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Around The World – Tech News 26 May 2018
China’s Huawei released a thinner, lighter, and more practical version of Apple’s new MacBook Pro — and it runs Windows
Source – Businessinsider
For the past week my primary computer has been a PC laptop that really wants to be a Mac. And I don’t mean that as a dis.From its look and feel to its name, the MateBook X Pro from Huawei has taken some serious inspiration from Apple’s MacBook line. The funny thing is that, after using it, I’m convinced this is the computer Apple should’ve made.
Android Malware Found Preinstalled on Hundreds of Phones, Results in Popup Ads
Source – hypebeast
Malware has been found preinstalled in hundreds of various Android smartphones. Avast researchers found adware on uncertified devices, with the affected phones displaying popup ads in your default browser and other issues that are difficult to remove.The infected “dropper” apps are installed in hidden pockets of the system settings and download manifest files that inform the app of other harmful files to download, starting the payload service.
Next Essential Phone cancelled, company up for sale
Source – mobilesyrup
Essential Products, the company behind Android co-creator Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone, is reportedly up for sale following the cancellation of the startup’s next smartphone, according to a report from Bloomberg’s often reliable Mark Gurman. The report states that Essential has hired Credit Suisse Group AG to advise on the potential sale, and that so far there is interest from one possible company.
Around The World – Tech News 25 May 2018
Amazon Alexa ‘heard and sent private chat’
Source – BBC
A couple in Portland, Oregon joked that their Amazon Alexa might be listening in to their private conversations.The joke came to an abrupt end when they discovered a conversation was indeed recorded by Alexa – and then sent to an apparently random person in their contact list.”Unplug your Alexa devices right now!”
Scientists discovered massive hidden canyons in Antarctica that could spell bad news for the rest of the planet
Source – Quartz Media LLC
Antarctica, the Earth’s landmass now most synonymous with bad news, has a new feature for us to worry about.A team of scientists from the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway just discovered three canyons hidden beneath hundreds of feet of ice in interior Antarctica.
Will the keto diet cause your skin to break out?
Source – Globalnews
There’s been a lot of buzz around the keto diet (formally known as the ketogenic diet or nutritional ketosis) for its ability to help followers lose weight while still enjoying otherwise “bad” foods like red meat and butter. Delicious as it sounds, however, it calls into question if all that protein and saturated fat is good for your skin.
Stephen Hawking Has Died at The Age of 76
At the age of 22 after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease. He was given only a few years to live. March 14, 2018 early hour of Wednesday Professor Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge
at the age of 76.
He doesn’t need any introduction. He was one of THE most popular famous scientist of the word. He was one of the brilliant and extraordinary mind of our time. It is a mammoth tusk to write about him. Here are some facts about his life and work –
- Diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 and given two years to live. He was only 21 years old then !
- Became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Cambridge – a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton in 1979.
- Published his “A Brief History of Time” in 1988. Sold more than 10 million copies.
- In the late 1990s, he was reportedly turned down knighthood offer. He had issues with the government abou their funding for science.
- He became the first quadriplegic to experience weightlessness in 2007 on board the modified plane specially designed to simulate zero gravity.
- He died on Mar 14, 2018. Coincidently 14th of March is also called as the “Pi Day”.
He once wrote – he had motor neurone disease for practically all his adult life. But it had not stopped him having an attractive family and being successful in his work. It shows, that one need not lose hope.
Author- Rubayat M.
New Blood Tests Detects Many Types of Cancer
Earlier detection is key to reducing cancer deaths. Scientists are reporting progress on a blood test to detect many types of cancer at an early stage, including some of the most deadly ones that lack screening tools now. Johns Hopkins University is conducting the research.
Johns Hopkins University Research
The blood tests called CancerSEEK conducted on 1,005 patients. It detects mutations in 16 genes tied to cancer and measures eight proteins that often are elevated when cancer is present. It covers breast, colon and lung and five kinds that don’t have screening tests for people at average risk: ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic and esophageal.
One of the study co-author Nickolas Papadopoulos express his excitment – ‘We’re very, very excited and see this as a first step’.
CellMax Life Research
Also this week, Taiwan-based CellMax Life gave results on its liquid biopsy test, which looks for whole tumour cells shed into blood. The company said its test had an overall accuracy of 84 to 88 per cent for detecting cancer or precancerous growths and a false alarm rate around 3 per cent. The test is sold now in Taiwan for $500, but should cost around $150 in the U.S.
Great Start
Chief medical officer of the oncology society Dr. Richard Schilsky said results are encouraging, but the test needs more study, especially to see if it gives too many false alarms. It’s a start and we still have a long way to go – but it is a great start.
Writer – Rubayat M.
2017 Year End Review
Another year just gone from our life. Very soon we are going to welcome 2018. So what we human has achieved or done and experienced in 2017? This is a brief summary –
Information Technology
2017 was the year of cyber attack. Few major attack shock the world. Here are few of them-
May 2017 a massive cyber-attack other wise known as the Ransomware has been infected computer systems in 99 countries. Countries are UK, US, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan. So far more then 74,000 computer system has been identified as infected.
June 2017 another attack took place in. The attack was originated in Ukraine.A tax accounting software company named M.E.Doc become the initial victim. Then ransomware spread to at least 64 countries. Though Ukraine seems to have been particularly badly hit this time round.
Nasa and Aerospace
AI and New Planets
A new planet Kepler-90i was found using artificial intelligence. Google,s AI used NASA,s data to identify planets.
Cassini Spacecraft ends Its Mission
On Sept. 15, 2017 NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn,
ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.
Automobile and Other Industries
XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator
Supersonic jumbo jet is designed to travel at up to 2,333kph. From London to New York under three and a half hours with up to 45 passengers .
Tesla’s Semi Truck
At mid November Electric carmaker Tesla unveiled a sleek electric semi truck with semi- autonomous capabilities.500 miles of range and more aerodynamic than a supercar. The semi is a fully electric Class 8 truck, a category of freight vehicles that weigh more than 33,000 pounds, including tractor-trailer rigs that form the backbone of commercial road freight.
Health and Science
Human Head Transplants
Sergio Canavero , an Italian neurosurgeon, intends to attempt the first human head transplant by
2017, though no successful animal transplants with long-term survival have yet been made. Canavero
says all the technology he needs is available, and estimates the procedure will take about 36 hours
and require the services of 150 medical professionals. He expects a 90% chance of success, as in a
90% chance the patient is up and walking around a few months after the surgery.
Synthetic Hormones for your Heart
It’s a synthetic version of the hormone relaxin, which is produced by pregnant women to help with
the increased stress carrying a fetus places on the heart.
Heart in a Box: Warm Blood Perfusion System
Surgeons in the United States have preserved organs in a cold solution and transported in coolers to
the the receiving patient in need. But this process can cause damage to the heart and in some cases
render it unusable. Warm perfusioncan keep hearts beating and lungs “breathing” while allowing
doctors to assess and treat organs to make them last longer.
Major Outbreaks in different Countries
United Arab Emirates – Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
France – Outbreak of Salmonella Agona infections linked to internationally distributed infant formula.
Nigeria – Yellow fever
Yemen – Diphtheria
Nigeria – Monkeypox
Nobel Prize in Medicine
Three Americans Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash (Brandeis University in Massachusetts) and Michael W. Young (Rockefeller University in New York) won a Nobel Prize in the field of medicine. They discovered key genetic reason for the body’s 24-hour biological clock, also known as “circadian rhythm”.
Noteable Deaths
Astronaut Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 and the last man to walk on the moon, died Jan. 16, 2017.
Thomas Starzl who is also known as “the father of modern transplantation” died on March 4, 2017.He was 90 years old.
Writer – Rubayat M.
US Military Created Mind Control Chip
US military has been working on artificial intelligence for some times now. Recently they have developed a chip that will be implanted to human brain and will be will use to change a person’s mood ! It is in testing stage now. If successful, then this chip can be use to treat number of mental health conditions. Which is awesome!
One good thing – researchers won’t be able to read people’s minds with this chip (yet).
The Developers
The chip is the work of DARPA or Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency a section of US’s Department of Defense. Whose main work is to develops new technology for the military. Two other American university University of California (UC) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) also has been working with DARPA in this project. Together they have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that will detect the pattern of mood.
How it works
This technology has been tested on people who has epilepsy. These people already have electrodes implanted in their brains that track their seizures. This chip has been incorporated with that implant. The chip’s AI algorithm will then monitor the brain activity for one to three weeks. That gives data to create an algorithm to understand the moods pattern.
Once the AI algorithm understand the pattern – it can then detect the normal and abnormal pattern. So when abnormal pattern is detected – the CHIP can give a shock to the patient’s brain and bring it back to a normal pattern automatically.
The study data gives enough information to the researcher – that they can even shock the regions of the brain that deals with decision making and emotions. Result – test subjects take the right decision for a particular tusk.
Who are the test subjects
This technology has been tested on people who have epilepsy, as epilepsy cause very bad seizure.
Problems
Through these AI chip and electrodes, the researchers can track what is happening in the brain. They can also use the chips to stimulate a brain. And that create the first problem. This AI chip gives the researcher the ability to stimulate the brain’s “specific” region to do a “specific” tusk. This can be defines as the first steps towards mind
control.
And the following bad thing can be done using these technology-
- Using this AI chip – military can create mindless soldier who will do anything without thinking.
- Bad politicians can “program” the chip to control the mass population. So people will always have a warm
feeling when the politician appears on television or in public. Result bad politician will be able to do anything they want.
Conclusion
This technology has open a window on the brain that will help the researcher to understand what is happening inthe brain when someone relapses. It will help “fix” many many brain functionality related disorder. The possibility is endless – if this technology is used properly.
Drug with a sensor that alerts doctors when the medication has been taken
November 13, 2017 FDA ( Food and Drug Administration) has approved a new pill called Abilify MyCite. This is pill
is use for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder and for use as an add-on treatment for depression in adults. Abilify MyCite has a sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication or not. This is a new way of monitoring patients but is also has privacy concerns.
How it works
Pill’s digital sensor that is activated by stomach fluids send a message to a wearable patch. The patch transmits the information to a mobile application.Patients then can track the ingestion of the medication on their smart phone. With patients permission their caregivers or physician can access the
information through a web-based portal.
Importance
The technology will help prevent dangerous emergencies that can occur when patients skip their medication. According to Mitchell Mathis, M.D (director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) “Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for mental illness may be useful for some patients”. About 1 percent of Americans have schizophrenia and disabling brain disorder. This technology might benefit some patients and prescribers.
This is a new way of monitoring patients but is also has privacy concerns. What if there are breaches of medical data and patient’s personal health record was published in public portal. There are so many other “unknown privacy concern” at this point. Medical professional need to be careful before they prescribed this pill.
60 Years Ago From Today Sputnik 1 Was Launched and Opened the Space Era
On Oct. 4, 1957, earth’s first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 successfully launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) and entered Earth’s orbit. IT was launched by former Soviet Union (USSR) but it was also a big achievement for the whole human race as it began the space age. The word ‘Sputnik’ originally meant ‘fellow traveler’.
Launch of Sputnik 1 became a major triumph for the Soviet Union and also stunned the rest of the world. Details of the development and the launch of Sputnik 1 was hidden from the general public. Decades later the information was made public.
Even though the satellite itself wasn’t equipped with sensors but provided scientists with valuable information. Sputnik 1 remained in orbit until January. 4, 1958, when it re-entered and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to 3 Americans for Body Clock Studies
Monday October 2, 2017 three Americans Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash (Brandeis University in Massachusetts) and Michael W. Young (Rockefeller University in New York) won a Nobel Prize in the field of medicine. They discovered key genetic reason for the body’s 24-hour biological clock, also known as “circadian rhythm”. Which we
commonly called “jet lag”.
What is circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythm is a 24 hour(roughly) cycle in the physiological processes of living beings (human, animal, plants even cyanobacteria). It determining the sleeping and feeding patterns. There are other biological activities like – brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration also happen during the process.
Human Brain & Hypothalamus
How it controlled ?
There is a “master control” (inside the brain) that coordinates the whole thing. A group of nerve cells known as “suprachiasmatic nucleus” or “SCN” inside the hypothalamus control the activities. Suprachiasmatic nucleus contain only 20,000 nerve cells! Circadian rhythm controls when you need to go to bathroom at a particular time of
day or feel sleepy on a certain time.
Their contribution
These doctors ware able to look inside and discover the detail of the whole inner working process. Because of this doctors now are able to understand better about a patient’s condition. For example doctors have discovered a genetic mutation in some people who have a chronic sleeping problem.
Writer – Rubayat M.
