Month: July 2021

Did lead poisoning cause downfall of Roman Empire? The jury is still out

A new video from the American Chemical Society revisits longstanding academic debate

Ancient Rome’s emperors did some pretty bizarre stuff—bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter, appointing a horse as a priest, dressing in animal skins and attacking people… the list goes on. Why did they act this way? Possibly… lead poisoning.

There are any number of factors that contribute to the demise of an entire civilization, like the collapse of the Roman Empire circa 476 AD. The empire's slow decline is typically attributed to barbarian invasions, failed military campaigns, economic challenges, government corruption, and an over-reliance on slave labor, among other factors. But it's also been suggested that the toxic effects of lead poisoning on increasingly erratic rulers may also have contribute to its demise—a debate that has been revisited in a new Reactions video from the American Chemical Society.

Lead has a number of properties that make it attractive for practical use. It's cheap, widely available, corrosion resistant when exposed to air and water, has a low melting point, and is highly malleable, which means it's easy to fashion into a wide range of products. But lead is also highly toxic if it finds its way into the human body, which is why we use it far less these days compared to even 100 years ago. Common symptoms of lead poisoning include anemia, nerve disorders, memory loss, inability to concentrate, and even infertility. Lead exposure may also be a factor in malaria, rickets, gout, and periodontal disease.

Since 1943, scientists have known that lead can have adverse effects on neurological development in children, leading to behavioral problems and lowered intelligence. That's because it can easily replace calcium. Calcium is how neurons in the brain communicate, and if lead replaces it, there is either too little communication among neurons, or too much. This can cause erratic mood swings, or difficulty processing information, for instance.

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Open source XiangShan RISC-V processor could eventually challenge ARM Cotex-A76

At this year’s RISC-V World Conference China, a team of more than two dozen students and professors from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) have unveiled the XiangShan processor that promises big performance gains over current RISC-V options. …

The XiangShan project logo

At this year’s RISC-V World Conference China, a team of more than two dozen students and professors from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) have unveiled the XiangShan processor that promises big performance gains over current RISC-V options. XiangShan has been developed as an open source project with a BSD-like Mulan PSL v2 license. Since […]

The post Open source XiangShan RISC-V processor could eventually challenge ARM Cotex-A76 appeared first on Liliputing.

Copyright Holders: Automatically Deleting Pirated Content From Search Isn’t Enough

A draft bill before Russia’s State Duma will allow all copyright holders to have links to pirated content automatically removed from search engines within six hours. However, some copyright holders believe the measures don’t go far enough since there is no provision to permanently ban persistent pirate sites from search engines.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

deleteA memorandum signed in 2018 by leading Russia-based search engines and major rightsholders targeted the appearance of infringing links in search results.

A centralized database of content is now automatically queried by search engines and when matches are found, corresponding pirate links in indexes are automatically removed within six hours. While welcomed by the rightsholders involved in the memorandum, the system has been criticized for not being inclusive enough. Other rightsholders want in on the action and they may soon get their way.

Last month, the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, submitted a new anti-piracy bill that aims to write today’s voluntary system into law.

The objectives include expanding the program to make it accessible to a wider circle of copyright holders, thereby providing them with equal conditions to protect their rights. However, some copyright holders remain unhappy at the scope of the scheme and are demanding additional penalties for sites that infringe copyrights on a regular basis.

Demands For Wholesale Exclusion From Search Engines

Over the past several years, copyright holders worldwide have sent millions of takedown notices to have infringing content removed from search engines. The majority of these have targeted Google and largely achieve their stated aim. However, rightsholders believe that search companies should go a step further by removing known pirate sites from search engines altogether.

These calls have been largely rejected by Google and indeed most major search platforms but given the advanced automation of the new system in Russia, copyright holders believe there is now an opportunity to lessen the takedown notice burden by being much tougher on domains repeatedly reported for infringement.

To that end, the powerful Media and Communication Union (MKC) and the Internet Video Association, which represents the rights of numerous legal video portals, are calling for an outright search engine ban on sites deemed to repeat infringers. This was proposed during the preparation of the draft bill but the final version lacks any special penalties for such sites.

Draft Bill Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Speaking with Russian publication Vedomosti, Internet Video Association CEO Alexey Byrdin says that the draft should be tightened to deal with the most flagrant infringers.

“The task of the industry is to propose ways to improve the efficiency of the bill, and one of the measures is to apply stricter sanctions to recidivist sites that allow multiple copyright infringements, including the removal of the entire domain from search results, and possibly extrajudicial blocking,” Byrdin says.

MKS President Mikhail Demin shares Byrdin’s position, noting that exclusion of repeat infringer sites would save rightsholders both time and money.

“Extending the mechanism of removal from search results to domains of recidivist sites would help to increase the effectiveness of the fight against pirates, as well as reduce the financial and time costs of copyright holders to protect their rights,” he says.

Opposition To Repeat Infringer Exclusion

While the calls to exclude repeatedly infringing sites are supported by some rightsholders, support is not universal. Vedomosti reports that four sources with knowledge of the draft indicate that search companies and even some copyright holders are against the plan.

It seems that the problem is being able to differentiate between sites that simply generate lots of copyright infringement reports and others that deliberately and structurally infringe copyright.

For example, it’s entirely possible that a user-generated platform like YouTube could generate as many (if not more) copyright infringement complaints as torrent site The Pirate Bay. While removing the latter from search results would mostly inconvenience pirates, removing YouTube or the many Russian equivalents would be hugely controversial considering the potential for massive collateral damage.

Yandex, an opponent of the broad proposal, says that placing tough sanctions against repeatedly infringing sites is something that needs thorough discussion, especially to ensure that legitimate platforms (that may have infringing users) aren’t affected by any sweeping measures.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

The rumor is true: Rimac is taking over Bugatti with Porsche’s help

Ars spoke to CEOs Oliver Blume and Mate Rimac about the hypercar deal.

The Bugatti Chiron will be joined by new electrified models.

Enlarge / The Bugatti Chiron will be joined by new electrified models. (credit: Bugatti)

For almost a year, a rumor has been circulating that Volkswagen Group plans to offload Bugatti to Croatian electric vehicle specialists Rimac. That rumor turns out to be true: on Monday Porsche and Rimac revealed that they are forming a new joint venture called Bugatti-Rimac at the end of this year. It will be headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia, although Bugatti's manufacturing will remain where it is currently, in Molsheim, France.

Originally founded in 1909 by Ettore Bugatti, the company became known during the interwar period for cars that were at the apex of style and speed, winning Grands Prix as well as the approval of the ultra-rich. Based in Molsheim in the Alsace region, it foundered following Bugatti's death in 1947 and disappeared in 1963, before being resurrected by industrialist Romano Artioli in 1987. In this incarnation, Bugatti set up a high-tech factory in Campogalliano, Italy to build the carbon fiber EB110 supercar, before a faltering global economy put paid to Artioli's ambitions.

In 1998, Bugatti began its third incarnation when Volkswagen Group bought the name and returned the company to Molsheim. The driving force was Ferdinand Piech, VW Group's CEO at the time and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. Piech wanted a car that had 1000 metric horsepower and a top speed of at least 260 mph (418km/h), and Bugatti delivered it with the Veyron 16.4 in 2005. Since then its hand-built a series of increasingly quick, extremely expensive hypercars, but questions have increasingly been asked about Bugatti's relevance within VW Group at a time when the rest of the brands are all going electric.

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Wie viel Maaßen steckt im Verfassungsschutz?

Namhafte CDU-Politiker wollen den Ex-Chef des deutschen Inlandsgeheimdienstes wegen antidemokratischer Tendenzen aus der Partei werfen. Doch welche Spuren hinterließ er im BfV?

Namhafte CDU-Politiker wollen den Ex-Chef des deutschen Inlandsgeheimdienstes wegen antidemokratischer Tendenzen aus der Partei werfen. Doch welche Spuren hinterließ er im BfV?