Sunday, August 19, 2007

Residents of the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank have cut a water pipe carrying drinking water to the nearby Palestinian village of Dir al-Khatab, and the rerouted water pipe is being used to fill a swimming pool. The pipe brings fresh drinking water into the pool and drains dirty water back into the village’s water system.

“They not only use water that doesn’t belong to them, but they also pollute the drinking water of some of the village residents,” Yoel Marshak, the head of the Kibbutz Movement’s Special Assignments Branch said to Yedioth Ahronoth. “The little kids pee in the water, which flows straight to the taps of the Palestinian school.”

The swimming pool was built at the settlement’s picnic site, which is located on the Palestinian village’s lands.

A community leader in Elon Moreh replied that the pool in question was a small hole dug near an archaeological site where travelers visit. He claimed that the water comes into it from a small fountain near Elon Moreh which streams to the village.

Of the water available from West Bank aquifers, Israel uses 73%, West Bank Palestinians use 17%, and Jewish settlers use 10%.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He is not only a researcher; he had great success with the popular book The Music of the Primes. His last book Finding Moonshine will be published in English in February 2008. It has already been published in Italian with the title Il disordine perfetto (“The perfect disorder”).

In September 2007 he was in Levico Terme (Trento, Italy) for a conference. He was interviewed for Wikinews.

What are you doing here in Levico? Are you going to talk?

Actually, I’m an organizer. So many people wanted to talk, so we decided to take a step backwards so I am not giving a talk here. But I have several students here who are talking about work related to what I do. My work is looking at symmetry, something called group theory, but using tools from number theory, something called the Zeta function, which was introduced by Riemann. So I used that tool to try and understand instead of prime numbers, which are very hard to understand, what sort of symmetry can exist. That is one of the major things I have been investigating. This conference is looking at ways of connecting lots of different ideas in mathematics to help us understand groups and symmetry.

As a mathematician you are dedicating yourself not only to research but also to popularization. Why?

I think being a scientist is about making discoveries but it is also as much about communication. I mean discoveries really cannot be said to exist, I think, unless you communicate them to other people. So, for example this conference is about communicating to our peers but I think that communication can go to a much broader audience. It brings the mathematics alive much more, if you can communicate it to more people. But also, you know, I became a mathematician because people, the generation above me, made the effort to excite the general public about mathematics and I thought that was what I wanted to be when I grow up, so my hope is as well that my popularization will encourage the next generation of mathematicians but also to encourage politicians to recognize that maths is an important part of our society and needs to be funded.

What about your experiences on radio and television?

I’ve done a lot of radio work, exploring mathematical ideas on the radio. However, people could not just think that maths could be done on television, you know, what are you going to see? It was a real breakthrough for me to be able to make some documentaries about mathematics. In particular I did a documentary about The Music of the Primes, and it was great! It was a travel program because mathematics is a very international subject and so we travel around the world: to India, to Germany, to Greece. At the moment I’m in the middle of making a history of mathematics series for the BBC, four one-hour programs from the Ancient Babylon through to the modern day. So we’ve been all over the world to China, to India again, Africa… And I also did a game show, that was quite fun, called Mind Games, which was a puzzle show which I hosted. I think a lot of people got into mathematics because of puzzles, especially at the moment, with Sudoku being so popular, I think people will love doing puzzles – now it’s a very popular TV show.

How do you explain the success of your book The Music of the Primes?

Well, I think people love stories, and I tried to write that book rather like a murder mystery. I really think that solving a mathematical puzzle is a little bit like trying to find who done it in a murder mystery. And I tried to keep that narrative line very strong in the book, so people read it like a novel, and I think a lot of people have said that it does read in that way. You actually do not find out who done it in the end because it is an open problem. So for me in a novel it is important to have a good narrative structure which the mathematics provided, but the people as well, that was important to me, to bring the people alive who did the maths. Even if people do not get the maths, they enjoy the stories about the people, the period of history that is being talked about and they can still follow the paths of mathematical narrative even if they do not get the details so I that is why it was so successful.

And what about your last book Finding Moonshine?

This is a slightly more challenging writing project for me, because it combine both historical story on symmetry with a personal story of what I do as a mathematician. It is divided into twelve chapters each one a month in a year of me being a mathematician. As I tried to combine what I do – I think people find deeply mysterious what a mathematician does all day – so I tried to give people a little bit of access to the world that I live in. But you are seeing also some historical story, a bit like The Music of the Primes but looking at symmetry instead.

What do you think of the Italian title, Il disordine perfetto (“The perfect disorder”)?

My editor chose the title and I really love it actually. In England it is called Finding Moonshine because it’s a quote from a play that I love, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, and also there is a mathematical idea, something called moonshine which is the climax of the book. And the Italian title I rather like because it what that sums up that tension in mathematics between everything looking so disordered and chaotic and yet so perfect because it just has to be like that. So I think it really is a title that catches the beautiful tension in mathematics between things with a lot structure yet with complexity.

Do you know Wikipedia? What do you think of it?

My impression is that science in Wikipedia has an incredible high standard. And I think it is scientists of different levels – senior, junior – taking their time to record things on Wikipedia. Early on there was a lot of mistrust about how accurate something created by the public for the public could be. But I think the evidence is that in mathematics and science it has an incredibly high standard. I really think it’s incredible valuable tool for people exploring mathematical ideas. When I get questions from general readers about some of a little bit more technical side of – say – things about primes it’ll be either Wikipedia, that I would refer them to for some more details or another (right good) website which has great mathematical material which is Wolfram Creative Mathematica have a very good encyclopaedic resource for mathematics. That is slightly more technical maybe than Wikipedia. They together I think do a great service.

This is the article about you on the English Wikipedia. What do you think of it?

It is very interesting, there are funny little details – pretty things – which people pick up, for example the school that I went to, that’s great – you know – I went to the State Comprehensive School called Gillot (which nobody probably has heard of). It gives people a little bit more history to where I come from. Somebody has picked up one particular article that I wrote in a American magazine. It’s kind of curious why picked up one article when I wrote hundreds of other articles, it’s slightly curious. So I think Wikipedians can get skewed, in some sense, because some people see one particular aspect instead of others. But everything’s accurate here. And the good thing is that it provides many external links: you got access to find out more.

This is the article about your book The Music of the Primes…

It’s pretty accurate again. You can tell there’s an American influence here because they picked up the American subtitle. In England it is called The Music of the Primes: Why a Problem in Mathematics Matters and this one is Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics.

Friday, June 29, 2007

A car containing an large explosive device has been defused in the Haymarket, London. A second device was later found in a car park in Park Lane.

A car, a light metallic green Mercedes-Benz E Class saloon (produced 1984-1995), parked near the nightclub ‘TigerTiger’, contained petrol, gas cylinders and nails. Police described it as a “potentially viable explosive device”.

Police carried out a controlled explosion at 2:00 a.m. BST and the car has been taken to a forensic explosives laboratory for further investigation.

Eyewitnesses saw the car driving “erratically” and colliding with bins before being abandoned. An ambulance crew in the area alerted police after seeing smoke inside the car.

Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Clarke said there could have been “significant injury or loss of life”.

A meeting of COBRA, chaired by new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was held about the incident.

Police say it is too early to tell who is behind the threat. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the country faces a “serious and continued security threat” and urged people to “be vigilant at all times”.

Disruption has been caused to transport in the area with roads closed and bus routes diverted. Piccadilly Circus tube station has reopened after an earlier closure

Police are reviewing major events to be held in London over the weekend.

CBS News has reported that a message appeared on the widely used jihadist Internet forum Al-Hesbah at 8:09 a.m. June 28, saying: “Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed.” The message went on to mention the recently announced knighthood of Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.

Following an incident at Glasgow airport, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the elevation of the UK’s national threat level from “Severe” to “Critical”, indicating that an attack could be expected “imminently”.

Two people have been arrested in Cheshire in connection with the Glasgow International Airport attack and attempted London car bombings.

Park Lane was closed to the public due to a suspicious car parked in the underground car park beneath Hyde Park. Police, who believed the two incidents to be linked, cordoned off Park Lane and Hyde Park to allow the bomb disposal unit access to the vehicle. The car was illegally parked on Cockspur Street and was towed to the pound on Park Lane, it was then discovered that the car contained an explosive device.

Monday, January 25, 2010

An elderly woman has died in a house fire in South Yorkshire, England. The woman, who is currently remaining unidentified, was blind and 93-years-old when her bungalow in Sheffield caught fire as a result of an accident in her kitchen yesterday afternoon.

An internal investigation into the fire has suggested that while the woman was cooking, she dropped a towel onto one of the stovetops while attempting to move a pan on the cooker. The towel then set alight. When she attempted to put out the fire, the towel dropped to the side of the cooker, alongside some plastic bags.

A smoke alarm sounded; a nearby resident heard the alarm and went to assist. The neighbour managed to break into the bedroom window of the bungalow in order to be able to get inside the building. The person made it to the hallway but had to double back upon seeing the fire and the smoke. It is believed that the woman was overwhelmed by the fumes given out from the plastic which was burning.

At around 1350 GMT, fire service workers entered the elderly lady’s residence to find her collapsed inside the kitchen. People investigating the incident have come to the conclusion that this particular fire was an accidental one. A spokesperson for the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service noted: “Neighbours who tried to enter the property were fought back by smoke and flames.”

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

A hacker, or group of hackers, operating under the alias of The Dark Overlord uploaded ten episodes of Netflix’s web TV series Orange is the New Black on Friday and Saturday on The Pirate Bay after they said the online streaming service failed to meet their demands. Netflix had planned to release the season on June 9.

According to The New York Times, the unreleased content from the upcoming fifth season of Orange is the New Black was likely stolen from a postproduction company Larson Studios, based in Los Angeles. Netflix in a statement said, “A production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved.” In a tweet on Saturday, the hacker said, “Who is next on the list? FOX, IFC, NAT GEO, and ABC. Oh, what fun we’re all going to have. We’re not playing any games anymore.”

The hacker tweeted about uploading the first episode on The Pirate Bay on Saturday saying, “Let’s try to be a bit more direct, Netflix”. The hacker allegedly demanded an amount of money which they publicly described as “modest”, from Netflix for not releasing the episodes prematurely. The New York Times reported that the final three episodes were not pirated since the security breach occurred before the postproduction studio was handed those episodes. In January, the hacker erased the data from the servers of a Muncie-based charity called Little Red Door Cancer Services of East Central Indiana demanding 50 bitcoins to restore their data, which was estimated to be about US$43,000.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly investigating this cyber crime. Netflix has more than 100 million subscribers, CEO Reed Hastings announced recently. Variety noted that Netfilx’s shares experienced a 0.57% loss on the day the first episode was uploaded by the hacker.

Monday, March 25, 2019

From March 15 to 17, the Canadian city of Toronto played host to the tenth Furnal Equinox, an annual event dedicated to the “furry fandom.” Wikinews attended. Programming ranged from music to gender, science to art, covering dozens of aspects of the varied subculture. The event’s featured guests were visual artists Moth Monarch and Cat-Monk Shiro, as well as the co-owners of US fursuit costume builders Don’t Hug Cacti.

The event raised nearly CDN$11,000 for Pet Patrol, a non-profit rescue organization in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, run by volunteers. This exceeded their goal of $10,000, the funds needed to finish a rural sanctuary. The furry community is well-known for their charitable efforts. Along with direct donations, the funds were raised through a charity auction offering original artwork, and a fursuit design by guests of honour “Don’t Hug Cacti.” Last year, Furnal Equinox raised funds for a farm animal sanctuary.

While only 10–15% of people within the fandom own a fursuit according to a 2011 study, event organizers reported this year 908 of the 2240 attendees at Furnal Equinox brought at least one elaborate outfit to the event. The outfits are usually based on original characters, known as “fursonas”.

Guests of Honour Cherie and Sean O’Donnell, known within the community as “Lucky and Skuff Coyote”, held a session on fursuit construction on Saturday afternoon. The married couple are among the most prominent builders in the fandom, under the name Don’t Hug Cacti. The scale of their business was evident, as Sean had made over a thousand pairs of “handpaws”, costume gloves.

The couple encouraged attendees to continue developing their technique, sharing that all professional fursuit makers had developed different techniques. They felt that they learned more from failed projects than successful ones, citing the Chuck Jones quote that “every artist has thousands of bad drawings,” and that you have to work through them to achieve. Cherie, known as Lucky, recalled receiving a Sylvester the Cat plush toy from a Six Flags theme park at age 10. She promptly hollowed the toy out, turning it into a costume. Creating a costume isn’t without its hazards: the company uses 450°F (232°C) glue guns. They’re “like sticking your hand in an oven.”

Other programming included improv comedy, dances, life drawing of fursuiters, a review of scientific research by a research group at four universities called FurScience, a pin collector’s social, and workshops in writing.

The “Dealer’s Den” hall was expanded this year, with even more retailers and artists. While many offered “furry” versions of traditional products, at least one business focused on “pushing the boundaries of fursuit technology.” Along with 3D printing a bone-shaped name tag when Wikinews visited, Grivik was demonstrating miniature computer screens that could be used as “eyes” for a fursuit. The electronic displays projected an animation of eyes looking around, blinking occasionally. The maker has also developed “a way to install a camera inside suit heads, to improve fursuiter visibility.” He hopes the tech would reduce suiting risks and accidents. Without the need for eyeholes, fursuit makers would have “more options for building different eyestyles.”

• Image: Nicholas Moreau.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Australian researchers say they have scientifically proven that stress causes sickness. The Garvan Institute in Sydney has discovered that a hormone, known as neuropeptide Y (NPY) is released into the body during times of stress. Their findings show the hormone can stop the immune system from functioning properly.

“Neuropeptide Y is one of those hormones that gets unregulated or released from neurones when stressful situations occur…it’s known for example that it regulates blood pressure and heart rates so your heart rate goes up but it hasn’t been known that it actually can affect immune cells as well,” said Professor Herbert Herzog, one of the researchers.

Herzog feels it is good to finally have proof of something people have suspected for so long.

“Now we have proven without doubt that there is a direct link and that stress can weaken the immune system and that makes you more vulnerable when you for example have a cold or flu and even in the more serious situations such as cancer can be enhanced in these situations,” said Herzog.

The Garvan Institute study centres on two key events that enable the human body to recognise foreign substances and control invaders. When our body encounters a pathogen (bacteria and viruses), the immune cells retain and interrogate suspects. Their activation is made possible by NPY. These cells then return to the lymph nodes, which are found all over the body, with information about the foreign invaders. The lymph nodes are where decisions about defence are made.

“Most of us expect to come down with a cold or other illness when we are under pressure, but until now we have mostly had circumstantial evidence for a link between the brain and the immune system,” said lead Garvan researcher, associate Professor Fabienne Mackay. “During periods of stress, nerves release a lot of NPY and it gets into the bloodstream, where it directly impacts on the cells in the immune system that look out for and destroy pathogens (bacteria and viruses) in the body.”

In the case of bacteria and viruses, TH1 cells are part of the attack team that is sent out on the ‘search and destroy’ mission. But when their job is done they need to be turned ‘off’ and the immune system reset. The same hormone, NPY, that activates the sentry cells now prompts the TH1 cells to slow down and die.

“Under normal conditions, circulating immune cells produce small amounts of NPY, which enables the immune cells on sentry duty and the TH1 immune cells to operate – it’s a yin and yang kind of situation. But too much NPY means that the TH1 attack is prevented despite the foreign invaders being identified – and this is what happens during stress,” added McKay.

The impact of stress on the body has been observed in athletes. Ph. D researcher at the University of Queensland, Luke Spence, together with the Australian Institute of Sport, studied elite and recreational athletes over five months.

They found elite athletes were more susceptible to respiratory diseases under stress.

“A lot of elite athletes put themselves through vast amounts of physical stress in their training, but also their emotional, psychological stress of feeling the pressure of Australia on their shoulders, wanting to compete and wanting to do their best,” said Spence.

It’s not just athletes who are prone to stress. Pressures at work and at home may cause emotional and mental stress that can be equally damaging. Almost a third of all work absenteeism in Australia is due to illness, costing employers over $10 billion a year.

“I think it has a huge impact for the work force and also for employers – if their employees are constantly stressed, constantly under pressure, they are more likely to get sick,” Spence said.

Further research could lead to the development of new drugs which may inhibit the action of the neuropeptide Y hormone.

Herzog warns people to minimise stress before it becomes a problem.

“Relaxation methods like yoga will help you to prevent that but there will still be people out there that are not responding to that and treatment by interfering with the system will be important,” he said. “There’s obviously some time until such a treatment will be available but this is something we will definitely work towards.”

The Garvan research will be published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 202, No. 11.