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New NASA images capture birth of a star

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to stun with its images of the universe following the release of an image showing a “fiery hourglass” housing a newborn star. The image of the protostar (a young star that is still unstable and cocooned in a cloud of dust and gas) has offered scientists insight into what stars might look like “in their infancy”. With the star located in the dark cloud L1527 and only visible in infrared light, the image was captured using Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The protostar itself is hidden from view within the “neck” of the hourglass shape. "An edge-on proto-planetary disk is seen as a dark line across the middle of the neck," NASA said in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-catches-fiery-hourglass-as-new-star-forms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a release</a>. "Light from the protostar leaks above and below this disk, illuminating cavities within the surrounding gas and dust." <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/star-birth1.jpg" alt="" /> The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a photo of a young star using its infrared camera. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI) Blue and orange clouds forming above, below and around the protostar that form the hourglass represent empty spaces created as material shoots away from the protostar and collides with surrounding matter, with the colours being caused by layers of dust between the camera and the clouds. The thicker the dust, the more orange the clouds appear, since blue light is unable to escape and be perceived by our eyes. While it may appear small, the disk in the middle of the hourglass is about the size of our solar system. According to NASA, the protostar is relatively young at about 100,000 years old and considered a class 0 protostar, “the earliest stage of star formation”. ‘Protostars like these, which are still cocooned in a dark cloud of dust and gas, have a long way to go before they become full-fledged stars,” NASA said. "L1527 doesn't generate its own energy through nuclear fusion of hydrogen yet, an essential characteristic of stars. "Its shape, while mostly spherical, is also unstable, taking the form of a small, hot and puffy clump of gas, somewhere between 20 and 40 percent the mass of our Sun." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Our universe is beautiful. <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAWebb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAWebb</a> captured a stellar birth which is so poetically nestled in this hourglass shape. A truly stunning marker of time. <a href="https://t.co/8UflbFPdid">pic.twitter.com/8UflbFPdid</a> — Shannon Stirone 💀 (@shannonmstirone) <a href="https://twitter.com/shannonmstirone/status/1593026314310934528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2022</a></blockquote> The protostar will get closer to stable nuclear fusion (the requirement to be a star) as it gathers more mass and its core compresses. "The scene shown in this image reveals L1527 doing just that," NASA said. "The surrounding molecular cloud is made up of dense dust and gas being drawn to the centre, where the protostar resides. “As the material falls in, it spirals around the centre. "This creates a dense disk of material, known as an accretion disk, which feeds material to the protostar.” “Ultimately, this view of L1527 provides a window into what our Sun and solar system looked like in their infancy.” Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI)

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These emojis make you ‘old’ according to Gen Z

Language is an ever-evolving thing, full to the brim with nuance and meaning that might not seem obvious upon first glance - and it turns out that emojis are no exception. Members of Generation Z have taken to social media claiming that using certain emojis is a sign that you’re “officially old” and that the popular thumbs-up emoji is actually rude. According to users on Reddit, the official list of “cancelled” emojis includes: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> ❤️ (Red heart) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 👍 (Thumbs up) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 👌 (“OK” hand) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> ✅ (Tick or Checkmark) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 💩 (Poo) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 🙈 (Monkey covering eyes) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 😭 (Loudly crying face) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 👏 (Clapping hands) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 💋 (Lipstick kiss mark) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> 😬 (Grimacing face) </li> </ul> Many younger users also considered the thumbs-up emoji to be rude, explaining that it gives off a passive-aggressive or even confrontational air. “For younger people (I’m 24 for reference) the thumbs-up emoji is used to be really passive-aggressive,” one person wrote. “It’s super rude if someone just sends you a thumbs up. So I also had a weird time adjusting because my workplace is the same.” They chalked up the difference in the workplace to a “generational communication culture difference”. “Everyone my age in the office doesn’t do it, but the Gen X people always do it,” they wrote. “Took me a bit to adjust and get out of my head that it means they’re mad at me.” Others agreed, saying using it in the workplace makes team members “unaccommodating” and seems “unfriendly”. “I understand what you mean, my last workplace had a WhatsApp chat for our team to send info to each other on and most of the people on there just replied with a [thumbs-up emoji],” one commenter said. “I don’t know why but it seemed a little bit hostile to me, like an acknowledgment but kind of saying ‘I don’t really care/am not interested’? Don’t know if that’s the way you feel but I got used to it in time and I’m just as bad for sending a thumbs up now.” Another said: ““It’s not that odd to see it as passive-aggressive. Just imagine how would it feel to go into your boss’ room, say something, and then see him turn to you, look you in the eye, and [give a thumbs-up].” But, older users expressed their confusion at this emoji etiquette, with one saying it must be “a younger generational thing”. “So it’s like a sarcastic thing? Man I’m getting old lol,” one wrote. Another defended their use of the thumbs up, saying it “means many things”. “It means ‘I approve’ or ‘I understood and will obey’ or ‘I agree’. If anything, my only objection would be that some days it might be hard to tell which one it means,” she offered. “But it is generally pretty clear.” “It’s just a way to say ‘i’ve read your message and have nothing to add and I hope and pray to all the gods all the bazillion people in this group chat have nothing to say on it too,’” another chimed in. Linguists have been studying emojis since the appearance of the modern emoji in 2015. In her book Because Internet: Understanding how language is changing, linguist Gretchen McCulloch explains that some emojis, like most of those that have been “cancelled”, are gestures, like the ones we make with our hands while talking. While these can be quite universal, like the thumbs up or smiling emojis, there can also be nuance based on culture and the writing systems people use. With younger people interpreting emojis such as the thumbs-up as “rude” or “old”, it seems there is nuance between generations too. Image: Getty Images

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We steered a spacecraft into an asteroid

From seeing further into space than ever before to viewing our neighbouring planets in brand new detail, it’s safe to say more of us are talking about the skies above than in previous years. Now, NASA has made headlines for crashing a spacecraft into a distant asteroid in a historic first for humanity. After leaving Earth last November, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spaceship travelled at a speedy 23,500 kilometres per hour for ten months to reach its target, an asteroid moonlet called Dimorphos. Dimorphos is a relatively small asteroid with a diameter of 160 metres - about the same size as the Great Pyramid of Giza - that orbits Didymos, a larger asteroid boasting a diameter of 780 metres. DART, meanwhile, is approximately the size of a refrigerator - but size isn’t everything. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision0.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is dwarfed by its target, Dimorphos, as well as Didymos, which Dimorphos orbits. Image: NASA / John Hopkins APL Located 11.2 million kilometres away from us, Dimorphus might not pose any risk to Earth, but it did serve as a suitable target for NASA to test whether a head-on collision from DART could cause the asteroid to change its orbit. This experiment, which uses a technique called kinetic impact to change the asteroid’s orbit, could determine whether it’s possible to prevent asteroids and other cosmic objects from colliding with Earth and avoid the devastating aftereffects of such a collision. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained that the experiment is part of the organisation’s overall planetary defence strategy. “At its core, DART represents an unprecedented success for planetary defence, but it is also a mission of unity with a real benefit for all humanity,” he said. “As NASA studies the cosmos and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this international collaboration turned science fiction into science fact, demonstrating one way to protect Earth.” Rebecca Allen, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology told the ABC that everything from the location of the impact, how fast DART travelled, and even its size are factors that could affect Dimorphos’ orbit. "This vending-sized machine spacecraft, will it have enough kinetic impact to drastically or really measurably change the orbit of this asteroid? That's what we're trying to learn,” she added. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Shots taken from DART’s onboard camera showed asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos (left), and an up-close look at Dimorphos before DART crashed (right). Images: NASA / John Hopkins APL What happens now? Though DART successfully collided with Dimorphus on Tuesday morning (SGT), we won’t know whether the collision actually resulted in a change in orbit. It will take anywhere from several days to weeks to determine whether it worked, and we can expect to learn more over the coming months. “Over the next two months we’re going to see more information from the investigation team on what what period change did we actually make,” Dr Elena Adams, a DART Mission Systems Engineer, said. “That’s our number two goal, number one was hit the asteroid, which we’ve done but now number two is really measure that period change and characterise how much we actually put out.” In a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-dart-mission-hits-asteroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, NASA said researchers are expecting the path Dimorphos takes around Didymos to shorten by just one percent, or about 10 minutes. But even this seemingly tiny change can have an impact over time, experts stress. "Just a small change in its speed is all we need to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels.” said Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA’s Washington headquarters. The next few months will also see NASA use telescopes positioned on Earth and in space to observe the outcome of the collision, including measuring changes to Dimorphos’ orbit. Images will also be taken by LICIACube (Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging Asteroids), which deployed from DART fifteen days before the impact, with the European Space Agency’s Hera project scheduled to conduct surveys of Dimorphos and Didymos - with a focus on the crater created by the collision - in 2026. The images will add to the collection of photos taken by DRACO (Didymos Reconnaissance Camera for Optical navigation), which was onboard DART when it crashed. As well as shots showing Didymos and Dimorphos, the images depict the rocky terrain of Dimorphos’ surface up close. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dart-collision2.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> DART’s onboard camera, DRACO, captured the final moments before the spacecraft crashed into the surface of Dimorphos. Images: NASA / John Hopkins APL The last photo, taken about one second before impact, was being transmitted to Earth when the craft crashed, resulting in a partial picture. “DART’s success provides a significant addition to the essential toolbox we must have to protect Earth from a devastating impact by an asteroid,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. “This demonstrates we are no longer powerless to prevent this type of natural disaster.” Image: NASA / John Hopkins APL

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Spinetingling audio of a black hole goes viral, here’s why

Audio that allows us to “hear a black hole” has gone viral online since it was shared by NASA, with listeners describing it as “creepy” and “ethereally beautiful”. NASA first shared the audio taken from the black hole in the Perseus galaxy cluster in May, which it described as a remixed sonification of sound waves discovered in 2003, but a recent re-posting on Twitter has seen it gone viral. Here’s how it sounds: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound. Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole! <a href="https://t.co/RobcZs7F9e">pic.twitter.com/RobcZs7F9e</a> — NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAExoplanets/status/1561442514078314496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2022</a></blockquote> Nearly twenty years ago, researchers at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory “discovered that pressure waves sent out by the black hole caused ripples in the cluster’s hot gas that could be translated into a note”. But, said note was too low for humans to hear, being the equivalent of a B-flat 57 octaves below the middle C note on a piano, according to NASA. To create something we could actually hear, scientists used a process called sonification, which is where astronomical data is translated into sound. According to NASA, the creepy sound was created using sound waves extracted outwards from the centre of the Perseus cluster, with astronomers increasing the frequency by 57 and 58 octaves. A radar-like scan around the image was also used to help us hear sound waves emitted in different directions. “Another way to put this is that they are being heard 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times higher than their original frequency,” NASA said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I was today years old when I found out that sound could travel into space. In fact, NASA released sound waves received from a black hole! Creepy 😲 Next, music please? 🎶<a href="https://t.co/myk0laXDV4">pic.twitter.com/myk0laXDV4</a> — Elie Habib (@elie_h) <a href="https://twitter.com/elie_h/status/1561773483092320256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2022</a></blockquote> James Miller-Jones, a Professor of Astrophysics at Curtin University, told the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/nasa-audio-black-hole-sounds-viral-hear-space/101360094" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a> that the frequencies of these sound waves are impacted by gases in the Perseus cluster. "Those sound waves are bumping into regions of dense gas, hotter gas, cooler gas, so they'll move in slightly different speeds in different directions," he explained. "That means they don't have a perfect circular shape. So as they scan around the cluster … it's capturing slightly different pitches." While this isn’t the first time the space agency has <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/hear-recordings-of-space-from-nasa-s-spacecraft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared sounds from space</a>, these sounds of the Perseus cluster differ in that they also use sound waves. "This is the only one that I've seen that is really translating real sound waves into the sonification, and to me that's just a beautiful demonstration of what is going on. It's quite powerful," Professor Miller-Jones said. "It tells us a lot about the cluster, and how energy is transported through it." Kimberly Arcand, the principal investigator of the sonification project, described the sound as “a beautiful Hans Zimmer score with the moody level set at really high” when she first heard it in late 2021. “It was such a wonderful representation of what existed in my mind,” she told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/23/nasa-black-hole-sound/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>, adding that it was a “tipping point” for the project in that it “really sparked people’s imagination”. “The idea that there are these supermassive black holes sprinkled throughout the universe that are … belching out incredible songs is a very tantalising thing,” Arcand added. The decision to release the “re-sonification” of the sound waves nearly two decades later came as part of NASA’s efforts to share complex scientific discoveries in plain English with its millions of social media followers. Though some experts have cautioned that NASA’s clip isn’t exactly what you’d hear in space, others argue that it would be realistic to believe that it would be what we’d hear if we had ears that were sensitive enough. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I'm not religious, but I'm starting to think that those souls sent to Hell actually end up in a black hole. Sound ON to be horrified <a href="https://t.co/75v74pkkhu">https://t.co/75v74pkkhu</a> — Paul Byrne (@ThePlanetaryGuy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy/status/1562065393581277185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2022</a></blockquote> Even so, plenty of social media users have shared their thoughts on the sound, making comparisons to the Lord of the Rings and Silent Hill series or sharing it was an image of an intergalactic puppy overlaid. “I can confirm that the black hole noise Nasa released is the sound of hell,” one user <a href="https://twitter.com/SlimeRegis/status/1562005777488945152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “New genre just dropped: Cosmic Horror,” another <a href="https://twitter.com/cybxrart/status/1561690611983343616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a>. Image: @NASAExoplanets (Twitter)

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Producing electricity from your sweat might be key to next wearable technology

Imagine a world where the smart watch on your wrist never ran out of charge, because it used your sweat to power itself. It sounds like science fiction but researchers have figured out how to engineer a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/biology/bacterial-biofilm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bacterial biofilm</a> to be able to produce continuous <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/">electricity fr</a><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">o</a><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/electricity-from-sweaty-fingertips/">m perspiration</a>. They can harvest energy in evaporation and convert it to electricity which could revolutionise wearable electronic devices from personal medical sensors to electronics. The science is in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32105-6#ref-CR7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new study</a> published in Nature Communications. “The limiting factor of wearable electronics has always been the power supply,” says senior author Jun Yoa, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), in the US. “Batteries run down and have to be changed or charged. They are also bulky, heavy, and uncomfortable.” But the surface of our skin is constantly moist with sweat, so a small, thin, clear and flexible biofilm worn like a Band-Aid could provide a much more convenient alternative. The biofilm is made up of a sheet of bacterial cells approximately 40 micrometres thick or about the thickness of a sheet of paper. It’s made up a genetically engineered version of the bacteria Geobacter sulfurreducens to be exact. G. sulfurreducens is a microorganism known to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3209890/#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20Geobacter%20sulfurreducens%20also%20called,electron%20transfer%20through%20the%20biofilms." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">produce electricity</a> and has been used previously in “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-019-0173-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">microbial fuel cells</a>”. These require the bacteria to be alive, necessitating proper care and constant feeding, but this new biofilm can work continuously because the bacteria are already dead. “It’s much more efficient,” says senior author Derek Lovley, distinguished professor of Microbiology at UMass Amherst. “We’ve simplified the process of generating electricity by radically cutting back on the amount of processing needed. “We sustainably grow the cells in a biofilm, and then use that agglomeration of cells. This cuts the energy inputs, makes everything simpler and widens the potential applications.” The process relies on evaporation-based electricity production – the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0228-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hydrovoltaic effect</a>. Water flow is driven by evaporation between the solid biofilm and the liquid water, which drives the transport of electrical charges to generate an electrical current. G. sulfurreducens colonies are grown in thin mats which are harvested and then have small circuits etched into them using a laser. Then they are sandwiched between mesh electrodes and finally sealed in a soft, sticky, breathable polymer which can be applied directly onto the skin without irritation. Initially, the researchers tested it by placing the device directly on a water surface, which produced approximately 0.45 volts of electricity continuously. When worn on sweaty skin it produced power for 18 hours, and even non-sweating skin generated a substantial electric output – indicating that the continuous low-level secretion of moisture from the skin is enough to drive the effect. “Our next step is to increase the size of our films to power more sophisticated skin-wearable electronics,” concludes Yao. The team aim to one day be able to power not only single devices, but entire electronic systems, using this biofilm. And because microorganisms can be mass produced with renewable feedstocks, it’s an exciting alternative for producing renewable materials for clean energy powered devices. <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=200509&title=Producing+electricity+from+your+sweat+might+be+key+to+next+wearable+technology" width="1" height="1" /> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/electricity-from-sweat-biofilm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide. Image: Liu et al., doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32105-6 </div>

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The International Space Station to crash to Earth in 2030

The International Space Station is expected to stay in operation until the end of 2030, after which time it will be crashed into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, <a href="https://7news.com.au/technology/space/nasa-to-retire-the-international-space-station-by-2031-by-crashing-it-into-the-pacific-ocean-c-5549714" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to newly published plans from NASA.Since its launch in 2000, the ISS has orbited 227 nautical miles (420.4 kilometres) above Earth, during which time more than 200 astronauts from 19 countries enjoyed stints aboard.After 2030, NASA said the ISS would be replaced by commercially operated space platforms as a venue for collaboration and scientific research.“The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA’s assistance,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA, said in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-provides-updated-international-space-station-transition-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.“We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space.“The report we have delivered to Congress describes, in detail, our comprehensive plan for ensuring a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030.”In the International Space Station Transition Report produced by NASA, the organisation said the plan was for the ISS to fall to Earth and land in an area called the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area - also known as Point Nemo.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/space-iss1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />The International Space Station has been the source of many scientific innovations and firsts, including the first chilli peppers to be grown in space (Pictured). Image: NASANamed after the submarine operator in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Point Nemo is an area in the ocean that is the farthest from land.The area is approximately 4800 kilometres from the eastern coast of New Zealand and 3200 kilometres north of Antarctica.The ISS won’t be the first to make Point Nemo its final resting place, with estimates that more than 263 pieces of space debris have been sunk there by the US, Russia, Japan, and European countries since 1971.According to the report, the ISS is expected to deorbit in January 2031 and perform thrusting manoeuvres to ensure a “safe atmospheric entry”.Though an end date has been set, work will continue on the ISS until the very end, with NASA saying goals for the space lab include using it as an “analog for a Mars transit mission”.“The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity,” Robyn Gatens, the director of the ISS at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement.“This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit.“We look forward to maximising these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow.”During its time in orbit, the ISS has been home to many scientific firsts in space, including the first items to be 3D-printed, the first sequencing of DNA, and growing of lettuces, radishes and chillies.Image: NASA

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REVEALED: The two people Queen Elizabeth II will pick up the phone for

A royal commentator has <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals" target="_blank">revealed</a> that the Queen only speaks to two people within “The Firm” on her phone - and they might not be who you would expect. “Apparently, the Queen has two people who she speaks to the most on her phones and she also apparently has a mobile phone which is said to be a Samsung packed with anti-hacker encryption by MI6 so nobody can hack into her phone,” royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti said during his appearance on US podcast <a rel="noopener" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/royally-us-harry-meghan-kate-and-william-royal-news/id1553314202" target="_blank">The Royally</a>. “But the two people she phones the most is said to be her daughter Princess Anne and her racing manager John Warren.” It has also been revealed that the Queen intends to host the Royal Family at Sandringham House for Christmas. The revelation comes at the end of a difficult year for Queen Elizabeth II, who lost her husband Prince Philip earlier this year and has experienced several health scares in recent months. “The Queen has told everyone she is feeling far better of late and is very much looking forward to welcoming them for Christmas,” a source told The Daily Mail last week. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtH84uMQCL/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtH84uMQCL/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily)</a> </div> </blockquote> The invites have reportedly been sent to Prince Edward, Princess Anne, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and their families. However, Page Six has reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won’t be joining the festivities at Sandringham House. Image: Getty Images

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Billionaire actress Zhao Wei erased from history

Zhao Wei, one of China’s top actresses, has all but vanished from the internet after the Chinese government scrubbed any record of her online. Serials and chat shows featuring the actress are no longer available on Chinese streaming sites and her name has been removed from online credits for movies she has appeared in. Ms Wei rose to fame in the late 1990s after appearing on China’s highly popular television series, My Fair Princess. Since then, she has gone on to become a director, pop singer, and businesswoman on top of being an A-list actress. But, after Ms Wei was accused of being unpatriotic in hiring a Taiwanese actor for a leading role in a 2016 film, she began to run into trouble. Her hiring decision was overturned and Ms Wei’s business acquisitions soon came under close regulatory and taxation scrutiny. Last month, a public relations agency she owns was hit with a nationalistic scandal after one of its clients took a selfie during a visit to Japan’s Yasukuni war dead shrine. Over the weekend, Chinese news sites reported that Ms Wei had fled the country and was spotted at France’s Bordeaux airport. The crackdown on Ms Wei comes as Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration agency issued a series of instructions for social media and internet operators to “rectify” issues with fan communities. The new instructions aim to ensure “political and ideological safety in the cyberspace as well as creating a clean internet”. This also means celebrities can no longer be ranked in terms of popularity, talent agencies must be overseen by the Community Party, and fan clubs must be licenced and officially authorised. Previously, China’s National Radio and Television Administration ordered that actors be banished if their “morality is not noble”, are “tasteless, vulgar and obscene”, or if their “ideological level is low and [they] have no class”. Ms Wei has also been accused by the Communist Party-controlled Global Times of being “entangled in various scandals over the years”, but provides no official reason for her erasure. Any discussions of why she has been erased is also being censored on social media. Image: Getty Images

Entertainment

7 hidden iPhone hacks you never knew about

It can be really frustrating when it seems to take forever to write a text message, not to mention finding there’s no available space for that quick snap you want to take. Luckily, there are lots of little tricks and tips to make things that littler bit quicker. <div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/17-hidden-iphone-hacks-you-never-knew-about">1. Get a faster charge</div> <div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/17-hidden-iphone-hacks-you-never-knew-about"> Few things are worse than watching your phone charge at a glacial pace – especially when you’re short for time. For a faster way to top up, turn on Airplane Mode. Doing so will temporarily pause your phone’s background noise (such as random notifications and GPS roaming), which tend to drain the battery as it charges. While the extra juice won’t be much, a little can go a long way. 2. Set a timer for your music Long gone are the days when you nodded off to your favourite snoozing tunes, only to wake up at 3am with the music still blaring. Believe it or not, your phone’s timer can turn off the music whenever you want. Go to Clock > Timer > When Timer Ends, tap the ‘Stop Playing’ option, and select the amount of time you want the music to play. Your phone will automatically turn off the tunes (on both Apple Music and Spotify) when the timer runs out. 3. Take a hands-free photo You don’t need two empty hands to snap a photo on your phone. Just plug in a pair of compatible headphones and hit the volume button, and your iPhone will capture the moment. 4. Shave seconds off your typing time If you still shift back and forth between keyboards to type numbers and symbols, you’re wasting your time. All you need to do is hold your finger down on the ‘123’ button, drag it over the number or symbol you want, and then let go. Voilà! No screen-switching necessary. 5. Make the screen smaller If you’re a one-hand texter, you probably know the struggle of stretching your thumb across the phone’s wide screen. Try moving the keyboard closer to your left or right palm by holding on the Globe icon and selecting one of the keyboards that are positioned to either side. You can also get to this by going Settings > General > Keyboard > One-Handed Keyboard. Or, tap (not press) on the home button twice to shift the entire top of the iPhone screen down. Both tricks will make the entire screen much more accessible for the average-sized hand. 6. Press one button to make a call <div id="page15" class="slide-show"> <div id="test" class="slide"> <div class="slide-description"> Don’t waste time digging around your contacts for the last person you chatted with on the phone. Simply tap the green call button, and your phone will redial the last number you called. <div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/17-hidden-iphone-hacks-you-never-knew-about">7. Get more storage space</div> <div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/17-hidden-iphone-hacks-you-never-knew-about"> <div id="page17" class="slide-show"> <div id="test" class="slide"> <div class="slide-description"> Storage space is a hot commodity for the average iPhone user. To make the most of yours, hold down the ‘Power’ button, wait until you see the option to slide and power off your phone, and then hold down the ‘Home’ button. Doing so will clean out your phone’s RAM, which reduces the amount of space your apps might be taking up. Source: <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.rd.com/culture/iphone-hacks/" target="_blank">RD.com</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Written by Brooke Nelson. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/17-hidden-iphone-hacks-you-never-knew-about">Reader’s Digest</a>. </div>

Entertainment

How to change your phone number in Facebook or get rid of it entirely

You can easily change a phone number in Facebook if your original number connected to the social media platform has become outdated. Facebook asks for a user’s phone number for a few reasons, which are: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">A phone number can be used to reset a forgotten password</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">It can be used to suggest people you may know so that you can connect with them on Facebook</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">The phone number can keep your account safe with two-factor authentication and you can also receive text alerts for potentially unauthorised logins</li> </ul> However, if you want to remove the number entirely or change it, it’s an easy fix. How to change your phone number on Facebook <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Log into Facebook on a computer and click on the arrow in the top-right corner of your home page. Click on “Settings”.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Select “Mobile” on the left side.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">If your account isn’t connected to a phone number, you can add one from this section via the “+ Add a Phone” section.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">If you already have a phone number, you can click on “+ Add another mobile phone number” to add another number.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Enter your number and select if you’d like Facebook to confirm the number with a text message or with a call and click “Continue”.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Enter the confirmation code you receive from Facebook and click “Confirm”.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">You can remove a phone number on Facebook by clicking the “Remove” button below the number you want to delete.</li> </ol> Easy!

Entertainment

4 inventions that have changed the world in the last decade

When we think about major inventions, most of us jump right to things like the telephone or electricity. And sure, those completely changed the world, but new products and services are being launched every year that also have major impacts. The past decade has seen a significant-tech boom and an increase in products featuring smart technology. Here are some of the most important and influential inventions since 2010. 1. Apple iPad Given the ubiquity of Apple iPads – especially where kids in restaurants are concerned – it’s hard to believe that they’ve only been around since 2010. This tablet computer is a hybrid of a smartphone and laptop, providing a larger touchscreen interface that is used to control the device. “It’s a tech innovation that without a doubt changed our lives during this decade,” Mike Satter, interim president at OceanTech and president at WipeOS tells Reader’s Digest. “The iPad completely changed our lives with a cross between having a mobile device that could be used for personal downtime to a hard-working machine that essentially replaced the business workhorse laptop computer. If you look around today you will notice children, coworkers, friends, family and/or a stranger next to you on a plane that depends on their iPad to help them through the day.” 2. Air fryers Fried food is delicious, but unfortunately, it’s not very healthy. That’s what makes the invention of the air fryer such a food game-changer. The first air fryer as we know it hit the market in 2010 when Philips introduced what it coined “Rapid Air Technology.” The idea behind the device is to achieve the same crispiness as frying food in oil, but using extremely fast-moving air instead. The air fryer really started appearing on kitchen counters across the country when Oprah named it one of her “Favourite Things” in 2016. Though the food cooked in an air fryer doesn’t taste exactly like it would from a fast food shop, it is a decent option for those looking to eat healthier. 3. Squatty Potty Though we have become accustomed to sitting on a toilet when doing our business, many places around the world squat over a latrine on the ground. And when Bobby Edwards’ mother became chronically constipated, her doctor suggested that she try using a footstool to raise her knees while she sat on the toilet. She tried it and it worked wonders, and in 2011, the Squatty Potty was born. This seemingly simple plastic stool that is stored at the base of a toilet has made Edwards and her family multimillionaires. Though sales were initially slow – $17,000 in 2011 – they hit $19 million in 2016 and continued to rise from there. Not only has the Squatty Potty changed the way many people use the toilet, it has also helped spark a wider conversation about digestive health and bathroom habits. 4. Smart speakers Though different forms of voice recognition software and devices have been around since the 1970s, it wasn’t until the 2010s that the technology truly entered our homes. Well, first it came to our phones, when Apple introduced Siri, an electronic assistant, as a regular feature on iPhones in 2010. At that point, people got used to pressing a button on their phone and asking a faceless woman all sorts of questions. Though Siri felt (and was) futuristic, the trend really took off with the invention of smart speakers, which had the ability to answer the same kinds of questions as Siri but also control certain elements of your home, like lighting and heating. The most common smart speaker – Amazon’s Alexa – launched in 2014, and was soon followed by Google Assistant. Today, 66.4 million people — or 26.2 percent of the U.S. adult population—have a smart speaker in their home. Of course, with this technology came a new set of ethical issues regarding companies being able to listen in to your home and what happens to all the data this device collects. Source: <a href="https://www.rd.com/culture/inventions-that-changed-the-world-in-the-last-decade/">RD.com</a> Written by Elizabeth Yuko. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/18-inventions-that-have-changed-the-world-in-the-last-decade">Reader’s Digest</a>.

Entertainment

How the use of lasers and small satellites helps information get through space

Satellites are becoming increasingly important in our lives, as they help us meet a demand for more data, exchanged at higher speeds. This is why we are exploring new ways of improving satellite communication. Satellite technology is used to navigate, forecast the weather, monitor Earth from space, receive TV signals from space, and connect to remote places through tools such as satellite phones and <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/network-technology/sky-muster-explained">NBN’s Sky Muster satellites</a>. All these communications use radio waves. These are electromagnetic waves that propagate through space and, to a certain degree, through obstacles such as walls. Each communication system uses a frequency band allocated for it, and each band makes up part of the <a href="https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum1.html">electromagnetic spectrum</a> – which is the name given to the range of all types of electromagnetic radiation. But the electromagnetic spectrum we are able to use with current technology is a finite resource, and is now completely occupied. This means old services have to make room for new ones, or higher frequency bands have to be used. While this poses technological challenges, one promising way forward is optical communication. Communication with lasers Instead of using radio waves to carry the information, we can use light from lasers as the carrier. While technically still part of the electromagnetic spectrum, optical frequencies are significantly higher, which means we can use them to transfer data at higher speeds. However, one disadvantage is that a laser cannot propagate through walls, and can even be blocked by clouds. While this is problematic on Earth, and for communication between satellites and Earth, it’s no problem for communication between satellites. On Earth, optical communication via fibre optic cables connects continents and provides enormous data exchanges. This is the technology that allows <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/11562024/too-embarrassed-to-ask-what-is-the-cloud-and-how-does-it-work">the cloud</a> to exist, and online services to be provided. Optical communication between satellites doesn’t use fibre optic cables, but involves light propagating through space. This is called “free space optical communication”, and can be used to not only deliver data from satellites to the ground, but also to connect satellites in space. In other words, free space optical communication will provide the same massive connectivity in space we already have on Earth. Some systems such as the <a href="https://artes.esa.int/edrs-global">European Data Relay System</a> are already operational, and others like SpaceX’s <a href="https://www.space.com/see-spacex-starlink-satellites-in-night-sky.html">Starlink</a> continue to be developed. But there are still many challenges to overcome, and we’re limited by current technology. My colleagues and I are working on making optical, as well as radio-frequency, data links even faster and more secure. CubeSats So far, a lot of effort has gone into the research and development of radio-frequency technology. This is how we know data rates are at their highest physical limit and can’t be further increased. While a single radio-frequency link can provide data rates of 10Gbps with large antennas, an optical link can achieve rates 10 to 100 times higher, using antennas that are 10 to 100 times smaller. These small antennas are in fact optical lenses, and their compact size allows them to be integrated into small satellites called CubeSats. CubeSats are not larger than a shoebox or toaster, but can employ high speed data links to other satellites or the ground. They are currently used for a wide range of tasks including earth observation, communications and scientific experiments in space. And while they’re not able to provide all services from space, they play an important role in current and future satellite systems. Another advantage of optical communication is increased security. The light from a laser forms a narrow beam, which has to be pointed from a sender to a receiver. Since this beam is very narrow, the communication doesn’t interfere with other receivers and it’s very hard, if not impossible, to eavesdrop on the communication. This makes optical systems more secure than radio electromagnetic systems. Optical communication can also be used for <a href="https://qt.eu/understand/underlying-principles/quantum-key-distribution-qkd/">Quantum Key Distribution</a>. This technology allows the absolute secure exchange of encryption keys for safe communications. What can we expect from this? While it’s exciting to develop systems for space, and to launch satellites, the real benefit of satellite systems is felt on Earth. High speed communication provided by optical data links will improve connectivity for all of us. Notably, remote areas which currently have relatively slow connections will experience better access to remote health and remote learning. Better data links will also let us deliver images and videos from space with less delay and higher resolution. This will improve the way we manage our resources, including <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/community-safety/flood/wofs">water</a>, agriculture and forestry. They will also <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/earth-obs/case-studies/mapping-bushfires">provide vital real-time information in disaster scenarios such as bushfires</a>. The potential applications of optical communication technology are vast. Banding knowledge together Working in optical satellite communication is challenging, as it combines many different fields and research areas including telecommunication, photonics and manufacturing. Currently, our technology is far from achieving what is theoretically possible, and there’s great room for improvement. This is why there’s a strong focus on collaboration. In Australia, there are two major programs facilitating this - the Australian Space Agency run by the federal government, and the <a href="https://smartsatcrc.com/">SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre</a> (CRC), also supported by the federal government. Through the SmartSat CRC program, my colleagues and I will spend the next seven years tackling a range of applied research problems in this area.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126344/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gottfried-lechner-877898">Gottfried Lechner</a>, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-using-lasers-and-toaster-sized-satellites-to-beam-information-faster-through-space-126344">original article</a>.

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The problem of living inside a social media echo chamber

Pick any of the big topics of the day – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49560557">Brexit</a>, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03092019/hurricane-dorian-climate-change-stall-%20%20record-wind-speed-rainfall-intensity-global-warming-bahamas">climate change</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/politics/trump-immigration-policy.html">Trump’s immigration policies</a> – and wander online. What one is likely to find is radical polarization – different groups of people living in different worlds, populated with utterly different facts. <a href="https://qz.com/933150/cass-sunstein-says-social-medias-effect-on-democracy-is-alexander-hamiltons-nightmare/">Many people</a> want to <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/arvind-raichur-mrowl-guest-post-filter-bubbles/">blame</a> the “social media bubble” - a belief that everybody sorts themselves into like-minded communities and hears only like-minded views. From my perspective as a <a href="https://objectionable.net/">philosopher</a> who thinks about <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/NGUCAA">communities</a> and <a href="https://philpapers.org/go.pl?id=NGUCIA&aid=NGUCIAv1">trust</a>, this fails to get at the heart of the issue. In my mind, the crucial issue right now isn’t what people hear, but whom people believe. Bubble or cult? My research focuses on <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/episteme/article/echo-chambers-and-epistemic-bubbles/5D4AC3A808C538E17C50A7C09EC706F0">“epistemic bubbles” and “echo chambers.”</a> These are two distinct ideas, that people often blur together. An epistemic bubble is what happens when insiders aren’t exposed to people from the opposite side. An echo chamber is what happens when insiders come to distrust everybody on the outside. An epistemic bubble, for example, might form on one’s social media feed. When a person gets all their news and political arguments from Facebook and all their Facebook friends share their political views, they’re in an epistemic bubble. They hear arguments and evidence only from their side of the political spectrum. They’re never exposed to the other side’s views. An echo chamber leads its members to distrust everybody on the outside of that chamber. And that means that an insider’s trust for other insiders can grow unchecked. Two communications scholars, <a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/kathleen-hall-jamieson-phd">Kathleen Hall Jamieson</a> and <a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/joseph-n-cappella-phd">Joseph Cappella</a>, offered a careful analysis of the right-wing media echo chamber in their 2008 book, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/echo-chamber-9780195398601">“The Echo Chamber.”</a> Rush Limbaugh and the Fox News team, they said, systematically manipulated whom their followers trusted. Limbaugh presented the world as a simple binary – as a struggle only between good and evil. People were trustworthy if they were on Limbaugh’s side. Anybody on the outside was malicious and untrustworthy. In that way, an echo chamber is a lot like a cult. Echo chambers isolate their members, not by cutting off their lines of communication to the world, but by changing whom they trust. And echo chambers aren’t just on the right. I’ve seen echo chambers on the left, but also on parenting forums, nutritional forums and even around exercise methods. In an epistemic bubble, outside voices aren’t heard. In an echo chamber, outside voices are discredited. Is it all just a bubble? Many experts believe that the problem of today’s polarization can be explained through epistemic bubbles.<a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wroclaw-poland-april-10th-2017-woman-624572783?src=-1-15" class="source"></a> According to legal scholar and behavioral economist <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10871/Sunstein">Cass Sunstein</a>, the main cause of polarization is that <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10935.html">internet technologies</a> have made the world such that people don’t really run into the other side anymore. Many people get their news from social media feeds. Their feeds get filled up with people like them - who usually share their political views. Eli Pariser, online activist and chief executive of Upworthy, spotlights how the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/309214/the-filter-bubble-by-eli-pariser/9780143121237/">invisible algorithms</a> behind people’s internet experience limit what they see. For example, says Pariser, Google keeps track of its user’s choices and preferences, and changes its search results to suit them. It tries to give individuals what they want – so liberal users, for example, tend to get search results that point them toward liberal news sites. If the problem is bubbles, then the solution would be exposure. For Sunstein, the solution is to build more public forums, where people will run into the other side more often. The real problem is trust In my view, however, echo chambers are the real problem. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/F2sFqWtZfpgU9nfK8u3E/full">New</a> <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Filter-Bubbles%2C-Echo-Chambers%2C-and-Online-News-Flaxman-Goel/9ece17d2915f65c66c03fa28820447199addec45">research</a> suggests there probably aren’t any real epistemic bubbles. As a matter of fact, most people are regularly exposed to the other side. Moreover, bubbles should be easy to pop: Just expose insiders to the arguments they’ve missed. But this doesn’t actually seem to work, in so many real-world cases. Take, for example, climate change deniers. They are fully aware of all the arguments on the other side. Often, they rattle off all the standard arguments for climate change, before dismissing them. Many of <a href="http://opr.ca.gov/facts/common-denier-arguments.html">the standard climate change denial</a> arguments involve claims that scientific institutions and mainstream media have been corrupted by malicious forces. What’s going on, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/episteme/article/echo-chambers-and-epistemic-bubbles/5D4AC3A808C538E17C50A7C09EC706F0">in my view</a>, isn’t just a bubble. It’s not that people’s social media feeds are arranged so they don’t run across any scientific arguments; it’s that they’ve come to systematically distrust the institutions of science. This is an echo chamber. Echo chambers are far more entrenched and far more resistant to outside voices than epistemic bubbles. Echo chamber members have been prepared to face contrary evidence. Their echo-chambered worldview has been arranged to dismiss that evidence at its source. They’re not totally irrational, either. In the era of <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-great-endarkenment-9780199326020">scientific specialization</a>, people must <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2027007">trust</a> doctors, statisticians, biologists, chemists, physicists, nuclear engineers and aeronautical engineers, just to go about their day. <a href="https://philpapers.org/go.pl?id=NGUEAT&aid=NGUEATv1">And they can’t always check</a> with perfect accuracy whether they have put their trust in the right place. An echo chamber member, however, distrusts the standard sources. Their trust has been redirected and concentrated inside the echo chamber. To break somebody out of an echo chamber, you’d need to repair that broken trust. And that is a much harder task than simply bursting a bubble. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/c-thi-nguyen-606694">C. Thi Nguyen</a>, Associate Professor of Philosophy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/utah-valley-university-2123">Utah Valley University</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-of-living-inside-echo-chambers-110486">original article</a>.

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iPhone 11 pro models reportedly sending data to Apple despite permissions being turned off

Cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs has alerted the public about a worrisome location tracking feature on Apple’s latest iPhone 11 Pro. He revealed on his website <a href="https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/12/the-iphone-11-pros-location-data-puzzler/">KrebsOnSecurity</a> that even if you turn off your location services on the latest iPhone, the phone intermittently tracks your location and sends the data to Apple anyway. The Location Services Privacy policy reads: “Location services allows Apple and third-party apps and websites to gather and use information based on the current location of your iPhone. If Location Services is on, your iPhone will periodically send the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers (where supported by a device) in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple to be used for augmenting this crowdsourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations.” However, in the video below, you can see the purple arrows which mean that location services are still being used despite the services being turned off. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/37_3hd_SK24"></iframe></div> Krebs notified Apple and said that an engineer got back to him, saying that they “do not see any actual security implications”. “We do not see any actual security implications,” an Apple engineer wrote to Mr Krebs. “It is expected behaviour that the Location Services icon appears in the status bar when Location Services is enabled. The icon appears for system services that do not have a switch in Settings.” Mr Krebs tried to replicate the tracking issue on an earlier iPhone 8 but was unable to, which points to a possible issue with the iPhone 11 Pro devices themselves instead of the software. Apple later disclosed to Krebs that the behaviour is tied to the inclusion of a new short-range technology that lets iPhone 11 users share files locally with other nearby users that support this feature. Apple also said that a future version of its mobile operating system will allow users to disable it.

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Titanium is the perfect metal to make replacement body parts

To mark the <a href="https://www.iypt2019.org/">International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements</a> we’re taking a look at how researchers study some of the elements in their work. Today’s it’s titanium, a metal known for its strength and lightness so it’s ideal for making replacement hips, knees and other parts of our bodies, but it’s also used in other industries. <hr /> <a href="http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/22/titanium">Titanium</a> gets its name from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Titan-Greek-mythology">Titans of ancient Greek mythology</a> but this thoroughly modern material is well suited to a huge range of high-tech applications. With the chemical symbol Ti and an atomic number of 22, titanium is a silver-coloured metal valued for its low density, high strength, and resistance to corrosion. I first studied titanium via a Master’s degree at the Institute of Metal Research in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. One of my projects was to investigate the formation of titanium alloys for their high-strength characteristics. Since then, the applications for this metal have grown exponentially, from its use (as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium-dioxide">titanium dioxide</a>) in paints, paper, toothpaste, sunscreen and cosmetics, through to its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium">use as an alloy</a> in biomedical implants and aerospace innovations. Particularly exciting is the perfect marriage between titanium and 3D printing. Custom design from 3D printing Titanium materials are expensive and can be problematic when it comes to traditional processing technologies. For example, its high melting point (1,670℃, much higher than <a href="https://www.bssa.org.uk/topics.php?article=103">steel alloys</a>) is a challenge. The relatively low-cost precision of 3D printing is therefore a game-changer for titanium. 3D printing is where an object is built layer by layer and designers can create amazing shapes. This allows the production of complex shapes such as replacement parts of a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-30/victorian-woman-gets-3d-printed-jawbone-implant/8400410">jaw bone</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-21/rare-cancer-sufferer-receives-3d-printed-heel/5830432">heel</a>, <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2014/05/16-ground-breaking-hip-and-stem-cell-surgery.page">hip</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27313616">dental implants</a>, or <a href="http://www.media-studio.co.uk/news/media-studios-first-3d-printed-titanium-cranioplasty-plate-delivered">cranioplasty plates</a> in surgery. It can also be used to make <a href="https://3dprint.com/219546/3d-print-golf-clubs-and-equipment/">golf clubs</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norsk-boeing-idUSKBN17C264">aircraft components</a>. The <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MF/Areas/Metals/Lab22">CSIRO is working with industry</a> to develop new technologies in 3D printing using titanium. (It even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oc8GoOOUo4">made a dragon</a> out of titanium.) Advances in 3D printing are opening up new avenues to further improve the function of <a href="https://www.materialise.com/pl/node/3197">customised bodypart implants</a> <a href="https://www.renishaw.com/en/metal-3d-printing-for-healthcare--24226">made of titanium</a>. Such implants can be designed to be porous, making them lighter but allowing blood, nutrients and nerves to pass through and can even <a href="https://3dprint.com/219795/3d-printed-lattice-structures/">promote bone in-growth</a>. Safe in the body Titanium is considered the most biocompatible metal – not harmful or toxic to living tissue – due to its resistance to corrosion from bodily fluids. This ability to withstand the harsh bodily environment is a result of the protective oxide film that forms naturally in the presence of oxygen. Its ability to physically bond with bone also gives titanium an advantage over other materials that require the use of an adhesive to remain attached. Titanium implants last longer, and much larger forces are required to break the bonds that join them to the body compared with their alternatives. Titanium alloys commonly used in load-bearing implants are significantly less stiff – and closer in performance to human bone – than stainless steel or cobalt-based alloys. Aerospace applications Titanium weighs about half as much as steel but is 30% stronger, which makes it ideally suited to the aerospace industry where every gram matters. In the late 1940s the US government helped to get production of titanium going as it could see its potential for “<a href="https://titaniumprocessingcenter.com/titanium-technical-data/titanium-history-developments-and-applications/">aircraft, missiles, spacecraft, and other military purposes</a>”. Titanium has increasingly become the buy-to-fly material for aircraft designers striving to develop faster, lighter and more efficient aircraft. About 39% of the US Air Force’s <a href="https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/f22/">F22 Raptor</a>, one of the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world, is made of titanium. Civil aviation moved in the same direction with Boeing’s new <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/boeing-787-dreamliner">787 Dreamliner made of 15% titanium</a>, significantly more than previous models. Two key areas where titanium is used in airliners is in their landing gear and jet engines. Landing gear needs to withstand the massive amounts of force exerted on it every time a plane hits a runway. Titanium’s toughness means it can absorb the huge amounts of energy expelled when a plane lands without ever weakening. Titanium’s heat resistance means it can be used inside modern jet engines, where temperatures can reach 800℃. Steel begins to soften at around 400℃ but titanium can withstand the intense heat of a jet engine without losing its strength. Where to find titanium In its natural state, titanium is always found bonded with other elements, usually within igneous rocks and sediments derived from them. The most commonly mined materials containing titanium are <a href="https://geology.com/minerals/ilmenite.shtml">ilmenite</a> (an iron-titanium oxide, FeTiO3) and <a href="https://geology.com/minerals/rutile.shtml">rutile</a> (a titanium oxide, TiO2). Ilmenite is most abundant in China, whereas Australia has the highest global proportion of rutile, <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-energy/australian-mineral-facts/titanium#heading-6">about 40% according to Geoscience Australia</a>. It’s found mostly on the east, west and southern coastlines of Australia. Both materials are generally extracted from sands, after which the titanium is separated from the other minerals. Australia is one of the world’s <a href="https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/titanium/mcs-2015-timin.pdf">leading producers of titanium</a>, producing more than 1.5 million tonnes in 2014. South Africa and China are the two next leading producers of titanium, producing 1.16 and 1 million tonnes, respectively. Being among the top ten most abundant elements in Earth’s crust, titanium resources aren’t currently under threat – good news for the many scientists and innovators constantly looking for new ways to improve life with titanium. <hr /> If you’re an academic researcher working with a particular element from the periodic table and have an interesting story to tell then why not <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/pitches">get in touch</a>.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115361/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/laichang-zhang-715775">Laichang Zhang</a>, Professor Mechanical Engineering, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/titanium-is-the-perfect-metal-to-make-replacement-human-body-parts-115361">original article</a>.

Entertainment

The internet's founder wants to fix the web but his proposal isn't ideal

On March 12, the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, the internet’s founder Tim Berners-Lee said we needed to “<a href="https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/">fix the web</a>”. The statement attracted considerable interest. However, a resulting manifesto released on Sunday, and dubbed the <a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/">Contract for the Web</a>, is a major disappointment. Endorsed by more than 80 corporations and non-government organisations, the campaign seeks a return to the “<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/10/1301496/">open web</a>” of the 1990s and early 2000s – one largely free of corporate control over content. While appealing in theory, the contract glosses over several key challenges. It doesn’t account for the fact that most internet content is now accessed through a small number of digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook. Known as the “<a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129830/">platformisation of the internet</a>”, it’s this phenomenon which has generated many of the problems the web now faces, and this is where the focus should be. An undercooked proposal Berners-Lee identified major obstacles threatening the future of the web, including the circulation of malicious content, “<a href="https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/">perverse incentives</a>” that promote clickbait, and the growing polarisation of online debate. Having played a central role in the web’s development, he promised to use his influence to promote positive digital change. He said the Contract for the Web was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/24/tim-berners-lee-unveils-global-plan-to-save-the-internet">a revolutionary statement</a>. In fact, it’s deeply conservative. Berners-Lee claims it’s the moral responsibility of everybody to “save the web”. This implies the solution involves engaging civic morality and corporate ethics, rather than enacting laws and regulations that make digital platforms more publicly accountable. The contract views governments, not corporations, as the primary threat to an open internet. But governments’ influence is restricted to building digital infrastructure (such as fast broadband), facilitating online access, removing illegal content and maintaining data security. Missing links The contract doesn’t prescribe <a href="https://www.iicom.org/intermedia/intermedia-past-issues/intermedia-jul-2019/taking-aim-at-big-tech">measures</a> to address power misuse by digital platforms, or a solution to the <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/T3-Report-Tackling-the-Information-Crisis.pdf">power imbalance</a> between such platforms and content creators. This is despite <a href="https://www.iicom.org/intermedia/intermedia-past-issues/intermedia-july-2018/platforms-on-trial">more than 50 public inquiries</a> currently taking place worldwide into the power of digital platforms. The most obvious gaps in the contract are around the obligations of digital platform companies. And while there are welcome commitments to strengthening user privacy and data protection, there’s no mention of how these problems emerged in the first place. It doesn’t consider whether the harvesting of user data to maximise advertising revenue is not the result of “<a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/principles/principle-5-respect-and-protect-peoples-privacy-and-personal-data-to-build-online-trust/">user interfaces and design patterns</a>”, but is instead baked into the <a href="https://www.hiig.de/en/data-colonialism-nick-couldry-digital-society/">business models of digital platform companies</a>. Its proposals are familiar: address the digital divide between rich and poor, improve digital service delivery, improve diversity in hiring practices, pursue human-centered digital design, and so forth. But it neglects to ask whether the internet may now be less open because a small number of conglomerates are dominating the web. There is <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Digital%20Platforms%20Inquiry%20-%20Final%20report%20-%20part%201.pdf">evidence</a> that platforms such as Google and Facebook dominate search and social media respectively, and the digital advertising connected with these. Not a civic responsibility Much of the work in the contract seems to fall onto citizens, who are expected to “<a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/principles/principle-9-fight-for-the-web/">fight for the web</a>”. They bear responsibility for maintaining proper online discourse, protecting vulnerable users, using their privacy settings properly and generating creative content (presumably unpaid and non-unionized). The contract feels like a document from the late 1990s, forged in the spirit of “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/wired25-louis-rossetto-tech-militant-optimism/">militant optimism</a>” about the internet. It offers only <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344387009001005">pseudo-regulation</a> for tech giants. It also implies if tech giants can demonstrate greater diversity in hiring practices, allow users to better manage their privacy settings, and make some investments in disadvantaged communities, then they can avoid serious regulatory consequences. Legacies of internet culture A big question is why leading non-government organisations such as the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> and <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/">Public Knowledge</a> have signed-on to such a weak contract. This may be because two elements of the original legacy of internet culture (as it started developing in the 1990s) are still applicable today. One is the view that governments present a greater threat to public interest than corporations. This leads non-governmental organisations to favour legally binding frameworks that restrain the influence of governments, rather than addressing issues of market dominance. The contract doesn’t mention, for instance, whether governments have a role in legislating to ensure digital platforms address issues of online hate speech. This is despite evidence that social media platforms are used to <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/609/60904.htm#_idTextAnchor005">spread hate, abuse and violent extremism</a>. The second is the tendency to think the internet is a different realm to society at large, so laws that apply to other aspects of the online environment are deemed inappropriate for digital platform companies. An example in Australia is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/law-should-treat-social-media-companies-as-publishers-attorney-general-20191120-p53cch.html">defamation law not being applied to digital platforms such as Facebook</a>, but being applied to the comments sections of news websites. Berners-Lee’s manifesto for the future of the web is actually more conservative than proposals coming from government regulators, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/digital-platforms-inquiry">Digital Platforms Inquiry</a>. The ACCC is closely evaluating issues arising because of digital platforms, whereas the Contract for the Web looks wistfully back to the open web of the 1990s as a path to the future. It fails to address the changing political economy of the internet, and the rise of digital platforms. And it’s a barrier to meaningfully addressing the problems plaguing today’s web.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127793/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/terry-flew-3944">Terry Flew</a>, Professor of Communication and Creative Industries, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-internets-founder-now-wants-to-fix-the-web-but-his-proposal-misses-the-mark-127793">original article</a>.

Entertainment

The problem with virtual reality is endless possibilities

Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure had <a href="https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/vir_graphic_01.png">plummeted to US$280 million</a>. <a href="https://www.oculus.com/?locale=en_US">Oculus</a> - the Facebook-owned company behind one of the most popular VR headsets on the market - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-facebooks-oculus-go-santa-cruz-headsets-plan-to-make-vr-mainstream-2017-10">planned to deliver 1 billion headsets to consumers</a>, but as of last year had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-oculus-vr-bet-taking-longer-than-expected-2019-10?r=US&IR=T">sold barely 300,000</a>. Investments in VR entertainment venues all over the world, VR cinematic experiences, and specialised VR studios such as <a href="https://atap.google.com/spotlight-stories/">Google Spotlight</a> and <a href="https://www.ccpgames.com/">CCP Games</a> have either significantly downsized, closed down or morphed into new ventures. What is happening? Recent articles in <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/virtual-reality-struggle-hope-vr/">Fortune</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality">The Verge</a> have voiced disdain with VR technology. Common complaints include expensive, clunky or uncomfortable hardware, and unimaginative or repetitive content. Sceptics have compared VR experiences to the 3D television fad of the early 2010s. As a VR researcher and developer, I understand the scepticism. Yet I believe in this technology, and I know there are “killer apps” and solutions waiting to be discovered. Last week, Western Sydney University hosted a <a href="https://vrst.acm.org/vrst2019/">global symposium on VR software and technology</a>, at which academics and industry partners from around the world discussed possible ways forward for VR and augmented reality. Among the speakers were Aleissia Laidacker, director of Developer Experience at <a href="https://www.magicleap.com/">Magic Leap</a>; University of South Australia computing professor <a href="https://people.unisa.edu.au/Mark.Billinghurst">Mark Billingurst</a>; and Tomasz Bednarz, director of UNSW’s <a href="https://artdesign.unsw.edu.au/research/epicentre-expanded-perception-interaction-centre">Expanded Perception and Interaction Centre</a>. Virtual reality, literal headache One problem discussed at the symposium is the fact that VR experiences often cause health-related issues including headaches, eye strain, dizziness, and nausea. Developers can partially deal with these issues at the hardware level by delivering balanced experiences with high refresh and frame rates. But many developers are ignoring usability guidelines in the pursuit of exciting content. Gaming industry guidelines used by <a href="https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Platforms/VR/DevelopVR/ContentSetup/index.html">Epic</a>, <a href="https://developer.oculus.com/design/latest/concepts/book-bp/">Oculus</a>, <a href="https://blog.marvelapp.com/designing-vr-beginners-guide/">Marvel</a>, and <a href="https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/guidelines-for-immersive-virtual-reality-experiences">Intel</a> recommend that games completely avoid any use of induced motion, acceleration or “fake motion”, which are often the main cause of discomfort and motion sickness. Yet the vast majority of available VR experiences feature some kind of induced motion, either in the form of animation or by basing the experience on user movement and exploration of the virtual environment. I have met many first-time VR users who generally enjoyed the experience, but also reported “feeling wrong” – similar to enjoying the clarity of sound in noise-cancelling headphones but also having a “strange sensation” in their ears. Killing creativity Queasiness is not the only turnoff. Another problem is that despite the near-limitless potential of VR, many current offerings are sorely lacking in imagination. The prevailing trend is to create VR versions of existing content such as games, videos or advertisements, in the hope of delivering extra impact. This does not work, in much the same way that radio play would make terrible television. A famous cautionary tale comes from <a href="https://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>, the virtual world launched in 2003 which <a href="https://gigaom.com/2013/06/23/second-life-turns-10-what-it-did-wrong-and-why-it-will-have-its-own-second-life/">failed spectacularly to live up to its billing</a>. Real-world businesses such as Toyota and BMW opened branches in Second Life, allowing users to test-drive badly programmed versions of their virtual cars. They <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/few-lives-left-for-second-life-20080821-gdsrna.html">lasted mere months</a>. Why would we prefer a humdrum virtual experience to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-virtual-reality-cannot-match-the-real-thing-92035">real one</a>? No one needs a virtual Toyota. We need to give users good reasons to leave their reality behind and immerse themselves in a new one. There have been some notable successes. <a href="https://beatsaber.com/">Beat Saber</a>, made by Czech indie developers, is the one of the few games that have explored the true potential of VR – and is the only VR game to have grossed more than US$20 million. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPVOt7QjcM">VR Vaccine Project</a> helps to take the sting out of childhood needles, by combining a real-world vaccination with a superhero story in the virtual world, in which the child is presented with a magical shield at the crucial moment. I really hope VR is on its way to becoming more mainstream, more exciting, and less underwhelming. But we scientists can only present new technological solutions, to help make VR a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. Ultimately it is down to VR developers to learn from existing success stories and start delivering those “killer apps”. The possibilities are limited only by imagination.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126761/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tomas-trescak-876634">Tomas Trescak</a>, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/western-sydney-university-1092">Western Sydney University</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-main-problem-with-virtual-reality-its-almost-as-humdrum-as-real-life-126761">original article</a>.

Entertainment

Incredible but true: Terminally ill scientist extends life for decades by becoming "world's first full cyborg"

A British scientist who is terminally ill said he has transformed into “the world’s first full cyborg”. 61-year-old Peter Scott Morgan, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2017, said he decided to extend his life using technology. This week, the roboticist emerged after 24 days in intensive care to reveal that “Peter 2.0 is now online”. “All medical procedures now complete and a huge success,” Scott-Morgan wrote on a Twitter post. “Long research road ahead but in great spirits.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Just home from 24 days in Intensive Care. All medical procedures now complete and a huge success. My mini-ventilator keeping me breathing is a LOT quieter than Darth Vader’s. All speech is synthetic but at last sounds like me again. Long research road ahead but in great spirits. <a href="https://t.co/JPjwjagDLT">pic.twitter.com/JPjwjagDLT</a> — Dr Peter B Scott-Morgan (@DrScottMorgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrScottMorgan/status/1193923007045132289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote> The processes Scott-Morgan underwent during his intensive care included a laryngectomy to avoid the danger of saliva potentially entering his lungs – which he described as trading his natural voice for “potentially decades of life”. He also had a laser eye surgery and developed a life-like avatar of his face, which was designed to respond using artificially intelligent body language. The scientist, who was told by experts he might only have until the end of this year to live, said last month: “I’m not dying, I’m transforming. Oh, how I love science.” Scott-Morgan said the transition, which turned him into “the most advanced human cybernetic organism ever created in 13.8 billion years”, would not be his last. “It won’t stop there; I’ve got more upgrades in progress than Microsoft,” he wrote on his website. “Mine isn’t just a version change. It’s a metamorphosis.” Scott-Morgan said MND, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, should be seen as an opportunity to “upgrade” rather than a death sentence. “Over time, more and more with MND, with extreme disability, with old age, with a passion simply to break free from their physical straightjacket, will choose to stand beside me,” he wrote. He is now lobbying British MPs for support for his Right to Thrive campaign, which calls for increased access for people with MND to life-sustaining technologies, including tracheostomy and cough-assist machine.

Health

Hackers are getting smarter by targeting councils and governments

In recent weeks, <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/city-of-johannesburg-held-for-ransom-by-hacker-gang/">Johannesburg’s computer network was held for ransom</a> by a hacker group called Shadow Kill Hackers. This was the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49125853">second time</a> in three months a ransomware attack has hit South Africa’s largest city. This time, however, hackers didn’t pose the usual threat. Rather than denying the city <a href="https://www.hkcert.org/ransomware.hk/ransomware-basic.html">access to its data</a>, the standard blackmail in a ransomware attack, they threatened to publish it online. This style of attack, known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware#Leakware_(also_called_Doxware)">leakware</a>, allows hackers to target more victims in a single attack – in this case the city’s citizens. The latest Johannesburg attack was the second leakware attack of this type ever recorded, and a similar attack could hit Australia soon. And although our current cyberattack defences are more advanced than many countries, we could be taken by surprise because of the unique way leakware operates. A new plan of attack During the Johannesburg attack, city employees received a computer message saying hackers had “compromised all passwords and sensitive data such as finance and personal population information”. In exchange for not uploading the stolen data online, destroying it and revealing how they executed the breach, the hackers demanded four bitcoins (worth about A$52,663) - “a small amount of money” for a vast city council, they said. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299645/original/file-20191031-187903-1ykyg4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299645/original/file-20191031-187903-1ykyg4q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> The hacker group operated a Twitter account, on which they posted a photo showing the directories they had access to. ShadowKillGroup/twitter In this case, access to data was not denied. But the threat of releasing data online can put enormous pressure on authorities to comply, or they risk releasing citizens’ sensitive information, and in doing so, betraying their trust. The city of Johannesburg decided <a href="https://coingeek.com/we-shall-not-pay-the-ransom-johannesburg-tells-hackers/">not to pay the ransom</a> and to restore systems on its own. Yet we don’t know whether the data has been released online or not. The attack suggests cybercriminals will continue to experiment and innovate in a bid to defeat current prevention and defence measures against leakware attacks. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299644/original/file-20191031-187898-hhld2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299644/original/file-20191031-187898-hhld2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> This login screen message was displayed on computers in Johannesburg following the attack. pule_madumo/twitter Another notable leakware attack happened a decade ago against the US state of Virginia. <a href="https://www.govtech.com/security/Cyber-Criminal-Demands-10-Million.html">Hackers stole</a> prescription drug information from the state and tried obtaining a ransom by threatening to either release it online, or sell it to the highest bidder. When to trust the word of a cybercriminal? Ransomware attack victims face two options: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361372316300367">pay, or don’t pay</a>. If they choose the latter, they need to try other methods to recover the data being kept from them. If a ransom is paid, criminals will often decrypt the data as promised. They do this to encourage compliance in future victims. That said, paying a ransom <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/paying-the-coverton-ransomware-may-not-get-your-data-back/">doesn’t guarantee the release or decryption of data</a>. The type of attack experienced in Johannesburg poses a new incentive for criminals. Once the attackers have stolen the data, and have been paid the ransom, the data still has extractive value to them. This gives them <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.06247.pdf">duelling incentives</a> about whether to publish the data or not, as publishing it would mean they could continue to extort value from the city by targeting citizens directly. In cases where victims decide not to pay, the solution so far has been to have strong, separate and updated <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/3331981/how-to-protect-backups-from-ransomware.html">data backups</a>, or use one of <a href="https://www.nomoreransom.org/en/index.html">the passkeys available online</a>. Passkeys are decryption tools that help regain access to files once they’ve been held at ransom, by applying a repository of keys to unlock the most common types of ransomware. But these solutions don’t address the negative outcomes of leakware attacks, because the “<a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/bm/Documents/risk/cayman-islands/2017%20Deloitte%20-%20Taking%20data%20hostage%20-%20The%20rise%20of%20ransomware.PDF">hostage</a>” data is not meant to be released to the victim, but to the public. In this way, criminals manage to innovate their way out of being defeated by backups and decryption keys. The traditional ransomware attack Historically, <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4337/ransomware">ransomware attacks denied users access to their data, systems or services</a> by locking them out of their computers, files or servers. This is done through obtaining passwords and login details and changing them fraudulently through the process of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing">phishing</a>. It can also be done by encrypting the data and converting it to a format that makes it inaccessible to the original user. In such cases, criminals contact the victim and pressure them into paying a ransom in exchange for their data. The criminal’s success depends on both the value the data holds for the victim, and the victim’s inability to retrieve the data from elsewhere. Some cybercriminal groups have even developed complex online “<a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3173698/ransomware-customer-support-chat-reveals-criminals-ruthlessness.html">customer support</a>” assistance channels, to help victims buy cryptocurrency or otherwise assist in the process of paying ransoms. Trouble close to home Facing the risk of losing sensitive information, companies and governments often pay ransoms. This is <a href="https://www.synergetic.net.au/ransomware-attacks-on-the-rise-in-australia/">especially true</a> in Australia. Last year, 81% of Australian <a href="https://www.synergetic.net.au/ransomware-attacks-on-the-rise-in-australia/">companies</a> that experienced a cyberattack were held at ransom, and 51% of these paid. Generally, paying tends to <a href="http://www.rmmagazine.com/2016/05/02/ransomware-attacks-pose-growing-threat/">increase the likelihood</a> of future attacks, extending vulnerability to more targets. This is why ransomware is a rising global threat. In the first quarter of 2019, <a href="https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/assets/reports/rp-quarterly-threats-aug-2019.pdf">ransomware attacks went up by 118%</a>. They also became more targeted towards governments, and the healthcare and legal sectors. Attacks on these sectors are now more lucrative than ever. The threat of leakware attacks is increasing. And as they become more advanced, Australian city councils and organisations should adapt their defences to brace for a new wave of sophisticated onslaught. As history has taught us, it’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/01/systems-shut-down-in-victorian-hospitals-after-suspected-cyber-attack">better to be safe</a> than sorry.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126190/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roberto-musotto-872263">Roberto Musotto</a>, Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Postdoctoral Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brian-nussbaum-874786">Brian Nussbaum</a>, Assistant Professor at College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-at-albany-state-university-of-new-york-1978">University at Albany, State University of New York</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hackers-are-now-targeting-councils-and-governments-threatening-to-leak-citizen-data-126190">original article</a>.

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Old iPhone and iPad owners urged to update

Apple has warned users of older iPhone and iPad devices to update within this week to avoid losing key features. The tech company said due to a GPS-related time bug that started in April, some older devices will require an iOS update by November 3 to ensure that core features continue functioning properly. The updated versions of the operating system have been equipped with bug-fix to solve the GPS time rollover issue, which affects the way the services track time and date. iPhone 5 owners are being urged to update to iOS 10.3.4 to maintain an accurate GPS location, which the device relies on to support features such as App Store, iCloud, email and web browsing. Other devices affected by the bug will also require a software iOS update to keep their GPS functionality. iPad 4th generation will need to be updated to iOS 10.3.4, while iPhone 4s, iPad mini (1st generation), iPad 2 and iPad 3rd generation will need to be updated to iOS 9.3.6. Users can update their iPhone and iPad using a <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204204">Wi-Fi network or a computer</a>.

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New NASA images capture birth of a star

These emojis make you ‘old’ according to Gen Z

We steered a spacecraft into an asteroid

Spinetingling audio of a black hole goes viral, here’s why

Producing electricity from your sweat might be key to next wearable technology

The International Space Station to crash to Earth in 2030

REVEALED: The two people Queen Elizabeth II will pick up the phone for

Billionaire actress Zhao Wei erased from history

7 hidden iPhone hacks you never knew about

How to change your phone number in Facebook or get rid of it entirely

4 inventions that have changed the world in the last decade

How the use of lasers and small satellites helps information get through space

The problem of living inside a social media echo chamber

iPhone 11 pro models reportedly sending data to Apple despite permissions being turned off

Titanium is the perfect metal to make replacement body parts

The internet's founder wants to fix the web but his proposal isn't ideal

The problem with virtual reality is endless possibilities

Incredible but true: Terminally ill scientist extends life for decades by becoming "world's first full cyborg"

Hackers are getting smarter by targeting councils and governments

Old iPhone and iPad owners urged to update

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