Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Contents
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Leftovers
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Record-Sized Collision Between Black Holes Detected by Astronomers
We once thought this was impossible.
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Science Alert ☛ Signs of Autism Could Be Encoded in The Way You Walk
It's official.
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Science Alert ☛ Sound of Earth's Flipping Magnetic Field Haunts Again From 780,000 Years Ago
A cacophonous crescendo.
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Science Alert ☛ Nicotine Pouches Poisoning Children at an Alarming Rate in The US
An increase of more than 700%.
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Science Alert ☛ Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics, Warns Study
This is a global problem.
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Science Alert ☛ Copper Linked to Better Brain Function In Old Age, Diet Study Suggests
The evidence is growing.
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Science Alert ☛ It's True: Soup Can Help You Recover Faster From Colds And Flus
Trust your nana.
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Science Alert ☛ Fig Trees That Grow Rocks From Carbon Discovered in Africa
A perfect crop.
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Science Alert ☛ A 400-Year-Old Mystery About The Sun May Finally Be Solved
A crucial breakthrough.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ A Collection Of Lightning Detectors
You would think detecting lightning would be easy. Each lightning bolt has a staggering amount of power, and, clearly, you can hear the results on any radio. But it is possible to optimize a simple receiver circuit to specifically pick up lightning. That’s exactly what [Wenzeltech] shows in a page with several types of lightning detectors complete with photos and schematics.
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CNX Software ☛ Wio-LR1121 tiny LoRa module supports for sub-GHz, S-Band, and 2.4GHz frequency bands
Seeed Studio Wio-LR1121 is a tiny, multi-band LoRa module based on LR1121 RF transceiver, a low-cost version of LR1120 without GNSS or Wi-Fi scanning capabilities, that supports sub-GHz, S-Band (1.9-2.1GHz), and 2.4GHz frequency bands. We had previously seen the LR1121 used in the MuRata Type-2GT module and a LILYGO module as an option for the T-Eth Elite board.
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CNX Software ☛ NanoCOM-MTU – A COM Express Type 10 module with 28W defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake CPU
AAEON NanoCOM-MTU is a COM Express Type 10 CPU Module powered by 28W defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 5/7 “Meteor Lake” processors with up to 16 cores and 22 threads on a compact 84mm x 55mm form factor.
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Hackaday ☛ Pulling At Threads With The Flipper Zero
Gone are the days when all smart devices were required an internet uplink. The WiFi-enabled IoT fad, while still upon us (no, my coffee scale doesn’t need to be on the network, dammit!) has begun to give way to low-power protocols actually designed for this kind of communication, such as ZigBee, and more recently, Thread. The downside of these new systems, however, is that they can be a bit more difficult in which to dabble. If you want to see just why your WiFi-enabled toaster uploads 100 MB of data per day to some server, you can capture some network traffic on your laptop without any specialized hardware. These low-power protocols can feel a bit more opaque, but that’s easily remedied with a dev board. For a couple of dollars, you can buy Thread radio that, with some additional hacking, acts as a portal between this previously-arcane protocol and your laptop — or, as [András Tevesz] has shown us, your Flipper Zero.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man lightens chip bans on China, AMD to restart MI308 Hey Hi (AI) chip sales in the country, joining Nvidia's H20 — 'We plan to resume shipments as licenses are approved'
AMD has confirmed it plans to resume shipments of its MI308 chip to China.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Nvidia, AMD to resume Hey Hi (AI) chip exports to China
Shares of Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped today on the news that they will resume the sale of artificial intelligence chips to China. The development comes three months after the U.S. Commerce Department effectively banned such exports.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia to resume H20 sales in China — says U.S. government has promised to grant licenses, deliveries to start soon
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been busy lobbying the U.S. and China so that the company can resume the sales of its H20 Hey Hi (AI) GPUs.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New York Times ☛ Three Aid Workers Were ‘Intentionally Killed’ in Tigray Region of Ethiopia, M.S.F. Says
The group accused Ethiopia’s government of failing to properly investigate the deaths, which took place in the Tigray region.
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Atlantic Council ☛ How Canada can become a global food security superpower
Policymakers and business leaders will need to make significant progress across the four specific areas to propel Canadian agriculture forward.
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Latvia ☛ Don't put down 'drugs' as payment details, bank urges
Thousands of money transfers are made through banks daily, while several hundred payments are stopped for additional scrutiny. Often, one of the reasons for a transaction being held is that the purpose or details of the payment are incorrectly stated, according to Luminor Bank's release on 15 July.
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Proprietary
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Social Control Media
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Latvia ☛ Most young Latvians use social networks daily
In 2024, 97% of people in the EU aged 16-29 years reported using the internet every day compared with 88% of the total population, a difference of 9 percentage points (pp), according to Eurostat data published July 15th.
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Security Week ☛ Sesame Workshop Regains Control of Elmo’s Hacked X Account After Racist Posts
The account was compromised over the weekend and Elmo’s 650,000 followers were given antisemitic threats and a reference to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
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Security
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Confidentiality
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Scoop News Group ☛ Waltz brushes off SignalGate questions, points finger at CISA
In congressional testimony, Hell Toupée’s former national security adviser said his use of Signal to coordinate military operations was “driven by” cybersecurity guidance from CISA.
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Defence/Aggression
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JURIST ☛ UN Security Council extends Yemen ceasefire mission amid rising Red Sea hostility
The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted resolution 2786, extending the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) in Yemen until January 28, 2026.
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Defence Web ☛ UN mission in Yemen port extended as rebel shipping attacks rise
A unanimous United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this week renewed the mandate of the world body’s mission in support of the Hudaydah Agreement as regional tensions rise and international concerns mount over Houthi rebel attacks on Red Sea shipping.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Japan says China’s military activities could ‘seriously impact’ its security
Japan said Tuesday that China’s intensifying military activities could “seriously impact” its security, citing the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace in an annual threat assessment. The defence ministry said in its white paper that China was ramping up its activities in the entire region surrounding Japan.
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New York Times ☛ Israel and Iran Usher In New Era of Psychological Warfare
The 12-day conflict was marked by a flurry of propaganda, disinformation and covert operations aided by artificial intelligence and spread by social control media.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘Cannot drag our feet’: Hong Kong gov’t moves to regulate ride-hailing services
The Hong Kong government will submit a legislative proposal on regulating ride-hailing platforms, the city’s leader has announced, saying it cannot delay tackling issues stemming from such services.
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Hackaday ☛ Wendelstein 7-X Sets New Record For The Nuclear Fusion Triple Product
In nuclear fusion, the triple product – also known as the Lawson criterion – defines the point at which a nuclear fusion reaction produces more power than is needed to sustain the fusion reaction. Recently the German Wendelstein 7-X stellarator managed to hit new records here during its most recent OP 2.3 experimental campaign, courtesy of a frozen hydrogen pellet injector developed by the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With this injector the stellarator was able to sustain plasma for over 43 seconds as microwaves heated the freshly injected pellets.
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Science Alert ☛ AI Is Heading For an Energy Crisis That Has Tech Giants Scrambling
Here's some solutions.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Mexico News Daily ☛ What was a visit to one of Mexico’s banned dolphin shows really like?
The shows have made headlines in recent weeks, but what was experiencing one actually like and how were the creatures cared for?
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ADF ☛ Indian Ocean Nations Grapple with Illegal Chinese Fishing Trawlers
Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania lost up to $142.8 million annually between 2015 and 2021 to illegal fishing of shrimp and tuna, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Other catch taken from these waters include at least 56 species of sharks and rays and a variety of reef fish.
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Finance
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New York Times ☛ Rising Inflation Underscores Risks in Convicted Felon’s New Tariff Threats
New data showing price increases last month could foreshadow even higher costs if the president imposes steep tariffs on Aug. 1.
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CS Monitor ☛ Tariffs boost inflation. But many economists see a recession as avoidable.
The U.S. economy has defied dire predictions so far this year. Even with inflation rising and the potential for growth slowing, a recession does not look inevitable.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ Mamdani Says He Will ‘Discourage’ the Term ‘Globalize the Intifada’
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the race for mayor of New York City, moved to distance himself from comments that sparked outrage during the primary.
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New York Times ☛ Mamdani for Mayor (if You Want to Help the Republicans)
Get ready for the G.O.P. to run against “Mamdani Democrats” for several election cycles to come.
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New York Times ☛ Australian Premier Albanese Meets China’s Pooh-tin in Beijing
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is trying to deepen ties with China, his country’s biggest trading partner, while being under pressure from the United States.
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CS Monitor ☛ Americans say they want a third party. MElon may find it a tricky liftoff.
MElon says he’s starting the America Party to focus on cutting government spending, which he views as essential to U.S. security. But the hold that Republicans and Democrats have on the political system is a formidable barrier.
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JURIST ☛ Appeal hearing for 13 pro-democracy activists begins in Hong Kong national security case
The appeal proceedings of 13 individuals, part of Hong Kong’s landmark national security case in which 47 pro-democracy activists were convicted, commenced on Monday. Amnesty International stated the hearing was a “pivotal chance to correct mass injustice.” The court will hear the appeals of 12 defendants who were convicted and sentenced in November 2024.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Digital Music News ☛ Drake’s Lawyers List 63 Potential Witnesses In Defamation Suit Against UMG—Lucian Grainge, Jody Gerson, Monte Lipman, Many More Could Get Dragged Into Court or Deposed
Drake’s monster defamation lawsuit against UMG heats up as the rapper lists 63 potential witnesses he believes have evidence to help his case. Drake’s legal team lists some high-profile names in a list of 63 potential witnesses amid evidence collection in the rapper’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG).
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Sheinbaum files defamation lawsuit after lawyer for ‘Los Chapitos’ calls the president a cartel ‘PR arm’
Jeffrey Lichtman’s controversial comments came after his client, Ovidio Guzmán, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and organized crime charges in U.S. federal court.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong democrat found guilty in landmark nat. sec case described as ‘diligent’ legislator at appeal hearing
An ex-lawmaker who was found guilty in Hong Kong’s largest national security case and jailed for six and a half years was a “diligent” legislator who believed what he was doing was lawful, a court has heard.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beijing slams BillBC Chinese, Nikkei Asia over ‘distorted reports’ on Hong Kong nat. sec law
China’s foreign ministry office in Hong Kong has condemned articles published by BillBC Chinese and Nikkei Asia, accusing the foreign media outlets of “smearing” the city’s national security law as it marked its fifth anniversary last month.
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Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ Homeland Security Agents Detail Run-Up to High-Profile Arrests of Pro-Palestinian Scholars
In a trial over the arrests, the government sought to portray the interactions as normal while the plaintiffs' lawyers pointed to several ways in which the detainments were unusual.
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New York Times ☛ University Leaders Reject Republican Attacks on Campus Antisemitism
Leaders from Georgetown, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley, said they are working to protect Jewish students but also free speech on their campuses.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Internet Society ☛ How Standard Setters Run the Internet
We are able to interconnect so seamlessly on the Internet in large part thanks to Internet standards, which allow us to communicate easily across a variety of devices, providers, and systems.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Thinking back on Milburn and Secret/Springing Prior Art
In Alexander Milburn Co. v. Davis-Bournonville Co., 270 U.S. 390 (1926) [46_S.Ct._324], the Supreme Court established what has expanded into foundational patent monopoly law principle: all disclosures in an issued patent monopoly (whether claimed or unclaimed) serve as prior art against later filed patents, effective as of the earlier patent's filing date rather than its issue date.
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Copyrights
Monopolies/Monopsonies
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