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Enlarge / During the Pleistocene, California had an entirely different set of ecosystems that included megafauna like these woolly mammoths. (credit: Mauricio Anton)

In case you hadn't heard, weird weather is here to stay. After years of drought, California is now lighting up with flash flood warnings. This is just one aspect of climate change that has been spurred on by human activity. How do we know that the climate is changing dramatically and that this isn't just part of the planet's natural cycles? Join us at the next Ars Technica Live for a conversation with a local scientist who studies this exact question.

Professor Lynn Ingram studies the history of climate and environmental change in California using sediment cores from lakes and estuaries, including San Francisco Bay. Dr. Ingram is a fellow of the California Academy of Science and is a senior Fulbright recipient and Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley. Ingram is the author of more than sixty published scientific articles on past climate change in California and the other locations around the Pacific Ocean, and she is the author of a book about the climate history and water resources in California: The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow.

Filmed before a live audience, each episode of Ars Technica Live is a speculative, informal conversation between Ars hosts and an invited guest. The audience is invited to join the conversation and ask questions.

Enlarge / President Donald Trump. (credit: Getty Images News | Pool)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai today pledged to US senators that he will operate independently of the White House.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) raised questions about the chairman's independence two days after Pai met with President Donald Trump and declined to disclose the topics of discussion. Trump appointed Pai chairman in January and yesterday nominated Pai for another five-year term on the FCC.

"Will the FCC operate independently of the White House?" Udall asked Pai during an FCC oversight hearing held by the Commerce Committee.

Nature

There are two central mysteries about human history in Australia. First, when did people arrive on the world's southernmost inhabitable continent? And second, how did they colonize it? A paper in Nature offers new answers, based on an extensive analysis of decades-old DNA.

By studying the mitochondrial DNA of Aboriginal Australians from all across the continent, University of Adelaide biologist Alan Cooper and his team were able to trace the population back to its most recent common ancestor, a woman who lived between 43,000 and 47,000 years ago. Because mitochondrial DNA is passed from mothers to children virtually unchanged, it's often used to trace genetic histories over long time spans. Based on this finding and dates of the earliest archaeological sites in Australia, Cooper and colleagues write that the continent was likely colonized by a single group of people about 50,000 years ago.

The yellow spots in this image are sites of retinal degeneration. (credit: NIH)

In most cases of blindness, the majority of the eye is intact. The problem lies in the layer of light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye, called the retina. A variety of diseases lead to the degeneration of the retina, and vision decays along with it, even though the nerves that would take signals from the retina to the brain remain intact.

There have been many ideas on how to use those nerves to restore some level of vision to people with retinal degeneration. These range from biological (using genetic engineering to make other nerve cells in the eye responsive to light) to electronic (using an external camera to send signals to an implant that activates the nerves). This week, researchers from Italy have reported something somewhere between the two: a photovoltaic polymer that acts as a replacement retina, no wires required.

The design of the new device is remarkably simple. The authors started with silk since it provides a biocompatible material that cells can grow around and attach to. On top of that, they layered a conductive polymer [poly(3,4-ethylene- dioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)]. And on top of that, they added an organic semiconductor—poly(3-hexylthiophene)—that acts as a photovoltaic material under ambient light conditions. When implanted in the retina, incoming light would lead to a local buildup of charge, which should cause the underlying nerve cells to fire.

Enlarge (credit: Deric Lostutter)

Deric Lostutter, a self-styled online vigilante who went by the handle "KYAnonymous," has been sentenced to two years in federal prison Wednesday for his role in hacking a local high school football team website more than four years ago.

Lostutter initially denied his involvement. But in November 2016, he reversed himself and took a plea agreement in exchange for the prosecution dropping two of the four counts, including the hacking charge under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. (The other two counts—conspiracy and making false statements—remained.)

"Not surprised by sentence, which is a year more than one of the rapists got," Tor Ekeland, Lostutter’s attorney, told Ars by text message on Wednesday. "And on par with what one of the [other] rapists got."

A disrobed Maryland judge who ordered a bailiff to remotely shock a defendant in court with a 50,000-volt charge is now being sued on allegations of civil rights violations. While facing a weapons charge, the defendant was acting as his own attorney when then-Charles County Circuit Court Judge Robert Nalley ordered a deputy to remotely engage the man's ankle-bound "stun cuffs" for about five seconds.

Courtroom video shows Delvon King—who despite the judge's orders won't stop talking—falling to the ground and screaming in pain during a hearing about what questions should be submitted to prospective jurors. According to the video of the 2014 episode, the judge told the courtroom deputy, "Mr. Sheriff do it, use it."

King then hit the floor and screamed in agony, according to the video.

Enlarge / The jaw of the El Sidron individual found to be consuming poplar and Penicillium-containing vegetation. (credit: Paleoanthropology Group MNCN-CSIC)

Around 50,000 years ago in Spain, a Neanderthal had a toothache and popped the botanical version of an aspirin. Maybe. Although it's far from clear-cut, there’s evidence from old teeth that hints at the possibility.

It's part of a study of Neanderthal diet, courtesy of their poor dental hygiene. Published in Nature, an analysis of preserved dental plaque from three different Neanderthals provides an intriguing glimpse into what they put in their mouths. According to the authors, the analysis points to regionally varied diets and suggests possible medicinal plant use.

But some of the DNA evidence is a little strange, suggesting evidence of species where they really shouldn’t have been 50,000 years ago. There are some good explanations for why this could happen, but, like most exciting results, drawing conclusions from the evidence demands a little caution.