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Welcome to the April 29, 2022, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.

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The Northern grasshopper mouse was predicted likely to carry worrisome pathogens. Which Animal Viruses Could Infect People? Computers Are Racing to Find Out
The New York Times
Carl Zimmer
April 27, 2022


Researchers are using machine learning models to predict which animal viruses can infect human cells. In March, Georgetown University's Colin Carlson and his colleagues established the VIRION open access database, which incorporates data about 9,521 viruses and their 3,692 animal hosts. Carlson and colleagues also developed a model to identify the animals most likely to harbor relatives of SARS-CoV-2. In 2020, the model identified over 300 species of bats most likely to harbor betacoronaviruses; since then, 47 of those species have been found to harbor betacoronaviruses. Said Rocky Mountain Laboratories' Emmie de Wit, "What we really want to know is not necessarily which viruses can infect humans, but which viruses can cause an outbreak."

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NFTs created by Holocaust survivors were displayed in a museum in the metaverse on Holocaust Remembrance Day. First Holocaust Museum in Metaverse to Display NFTs from Survivors
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
April 29, 2022


Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) created by Holocaust survivors are on display in the first Holocaust museum in the metaverse, established by the Chasdei Naomi organization in Israel. Visual projects, including video testimonies and interviews between survivors and online media creators, are recorded and posted to the metaverse as NFTs on the blockchain. A Chasdei Naomi representative said the project creates "a personal and intergenerational connection between those who are on the side of the NFT works and the survivors themselves.” Another representative said, "The issue of preserving the memory of the Holocaust must adapt itself to the technological age so that it is not forgotten."

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VA, ORNL, Harvard Develop Novel Method to Identify Complex Medical Relationships
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
April 28, 2022


A team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has developed a novel technique to identify complex medical relationships from electronic health records. The KESER (Knowledge Extraction via Sparse Embedding Regression) method combines data from the VA and Boston-based non-profit hospital and physicians network Partners Healthcare, and facilitates automated feature selection to support phenotype identification algorithms and knowledge discovery. KESER converts data into a structured format, builds a low-dimensional-vector model of each medical code, selects features to attribute importance, and charts attributed relationships into a network. The researchers processed vast medical datasets, built a co-occurrence matrix of 100,000-plus healthcare codes, and automated data pre-processing.

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STEM badges will be awarded to Brownies, alongside those for skill building, performing, and other activities. Brownies to Learn Coding in Bid to Involve More Girls in Technology
The Guardian
Robert Booth
April 28, 2022


As part of an effort in the U.K. to introduce girls to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Brownies, the second youngest section of Girlguiding (scouting) in the U.K., for girls aged 7–10, are learning to code, while Guides (ages 10-14) are working with chatbots. The Guides offer merit badges in science, computing, robotics, and engineering, and the Brownies offer merit badges in aviation, invention, and space. The effort follows an analysis of U.K. government statistics that showed a 2% decline in the share of women in England's core STEM workforce in 2020.

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Lighting Up Artificial Neural Networks
University of Exeter (U.K.)
April 27, 2022


An international team of scientists has mimicked biological computations of the mammalian brain using a nanoscale "optomemristor" device that responds to multiple electronic and photonic inputs at the same time. The optomemristor enables multifactorial computation, which allows the brain to learn from either positive or negative reinforcements. IBM Research Europe's Syed Ghazi Sarwat said the research showed a practical approach to using hardware to mimic reinforcement learning efficiently, which the researchers used to enable an artificial rodent to learn to navigate through a maze. Said Huawei Technologies’ Timoleon Moraitis, “By emulating the so-called ‘shunting inhibition’ function of dendrites of biological neurons, we illustrate how our optomemristor can effectively provide a single-neuron solution for difficult computational problems.”

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JR West’s humanoid heavy equipment robot’s torso mimics the arm and leg motions of a human pilot. Japanese Rail Company Rolls Out VR-Piloted Gundam Robot Worker
New Atlas
Loz Blain
April 27, 2022


The West Japan Rail Company, working with advanced robotics firm Human Machinery Co. and transportation infrastructure solutions provider Nippon Signal Co., has deployed a humanoid heavy equipment maintenance robot that is directed through virtual reality (VR). The company said the robot is designed "to improve productivity and safety" by allowing workers to elevate and manipulate equipment around the rail system without risking electrocution or falls. The robot's torso is mounted to a hydraulic crane arm, which rides around the system on a rail car, and drops stabilizing legs when in operation. The operator wears motion-tracked VR goggles to control the movements of the unit’s head with stereo vision, and grips handles that direct the motions of the robot's arms and hands.

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A satellite in Earth orbit. Using Satellite Data to Help Direct Response to Natural Disasters
Ohio State News
Tatyana Woodall
April 27, 2022


Ohio State University (OSU) researchers say three-dimensional (3D) images generated from satellite data could assist first responders by detecting natural disasters in remote areas. OSU's Rongjun Qin said scientists "could figure out how many people to send over for rescue operations, and observe the level of damage these events actually create," by tapping resources like the Planetscope satellite fleet datasets to create 3D surface models of any given region. Qin's 3D reconstructions factor in different elevation levels and landscapes, and are accurate down to approximately 6 meters (20 feet) from the ground. Test cases in rural Spain and Allentown, PA, showed the researchers were able to create a 3D reconstruction of one region, and that they were able to detect 3D changes over time in another.

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The logo of Chinese social media app Weibo on a smartphone screen. China's Weibo Shows User Locations to Combat 'Bad Behavior'
Reuters
Eduardo Baptista
April 28, 2022


Chinese social media application Weibo informed its users it will publish their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on their account pages and when they post comments, in order to rein in "bad behavior" online. Such behavior, said Weibo, which some sites describe as “China’s equivalent to Twitter,” includes "impersonating parties involved in hot topic issues, malicious disinformation, and traffic scraping." The new settings are intended “to ensure the authenticity and transparency of the content disseminated,” according to Weibo. The new settings, which came into effect on Thursday, will display IP addresses in a way that users cannot deactivate. Some users said they welcomed the measures in view of COVID-related misinformation, while others were unsettled by the apparent reduction in online anonymity.

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Illustration of a molecular structure. Researchers Monitor Subsurface CO2 Storage
Texas A&M Today
Nancy Luedke
April 27, 2022


Texas A&M University researchers demonstrated that unsupervised machine learning algorithms could analyze data from a geological carbon sequestration site to determine and model underground carbon dioxide (CO2) plume locations and movements. The algorithms evaluate CO2 presence in the data using five broad or qualitative ranges, identified by color for a two-dimensional visual representation; their results accelerated the pinpointing of plume location, coverage area, and its approximate size, shape, and density. Texas A&M's Siddarth Misra said, "We are letting the data tell us where the CO2 actually is. We are also providing rapid visualization because if you cannot see the CO2, you cannot control it deep underground."

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AI Helps Researchers Peer into the Brains of Mice
Johns Hopkins Medicine Newsroom
April 28, 2022


Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and technology company Corning developed an artificial intelligence (AI) training system to record images of mouse neurons in action. The researchers said the system, combined with ultra-small microscopes, can pinpoint precisely where and when mouse brain cells are activated during movement, learning, and memory. The researchers designed the AI solution to identify building blocks of the brain from fixed tissue images, and in images from a head-restrained living mouse. Despite the reduced image resolution of the ultra-small microscopes, the team found the AI could adequately restore image quality up to 26 frames per second, and could clearly visualize activity spikes of individual brain cells.

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Dolphins feeding off the east coast of South Africa. Warning on Mass Extinction of Sea Life: 'An Oh My God Moment'
The New York Times
Catrin Einhorn
April 28, 2022


Princeton University's Justin L. Penn and Curtis Deutsch forecast the potential mass extinction of ocean life due to climate warming over the next three centuries, which Penn describes as "an 'Oh my God' moment." The researchers also speculate that containing greenhouse gas emissions within the upper limit of the Paris climate agreement would slash ocean extinction risks by over 70%. The forecast builds on a computer model that simulated global warming-induced mass extinction from 252 million years ago. The researchers adopted that model for their new study, which Penn said involved "a lot of time spent on the computer."

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A laptop on a background of computer code. Microsoft Finds Linux Desktop Flaw That Gives Root to Untrusted Users
Ars Technica
Dan Goodin
April 26, 2022


Microsoft discovered an elevation of privileges flaw in Linux incorporating two vulnerabilities that can grant root system rights to untrusted users. The Nimbuspwn exploit, which Microsoft calls “the EoP threat,” resides in the networkd-dispatcher, a component in many Linux distributions that dispatches network status changes and can process various scripts to respond to a new status. Networkd-dispatcher runs as root when a desktop boots up, and the flaws blend threats including directory traversal, symlink race, and time-of-check time-of-use race condition, permitting hackers with minimal access to a desktop to link exploits for these vulnerabilities and gain full root access. The flaw has been patched, and users of vulnerable versions of Linux are advised to implement the patch as soon as possible.

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Illustration of various molecular compounds. A Smarter Way to Develop Drugs
MIT News
Adam Zewe
April 26, 2022


Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a new approach that allows machine learning models used in the discovery of new medicines to suggest only those molecular structures that can be produced in a laboratory. After training on a complete molecular structure and a set of building blocks and chemical reactions, the model was able to determine synthetic pathways on its own. The system proposed molecular structures that scored as high or better than those proposed by other methods, but the suggested molecules were guaranteed to be synthesizable. Said MIT's Wenhao Gao, "Instead of directly designing the product molecule itself, we design an action sequence to obtain that molecule. This allows us to guarantee the quality of the structure."

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