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2019 Week 17 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

App Called WiFi Finder Leaked Private Data

WiFi Finder (headquartered in China) is an app that locate and provide credentials for public wifi hotspots to it’s users. This week thousands of this app’s users find out that their information has been exposed online Information includes their home network names (SSID), precise geolocation, ‘plaintext’ passwords and other data.

When the users install the app – they also provide their home network information and it all stored in app’s database. But the app has no mechanism to differentiate between public hot spots and home networks. Now the app’s database has been exposed – which puts thousands of it’s user at risk. As most the users are not aware of this – which makes them an easy target for the cyber criminal. A cloud host company called DigitalOcean has already took the database offline. But damage has already been done.

 

Brain Implant Turns Thoughts in to Speech

The team at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a brain implant that can read people’s minds and turn their thoughts to speech.They are calling it “exhilarating” technology. Electrode are implanted in the brain. It picks up the electrical signals that maneuver the lips, tongue, voice box and jaw. Then the algorithm analyze these movement. It then simulate how those result would form different sound in mouth and throat.

At this point – this is in very early stage. But in time – it will be perfect. This is break through technology. In near future individuals with speech impairments will regain the ability to freely speak their minds and reconnect with the world around them.

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2019 Week 15 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

First Ever Black Hole Image Captured

It measures 40 billion km across ! This massive black hole is three million times the size of the Earth. And 500 million trillion km away. But scientist ware able to capture the whole thing in one frame.Yes astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole.
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10 April 2019, the images of the black hole was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope. It’s a network of eight linked telescopes. But Katie Bouman 29-year-old computer scientist was behind the impossible.Dr.Bouman’s algorithm rendered the collected image and construct the final image. She has been working on this project for the last three years.
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Different telescope took images from different section.But the black is self larger than the size of our entire Solar System.So Dr. Bouman and others developed a series of algorithms that converted telescopic data into one whole image.Image was published on 10 April 2019. This picture give us the opportunity see the an actual blackhole, which is “unseeable” to the naked eye.

Three-person Baby Boy Born in Greece

A baby was born on Tuesday April 9, 2019 through an experimental form of IVF in Greece.The procedure uses an egg from the mother, sperm from the father and another egg from a donor woman.The baby will carry a tiny amount of genetic makeup from the donor woman as mitochondria have their own DNA. Mother and baby both are in good health.

Nearly every cell of the body has mitochondria that convert food into use-able energy.But there is also speculation (claim has not been tested) mitochondria may have a role in a successful pregnancy too.The patient had endured four unsuccessful cycles of IVF.

President of the Institute, Dr Panagiotis Psathas said:”We are very proud to announce an international innovation in assisted reproduction, and we are now in a position to make it possible for women with multiple IVF failures or rare mitochondrial genetic diseases to have a healthy child.

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2019 Week 14 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

Sydney Brenner Pioneer Molecular Biologist Has Died

Sydney Brenner was one of the giants of science.Born in 1927 immigrated to South Africa. He taught himself to read from the newspapers,used as tablecloths at dinner time.

He made big contributions to the understanding of DNA.His work help others to understand role played by the molecule RNA. Which carry the “code of life”. He also worked with Francis Crick, François Jacob, Linus Pauling and James Watson.This great mind passed away 5th of April, 2019.

Sydney Brenner received Nobel Prize in 2002 for his contribution in the field of molecular and developmental biology.