June 17, 2020 – NANOCOMPUTER

Daily Archives: June 17, 2020

Cheap Steroid Reduces Covid-19 Death Toll by 35%

June 17, 2020 Uncategorized

The steroid dexamethasone has been found to reduce the risk of death in seriously ill coronavirus patients by about a third, according to clinical trial results hailed on Tuesday as a “major breakthrough.” The drug did not appear to help less severely ill patients.

Researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford administered the inexpensive, widely available drug to more than 2,000 severely ill COVID-19 patients. Among those who could only breathe with the help of a ventilator, dexamethasone reduced deaths by 35%. It reduced deaths by about 20% among patients who were receiving oxygen only, according to preliminary results.

Dexamethasone is an anti-inflammatory drug normally used to treat a range of allergic reactions as well as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/

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Science
- Researchers Capture Images of Newborns' Lungs as They Take Their Very First Breaths
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- Perseverance Is Officially Roving Mars After a Successful Test Drive
  Vroom.

Space
- Mars Science Lab launch delayed two years
  NASA's launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.
- iReporters watch planets, moon align
- Shuttle lands at California air base
  NASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.
- Inspiration for 'Contact' still listening
  From a remote valley in Northern California, Jill Tarter is listening to the universe.
- Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise
  Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft.

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AI news
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Machine Learning
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- IBM Reportedly Retreating from Healthcare with Watson
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- SolarWinds Hackers Targeted Cloud Services as a Key Objective
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- RAND Corp. Finds DoD “Significantly Challenged” in AI Posture
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- Tesla Working on Full Self-Driving Mode, Extending AI Lead
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daily news
- The ‘Lamborghini’ of Chariots Was Just Unearthed Near Pompeii
  Most of the vehicles uncovered so far have been akin to modern-day station wagons. This one's a straight-up sports car.
- The Biden Administration Weighs the Social Cost of Carbon
  A new White House policy tries to put a dollar value on the future harm of greenhouse gas emissions.
- The US Has a Covid 'Scariants' Problem. Here's How to Fix It
  Researchers are racing to understand new versions of the coronavirus. But without scientific standards, too many mutants are getting the monster treatment.
- J&J Shots Administered, States Reopen Too Soon, and More News
  Catch up on the most important updates from this week.
- You're Vaccinated and People Want to Visit. Now What?
  After getting fully inoculated against Covid-19, here are some scenarios that prove the New Normal isn’t normal at all.
- Can Alien Smog Lead Us to Extraterrestrial Civilizations?
  A new study modeled whether we could find intelligent life on another planet—by looking for its pollution.
- The Secret Behind North Dakota’s Speedy Vaccine Rollout
  The state’s independent rural drugstores are showing the power of small.
- Everything You Need to Know About the Coronavirus
  Here's all the WIRED coverage in one place, from how to keep your children entertained to how this outbreak is affecting the economy.
- How Far Away From Perseverance Did the Descent Stage Land?
  The rocket lowered the rover onto the surface of Mars before it shot away from the landing site. So where did it end up?
- If You Transplant a Head, Does Its Consciousness Follow?
  In her new book, Brandy Schillace recalls the unbelievable legacy of a Cold War era neurosurgeon’s mission to preserve the soul.
- Anthony Fauci Pleads: Don’t Declare Victory
  The Covidologist-in-chief says we can’t relax on masks and social distancing yet. Hear that, Texas?
- Sleuths Read Old Booby-Trapped Letters Without Opening Them
  People once folded their correspondence in intricate ways, known as “letterlocking,” to keep out snoops. A fancy new imaging technique sees right through it.
- How Elon Musk Convinced Gwynne Shotwell to Join SpaceX
  Ultimately, their management styles were similar: Don’t talk about doing things, just do things.
- Can Technology Open Spaceflight to Disabled Astronauts?
  The European Space Agency wants to make sure its new astronaut class is more diverse. But it will take redesigned gear to make space accessible to everybody.
- The Raging Evolutionary War Between Humans and Covid-19
  Fighting the pandemic isn’t only about vaccines and drugs. It’s about understanding how viruses mutate and change inside us, and among us.
- A Decades-Long Quest Reveals New Details of Antimatter
  Twenty years ago, physicists began investigating a mysterious asymmetry inside the proton. Their results show how antimatter helps stabilize every atom’s core.
- Border Disputes Threaten Climate Science in the Himalayas
  Cross-border teams of scientists need to collaborate on climate models, even as their countries’ militaries clash.
- A Shot Nears Approval, Experts Study Transmission, and More
  Catch up on the most important updates from this week.
- This Is What It's Like to Live Without Smell
  Losing any sense can be devastating, even if you never appreciated it before it was gone.
- Could Fruit Flies Help Match Patients With Cancer Treatments?
  A British company is seeding genetically modified flies with human tumors, giving patients their own personal drug trials.

Geek Culture
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  Ultima artist Denis Loubet knows this for a fact.
- The Magical Mystery of WandaVision’s Kathryn Hahn
  As the ancient witch Agatha Harkness, she’s pulling off her best trick yet.
- The Game Walden Shows Us That Some Things Can’t Be Digitized
  It invites players to "live deliberately" in the woods, as Thoreau did—but it's not an experience you can easily replicate.
- The Rise of Unapologetically Erotic LGBTQ+ Games
  Video games have long struggled to handle sexuality, but a growing number of indie developers are changing that.
- The Murder Hornets Nature Doc Disguised as a True-Crime Show
  Attack of the Murder Hornets plays out like a spooky murder mystery. But the insects are scary enough; they don't need horror movie tropes.
- Who Is R. A. Lafferty? And Is He the Best Sci-Fi Writer Ever?
  You’ve never heard of him, but your favorite writers have, and his mad-drunk prose will knock you sideways.
- Six-Word Sci-Fi: Stories Written By You
  Here's this month's prompt, how to submit, and an illustrated archive of past favorites.
- The ‘Girl Games’ of the ’90s Were Fun and Feminist
  Here’s a look back at some of the earliest games for girls—and the role women played in the game industry’s early days.
- What Do TV’s Race Fantasies Actually Want to Say?
  Shows like Bridgerton and Hollywood alter the past in the name of inclusion. It would benefit us more to write the world as it was, as it is.
- Valheim Is Changing How We Play Survival Games
  The CEO behind the viral success discusses how it became the top-selling game on Steam—and the game's biggest weakness moving forward.
- Maquette Goes Big on Metaphor but Light on Real Emotion
  The game follows the arc of a romance—and only when it ends can the puzzles go free.
- Sherry Turkle Talks Going Remote, Loneliness, and Her Memoir
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- The Best Nintendo Switch Games for Every Kind of Player
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  The game developer has a reputation for pulling some of its most avid fans into its ranks, but whether that relationship will persevere isn't so clear.
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- Blood of Zeus Combines Myth With Saturday Morning Cartoons
  The new Netflix animated series puts a new spin on old tales.
- OK, The 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Reveal Was a Good Troll
  After several fake-outs, the cast of the movie finally (finally!) revealed the next installment’s title on Wednesday.
- Coding Blackness: A History of Black Video Game Characters
  From nameless grayscale sprites in the ’70s to Spider-Man's Miles Morales now, Black characters in games have come far. But is it enough?
- Billie Eilish and the Future of the Pop Star Documentary
  The Grammy-winner’s Apple TV+ film The World’s a Little Blurry is radical in its transparency.
- 'Lapsis' and the Rise of Gig-Economy Sci-Fi
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Latest News
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  When indented by a probe in darkness, wafers of some semiconductors are putty-like. When illuminated by light whose wavelength matches the band gap, they become hard, as electrons and holes freed by the light suppress the propagation of dislocations.
- Retinal implants can give artificial vision to the blind (w/video)
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- Holographic nanostructures on CMOS sensors for energy-efficient AI security schemes
  Researchers have realized an AI optical circuit, with a neural density equal to 1/400 of human brain. The circuit is trained to process information through unpowered all-optical inference at the speed of light with a computational power more than ten orders of magnitude larger than electronic processors. In future, its neural density is expected to […]
- Taking 2D materials for a spin
  Scientists fabricate a novel molybdenum disulfide transistor and create an image of the spins of the electrons passing through which may open the way for new spintronic computers.
- Compression or strain - this 2D material expands always the same
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- Magnetic whirls in confined spaces
  Mobility of skyrmions in geometric structures depends on their arrangement.
- Retina-like vision sensing with perovskite photodetectors
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- Gold nanocomposite contact lenses that correct color blindness
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- The fabrication of photonic wood
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- Researchers demonstrate highly efficient 3D nano-imaging with XFEL and machine learning
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BUSINESS
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  The sale of a piece of crypto art consumed as much energy as the studio uses in two years. Now the artist is campaigning to reduce the medium’s carbon emissions.
- NFTs Are a Collective Hallucination—So What?
  Plus: The man behind digital money, how to disseminate facts, and a union in the most unlikely of places.
- Gig Companies Fear a Worker Shortage, Despite a Recession
  The pandemic sapped demand for rides from Uber and Lyft, and government aid has cushioned the blow for workers. Execs are feeling the strain.
- Who Are the Biggest Influencers on Clubhouse?
  It's harder to figure out than you might expect.
- Facebook’s New AI Teaches Itself to See With Less Human Help
  Most image recognition algorithms require lots of labeled pictures. This new approach eliminates the need for most of the labeling.
- Adoption Moved to Facebook and a War Began
  As the adoption industry migrates to social media, regretful adoptees and birth mothers are confronting prospective parents with their personal pain—and anger.
- Help! I’m Sneaking Into My Office. Is This So Wrong?
  In this week’s Out of Office column, Megan tackles guilt, bad policies, and the rules of zoomfood.
- Fake News Gets More Engagement on Facebook—If It’s Right-Wing
  Far-right pages that publish misinformation get the most interactions by far compared to other news sources, new research shows.
- As China Rises, the US Builds Toward a Bigger Role in AI
  After decades of staying out of industrial policy, a Pentagon-appointed commission recommends more spending on research and support for US chip makers.
- Instagram Live Now Hosts More People With ‘Rooms’
  Instagram is finally giving creators their most requested feature—which the company hopes will make it a more dynamic destination for viewers.
- One Free Press Coalition Spotlights Journalists Under Attack - March 2021
  Female journalists around the world are telling important stories, in spite of the danger of harassment or attack. This month focuses on their cases.
- Why a YouTube Chat About Chess Got Flagged for Hate Speech
  AI programs that analyze language have difficulty gauging context. Words such as “black,” “white,” and “attack" can have different meanings.
- NFTs Boom as Collectors Shell Out to ‘Own’ Digital Art
  Non-fungible tokens provide a way to invest in and own digital imagery. But is it just another crypto fad—or the future of intangible art?
- How Google's Grand Plan to Make Stadia Games Fell Apart
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- California Can Now Enforce Its Net Neutrality Law
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- Help! Everyone Is Judging My Messy Bedroom
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- Gig Workers Gather Data to Check the Algorithm’s Math
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IDEAS
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  WIRED's spiritual advice columnist on narcissism, Nabokov, and what it means to exist—really exist—for other people.
- TikTok Played a Key Role in MAGA Radicalization
  The platform's absorbing endless scroll and karaoke features have built an overlooked disinformation machine.
- Vaccine Passports Can Help the US Reopen—or Further Divide Us
  Overly restrictive “yellow cards” could end up disproportionately excluding Black and Latinx citizens from jobs, schools, or even the neighborhood market.
- While Jack Dorsey Mans the Monastery
  The small but boisterous slice of Twitter that's preoccupied with politics imagines @jack, the author of our collective Twitter being, as all-powerful. He's not.
- Email and Slack Have Locked Us in a Productivity Paradox
  From PCs to smartphones, office tech has always promised to make us more productive. But time and again, it's come with unexpected side effects.
- Facebook's Oversight Board Must Uphold the Ban on Trump
  It's not just about penalizing the former president. It's about protecting democracy—in the US and around the world.
- Warnings From the Queer History of Modern Internet Regulation
  Section 230 faces countless reform efforts. But a look back reminds us that categorical content bans often come at the expense of marginalized groups.
- Clubhouse Cured My Imposter Syndrome
  The scammers turned savants and the whimsical nerds who abound on the audio platform have freed me of personal doubt.
- To Quash Disinfo, Researchers Must Work With Journalists
  Exposing and fighting the problem requires drawing from reporters' resources and reach.
- The Terrible T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Must Be Undone
  It should have never been allowed, and it’s led to anticompetitive behavior. The Antitrust Division needs to roll it back.
- Biden Faces a Steep Challenge to Unite Democracies on Tech
  With tech policy, sorting the world into democratic and authoritarian buckets is far trickier than it sounds.
- I Woke Up to Australia's Newsless News Feed
  For now, Facebook has walked back its clumsy surprise ban on news content. But the social media giant has made clear: It can take news away again.
- Facebook’s Petty Unfriending of Australia
  There are real flaws in the country’s proposed law to make platforms pay for news, but the social media giant’s protest doesn’t address them.
- The Energy Sector Must Prepare for More Extreme Weather
  Energy plants, like those in Texas, don’t guard against events that are perceived to be exceedingly rare. That’s no longer an option.
- The Grim Consequences of a Misleading Study on Disinformation
  An influential study relies too heavily on news media reporting—which has only recently acknowledged the social media manipulation problem at all.
- What My Dialup Youth Taught Me About Sex and the Internet
  The first generation of girls to grow up on the internet are now parents themselves. That might mean a new approach to sex education.
- A Case Against the Peeping Tom Theory of Privacy
  Yes, it's creepy when companies can track your every move. But that's not the only problem.
- Authoritarian Regimes Could Exploit Cries of ‘Deepfake’
  Identifying doctored videos is essential. But assuming everything is faked allows autocrats to cast doubt on real videos of their violence.
- New York City’s Surveillance Battle Offers National Lessons
  A lack of police transparency highlights how citizens need to remain vigilant to take back control over their privacy.

Daily Archives: June 17, 2020

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