How exactly do we know that this virus, SARS-CoV-2, has a “zoonotic” animal origin and not an artificial one? The answers lie in the genetic material and evolutionary history of the virus, and understanding the ecology of the bats in question. An estimated 60% of known infectious diseases and 75% of all new, emerging, or re-emerging diseases in humans have animal origins. SARS-CoV-2 is the newest of seven coronaviruses found in humans, all of which came from animals, either from bats, mice or domestic animals....

The race to get humans to Mars is heating up. China recently joined the USA in targeting the 2030s for crewed missions to the planet, but both their plans face enormous hurdles. One of the main concerns is the threat posed by particle radiation from the sun, stars, and galaxies. These particles could increase the risk of cancer or cause acute radiation sickness during missions. New radiation modeling suggests astronauts can be protected from these dangers — as long as their journeys are over within roughly four years....

Fusion reactors – not to be confused with common fission reactors – are the holiest of Grails when it comes to physics achievements. According to most experts, a successful fusion reactor would function as a near-unlimited source of energy. In other words, if there’s a working demonstration of an actual fusion reactor by 2025, we could see an end to the global energy crisis within a few decades. TAE, one of the companies working on the fusion problem, says the big difference-maker now is machine learning....

Whether you need it or not, techheads always keep their eyes on deals for a few key prizes — like cloud storage at a significant discount. Because while you might not need it today, cloud space is an item you’ll almost definitely need for something tomorrow. TNW Deals is making those plan-ahead types very happy right now with a fantastic deal on 2TB of Thunder Drive Cloud Storage for life at over 90 percent off the regular price, down to just $59....

You always know a grinder when you see one. They’re the workman-like folks who stay low, don’t often draw attention to themselves and just keep methodically advancing toward their goals. They don’t need to be flashy, but like a shark, they’re constantly progressing, even if it’s just an inch at a time, toward their promised land. SEO freaks are generally grinders. Because who else is going to pay attention to whether including one particular keyword will improve a page’s search results by 10 percent?...

Earlier this morning, a lot of people based in China reported that Signal is not working for them unless they use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. As TechCrunch noted, the website of the app was banned in the country yesterday, while the app is still available on the App Store. So for now, there are no government orders for Apple to remove the app. According to app analytics firm SensorTower, the iOS version of Signal has been downloaded over 510,000 times in China to date....

Anyway, it’s an exciting moment for Skoda fans, assuming there are some, as it’s one of the first few non-VW badged cars to make use of the company’s modular electric MEB platform that also underpins the hotly anticipated Volkswagen ID.3. It’s also Skoda’s first EV that’s been designed from the ground up, and isn’t a modification of a combustion engine vehicle, The Enyaq is the first MEB vehicle to be made outside of Germany, and will be manufactured in Skoda’s home country, the Czech Republic....

Simone Burns, who is also known as Simone O’Broin, first achieved international infamy in the business class cabin of an Air India 777. She’d been drinking. Three bottles of wine had hit her like a freight train, and the cabin crew decided to stop serving her, provoking a fiery backlash from the intoxicated lawyer. Burns spat in the face of one attendant. She called the cabin crew “Indian money-grabbing cunts,” and tried to smoke a cigarette in the toilet....

Artist Guo O Dong listed the laptop, an art installation he called “The Persistence of Chaos.” To earn the moniker, he air gapped the machine — ensured it wouldn’t connect to the internet — and loaded it with six of the most dangerous types of malware to have ever graced the interwebs: ILOVEYOU, MyDoom, DarkTequila, BlackEnergy, SoBig, and 2017’s scariest threat, WannaCry — software thought to have originated in North Korea that infected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries....

Though it looks much the same, it offers a few key improvements, mainly in the forms of better noise canceling and welcome usability improvements — including the ability to automatically pause music when it senses you’re speaking with someone in the real world. Although the headphones use the same QN1 noise-canceling chip as their predecessors, a new algorithm and Bluetooth hardware help the headphones offer improved noise-canceling performance. Sony isn’t quantifying how much noise-canceling performance has improved, so it’s probably a subtle difference....

The attack is said to have begun in the early hours of Monday, according to Spanish daily ABC. Indications are that the ransomware strain that hit Everis is a version of BitPaymer, which has been used increasingly used by attackers to lock down compromised systems on a breached network. It’s worth pointing out that this is the second time Spanish businesses have been hit by ransomware infections, the first being the notorious WannaCry attacks of 2017....

To help artists attract more people to their events, Spotify is now introducing a virtual tour feature for musicians to list their online performances. We’ve seen a glimpse of this feature through a leak by Jane Manchun Wong, but now the company is launching it for real. The virtual event shown here is actually 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival pic.twitter.com/I6BJDqeAnc — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 25, 2020 You will be able to discover these virtual gigs through the “On Tour” section on your favorite artist’s page or Spotify’s own Concert Hub....

It doesn’t take much to figure out why employees may be reluctant to take the blame for a mistake that could potentially cost the business a client and kill revenue streams — but if your team is playing hot potato, you may have a bigger (culture!) problem on your hands. “I’ve seen so many managers being scared of accountability because it’s always seen as a negative message, when it shouldn’t be....

Once it was able to process inputs and outputs in a language it understood, the model was able to use human-like negotiation techniques to attempt to get a good deal. According to the Facebook researchers: A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University today published a pre-print study discussing situations like this and whether we should allow AI to lie. Perhaps shockingly, the researchers appear to claim that not only should we develop AI that lies, but it’s actually ethical....

According to a poll conducted by CivicScience, which looked into general interest and public concerns surrounding Libra following the announcement of its launch, only five percent of 1,799 US adults surveyed expressed any level of interest in the proposed digital currency. In stark contrast, an overwhelming 86 percent said they were ‘not at all interested,’ while 10 percent seemed unsure. Unsurprisingly, those who said they were interested were younger, mostly belonging to the 18-to-24-year olds cohort....

According to a US Department of Justice release, Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson was extradited yesterday after being arrested in Thailand in June this year. As Hard Fork has previously reported, Karlsson and his company, Eastern Metal Securities (EMS), were charged earlier this year following a complaint that claimed he had been running a gold-based investment scam. Karlsson reportedly used a website to invite potential investors to buy shares in exchange for an eventual payout of in gold....

But for a payments expert such as myself, this is something of a myth. Yes, SWIFT messaging systems are a critical part of international economic activity. They provide extremely secure communications, developed over five decades, dovetailing with the many and varied operations of commercial banks in international transactions. SWIFT systems would also be a prime target in any cyberwarfare, though thankfully they are well defended. The reality, however, is that limiting access to SWIFT is less practically effective than most media coverage supposes....

While the beauty of a cut and polished diamond can be breath-taking, many would look at the original unprocessed version of that same stone and say, “That looks like a rock.” Unprocessed data, lumps of unrefined characters with no form or context, often elicits the same bewilderment. It’s not until you use a data management and visualization tool like Tableau that you see the true diamond buried inside. Knowing how to turn data into visual representations that an audience can understand is a highly sought after skill, a skill you can develop with the training in The Mastering Tableau Certification Bundle....

Having spent over $23 million in free Supercharging miles last quarter alone, the company is seriously rethinking its reward policy. Tesla launched the program back in 2015 to promote its vehicles through its user base. But giving credit or prizes to new buyers and owners who referred new sales proved to be too costly. In 2019, it even ended up promising 80 new Roadsters for free to customers with enough referrals, which prompted Elon to kill the program....

Our current artificial intelligence algorithms can detect objects in images with remarkable accuracy, but only after they’ve seen many (thousands or maybe millions) examples and only if the new images are not too different from what they’ve seen before. There is a range of efforts aimed at solving the shallowness and brittleness of deep learning, the main AI algorithm used in computer vision today. But sometimes, finding the right solution is predicated on asking the right questions and formulating the problem in the right way....