ICT news

• Can Money Buy You a Longer Life?

  29-12-2024 23:58 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Wall Street Journal:
  The rich get richer — and older. People with high salaries and net worth tend to live longer lives, research shows. Once Americans make it to their late 50s, the wealthiest 10% live to a median age of around 86 years, roughly 14 years longer than the least wealthy 10%, according to a study published earlier this year in JAMA Internal Medicine. People with more money can afford healthier food, more healthcare and homes in
  
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• Are We Better Prepared Now for Another Pandemic?

  29-12-2024 22:59 via science.slashdot.org
  
  When it comes to the possibility of a bird flu outbreak, America's Centers for Disease Control recently issued a statement that the risk to the public "remains low."But even in the event of a worst-case scenario, New York magazine believes "We may be more equipped for another pandemic than you think..."In 2023, more than half of people surveyed said that their lives had not returned to normal since the COVID outbreak, and a surprising number — 47 percent — said they now believe their
  
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• Finland Finds Drag Marks Near Broken Undersea Cable. Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' Suspected

  29-12-2024 21:58 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Reuters reports:Finnish police said on Sunday they had found tracks that drag on for dozens of kilometres along the bottom of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil is suspected of breaking a power line and four telecoms cables with its anchor... A break in the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia occurred at midday on Wednesday, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 linking the two countries, grid operators said. They said Estlink 2 might not be back in se
  
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• 'Y2K Seems Like a Joke Now, But in 1999 People Were Freaking Out'

  29-12-2024 20:57 via it.slashdot.org
  
  NPR remembers when the world "prepared for the impending global meltdown" that might've been, on December 31, 1999 — and the possible bug known as Y2K:The Clinton administration said that preparing the U.S. for Y2K was probably "the single largest technology management challenge in history." The bug threatened a cascade of potential disruptions — blackouts, medical equipment failures, banks shutting down, travel screeching to a halt — if the systems and software that helped kee
  
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• 'Did Anything Good Happen in 2024? Actually, Yes!'

  29-12-2024 19:57 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The Washington Post shares some good news from 2024:Researchers were able to detect a significant dip in atmospheric levels of hydrochlorofluorocarbons — harmful gases that deplete the ozone layer — for the first time, almost 30 years after countries first agreed to phase out the chemicals.
  A new satellite launched in March to track and publicly reveal the biggest methane polluters in the oil and gas industry — an important step in tackling the greenhouse gas that accounts for
  
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• 'International Obfuscated C Code Contest' Will Relaunch, Celebrating 40th Anniversary

  29-12-2024 18:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  After a four-year hiatus, 2025 will see the return of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest. Started in 1984 (and inspired partly by a bug in the classic Bourne shell), it's "the Internet's oldest contest," acording to their official social media account on Mastodon.
  The contest enters its "pending" state today at 2024-12-29 23:58 UTC — meaning an opening date for submissions has been officially scheduled (for January 31st) as well as a closing date roughly eight weeks later on April
  
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• Electric Air Taxis are Taking Flight. Can They Succeed as a Business?

  29-12-2024 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:Archer is aiming to launch its first commercially operated [and electrically-powered] flights with a pilot and passengers within a year in Abu Dhabi. A competitor, Joby Aviation, says it is aiming to launch passenger service in Dubai as soon as late 2025. Advancements in batteries and other technologies required for the futuristic tilt-rotor craft are moving so fast that they could soon move beyond the novelty stage and into broader
  
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• Could a Sponge Made from Squid Bones Help Remove Microplastics?

  29-12-2024 16:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  While microplastics seem to be everywhere, CNN reports that scientists in China "have come up with a possible solution: a biodegradable sponge made of squid bones and cotton" (which contain two organic compounds "known for eliminating pollution from wastewater...")
  They then tested the sponge in four different water samples, taken from irrigation water, pond water, lake water and sea water, and found it removed up to 99.9% of microplastics, according to a study published last month in Science Ad
  
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• Anger at Health Insurance Prompts the Public to Fund a 9-Year-Old's Bionic Arm

  29-12-2024 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A 9-year-old girl born without a left hand had "started asking for a robotic arm to help her feel more confident," her mother told the Washington Post. So her parents met with a consultant from Open Bionics, which fits people with lightweight, 3D-printed prostheses that function more like a natural arm and hand — known as Hero Arms.
  The bionic arms are manufactured in Britain and cost about $24,000, but the Batemans were hopeful that their health insurance company, Select Health, would pay
  
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• Python in 2024: Faster, More Powerful, and More Popular Than Ever

  29-12-2024 09:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  "Over the course of 2024, Python has proven again and again why it's one of the most popular, useful, and promising programming languages out there," writes InfoWorld:The latest version of the language pushes the envelope further for speed and power, sheds many of Python's most decrepit elements, and broadens its appeal with developers worldwide. Here's a look back at the year in Python.
  In the biggest news of the year, the core Python development team took a major step toward overcoming one of
  
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• How a Retrocomputing Enthusiast Got a 30-Year-Old Clamshell Computer Online

  29-12-2024 06:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  It had a 4.8-inch display. Introduced in 1991, Hewlett-Packard's (DOS-based) HP 95LX Palmtop PC — a collaboration with Lotus — was finally discontinued back in 2003.
  But one found its way to long-time Slashdot reader Shayde (who in November repaired a 48-year-old handheld videogame console from Mattel). "I really wanted to get this HP95LX talking to the internet at large," they told Slashdot, " but network stacks for DOS in 1991 were pretty limited, and this machine didn't even have
  
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• Will AI Transform Online Dating?

  29-12-2024 03:34 via slashdot.org
  
  "Dating apps are on the cusp of a major transformation," argues CNN, suggesting AI-powered possibilities like "personalized chatbots dating other chatbots on your behalf," as well as "AI concierges fielding questions about potential matches," and "advanced algorithms predicting compatibility better than ever before."
  At its investor day last week, executives from Match Group — the parent company of Match.com, Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Our Time and more — teased plans to use AI to impro
  
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• LEAP 71 Hot-Fires Advanced Aerospike Rocket Engine Designed by AI

  29-12-2024 00:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 writes: The Dubai-based startup LEAP71, focused on using AI software to quickly develop rocket engine designs it can then 3D print, has successfully test fired a prototype aerospike engine on December 18, 2024 during a static fire test campaign conducted in the United Kingdom.
  Along the way they tackled a problem with bell-shaped rocket nozzles, writes New Atlas. "A rocket that works very well on liftoff will work less well as it rises in the atmosphere and the
  
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