A powerful solar storm in May 2024 created two unprecedented temporary radiation belts around Earth, including a never-before-seen energetic proton belt that persisted for months. The discovery provides valuable insights into how solar storms affect Earth's magnetic environment and potential impacts on satellite technology.
https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-radiation-belts-detected-around-earth-after-epic-solar-storm
Research comparing arithmetic skills between Indian children working in markets and those attending school reveals a stark divide in mathematical abilities, with working children excelling at complex real-world calculations but struggling with basic academic math, while school children show the opposite pattern. Working children demonstrated superior mental arithmetic and problem-solving in market contexts, but only 32% could solve basic written division problems, highlighting a critical gap between practical and academic mathematics education.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08502-w
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
The global adoption of 50 Hz and 60 Hz power frequencies stems from decisions made by Westinghouse (Pittsburgh) and AEG (Berlin) engineers in 1891, which continue to impact electrical systems worldwide. The evolution of these frequency standards spans from early experimental phases through lighting systems development to power systems interconnection, shaping the electrical infrastructure across the USA, Europe, and Japan.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/628099
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
A Chrome extension called 'There to Where' simplifies location-based decision making for accommodations by evaluating proximity to multiple points of interest. The tool eliminates the need to juggle multiple map tabs and helps users find optimal locations based on their personal preferences.
An experimental implementation of dynamic Level of Detail (LOD) in Three.js attempts to replicate Unreal Engine's Nanite technology through mesh clustering, grouping, and simplification techniques. The process involves multiple steps including meshletization, cluster grouping, mesh merging, and triangle reduction to achieve dynamic LOD without visual artifacts.
An analysis critiquing the use of ZIP codes for geospatial analysis reveals significant flaws in using postal routes for data interpretation and decision-making. ZIP codes mask important demographic variations and don't accurately represent human behavior patterns or real geographic boundaries, potentially leading to misleading insights in business and public policy decisions.
https://carto.com/blog/zip-codes-spatial-analysis
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
Research published in Science reveals that humpback whale songs exhibit Zipf's law, a linguistic pattern previously only observed in human languages where word frequencies follow a predictable distribution. The discovery suggests that cultural learning mechanisms shared between humans and whales lead to similar structural patterns in their communication systems, despite vast evolutionary differences.
Engineers collaborate across Europe to develop a web application for monitoring power grid frequency data from the Baltic region, using Sympower's tech stack and AWS infrastructure. The initiative, sparked by the Baltic Desynchronisation Event, evolves from a quick experiment into a structured project with front-end and back-end development, data storage, and potential expansion to include voltage monitoring.
An extension to regular expressions called 'transductive regular expressions' (trre) introduces a new ':' symbol for pattern matching and text modification, offering a more natural approach to text editing than traditional regex. The implementation includes a command-line tool that supports various operations like replacement, deletion, and insertion, utilizing Finite State Transducers for processing.
UCLA scientists have identified a molecule called PP405 that can reactivate dormant hair follicles, showing promising results in initial human trials. The treatment, backed by Google Ventures through Pelage Pharmaceuticals with $16.4 million in funding, aims to combat pattern hair loss that affects over half of men and one-fourth of women by age 50.
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/baldness-cure-pp405-molecule-breakthrough-treatment
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
Hector Martin announces his withdrawal as a maintainer for ARM/Apple machine support in the Linux kernel, citing a loss of faith in the kernel development process and community management, while indicating that Apple/ARM platform development will continue downstream.
https://lkml.org/lkml/2025/2/7/9
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
Self-play training in simulation has produced a breakthrough in autonomous driving, achieving state-of-the-art performance across multiple benchmarks without using human driving data. Using Gigaflow simulator, the system demonstrated exceptional robustness with an average of 17.5 years of continuous driving between incidents while maintaining naturalistic behavior.
The 6502 processor is recommended as an ideal starting point for learning assembly programming due to its simplicity with only 6 registers and 56 instructions, making core concepts easily digestible. Extensive learning resources and emulators are available through multiple platforms, though its practical applications are limited to retro programming.
https://nemanjatrifunovic.substack.com/p/6502-is-a-good-starting-point-for
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
A lively technical debate from 1992 between Andrew Tanenbaum and Linus Torvalds discusses the merits of microkernel vs monolithic kernel architectures, with Tanenbaum advocating for microkernels while Torvalds defends his monolithic design choices in Linux based on practical implementation considerations.
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.minix/c/wlhw16QWltI
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
NYC subway crime dropped 36% in January 2025 while ridership increased by 13.1% following the implementation of congestion pricing. Mayor Eric Adams attributes the decline to increased police presence, including 1,200 additional NYPD officers and 300 officers patrolling overnight trains, alongside Governor Hochul's $77 million initiative for enhanced security measures.
https://www.amny.com/nyc-transit/nyc-subway-crime-plummets-ridership-jumps-2025/
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
Tesla and Elon Musk are facing declining favorability among potential EV buyers, with a new study showing Tesla has the worst favorability ratings among EV brands. Musk's recent political positioning has particularly alienated Democrat-leaning consumers, who represent the primary EV-buying demographic, while his support base shows less interest in electric vehicles.
https://insideevs.com/news/749741/tesla-ev-buyers-favorability-rating/
Meta faces serious allegations of copyright infringement after unsealed emails reveal the company torrented over 160 terabytes of pirated books from shadow libraries for AI training. Internal communications show Meta employees expressed concerns about the legal implications of torrenting and seeding copyrighted content using corporate resources.
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
The UK government has secretly ordered Apple to provide backdoor access to all encrypted user content uploaded to iCloud, potentially affecting users worldwide. Apple may cease offering encrypted storage in the UK rather than compromise security, though this wouldn't affect the broader order for access in other countries. The demand comes through the UK Investigatory Powers Act, which critics call the 'Snooper's Charter'.
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/07/uk-government-orders-access-icloud/
via https://hnrss.org/newest?points=100, https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=100
Fortune's Algorithm generates Voronoi diagrams using a sweepline approach and beachline data structure, processing site and circle events to build cell boundaries in O(nlogn) time, though simpler O(n^2) implementations may be more practical for smaller diagrams.
https://redpenguin101.github.io/html/posts/2025_01_21_voronoi.html
An in-depth analysis of HTML whitespace behavior reveals complex interactions between HTML parsing, CSS display properties, and browser rendering, highlighting challenges with automated formatting, content management systems, and minification tools. The article explores potential solutions, including a proposed new non-collapsible space entity, while offering practical guidance for developers to mitigate common whitespace issues.