Mothers may get funny looks for picking a baby's dummy up off the dirty ground and popping it in their own mouth to clean it.  But germophobe parents who would rather sterilise their child's pacifier or put it in the dishwasher may be raising their child's risk of allergies.

Mothers who suck a dummy clean after it gets dirty have children with fewer antibodies linked to asthma, food and dust allergies, a study found.  That may be because parents transfer their own bacteria to their child's mouth, helping to boost their immune system.

Researchers led by the Henry Ford Health System asked 128 mothers how they cleaned their children's dummies before taking blood tests from the infants.  Lower levels of immunoglobin E (igE) antibodies were found in the children whose parents used their own mouths instead of tap water or sterilisation.

Lead author Dr Eliane Abou-Jaoude said: 'We know that exposure to certain micro-organisms early in life stimulates development of the immune system and may protect against allergic diseases later.  Parental pacifier sucking may be an example of a way parents may transfer healthy micro-organisms to their young children.'

Among the 128 mothers interviewed for the study, around one in eight sucked their child's dummy to clean it.  Slightly more than two in five chose to sterilise, boil or steam the pacifier, or to put it in the microwave or dishwasher.  The vast majority, 72 per cent, hand-washed their child's dummy by rinsing it under a tap or using washing up liquid.

Researchers wanted to see if there was any difference in igE, which is triggered when children have allergic responses to triggers like milk, peanuts, dust mites or pollen.

Taking blood from babies at birth, six and 18 months old, they found significantly lower levels of these antibodies in 18-month-old children whose mothers sucked their pacifier.  There was no difference between dummies sterilised or hand-washed.

The authors, whose study is being presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Seattle, suggest healthy mouth bacteria passed on from adults may be responsible.

This backs up the 'hygiene hypothesis' which suggests children should be exposed to bugs to reduce their risk of allergies.  Those brought up in the countryside tend to have lower rates of asthma, which is commonly triggered by allergies.

Dr Edward Zoratti, a co-author of the study from Henry Ford, said: 'We found that parental pacifier sucking was linked to suppressed IgE levels beginning around 10 months, and continued through 18 months.  Further research is needed, but we believe the effect may be due to the transfer of health-promoting microbes from the parent's mouth.  It is unclear whether the lower IgE production seen among these children continues into later years.'

Dr Abou-Jaoude said: 'Although we can't say there's a cause and effect relationship, we can say the microbes a child is exposed to early on in life will affect their immune system development.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

People who walk backwards perform better in a memory test than those who stand still or walk forward, a study has found.

Researchers asked 114 volunteers to watch a video in which a woman had her bag stolen and then answer a questionnaire about what they could recall.  After watching the video, participants were split into groups - one was told to walk forwards or backwards 10 m while a control group stood in one place.  They were then asked twenty questions about the events in the video and it was found that the backward-walking group got two more answers correct on average than the forward-walkers and the non-walkers.

Experts from the University of Roehampton discovered a similar effect in five variations of the experiment.  One of them involved a similar procedure but tested how many words the volunteers could remember from a list.  In others, participants simply imagined moving forwards or backwards, or watched a video filmed on a train, which created the impression of moving forwards or backwards.  In all scenarios, the backwards group or those who imagined walking backwards got the most answers right.

The team deemed this as a statistically significant experiment and an indication that a link between the concepts of 'time' and 'space' is essential to the way our minds form memories.

'It's a partial vindication of this idea that time is really expressed via space,' says Aksentijevic Aksentijevic, who led the study.

It is still not clear why motion, real or imagined, should improve our access to memories but Dr Aksentijevic hopes further research will shed light on as well as how to use it to our advantage.

'I am sure that some of this work could be useful in helping people remember things, but how is a question for more research,' he said.

Richard Allen at the University of Leeds, UK, says the results are interesting, and might offer ways to improve memory function.  'However, I think we need to see the results clearly replicated by other research groups before we can start to be confident about this effect and its interpretation,' Dr Allen said.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

A massive data breach has exposed tens of millions of SMS text messages.  The breach involved a database of 26 million text messages, some of which included private customer data like password reset information, shipping notifications and two-factor authentication codes, TechCrunch reported.

The database was operated by Voxox, a California-based communications firm.

Making matters worse, the database wasn't even password protected, according to Sebastian Kaul, a Berlin-based security researcher who discovered the vulnerability.  Kaul stumbled upon the database and found that not only was it without a password, but was searchable for both names and phone numbers.

Voxox acts as a middle man between app developers and users' phones.  For example, when someone requests to change their password, the app may send an account reset link or code to the person's phone.  Voxox converts those codes into text messages that are then delivered to the user's phone.  The database also included text messages sent to customers from companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Worryingly, the database was still live even after the vulnerability was discovered, which means that savvy hackers could monitor any password reset requests or two-factor authentication codes and use that to get into a user's account, if they had all the right credentials.

Many two-factor authentication and reset codes are only usable for a short period of time, but if intercepted at the right time, hackers could have used them.

TechCrunch later contacted Voxox about the issue and the firm pulled the database offline.  The firm added that it's 'looking into the issue and following standard data breach policy at the moment,' as well as 'evaluating the impact.'

TechCrunch also observed what kinds of data were passing through Voxox's database in real time.  Each record in the database was tagged with the recipient's phone number, included the message and noted which Voxox customer had sent the message.  Among the many texts, one included a password to a Badoo dating app account, while several messages included password reset codes to Microsoft and Huawei accounts.  The breach highlights the vulnerabilities of using text-based two-factor authentication, or sending account reset links over SMS.

Many security experts recommend app-based two-factor authentication, which tends to be safer than SMS-based verification.  Another option is to use an authentication app like 1Password, which has a built-in two-factor authentication code generator.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Lockheed Martin has begun building a 'son of Concorde' plane that could herald the return of supersonic passenger travel.  Officially known as the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft, it is being built with NASA to perfect quiet sonic booms that would allow craft to go supersonic over land.

Lockheed Martin said the move 'marks a milestone to bring supersonic commercial travel over land one step closer to reality.'

Peter Iosifidis, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator program manager Lockheed Martin Skunk Works said: 'The start of manufacturing on the project marks a great leap forward for the X-59 and the future of quiet supersonic commercial travel.  The long, slender design of the aircraft is the key to achieving a low sonic boom.  As we enter into the manufacturing phase, the aircraft structure begins to take shape, bringing us one step closer to enabling supersonic travel for passengers around the world.'

Earlier this year, NASA selected Lockheed Martin to design, build and flight test the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator.

The X-59 will conduct its first flight in 2021.  It will be used to collect community response data on the acceptability of the quiet sonic boom generated by the aircraft, helping NASA establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning supersonic travel over land.  X-59 is designed to cruise at 55,000 feet at a speed of about 940 mph and create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB), instead of a sonic boom.

Earlier this month NASA began conducting tests to see how Texas residents react to noise from experimental aircraft that will dramatically reduce flight times by half.  The space agency launched a research project on Monday as they continue to experiment for its next airliner the X-59 or the 'Son of Concorde', as it's dubbed by aviation fans.  The aim of the testing is to see if residents living near the Texas Gulf Coast hear noise from the jets, travelling faster than the speed of sound, without making the explosive noise of a sonic boom.  The company claims that the noise it will make doing 940mph or 1,515 kmph will be 'no louder than the clunk of a car door closing'.

Jerry Baker, 46, who lives behind the island's sea wall, is one of the 500 residents recruited by NASA to listen out for noise and heard 'several loud bangs' on Monday.  'The first one was the loudest,' he said. 'It rattled the windows.'  Yesterday the thumps were quieter.  'I just heard one, right at eleven o'clock.'  'Very small, two tiny bumps.'

NASA hopes the result of the sonic tests will convince aviation authorities to change regulations on flights over land to allow for a new generation of supersonic jets. 

Concorde operated from 1976 until it petered out in 2003 because of the cost of running the aircraft, the crash of 2000 and threat of terrorism after the September 11 attacks and noise of loud sonic booms in residential areas.

The first flight of the X-59, which could one day fly from London to New York in just three hours without giving off a loud sonic boom, is scheduled for 2021.  The craft could become the first commercial supersonic aircraft to carry passengers since the iconic Anglo-French jet Concorde was decommissioned 15 years ago.

Ahead of this, the space agency will use a modified combat jet to check the 'acoustic signature' of the engines to be used in the airliner, by sending it into a series of dives.  It has recruited 500 people on the ground to then answer surveys about the noise generated by the F/A-18 Hornet, to ensure the flight is quiet as it flies over Texas.

Before the aircraft takes to the skies, NASA is investigating whether members of the public are put off by the noise produced by X-59 when it breaks the sound barrier.  Tests scheduled for November will see an F-18 fighter jet conduct dive manoeuvres off the shores of Galveston, Texas - an island city near Houston.  The plane will rapidly descend from almost 50,000 feet (15,200 metres), briefly going supersonic and firing off the sound likely to come from X-59 aircraft.  The noise, which Nasa calls a 'sonic thump', should sound more like a car door slamming as opposed to the booms produced by existing supersonic aircraft.  The agency will measure the sounds using sensors on the ground while gathering public reaction through a series of surveys.

Sasha Ellis, a NASA spokesperson for the X-59 mission, told Newsweek: 'We're solely focused on addressing the challenges of quiet supersonic flights over land, reducing that sonic boom to a sonic thump.'

NASA pilot Jim Less will fire off 'quiet' sonic booms over a small city in Texas this month in a bid to gauge public reaction to the dampened supersonic thuds.

Alexandra Loubeau, NASA's team lead for sonic boom community response research at Langley, said in July: 'We'll never know exactly what everyone heard.  We won't have a noise monitor on their shoulder inside their home.  But we'd like to at least have an estimate of the range of noise levels that they actually heard.'

X-59, which NASA is developing with Lockheed Martin's aeronautics branch, is scheduled to make its first flight in 2022.  Originally named the Low-Flight Flight Demonstrator by NASA, the agency announced in June that the aircraft was to be called X-59 QueSST going forward.  The US Air Force made the name change in-part as a hat tip American X-plane history, which began in 1947 with the world's first supersonic plane, the Bell X-1.

'For everyone working on this important project, this is great news and we're thrilled with the designation,' Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for Nasa's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said in a statement in June. 

The X-59 project aims to cut out the noisy sonic booms that echoed above cities in the era of Concorde, while travelling at speeds of 1,100mph (Mach 1.4 / 1,700 km/h).  The loud booms that rang out whenever a Concorde broke the sound barrier were often described as 'unsettling' by members of the public, which ultimately limited the aircraft to flights over the Atlantic when it began carrying passengers in 1976.

X-59 is designed to stop shockwaves triggered by the movement of air particles when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier from merging - a phenomenon that gives off the telltale sonic boom of supersonic aircraft.

NASA hopes to reduce the sound of the sonic boom to a quiet thud, similar to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance or a neighbour closing their door.

NASA is developing the aircraft with Lockheed Martin's aeronautics branch with test flights planned for 2022.  The plane is dubbed the Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) low-boom flight demonstrator (artist's impression)

Ed Haering, a NASA aerospace engineer at Nasa's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California said: 'With the X-59 you're still going to have multiple shockwaves because of the wings on the aircraft that create lift and the volume of the plane.  But the airplane's shape is carefully tailored such that those shockwaves do not combine.  Instead of getting a loud boom-boom, you're going to get at least two quiet thump-thump sounds, if you even hear them at all.'

NASA's November tests will produce similar shockwaves using an F-18 fighter jet to conduct sharp manoeuvres in the air.  The aircraft, pilot by Nasa researcher Jim Less, will dive from 49,000 feet (15,000m) and go briefly supersonic before levelling off at 30,000 feet (9,000m).  Shockwaves produced by the manoeuvre will concentrate directly below the aircraft in the form of a very loud, focused pair of sonic booms.  A few miles from the dive points, the noise quickly trails off as they spread out and weaken.

Flights conducted by NASA in November will study the US public's reactions to 'quiet' supersonic noises above their homes.  Pictured is an artist's impression of the Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) low-boom flight demonstrator (LBFD)

'The result in that area: a pair of quiet sonic booms – soft thumps, really – which people on the ground, including those NASA researchers and resident volunteers, might barely notice, if they hear anything at all,' the agency wrote in a statement.

QueSST is the latest addition to the X-series of experimental aircraft and rockets, used to test and evaluate new technologies and aerodynamic concepts.  Their X designation indicates their research mission status within the US system of aircraft naming.  This all dates back to Chuck Yeager's sound-barrier-breaking craft, the X-1, a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designed and built in 1945, that achieved a speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 kmh) in 1948.

The team hopes to reduce the sound of the sonic boom to a quiet thud, similar to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance or a neighbour closing their door.  This graphic compares the F18 sonic boom to the sonic 'thump' that NASA aims to achieve in the future

NASA's vision for the X-59 was approved in the latest proposed US budget released by the Office Of Management And Budget In Washington, DC, in February.  The space agency was awarded $19.9 billion (£14.3bn) for the next year, $500 million (£360m) more than the previous year.  It is not known what proportion of this has been allocated for the supersonic aircraft project.

QueSST will be used as a test bed for technologies that could make their way into commercial planes.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

Russia has revealed outlandish plans for a nuclear-powered spacecraft that could take astronauts beyond Mars and on interstellar missions in the future.  A research centre in the country made the bizarre claim and said it is building the rocket, which would be capable of reaching Mars in just seven months.  The alleged spacecraft is said to be able to launch only 48 hours after landing and scientists have allegedly been working on the novel system since 2009.  Roscosmos claims to have created a gas-cooled fission reactor which powers a plasma thruster in order to propel the rocket.

While the technology is possible, many will be sceptical over the secretive state's claims - particularly given the safety risks posed by a nuclear rocket.

The space agency claimed the rocket will not need sunlight or solar batteries for operation as the fission reactor will provide ample energy.  Roscosmos claims the craft will be capable of 'interstellar' travel and added that Elon Musk is using 'old technology'.

Vladimir Koshlakov, chief of Keldysh Research Center, said: 'A mission to Mars is possible in the very near future, but that's not an aim in itself.  Our engines can be the foundation for a whole range of space missions that currently seem like science fiction.  Reusability is the priority.  We must develop engines that do not need to be fine-tuned or repaired more than once every ten flights.  Also, 48 hours after the rocket returns from space, it must be ready to go again.  This is what the market demands.'

The state-run space agency has yet to announce a launch date for the spacecraft but has confidently stated it will revolutionise the industry.  It is hoped the spaceship will be able to carry passengers and crew once a material is developed to protect them from the radiation.

Mr Koshlakov added:'Elon Musk is using the existing tech, developed a long time ago.  He is a businessman: he took a solution that was already there, and applied it successfully.  Notably, he is also doing his work with help from the government.'

SpaceX and NASA both intend to place humans on Mars, and current estimates suggest the first people on the red planet will arrive by the 2030s.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

A giant meteor crater five times the size of Paris has been found 0.8 km under the ice in Greenland.  It is one of the largest impact craters on Earth, and suggests a 1,000-metre-wide object made of iron smashed into our planet during the last Ice Age.

It is believed the resulting explosion threw debris several hundred miles in every direction, reaching as far as modern day Canada.  The 12-billion-tonne meteor landed with the power of 47 million Hiroshima bombs, obliterating all life within a 100 km radius, scientists said.

A 30-km-wide impact crater left by the event remained hidden for at least 12,000 years beneath the Hiawatha Glacier in remote north-west Greenland, although scientists have not categorically dated the event.  It could be as long ago as three million years when Greenland's ice sheet had already begun to form.

The crater was identified with data collected between 1997 and 2014, supplemented with more collected in 2016 using an advanced form of radar sounding.

Study co-author Dr John Paden, a computer scientist at Kansas University, said: 'We've collected lots of radar-sounding data over the last couple of decades.  Glaciologists put these radar-sounding datasets together to produce maps of what Greenland is like underneath the ice.

Danish researchers were looking at the map and saw this big, crater-like depression under the ice sheet and looked at satellite imagery and - because the crater is on edge of the ice sheet - you can see a circular pattern there as well.  The two combined made a really strong case for this being an impact-crater site.'

The scars of the meteorite smash have been preserved since then after being buried underneath ice more than a kilometre thick.  It was first discovered in July 2015 when researchers from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, detected a depressed area underneath the glacier while inspecting a new map of its physical features.  A research plane then performed state-of-the-art ice radar measurements which revealed the huge crater in detail.

Scientists examined the size and shape of the crater to predict the impact that the meteor might have had.  They estimated the object hit our planet any time between three million and 12,000 years ago.

Study coauthor Professor Kurt Kjaer, a researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, said the explosion would have had a devastating impact.  He told MailOnline: 'This was a very violent explosion.  The energy that came down would have been equivalent to 47 million Hiroshima bombs.  It would have killed anything in the region within 100 km of the impact.'

The 1945 Hiroshima bomb released an explosion equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT - meaning the meteor hit our planet with a force equivalent to 705 billion tons of TNT.

Professor Kjær added that Inuits had not yet colonised Greenland at the time of the event, so it was unlikely that any humans were affected.  The explosion had a lasting impact because it melted swathes of Greenland's ice sheet, causing a flood of freshwater into the Nares Strait.

Dr Paden said: 'There would have been debris projected into the atmosphere that would affect the climate and the potential for melting a lot of ice.  A sudden freshwater influx into the Nares Strait between Canada and Greenland would have affected the ocean flow in that whole region.  The evidence indicates that the impact probably happened after the Greenland Ice Sheet formed, but the research team is still working on the precise dating.'

Chemical analyses performed at Cardiff University allowed researchers to paint a picture of the type of object capable of causing the amount of destruction.  They measured the sediment from a river that drains straight through the glacier, and looked for signs of metals that would indicate it was caused by a meteorite.

A number of iron meteorites, including a 20-tonne fragment kept at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen, had previously been found in the area around Cape York, not far from Hiawatha, leading scientists to believe an impact must have occurred in the region, a theory which lacked evidence until now.  Work remains to determine with more precision the timing of the meteor impact on Greenland.

Professor Kjaer said: 'The crater is exceptionally well-preserved, and that is surprising, because glacier ice is an incredibly efficient erosive agent that would have quickly removed traces of the impact.  But that means the crater must be rather young from a geological perspective.  So far, it has not been possible to date the crater directly, but its condition strongly suggests that it formed after ice began to cover Greenland, so younger than three million years old and possibly as recently as 12,000 years ago - toward the end of the last ice age.'

The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

An unstoppable nuke capable of wiping out an entire city is being developed by the Russian military and will be ready by 2019.  Called Avangard, the weapon can travel at 20 times the speed of sound and is impervious to any anti-missile systems, according to Russia's president Valdimir Putin.

The hypersonic glider will reportedly go into active service with the Red Banner Missile Division, which is based in the south Urals, early next year.  The weapon can strike a target anywhere on Earth 'like a meteorite', according to Putin.

'The scheduled period for placing the lead regiment on combat duty is the end of 2019.  Initially, the regiment will comprise at least two systems but eventually their number will rise to their organic quantity of six units,' a Russian defence industry source told TASS.

The weapon's payload is a two megaton nuclear warhead which is capable of destroying vast areas and killing millions of people.

Avangard's missile takes the attached glider into the atmosphere at which point the two phases detach and plummet to Earth at hypersonic speeds.  It is capable of avoiding any anti-missile defences because of its extremely high speed as it heads towards Earth.

Russia's so-called 'Satan II' missile can carry up to two dozen Avangards and if one was fully-loaded it would be capable of destroying all the major cities in the UK.

The Avangard hypersonic system is expected to enter service in late 2018 - early 2019, according to a source close to the project.  The new weapon was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly on March 1.  Putin said in June that 'the Avangard system is already in the process of its manufacture and has entered its serial production and in 2019 we are planning to deliver it to the Armed Forces.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

The hypersonic glider will reportedly go into active service with the Red Banner Missile Division, which is based in the south Urals, early next year.  The weapon can strike a target anywhere on Earth 'like a meteorite', according to Putin.

'The scheduled period for placing the lead regiment on combat duty is the end of 2019.  Initially, the regiment will comprise at least two systems but eventually their number will rise to their organic quantity of six units,' a Russian defence industry source told TASS.

The weapon's payload is a two megaton nuclear warhead which is capable of destroying vast areas and killing millions of people.

Avangard's missile takes the attached glider into the atmosphere at which point the two phases detach and plummet to Earth at hypersonic speeds.  It is capable of avoiding any anti-missile defences because of its extremely high speed as it heads towards Earth.

Russia's so-called 'Satan II' missile can carry up to two dozen Avangards and if one was fully-loaded it would be capable of destroying all the major cities in the UK.

The Avangard hypersonic system is expected to enter service in late 2018 - early 2019, according to a source close to the project.  The new weapon was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his State of the Nation address to the Federal Assembly on March 1.  Putin said in June that 'the Avangard system is already in the process of its manufacture and has entered its serial production and in 2019 we are planning to deliver it to the Armed Forces.'

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

    

China is rolling out stealth drones and pilot-less aircraft fitted with deadly weapons, such as AK-47 rifles, onto world markets.

Combat drones were among the jet fighters, missiles and other military hardware shown off this week at Airshow China, the country's biggest aerospace industry exhibition.  China's automated warplanes are already flying in the Middle East, and the newly unveiled unmanned jets signal Beijing's determination in catching up and eventually rivaling with the United States in the global military drone market.

One of the most eye-catching drones displayed at the exhibition in Zhuhai was CH-7, or Rainbow-7, China's newest stealth combat drone.  The delta-winged stealth drone received much attention, highlighting the superpower's growing production of sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles and its effort in seeking to compete with the massive military fleet in America.

 

CH-7 - a charcoal-grey UAV unveiled at the air show - is the length of a tennis court with a 22-metre wingspan.  It can fly at more than 800 kilometres per hour and at an altitude of 13,000 metres.

'We are convinced that with this product clients will quickly contact us,' said Shi Wen, chief engineer of the Caihong (Rainbow) series drones at state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC).

CH-7's maiden flight is slated for late next year.

CASC has clients in around 10 countries, Shi told AFP, while declining to name them.  'Some things remain sensitive,' he said.

Beijing claims that the drone was domestically developed with its own know-how, but observers argue that it appears to be a clone of American military drones, especially the X-47B from the U.S. Navy.

Measuring 10 metres long and boasting a top speed of 0.75 Mach, the CH-7 has a similar size and speed to Northrop Grumman's X-47B.

China has exported its armed UAVs to countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, according to experts.  At the Zhuhai air show, Chinese drone makers are rubbing their hands at the business opportunities.

'Security is a real problem in the Middle East.  There's a real need for military drones over there,' said Wu Xiaozhen, overseas project director at a company named Ziyan.

At the company's stand, Wu handed out a brochure showing its star product: the Blowfish A2, a 62-centimetre tall helicopter drone with Kevlar armour.

'We can add an AK-47 or a machine gun.  Different weapons can be installed, whatever the customer wants.  We are targeting Western markets, too.  Our product is of great quality.  We don't fear competition from the Europeans and the Americans,' she told AFP.

Abu Dhabi is already a customer while Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are in discussions with the company to acquire the drone.  Beijing has fewer qualms than the United States when it comes to selling its military UAVs to other nations.

The Iraqi army has used CASC's CH-4 drone to conduct at least 260 strikes against the Islamic State group, Chinese media reported earlier this year.

In Yemen, where a civil war has sparked what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the United Arab Emirates military has reportedly targeted a Shiite rebel chief with a Chinese-made drone.

'The Chinese have produced an enormous range of drones, and this seems to be an area that they expect to make great progress.  The export and deployment of them should enable them to improve on design as they get tested in a real combat environment,' said Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

The United States has plenty of lethal drones, but it has had restrictions on exporting them out of concern that the technology could be copied or used against its own troops.  Some of those restrictions were lifted in April for U.S. allies, with President Donald Trump's administration citing competition from Chinese 'knockoffs', but even a solid ally such as Jordan has not been able to buy U.S. drones.

The U.S. rules gave Beijing the opportunity to fill the void and sell its drones to other countries, but China's 'competitive' prices also helped, said James Char, an expert on the Chinese military at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

   

Beijing is currently promoting its serial military drones named Caihong, or Rainbow.  The series of planes include the newest CH-7 as well as mass-produced CH-5, branded as China's 'deadliest drone bomber'.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

A Chinese architecture firm has revealed designs for a tiny shelter that could one day house astronauts on Mars.  Called the MARS Case, the designs show a minimalist structure that takes after the shape of a light bulb, with a square base and a 'living bubble' that's inflatable.  While purely conceptual renderings, the designs could serve as a helpful foundation should humans ever colonize the red planet.

The MARS Case was created by Beijing-based design firm Open Architecture in partnership with Chinese technology giant Xiaomi.  It's a compact, self-sustaining living space, measuring just 7.8ft long, 7.8ft wide and 6.5ft tall.

Open Architecture said it took inspiration from Henry David Thoreau's famous novel Walden when designing the structure.  In Walden, Thoreau moves to a cabin in the Massachusetts woods and chronicles his time stripped of traditional comforts, instead choosing to live simply and removed from society.

'Two hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau withdrew from society and moved to Walden alone to reflect upon the nature of simple living,' Open Architecture explained

'Today, as we live and get lost in a world of consumption and environmental crises, what are our essential needs?  MARS Case presents a vision of this ideal house, seamlessly combining technology, product design, and architecture,' the firm added.

The structure is designed to be portable and transferable.

A 'living bubble' attached to the base can be inflated, collapsed, and folded into itself 'like the packing and unpacking of a suitcase.'

Inside, there is a main living area, what appears to be a bathroom, a desk, some chairs and a storage area.

Smartphones, such as those made by Xiaomi, can be used to control appliances and other functions, like lighting, in the house.  There's even windows attached to the bubble-like structure that would pop out upon inflation.

Open Architecture wanted to make sure the structure doesn't impose on its surrounding environment, so they took great care in integrating it into the ecosystem.

Open Architecture explained: 'Imagine that humanity is forced to settle on Mars, our distant, lonely planetary neighbor.  There, we cannot rely on natural resources, as we have become so accustomed to on Earth.  There, we have no choice but to reduce the excessive consumption of our former lifestyles and carry only minimal essentials.  Recycling will be the only way we survive.  In letting go of the 'extra', we will come to rethink our lives in a simplified setting.'

Open Architecture says the MARS Case is capable of harnessing and recycling heat, exhaust, condensation and 'feeding it back into this integrated ecosystem.'

'In another words, energy, water, and air will be fully recycled in the system, minimizing consumption of resources,' the firm said.  They say it will be entirely zero waste.

It comes as many scientists and experts have created their own designs for what human civilization could look like on Mars.  Additionally, a recent NASA competition called for teams to submit 3D-printed habitats that they believe could be used to colonize the red planet in the coming decades.

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk

    

Security researchers have discovered a set of Android apps that contain sophisticated malware.  The 29 apps, which range from things like power management apps to horoscope apps, were found to be infected by Trojan malware that controls the app remotely after gaining access to the victim's phone, according to We Live Security, a blog run by IT firm ESET.  After ESET notified Google of the issue, the malicious apps were removed from the Play Store.  However, they are believed to have been installed by almost 30,000 users.

The Trojan virus was discovered to have affected a range of apps, including one called 'Free Daily Horoscope' and 'Power Manager' on the Play Store.

'Unlike the increasingly prevalent malicious apps relying purely on impersonating legitimate financial institutions and displaying bogus login screens, these apps belong to the category of sophisticated mobile banking malware with complex functionality and a heavy focus on stealth,' We Live Security wrote in a blog post.

Researchers believe the malicious apps were created by a single attacker or group.  The apps are able to intercept call logs, download apps and bypass two-factor authentication to redirect text messages.  They are able to do this by obtaining the HTML code of apps on your device and then inserting fake phishing forms in the apps.  As a result, it gives 'the victim very little chance to notice something is amiss,' ESET explained.

In some cases, the apps display an error message after they're downloaded, saying that the apps are incompatible with your device and have been removed.  However, the apps are still downloaded on the victim's device, hiding in the background.  In other cases, they continue to work as normal, displaying relevant information that otherwise appears normal.  The main goal of the malware is to impersonate a user's banking apps, obtain their credentials and steal money.  But ESET did not mention any cases where the malware had achieved this.

Researchers said the apps do not use any 'advanced tricks' to continue infecting the device, so they can be easily removed.  Victims can simply uninstall them by navigating to Settings, then General and clicking on Application manager/Apps, ESET noted.

'We also advise you to check your bank account for suspicious transactions and consider changing your internet banking password/PIN code,' the researchers said.

ESET also added that Android users should make sure to only download apps from Google Play, making sure to check how many times they've been downloaded, as well as their ratings.  They recommend users pay attention to what permissions they grant a particular app once it's downloaded on their device.

ESET discovered that 29 apps were infected with malware, including:

1. Power Manager

2. Astro Plus

3. Master Cleaner - CPU Booster

4. Master Clean - Power Booster

5. Super Boost Cleaner

6. Super Fast Cleaner

7. Daily Horoscope For All Zodiac Signs

8. Daily Horoscope Free - Horoscope Compatibility

9. Phone Booster - Clean Master

10. Speed Cleaner - CPU Cooler

11. Ultra Phone Booster

12. Free Daily Horoscope 2019

13. Free Daily Horoscope Plus - Astrology Online

14. Phone Power Booster

15. Ultra Cleaner - Power Boost

16. Master Cleaner - CPU Booster

17. Daily Horoscope - Astrological Forecast

18. Speed Cleaner – CPU Cooler

19. Horoscope 2018

20. Meu Horóscopo

21. Master Clean - Power Booster

22. Boost Your Phone

23. Phone Cleaner - Booster, Optimizer

24. Clean Master Pro Booster 2018

25. Clean Master - Booster Pro

26. BoostFX. Android cleaner

27. Daily Horoscope

28. Daily Horoscope

29. Personal Horoscope

Extracted from: www.dailymail.co.uk