Month: January 2023

Enlarge / A diagram of the array of detectors in STEREO (left) and its location near a nuclear reactor (right). (credit: Loris Scola - CEA)

Neutrinos are probably the strangest particles we know about. They're far, far lighter than any other particle with mass and only interact with other matter via the weak force—which means they barely ever interact with anything. Three types (or flavors) of neutrinos have been identified, and any individual particle doesn't have a fixed identity. Instead, it can be viewed as a quantum superposition of all three flavors and will oscillate among these identities.

As if all that weren't enough, a set of strange measurements has suggested that there could be a fourth type of neutrino that doesn't even interact via the weak force, making it impossible to detect. These "sterile neutrinos" could potentially explain the tiny masses of the other neutrinos, as well as the existence of dark matter, but the whole "impossible to detect" thing makes it difficult to address their existence directly.

The strongest hints of their presence come from odd measurement results in experiments with other flavors of neutrinos. But a new study today rules out sterile neutrinos as an explanation for one of these oddities—even while confirming that the anomalous results are real.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Parler's owner laid off most of its staff and executives in recent weeks, according to a report yesterday by The Verge. Parlement Technologies, owner of the self-described "free speech" social network, started the spate of layoffs in late November, according to The Verge's sources.

"These layoffs continued through at least the end of December, when around 75 percent of staffers were let go in total, leaving approximately 20 employees left working at both Parler and the parent company's cloud services venture," the report said. "A majority of the company's executives, including its chief technology, operations, and marketing officers, have also been laid off, according to a source familiar with the matter."

The Verge report said it isn't clear "how many people are currently employed to work on the Parler social media platform or where it's headed from here." We contacted Parler today and will update this article if we get a response.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

If you purchased a new car in the past few years, chances are good that it contains at least one embedded modem, which it uses to offer some connected services. The benefits, we've been told, are numerous and include convenience features like interior preheating on a cold morning, diagnostics that warn of failures before they happen, and safety features like teen driver monitoring.

In some regions, connected cars are even mandatory, as in the European Union's eCall system. But if these systems sound like a potential security nightmare, that's because they often are. Ars has been covering car hacks for more than a decade now, but the problem really cemented itself in the public consciousness in 2015 with the infamous Jeep hacking incident, when a pair of researchers proved they could remotely disable a Jeep Cherokee while it was being driven, via an exploit in the SUV's infotainment system. Since then, security flaws have been found in some cars' Wi-Fi networks, NFC keys and Bluetooth, and in third-party telematics systems.

Toward the end of 2022, a researcher named Sam Curry tested the security of various automakers and telematics systems and discovered security holes and vulnerabilities seemingly wherever he looked. Curry decided to explore the potential holes in the auto industry's digital infrastructure when he was visiting the University of Maryland last fall after playing around with an electric scooter's app and discovering that he could turn on the horns and headlights across the entire fleet. After reporting the vulnerability to the scooter company, Curry and his colleagues turned their attention to larger vehicles.

Enlarge / This is the front of the Apple Watch Ultra. (credit: Samuel Axon)

We learned earlier this week that Apple is trying to make its own in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, and today the word on the street (via Bloomberg) is that the company is also looking to design display panels instead of relying on external suppliers like Samsung and LG. The report echoes a similar one from 2018 that said Apple could begin shifting to its own displays in 2020, but today's report says that "high costs and technical challenges" kept Apple from moving forward with those plans.

The new screens would use the Micro LED technology that Apple acquired in 2014. Like OLED screens, Micro LED displays feature pixel-level brightness controls, allowing for better contrast and lower energy use, and they can also be thinner than LCD screens because they don't require a separate backlight layer. But unlike OLED screens, Micro LED screens don't rely on organic material that can deteriorate over time, they have a higher maximum brightness, and they don't suffer from the burn-in issues that can affect OLED.

The report indicates that Apple is starting small with its Micro LED displays. It plans to ship them in "the highest-end Apple Watches" like the Apple Watch Ultra initially before making versions for iPhones, its upcoming mixed-reality headset, and other devices.

Enlarge / Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered a cardiac arrest on Jan. 2 during an NFL game, requiring on-field CPR and defibrillation. It has made Madden NFL 23's faux-CPR-and-defibrillation touchdown celebration seem a bit insensitive. (credit: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

Madden NFL 23 is a fantasy in which you can enjoy a hyped-up simulation of NFL football with wild plays and unlikely outcomes. But a bit of reality will be patched in soon, as the game's publisher, EA, is removing a touchdown celebration that has an unfortunate resonance with recent life-threatening events.

Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed soon after tackling a Cincinnati Bengals player during a Monday Night Football game on January 2. Local and league medical officials attended to Hamlin for 19 minutes, during which he received CPR and required an automated external defibrillator to restore his heartbeat after a cardiac arrest. Medical experts later suggested that Hamlin may have suffered an incident of commotio cordis, when a blow to the chest interrupts the electrical signals of the heart and creates an erratic heartbeat that stops blood flow to the brain.

Hamlin was later placed on a stretcher, given oxygen, and taken to a Cincinnati hospital. The game remained suspended for more than an hour before the NFL suspended it indefinitely. It was later canceled entirely. Hamlin was released from intensive care in Cincinnati Monday and has returned to Buffalo, where he was released today.