Matt Willemsen @Nonog@fedibird.com

Mars hides a core of molten iron deep inside
A layer of molten rock above the core led to confusing seismic signals.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/mars-hides-a-core-of-molten-iron-deep-inside/ #mars #molten #iron #core #silicate #melt #InSight

Geoscientists Discover Ancient River-Carved Landscape beneath East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Geoscientists from Durham University and elsewhere have discovered a landscape that appears to have been formed by rivers at least 14 million years ago and possibly even before the initial growth of the East Antarctic ice around 34 million years ago.
https://www.sci.news/othersciences/geoscience/ancient-river-carved-landscape-east-antarctic-ice-sheet-12390.html #antarctica #ancient #river #IcePenetratingRadar #IceSheet

Spy photos of Syrian desert reveal ancient Roman forts
Structures likely protected traders rather than being actively used in warfare
https://www.science.org/content/article/spy-photos-syrian-desert-reveal-ancient-roman-forts #spy #satellites #photos #roman #forts #syria #desert #tells

Civilizations are Probably Spreading Quickly Through the Universe
In a recent study, a team from the University of the Philippines Los Banos looked beyond traditional Percolation Theory to consider how civilizations might grow in three different types of Universes (static, dark energy-dominated, and matter-dominated). Their results indicate that, depending on the framework, intelligent life has a finite amount of time to populate the Universe and is likely to do so exponentially.
https://www.universetoday.com/163814/civilizations-are-probably-spreading-quickly-through-the-universe/ #civilizations #universes #spread

Brown, red, black, riceberry – what are these white rice alternatives, and are they actually healthier?
Throughout history, rice has remained an important food staple. It supports the nutritional needs of more than half of the global population.
While you might be familiar with a handful of types, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of cultivated rice – a testament to the diversity and adaptability of this staple crop.
https://theconversation.com/brown-red-black-riceberry-what-are-these-white-rice-alternatives-and-are-they-actually-healthier-214388 #rice #food #varieties #cultivars

Ancient Human Faces Emerge in The Amazon as Extreme Drought Grips
An extreme drought in parts of the Amazon has led to a dramatic drop in river water levels, exposing dozens of usually submerged rock formations with carvings of human forms that may date back some 2,000 years.
https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-human-faces-emerge-in-the-amazon-as-extreme-drought-grips #amazon #drought #submerged #faces #archeology #climate

Hackers ‘may have had access to the full voter roll,’ Washington, DC officials say
Officials at Washington, D.C.’s Board of Elections (DCBOE) confirmed that hackers accessed the city’s voter rolls, which includes personal information such as partial Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.
https://therecord.media/washington-dc-voter-roles-hackers #hackers #WashingtonDC #voter #rolls #access

36,500-Year-Old Human Genomes from Crimea Shed New Light on First Europeans
initial interactions between these groups are unclear due to the lack of genomic evidence from the earliest periods of the migration. In a new study, scientists sequenced and analyzed the genomes of two 36,000-37,000-year-old individuals from the site of Buran-Kaya III in Crimea, Ukraine, and found that they belonged to this newer migration.
https://www.sci.news/genetics/buran-kaya-iii-crimea-ukraine-genomes-12380.html #ukraine #crimea #paleoanthropology #europeans #genetics #migration

Where the heck did all those structures inside complex cells come from?
Scientists agree that eons ago, a bacterium took up residence inside another cell and became its powerhouse, the mitochondrion. But there are competing theories about the birth of other organelles such as the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum.
https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2023/how-endomembrane-system-of-eukaryotic-cells-evolved #microbiology #cells #organelles #bacteria

Could gut fungi be linked to severe COVID? What to make of new research findings
Now, a new study has found severe COVID may be related to fungal bugs in our gut microbiome. This could be through a variety of changes to the immune system in response to specific fungal species.
https://theconversation.com/could-gut-fungi-be-linked-to-severe-covid-what-to-make-of-new-research-findings-216084 #gut #fungi #microbiome #COVIDー19 #immunesystem

Mapped: Which States Californians Moved To (2020-2021)
Californians have had a hard time with it in recent years. Because of the state’s ballooning cost of living, many residents—particularly from middle and low income families—have departed for more affordable states.
But where did they go?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/california-migration-2020-2021/ #infographic #US #california #migration #states

Opinion: Some scientists say we don’t have free will. As a philosopher I say, of course we do
Although philosophy isn’t about majority rule (nor should it be!), many of us inside the field — and likely outside it, too — find this skepticism toward free will and moral responsibility deeply problematic.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-10-22/humans-free-will-biology-neuroscience #philosophy #FreeWill #morals #nature #determinism

Neanderthals Might Not Be The Separate Species We Always Thought
"More than different species, I would speak of different human forms," says University of Trento archaeologist Diego Angelucci, the lead author of a recent study summarizing decades of research on what was home to families of Neanderthal more than 71,000 years ago.
https://www.sciencealert.com/neanderthals-might-not-be-the-separate-species-we-always-thought #neanderthal #species #form #taxonomy

'Christ' tattoo discovered on 1,300-year-old body in Sudan
A tattoo referencing Christ was found on the 1,300-year-old body of an individual in what is now Sudan.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/christ-tattoo-discovered-on-1300-year-old-body-in-sudan #archeology #christ #tattoo #sudan

Amazed by how for the past six years there was absolute silence from Syria, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia as to the Palestinian cause.
Not one fucking word.
Not one.
They were all fast pals with Israel.
I wonder just when this Abraham fella left the room.

Access to Law Should Be Fully Open: Tell Congress Not to Be Fooled by the Pro Codes Act
Online access to safety regulations helps make that review—and accountability—possible.
The rub: the SDOs claim to own copyright in these rules, even after they become law, and that they are therefore allowed to sell and otherwise control access to them. Based on that claim, they sued Public Resource for copyright infringement.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/access-law-should-be-fully-open-tell-congress-not-be-fooled-pro-codes-act #Law #access #public #ProCodesAct

The Chatbots Are Now Talking to Each Other
ChatGPT-style chatbots that pretend to be people are being used to help companies develop new product and marketing ideas.
https://www.wired.com/story/fast-forward-the-chatbots-are-now-talking-to-each-other/ #chatbots #AI #marketing #characters #SyntheticHumans #FocusGroups

AI like ChatGPT can guess secrets that you never share, study shows
A study showed that LLMs can infer data about users even if those users never share that information.
Even scarier is the fact that bad actors could abuse the chatbots to learn these secrets.
https://bgr.com/tech/ai-like-chatgpt-can-guess-secrets-that-you-never-share-study-shows/ #AI #ChatGPT #guess #secrets #LLM #chatbots