Month: September 2018

Drones are changing photography, but they’re also making it easier and cheaper to perform surveillance, monitor fields and crops, and inspect infrastructure. The problem is that most drones, even ones used in these commercial and industrial settings, wind up facing the same big problem: short battery life.

California-based startup Impossible Aerospace says it’s figured out a solution. The company — which came out of stealth on Monday by announcing a $9.4 million funding round, partially backed by Airbus’ venture wing — isn’t claiming any wild battery breakthrough or promising some flashy new-look dodecacopter concept. Instead, the company says it simply rethought the way drones are designed and built — apparently to great results….

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The more efficient dongle now costs $12, up from $9, as well.

British Airways reported a breach last week that affected about 380,000 customers’ data. Threat management firm RiskIQ revealed today that the same criminal group behind a Ticketmaster UK breach also attacked British Airways.

In a previous report, RiskIQ found that Ticketmaster’s breach was the work of the criminal group Magecart. It injected scripts onto a compromised customer service product on Ticketmaster’s site in order to steal personal data. According to RiskIQ, Magecart tends to use scripts to steal customer data that are entered on online payment forms, usually through compromised third-party services these sites use.

RiskIQ analyzed the source code from British…

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Researchers have developed an evidence-based approach to designing ex situ collections that effectively preserve a target species’ genetic diversity, which can be tailored for conservation of any tree species. This will allow for efficient, targeted seed collecting efforts, including number of populations to sample, the appropriate number of seeds to collect from each tree, and best choice of populations to target in a species’ range.

Huge amounts of carbon are stored in deep soil. Scientists uncover the conditions that will cause that carbon to stay underground or be emitted into the atmosphere as climate-destabilizing carbon dioxide.

A specific virus changes dietary behavior of fire ants, leading researchers to rethink control methods for the invasive species.

Our unconscious gaze is controlled by an automatic selection process computed by a neural network in the brain. Details of this computation have now been studied and could soon become relevant for robotic implementations.

Engineers have developed a new ultrasound transducer, or probe, that could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners to as little as $100. Their patent-pending innovation — no bigger than a Band-Aid — is portable, wearable and can be powered by a smartphone.