Month: September 2019

Enlarge / A "Moment of Science" in the 2017 Ig Nobel ceremony: Daniel Davis faces a Tesla coil. (credit: Mike Binveniste/Improbable Research)

Over the years, curious intrepid scientists have gleaned insight into why the wombat's poo is cube-shaped, explored the magnetic properties of living and dead cockroaches, and determined that a man's left testicle really does run hotter than the right. These and other unusual research topics were honored tonight in a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater to announce the 2019 recipients of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes.

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes and honor "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The unapologetically campy award ceremony features mini-operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures, whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds, and the second in just seven words. Acceptance speeches are limited to 60 seconds. And as the motto implies, the research being honored might seem ridiculous at first glance, but that doesn't mean it is devoid of scientific merit.

The winners receive eternal Ig Nobel fame and a ten-trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe. It's a long-running Ig Nobel gag. Zimbabwe stopped using its native currency in 2009 because of skyrocketing inflation and hyperinflation; at its nadir, the 100-trillion dollar bill was roughly the equivalent of 40 cents US. (Earlier this year the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the "zollar" as a potential replacement.) The 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for Mathematics was awarded to the then-head of the RBZ, Gideon Gono, "for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers — from very small to very big — by having his bank print bank notes with denominations ranging from one cent ($.01) to one hundred trillion dollars ($100,000,000,000,000)."

Enlarge / A shot from Tesla's video at the Laguna Seca racetrack. (credit: Tesla)

Tesla is working on a new three-motor powertrain for the Model S that will accelerate even faster than Tesla's current "Ludicrous Mode," the company said on Wednesday. In a nod to Spaceballs, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has dubbed the new system "Plaid."

"Plaid powertrain is about a year away from production," Musk tweeted. He said it would be available for the Model S, Model X, and the new Roadster—but not the lower-end Model 3 and Model Y. He said that the new design will "cost more than our current offerings, but less than competitors."

On Wednesday, Tesla tested a prototype of this souped-up Model S at the Laguna Seca raceway. The vehicle achieved a lap time of 1:36.555, which Tesla says is a new record for a four-door sedan. You can watch a video of the record-setting lap here.

Enlarge / Simjacker attack flow. (credit: AdaptiveMobile Security)

Hackers are actively exploiting a critical weakness found in most mobile phones to surreptitiously track the location of users and possibly carry out other nefarious actions, researchers warned on Thursday.

The so-called Simjacker exploits work across a wide range of mobile devices, regardless of the hardware or software they rely on, researchers with telecom security firm AdaptiveMobile Security said in a post. The attacks work by exploiting an interface intended to be used solely by cell carriers so they can communicate directly with the SIM cards inside subscribers’ phones. The carriers can use the interface to provide specialized services such as using the data stored on the SIM to provide account balances.

Simjacker abuses the interface by sending commands that track the location and obtain the IMEI identification code of phones. They might also cause phones to make calls, send text messages, or perform a range of other commands.

(credit: Aurich Lawson)

AT&T expects to lose about 1.1 million TV customers in the third quarter as it faces pressure from an investment group that says AT&T's increased focus on the TV business was a giant mistake.

In an update to shareholders yesterday, AT&T CFO John Stephens "said the company expects an incremental 300,000 to 350,000 premium video losses above the previous quarter's premium video results," according to AT&T. Since that's an incremental increase over the previous quarter's loss, that will amount to a three-month loss of more than 1 million TV customers.

In Q2 2019, AT&T reported a net loss of 778,000 subscribers in the "Premium TV" category, which includes its DirecTV satellite and U-verse wireline TV services. With AT&T expecting to lose that amount of subscribers plus another 300,000 to 350,000, the update to shareholders suggests the Q3 loss in the category will be between 1,078,000 and 1,128,000 subscribers. (An AT&T spokesperson confirmed to Ars that a projected loss of 1,078,000 and 1,128,000 subscribers in Q3 is accurate.)

Enlarge / An artist's impression of the planet K2-18b and its clouds. (credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser)

On Wednesday, astronomers announced the first detection of water in the atmosphere of a planet that orbits within the habitable zone of its host star. The planet, K2-18b, is certainly not habitable by us, as it's a mini-Neptune that may not have any solid surface and is likely to have a hydrogen/helium-rich atmosphere. But the discovery of water vapor and clouds confirms expectations that the Earth isn't necessarily special in having water at a distance from its star where that water could be liquid.

Big planet, small star

As the planet's designation indicates, K2-18b was discovered during the extended second mission of the Kepler space telescope. After the failure of some of the telescope's pointing hardware, NASA figured out how to keep the optics stable by using its solar panels. This allowed Kepler to examine additional areas of the sky during what was termed the K2 mission.

K2-18b is a large planet, as follow-on observations have indicated its mass is over eight times that of Earth's. It's close enough to its host star that it only takes 33 days to complete an orbit. But, because the host star is much smaller and cooler than the Sun, that means K2-18b only gets slightly more light than Earth does (1441 Watts/square meter versus 1370 for Earth). That's consistent with the planet having a temperature that allows liquid water to exist.

Enlarge / Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. participates in a town hall meeting in March 2019. (credit: Ethan Miller | Getty)

High-profile evangelical conservative Jerry Falwell Jr., a staunch Trump supporter and president of Liberty University, wants the FBI to investigate current and former university employees for... forwarding emails.

Falwell claims to have evidence that employees "improperly shared" emails belonging to the university, the Associated Press reports. Falwell said the communications were shared as part of a "criminal" smear campaign and "attempted coup."

Falwell told the AP he contacted the FBI before the story was published, when he learned reporters were reaching out to Liberty employees about the "stolen" emails. "I am going to the authorities and I am going to civil court" over the shared documents, Falwell said.