- Email: [email protected]
Spoilt ballots
For new stories every day, visit newscientist.com/news
TOBACCO firms in the US may have to cut the nicotine in their cigarettes to non-addictive levels if the US Food and Drug Administration gets its way. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the FDA, unveiled the pioneering
REUTERS/STEVE MARCUS
Cigs with less buzz
60 SECONDS
Fate of the Canaanites DNA extracted from five skeletons buried 3700 years ago in what is now Lebanon confirms that the enigmatic Canaanite people live on. The area has seen waves of immigration throughout history, but people in Lebanon today still share 90 per cent of their DNA with the ancient skeletons (The American Journal of Human Genetics, doi.org/b93p).
“The danger is you create a black market in imported or counterfeit, highnicotine cigarettes“
The Greater Firewall
SHUTTERSTOCK
proposal last week. If it becomes a reality, the US would be the first country to do this. Trials of reducing the nicotine in cigarettes have shown promising results, Spoilt ballots making smoking less appealing and addictive, with some evidence A VOTING machine hacked to play Rick Astley’s Never Gonna it helps users cut down or quit. Linda Bauld, professor of health Give You Up might seem amusing, policy at the University of Stirling, but there’s a sting in the tale. UK, says it is an interesting move, At the annual DEF CON security conference in Las Vegas last week, but warns of potential problems. researchers proved that in the It could result in a black market in imported or fake products, and time it takes to watch a movie, someone could access and alter might also mean smokers take in more toxicants by puffing harder votes cast on the machines used in US elections. Some of the and for longer. “It is important to remember that nicotine is not the hacks were even done wirelessly. For the event, DEF CON harmful constituent in cigarettes, but the many nasties present in “Ninety minutes on, the the tar,” she says. first voting machines were In a parallel move, the FDA is hacked, with vote-rigging also relaxing the deadline for e-cigarette-makers to get products occurring soon after” approved – from 2018 to 2022 – purchased 30 voting machines amid growing evidence they are from eBay and government hastening a decline in smoking. auctions. Ninety minutes after participants were let loose, the first machines succumbed, with vote-rigging and “Rickrolling” occurring soon after. One of the machines was still running Windows XP, so delegates used an exploit known since 2003 to gain access via its Wi-Fi. Hackers anywhere could use this trick to attack. Other exploits involved prying open mechanical locks covering USB ports or spotting uncovered ports on the back. One team then simply plugged in a mouse and –The tip of a submerged continent– keyboard to gain control.
–Not immune from security flaws–
One possible defence is to insist on end-to-end verifiability, relying on similar techniques to those used in encryption. It would mean all voters get a digital receipt recording how they voted. When run through software that checks it against the official record of votes cast, any anomaly would indicate that voting had been compromised.
ACA safe for now THE US Senate voted last week on the latest bill intended to rewrite central parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation. It failed to pass by one vote. For now, the bill is dead. If any change is to be made to US healthcare law, Congress will have to write a new bill. Fractures within the Republican party have so far killed three different bills for replacing or repealing the ACA. Some moderate Republicans have held back their votes because they represent states gripped by the opioid painkiller epidemic, and the bills proposed so far have gone too far in slashing funding for handling this crisis. On the other hand, extremely conservative Republicans haven’t been happy with the previous bills because they didn’t completely repeal the ACA. These divides may be too wide to bridge.
Apple has pulled nearly all major virtual private network (VPN) apps from its App Store in China, following a change in the law. China had passed regulations requiring official approval for VPNs, which can be used to circumvent technical barriers aimed at censoring the internet.
Chips in space Breakthrough Starshot, the $100 million project to send tiny ships deep into space, has flown its first minisatellites. The craft, called Sprites, are each 3.5 centimetres square and carry a computer chip, solar panels, a magnetometer, a gyroscope and a radio transmitter. The ultimate aim is to send similar craft all the way to Alpha Centauri.
Jellyfish blooms The Adriatic Sea is full of jellyfish – and numbers swelled as we began installing gas platforms in the water. The two events may be linked: a computer model suggests the platforms aid jellyfish dispersal and survival, by providing surfaces on which the juvenile polyps can attach (Environmental Research Letters, doi.org/b95t).
Chronic fatigue clues The severity of chronic fatigue syndrome is linked to a set of 17 inflammation chemicals: their levels in the blood are higher in people with more severe forms of the condition (PNAS, doi.org/b96p). The finding could lead to diagnostic tests for the syndrome, as well as giving clues to new treatments.
5 August 2017 | NewScientist | 7
TOBACCO firms in the US may have to cut the nicotine in their cigarettes to non-addictive levels if the US Food and Drug Administration gets its way. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the FDA, unveiled the pioneering
REUTERS/STEVE MARCUS
Cigs with less buzz
60 SECONDS
Fate of the Canaanites DNA extracted from five skeletons buried 3700 years ago in what is now Lebanon confirms that the enigmatic Canaanite people live on. The area has seen waves of immigration throughout history, but people in Lebanon today still share 90 per cent of their DNA with the ancient skeletons (The American Journal of Human Genetics, doi.org/b93p).
“The danger is you create a black market in imported or counterfeit, highnicotine cigarettes“
The Greater Firewall
SHUTTERSTOCK
proposal last week. If it becomes a reality, the US would be the first country to do this. Trials of reducing the nicotine in cigarettes have shown promising results, Spoilt ballots making smoking less appealing and addictive, with some evidence A VOTING machine hacked to play Rick Astley’s Never Gonna it helps users cut down or quit. Linda Bauld, professor of health Give You Up might seem amusing, policy at the University of Stirling, but there’s a sting in the tale. UK, says it is an interesting move, At the annual DEF CON security conference in Las Vegas last week, but warns of potential problems. researchers proved that in the It could result in a black market in imported or fake products, and time it takes to watch a movie, someone could access and alter might also mean smokers take in more toxicants by puffing harder votes cast on the machines used in US elections. Some of the and for longer. “It is important to remember that nicotine is not the hacks were even done wirelessly. For the event, DEF CON harmful constituent in cigarettes, but the many nasties present in “Ninety minutes on, the the tar,” she says. first voting machines were In a parallel move, the FDA is hacked, with vote-rigging also relaxing the deadline for e-cigarette-makers to get products occurring soon after” approved – from 2018 to 2022 – purchased 30 voting machines amid growing evidence they are from eBay and government hastening a decline in smoking. auctions. Ninety minutes after participants were let loose, the first machines succumbed, with vote-rigging and “Rickrolling” occurring soon after. One of the machines was still running Windows XP, so delegates used an exploit known since 2003 to gain access via its Wi-Fi. Hackers anywhere could use this trick to attack. Other exploits involved prying open mechanical locks covering USB ports or spotting uncovered ports on the back. One team then simply plugged in a mouse and –The tip of a submerged continent– keyboard to gain control.
–Not immune from security flaws–
One possible defence is to insist on end-to-end verifiability, relying on similar techniques to those used in encryption. It would mean all voters get a digital receipt recording how they voted. When run through software that checks it against the official record of votes cast, any anomaly would indicate that voting had been compromised.
ACA safe for now THE US Senate voted last week on the latest bill intended to rewrite central parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation. It failed to pass by one vote. For now, the bill is dead. If any change is to be made to US healthcare law, Congress will have to write a new bill. Fractures within the Republican party have so far killed three different bills for replacing or repealing the ACA. Some moderate Republicans have held back their votes because they represent states gripped by the opioid painkiller epidemic, and the bills proposed so far have gone too far in slashing funding for handling this crisis. On the other hand, extremely conservative Republicans haven’t been happy with the previous bills because they didn’t completely repeal the ACA. These divides may be too wide to bridge.
Apple has pulled nearly all major virtual private network (VPN) apps from its App Store in China, following a change in the law. China had passed regulations requiring official approval for VPNs, which can be used to circumvent technical barriers aimed at censoring the internet.
Chips in space Breakthrough Starshot, the $100 million project to send tiny ships deep into space, has flown its first minisatellites. The craft, called Sprites, are each 3.5 centimetres square and carry a computer chip, solar panels, a magnetometer, a gyroscope and a radio transmitter. The ultimate aim is to send similar craft all the way to Alpha Centauri.
Jellyfish blooms The Adriatic Sea is full of jellyfish – and numbers swelled as we began installing gas platforms in the water. The two events may be linked: a computer model suggests the platforms aid jellyfish dispersal and survival, by providing surfaces on which the juvenile polyps can attach (Environmental Research Letters, doi.org/b95t).
Chronic fatigue clues The severity of chronic fatigue syndrome is linked to a set of 17 inflammation chemicals: their levels in the blood are higher in people with more severe forms of the condition (PNAS, doi.org/b96p). The finding could lead to diagnostic tests for the syndrome, as well as giving clues to new treatments.
5 August 2017 | NewScientist | 7