Our unsung hero of science: Friedrich Miescher, the man who discovered DNA

Wellcome Collection via Wikimedia, CC BY-NC Whether through TV crime dramas or cinema blockbusters about dinosaur theme parks, DNA is a staple of modern popular culture – its double-helix structure one of science’s most iconic visualisations. Yet remarkably, the young Swiss scientist who discovered DNA in the first place is largely forgotten. Born in Basel […]

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Scientists unlock new route to extreme light intensification – UKRI

The scientists have demonstrated a practical route to dramatically boosting the intensity of high-power laser light for the first time. The results, published in Nature, could unlock the path towards creating the most intense light ever produced in a laboratory. This could open the door to experiments that probe the fundamental laws of physics by […]

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Copyright and DMCA Best Practices for Fediverse Operators

People building the future of the social web — interoperable and decentralized — need to protect themselves against copyright liability. Like anyone who creates and operates platforms for user-uploaded content, the hosts of the decentralized social web can take preventive measures to reduce their legal exposure when a user posts material that violates someone’s copyright. […]

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From floppy discs to Claude Mythos, how ransomware grew into a multibillion-dollar industry

jijomathaidesigners/Shutterstock When evolutionary biologist Joseph Popp coded the first documented piece of ransomware in 1989, he had little idea it would become a major criminal business model capable of bringing economies to their knees. Popp, who worked for the World Health Organization at the time, wanted to warn people about the dangers of ignoring health […]

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Dan Dare is blasting off again: why, as a scientist, I’m excited for the comics’ return

Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future was a groundbreaking science fiction comic serial, first appearing in the UK comic The Eagle in 1950. Now, more than 75 years later, a reinvention of the series is underway, with the first new graphic novel written by Alex de Campi (Bad Girls and Madi) with art by Marc […]

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Palantir Has a Human Rights Policy. Its ICE Work Tells a Different Story

For years, EFF has pushed technology companies to make real human rights commitments—and to live up to them. In response to growing evidence that Palantir’s tools help power abusive immigration enforcement by ICE, we sent the company a detailed letter asking how the promises in its own human rights framework extends to that work. This […]

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The Internet Still Works: Reddit Empowers Community Moderation

Section 230 helps make it possible for online communities to host user speech: from restaurant reviews, to fan fiction, to collaborative encyclopedias. But recent debates about the law often overlook how it works in practice. To mark its 30th anniversary, EFF is interviewing leaders of online platforms about how they handle complaints, moderate content, and […]

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40 years on from the disaster, why there are foxes, bears and bison again around Chernobyl

Wikimedia, CC BY In the novel When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift, the Chernobyl disaster and its legacy is extrapolated to a near future where natural habitats are depleted and precarious. This work of eco-fiction deftly explores issues of possible paths to a future where animals return to a nature depleted area. In […]

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Keep Pushing: We Get 10 More Days to Reform Section 702

In a dramatic middle-of-the-night stand off, a bipartisan set of lawmakers pushing for true reform and privacy protections for Americans bought us some more time to fight! They are holding out for, at a minimum, the requirement of an actual probable cause warrant for FBI access to information collected under the mass spying program known […]

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Robots just captured a Russian position in Ukraine – but don’t worry about real-life Terminators just yet

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky recently announced that ground robots (also known as unmanned ground vehicles) had captured a Russian position. Zelenskyy said it was the first time in the Ukraine war that an enemy position had been taken exclusively by robots. Ukraine’s increasing use of drones in its defence has received a great deal of […]

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