Russian spy unit suspected of directed-energy attacks on U.S. personnel

Russian spy unit suspected of directed-energy attacks on U.S. personnel

Politico reports: U.S. officials suspect that a notorious Russian spy agency may be behind alleged attacks that are causing mysterious health issues among U.S. government personnel across the world, according to three current and former officials with direct knowledge of the discussions. Officials do not have a smoking gun linking Russia’s military intelligence unit, the GRU, to the suspected directed-energy incidents, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The intelligence community has not reached a consensus or…

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DarkSide hackers say the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack was only about the money — not politics

DarkSide hackers say the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack was only about the money — not politics

Reuters reports: The ransomware gang accused of crippling the leading US fuel pipeline operator has said it never meant to create havoc, an unusual statement that experts said was a sign the cyber criminals’ scheme had gone awry. Colonial says services will be “substantially” restored by the end of the week The FBI accused the group calling itself DarkSide of a digital extortion attempt that prompted Colonial Pipeline to shut down its network, potentially causing extraordinary disruption as gasoline deliveries…

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To be more tech-savvy, borrow these strategies from the Amish

To be more tech-savvy, borrow these strategies from the Amish

Alex Mayyasi writes: Despite growing up within driving distance of Amish Country, I never expected to see the Amish as a source of tech-savvy guidance. A decentralised religious group with roots in Germany and Switzerland, the Amish immigrated to the US in the 1700s – mainly to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they remain a regular sight, sporting simple outfits, working on family farms, and driving horse-drawn buggies. Many Americans think of them as Luddites who make nice wooden furniture. For…

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Neanderthals carb loaded, helping grow their big brains

Neanderthals carb loaded, helping grow their big brains

Science reports: Here’s another blow to the popular image of Neanderthals as brutish meat eaters: A new study of bacteria collected from Neanderthal teeth shows that our close cousins ate so many roots, nuts, or other starchy foods that they dramatically altered the type of bacteria in their mouths. The finding suggests our ancestors had adapted to eating lots of starch by at least 600,000 years ago—about the same time as they needed more sugars to fuel a big expansion…

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Covid lays bare the price of populism

Covid lays bare the price of populism

Uri Friedman writes: As populism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, many have focused on the hazards the ideology poses to democratic systems. But today’s complex and highly technical global threats—pandemics, climate change, cyberattacks, financial crises—that demand technocratic solutions have driven home a grim reality: Populism can place us all at risk. In 2018, a burst of anger over government corruption propelled a populist politician named Jair Bolsonaro to Brazil’s presidency. Brazil, which is currently suffering from one of…

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Fevers are plaguing the oceans — and climate change is making them worse

Fevers are plaguing the oceans — and climate change is making them worse

Nature reports: Ten years ago, dead fish began washing ashore on the beaches of Western Australia. The culprit was a huge swathe of unusually warm water that ravaged kelp forests and scores of commercially important marine creatures, from abalone to scallops to lobster. Over the following weeks, some of Western Australia’s most lucrative fisheries came close to being wiped out. To this day, some of them have not recovered. After the crisis, scientists came together to assess the damage and…

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Push to electrify mail trucks gains wide support, an unlikely win for both DeJoy and Biden

Push to electrify mail trucks gains wide support, an unlikely win for both DeJoy and Biden

The Washington Post reports: House Democratic leaders are lining up behind a White House push to allocate $8 billion in taxpayer funding for the latest iteration of mail truck, paving the way for a fully electric fleet instead of the piecemeal strategy U.S. Postal Service leaders have been pursuing. The agency, which is generally self-sustaining and does not draw public money, has drawn up a bootstrap plan for new vehicles — the vast majority of which would run on gas…

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Free beer offer in Buffalo results in more vaccinations than all Erie County, NY first-dose clinics last week

Free beer offer in Buffalo results in more vaccinations than all Erie County, NY first-dose clinics last week

The Buffalo News reports: The idea of getting vaccinated had been rolling around in the back of Tyler Morsch’s mind for weeks. As a 28-year-old, he didn’t feel in any particular danger, but he finally decided he should start looking for a Covid-19 vaccination clinic this week. Then he heard the magic words. “Free beer,” he said. Saturday was the first day that Erie County worked with a local microbrewery to host its Shot and a Chaser program, offering individuals…

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The ringmaster is gone but the circus remains

The ringmaster is gone but the circus remains

Quinta Jurecic writes: The internet has been a bit quiet lately. Or, more specifically, it’s been quiet since the days after the Capitol riot, when Twitter, Facebook, and a string of other social-media companies banned Donald Trump from their platforms for his role in egging on the violence in Washington, D.C. And now the Facebook oversight board has ensured that social media will remain peaceful for at least a little while longer: The panel, asked by Facebook to review the…

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Colonial hackers stole data Thursday ahead of shutdown

Colonial hackers stole data Thursday ahead of shutdown

Bloomberg reports: The hackers who caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down the biggest U.S. gasoline pipeline on Friday began their blitz against the company a day earlier, stealing a large amount of data before locking computers with ransomware and demanding payment, according to people familiar with the matter. The intruders, who are part of a cybercrime gang called DarkSide, took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company’s network in just two hours on Thursday, two people…

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Tools and voyages suggest Homo erectus invented language

Tools and voyages suggest Homo erectus invented language

Daniel Everett writes: What is the greatest human technological innovation? Fire? The wheel? Penicillin? Clothes? Google? None of these come close. As you read this, you are using the winning technology. The greatest tool in the world is language. Without it there would be no culture, no literature, no science, no history, no commercial enterprise or industry. The genus Homo rules the Earth because it possesses language. But how and when did we build this kingdom of speech? And who…

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Why did it take so long for Covid aerosol transmission to be officially confirmed?

Why did it take so long for Covid aerosol transmission to be officially confirmed?

Zeynep Tufekci writes: A few sentences have shaken a century of science. A week ago, more than a year after the World Health Organization declared that we face a pandemic, a page on its website titled “Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19): How Is It Transmitted?” got a seemingly small update. The agency’s response to that question had been that “current evidence suggests that the main way the virus spreads is by respiratory droplets” — which are expelled from the mouth and quickly…

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Stopping drug patents has stopped pandemics before

Stopping drug patents has stopped pandemics before

Laurie Garrett writes: U.S. President Joe Biden’s waiver of patent protections for U.S.-made COVID-19 drugs and vaccines is a historic milestone and a moral imperative. It is also an overdue acknowledgement of recent experiences. Contrary to prognostications from the pharmaceutical sector that side-stepping the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) component of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will mark the death knell of the drug industry, the world’s response to HIV/AIDS long ago demonstrated that patents stymie accessible treatment,…

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From moderate to MAGA: Elise Stefanik ‘abandoned her own core values for a man who had no core values’

From moderate to MAGA: Elise Stefanik ‘abandoned her own core values for a man who had no core values’

Charlotte Alter writes: When Elise Stefanik was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014, she was hailed as the fresh face of the new GOP. Stefanik had run for office in her 20s, determined to modernize the Republican Party to attract more women and appeal to her fellow millennials. In her victory speech, she praised her opponents for their good-faith participation in the miracle of American democracy. “No matter their party, our democratic process is strengthened by those individuals…

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