Month: August 2017

Hackers Using Facebook Messenger to Distribute Malware

Hackers Using Facebook Messenger to Distribute Malware

Posted by | Aug 27, 2017 | |

David Jacoby a senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, is trying to get the word out that Facebook Messenger is now being used to spread malware.   Where these things start is often hard to tell but once the malware finds a victim it spreads by causing users of Facebook Messenger without them knowing to send out personalized hoax messages to their contacts that include a virus-ridden link. The messages are structured with the recipient’s name, the word ‘video,’ a shocked emoji, followed by a shortened URL link as well.  Since the message appears to be being sent by a friend,...

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Ancient Babylonian Clay Tablet is World’s Oldest Trigonometric Table

Ancient Babylonian Clay Tablet is World’s Oldest Trigonometric Table

Posted by | Aug 25, 2017 | |

Trigonometry is the branch of mathematics dealing with specific functions of length and angles and their application to calculations of triangles.  Ancient Greek astronomers like Hipparchus, Menelaus, and Ptolomy transformed trigonometry into an ordered science. But there is great doubt now about whether the Greeks actually invented trigonometry. The Babylonian tablet Plimpton 322 now located at Columbia University, was recovered from an unknown place in the Iraq desert.  It was discovered by the archaeologist, diplomat and antiquities dealer Edgar Banks in the early 1900’s, the person on whom the fictional character Indiana Jones was based on.  The tablet was written...

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Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley Mystery Likely Solved

Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley Mystery Likely Solved

Posted by | Aug 24, 2017 | |

The Confederate vessel H.L. Hunley made history by becoming the first combat submarine to sink a Union ship during the late stages of the civil war.  The Confederate army had built the 40-foot-long, 8 crewmen submarine as part of a counter effort to break the smothering blockade of the Union navy. The sub’s captain Charles Pickering managed to sink the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864, with a submersible pole attached to a 135 lb barrel bomb, that was rammed into the Housatonic’s hull just below the waterline, causing a tremendous explosion. The Union warship went down in just five minutes but came to rest upright...

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MIT’s Robogami Enables Non-Experts to Custom Design & Assemble 3D Printable Robots

MIT’s Robogami Enables Non-Experts to Custom Design & Assemble 3D Printable Robots

Posted by | Aug 23, 2017 | |

Robots are starting to become a part of our daily lives as they take on tedious tasks like cleaning our carpets and weeding our gardens. But while there are some special kits to make a specific type of robot the idea of making one’s own custom bot is beyond the reach of most. Some technophiles are getting into designing and modeling robots on 3D printers but the process is very complicated and costly. Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are changing this situation by designing a system that will allow non-experts to customize their own...

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How Orange Peels Rejuvenated a Decimated Costa Rican Forest

How Orange Peels Rejuvenated a Decimated Costa Rican Forest

Posted by | Aug 22, 2017 | |

In 1997-98, orange juice producer Del Oro thought it had scored a win-win deal when it signed an environmental services contract with authorities in charge of a neighboring conservation area called Área de Conservación Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica.  The deal was Del Oro would donate part of their forested land to the Área de Conservación Guanacaste.  In exchange, Del Oro could deposit its orange peel waste for biodegradation, at no cost, on degraded forest land within the park.  The motivation for the agreement orchestrated by husband-wife team Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, both dedicated ecologists at the University of Pennsylvania, who worked...

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