In The News

Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants

Farhad Manjoo June 1, 2016
Technology, including smartphones controlled by US companies Apple and Google, allow instant global connections that thwart efforts in nations like France to protect film, music and other industries. Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft also develop tech products indispensable for businesses worldwide. The global reach of such companies is prompting local backlash and fragmentation. “European...

New Attack Reported by Swift Global Bank Network

Michael Corkery May 13, 2016
Technology has allowed banks to expand into behemoths and the assets of some number in the trillions. Thieves are using banking technology to conduct online bank robberies. “Thieves have again found their way into what was thought to be the most secure financial messaging system in the world and stolen money from a bank,” reports Michael Corkery for the New York Times. Swift, or Society for...

Now Try This

May 12, 2016
An article from the Economist briefly summarizes the processes of high-speed quantum computing: Superposition breaks down bits into qubits – a conventional computer can work in one of 16 states at a time while the quantum computer can work with all 16 at once. Entanglement allows the quantum computer to combine qubits, exponentially increasing the number of states working on a large data set. As...

A Scheme to Encrypt the Entire Web Is Actually Working

Andy Greenberg April 21, 2016
The nonprofit Internet Security Research Group hopes to encrypt all internet websites with a program called Let’s Encrypt. The goal, according to the group’s founder, is 100 percent encryption for the internet, moving from http to https, reports Andy Greenberg for Wired. The program reduces surveillance, yet may also shield malicious sites. The short code is automated, easy to use and free, and...

Synthetic Microbe Lives With Less Than 500 Genes

Robert F. Service March 28, 2016
Researchers have engineered the smallest synthetic microbe with 473 genes known as Syn 3.0. “The microbe’s streamlined genetic structure excites evolutionary biologists and biotechnologists, who anticipate adding genes back to it one by one to study their effects,” reports Robert Services for Science. The microbe was developed through trial and error by inserting and extracting genes from a...

Australia Climate R&D Spending Cut Bad News for Asia Pacific Region

A. Barrie Pittock March 16, 2016
Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels developed over many years, and finding alternatives to fossil fuels and ways to stem the warming will take time, too. Governments strapped for cash are cutting research and may have to muddle through in dealing with more intense storms, floods, droughts as well as rising seas. Australia’s CEO of the Australian Scientific and Industrial Research...

Quietly, Symbolically, US Control of the Internet Just Ended

Maria Farrell March 16, 2016
Governments and Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, reached an agreement to shift control over the internet from the US government to a global group of stakeholders, explains Maria Farrell, former Icann employee, for the Guardian. The organizers will downplay the shift. “When Icann was founded in 1998, the plan was to keep its anchoring contract with the US National...