Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬

In a blind test, #audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between #audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't'
Invited forum members to listen to clips with 4 different versions: one taken from original CD, others recorded through 180cm of pro audio copper wire, via 20cm of wet mud, through 120cm of old microphone cable soldered to US pennies, and via a 13cm banana, and 120cm of same setup as earlier.
https://www.tomshardware.com/speakers/in-a-blind-test-audiophiles-couldnt-tell-the-difference-between-audio-signals-sent-through-copper-wire-a-banana-or-wet-mud-the-mud-should-sound-perfectly-awful-but-it-doesnt-notes-the-experiment-creator

From #Flock to ICE, Here’s a Breakdown of How You’re Being Watched
It’s nearly impossible not to be watched these days. It can start right at home with your neighbors and their Ring cameras—turn entire neighborhoods into networked, automated #surveillance systems
Head out a bit further and you’ll likely be confronted by Flock’s network of cameras that not only track license plates, but also track people’s movements with detailed precision
https://www.404media.co/flock-ice-surveillance-technology-reddit-ama/
https://archive.ph/29naQ
#privacy

#US #Government Uses Targeted #Advertising to Track Your #Location.
CBP admits what #EFF has been saying: systems powering creepy targeted #ads allow federal agencies to track you
Advertising has built a #surveillance machine, the gov co-opts to spy on us.
Here's What to Do.
1. Disable your mobile advertising ID
2. Review apps you’ve granted location permissions to
#Legislators and #tech companies must act so that individuals don’t bear the burden of defending their data!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/targeted-advertising-gives-your-location-government-just-ask-cbp

#NOAA issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that questions the need to continue the North #Atlantic #RightWhale Vessel Speed Rule which has been in place since 2008. The rule requires vessels 65 feet or longer to slow to 10 knots in seasonal management areas along the #US east coast where, and when, critically #endangered North Atlantic #rightwhales are known to aggregate.
NOAA confirmed the rule reduced risk to right #whales by up to 90%
https://us.whales.org/2026/03/04/noaa-questions-the-ongoing-need-to-protect-endangered-whales-from-vessel-strikes/

Here’s the Memo Approving #Gemini, #ChatGPT, and #MicrosoftCopilot for Use in the #Senate
Copilot “can help with routine Senate work, including drafting and editing documents, summarizing information, preparing talking points and briefing material, and conducting research and analysis,” the memo says.
Sergeant at Arms will provide each Senate employee with one license to either Gemini or ChatGPT Enterprise, with Copilot also available at no cost.
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-memo-approving-gemini-chatgpt-and-copilot-for-use-in-the-senate/
https://archive.ph/e9wRq

#DDR5-4800 vs. DDR5-6000 Performance With The #AMD #Ryzen 7 9850X3D In 300+ Benchmarks
While gamers may be able to get by alright with DDR5-4800 paired with the new AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, for workloads like frequent code compilation, technical computing / HPC, CFD, database serving, some web browser tests, SVT-AV1 video encoding, and various other demanding workloads there was 5~10% better performance with DDR5-6000 rather than DDR4-4800.
https://www.phoronix.com/review/amd-ryzen-7-9850x3d-ddr5

#PolarBears in the #BarentsSea are staying fat despite rapid sea #ice loss
#Arctic #bears may be surviving by shifting to new food sources
When #seaice goes away, bears get thinner. If bears in a population are losing fat, that can be an early warning population will decline.
Researchers are interested in polar bears living on #Svalbard because relationship between sea ice and fat loss should be strong. Polar bears there shouldn’t have much fat.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/polar-bears-fat-barents-sea-ice-loss
https://archive.ph/7GAAw

What #icefishing can teach us about making #foraging decisions
Humans are natural #foragers in even most extreme habitats, digging up tubers in tropics, gathering mushrooms, picking berries, hunting seals in Arctic, and fishing to meet our dietary needs. Human foraging is sufficiently complex scientists believe that meeting so many diverse challenges helped our species develop memory, navigational abilities, social learning skills and similar advanced cognitive functions.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/01/what-ice-fishing-can-teach-us-about-making-foraging-decisions/

#IgNobels ceremony moves to #Europe over security concerns
After 35 years in Boston, #USA, the annual prize ceremony will take place in Zurich, Switzerland, this year and will continue to be held in a European city for the foreseeable future. The reason: concerns about the safety of international travelers, who are increasingly reluctant to travel to the #US to participate.
Marc Abraham: “During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country.” https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/ig-nobels-ceremony-moves-to-europe-over-security-concerns/

Laid-off #Scientists and #Lawyers Training #AI to Steal Their #Careers
#Mercor says 30k work on its platform each week, #ScaleAI claims to have over 70k “M.A.’s, #PhD and college graduates.” Surge AI advertises Supreme Court litigators, McKinsey principals, and platinum recording artists. Experience in #law, #finance, & #coding, areas where AI is making rapid inroads. But also hiring people to produce data for practically any job you can imagine.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/white-collar-workers-training-ai.html
https://archive.ph/RVSZM

Insurers rally behind #weather #research bill amid deep #NOAA cuts
Workforce reduction and defunded labs have rattled the industry
Legislation arrives against a backdrop of significant federal pullbacks at NOAA, which lost about 20% of its roughly 12,000 workforce since early 2025, National Weather Service alone shed more than 550.
May 2025, it was reported 30 #NWS offices were without a lead #meteorologist, and at least one office had stopped operating around the clock.
https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/catastrophe/insurers-rally-behind-weather-research-bill-amid-deep-noaa-cuts-567684.aspx

Exclusive: #EQT eyes potential $6 billion sale of #Linux pioneer #SUSE, sources say
Over the past two decades SUSE Linux has been passed around several times. From Novell's acquisition of SUSE back in 2003 to then being acquired by The Attachmate Group to then merging with Micro Focus and then the SUSE business being acquired by private equity firm EQT back in 2018. A report out today indicates that EQT may now be looking to sell off SUSE.
https://www.reuters.com/business/eqt-eyes-potential-6-billion-sale-linux-pioneer-suse-sources-say-2026-03-09/

Canadian #humpbackwhales thrive with a little help from their friends
The #whales may have learned from Alaskan humpbacks how to make #bubblenets to corral fish. Observational data collected over 20 years suggest a few key individuals are passing the knowledge through social networks. In the Kitimat Fjord System in northern #BritishColumbia, groups of up to sixteen humpbacks can now be spotted #bubblenetting as a team.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humpback-whales-learn-bubble-netting
https://archive.ph/WwKGN

#digiKam 9.0 #OpenSource #Photo Manager Released as a Massive Update
This release introduces completely revamped GUIs of the File Copy and File Transfer dialogs for better usability and a redesigned Welcome page.
https://9to5linux.com/digikam-9-0-open-source-photo-manager-released-as-a-massive-update

Viral #Outbreaks Take a Common Path from Animals to People, Study Finds How #Pandemics Are Made
Scientists compared seven viral outbreaks that occurred in recent decades, including epidemics of Covid, Ebola and influenza. The outbreaks were not preceded by any unusual genetic changes in the viruses. In all but one case, in 1977, the viruses circulated in animals and gained the ability to spread to and among people only by unfortunate coincidence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/science/covid-coronavirus-evolution.html
https://archive.ph/UjxJ0

#US barely bothers to track #geoengineering. What could go wrong?
Whether it's cloud seeding or covering Arctic in tiny glass beads, there’s little standing in the way of #weather modification.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, found that the federal government still does not have sufficient oversight over weather modification activities and is also “not fully meeting its responsibilities to maintain and share weather modification reports.”
https://grist.org/regulation/geoengineering-noaa-cloud-seeding-gao-oversight/

#Russia's government hackers targeting #Signal and #WhatsApp users, Dutch spies warn
The Netherlands’ Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) published details about a “large-scale global” hacking campaign against Signal and WhatsApp users. The two agencies accused “Russian state actors” of using #phishing and #socialengineering techniques — rather than malware — to take over accounts on the messaging apps.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/09/russian-government-hackers-targeting-signal-and-whatsapp-users-dutch-spies-warn/

#Asteroid defense mission shifted the orbit of more than its target
The immediate result was that #Dimorphos’ orbital period around #Didymos, its larger parent body, was slashed by 33 minutes.
Altering moonlet’s orbit doesn’t seem like enough to safeguard Earth from civilization-ending impacts. Observational data has come in, it seems we accomplished more than that. #DART actually changed the trajectory of entire Didymos binary system, altering its orbit around the Sun.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/nasas-dart-mission-shifted-the-orbits-of-two-asteroids/

The #US #Senate empowers #NASA to fully engage in lunar #spacerace
“Our bill authorizes critical funding for, and gives strategic direction to, the agency.”
Fortunately, it mostly seems like good news, putting the #Artemis program and #ISS in a better position and reaffirming the agency's #science focus. Last year, NASA seemed like it was on thin ice. If this bill gets passed, as seems likely, it will be soaring again.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/the-us-senate-empowers-nasa-to-fully-engage-in-lunar-space-race/

Meet the #extremophile #molds wreaking havoc in #museums
Extremophile molds are invading art museums and devouring their collections. Stigma and #climatechange have fueled their spread
These molds—called #xerophiles—can survive in dry, hostile environments such as volcano calderas and scorching deserts, and to the chagrin of curators across the world, they seem to have developed a taste for cultural heritage.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-extremophile-molds-are-destroying-museum-artifacts/
https://archive.ph/Y7T4g

A pair of #astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) discovered more than 800 previously undocumented “astrophysical anomalies” hiding in #Hubble’s archives. To do so, researchers David O’Ryan and Pablo Gómez trained an #AI model to comb through Hubble’s 35-year dataset.
The AI model took just 2.5 days to search 100 million image cutouts and flag oddities like jellyfish galaxies. https://www.theverge.com/news/869182/astronomers-ai-discover-cosmic-anomalies-hubble-archives

Scanning #Ice for Monster Cracks, on This World and Another
Scientists use #radar to study damaged ice in #Antarctica and, with the help of a #NASA #spacecraft, on #Jupiter’s ocean moon of #Europa
In 2030, spacecraft reaches Jupiter and then fly past Europa roughly 50 times over 4yr. Mounted on its solar arrays are radar antennas, which will scan crevasses in Europa’s icy shell to understand whether they might play a role in making moon habitable.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/climate/antarctica-thwaites-radar.html
https://archive.ph/PWeTF

#SpiderSilk-making organs evolved due to a 400-million-year-old #genetic oops
#Spiders and silk go hand in hand, but spinnerets may exist thanks to an ancient error
A close look at the genetics and development of #spinnerets — spiders’ silk-making organs — reveals that an early arachnid doubled all of its DNA hundreds of millions of years ago. The findings suggest key, doubled genes were responsible for the #evolution of spinnerets.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spider-silk-making-organ-evolve-genetic
https://archive.ph/LVsPW

#Voyager2's close encounter with #Uranus wasn't in the original plan
At the time of Voyager 2's launch, Uranus wasn't part of the formal plan. The mission was referred to for a long time as the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn project. The #JPL engineers famously had other ideas and ensured the #spacecraft had enough fuel to continue on a trajectory to Uranus and beyond if the mission was approved.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/40_years_voyager_2_uranus/

The Sharpest Map Of #DarkMatter Distribution We’ve Ever Seen Has Just Been Unveiled
The map features almost 800,000 #galaxies, many of which are unknown to science!
https://www.iflscience.com/the-sharpest-map-of-dark-matter-distribution-weve-ever-seen-has-just-been-unveiled-82342

#NuclearReactor Backed by #BillGates Gets Federal Approval
#TerraPower’s project in #Wyoming, which uses novel technology, is the first new commercial reactor to receive federal approval in decade.
TerraPower design, which it calls #Natrium developed with GE Hitachi, has several novel features. Probably most notable of these is the use of liquid #sodium for cooling and heat transfer.
Plant won’t be done until 2030 at the earliest, and it still needs an operating license.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/terrapower-gets-ok-to-start-construction-of-its-first-nuclear-plant/

This #molecule puts a new twist on the #MöbiusStrip
#C13Cl2 is first experimental observation of what scientists call a half-Mobius electronic topology in a single molecule. Two chlorine atoms impart a twist that allows it to form half-Möbius geometry. To researchers' knowledge, nothing like it has ever been synthesized, observed, or even formally predicted. And proving why it behaves this way required something extraordinary, quantum computer.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/molecule-mobius-strip-carbon-chlorine
https://archive.ph/4W25w

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently
A draft assessment of the health of nature in the #UnitedStates is grim
Many of the preliminary findings are grim: Freshwater ecosystems across the country are in crisis, “overdrawn, polluted, fragmented and invaded.” Marine and terrestrial ecosystems are degraded, with reduced biodiversity. An estimated 34% of plant species and 40% of animal species are at risk of #extinction.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/climate/trump-nature-assessment.html
https://archive.is/20260305195958/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/climate/trump-nature-assessment.html

#ProtonMail Helped #FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘#StopCopCity’ #Protester
A court record shows privacy-focused #email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to Swiss gov, which handed it to the FBI.
The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss #privacy law, can and does provide to third parties.
https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
https://archive.is/20260306122845/https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/

RE: @BitFlipShow@techhub.social

A #SelfHosted reboot from @ironicbadger@techhub.social just launched a new #podcast

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before
Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations
“If the warming rate of the past 10 years continues, it would lead to a long-term exceedance of the 1.5C (2.7F) limit of the Paris agreement before 2030,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, scientist at Potsdam Institute. The researchers said the acceleration fell within scope of #climate models.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/06/humanity-heating-planet-faster-than-ever-before-study-finds
#climatechange #globalwarming #globalheating

#AgeVerification #Laws Are Multiplying Like a Virus, and Your #Linux Computer Might be Next
What started as age gates on adult websites has quietly crept into app stores and operating systems.
#EFF's year-end review put it bluntly: 2025 was "the year states chose #surveillance over safety." The foundation's concern, which I concur with, is, where does this stop? Self-reported birthday today, government ID tomorrow? There appears to be no limit to these laws' overreach.
https://itsfoss.com/news/age-verification-pandemic/

US Commerce Department confirms harsh new AI #exportcontrols for #Nvidia, #AMD #AI hardware, shoots down reports over the return of Biden-era AI Diffusion rule — DoC to formalize a new approach to strategic AI accelerator #export controls
While the #AIDiffusion Rule was indeed very complicated, some approaches of the new rumored regulations would make them even more burdensome than the criticized export regime from early 2025.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/us-commerce-department-confirms-harsh-new-ai-export-rules-shoots-down-reports-over-the-return-of-biden-era-ai-diffusion-rule-doc-to-formalize-a-new-approach-to-strategic-ai-accelerator-export-controls

#Microsoft #Copilot to hijack your#browser... for your own convenience
Embeds Edge into #AI assistant, ignores questions about opt-in
Copilot will also (with permission) have access to the context of tabs opened in that conversation, so the assistant can look across them when responding to user prompts. Opened tabs will be saved with the conversation so that they can be returned to, and, if a user chooses to enable it, passwords and form data can be synchronized.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/05/microsoft_adds_a_sidepane_for/

#Congress Is Considering Abolishing Your Right to Be #Anonymous Online
#Bipartisan push to remove #anonymity from #internet is ushering in an era of unprecedented #surveillance and #censorship.
A dozen “child online safety” bills moving in House of Reps with bipartisan support. Framed as a way to crack down on harmful content and make internet safer, would force social media to enact invasive identity verification measures in order to keep children from online spaces.
https://theintercept.com/2026/03/05/kosa-online-age-verification-free-speech-privacy/

Feeling the Effects of 260,000 #Federal #Jobs Lost
One year in, assessing budget cuts to federal #climate and #science jobs.
Payrolls of #NOAA & #USGS shrank by around 20%, according to a recent analysis by the American Institute of Physics. Dept of #Agriculture, which oversees everything from supplemental food assistance to farm subsidies, lost about 20,000, agency’s inspector general found. In total, science agencies saw nearly 95,000 departures.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/climate/climate-forward-science-federal-cuts.html
https://archive.ph/OlF6f

#Google says half of all #zerodays it tracked in #2025 targeted buggy #enterprise tech
Google said security and networking devices, #firewalls, #VPN and #virtualization platforms like Ivanti and VMware, were among targetes last year. All four of the companies said hackers have exploited their products on customer networks in recent months.
The remaining 52% of #zeroday bugs were found in consumer and end-user products, such as those made by Microsoft, Google, and Apple
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/google-says-half-of-all-zero-days-it-tracked-in-2025-targeted-buggy-enterprise-tech/

#ComputerScientists Caution Against Internet #AgeVerification Mandates
An #openletter warns of #censorship, centralized power, and loss of #privacy.
The computer scientists aren't just responding to California's law. #Age-verification requirements are spreading across the world. "The age-gating wave is coming along with calls for stronger child safety measures online, despite concerns about privacy, security, and censorship."
https://reason.com/2026/03/04/computer-scientists-caution-against-internet-age-verification-mandates/

Half of world’s #CO2 #emissions come from just 32 #fossilfuel firms, study shows
Critics accuse leading firms of sabotaging #climate action but say data increasingly being used to hold them to account
Saudi #Aramco was the biggest state-controlled polluter and #ExxonMobil, #Chevron, #Shell, #ConocoPhillips and #BP -- the top five emitting investor-owned companies.
State-owned fossil fuel producers made up 17 of the top 20 emitters in the #CarbonMajors report
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/21/carbon-dioxide-co2-emissions-fossil-fuel-firms-study

Female-dominated #careers among most exposed to #AI disruption
So, lawyers, software developers, and financial managers were all in “exposed” roles, but also had “strong pay, financial buffers, diverse skills, and deep professional networks.” They were well-placed to weather any AI-induced storms.
Other roles had much lower levels of exposure to AI and higher adaptivity. So, you might want to consider a future in dentistry, firefighting, or medicine.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/22/female_dominated_careers_ai_disruption/

#Evolution didn’t wait long after the dinosaurs died
Marine ecosystems began recovering within just a few thousand years after the asteroid strike
The findings invite a rethink of how rapidly evolution can rebuild biological diversity — not just as it did after the #Chicxulub asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, but perhaps also today and into the future as #climatechange and other human pressures accelerate the pace of ecological upheaval.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/evolution-dinosaurs-chicxulub-asteroid
https://archive.ph/Zy2W7

#Earth is bathed in droves of #neutrinos spewed by the Milky Way’s stars
About 1,000 of the subatomic particles, born in stars other than the #sun, pass through a thumbnail every second
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/neutrinos-milky-way-stars
https://archive.ph/qdcGC

#SelfHosting Starter Pack: 5 Simple Tools To Get Started With Your #Homelab
A practical starter map: #Jellyfin for movies and shows. #Kavita for books and PDFs. #Nextcloud for files and sharing. #Immich for photos. #Navidrome for music.
Start with one service, get comfortable, add another. The point is not perfection. It is owning your library and making it available to the people you care about, without asking permission from a platform that can lock you out at a whim.
https://itsfoss.com/self-hosting-starting-projects/

#Meta knows how bad its sites are for #kids, say lawyers
In 2019, for example, the #Facebook platform allegedly randomly asked users to stop logging on for a month, "helping us explore the impact that our apps have on polarization, news consumption, well-being, and daily social interactions," according to the study cited in the filing.
Unfortunately for Meta, the results were entirely as expected: Staying off #socialmedia will make you happier.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/24/meta_sites_kids/