Low gravity and high radiation: Would humans remain human on Mars?

A biologist considers how harsh conditions on Mars might affect human evolution.

This early morning view of the inner wall of Gale Crater is ethereal. (credit: NASA)

People like Elon Musk and others in the "space settlement" camp believe NASA and the US space industry should colonize Mars and make homo sapiens a multi-planet species. Musk wants SpaceX to one day send colonists to Mars, while NASA is talking about building sustainable habitats on the red planet. Even if we overcome the technical and financial challenges that stand in the way of putting humans on Mars, we know precious little about how microgravity and heightened radiation will affect the ability of humans to reproduce in space. Without procreation, there is no permanent colony, and early tests aren’t promising.

But let’s assume SpaceX, or an international coalition led by NASA, or China’s space agency eventually figure out the engineering and financing of a Mars colony. Let’s also assume the biology of reproduction in space, and on foreign worlds, is a solvable problem. After homo sapiens becomes a multi-planet species, the question becomes, would we remain a single species of humanity? Scott Solomon thinks a lot about this question in his new book Future Humans, which will be published by Yale Press in October. In it, he explores the future evolution of our species, including some musings on Mars.

“The general concept for the book is to ask about our ongoing evolution, from the perspective of a scientist who takes what we know about our past, what we know about today, and thinking about the long-term possibilities for our species,” Solomon, a biologist at Rice University in Houston, said. What, he wondered, would it take to lead to development of a new species? Put another way, how long would humans on Mars remain human?

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Deutsche Telekom: Netzausfall in den Morgenstunden legt Internet lahm

Mobilfunknetz-Authentifizierung fehlerhaft: Wegen Störungen bei der Deutschen Telekom hatten am Samstagvormittag ihre Kunden keinen Zugang zum Internet. Mittlerweile ist das Problem behoben. (Telekom, Congstar)

Mobilfunknetz-Authentifizierung fehlerhaft: Wegen Störungen bei der Deutschen Telekom hatten am Samstagvormittag ihre Kunden keinen Zugang zum Internet. Mittlerweile ist das Problem behoben. (Telekom, Congstar)

Fahrwerksschäden: Repariert Tesla Fehler gegen Schweigeverpflichtung?

Nachdem einige defekte Radaufhängungen bei Tesla-Autos aufgetreten sind, führen ein Blogger und der Elektroautohersteller eine Schlammschlacht. Ein böser Vorwurf lautet, Tesla habe kostenlose Reparaturen durchgeführt, um die Fahrer zum Schweigen zu verpflichten. Die Behörden wollen prüfen. (Tesla Motors, Technologie)

Nachdem einige defekte Radaufhängungen bei Tesla-Autos aufgetreten sind, führen ein Blogger und der Elektroautohersteller eine Schlammschlacht. Ein böser Vorwurf lautet, Tesla habe kostenlose Reparaturen durchgeführt, um die Fahrer zum Schweigen zu verpflichten. Die Behörden wollen prüfen. (Tesla Motors, Technologie)

Judge: Failing Megaupload Servers Should Be Repaired, Not Copied

Last month Megaupload’s former hosting company Cogent raised alarm bells about failing hard drives, which contain crucial evidence. Responding to this threat the MPAA and RIAA asked the court’s permission to copy the data, but this has now been denied. Instead, Judge O’Grady went with Megaupload’s proposal to simply repair the drives while keeping them stored at Cogent.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

megaupload-logoMegaupload was shutdown nearly half a decade ago, but data from hundreds of the site’s servers are still in storage.

This is also true for the files that were placed at Cogent.

While the original machines are no longer intact, the hosting company has backed up all data which it will keep in storage pending the various lawsuits against the company and its operators.

However, as time has gone by the condition of the harddrives has deteriorated. A few weeks ago Cogent warned that sixteen of them have actually become unreadable, which is a serious concern since they contain important evidence.

To resolve the issue the RIAA and MPAA, representing various major copyright holders, asked if they could preserve a copy of the data themselves. Alternatively, they were also open to bringing in an independent computer forensics vendor, to copy and preserve the data.

Megaupload disagreed, arguing that rightsholders or other outsiders shouldn’t get their hands on possibly privacy sensitive user data, and opted to simply repair the failing disks.

This week District Court Judge Liam O’Grady ruled on the matter at hand. He rejected the copying proposal by the rightsholders, and went with Megaupload’s suggestion instead.

Judge O’Grady’s order

megaserv

“The Court finds Defendants’ proposal is the more appropriate remedy for the issue at hand,” Judge O’Grady writes in his order.

The Judge instructs all stakeholders in the civil and criminal cases, including the U.S. Government and Cogent, to come together and agree on a repair process.

“[All parties] shall meet and confer with United States Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson to discuss and devise an appropriate solution to repair the Cogent drives and preserve the evidence on the Cogent servers, as well as to secure and preserve other digital evidence.”

While none of the parties are likely to disagree to a repair, they do have to determine who should pick up the tab.

Megaupload previously said that it doesn’t have the financial resources to do so, and suggested that either the copyright holders or the Government must take care of this. The Government is unlikely to pay though, and previously said that it no longer has an interest in the data.

The fact that the recent filings in the Megaupload proceedings are about data loss is exemplary of the slow progress in the cases, which are still a long way from trial.

Last December a New Zealand District Court judge ruled that Kim Dotcom and his colleagues can be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges. This decision was appealed and will be heard later this summer, so until then not much is expected to happen.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Die Woche im Video: Spionage, Debatten und schwere Beschuldigungen

Kabelnetzbetreiber debattierten über Glasfaser und Kupfer, Lenovo zerstückelte ein Smartphone, der Verfassungsschutz-Chef beschuldigte Edward Snowden – und die Vorwürfe gegen Jacob Appelbaum wurden lauter. Sieben Tage und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Business-Notebooks)

Kabelnetzbetreiber debattierten über Glasfaser und Kupfer, Lenovo zerstückelte ein Smartphone, der Verfassungsschutz-Chef beschuldigte Edward Snowden - und die Vorwürfe gegen Jacob Appelbaum wurden lauter. Sieben Tage und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Business-Notebooks)

Pre-Piracy Warning Now a Thing, Sony Sends ‘Euro 2016’ Pre-Warning to Torrent Sites

There’s a new thing in the world of piracy warnings, as Sony Pictures Networks takes piracy prevention to the next, or previous, level.Trying to get ahead of the massive piracy onslaught for Euro 2016, Sony Pictures Networks has already started sending…



There's a new thing in the world of piracy warnings, as Sony Pictures Networks takes piracy prevention to the next, or previous, level.

Trying to get ahead of the massive piracy onslaught for Euro 2016, Sony Pictures Networks has already started sending piracy warnings to torrent sites. To be more accurate, these are pre-piracy notices, warning these torrent sites against putting up torrents of full match videos and highlights for Europe's premier International soccer competition.

The warning letters, which were also sent to streaming sites, warn of dire legal consequences for sites that put up such content. 

"Any manner of communicating and/or making available for viewing the UEFA EURO CUP 2016 matches on any platform shall therefore amount to violation of our Client’s exclusive rights in which our client has invested significant amount of money," the letter states.

Speaking to some of the operators of these sites, TorrentFreak learned that most have no intention of following Sony's demand. In fact, some have taken the notice as a confirmation of the popularity of Euro 2016 content and have been encouraged to do more to serve such content during June and July, when the competition takes place throughout France.

Live-Betriebssystem: Tails 2.4 umfasst sichere Mails und neuen Tor-Browser

Wer seine Kommunikation schützen will oder an besonders schützenswerten Projekten arbeitet, setzt oft auf Tails. In der neuen Version sollen Mails sicherer abgeholt werden, der neue Torbrowser kommt ohne SHA1-Unterstützung. (tails, Firefox)

Wer seine Kommunikation schützen will oder an besonders schützenswerten Projekten arbeitet, setzt oft auf Tails. In der neuen Version sollen Mails sicherer abgeholt werden, der neue Torbrowser kommt ohne SHA1-Unterstützung. (tails, Firefox)

Sony-Konsole: Auch die Playstation Neo wird Spiele nicht in 4K rendern

Zugegeben, die Headline ist ein bisschen übertrieben: Für Sonys kommende Playstation, Codename Neo, dürften einige Entwickler sich zwar für 4K-Ultra-HD als Render-Auflösung entscheiden. Die allermeisten aber eben für 1080p und mehr Details. (Playstation 4, Sony)

Zugegeben, die Headline ist ein bisschen übertrieben: Für Sonys kommende Playstation, Codename Neo, dürften einige Entwickler sich zwar für 4K-Ultra-HD als Render-Auflösung entscheiden. Die allermeisten aber eben für 1080p und mehr Details. (Playstation 4, Sony)

Risky stem cell treatment reverses MS in 70% of patients in small study

Success is promising, but few may qualify for it as side effects can be fatal.

MS brain lesion as seen on an MRI. (credit: James Heilman, MD)

By obliterating the broken immune systems of patients with severe forms of multiple sclerosis, then sowing fresh, defect-free systems with transplanted stem cells, researchers can thwart the degenerative autoimmune disease—but it comes at a price.

In a small phase II trial of 24 MS patients, the treatment halted or reversed the disease in 70 percent of patients for three years after the transplant. Eight patients saw that improvement last for seven and a half years, researchers report in the Lancet. This means that some of those patients went from being wheelchair-bound to walking and being active again. But to reach that success, many suffered through severe side effects, such as life threatening infections and organ damage from toxicity brought on by the aggressive chemotherapy required to annihilate the body’s immune system. One patient died from complications of the treatment, which represents a four percent fatality rate.

Moreover, while the risks may be worthwhile to some patients with rapidly progressing forms of MS—a small percentage of MS patients—the researchers also caution that the trial was small and did not include a control group.

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