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The Bird Eye Was Pushed to an Evolutionary Extreme
2 days ago
- Bird retinas lack blood vessels, unlike most vertebrates, despite being highly metabolically active.
- A 2026 study found bird retinas use anaerobic glycolysis for energy, not oxygen, with inner retinal layers in chronic anoxia.
- The pecten oculi structure in bird eyes pumps glucose into the retina to support anaerobic glycolysis and removes lactic acid.
- Bird vision is exceptional, possibly due to fewer obstructions from blood vessels and dense retinal cell packing.
- The anaerobic retinal system likely evolved in theropod dinosaurs for sharp vision and later aided high-altitude flight.
- Research on bird retinas may inspire treatments for oxygen deprivation conditions like strokes by understanding extreme adaptations.
Research on mildew contamination affecting the sound quality of analog tapes
a day ago
- Analog tape recording, dominant since 1947, is widely used but threatened by mildew due to adhesives, affecting long-term preservation and sound quality.
- The study used ATR-FTIR, SEM, and laser microscopy to characterize tape properties and analyze Penicillium and Aspergillus mildew effects on audio via Praat.
- Research reveals the mechanisms linking mildew coverage to spectral characteristics and acoustic parameters, informing improved preservation strategies.
- Funding was provided by multiple Chinese foundations, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Archives Administration.
Points are a weird and inconsistent unit of measure
a day ago
- Points are an inconsistent unit of measure, with variations in definition between technologies like LaTeX and Inkscape.
- LaTeX defines a point as 1/72.27 inches, while Inkscape uses 1/72 inches, a difference of 0.4%, stemming from historical and regional standards.
- The confusion arises from the American standardization of points in the late 19th century, leading to definitions like 72.27 points/inch in NIST and TeX, versus 72 points/inch in PostScript and CSS.
- Donald Knuth adjusted the point definition in TeX for computational ease, contrasting with digital standards adopted by PostScript, SVG, and web technologies.
- Frink language highlights discrepancies in unit definitions, with a humorous note on the lack of a standardized unit for "fucks" or concern levels.
Why physicists still use Fortran (2015)
2 hours ago
- Fortran remains dominant in high-performance computing (HPC) for large-scale physics simulations like astrophysics, climate modeling, and molecular dynamics.
- Legacy Fortran code is prevalent in physics research, encouraging reuse due to its validation and efficiency, saving time over rewriting.
- Fortran is considered easier for physics students to learn than C++, with intuitive array handling, built-in parallelization features like coarrays, and less complexity with pointers and memory management.
- Fortran's array syntax and operations (e.g., element-wise functions, slicing, dynamic allocation) are more natural for numerical computations, aligning with physicists' mathematical thinking.
- Compiler optimizations in Fortran, such as handling memory aliasing and intent specifications, can lead to efficient code without manual intervention, though benchmarks show C++ can be similarly fast.
- Fortran continues to evolve with modern standards (e.g., Fortran 2008/2015) and interoperability with languages like Python, ensuring its relevance, while new languages like Julia emerge as potential future competitors.
Why Spain has the greatest cities
5 hours ago
- Spanish cities are exceptionally dense with two-thirds of Spaniards living in flats, unlike most European nations.
- They achieved low per capita transport emissions, high walking/transit use, and mixed-use neighborhoods.
- Density persisted due to late industrialization, limited suburbanization, and robust planning traditions.
- Modern urban health improvements eliminated 'urban penalty,' reducing suburban push factors.
- Spanish planning integrates land readjustment, public works funding, and comprehensive infrastructure.
- It built extensive road, metro, and high-speed rail networks efficiently, supported by EU funding.
- Current planning complexities have slowed housing supply, leading to affordability crises.
- Spain demonstrates that affluence doesn't mandate suburban sprawl, offering an alternative urban model.
Hackers have breached tank readers at US gas stations
2 hours ago
- US officials suspect Iranian hackers of breaching fuel storage tank monitoring systems at gas stations in multiple states.
- Hackers exploited unprotected Automatic Tank Gauge (ATG) systems online, allowing display reading manipulation but not actual fuel level changes.
- No physical damage reported, but breaches raise safety concerns as hackers could theoretically hide gas leaks.
- Iran's history of targeting gas tank systems makes it a top suspect, but lack of forensic evidence may prevent definitive attribution.
- If confirmed, Iran's involvement highlights threats to US critical infrastructure amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
- Iranian hacking groups target low-hanging fruit like exposed industrial control systems in oil, gas, and water sectors.
- US intelligence notes Iran's cyber capabilities are accelerating with faster operations, hacktivist personas, and potential AI use.
- Iran-linked hackers have disrupted US sites, leaked emails, and targeted Israeli organizations during recent conflicts.
- Concerns exist about Iran's potential influence on US midterm elections through information operations, as seen in past election cycles.
- Cybersecurity experts warn that Iran's opportunistic hacks exploit vulnerabilities despite limited sustained access for major effects.
Your AI Use Is Breaking My Brain
an hour ago
- The internet is flooded with AI-generated content, making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake.
- People now frequently question the authenticity of content, leading to increased cognitive strain and uncertainty.
- AI is infiltrating even trusted spaces like podcasts and forums, altering interactions and diminishing trust.
- Studies show that people are aware of AI but often cannot differentiate it from human-created content.
- AI-generated content is often perceived as bland, formulaic, and unnerving, impacting how we engage with information.
Meta to receive $3.3B in tax breaks for its $10B Louisiana data center
an hour ago
- Data centers are expanding rapidly in rural and suburban areas, with some exceeding twice the size of Central Park, and their large footprint may impose significant public costs.
- At least 36 states offer tax breaks for data center construction, costing billions in lost revenue; for example, Virginia provides $1.9 billion annually, Georgia $2.6 billion, and Texas increased its breaks from $150 million to over $1 billion yearly in 2024.
- Meta is set to receive $3.3 billion in tax breaks for its Hyperion data center in Louisiana, a sum that could fund the state's police budget for over seven years, highlighting concerns about wasteful subsidies for a fast-growing industry.
- Critics argue that data centers, driven by AI growth, do not need public support, and subsidy estimates are often conservative, with opaque disclosure—only 11 states reveal which companies receive breaks.
- Hyperion is one of over 3,000 planned or under-construction data centers; similar large subsidies include $8.2 billion for an Amazon facility in Indiana, though companies and some states did not comment on these incentives.
- Proponents cite job creation and local investment, with Meta promising over 5,000 construction jobs and 500 operational roles, plus investments in schools and infrastructure, but backlash is growing, with 48 data centers blocked in 2025 and most Americans opposing local construction.
- Lawmakers in at least 28 states are proposing amendments to tax incentives, including energy management guardrails, while nine states, like Virginia, consider repealing incentives altogether, amid rising public opposition and uncertainty about budget benefits.
Building a UMatrix Replacement
3 hours ago
- uMatrix was a Chrome extension for controlling site permissions and subresource requests, known for its intuitive interface.
- It was deprecated by its developer Raymond Hill, with users encouraged to migrate to uBlock Origin (uBO) for similar features.
- uBO Lite, the MV3 successor, removed these advanced control features, raising concerns about functionality loss.
- MV3 limits blocking web requests to declarative methods, which differs from MV2's callback-based approach.
- A proposed solution involves using Content Security Policy (CSP) and declarativeNetRequest to add custom CSP rules.
- The report-to directive in CSP can be used to capture security violations and populate a list for management.
- A prototype named matrix³ has been created to demonstrate this approach, though it's minimal and in early stages.
- The author seeks feedback on the idea and potential collaboration to improve the solution.
Show HN: Claude Code vs. Codex Global Usage Leaderboard
2 hours ago
- CostHawk's leaderboard ranks public Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Cursor users based on total token consumption.
- The leaderboard tracks token counts, models, sync timestamps, and hashed project IDs, but not prompts, responses, or source code.
- Monthly seasons reset at midnight Central Time.
- The platform is security-first, using AES-256 encryption for Admin API keys, wrapped keys, and local MCP telemetry to protect credentials and data.
- Users can connect local tools via a command, opt into auto-sync, and preview uploads before sharing any information.
- Only usage metadata is stored; prompt and code content is never retained.
Prolog Basics Explained with Pokémon
10 hours ago
- The author explains how a Pokémon database project helped them understand Prolog's strengths.
- Prolog is concise for relational data queries, outperforming SQL for complex Pokémon mechanics.
- Pokémon type matchups and battle mechanics are modeled using Prolog facts and predicates.
- Rules in Prolog allow filtering moves, such as priority moves excluding double battle moves.
- The Prolog system is extensible, enabling complex queries like super-effective moves against opponents.
- Spreadsheets are common in the Pokémon community for similar tasks but are less flexible.
From PDFs to AI-ready structured data: a deep dive (2024)
3 hours ago
- New modular workflow presented for converting PDFs to structured data using Vision Language Models.
- PDFs are not ideal as a 'source of truth'; extracting data early is crucial for machine learning.
- spaCy and Docling integrated to handle PDF parsing, layout analysis, OCR, and table recognition.
- Docling outputs structured Doc objects, enabling NLP techniques like named entity recognition.
- Tables are extracted via TableFormer model and accessible as pandas DataFrames for processing.
- Prodigy tool used for data annotation, with recipes for manual PDF annotation and training models.
- Layout features should be evaluated for relevance; minimizing them can improve model generalization.
- Benchmarks show Docling runs at 1-3 pages per second on CPU, with plans for GPU support.
- Future research focuses on LLMs for tabular data, layout integration, and efficient annotation workflows.
Travelers on Air Force One ordered to throw away gifts, phones after China trip
3 hours ago
- U.S. delegation, led by President Trump, concluded high-level talks with China in Beijing and departed on Air Force One.
- Before departure, White House staff and reporters were required to surrender Chinese-issued items, including burner phones, badges, and lapel pins, for security reasons, likely over espionage concerns.
- The disposal of items reflects U.S. vigilance against Chinese intelligence capabilities, amid longstanding accusations of cyberattacks and espionage by China against the U.S. and allies.
Canada Wants Digital Sovereignty. Bill C-22 Pulls the Other Way
6 hours ago
- Canada's push for digital sovereignty is undermined by Bill C-22, which introduces lawful access requirements that compromise encryption and trust in domestic digital infrastructure.
- Encryption is foundational to secure systems, protecting everything from personal data to national security; weakening it through mandatory access paths erodes trust and global credibility.
- Bill C-22 creates legal attack surfaces, where mandated access capabilities can be targeted or abused, contradicting Canada's goal of building trustworthy domestic alternatives to foreign infrastructure.
- Trust in digital systems depends on technical architecture, not policy language; if users believe systems are designed for state access, they will avoid Canadian providers, harming sovereignty efforts.
- The bill risks Canada's reputation, as ambiguity around encryption may deter customers, businesses, and foreign partners, leading to economic and security costs without enhancing public safety.
Casimir force co-opted to generate free energy, midichlorians not included
5 hours ago
- A company named Casimir Inc. came out of stealth mode and secured significant venture capital funding to develop perpetual free energy sources.
- The company's founders previously created the controversial WTF thruster EM-drive, which claimed to convert electricity into propulsion, though it was primarily featured in fiction like the TV show Salvation.
- Casimir Inc. aims to harness energy from the vacuum using the Casimir force, which arises from virtual particles in empty space creating pressure imbalances.
- The Casimir force occurs when confined spaces, like gaps between metal plates, limit the modes available for photons, leading to a particle imbalance that pushes the plates together.
- This startup's backing reflects investor willingness to gamble on free energy technology, despite skepticism due to its speculative and scientifically debated nature.
Anthropic's Bun Rust rewrite merged at speed of AI
6 hours ago
- Hardware supply chain issues are impacting IT, with long lead times, higher costs due to AI demand, and faster platform deadlines.
- LLMs are enabling more sophisticated API attacks in interconnected, often over-permissioned applications.
- Cybersecurity strategies are shifting toward identity resilience, emphasizing identity-first recovery to combat threats.
- Black markets exploit personal identity data, using profiles for targeting; protective measures are recommended.
- AI agents are reshaping security as AI adoption grows, introducing new vulnerabilities.
- AI tools are identifying and addressing software vulnerabilities earlier in the development cycle.
- Microsoft is prioritizing driver stability over UI changes in a new initiative.
- Google is prompting users to share phone numbers, linking it to storage allocation changes.
- NASA's Psyche mission will conduct a brief flyby of Mars.
- Anthropic advises the U.S. to restrict China's AI advancements to prevent authoritarian influence.
- An Exchange Server flaw allows scripts to be launched from OWA inboxes, with patches causing side effects.
- Cisco issued patches for a zero-day in SD-WAN, flagged by CISA for urgent action.
- X (formerly Twitter) commits to reviewing hate and terror content reports within 24 hours.
- ZTE promotes AI and network integration for cost reduction and 5G efficiency at an event.
- Various tech topics include skepticism over data deletion post-hack, Europe's tech independence efforts, and debates on open-source security.
Build a Radio Wave Detector with Balls of Aluminum Foil
4 hours ago
- The Golden Age of Radio did not truly end; radio waves remain integral to modern technologies like cars, streaming via cell towers, GPS, and Wi-Fi.
- Radio waves are low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, making them harmless to humans and ideal for wireless communication due to their ability to travel far and penetrate obstacles.
- Waves transfer energy without matter, and electromagnetic waves, including radio waves, self-propagate through changing electric and magnetic fields, as explained by Maxwell's equations.
- A simple radio transmitter can be made using a grill lighter's piezoelectric crystal, which generates a voltage that creates an electromagnetic wave via an electron avalanche, detectable by an AM radio.
- A 'coherer' receiver can be built with aluminum foil balls in a circuit; radio waves break oxidation layers between balls, allowing current to light an LED, mimicking early wireless telegraph systems like Marconi's.
- Marconi's wireless telegraph used Morse code for long-distance communication, notably in the Titanic's SOS, leading to later advancements like vacuum tubes that enabled voice and music transmission in the 1920s.
- While easy to create, such simple radio systems are limited to single channels, unlike modern multi-channel communication methods required for technologies like cell phones.
Plato's Cave and the Rise of the Highly Educated Radical
4 hours ago
- A highly educated individual attempted to assassinate the president, representing a disturbing trend where educated people commit violence.
- Examples include a Caltech graduate believing it was his duty to act, a physics prodigy involved in a university shooting, and a Penn graduate allegedly killing a CEO.
- Americans with graduate degrees are about twice as likely to support political violence compared to those with less education.
- The education system may be contributing by prioritizing zeal over truth, leading to moral certainty in violent actions.
- The core problem is a lack of shared truth and justice, which threatens societal stability when even the educated resort to violence.
OpenAI is connecting ChatGPT to bank accounts via Plaid
4 hours ago
- OpenAI now allows ChatGPT users to connect bank accounts via Plaid, giving access to balances, transaction history, investments, and liabilities, with a preview for Pro subscribers at $200/month.
- The service provides a spending dashboard, personalized financial advice, and chatbot alerts, but cannot make account changes or see full account numbers; users can disconnect or opt out of data training.
- OpenAI retains financial data for up to 30 days after disconnection, and the opt-in for model training uses ambiguous framing, raising privacy concerns about data use and protection.
- This follows a similar January launch for health data, where unanswered questions about data handling, breaches, and long-term usage persist, now extending to financial information.
- OpenAI's potential to build detailed financial profiles from this data is commercially valuable, but lacks clear guardrails on commercial use, business model shifts, or protections in acquisitions.
We don't know why Malawi is poor
4 hours ago
- Malawi's GDP per capita has stagnated and is now lower than Rwanda's and much of East Africa, despite starting from a higher base in 1994.
- The country exhibits extreme poverty indicators: 70-75% live below poverty lines, it has a high share of the world's extreme poor, and most work in low-productivity agriculture.
- Malawi lacks obvious single-cause explanations for its poverty, as it has been peaceful, democratic, and a major aid recipient without severe conflict or resource curses.
- Common development theories like institutions, geography, colonial history, trade policy, and agroecology offer partial explanations but fail to fully account for Malawi's unique stagnation compared to peers.
- A political settlements perspective highlights a stable equilibrium favoring smallholder maize farmers as median voters, leading to policies like fertilizer subsidies, maize self-sufficiency, and customary land tenure that inhibit structural transformation.
- Development economics struggles to predict growth outcomes, as proximate factors often restate outcomes rather than explain variation, and the field's explanatory toolkit has limited predictive power.
- Key insights include focusing on political coalitions as the unit of analysis, distinguishing causes from policy levers, and being skeptical of growth forecasts that ignore political settlements.

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Hasty Briefsbeta

The Bird Eye Was Pushed to an Evolutionary Extreme

Research on mildew contamination affecting the sound quality of analog tapes

Points are a weird and inconsistent unit of measure

Why physicists still use Fortran (2015)

Why Spain has the greatest cities

Hackers have breached tank readers at US gas stations

Your AI Use Is Breaking My Brain

Meta to receive $3.3B in tax breaks for its $10B Louisiana data center

Building a UMatrix Replacement

Show HN: Claude Code vs. Codex Global Usage Leaderboard

Prolog Basics Explained with Pokémon

From PDFs to AI-ready structured data: a deep dive (2024)

Travelers on Air Force One ordered to throw away gifts, phones after China trip

Canada Wants Digital Sovereignty. Bill C-22 Pulls the Other Way

Casimir force co-opted to generate free energy, midichlorians not included

Anthropic's Bun Rust rewrite merged at speed of AI

Build a Radio Wave Detector with Balls of Aluminum Foil

Plato's Cave and the Rise of the Highly Educated Radical

OpenAI is connecting ChatGPT to bank accounts via Plaid

We don't know why Malawi is poor