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Child with gorilla was in danger
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No more passwords
rats. But around 3 per cent of males developed a brain cancer known as malignant glioma, and up to 6 per cent grew heart tumours called schwannomas (BioRxiv, doi.org/bjfm). Michael Lauer of the US National Institutes of Health says the results should be interpreted with caution. The number of cancers was small, meaning they could be statistical blips, he says. Most of the rats in the study were exposed to radiation levels higher than those permitted in current phone models, and on average, the exposed rats lived longer than the controls.
YOU’VE been hearing it for years, now it might really be happening: the password is almost dead. At Google’s I/O developer conference, Daniel Kaufman, head of the company’s advanced technology projects, announced that Google plans to phase out password access to its Android mobile platform in favour of a trust score. This would be based on a suite of identifiers: what Wi-Fi network and Bluetooth devices you’re connected to and your location, along with biometrics, including your typing
60 Seconds
speed, voice and face. The phone’s sensors will harvest this data continuously to keep a running tally on how much it trusts that the user is you. A low score will suffice for opening a gaming app. But a banking app will require more trust. It’s part of a trend towards building security and privacy into design, instead of making it the user’s responsibility. Kaufman said that the method is better than two-factor authentication because it does not break down if a phone signal is unavailable. Developer kits will be available by the end of 2016.
Child with gorilla was in danger
HPV vaccine trial
viralhog
THE UK is to trial offering the HPV WHEN a small child managed to get into the gorilla enclosure at vaccine to gay and bisexual men, Cincinnati Zoo on 28 May, the child but campaigners are calling for it was approached and grabbed by a to be given to all boys, as is done 180-kilogram male silverback. Zoo in the US and Australia. officials shot the animal dead, Since 2008, girls in the UK causing outrage on social media. have been vaccinated against the The zoo said it had no choice. human papillomavirus, which “It was an incredibly dangerous can cause cervical cancer. But the situation for the child,” says Kirsten virus, which is spread by sexual Pullen, head of the British and Irish activity, can also trigger anal, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, penile and throat cancer. and an expert in gorilla behaviour. The pilot programme, “The silverback, Harambe, grabbed announced by the UK public the child by the leg and whooshed health minister Jane Ellison, him through the water. He was will offer the shot to 40,000 using the child as part of a display. men who have sex with men. The We can’t see the gorilla’s expression plan has been welcomed, but has so we don’t know if he is being prompted calls for vaccination to aggressive, but the display be extended to all boys in the UK. “Ideally, you must get people before their sexual debut, and a gender-neutral programme would cover all the bases,” says Carrie Llewellyn at the University of Sussex, UK. A decision on vaccinating all boys is unlikely to be made until 2017, when an advisory panel is due to report on the possible costs and health impact of such a move. But sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust believes this is unnecessary stalling. “We’re urging them to roll it out as soon as possible for all boys,” a spokesperson told New Scientist. –Unpredictable situation–
indicates an agitated animal, and his behaviour is very unpredictable.” Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, was also seen standing over the child. Many people interpreted this as Harambe guarding the child, but that’s not necessarily the case, says Pullen. “The silverback’s job in the group is to put himself between his family and the unknown,” she says. The appearance of a child in the enclosure is an unknown, and represents a possible threat to the group. Gorillas have been known to “rescue” children who fall into their enclosure, but the children had been knocked unconscious in those cases, which would not add to the tension of the situation, says Pullen.
Moth classic in action It is a textbook example of evolution: the rise of industrial cities led to the darkening of the peppered moth — an adaptive response to pollution and bird predation. Now two studies have independently picked up a single gene behind this trait (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature17951 and 10.1038/nature17961).
Pump up the module NASA has successfully puffed up its new inflatable on the International Space Station – on the second try. Astronauts first attempted to inflate the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on 26 May, but while pressure inside the module increased, its volume did not keep up. A second attempt on 28 May did the trick.
Carbon aliens If aliens exist on one of the most alluring worlds spotted by NASA’s Kepler probe, it’s a big thank you to carbon dioxide. Planet Kepler 62f gets less heat from its star than we do. So, unless its atmosphere is packed with the greenhouse gas, any surface water will be frozen, climate simulations suggest (Astrobiology, doi.org/bhz8).
Electric bumblebees Bumblebees can detect and make sense of electric fields using the tiny hairs on their body. Their mechanosensory hairs bend in response to an electric field, triggering neural activity. Since such hairs are common in arthropods, many insects may be equally skilled (PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601624113).
Heimlich’s first Ironically, Henry Heimlich who gave his name to the famous anti-choking manoeuvre, has only recently used it himself. The 96-year-old retired surgeon reportedly performed the technique on an 87-year-old woman at a retirement home who was choking on a piece of hamburger.
4 June 2016 | NewScientist | 7
No more passwords
rats. But around 3 per cent of males developed a brain cancer known as malignant glioma, and up to 6 per cent grew heart tumours called schwannomas (BioRxiv, doi.org/bjfm). Michael Lauer of the US National Institutes of Health says the results should be interpreted with caution. The number of cancers was small, meaning they could be statistical blips, he says. Most of the rats in the study were exposed to radiation levels higher than those permitted in current phone models, and on average, the exposed rats lived longer than the controls.
YOU’VE been hearing it for years, now it might really be happening: the password is almost dead. At Google’s I/O developer conference, Daniel Kaufman, head of the company’s advanced technology projects, announced that Google plans to phase out password access to its Android mobile platform in favour of a trust score. This would be based on a suite of identifiers: what Wi-Fi network and Bluetooth devices you’re connected to and your location, along with biometrics, including your typing
60 Seconds
speed, voice and face. The phone’s sensors will harvest this data continuously to keep a running tally on how much it trusts that the user is you. A low score will suffice for opening a gaming app. But a banking app will require more trust. It’s part of a trend towards building security and privacy into design, instead of making it the user’s responsibility. Kaufman said that the method is better than two-factor authentication because it does not break down if a phone signal is unavailable. Developer kits will be available by the end of 2016.
Child with gorilla was in danger
HPV vaccine trial
viralhog
THE UK is to trial offering the HPV WHEN a small child managed to get into the gorilla enclosure at vaccine to gay and bisexual men, Cincinnati Zoo on 28 May, the child but campaigners are calling for it was approached and grabbed by a to be given to all boys, as is done 180-kilogram male silverback. Zoo in the US and Australia. officials shot the animal dead, Since 2008, girls in the UK causing outrage on social media. have been vaccinated against the The zoo said it had no choice. human papillomavirus, which “It was an incredibly dangerous can cause cervical cancer. But the situation for the child,” says Kirsten virus, which is spread by sexual Pullen, head of the British and Irish activity, can also trigger anal, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, penile and throat cancer. and an expert in gorilla behaviour. The pilot programme, “The silverback, Harambe, grabbed announced by the UK public the child by the leg and whooshed health minister Jane Ellison, him through the water. He was will offer the shot to 40,000 using the child as part of a display. men who have sex with men. The We can’t see the gorilla’s expression plan has been welcomed, but has so we don’t know if he is being prompted calls for vaccination to aggressive, but the display be extended to all boys in the UK. “Ideally, you must get people before their sexual debut, and a gender-neutral programme would cover all the bases,” says Carrie Llewellyn at the University of Sussex, UK. A decision on vaccinating all boys is unlikely to be made until 2017, when an advisory panel is due to report on the possible costs and health impact of such a move. But sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust believes this is unnecessary stalling. “We’re urging them to roll it out as soon as possible for all boys,” a spokesperson told New Scientist. –Unpredictable situation–
indicates an agitated animal, and his behaviour is very unpredictable.” Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, was also seen standing over the child. Many people interpreted this as Harambe guarding the child, but that’s not necessarily the case, says Pullen. “The silverback’s job in the group is to put himself between his family and the unknown,” she says. The appearance of a child in the enclosure is an unknown, and represents a possible threat to the group. Gorillas have been known to “rescue” children who fall into their enclosure, but the children had been knocked unconscious in those cases, which would not add to the tension of the situation, says Pullen.
Moth classic in action It is a textbook example of evolution: the rise of industrial cities led to the darkening of the peppered moth — an adaptive response to pollution and bird predation. Now two studies have independently picked up a single gene behind this trait (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature17951 and 10.1038/nature17961).
Pump up the module NASA has successfully puffed up its new inflatable on the International Space Station – on the second try. Astronauts first attempted to inflate the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on 26 May, but while pressure inside the module increased, its volume did not keep up. A second attempt on 28 May did the trick.
Carbon aliens If aliens exist on one of the most alluring worlds spotted by NASA’s Kepler probe, it’s a big thank you to carbon dioxide. Planet Kepler 62f gets less heat from its star than we do. So, unless its atmosphere is packed with the greenhouse gas, any surface water will be frozen, climate simulations suggest (Astrobiology, doi.org/bhz8).
Electric bumblebees Bumblebees can detect and make sense of electric fields using the tiny hairs on their body. Their mechanosensory hairs bend in response to an electric field, triggering neural activity. Since such hairs are common in arthropods, many insects may be equally skilled (PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601624113).
Heimlich’s first Ironically, Henry Heimlich who gave his name to the famous anti-choking manoeuvre, has only recently used it himself. The 96-year-old retired surgeon reportedly performed the technique on an 87-year-old woman at a retirement home who was choking on a piece of hamburger.
4 June 2016 | NewScientist | 7