Smithsonian's National Zoo Researchers have discovered how one of the world’s oddest mammals developed resistance to cancer, and there is hope that their work could help fight the disease in humans. Naked mole rats live underground, where environmental conditions are harsh but predators are few. They can live for more than 30 years, almost seven years longer than their close cousin the house mouse—which is particularly … [Read more...]

Some bugs aren't worth very much cash. Daniel Novta Microsoft has announced that it will give security researchers cash rewards for devising novel software exploitation techniques, creating new exploit mitigation systems, and finding bugs in the beta of Internet Explorer 11 when it's released later this month. Bug bounty programs, where security researchers receive a cash reward from software vendors for disclosing … [Read more...]

Kim Dotcom today said on Twitter that Megaupload user data in Europe has been "irreversibly lost" because it was deleted by a Netherlands-based server hosting company called LeaseWeb. "VERY BAD NEWS: #Leaseweb has wiped ALL #Megaupload servers. All user data & crucial evidence for our defense destroyed 'without warning,'" Dotcom tweeted. Dotcom said LeaseWeb informed his team today that Megaupload servers were deleted on Feb. 1, 2013. "Our … [Read more...]

A 40-channel version of the new holographic display. Daniel Smalley Three-dimensional films and TVs may seem cutting-edge, but existing technologies all require optical tricks to create the illusion of depth (in some cases, very old tricks). The only truly 3D display technology we have, holography, has primarily been limited to displaying static images. That situation has slowly begun to change, but the existing … [Read more...]

Now that the National Security Agency (NSA) and other law enforcement institutions have begun to pull back the veil on surveillance tactics and their newly disclosed relationship in suspected terrorism cases, at least one defense attorney is starting to challenge previously closed cases. Among the cases officials cited where NSA surveillance proved useful in securing a conviction was that of Basaaly Saeed Moalin, a San Diego cab driver. Moalin … [Read more...]

Aurich Lawson The Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying network hardware, chips, smartphones, PCs, and tablets for the new "Gigabit Wi-Fi" standard. But while the certification program covers hardware with speeds of up to 1.3Gbps, vendors can make equipment that goes faster—and at least one already has. The 802.11ac certification program, announced today, covers equipment pushing 1.3Gbps of data by using three spatial streams of … [Read more...]