Nestle SA has abandoned pledges to make major brands including KitKat and Perrier carbon neutral, joining a nascent

MrBeast and Khaby Lame have been giving each other stiff competition on their respective platforms with their highly popular content

One of the richest men on Earth will finally have his chance to build a

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 20, 2023--

The secret to life on distant planets could lie beneath the ocean floor, according to staggering research. A rich tapestry of microbes uncovered from rocks hundreds of feet down among the ocean crust proved an illuminating discovery for authors of a study first published in 2020. The single-cell organisms that live off methane in the South Pacific were far more plentiful in number than expected after being uncovered during an expedition in 2010. It came when the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) collected samples from 400 feet below the ocean crust. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The sheer number of microbes they found in the rock samples surprised them, with the rocks containing an enormous 10 billion bacterial cells – a huge increase compared to normal levels on the seafloor, which normally only measure around 100 bacterial cells per cubic centimeter. "I thought it was a dream, seeing such rich microbial life in rocks," Yohey Suzuki from the University of Tokyo said. The signs are certainly encouraging when it comes to searching for life on Mars and other planets in the solar system, especially as the findings of the study suggested that the microbes were there organically and not influenced by underwater volcanoes. "Minerals are like a fingerprint for what conditions were present when the clay formed. Neutral to slightly alkaline levels, low temperature, moderate salinity, iron-rich environment, basalt rock—all of these conditions are shared between the deep ocean and the surface of Mars," Suzuki said. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Rubius has not yet released a statement on facing suspension

Scientists have discovered a new AI-driven hacking method that guesses passwords with over 90 per cent accuracy by listening to what people type on their keyboard. The cyberattack works by using AI to learn and recognise the sound profile of different keys on a keyboard, according to the yet-to-be peer-reviewed research, posted as a preprint in arXiv. Using a smartphone-integrated microphone listening for keystrokes on an Apple MacBook Pro, researchers, including Joshua Harrison from Durham University in the UK, could reproduce the exact keys with 95 per cent accuracy. Scientists also tested the accuracy of the AI system during a Zoom call, recording the keystrokes using the laptop’s microphone during a meeting. In this approach, the AI model was found to 93 per cent accurate in reproducing the keystrokes and in another test using Skype, the model was found to be about 92 per cent accurate. Researchers say the new cyberattack method is facilitated by advancements over the last decade in the number of microphones within acoustic range of keyboards. The model works by recognising the unique patterns with which users press keys on their keyboard, including the sound, the intensity and time of each keystroke. Researchers used a MacBook Pro to test the concept, helping the system recognise patterns first by pressing 36 individual keys 25 times a piece. They used an iPhone 13 mini, kept 17 cm away from the keyboard, to record the keystroke audio for their first test. They then recorded the laptop keys over Zoom, using the MacBook’s built-in microphones. This new technique using the trio of AI, microphones, and video calls “present a greater threat to keyboards than ever,” scientists warn in the study. “When trained on keystrokes recorded by a nearby phone, the classifier achieved an accuracy of 95 per cent, the highest accuracy seen without the use of a language model,” scientists write in the study. However, scientists say the AI system does not easily work the same way for every keyboard. They say the AI model must be trained separately for each keyboard, providing additional references to understand what character each keystroke corresponds to. The study says people can mitigate these kinds of attacks if they change their typing style. Scientists found that touch typing reduced the keystroke recognition accuracy from between 64 per cent to 40 per cent. They also recommend the use of randomised passwords featuring multiple cases as means of defence against such attacks. Since large language models such as ChatGPT are able to predict succeeding characters to complete words, scientists say passwords containing full words may be at greater risk. Randomly generated fake keystrokes to transmitted audio was also found to reduce the risk of such password theft. Using biometric password like fingerprint or face scanning instead typed ones can also help mitigate risk of such cyber attacks, researchers say. Read More Hackers crack Tesla software to get free features Famed computer hacker Kevin Mitnick dies at age 59 Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web Nuclear fusion milestone achieved in huge boost for near-limitless clean energy Tesla’s ‘Master of Coin’ is stepping down after 13-year stint at EV company Now even Zoom tells staff: ‘Come back to the office’

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Whether it's on a bus or a train, you've probably noticed how the seats have a distinctly bold and garish pattern - but why is this the case? Well, it's not for aesthetic design reasons but rather it's down to the fact that the patterns are able to effectively cover up stains. Just think about how many people get on public transportation for their daily commute to work, the millions of people who will plonk themselves on those seats throughout the year as well as those using the nighttime service. There are bound to be drinks and food spilt on the seat, and so in response to this inevitability it's better to have busy patterns rather than plain ones - otherwise we would perhaps think twice about sitting. But nowadays, the various patterns on different modes of public transportation are seen as iconic designs for that particular area of the world. For example, last year Premier League football team Arsenal released shirts with a design inspired by the bold pattern which appears on Piccadilly line trains. Meanwhile, there are a number of factors to think about when designing the seat pattern such as how it looks in both daylight and artificial light. @plutosdestiny Bus seats are made of a special fabric with unusual patterns because it helps them mask stains, wear and tear and look fresh without the need for much maintenance. The weird, mind-bending patterns are designed to make the seats appear clean and unworn, even though they conceal a lot of dirt within those wild patterns. [Credit - KubulMKM - YT] The fabric is also an integral consideration, the material used for the seats is moquette and it is different to the sofa you sit on at home. “Coming from the French word for carpet, moquette has been seen and sat upon by millions of commuters on buses, trains, trams and trolleybuses for over 100 years,” the London Transport Museum explained. “It is produced on looms using the Jacquard weaving technique, with a pile usually made up of 85% wool mixed with 15% nylon.” But what makes it the ideal material for this purpose? “Moquette was chosen for public transport for two reasons," it continued. "First, because it is hard-wearing and durable. Second, because its colour and patterns disguise signs of dirt, wear and tear. On top of this moquette had the advantage of being easy and cheap to mass-produce.” Something to contemplate next time you're sitting on the bus or tube. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

India has successfully landed on the Moon – for less than the cost of the film Interstellar. The Indian space agency announced on Wednesday that it had completed a “soft landing” on the lunar surface, near its southern pole. It becomes the first ever to land there, and just the fourth country to successfully send a mission to the Moon at all. And it did so on a very restrictive budget. The Chandrayaan-3 cost was sent to the Moon at a cost of about 6.15 billion rupees, or $75 million, according to Reuters. That is less than the cost of most blockbuster space films. Gravity cost $100 million, The Martian cost $108 million – and it was less than half the cost of Interstellar, which was filmed on a budget of $165 million. It even costs less than some houses. The UK’s most expensive house, for instance, went on sale at £200 million, or nearly three-and-a-half missions to the Moon. The budget is even less than India allocated to Chandrayaan-2, the previous attempt to land on the Moon in 2019, which ended in failure when the lander crashed. That cost around 8 billion rupees, or about 30 per cent more than the latest successful mission, though engineers have made clear that many of the learnings from that earlier launch had been integrated into the latest one. India has looked to build a reputation for cost-effective but still successful missions to space. It comes as the country encourages investment in the private space industry and businesses focused on satellites. The price of the whole Indian mission is similar to that charged by SpaceX for one Falcon 9 launch. That is charged at $67 million, according to its website. Read More AI can detect Parkinson’s up to seven years before symptoms appear, study finds Justin Trudeau slams Facebook for blocking news stories about wildfires

EWING, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 13, 2023--

The Seagate FireCuda 540 (starts at $179.99 for 1TB; $299.99 for 2TB as tested) isn't