My Favorite Hackers

Photo: Hacking is a labor of love. iStockphoto

From Discover News:

As a self-proclaimed hacker, who means you no harm, I stand on the shoulders of giants. The following people have set the standard for hacking and have given all of us newbies something to the strive for. These are some of the Great Ones, the ones we admire, emulate. These are my favs.

1. Kevin Mitnick

The Man. The Myth. The Legend. This guy was the top hacker in the world for a good part of the late 70s and early 80s. He was one of the first, and in his time, gave the pre-silicon valley tech bigwigs a good shakedown. He broke into systems owned by Sun Microsystems, IBM, DEC, Motorola, and even managed (allegedly) to wiretap FBI conversations. He did time for it, but now works as a security consultant. Though most hackers today consider his technical knowledge to be archaic, he has one of the sharpest minds in social engineering even today.

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The Cyber-Threat Grows

From City Journal:

We’ve got a lot of catching up to do before we’re secure.

First your cell phone doesn’t work. Then you notice that you can’t access the Internet. Down on the street, ATMs won’t dispense money. Traffic lights don’t function, and calls to 911 don’t get routed to emergency responders. Radios report that systems controlling dams, railroads, and nuclear power plants have been remotely infiltrated and compromised. The air-traffic control system shuts down, leaving thousands of passengers stranded or rerouted and unable to communicate with loved ones. This is followed by a blackout that lasts not hours but days and even weeks. Our digital civilization shudders to a halt. When we emerge, millions of Americans’ data are missing, along with billions of dollars.

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Why Humans Outlive Apes: Human Genes Have Adapted to Inflammation, But We Are More Susceptible To Diseases Of Aging

A baby chimp (Pan troglodytes) and his handler looking at each other. (Credit: iStockphoto/Warwick Lister-Kaye)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 3, 2009) — In spite of their genetic similarity to humans, chimpanzees and great apes have maximum lifespans that rarely exceed 50 years. The difference, explains USC Davis School of Gerontology Professor Caleb Finch, is that as humans evolved genes that enabled them to better adjust to levels of infection and inflammation and to the high cholesterol levels of their meat rich diets.

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Robotic Clam Could Detonate Underwater Mines

Inspired by the amazing ability of the small clam to dig and wedge itself far deeper and more securely than would be thought, they show the robo-clam. Credit: Donna Coveney

From Live Science:

Robot clams may one day help dig up and detonate buried underwater mines, researchers now reveal. They could also serve as smart anchors for robot subs or deep-sea oil drilling.

Mechanical engineers Anette "Peko" Hosoi and Amos Winter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed robots after the Atlantic razor clam (Ensis directus) because it is one of nature's best diggers. Using its relatively simple anatomy, the razor clam — which the researchers dubbed the Ferrari of underwater diggers — can burrow into the bottom of its native mudflats at a remarkable rate of roughly a centimeter per second.

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War Goes Mainstream On The Internet, Facebook And Twitter

From ZDNet:

NATO announced a new website complete with links to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. In an eerie flashback to the Vietnam War when the public watched the evening news with Walter Cronkite during the dinner hour, the war in Afghanistan is now available to everyone on their computer. It’s operated and managed by NATO and not by any news organisation.

The content is complete with how, where, whom and what is going on in the country, complete with video clips of operations and interviews with commanding officers, the site leaves little to the imagination.

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My Comment: With hundreds of millions of users, I a surprised that it has taken NATO this long to understand the importance of these networks.

Why Privacy Concerns Are Ruining Facebook

From PC World:

Facebook was built as a powerful social connector, allowing users to befriend others with similar interests, locations, schools, and more. But as privacy concerns mount and users demand more protection, the social networking site's philosophy has started to go down the toilet. Now that Facebook is eliminating regional networks -- or groupings of people based on where they live -- it's becoming apparent that proclivities lean towards building fences rather than crossing them.

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First Metallic Nanoparticles Resistant to Extreme Heat

From U.S. News & World Report/National Science Foundation:

PITTSBURGH—A University of Pittsburgh team overcame a major hurdle plaguing the development of nanomaterials such as those that could lead to more efficient catalysts used to produce hydrogen and render car exhaust less toxic. The researchers reported Nov. 29 in Nature Materials the first demonstration of high-temperature stability in metallic nanoparticles, the vaunted next-generation materials hampered by a vulnerability to extreme heat.

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Blue Whale Song Mystery Baffles Scientists

From Wired Science:

All around the world, blue whales aren’t singing like they used to, and scientists have no idea why.

The largest animals on Earth are singing in ever-deeper voices every year. Among the suggested explanations are ocean noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies. But none of them is entirely convincing.

“We don’t have the answer. We just have a lot of recordings,” said Mark McDonald, president of Whale Acoustics, a company that specializes in the sonic monitoring of cetaceans.

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New Evidence That Early Therapy Helps Autistic Kids

Charlie Lamb was diagnosed with autism at age 2
Photo courtesy of the Lamb family

From Time Magazine:

Charlie Lamb was barely 2 years old when he was diagnosed with autism. His mother Susan had been convinced for months that "something was not right" with her second child. He wouldn't stand in line like the other kids in gymnastics class, she recalls, and he spoke fewer words. He was more captivated by spinning wheels than Teletubbies. His father Tom noticed that his blond, blue-eyed son would always walk in circles around the kitchen table and that he would do the equivalent at their local park in Seattle — walking along the perimeter fence rather than crossing into the play area.

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Computers Top Poll Of Modern Discoveries

Shaping the modern world (Image: Comstock/Getty)

From New Scientist:

TWO inventions have shaped our modern world more than any other: the engine and the computer. Where the engine captured and extended the human capacity to do physical work, the computer did the same for the capacity of the human brain to think, organise and control. This power has now pervaded not just homes and offices but also tens of thousands of products where it once didn't seem to fit, thanks to a small and beautiful device called the microprocessor.

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Why Women Live So Much Longer Than Men (And, No, It's Not Because They Have An Easier Life!)

Scientists have found that women's genetic makeup
could be the reason they live longer than men

From The Daily Mail:

In the battle of the sexes, women have always played the ultimate long game - by outliving men.

But there's no point crowing about the powers of female stoicism and endurance.

Scientists now believe women squeeze that extra five years out of life simply because men are made of different stuff.

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Astronomers Watch Most Massive Star Ever Go Supernova

Supernova Go Boom Yep, it's bigger than this explosion
(artist's illustration of SN 2006gy) NASA/CXC/M Weiss

From Popular Science:

Rare behemoth star produces antimatter and collapses in a runaway nuclear reaction that leaves nothing behind.

Stars don't tend to go quietly, and the most massive of them all create a supernova explosion 50 to 100 times brighter than normal. Now astronomers have confirmed the existence of rare but huge stars that contain 200 times the mass of our sun, after spotting one unusually bright cosmic explosion in 2007.

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Too Much Physical Activity May Lead to Arthritis, Study Suggests

Runners. MRI analysis by two musculoskeletal radiologists indicated a relationship between physical activity levels of middle aged people and subsequent frequency and severity of knee damage. (Credit: iStockphoto/Nick Free)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 1, 2009) — Middle-aged men and women who engage in high levels of physical activity may be unknowingly causing damage to their knees and increasing their risk for osteoarthritis, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

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How Serious Is Angina?

From Live Science:

Angina pectoris--or simply angina--is the medical term for chest pain or discomfort usually caused by coronary artery disease. Angina is a sign that someone is at increased risk of heart attack, cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death. If you get angina, you should get medical attention immediately.

Angina (pronounced “an-JI-nuh” or “AN-juh-nuh”) hits when the heart doesn't get enough blood. This usually happens when there is a narrowing or blockage in one or more of the vessels that supply blood to the heart.

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CERN Cuts Power To Part Of The LHC, Says The Setback Is Minor

Image © CERN

From Scientific American:

Just two days after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reached a major milestone by producing 1.18 TeV (more than one trillion electron volts) of energy, the particle physics lab CERN had to cut power to one of the accelerator's sites following a problem with a power supplier. The outage did not affect the cryogenics required for operation, and a CERN spokeswoman in Geneva, Switzerland, was optimistic that the power would be back up by 6:30 p.m. local time.

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Man Controls Robotic Hand With Thoughts

From U.S. News And World Report/AP:

ROME—An Italian who lost his left forearm in a car crash was successfully linked to a robotic hand, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial limb and control it with his thoughts, scientists said Wednesday.

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Placating Publishers By Limiting Links: A Google 5-Click FAQ

From Epicenter/Wired:

Google’s been taking it on the chin from traditional publishers (i.e., News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch) a lot lately. So it should come as no surprise that the search giant has come up with a new way for media sites to throw up a digital checkpoint where money or credentials can be demanded from readers who got there in a Google search.

It’s probably also no accident that the latest initiative came less than 24 hours after Murdoch railed yet again against Google and its ilk. That rant continues no matter how many times Google tells content owners how to keep their content out of Google searches.

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U.S. Allows New Stem Cell Lines for Research

President Barack Obama looks through a microscope at brain cells with Dr Marston Linehan as he tours the National Institutes of Health (NIH) before making a major announcement regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, September 30, 2009. The Obama administration on December 2, 2009 approved the first human embryonic stem cells for experiments by federally funded scientists. The new policy aims at expanding government support of the controversial biomedical research. Jim Watson / AFP / Getty

From Time Magazine:

Nobody likes a busy signal. And for U.S. stem cell researchers, none has been more frustrating than the one on the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry home page. That's where the government agency lists all of the embryonic stem cell lines that scientists are allowed to study using taxpayer dollars. For months, the page has been depressingly static. "None are available at this time," it read. "Please check back later."

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Extreme Oil: Scraping The Bottom Of Earth's Barrel

The bitumen in tar sands gives the earth a thick, mushy feel. This non-conventional oil is difficult and expensive to extract (Image: Lara Solt/Dallas Morning News/Corbis)

From New Scientist:

EIGHTY-FIVE million barrels. That's how much oil we consume every day. It's a staggering amount - enough to fill over 5400 Olympic swimming pools - and demand is expected to keep on rising, despite the impending supply crunch.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that by 2030 it will rise to about 105 million barrels per day with a commensurate increase in production (see graph), although whistle-blowers recently told The Guardian newspaper in London that insiders at the IEA believe the agency vastly over-estimates our chances of plugging that gap. The agency officially denies this.

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One In Five New Brides Puts On A Stone And A Half In Weight After Just A Year Of Marriage

Photo: Comfort zone: One in five new brides admits to over-eating after the wedding

From The Daily Mail:

Every bride wants to look their best on the big day - but it seems after saying 'I do' many women lost the motivation to stay slim.

Results of a survey published today reveal marriage is no good for the wasitline, with one in five piling on one-and-a-half stone in the first year.

A further 22 per cent of married women questioned said they no longer felt the need to impress their loved ones.

And it seems the weight gain puts added strain on the relationship as well - with 21 per cent of couples rowing over the extra pounds.

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