vinces99 writes "The chemical components crucial to the start of life on Earth may have primed and protected each other in never-before-realized ways, according to new research led by University of Washington scientists. That could mean a simpler scenario for how that first spark of life on the planet came about. Scientists have long thought that life started when the right combination of bases and sugars produced self-replicating ribonucleic acid, or RNA, inside a rudimentary 'cell' composed of fatty acids. Under the right conditions, fatty acids naturally form into bag-like structures similar to today's cell membranes. In testing one of the fatty acids representative of those found before life began – decanoic acid – the scientists discovered that the four bases in RNA bound more readily to the decanoic acid than did the other seven bases tested. By concentrating more of the bases and sugar that are the building blocks of RNA, the system would have been primed for the next steps, reactions that led to RNA inside a bag."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The iTunes Store has reached one billion total podcast subscriptions, spread out over 250,000 podcasts. While not every podcast subscription is through iTunes — some are from third-party apps, such as Instacast — it’s still an indicator that podcasting is a booming medium. Despite the iOS Podcasts app having a rocky history, podcasts are key in many of Apple’s products — iTunes, GarageBand, Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, and the iPad, which all allow either listening to or recording of podcasts.

 

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Den amerikanske expresidenten Jimmy Carter ska göra en privat resa till Nordkorea, uppger Vita huset.

Beväpnade män stred på måndagskvällen med pakistanska säkerhetsstyrkor om kontrollen över ett stort fängelse där hundratals talibaner och extremister från andra förbjudna grupper är intagna.

Dubbelt så många pirat-anmälningar.

Uppges ha skjutits ihjäl vid gränsen till Algeriet.

colinneagle writes "A team of students at the University of Texas at Austin built and successfully tested a custom GPS spoofing device to remotely redirect an $80 million yacht onto a different route. The project was completed with the permission of the yacht's owners in the Mediterranean Sea this past June. Because the yacht's crew relies entirely on GPS signal for direction, the students were able to lead the yacht onto a different course without the knowledge of anyone on-board. The GPS spoofing device essentially over-powered all other GPS signals using until the spoofed signal was the only one that the yacht followed. The team then used the GPS spoofing device to convince the ship's crew to redirect onto a different route voluntarily. By changing the signal on the spoofing device, the students led the crew to believe that the ship was drifting off-course to the left. In response, the crew steered the ship to the right, thinking that it would get the ship back on course, when it actually brought the ship off the course entirely."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A 57-year-old man was convicted of raping seven-year-old girl at an Abu Dhabi school, victim's family lawyer told AFP.