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Marines say “no” to smart, four-legged robot

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LS3, or Legged Squad Support Systems, a robot developed by tech company Boston Dynamics that was intended to assist marines in the field, has received a dishonorable discharge of sorts. The Marines are not interested in the technology in its current state, though they have have expressed an interest in the idea behind the tech.

According to NBC News, the robot, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was able to carry up to 400 pounds of equipment on its back.

This, combined with the bot’s ability to intuitively traverse its terrain with four faux-biological legs and its ability to operate without anybody in direct control, made it a valuable proposition for the Marines.

However, due to the LS3’s noisiness, the Marines have opted not to use the robot.

“As Marines wee using it, there was the challenge of seeing the potential possibility because of the limitations of the robot itself,” Kyle Orson, a spokesman for the Warfighting lab, said in an interview with Military.com. “They took it as it was: a loud robot that’s going ot give away their position.”

The LS3 could run for 24 hours straight on a 20-mile mission and, because of its unique and innovative terrain traversal technology, it is able to traverse rough terrain that certain robots might be unable to reach.

Additionally, the robot could function completely without an operator, as it works off of visual cues from the soldiers whose equipment it is carrying.

Even though they might not be interested in the LS3 itself, the Marines have expressed an interest in using similar, quieter technology in the future.

“The Marine Corps isn’t looking for a fair fight,” said Orson, who added that the Marine Corps understands “the necessity of autonomous, unmanned, and robotic capabilities” to “lighted the load” of soldiers in the future.”

Big News: NASA is making a major move toward Mars with ‘deep space habitat’

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After receiving a massive $1.3 billion increase in its allotted budget, NASA has confirmed plans for a crewed mission to Mars by the 2030s.

According to Huffington Post, Congress has announced that it will increase NASA’s spending in 2016, rendering it as high as $19.3 billion.

NASA has been directed by Congress to use $55 million of its newly increased budget to begin making arrangements for a manned Mars mission. This includes creating a deep space habitat that would house astronauts during missions.

Congress also gave NASA a deadline: by 2018, NASA is required to develop a workable prototype of their planned habitation module. The status of the mission must be updated and reported every 180 days as well.

The hope is that a crewed mission to Mars will be able to launch by the 2030s. Additionally, cislunar (between Earth and moon) testing of the habitat technology will begin in the 2020s.

Working with companies like Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing and Orbital ATK, NASA has already begun studying and planning habitat designs. The new funding is a bit of a shot in the arm for the program, though, given the strict deadlines that come along with it, it might also serve as a way of forcing NASA to speed up its development of these plans.

NASA’s habitation module has the potential to reinvent the way people think about space travel, though as of now it is still in its very early stages. Though the funding is there, it is still unclear what the module might require in terms of money and resources.

“It’s much to early for that,” said Sam Scimemi, International Space Station director at NASA Headquarters, in an interview with SpaceNews. “As soon as I put the picture up there, somebody is going to assume what the configuration is.”

Irish people are originally from the Middle East

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The defining traits that make Celtic people so distinct is now thought to have been established 4,000 years ago as a result of an influx of immigrants from the Middle East and the Black Sea.

According to the Daily Mail, ‘waves of immigration’ caused by the adoption of agriculture in Ireland lead to a significant change in genetics, which resulted in the modern Celtic genetic make-up.

The news comes out of a study led by Queens University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. The researchers analyzed the DNA of the remains of an ancient farmer from the Neolithic area believed to have been alive around 5,200 years ago in Belfast, Ireland. The remains of three men who lived in Ireland during the Bronze Age were also analyzed.

Interestingly, the DNA of the farmer woman more resembled modern qualities of people of Middle Eastern descent than it did people from the Celtic region. Based on the analyzation, the woman is believed to have had brown hair and brown eyes, while the men had blue eyes — more in line with modern thinking about Celtic people.

The woman’s genome is considered a ‘genetic cocktail’ of early hunter gatherer DNA mixed with Near East farmers. Contrastingly, the traits found in the Bronze Age males were observed to be much closer to modern Irish people.

It is thought that Near East farmers — which the woman’s remains resemble — migrated to Ireland thousands of years ago, bringing farming with them. This migration is believed to have occurred around 3,750 years ago.

The waves of people that made it to Ireland’s shores during this migration are believed to have helped shaped not only their modern genetic identity, but are believed to have played a significant role in the development of their language as well.

 

Is the worst yet to come for Chipotle?

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Chipotle’s e.coli scare is affecting more than just the popular burrito chain’s customer base — investors who might have once believed in the now controversial restaurant are being left out to dry.

According to Market Watch, as a result of Chipotle’s recent controversy, its stock has plummeted — down 28% for the year as of Dec. 28.

The restaurant chain has recently been playing damage control after a chain of outbreaks of e.coli and norovirus. Multiple restaurants have been affected, and customers are reportedly falling ill — suffice it to say, Chipotle is facing quite a public relations nightmare.

Chipotle and the Center for Disease Control are investigating the causes of the outbreaks, but so far it remains unknown. The damage done to Chipotle as a brand, however, is currently looking rather dire.

Investors, once captivated by the stratospheric growth of the burrito restaurant, have been left weary. Their success and eagerness to expand, however, are red flags for market analysts.

In situations like Chipotle’s — that is to say massive success and speedy growth followed by disaster — it is often speculated that quality standards suffer.

While the cause of the e.coli is currently unknown, Market Watch points out that Chipotle has nearly quadrupled its number of restaurants to nearly 2,000 in the past decade. In the past three years alone it has opened nearly 500 new locations.

With this type of growth, it follows that investors were at that time very eager to get in on the ballooning success of Chipotle. Market Watch contends that veteran investors should have known that companies that see the kind of rapid success that Chipotle enjoyed should be cautious.

Additionally, as a result of its success, Chipotle’s stock has always been expensive. That means that, due to the massive hit their stocks just took, there are potentially very many investors who might have lost a lot of money due to scandal.

Despite all of this, however, Chipotle’s stock prices remain high, and certain analysts still recommend it.

Sony raises delayed Vita port of Banner Saga from the dead — will release in 2016

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The Playstation Vita version tactical fantasy indie game The Banner Saga was thought to have been delayed indefinitely — that is until Sony announced today that they will be helping developer Stoic finish it.

International Business Times reported that Banner Saga developers Stoic had previously announced their intentions of releasing their game on Sony’s handheld Playstation platform. However, due to financial problems, it was reported that Stoic had shelved the Vita version of their popular independent game completely.

The Banner Saga is a tactical RPG video game originally developed by Stoic for PC. The game was developed by a relatively small team for a relatively small budget, though after it received favorable reviews it gained a modest following.

Stoic then announced plans to release the game on other consoles. It was, for example, released on Sony’s Playstation 4 platform. A version for the Playstation Vita was also announced, though has yet to come to fruition.

However, Sony and software developer Versus Evil have partnered up to deliver a Vita port of The Banner Saga, meaning that it is coming to the Sony handheld after all. These two companies will support developer Stoic with the costs of porting the game. They will also have a hand in the game’s profits when it is released.

This news comes as a bit of surprise. Fans believed that Sony had given up on supporting the Playstation Vita from a first party perspective — meaning that they had given up on developing and funding games for the system themselves and rely exclusively on third party developers to populate the console’s list of game’s.

It was confirmed by Playstation Vita PR via Twitter that the Banner Saga will be released on the Playstation Vita in 2016.

This new discovery could totally change dieting

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A new study out of the University of Texas has projected that within five years doctors will design diets based on the genetic make-up of individual patients.

According to UPI, the research, which was published in the journal Obesity, analyzes the relationship between genetics, behavior, and weight-related diseases in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how genetics might affect an individual’s ability to gain or lose weight.

The research indicates that several genes are potential involved with weight loss. Our knowledge is still incomplete, however.

For example, one gene has been discovered that causes energy from food to be stored as fat instead of energy — clearly a piece of the weight loss puzzle that might probe itself to be integral to our growing understanding of the relationship between genetics and weight loss. However, the study concluded that this gene and how it interacts with other genes can vary from person to person.

“When people hear the genes may be playing a role in their weight loss success, they don’t say, ‘Oh great, I just won’t exercise anymore,” said Molly Bray, a geneticist and professor of nutritional science at the University of Texas Austin. “They actually say ‘Oh thank you. Finally someone acknowledges that it’s harder work for me than it is for others.'”

Other genes related to weight loss have been identified, though how they work together to affect weight on the whole remains a mystery.

Dr. Bray said that further data collection on weight gain and loss, as well as further research into the most efficient ways to collect this data, will help the study.

“I think within five years, we’ll see people start to use a combination of genetic, behavioral and other sophisticated data to develop individualized weight management plans,” said Bray.

Though Bray speculates that customized, gene-based weight loss techniques might become standard in about five years, the researchers said that better analytical tools and access to more data might shave some time off of that projection.

This new, working hoverboard costs more than a car

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This week, ARCA Space Corporation unveiled their new hoverboard, which runs for 6 minutes at a time with a top speed of 12.5 MPH and will cost nearly $20,000. However, some believe the hoverboard, called the ArcaBoard, is “vaporware” and will not be released in time for its projected April 2016 release window.

According to Engadget, the ArcaBoard utilizes 36 electric fans in order to float in mid air, allowing riders to ride the board as it hovers a few feet off the ground. ARCA is calling the ArcaBoard a “revolutionary breakthrough for transportation.”

Unlike other, similar products — for example, Lexus’ recently unveiled version of the hoverboard concept — the ArcaBoard allows users to control it via their smartphone.

Further differentiating the ArcaBoard from other hoverboard solutions is its commitment to its upthrust based floatation technology. The Lexus board, for example, relies on liquid nitrogen and magnets in order to create the hovering effect.

While ArcaBoard’s many fans and bulky design might be less ergonomic and sleek as alternatives such as the Lexus board, ArcaBoard is currently available for pre-order at $19,900 — while the Lexus board is not for sale.

The ArcaBoard will only run for 6 minutes at a time and takes 6 hours for a complete charge, unless users shell out an additional $4,500 dock accessory which reduces the charging time to around 35 minutes.

Engadget speculates that the ArcaBoard is “vaporware” — a computer product that is announced in order to drum up publicity and never released. There has been a sudden uptick in hoverboard related announcements among several companies, ARCA Space Corporation and Lexus included, as it appears that these announcements draw lots of fanfare among hopeful futurists.

ARCA Space Corporation, which is currently based out of New Mexico, exists to develop rocket systems and commercial drones. However, the company has yet to release a commercial product, which would make ArcaBoard its first upon its eventual release.

While ArcaBoard and its marketing exhibit signs that indicate the product might indeed be “vaporware,” currently it is still set to be released in April 2016.

Tuberculosis, cholera, measles — they’re all back

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Supposedly due to increased poverty and malnutrition, diseases that were thought to have been long since been defeated — specifically ‘victorian’ diseases, including tuberculosis, cholera, measles, whooping cough and scurvy — are making a startling comeback in developed nations such as the United States and England.

According to UPI, the last five years have seen a 136 percent increase in the number of people being treated for scarlet fever, a 38 percent increase for scurvy, and a 300 percent increase for cholera.

“There has been a huge rise in scarlet fever — 14,000 [suspected] cases in the last year, the highest since the 1960s,” said London immunologist Dr. Nuria Martinez-Alier in an interview with CNN.

In addition to the previously mentioned diseases, tuberculosis seems to be making a comeback as well. Although overall tuberculosis rates in England have reduced in several years — though the decrease in tuberculosis rates have been slowing down in the United States in that same time period — the number of cases is still surprisingly high.

According to a report by England’s National Health Service, some neighborhoods have higher tuberculosis rates than countries like Iraq, Guatemala, and Rwanda, where cases are though to be far more common.

“We have seen a rise in the cases of tuberculosis, we’ve seen a rise in cases of  whooping cough, we have seen more measles in the last 10 years than in the last 10 years before that,” said Martinez-Alier.

The uptick in the spread of these diseases has been blamed on malnutrition as well as in the lack of access to care by those affected.

In 2013, tuberculosis was confirmed to have killed 1.5 million people while infecting around 9 million. Earlier this week, the White House released a plan that illustrated the steps they will take to more effectively combat the disease on a global scale during the next five years.

Father gets in standoff with police to stop ‘brain dead’ son from being taken off of life support: report

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27-year-old George Pickering III, comatose, was set to be taken off life support until his father entered a Texas hospital with a gun and threatened the staff, resulting in a standoff with the police — which ended when George regained consciousness, according to reports.

According to the Daily Mail, his father, 59-year-old George Pickering II, was involved in a standoff with the police until his ill son squeezed his father’s hand. George III had come to during the standoff, for which his father has now been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The altercation occurred at Tomball Regional Medical Center in Texas, where George III was being kept after he had suffered a stroke earlier this month. The hospital had declared him brain dead.

As a result, the hospital ordered a “terminal wean,” meaning that his life support was set to be slowly withdrawn to end George’s life.

George Sr.’s ex-wife and other son had agreed with the hospital’s decision to pull the plug, but he believed they “were moving too fast.”

“The hospital, the nurses, the doctors. I knew if I had three or four hours that night that I would know whether George was brain-dead,” he told KPRC.

Pickering’s standoff with the police lasted three hours, during which nobody was killed, before his other son was eventually able to get the gun away from him. George Sr. later admitted to being drunk during the whole exchange, but he stands by his actions — he did what he did, he claims, because he knew his son wasn’t ready to die.

Pickering Sr. later had his charges reduced, and he was released earlier this month.

“There was a law broken, but it was broken for all the right reasons,” said his son, now recovered.

“I’m here now because of it. It was love, it was love.”

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to indicate that this was an armed standoff, not a gunfight.

Even a child could hack into a Linux computer: report

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A crucial flaw has been found in a number of Linux based software distributions that allows hackers to jump through security measures in a method that seems heinously simple: tapping the backspace key 28 times in a row.

According to Engadget, the discovery was made by the Cybersecurity Group at Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in Spain. The team stumbled across this strange backdoor measure while testing the security of the Grub2 bootloader, which is commonly found in a large majority of Linux based operating systems.

Hitting the backspace key 28 times in a row immediately bypasses the lock screen and allows users to access anything in the system from there.

While presumably intended to be used by the owner of the system for things like maintenance and diagnostics information — officially, hitting backspace 28 times takes the user to a “rescue shell,” which grants this information under the pretense that there is something in the system that needs rescuing — it comes across as a disturbing security error.

However, although this exploit presents security consequences, a hacker would have to physically access the machine they are intending to hack in order to gain access to this information. This is not something that is achievable over the internet.

Linux distributors Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Debian have released patches which address this issue.

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