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Hacking, Extreme Tech et al

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A Bitter/Sweet Shift in Cockroach Defenses. Everyone knows that cockroaches are the ultimate survivors, with enough evolutionary tricks up their carapaces to have thrived for 350 million years and to have completely adapted to the human species.

A Bitter/Sweet Shift in Cockroach Defenses

But the nature of the adaptation that researchers in North Carolina described on Thursday in the journal Science is impressive even for such an ancient, ineradicable lineage, experts say. Untouched water as old as 2.6 billion years is found: Don't drink it. Nearly 1.5 miles beneath Earth's surface, scientists have discovered pockets of water that have remained in isolation for more than a billion years.

Untouched water as old as 2.6 billion years is found: Don't drink it

What you see in that picture above is probably some of the oldest water on the planet, and scientists say it could be teeming with microscopic life. The ancient water bubbling up from the floor of a zinc and copper mine near Timmins in Canada's Ontario province looks crystal clear, but it would not make a cool refreshing drink. Scientists say it is warm to the touch and much saltier than seawater. The water is also rich in dissolved hydrogen and methane gas as well as noble gases and their isotopes. How does world's oldest water taste? The chemical reactions of the gases could build up enough energy to support life that has been hidden from the sun for more than a billion years, a team of researchers report in a study published in the journal Nature. Baby’s life saved with groundbreaking 3D printed device from University of Michigan that restored his breathing.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Every day, their baby stopped breathing, his collapsed bronchus blocking the crucial flow of air to his lungs.

Baby’s life saved with groundbreaking 3D printed device from University of Michigan that restored his breathing

April and Bryan Gionfriddo watched helplessly, just praying that somehow the dire predictions weren’t true. “Quite a few doctors said he had a good chance of not leaving the hospital alive,” says April Gionfriddo, about her now 20-month-old son, Kaiba. “At that point, we were desperate. Anything that would work, we would take it and run with it.” They found hope at the University of Michigan, where a new, bioresorbable device that could help Kaiba was under development.

Green and his colleague, Scott Hollister, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and associate professor of surgery at U-M, went right into action, obtaining emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to create and implant a tracheal splint for Kaiba made from a biopolymer called polycaprolactone. Human cloning breakthrough raises hopes for treatment of Parkinson's and heart disease - Science - News. For the first time, researchers have unequivocally created human embryonic stem cells using the cloning technique that led to the birth of Dolly the sheep. However, unlike Dolly, the human embryos were destroyed when their stem cells were extracted. The scientific milestone, which comes 17 years after the birth of Dolly, represents a major turning point in human cloning research which could now lead to new tissue-transplant operations for a range of debilitating disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and spinal cord injuries.

However, the breakthrough will also raise serious ethical concerns about the creation of human embryos for medical purposes and the possible use of the same technique to produce IVF embryos for couples wanting their own cloned babies - which is currently illegal in the UK. Generating a plentiful supply of embryonic stem cells from a patient's own skin cells has been one of the holy grails of medical science. Beating heart cells. Meet Eb0z, The Guy Who Claims To Have Hacked Pakistan’s Web (And 89,000 Other Sites)

It all started with a score that needed to be settled. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote up some news about how various, high-profile sites in Pakistan and Romania were getting defaced by hackers. I did a little digging around to see who might have been behind the events, and then wrote that up in the posts. Apparently, I didn’t dig deep enough to get the whole story. Plasmyd. Dropbox in Space! Dropbox / 18 Comments Posted by Drew Houstonon April 09, 2014 Today, we launched Mailbox for Android, turned on new Dropbox for Business features, and introduced the world to Carousel, our new gallery app.

Dropbox in Space!

These experiences are just a first step towards making Dropbox a home for life. And today, we’re thrilled to announce three amazing additions to our leadership team to help us get there. We’re thrilled to promote Sujay Jaswa to be our CFO. Sujay was our first business executive, and has created and led the business side of Dropbox since joining in 2010. Dennis Woodside is joining the Dropbox family as our new COO. Finally, we’re proud to welcome Dr. Welcome aboard! Dropbox / 56 Comments Posted by Drew and Arashon April 09, 2014. New Web Order - Nik Cubrilovic Blog. Leap Motion. How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking. In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed.

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. Hackers backdoor the human brain, successfully extract sensitive data. With a chilling hint of the not-so-distant future, researchers at the Usenix Security conference have demonstrated a zero-day vulnerability in your brain.

Hackers backdoor the human brain, successfully extract sensitive data

Using a commercial off-the-shelf brain-computer interface, the researchers have shown that it’s possible to hack your brain, forcing you to reveal information that you’d rather keep secret. As we’ve covered in the past, a brain-computer interface is a two-part device: There’s the hardware — which is usually a headset (an EEG; an electroencephalograph) with sensors that rest on your scalp — and software, which processes your brain activity and tries to work out what you’re trying to do (turn left, double click, open box, etc.) Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram.