Writing Thursday in the journal Science, scientists from San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley and UCLA pinpointed regions of the U.S. where native salamanders, a key part of forest ecosystems, are at particular risk. They asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place an immediate ban on live salamander imports until controls are in place to prevent the spread of the deadly fungus.
continue http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-salamander-fungus-trade-0150730-story.html
Gaining remote code execution privileges merely by having access to the mobile number? Enter Stagefright.
The targets for this kind of attack can be anyone from Prime ministers, govt. officials, company executives, security officers to IT managers. 
Built on tens of gigabytes of source code from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), the leading smartphone operating system carries a scary code in its heart. Named Stagefright, it is a media library that processes several popular media formats. Since media processing is often time-sensitive, the library is implemented in native code (C++) that is more prone to memory corruption than memory-safe languages like Java.
Zimperium zLabs VP of Platform Research and Exploitation, Joshua J. Drake (@jduck), dived into the deepest corners of Android code and discovered what we believe to be the worst Android vulnerabilities discovered to date. These issues in Stagefright code critically expose 95% of Android devices, an estimated 950 million devices. Drake’s research, to be presented at Black Hat USA on August 5 and DEF CON 23 on August 7 found multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities that can be exploited using various methods, the worst of which requires no user-interaction.
Attackers only need your mobile number, using which they can remotely execute code via a specially crafted media file delivered via MMS. A fully weaponized successful attack could even delete the message before you see it. You will only see the notification. These vulnerabilities are extremely dangerous because they do not require that the victim take any action to be exploited. Unlike spear-phishing, where the victim needs to open a PDF file or a link sent by the attacker, this vulnerability can be triggered while you sleep. Before you wake up, the attacker will remove any signs of the device being compromised and you will continue your day as usual – with a trojaned phone.
continue http://blog.zimperium.com/experts-found-a-unicorn-in-the-heart-of-android/
Going to the doctor is rarely a pleasant experience. Beyond the sterile atmosphere and high prices (at least in the US), there’s the poking, the prodding, the injecting, and the inserting. According to the American Cancer Society, everyone over the age of 50 should get a colonoscopy to be screened for colorectal cancer. But many shy away from the procedure that involves sticking a camera up somewhere things don’t often go.
However, a new product being developed might make checking for colon cancer as easy as swallowing a pill.
Check Cap, led by medical engineer Yoav Kimchy, has developed a pill that contains a small sensor that works like an X-ray machine, or the LIDAR detection system in Google’s self-driving cars. A patient swallows the pill and when it gets to the colon, it emits a signal to determine how far it is from the colon wall. The signal is emitted in every direction, allowing the pill to map the entire inside of the colon. It sends the data to a wireless patch the patient slaps on their skin, which tracks the pill’s movement through their body. According to Check Cap, it’s about as harmful to the body as two airport body scans or one chest X-ray.
The pill is disposable and doesn’t need to be retrieved once it’s done its job. The patient then gives the patch to their doctor, and in 10 minutes, they’ll have a full 3D rendering of the patient’s colon. Doctors don’t have to sit through footage of a camera snaking its way through someone’s colon—instead they can check the 3D model for irregularities as they would a CT scan.
continue http://www.nextgov.com/health/2015/07/theres-now-x-ray-pill-you-can-swallow/118739/
Plastic is a part of almost everything we use. It is so-called one of the most “omnipresent” elements in our daily lives as it makes up the very gadgets we use to the our furniture. Even more so, it might soon make up the very roads that we drive on. A new type of road surface called the PlasticRoad is being touted as a more sustainable alternative to asphalt.
image: http://realitypod.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/plasticroad-3-600×400.jpg
Developers of the PlasticRoad, VolkerWessels, shares that the new pavement is made up of prefabricated plastic structures that are laid on top of sand, which makes installing a new road a considerably easier process than the distribution of asphalt or using other suitable road materials. The PlasticRoad is therefore a more economical option for cities across the world as less time is required for road construction.
Born without an anus and weighing only 5 lbs, an 80-day-old baby boy from China’s Shanxi Province needs an urgent surgery to survive.
His skin turning blue, baby Guo Enze does not look the same as other children, The People’s Online reports. His grandmother has now turned to social media for help though media. She told reporters:
Please help save my grandson who is 80 days old but has never seen the sun yet.
1. Born without an anus and weighing only 5 lbs, 80-day-old baby boy Guo Enze (pictured with his unnamed grandmother) needs an urgent surgery to survive.
image: http://www.viralspell.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/gu-12.jpg
2. Guo Enze pictured with his grandmother.
image: http://www.viralspell.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/gu-22.jpg
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Known as the Sustainable Alternative Lightning (Salt) lamp, the product is not composed of any hazardous component and also features a USB port for charging a smartphone. According to the official Salt website, there are more than 7000 islands in the Philippines and most of them do not have access to electricity. With the help of this technology, the firm wants to remove the sustaining cost in places which depends on kerosene/battery powered lamps and candles as their main source of lighting. continue http://www.efytimes.com/e1/fullnews.asp?edid=171985 |
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absenteereality 
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