May 4, 2026

05 Sci-Tech

US Ally Intercepts Chinese Military Attack Drone– www.newsweek.com

pgnewser May 29, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.newsweek.com

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces scrambled F-15 fighter aircraft on Monday to intercept a Chinese Air Force drone making its first appearance near the country’s southwestern islands, its Defense Ministry said.

The Joint Staff Office in Tokyo said Japanese Air Force jets were launched to head off a possible airspace violation by a Wing Loong-10 unmanned aerial vehicle, which had entered Japan‘s air defense identification zone but not its territorial airspace.

A Newsweek map, created using the Joint Staff’s geospatial data, shows the flight path of the military drone, which Japan identified as a reconnaissance and attack aircraft, during a sortie in the East China Sea.

Tokyo said the WL-10 approached from China’s east coast and circled the waters at least twice before returning to the Asian continent.

China’s J-35 Fighter Could Be a Terror Flying from an Aircraft Carrier– nationalinterest.org

pgnewser May 29, 2024 0

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Excerpt from nationalinterest.org

Summary: The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) has advanced China’s naval aviation with the J-35, a fifth-generation fighter that enhances the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) capabilities.

-The J-35, resembling America’s F-35 but lacking VTOL capabilities, requires a catapult for takeoff.

-While tested on older carriers like the Liaoning, the J-35 is set to fully integrate with the new Type 003 Fujian, which features advanced electromagnetic catapults.

-Initially using Russian RD-93 engines, China is now developing the indigenous WS-13E engine.

Hunter Biden’s Lawyers Will Argue He Wasn’t an ‘Addict’ When He Bought Gun, Despite Admitting To ‘Sleeping on a Car Smoking Crack’– www.nysun.com

pgnewser May 29, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.nysun.com

Hunter Biden’s legal team may try to argue in his upcoming firearms trial that he was not addicted to drugs at the time he bought the gun in 2018 because he’d just gone to rehab, according to recent court filings.

“Someone like Mr. Biden who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict,” Mr. Biden’s defense lawyer, Abbe Lowell wrote.

Mr. Biden, whose trial begins next week, is facing multiple federal felony charges for lying about his drug use to buy a gun in 2018. Dueling filings from the defense and prosecution suggest that some of the trial will revolve around disagreements on what defines an addict, and on how Mr. Biden’s substance abuse disorder could be characterized in October of 2018, when he bought the gun.

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GOP-Led House Passes Bill Banning Government CBDC

pgnewser May 29, 2024 0

In what appears to be more of a gesture than a substantive act, the GOP-majority House passed a bill that would effectively end the government’s plans to create a centralized banking digital currency (CBDC). The bill passed 216-192, with only 3 Democrats voting for it while 18 Democrats and 4 Republicans did not register votes.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) introduced the legislation, saying of its passage in a press release, “For more than two years, we have worked to educate, grow support, and pass this important legislation, which prevents unelected bureaucrats from issuing a financial surveillance tool to fundamentally undermine our American values. My legislation ensures that the United States’ digital currency policy remains in the hands of the American people so that any development of digital money reflects our values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness.”

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Excerpt from www.tronweekly.com

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Anti-Surveillance State Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on May 23, 2024. The le­gislation was approved by 216-192 votes to prevent the Federal Reserve from directly offering CBDC to individuals and using it to implement monetary policy.

The bill, which had the backing of all Republican repre­sentatives and three­ Democrats—Mary Peltola of Alaska, Marie Pe­rez of Washington, and Jared Golden of Maine­—marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing debate­ over digital currency and financial privacy in the Unite­d States.

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Electric Vehicles Are Exhausting Copper Supplies

pgnewser May 28, 2024 0

Professors Lawrence M. Cathles and Adam C. Simon have released a report claiming the expected and mandated expanding Electric Vehicle (EV) market will soon outstrip the available supply of copper. The solution the report offers is to lower the EV benchmarks and replace that EV production with hybrid car production.

The report claims “Hybrid electric vehicles could have almost as large an impact on reducing CO2 emissions and city pollution, and the likelihood of the copper required for their manufacture being available is much greater. This is not a perfect solution, but it is a much more resource-realistic one.”

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Excerpt from www.roadandtrack.com

Penning a report called Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification, Professors Lawrence M. Cathles and Adam C. Simon claim that a key mineral in EV production, copper, isn’t being mined at a strong enough rate to support long-term EV sales goals.

Cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel are all essential to electrification in their own ways, but copper fulfills a particularly important responsibility in the production of EVs. Found in everything from the electric motors, batteries, inverters, and the wiring of an electric car as well as in the charging stations themselves, copper is attractive for electrification due to its ability to conduct heat, resist corrosion, and relatively low cost of production.

The Copper Development Association says that each electric vehicle can have up to a mile of copper inside of it. Similarly, the report notes that the manufacturing process of an EV uses around 132 pounds of copper, as compared to 52 pounds of copper used to produce an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle.

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AI Has Learned to Use Deception to Accomplish Its Mission

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.livescience.com

‘Master of deception’: Current AI models already have the capacity to expertly manipulate and deceive humans

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems’ ability to manipulate and deceive humans could lead them to defraud people, tamper with election results and eventually go rogue, researchers have warned.

Peter S. Park, a postdoctoral fellow in AI existential safety at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and researchers have found that many popular AI systems — even those designed to be honest and useful digital companions — are already capable of deceiving humans, which could have huge consequences for society.

In an article published May 10 in the journal Patterns, Park and his colleagues analyzed dozens of empirical studies on how AI systems fuel and disseminate misinformation using “learned deception.” This occurs when manipulation and deception skills are systematically acquired by AI technologies.

 

Dozens of House Democrats join most Republicans in passing sweeping crypto bill– www.politico.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.politico.com

The cryptocurrency industry capped a notable month on Capitol Hill, as 71 House Democrats joined most Republicans to pass sweeping legislation aimed at establishing rules of the road for the fast-moving industry.

Backers of the legislation, which passed 279-136, included prominent senior Democrats like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-Calf.) and DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.).

The White House opposed the measure, which critics say could put consumers and even the larger financial system at risk, but did not threaten to veto it

In a statement explaining her vote, Pelosi said that while the bill “must be improved by working with the Senate and the Administration,” the industry “needs clearer rules of the road and the federal government needs stronger enforcement authority.”

It’s a powerful show of force for the crypto industry among Capitol Hill backers from both parties in a time of fierce divisions.

House Passes CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act– coingape.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from coingape.com

Anti-CBDC Bill: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, marking a significant legislative milestone.

This decision comes at a time when the public and consumers are becoming wary of their privacy and the government’s intrusion into the financial sector, especially the proposed CBDC by the federal government.

Anti-CBDC Bill Passed

The passage of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act is a win for the supporters of financial freedom, capturing the essence of a shared fight to keep the policy of digital currencies as a public interest rather than the executive branch’s discretion.

Lithium-metal-battery promises 50 percent more power at lower costs – Notebookcheck.net– www.notebookcheck.net

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.notebookcheck.net

In practical terms, the new battery should enable a range of 600 kilometers with the same size, compared to the previous 400 kilometers – as is currently the case with the Tesla Model Y is currently the case. To achieve this, a mixture of lithium and metal is to be used instead of a lithium-graphite anode.

Production would be cheaper, the potential output would be significantly higher, but commercial use is not yet in sight. The reason for this is the highly reactive combination of an acidic electrolyte and the anode material.

Basically, various compounds are deposited on the anode, which gradually reduce the performance and service life. At Columbia University, New York City, these processes have been and will continue to be studied in detail.

Solar and wind power microgenerators to reap greater rewards for feeding grid – The Irish Times– www.irishtimes.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 1

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Excerpt from www.irishtimes.com

Financial rewards for communities, small businesses, farmers and individuals who adopt solar and wind power are being scaled-up, making feeding surplus power into the grid more attractive following an overhaul of tariffs announced on Wednesday by Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan.

The new range of fixed feed-in tariffs to small-scale and community projects who produce between 50kW – 6MW of renewable electricity – from solar and wind – come under an expansion of the small-scale renewable electricity support scheme (SRESS).

It “aims to provide an easier route to market to community projects, farmers and SMES, and maximise their participation in the energy transition”, Mr Ryan told the Energy Ireland conference in Croke Park on Wednesday.

China Debuts Rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.breitbart.com

Chinese state media on Tuesday touted the emergence of a Chinese-made rival to Elon Musk’s Neuralink technology, a chip implanted in the brain that allows humans to directly interface with electronics.

Although China’s Global Times breathlessly hyped the Chinese Institute for Brain Research’s “Neucyber” chip as “China’s version of Neuralink,” the product on display at a laboratory in Beijing is far behind Neuralink, having not yet been implanted in a human host.

Global Times reporters were treated to a “magical scene” in which a monkey with a Neucyber chip made brainwave signals wobble on a computer monitor.

The project directors said the chip has been implanted in the monkey’s skull for almost a year and is “still able to collect high-quality signals.” The next step is designing an algorithm to decode the brainwaves, which would allow the monkey to control a robot arm. If that goes well, researchers hope to begin human trials within a year.

TikTok Moves to Limit Russian and Chinese Media’s Reach in Big Election Year– www.nytimes.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.nytimes.com

TikTok said on Thursday that it was introducing new measures to limit the spread of videos from state-affiliated media accounts, including Russian and Chinese outlets, as the company deflects criticism that it could be used as a propaganda tool in a major election year.

The company in 2022 started labeling state-affiliated media accounts — like those from RT, the global Russian television network, and People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. It said it would no longer allow videos from such accounts into users’ main feeds if they “attempt to reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs.”

TikTok also said the accounts would not be permitted to advertise on TikTok outside their home countries, to further reduce their reach.

Social media platforms, including Meta, YouTube and X, are grappling with misinformation in a year when as much as half the global population will vote in major elections. Political news on TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, is under particular scrutiny after the passage of a law that would force ByteDance to sell the company or face a ban in the United States. Lawmakers and intelligence officials have said TikTok is a threat to national security, partly because of how the Chinese government could use it to spread propaganda.

Idaho Joins Defense of American Gun Manufacturers From Liability of Gun Violence in Mexico | Idaho– www.bigcountrynewsconnection.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 1

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Excerpt from www.bigcountrynewsconnection.com

BOISE – Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a coalition of 27 states in defending American firearms manufacturers against attempts to hold the companies liable for gun violence in Mexico. Labrador says if a lower court’s ruling is allowed to stand, Americans’ Second Amendment rights could be threatened.

In their petition, the attorneys general ask the U.S. Supreme Court to correct a lower court’s ruling against Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. to keep other nations, like Mexico, from “using American courts to limit the rights of American citizens.”

“This case is a part of the continued attack on the American firearms industry,” said Labrador. “I will never sit back and let a foreign nation dictate the freedoms of American citizens, especially when Mexico’s own hypocritical inaction about immigration, drug cartels, and the border has created such damage here on U.S. soil.”

Social media abuzz over presidential candidate’s lucky escape from Mexico rally stage collapse | Trending News– indianexpress.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from indianexpress.com

A platform collapsed during a political rally in Mexico, leaving at least nine dead and many injured. Jorge Maynez, a presidential candidate for the upcoming election in Mexico, was on the stage too, but escaped without getting hurt. People have been talking a lot about how aware Maynez was to escape without harm.

In a post on X, Maynez wrote in Spanish what roughly translates to, “After the accident in San Pedro Garza, where a gust of wind collapsed the stage where we were, I moved to the San José hospital. I am fine and in touch with state authorities to see what happened. Right now, the most important thing is to take care of the accident victims.”

Donald Trump is spreading QAnon posts as he campaigns. Here’s why– www.usatoday.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.usatoday.com

As Donald Trump heads toward a November rematch election against President Joe Biden, his online posts are reinvigorating a key element of his support from years past: the conspiracy theory known as QAnon.

While QAnon largely faded from the spotlight after Trump left office, he has newly amplified the ideas on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Since the site launched two years ago, Trump has reposted or promoted QAnon-affiliated accounts more than 800 times, ensuring their messages will be widely seen, according to a new study from liberal watchdog group Media Matters shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

Experts say the support amounts to a tacit endorsement of a dangerous movement that has been linked to criminal acts ranging from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to isolated cases of violence and even murder.

Fed Circ revives patent suits against Nokia, ADVA, and Cisco | Patents– www.worldipreview.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.worldipreview.com

US Court of Appeals revives Core Optical’s patent infringement cases against tech giants Nokia, ADVA, and Cisco | Decision overturns previous ruling by California District court concerning optical technology | Ambiguities surrounding inventorship agreements add complexity to the legal dispute.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reopened the door to Core Optical Technologies’ patent infringement lawsuits against Nokia, ADVA, and Cisco.

The appeals court vacated the US District Court for the Central District of California’s decision, which had granted summary judgment in favour of the defendants, remanding the case for further proceedings, yesterday, May 21.

The Californian district court had ruled that the inventor for one of Core Optical’s patent relating to optical signalling was not developed “entirely on his own time”, due to their fellowship at US corporation, TRW.

Armed Deacon Catches Church Burglar in the Act, Holds Him at Gunpoint for Police– www.usacarry.com

pgnewser May 24, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.usacarry.com

BEAUMONT, TX – A would-be church burglar got more than he bargained for Tuesday morning when he was caught in the act by an armed deacon.

Quentin Grant, a deacon at Impact Ministries, arrived at the church in the 1100 block of Delaware St. just before 10:20 a.m. on May 14. He says he caught Leon Goodman, 45, of Beaumont, in the act of stealing from the church.

Grant noticed one of the church’s speakers sitting in the entryway behind the glass doors and immediately knew something wasn’t right. Drawing his gun, he went inside the church and flipped a breaker to turn on all the lights. He then saw Goodman walking toward him.

Scientists say we need a ‘Category 6’ for hurricanes– www.futurity.org

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.futurity.org

This year, a team of researchers argued that hurricanes have become so much more extreme due to climate change that we need to add a new category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures the wind speed of hurricanes.

One of those scientists was Michael Wehner from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Using the latest and fastest computers to model how a warming world is reshaping extreme weather events, Wehner is leading a new realm of climate modeling called “end-to-end attribution.” This would allow us to not only understand how much worse disastrous weather is becoming but even quantify that difference in terms of damage and destruction.

TikTok Curbs State-backed Media Amid Foreign Influence Concerns– www.barrons.com

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.barrons.com

TikTok on Thursday said it was putting restrictions on state-backed media to counter acts of foreign influence on the platform during an important election year in multiple countries.

The move comes after the United States handed TikTok an ultimatum to divest from its Chinese owners or face a potential ban in the US market, based on concerns the app could be used to influence Americans.

Zoom launches post-quantum encryption to secure user data– securitybrief.asia

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from securitybrief.asia

Zoom has announced the enhancement of its security framework by introducing post-quantum end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Zoom Workplace. This development makes Zoom the first Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provider to implement such advanced encryption in video conferencing.

The rollout of post-quantum E2EE is presently available for Zoom Meetings, with Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms expected to follow suit. This move addresses the increasing necessity to safeguard user data against advanced adversarial threats. One significant threat, identified as “harvest now, decrypt later,” involves attackers capturing encrypted network traffic with the intent to decrypt it later once quantum computing becomes more powerful.

Zoom’s initiative aims to protect user data from potential future threats posed by quantum computers capable of breaking classical encryption. While these potent quantum machines are not yet generally available, Zoom’s proactive stance upgrades its encryption algorithms to withstand such advanced threats whenever they materialise, be it five years from now or later.

X Confirms Plan to Make ‘Likes’ Private, Remove Likes Tab From Profiles– www.macrumors.com

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.macrumors.com

Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) will soon stop showing public “likes” on users’ profile pages, the company has said. The plan was confirmed on Wedndesday by X engineers, after MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris uncovered a flag in X’s iOS app revealing the coming change.

Perris found that turning off the flag completely removes the “Likes” tab from all user profiles. His discovery was shared on X, which was then reposted and subsequently confirmed by X engineers.

“Yeah, we are making likes private,” responded X’s director of engineering Haofei Wang. “Public likes are incentivizing the wrong behavior. For example, many people feel discouraged from liking content that might be ‘edgy’ in fear of retaliation from trolls, or to protect their public image.

Researchers Use Machine Learning To Optimize High-Power Laser Experiments– www.enterpriseai.news

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.enterpriseai.news

 

A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT), and the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI ERIC) are conducting an experiment at the ELI Beamlines Facility in the Czech Republic to optimize high-power lasers using machine learning (ML). 

The researchers trained an ML code developed by LLNL’s Cognitive Simulation on laser-target interaction data allowing researchers to make adjustments as the experiment progresses. The output is fed back into the ML optimizer to allow it to fine-tune the pulse shape in real time. 

How Could A Drone Weighing Just A Few Pounds Blow Up A 46-Ton Tank?– www.forbes.com

pgnewser May 23, 2024 0

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Excerpt from www.forbes.com

Ukrainian workshops build more than 100,000 explosive first-person-view drones every month for the Ukrainian military. That’s a lot of drones. But each drone weighs just a few pounds and typically carries a single grenade weighing just a pound or so.

So while 100,000 drones represent a lot of firepower, it’s not very heavy firepower. FPV drones are extremely dangerous to exposed infantry, but armored vehicles can usually shrug off multiple strikes by FPVs—and keep fighting.

That appears to be changing, however. It seems Ukrainian drone crews have found some way to massively boost the explosive potential of a single FPV. Consider the Russian T-80 tank that rolled toward Ukrainian lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast recently.