Autopsies Reveal the Terrible Damage COVID-19 Can Inflict On the Human Brain

“As COVID-19 relentlessly infects more and more of us, scientists are getting a close look at the strange and frightening damage it can inflict on our bodies,” writes Science Alert (in an article shared by long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo):
We’ve known since early in the pandemic this disease wreaks havoc on more than just the respiratory system, also causing gastrointestinal conditions, heart…

New supercluster discovered by astronomers

By analyzing the data from the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new supercluster. The newly found structure consists of eight galaxy clusters. The discovery is reported in a paper published December 21 on the arXiv pre-print server. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-supercluster-astronomers.html…

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Players Are Fixing Parts of the Game Before CD Projekt

Cyberpunk 2077 is here in all its glory and pain. On some machines, it’s a visual spectacle pushing the limits of current technology and delivering on the promise of Deus Ex, but open world. On other machines, including last-gen consoles, it’s a unoptimized and barely playable nightmare. Developer CD Projekt Red has said it’s working to improve the game, but fans…

Researchers demonstrate nondestructive mid-infrared imaging using entangled photons

Researchers have shown that entangled photons can be used to improve the penetration depth of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in highly scattering materials. The method represents a way to perform OCT with mid-infrared wavelengths and could be useful for non-destructive testing and analysis of materials such as ceramics and paint samples. …

Google CEO Pledges To Investigate Exit of Top AI Ethicist

Google CEO Sundar Pichai apologized Wednesday for the company’s handling of the departure of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru and said he would investigate the events and work to restore trust, according to an internal memo sent companywide and obtained by Axios. From the report: Gebru’s exit has provoked anger and consternation within Google as well as in academic circles, with…

Does Digital Advertising Actually Work?

“This week’s Freakonomics podcast goes into depth at asking if digital advertising actually works,” writes Slashdot reader Thelasko:
Economist Steve Tadelis [a professor at U.C. Berkeley’s business school] was interested in answering that question while working for eBay. So, when eBay, in planning to renegotiate their deal with Bing, turned off their brand-keyword advertising, it created a natural experiment. TADELIS: “We could…

Elon Musk Claims Full Recovery From Covid-19, Analyst Upgrades Tesla’s Stock Forecast

Slashdot reader Charlotte Web quote The Street: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that he has “fully” recovered from his bout with a mild fever or cold about a week after he took to Twitter to say he tested positive for coronavirus… [T]his week, Musk took a more reliable PCR test that he said showed “unequivocal” evidence that he had Covid… On…

Scientists discover ancient lake bed deep beneath Greenland ice

The ancient lake bed, sealed more than a mile under Greenland ice, may be hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, and contain unique fossil and chemical traces of past climates and life. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ancient-lake-bed-deep-beneath-greenland-ice…

CCNY team in quantum algorithm breakthrough

Researchers led by City College of New York physicist Pouyan Ghaemi report the development of a quantum algorithm with the potential to study a class of many-electron quantums system using quantum computers. Their paper, entitled “Creating and Manipulating a Laughlin-Type ν=1/3 Fractional Quantum Hall State on a Quantum Computer with Linear Depth Circuits,” appears in the December issue of PRX Quantum,…

Google Photos Tests Locking Color Pop Behind a Google One Paywall

According to XDA Developers, Google is testing locking the Color Pop feature in the Google Photos app behind a paywall, requiring users to sign up for a Google One subscription to access this feature, and presumably other photo-editing features in the future. From the report: Shortly after we published our teardown of Google Photos 5.18 confirming that a Google One paywall…