Thanks to a Privacy Breach, Facebook May Owe You Some Money—But You Have Just a Week Left to Collect
There's a week left to file a claim for your (small) share of a $725 million settlement.
2023-08-19 03:47
10 Useful Gadgets That Will Help You Turn Your Old Car Into a Smart Car
Want to upgrade your ride without dropping a small fortune on a new one? With these affordable smart car accessories, you can.
2023-08-19 00:24
Study finds that divorced diabetic men have higher risk of amputation
Divorced men with diabetes are at the highest risk of having some or all of their feet and legs amputated because of it, research has found. According to a study of almost 67,000 people with diabetes in Sweden, people with the condition who are divorced are 67 per cent more likely to have to undergo a lower limb amputation than those who are married. Meanwhile men are at 57 per cent greater risk than women. On average, 184 people a week in England have some part of a lower limb removed surgically to stop infection spreading and killing them. Lasantha Wijesinghe, a consultant vascular surgeon in England who performs lower limb amputations, said they were usually necessary because the person’s life was at risk because of sepsis. The authors of the study, which has not been peer-reviewed yet, said they could not be sure why divorcees of both sexes ran such a greater risk than married people, but speculated that this “may be due to a change in self-care and food habits observed in people when they divorce and are more likely to be living alone”. “Specifically with men, this is often related to more social isolation, with a secondary effect of low physical activity,” they added. Older people are also at higher risk of an amputation and patients who are on insulin treatment, have a pre-existing foot condition such as neuropathy or who smoke are also at higher risk. The study also concluded that obese people have a lower risk than those with a standard weight. The authors could not explain this finding but suggested it could be down to chance. Dr Faye Riley, the research communications manager at Diabetes UK, said: “This study identifies a range of factors that may be linked with a higher risk of amputation among people with diabetes, and raises interesting questions about how social support can influence our health behaviours and outcomes. By pinpointing which people with diabetes are most at risk, support can be targeted where it’s most needed.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-18 18:45
Newsom’s $4.7 Billion Bond Plan Reasonable But Lacks Oversight
Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to issue a $4.7 billion bond for veteran housing and behavioral health facilities is
2023-08-18 07:18
Energy Crisis, War Inflation Drive Down Austria’s CO2 Pollution
Austria slashed its greenhouse gas pollution in 2022 despite producing more goods as its industrial economy responded to
2023-08-17 21:47
Tsunamis 3 times the size of the sun 'could disintegrate' Earth
Scientists have detected huge waves in outer space that measure three times the size of our sun. The waves are being formed on a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718, found around 169,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The waves are formed in a similar way to waves on Earth. Just like ones on our planet are formed due to the gravitational pull of the moon, a nearby celestial object stretches the star and causes enormous waves in the system MACHO 80.7443.1718. Experts have studied the star’s unusual behaviour and published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy. The experts stated that MACHO 80.7443.1718 contains a "heartbreak" star, which is a term they use to describe the way plasma is influenced by the pull of a nearby object to unleash incredible waves of energy. The sheer power of these waves is, itself, difficult to imagine. In fact, just one of them would end life on Earth in an instant. "Each crash of the star’s towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over," MacLeod said. "This heartbreak star could just be the first of a growing class of astronomical objects," MacLeod added. "We’re already planning a search for more heartbreak stars, looking for the glowing atmospheres flung off by their breaking waves." The scale in general is far beyond human comprehension – at least ours, anyway. In fact, the waves of plasma measure around 2.5 million miles above the surface of the primary star – which itself has a radius of 10.4 million miles, around 24 times the size of the sun. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-17 20:50
Man's legs turn purple in rare Covid complication
The effects of long Covid are still being uncovered by experts, and now doctors have been studying a rare complication that saw a man’s legs turn purple. A new research paper has been released which looks into the case of a 33-year-old man who had been infected with Covid 18 months earlier and experienced difficulties when standing up. His legs would turn purple when he did so, as well as tingling and itching, but things would return to normal when he lay down. The odd condition was diagnosed as POTS dysautonomia. This was determined after his pulse was found to rise to 127 beats per minute when standing, as well as feeling shaky and unsteady on his feet. The paper leads on from previous studies, which detected POTS in 20 people after they developed a Covid-19 infection. According to the new study published in The Lancet, there is "evidence is growing of a link between long Covid and POTS dysautonomia”. The paper’s co-author Dr Manoj Sivan said in a statement: "This was a striking case of acrocyanosis in a patient who had not experienced it before his Covid-19 infection. "Patients experiencing this may not be aware that it can be a symptom of long Covid and dysautonomia and may feel concerned about what they are seeing. Similarly, clinicians may not be aware of the link between acrocyanosis and long Covid." Dr Sivan added: "We need to ensure that there is more awareness of dysautonomia in long Covid so that clinicians have the tools they need to manage patients appropriately." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-17 17:00
Billionaire Charlie Ergen Conjures M&A Magic to Save His Empire
Billionaire media mogul and former professional blackjack player Charlie Ergen is known to keep “feng shui water” in
2023-08-16 17:19
Forget Siri: Your iPhone Can Now Clone Your Voice for Digital Tasks
A new feature for iOS 17 can create a simulation of your voice.
2023-08-16 04:53
Google makes preparation for the ‘quantum apocalypse’ with Chrome update
Google is preparing for the “quantum apocalypse”. Experts have warned for years that the development of quantum computers could undermine the encryption that currently secures everything from our private messages to our banking details. Quantum computers are a still largely theoretical technology that proponents claim could dramatically beat the performance of the classical computers we have today. That could be a major positive for applications such as drug research and quantum computing – but could be disastrous for security technology. Much of that security technology depends on mathematical problems that are sufficiently hard for our computers to work out as to keep that data secure. But future quantum computers could overcome those problems in seconds, and break into any data. That is what is referred to by researchers as the “quantum apocalypse”. And an entire subset of computing – post-quantum cryptography – has grown to find ways to secure data even if that future does come about. Now Google has put some of that work into practice, in Chrome. The new technology includes new cryptography that should be resistant to attempts to break it with future quantum computers. It does so by integrating a technology known as X25519Kyber768, a long name for what is actually a hybrid of two cryptographic algorithms. Tying the two together means that data is protected both by an existing secure algorithm and one that is protected against quantum computers. The updates are part of broader work across Google to “prepare the web for the migration to quantum-resistant cryptography”. Devon O’Brien, Google’s technical program manager for Chrome security, who wrote the blog post announcing the changes, noted that quantum computers could be decades away. But remains important to secure data now in part so that it cannot be filed away, ready to break into when the technology arrives. “It’s believed that quantum computers that can break modern classical cryptography won’t arrive for 5, 10, possibly even 50 years from now, so why is it important to start protecting traffic today? The answer is that certain uses of cryptography are vulnerable to a type of attack called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later, in which data is collected and stored today and later decrypted once cryptanalysis improves.” Read More Vote to empower autonomous ‘robotaxis’ from Cruise and Waymo divides San Francisco ‘Billions’ of computers potentially affect by huge security vulnerability AI breakthrough could dramatically reduce planes’ global warming impact
2023-08-16 01:20
Meta criticized for making reproductive health an R-rated issue
Female reproductive health experts are calling on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to rethink its restrictions on reproductive health content.
2023-08-15 23:59
ChatGPT-Wary Universities Scramble to Prepare for New School Year
ChatGPT set the academic world ablaze after it was introduced in November, when the AI chatbot suddenly gave
2023-08-15 20:18