as surprised as anyone that their little experiment had traveled so far. After all, unlike today’s computer viruses, which spread at lightning speed, Brain had to transmit itself the old-fashioned way—through human carriers toting around 5.25-inch floppy discs.

But the binary genie was out of the bottle. Today, there are more than a million viruses vying to infect your computer; it’s estimated that half of all PCs are or have been infected. Consumers shell out more than $4 billion per year for software to fight these digital dragons.

As for the brothers, the virus hasn’t been bad for business. Their company, Brain Net, is now the largest Internet service provider in Pakistan. While they maintain that they never meant to hurt anyone, they have nevertheless embraced Brain as a device that exposed the global nature of piracy. “The virus could not have spread unless people were copying the software illegally,” Amjad said during his Pakistani TV interview.

The brothers, who told reporters that they stopped selling contaminated software sometime in 1987, are still based at the same address in Lahore—the one stamped into Brain’s code.
Learning from suicide blasts

011-640x480.jpg

The software Usmani has developed can simulate suicide bomb explosions in three dimensions.


KARACHI: Even though catching suicide bombers may be difficult, it is possible to minimise casualties and injuries from their attacks by putting in place pre-emptive measures based on studying past explosions, says a 32-year-old Pakistani scientist.

Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, who currently teaches at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Topi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, completed his PhD in computer science from the US-based Florida Institute of Technology where he went to study on a Fulbright scholarship. His PhD topic, “Modelling and Simulation of Explosion Effectiveness as a Function of Blast and Crowd Characteristics,” was inspired by a desire to save lives, Usmani says. The software Usmani has developed can simulate suicide bomb explosions in three dimensions. The computer programme has wide-ranging applications, including blast forensics and post-disaster management.

It was this software which helped Usmani figure out that the Ashura blast in Karachi was planted and not the work of a suicide bomber. Soon after the blast, the authorities claimed that it was a suicide attack. However, based on post-blast forensic signatures and injury patterns, Usmani demonstrated that it was a planted explosive.

Usmani has worked as a consultant for the Sindh police, as well as the Anti Narcotics Force. He is now looking at the possibility of working on a project for the Punjab government.

According to Usmani’s research, just by changing the way a crowd of people stand near a suicide bomber can reduce deaths by 12 per cent and injuries by seven per cent on average.

“The average deadliest crowd formation for casualties was found to be the zigzag scenario like people at a concert, where 30 per cent of the participants are in the lethal zone and 45 per cent in the injury zone. Row-wise crowd formations were found to be the best for reducing the effectiveness of an attack, with on average 18 per cent of the crowd in the lethal zone and 38 per cent in the injury zone,” the scientist says.

His simulation software incorporates the effects of stampedes, which usually occur when people start running in the same direction following an attack. The analysis also shows that announcing the threat of a suicide blast in a crowd could result in higher casualties.

What surprises Usmani is that in spite of 260 bombings and 3,841 fatalities since 1995, the authorities are not studying data or incorporating changes that could minimise the effects of these deadly attacks.

“Despite a large number of such blasts, it seems we’re bent upon not learning anything from them. Even today a large number of buildings which were struck in the past don’t incorporate any changes to their design or increase exit doors,” Usmani says. He suggests that his software can be used in identifying whether a building such as a mosque or imambargah have proper safety measures in place.

The backbone of the software Usmani has developed is the database, which comprises bombing and injury details from records of suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan, beginning November 15, 1995 to the present day. Usmani also maintains the count on his online portal Home | PakistanBodyCount.org

“The study is based on the records of patients compiled painstakingly from hospitals, which in most cases include medico legal reports, X-rays, electrocardiograms, post-traumatic stress disorder profiles, and injury types and characteristics. The database also contains blast characteristics, such as explosives type, weight, shape, fragmentation signatures, and temperature of the day, crowd characteristics, such as crowd density, gender, age ratio, weight, and the distance from the bomber with plus or minus two feet of error,” says Usmani.

One very interesting finding which Usmani was able to make through this data was that attacks claimed by different militant groups have caused different wounds.

“In a typical suicide blast in Pakistan, we have at least four times more punctured wounds, two times more injuries on the lower limbs, and five times more injuries on the human torso, compared to a non suicidal blast,” says Usmani.

According to the scientist, suicide attacks claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) have 35 per cent laceration and eight per cent punctured wounds rate, while those claimed by Harkatul Mujahideen (HM) have 31 per cent abrasion rate compared to 13 per cent of the LJ. On the other hand, the laceration rate of attacks claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the HM is quite similar. The BLA suicide attacks have more than 30 per cent torso injuries compared to eight per cent in the HM and 20 per cent LJ attacks. Usmani claims: “If you give me the description of wounds, I can provide you with the name of the probable culprits”.

Usmani’s programme can also predict whether security measures put in place to thwart terrorist attacks at high-profile targets, such as the Presidential House, are effective. In most cases, Usmani says, his analysis is that “the heavy road blocks and barbed wires put in place [for security] will in fact act as shrapnel and may seriously damage or destroy the buildings”. Commenting on why global products such as Injury 8.1 or Blast/FX are unable to match his software, Usmani says that such applications are either restricted to the US army/military domain or are too expensive (usually $25,000 per licence) to be used in Pakistan. “On the other hand, my product can perform similar or even better analysis in case of a suicide attack for as low as Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 per assignment.”

Hinting at the poor forensic standards of our law enforcement authorities, Usmani says that most police officials hide vital data in the name of confidentiality. “However, the truth is that in most cases they don’t even keep a record of the data, to say nothing about determining patterns and analysis.”

To correct this state of affairs, Usmani says there is a dire need to establish a suicide bombing research centre (SBRC) that is independent and takes input from all stakeholders, including hospitals, agencies, police and the media, to determine patterns in suicide attacks. Sadly, “Pakistan today is the best place on earth to study suicide bombings,” he says. “In fact, we could even provide consultation to the world in this area.”

However helpful the software might be, according to the director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies Muhammad Amir Rana, “our investigators don’t have the capacity to use such high-end tools”. He cites the example of Chinese scanners installed by the authorities at the gateway of Islamabad to check vehicles for bombs, which according to Rana, the police haven’t been able to operate properly.

“Also, simple things such as computerisation of the process of registering an FIR haven’t seen the light of day,” he says. Nevertheless, the counter-terrorism expert believes that if Pakistan is to win the war against militancy, all possible tools, including the one created by Usmani, would have to be employed.

Learning from suicide blasts – The Express Tribune

Very interesting, I actually didn't know about this, though after this comment I'll actually read the article:p:.

but...

It's a bit, well, long:o:.

That said, I appreciate and welcome your contributions:yahoo: so don't think I'm shooing you away. Anything to help me sustain this thread is welcomed, though I'd be even more welcoming of shorter articles:-). Still, please contribute what you can, I welcome anything that can be offered.




First ultra HD video of Mount Everest and the Himalayas made my jaw drop

xz2stoxe3uz6ytrwxifh.gif


Wow. What a stunner. This breathtaking video was shot from above 20,000 feet and captures the Himalayas in such clear detail that I actually gasped when I watched it. You get to see Mount Everest, Ama Dablam and Lhotse in their natural glory and the view is just majestic. I don't think I'll ever get closer than this.

Make sure you watch for the shots at the end. Unreal.

Teton Gravity Research writes:

The aerial cinema experts at Teton Gravity Research release the first ultra HD footage of the Himalayas shot from above 20,000 ft. with the GSS C520 system, the most advanced gyro-stabilized camera system in the world. Filmed from a helicopter with a crew flying from Kathmandu at 4,600 ft. up to 24,000 ft. on supplemental oxygen, these are some of the most stable, crisp, clear aerial shots of these mountains ever released, which include Mt. Everest, Ama Dablam, and Lhotse.


Football is my beloved ! :kiss3:

And I am a Liverpool FC fan - You'll Never Walk Alone ! :smokin:

Arsenal - Pfft....pretty little ballerinas ! :tongue:

*Growl*!!! Taking your gossip to the Whatever thread:butcher:. Don't make me go Viking on you:pissed:. Gossip is interesting, but not newsy or sciency enough!

So for this I must shoo you away, though keep up with interesting articles!!!
 

Holy crap!!! Yeah, I'd actually be concerned about falling into one of these pictures. Amazingly done!!!



Amazing Photographs Show The Villarica Volcano Erupting in Chile

mpxolcdrpfik9bvhnsdi.jpg


The Villarica volcano near Pucón, Chile erupted early Tuesday morning, spewing a spectacular fountain of lava and ash that extended hundreds of meter into the air.

Above: Villarica erupts | Photo Credit: Aton Chile/AP Photo
According to Chile's National Emergency Office, Villarica erupted around 3 a.m. local time, and has forced more than 3,000 people to evacuate from surrounding towns. Fortunately, the eruption wasn't unexpected; yesterday, Chile's National Geology and Mining Service issued an orange alert after confirming a spike in local seismic activity, which, a press release noted, "has increased three times compared with early February," when the organization had previously declared a yellow alert.


tkkmz2yafglezs3jcnfa.jpg





 
This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying

If the drone crashes into a sensitive place, like a coral reef, it just harmlessly disappears.

Civilian drones may someday deliver your pizza, but they'll also travel places that people can't easily go, mapping forest fires or natural disasters, tracking wildlife, and studying Mars.

The further drones go, the more it might make sense to construct them out of biological materials. A new bio-drone could eventually be able to grow itself in remote locations, and if it gets lost in the wilderness,melt into a harmless puddle.

The shell of the drone is made from a mushroom-like material called mycelium, and cellulose coated with the same protein used to make wasp nests waterproof. Inside, the circuit board is printed with silver. Most of the materials—apart from a few components, like the motor—are biodegradable.

3038984-inline-i-1-this-bio-drone-can-grow-itself-and-then-melt-into-a-puddle-of-sugar-when-its-not-needed.png

"If it crashes in an environmentally-sensitive place, such as a coral reef, then it can biodegrade and it won't affect the coral as strongly," explains Ian Hull, a sophomore atStanford University, who was part of a large team of students from Brown, Spelman, and Stanford who collaborated with researchers from NASA on the design of the prototype.

"We can also send it into environments where we might not expect it to return," he says. "If we want to fly it over wildfires to see where it's spreading, or if there's a nuclear meltdown and we want to fly in to see what's going on with the radioactivity, we can send in the drone and it can send back data without returning."

The mushroom material proved to be well-suited for flying. "Mushroom materials are inherently lightweight, biodegradable, and the strength to weight ratio of the material was preferable for this application," says Melissa Jacobsen from Ecovative, the company that helped the students make the chassis.

3038984-inline-i-2-this-bio-drone-can-grow-itself-and-then-copy.jpg

Though the material would naturally biodegrade on its own, the students designed it to self-destruct. "It won't degrade very quickly unless we give it a set of enzymes that will help break it down further," says Hull. "Part of our project was making those enzymes that would only trigger upon certain conditions such as impact or time."

The bio material is also ideal for space, since in can grow itself, no matter where it is. "The problem with trying to bring anything to space is it's expensive to take mass up there, and you want anything you bring to be easily modified," says Hull. "Instead of taking parts and backups, you can just take a tiny sample of the bacteria or fungus you need to grow something like this drone."

The drone can also use bio-engineered sensors, which can help reduce weight and eliminate the need for electric power. Other bio-engineered cells, developed from organisms that live in extreme environments, help protect the drone from high temperatures and radiation. The students carefully changed the cells so they wouldn't affect the environment if the drone crashes and melts.

The drone was one of this year's entries in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.

This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying | Co.Exist | ideas + impact
 
This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying

If the drone crashes into a sensitive place, like a coral reef, it just harmlessly disappears.

Civilian drones may someday deliver your pizza, but they'll also travel places that people can't easily go, mapping forest fires or natural disasters, tracking wildlife, and studying Mars.

The further drones go, the more it might make sense to construct them out of biological materials. A new bio-drone could eventually be able to grow itself in remote locations, and if it gets lost in the wilderness,melt into a harmless puddle.

The shell of the drone is made from a mushroom-like material called mycelium, and cellulose coated with the same protein used to make wasp nests waterproof. Inside, the circuit board is printed with silver. Most of the materials—apart from a few components, like the motor—are biodegradable.

3038984-inline-i-1-this-bio-drone-can-grow-itself-and-then-melt-into-a-puddle-of-sugar-when-its-not-needed.png

"If it crashes in an environmentally-sensitive place, such as a coral reef, then it can biodegrade and it won't affect the coral as strongly," explains Ian Hull, a sophomore at Stanford University, who was part of a large team of students from Brown, Spelman, and Stanford who collaborated with researchers from NASA on the design of the prototype.

"We can also send it into environments where we might not expect it to return," he says. "If we want to fly it over wildfires to see where it's spreading, or if there's a nuclear meltdown and we want to fly in to see what's going on with the radioactivity, we can send in the drone and it can send back data without returning."

The mushroom material proved to be well-suited for flying. "Mushroom materials are inherently lightweight, biodegradable, and the strength to weight ratio of the material was preferable for this application," says Melissa Jacobsen from Ecovative, the company that helped the students make the chassis.

3038984-inline-i-2-this-bio-drone-can-grow-itself-and-then-copy.jpg

Though the material would naturally biodegrade on its own, the students designed it to self-destruct. "It won't degrade very quickly unless we give it a set of enzymes that will help break it down further," says Hull. "Part of our project was making those enzymes that would only trigger upon certain conditions such as impact or time."

The bio material is also ideal for space, since in can grow itself, no matter where it is. "The problem with trying to bring anything to space is it's expensive to take mass up there, and you want anything you bring to be easily modified," says Hull. "Instead of taking parts and backups, you can just take a tiny sample of the bacteria or fungus you need to grow something like this drone."

The drone can also use bio-engineered sensors, which can help reduce weight and eliminate the need for electric power. Other bio-engineered cells, developed from organisms that live in extreme environments, help protect the drone from high temperatures and radiation. The students carefully changed the cells so they wouldn't affect the environment if the drone crashes and melts.

The drone was one of this year's entries in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.

This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

That's awesome!!! Next up, an entire colony of drones building and dismantling themselves. Kind of a scary concept though, but like the article notes, for space exploration and colonies, perhaps an indispensable necessity for a colony's exploration needs!

On a slightly less bio-organic note:

ebqugeogomvmicm7s1de.jpg


Taken on March 1, this shows the always-gorgeous aurora casting its spell over the crashing waves of the Reykjanes Peninsula Sea Stacks in Iceland.
 
I misread it as several times:

Micro states - small nations bits too small to have their own thread


STAHP discriminating against Sealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
KHAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!!

Genghis Khan's Lost Fortress Uncovered In Western Mongolia

reawq3eohrkcdrs7v6zk.png


A team of Japanese and Mongolian archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 13th century military outpost thought to belong to Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan.

As reported in The Asahi Shimbun, the discovery is shedding light on the Mongol Empire's strategy on western expansion and trade routes between the 13th and 14th centuries:

The researchers surveyed ruins about 880 kilometers west of Ulan Bator in 2001 and found that geographical features around them were similar to the landscape depicted in a travel book written by a medieval Chinese Taoism leader.

The researchers also unearthed pieces of Chinese ceramics dating to the 13th century. An aerial photograph taken in 2001 shows the remains of a fortress surrounded by a soil wall, measuring 200 meters by 200 meters.

Last summer, the archaeologists used carbon dating to determine the age of unearthed wood chips and animal bones found at the site. The analysis showed the wood pieces were from the 12th to 13th century, while the bones were estimated to date to the 14th century.

The archaeologists say the items belonged to a castle used as a military base when Genghis Khan was leading his historic invasions of Central Asia. The fortress was commissioned by a close aide to Genghis in 1212. Prior to this discovery and analysis, researchers pointed to other areas as the potential site of the former castle. This discovery may serve as the final confirmation needed.




I misread it as several times:

Micro states - small nations bits too small to have their own thread


STAHP discriminating against Sealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, if Åland has something to offer, they can, though I don't think Sweden will appreciate it:lol:.

*That might not make sense to non-Swedes:

Åland Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying

If the drone crashes into a sensitive place, like a coral reef, it just harmlessly disappears.

Civilian drones may someday deliver your pizza, but they'll also travel places that people can't easily go, mapping forest fires or natural disasters, tracking wildlife, and studying Mars.

The further drones go, the more it might make sense to construct them out of biological materials. A new bio-drone could eventually be able to grow itself in remote locations, and if it gets lost in the wilderness,melt into a harmless puddle.

The shell of the drone is made from a mushroom-like material called mycelium, and cellulose coated with the same protein used to make wasp nests waterproof. Inside, the circuit board is printed with silver. Most of the materials—apart from a few components, like the motor—are biodegradable.

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"If it crashes in an environmentally-sensitive place, such as a coral reef, then it can biodegrade and it won't affect the coral as strongly," explains Ian Hull, a sophomore atStanford University, who was part of a large team of students from Brown, Spelman, and Stanford who collaborated with researchers from NASA on the design of the prototype.

"We can also send it into environments where we might not expect it to return," he says. "If we want to fly it over wildfires to see where it's spreading, or if there's a nuclear meltdown and we want to fly in to see what's going on with the radioactivity, we can send in the drone and it can send back data without returning."

The mushroom material proved to be well-suited for flying. "Mushroom materials are inherently lightweight, biodegradable, and the strength to weight ratio of the material was preferable for this application," says Melissa Jacobsen from Ecovative, the company that helped the students make the chassis.

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Though the material would naturally biodegrade on its own, the students designed it to self-destruct. "It won't degrade very quickly unless we give it a set of enzymes that will help break it down further," says Hull. "Part of our project was making those enzymes that would only trigger upon certain conditions such as impact or time."

The bio material is also ideal for space, since in can grow itself, no matter where it is. "The problem with trying to bring anything to space is it's expensive to take mass up there, and you want anything you bring to be easily modified," says Hull. "Instead of taking parts and backups, you can just take a tiny sample of the bacteria or fungus you need to grow something like this drone."

The drone can also use bio-engineered sensors, which can help reduce weight and eliminate the need for electric power. Other bio-engineered cells, developed from organisms that live in extreme environments, help protect the drone from high temperatures and radiation. The students carefully changed the cells so they wouldn't affect the environment if the drone crashes and melts.

The drone was one of this year's entries in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.

This Bio-Drone Grows Itself, And Then Melts Into A Puddle Of Sugar When It's Done Flying | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

What I'd really like to know is "how does it taste?":lol: I might have to build a drone capturing device so I can trap myself some lunch:partay:.

This one's a bit longer:hitwall:. I'm breaking my own rule!

How Radiation Nearly Broke Physics


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It was the heady days of the early 1900s, and radiation was all the rage. Researchers had just found a kind of radiation called "beta decay," and they discovered that it did something that seemed to smash one of the basic tenets of physics. Here's how the lowly neutrino saved the entire field.

At the turn of the last century, the Curies came up with the term "radiation" as a description of the recently-discovered becquerel rays. The idea came to encompass a lot of strange phenomena, including the sudden emergence of a helium nucleus from a uranium atom and some very odd things called "beta rays." Beta rays, scientists came to discover, were nothing more than electrons. Mystery solved!

And new mystery discovered. Electrons did consistently come out of a nucleus, but they didn't come out at the same energy level each time. There was a ceiling to the energy at which the electron could shoot out of a nucleus, but not a floor, so many electron ejections seemed to be missing energy. There was nothing, nothing whatsoever, to indicate where that missing energy was going. Scientists had clued in to the fact that beta rays consisted of electrons, because researchers could measure negative charge. This "missing" energy wasn't linked to any detectable charge. At that time, neutrons hadn't been discovered yet, so a neutral particle wasn't considered an option. Even if scientists had known about neutrons, the missing energy didn't come with anywhere near a neutron's worth of mass.

This led to no less a scientist to Niels Bohr speculating that the conservation of energy, one of the basic tenets of science, just didn't apply to subatomic particles. That was an understandable assumption. Conservation of energy wasn't verifiable as a universal law. Yes, it seemed to hold true for much of the science so far, and it was a very helpful assumption which seemed to clarify a lot of problems. But if it didn't clarify this one, why not chuck it out?

Because of Enrico Fermi and Wolfgang Pauli, that's why. Pauli wrote to Bohr, saying, "What if someone owed you a great deal of money, and offered to pay it back in installments, but each time the agree-upon installment was not met? ... Would you consider that something was missing?" Pauli came up with the idea of a neutral particle with less mass than any particle yet discovered. Fermi liked the concept, but was lost until he got an assist from another physicist, who discovered a new particle — the chargeless neutron — sitting in the nucleus. Fermi posited that beta radiation shoots out when a neutron changes to a proton. The neutron ejects an electron, which balances the charge, and a neutrino, which balances the mass and energy.

It took decades for neutrinos to be observed. But on paper, at least, they had been detected. Fermi and Pauli are now credited with the discovery that didn't just advance physics, but saved the first law of thermodynamics.
 
Well, if Åland has something to offer, they can, though I don't think Sweden will appreciate it:lol:.

*That might not make sense to non-Swedes:

Åland Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lol. It's a secret desire of my to have been born on a tiny, unknown, super irrelevant tropical country. Their lifestyle seems so laizze faire, it's like being on a vacation 24/7.


Although, I'm sure it gets boring after the 2nd week.

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On topic:

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Watching uranium emit radiation inside a cloud chamber is mesmerizing


Ethiopian jawbone may mark dawn of humankind
A 2.8-million-year-old mandible and a digital model of a key fossil paint a complicated picture of the genus Homo.

A 2.8-million-year-old battered jawbone from Ethiopia may represent the earliest ancient human fossil ever discovered — pushing back the known origins of humankind by 500,000 years. The remains, alongside a digital reconstruction of a damaged fossil from a key early-human species, point to an evolutionary explosion at the dawn of our genus, Homo.

Modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the latest link in a chain of ancestry that stretches back 5 to 7 million years to a common ancestor with chimpanzees and bonobos, humanity's two closest living relatives. An incomplete fossil record means that researchers have had a hard time finding the other links of that chain, and distinguishing true human ancestors from evolutionary dead-ends — side branches in the family tree.


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Homo erectus is one ancestor, most agree. The species emerged in East Africa around 2 million years ago. Its big brain and tall body are all similar to those of modern humans. Another possible link is a more ape-like creature that lived around 3 million to 4 million years ago: Australopithecus afarensis, which walked upright but stood only just over a metre tall and had a puny brain. One species that may bridge the gap between these two is Homo habilis, but some researchers speculate that at least two 'early Homo' species existed between 3 million and 2 million years ago.

The first ancient human?
Related stories
More related stories

On 29 January 2013, scientists combing a stretch of northeastern Ethiopia's Afar region found a 2.8-million-year-old jawbone that may belong to the earliest of theHomo species — perhaps the first ancient human. Its teeth are small, like those of other Homo species, and the parabolic shape of the jaw is a better match to Homo than to Australopithecus, says Brian Villmoare, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His team reports the discovery in Science1. The researchers stopped short of putting a species name to the jaw — until they discover more remains. “We have every intention of finding them, but that’s just down to luck,” says Villmoare.

“I think they make a good case that it’s the sort of creature that, if it wasn’t the earliest evidence of Homo, was certainly somewhere close to it ,” says Bernard Wood, an anthropologist at George Washington University in Washington DC. “It looks Homo-ish to me, but I’d like to see their numbers,” agrees Daniel Lieberman, a palaeoanthropologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, referring to precise measurements of the jaw.

In another paper, members of Villmoare's team suggest that around 2.8 million years ago, climate change transformed forests in the Afar region into grasslands2. “There are two ways to handle that: one is to go extinct, the other is to make some sort of evolutionary adaptation,” says Villmoare. Homo sapiens' ancestors, he speculates, turned to hunting game, eventually developing larger brains and more agile bodies.

A messy history
But Homo's origins are increasingly confusing, as a reanalysis of 1.8-million-year-old fossil specimens, reported in Nature3, demonstrates. In the early 1960s, a team led by palaeoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey found a deformed lower jaw, hand and partial skull in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

“It was reported in a very informal way in Nature4: ‘Sir: I found a bone and I’m showing you a picture now. Goodbye,’” says Fred Spoor, a palaeoanthropologist at University College London. The Leakey team later designated the remains as a new species that they called Homo habilis, meaning the handy man5.They contended that members of the species had made stone tools that had been discovered nearby years earlier.

But the material was so sparse that all manner of other fossils were later designated H. habilis.

“It’s how I cut my teeth as a palaeoanthropologist — working with the mess that is Homo habilis,” says Lieberman. “It became very clear that there was too much variation to accommodate just one species.”

To help to clean up the mess, Spoor’s team went back to the Leakeys' original H. habilis fossils and determined the true shape of the jawbone. The researchers made a three-dimensional model of the mandible using a computed tomography (CT) scanner, and found that the deformation of the bone was caused by lots of small breaks.

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Philipp Gunz, Simon Neubauer and Fred Spoor

The reconstructed Homo habilis skull based on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

Reconstructing the broken pieces revealed that the jaw was more primitive-looking than the team expected. It was long and thin, and the rows of teeth on opposite sides were nearly parallel — more like an Australopithecus’sjaw than a human’s rounder one. A reconstruction of the skull bones, however, revealed that the brain was larger than expected, similar in size to that of H. erectus.

Previously discovered upper-jaw fossils classed as H. habilis, and dating back as far as 2.3 million years ago, look too different from the newly reconstructed jaw to belong to the same species, says Spoor’s team. This suggests that the species that predated H. erectus were a diverse bunch..

The two reports confirm that 'early Homo' species showed lots of variation, yet none stands out as an obvious ancestor of H. erectus, says Lieberman. “The question on everybody’s mind is what happened at this transition to the origin of early Homo and in early Homo,” he says. “We just don’t understand what’s going on.”

Ethiopian jawbone may mark dawn of humankind : Nature News & Comment
 
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*Back to the micro stories before I make a habit out of posting longer things

These Tiny Satellites Just Left The International Space Station

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A pair of nanosatellites were deployed by the NanoRacks Launcher on the end of the Japanese robotic arm of the International Space Station on Friday. The tiny CubeSats are loaded with tools to observe the planet.

CubeSats are NASA's nanosatellite program for lightweight, self-contained experiments that can fly as small auxiliary payloads on planned launches. A few are tucked into most cargo runs to the space station, an added bonus of science to the regular payload. This particular batch are another flock of the Planet Labs Doves, a series of etched observer satellites intended to provide frequent full-Earth coverage.

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The Dove satellites are about triple the length of the normal cube-shaped satellites: 10 centimetres per side by 30 long, weighing under 6 kilograms. Lacking in sophisticated orbital stabilizing equipment, CubeSats are in decaying orbits and typically only remain in space for a few months to years before burning up in the atmosphere. Doves are no different, carrying only a reaction wheel to stabilize their orbits.

*It's 11:00 on the US East Cost, I'm tired, i'll resume again tomorrow, but please continue:yahoo:
 
Growl!!! Taking your gossip to the Whatever thread:butcher:. Gossip is interesting, but not newsy or sciency enough!
sniff
Infant gut bacteria and food sensitization: Associations in the first year of life
Source:
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Summary:
New light has been shed on changes in intestinal bacteria of infants that can predict future development of food allergies or asthma. The research reveals that infants with a fewer number of different bacteria in their gut at three months of age are more likely to become sensitized to foods such as milk, egg or peanut by the time they are one year old.

:P
micro enough
 
This Edible Blob Is A Water Bottle Without The Plastic
Inspired by techniques from molecular gastronomy, the Ooho is a magical way to have your bottled water and eat it, too. Just maybe bring a towel.

One way to stop the ever-growing pile of plastic water bottles in landfills? Make a bottle people can eat.

Inspired by techniques from molecular gastronomy, three London-based industrial design students created Ooho, a blob-like water container that they say is easy and cheap to make, strong, hygienic, biodegradable, and edible.

The container holds water in a double membrane using "spherification," the technique of shaping liquids into spheres first pioneered in labs in 1946 and more recently popularized by chefs at elBulli in Spain. It works a little like an egg yolk, which also holds its shape using a thin membrane.

"We’re applying an evolved version of spherification to one of the most basic and essential elements of life—water," says Rodrigo García González, who designed the Ooho with fellow design students Pierre Paslier and Guillaume Couche.

A compound made from brown algae and calcium chloride creates a gel around the water. "The double membrane protects the inside hygienically, and makes it possible to put labels between the two layers without any adhesive," García explains.

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While the package is being formed, the water is frozen as ice, making it possible to create a bigger sphere and keeping the ingredients in the membrane and out of the water.

Why not just drink from the tap? The designers wanted to address the fact that most people are drinking water in disposable bottles. "The reality is that more and more, when we drink water we throw away a plastic bottle," García says. "Eighty percent of them are not recycled. This consumerism reflects the society in which we live."

By rethinking the bottle, the designers say it’s also possible to reduce cost; for manufacturers, most of the cost of producing water comes from the bottle itself. The Ooho can be made for just two cents.

Like other edible packages, the Ooho seems to have a few challenges—like how the package stays clean before you drink from it and potentially eat it. But others have made it to market: the edible Wikipearl will be available at selected Whole Foods this month. The other problem, as you can see from the videos, is that you're going to get some water on your face, clothes, and the table. That's the sacrifice you make for getting rid of water bottles from your life.

Even if bottled water companies don't switch to Ooho, the designers say they hope people will try making the packages at home. "Anyone can make them in their kitchen, modifying and innovating the recipe," says García. "It's not DIY but CIY—cook it yourself."

The design was a winner of the second annual Lexus Design Award and will be on display during Milan Design Week.

This Edible Blob Is A Water Bottle Without The Plastic | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

The links got a video too ! :)
 
sniff
Infant gut bacteria and food sensitization: Associations in the first year of life
Source:
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Summary:
New light has been shed on changes in intestinal bacteria of infants that can predict future development of food allergies or asthma. The research reveals that infants with a fewer number of different bacteria in their gut at three months of age are more likely to become sensitized to foods such as milk, egg or peanut by the time they are one year old.

:P
micro enough

Now all it needs is a picture:p:

:partay: - I should use this as my signature, it fits me soooo well!

Actually, I'm just kidding about the picture part, though they too are welcomed. I fear that not everyone on PDF has the attention span to read even these types of articles, so a picture makes nice substitute.
 
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