All posts tagged: protection

The truth about fluoride in water: Essential protection or hidden danger?

The truth about fluoride in water: Essential protection or hidden danger?

Published by skeptic

Water is vital for life, but in many communities, it also carries something else: fluoride. Touted as one of the most significant public health achievements of the 20th century, fluoride has been added to drinking water for decades. While many experts support its benefits, the practice continues to stir debate. Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in soil, rocks, and water. Scientists in the 1930s noticed that people in areas with naturally high fluoride levels had fewer cavities. This discovery led to the first intentional fluoridation of public water in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945. Since then, cities worldwide have followed suit. The reason is simple—fluoride helps protect teeth. “Fluoride strengthens tooth enamel by helping to remineralize weakened areas, making teeth more resistant to acid attacks from bacteria in the mouth,” says Dr. Steven Levy, a researcher at the University of Iowa. This process reduces the risk of cavities, especially in children. Supporters argue that fluoridation is an effective, low-cost way to improve dental health for entire communities. The Centers for Disease Control and …

A Team of Female Founders Is Launching Cloud Security Tech That Could Overhaul AI Protection

A Team of Female Founders Is Launching Cloud Security Tech That Could Overhaul AI Protection

Published by skeptic

While working on internet-of-things security in the mid-2010s, Alex Zenla realized something troubling. Unlike PCs and servers that touted the latest, greatest processors, the puny chips in IoT devices couldn’t support the cloud protections other computers were using to keep them siloed and protected. As a result, most embedded devices were attached directly to the local network, potentially leaving them more vulnerable to attack. At the time, Zenla was a prodigious teen, working on IoT platforms and open source, and building community in Minecraft IRC channels. After puzzling over the problem for a few years, she started working on a technology to make it possible for nearly any device to run in its own isolated cloud space, known as a “container.” Now, a decade later, she’s one of three female cofounders of a security company that’s trying to change how cloud infrastructure shares resources. Known as Edera, the company makes cloud workload isolation tech that may sound like a niche tool, but it aims to address a universal security problem when many applications or even …

The Download: Understanding deep matter, and AI jailbreak protection

The Download: Understanding deep matter, and AI jailbreak protection

Published by skeptic

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 China may pull the plug on a TikTok dealHolding out is a weapon in its arsenal as Trump ramps up the trade war. (WP $) 2 Australia and South Korea are cracking down on DeepSeekThey’re restricting government use of its models due to security concerns. (Nikkei Asia)+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review) 3 A new form of bird flu has been detected in cows in NevadaThis is far from good news, and even worse timing. (NYT $)+ Argentina is planning to follow the US in withdrawing from the World Health Organization. (CNN)+ This is what might happen if the US exits the WHO. (MIT Technology Review) 4 The US Postal Service has resumed accepting packages from ChinaThe …

How to Use Stolen Device Protection on Apple’s iPhone

How to Use Stolen Device Protection on Apple’s iPhone

Published by skeptic

If a thief ever steals an iPhone out of your bag or even snatches it from your grasp, panic sets in immediately. You also may have a lot more to worry about beyond just the cost of replacing the phone. What if they saw me enter the passcode and now have easy access to all of my messages, photos, and sensitive information? While it definitely sucks to have your smartphone nabbed, turning on Apple’s Stolen Device protection can immediately cut thieves’ access to your smartphone data. This feature is not automatically enabled and needs to be activated before the crime occurs. First released as part of iOS 17.3, Stolen Device Protection essentially adds an extra layer of security to your smartphone whenever the device is somewhere you don’t regularly visit. Here’s a quick guide to what the software feature does and what steps are necessary to turn it on. For a deeper dive into Apple’s anti-theft software, check out WIRED security reporter Matt Burgess’s article about the feature from last year. If you have an …

Phages in agriculture: Revolutionising crop protection

Phages in agriculture: Revolutionising crop protection

Published by skeptic

Imagine a world where crops are shielded from harmful pathogens without relying on detrimental chemicals. Picture a solution that precisely targets harmful bacteria while leaving beneficial organisms untouched. This is the promise of utilising phages in agriculture – tiny yet powerful viruses that are transforming crop protection and paving the way for sustainable farming practices. Phages explained Phages – short for bacteriophages – are specialised viruses that infect and destroy harmful bacteria found in crops. These natural allies act as microscopic warriors, identifying and targeting the bacteria responsible for plant diseases. The process begins when a phage locates its target bacteria. It attaches to the bacterial cell and injects its genetic material, hijacking the bacterial machinery to replicate itself. Eventually, the bacterial cell bursts, releasing new phages that continue the fight against other harmful bacteria. This natural mechanism provides an effective, precise, and sustainable way to protect crops from disease while avoiding harm to beneficial microbes or the environment. In addition to agriculture, phage therapy has also emerged as an exciting alternative treatment to combat …

UNESCO Grants ‘Provisional Enhanced Protection’ to Ukrainian Sites

UNESCO Grants ‘Provisional Enhanced Protection’ to Ukrainian Sites

Published by skeptic

UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, has granted “provisional enhanced protection” to two Ukrainian heritage sites, the Odessa Literary Museum and the National Historical and Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar, as the Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches its three-year anniversary. One of the cultural properties, National Historical Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar in Kyviv, honors the more than 33,000 Jews, as well as Roma and Soviet prisoners, killed by the Nazis in a two-day massacre in 1941. In March of 2022, a Russian projectile hit close to the site, killing five people. A monument to Holocaust victims was not directly struck, but a nearby building the center planned to use for a new museum was damaged. Related Articles “Cultural property under the enhanced protection of UNESCO benefits from the highest level of immunity from attack and use for military purposes. Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute a ‘serious violation’ of the 1999 Second Protocol to the Hague Convention, opening the possibility of prosecution,” UNESCO said in a statement. In February of this year, UNESCO reported that 341 …

Android’s New Location Protection Feature Sniffs Out Unwanted Bluetooth Tracking Devices

Android’s New Location Protection Feature Sniffs Out Unwanted Bluetooth Tracking Devices

Published by skeptic

Bluetooth tracking devices are handy for finding lost items, but they can also be used maliciously. Fortunately, companies are doing their best to help people protect themselves from unwanted tracking by letting them know when an unwanted device locks onto their location. Google has just announced its new “Find Nearby” Android feature, which detects unregistered Bluetooth devices tracking your location and helps you find where they are. Google’s “Find Nearby” Feature Locates Hidden Location Trackers Apple and Framesira/Shutterstock As announced on Google’s blog The Keyword, the company is helping people spot hidden Bluetooth trackers. Bad actors sometimes surreptitiously stick a tracker onto an item and then give it to someone they want to track—for example, inside a stuffed toy. When the target brings the item back home with them, the bad actor can then learn where they live, which makes Bluetooth racking devices an unfortunate tool of choice for stalkers. Fortunately, Android devices are now getting a tool called “Find Nearby.” This works alongside Android’s unknown tracker alert system to help you locate where it …

Clampdown on children with protection plans

Clampdown on children with protection plans

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Parents of pupils subject to child protection enquiries or plans will need permission from their local authority to home educate their child, under new plans due to be unveiled by the government this week. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has announced plans to legislate for a number of new powers and protections for children in the social care system, but there are some elements relevant to schools. For example, the government said it would legislate to create a “new duty on parents where if their child is subject to a child protection enquiry, or on a child protection plan, they will need local authority consent to home educate that child”. Every council will also be required to have “multi-agency child safeguarding teams”, involving children’s schools and teachers, aimed at “stopping children from falling through the cracks”.  It is not clear whether this legislation will be separate to, or part of the upcoming children’s wellbeing bill, which is due to introduce sweeping reforms to the schools sector. Home education on …

The Protection Racket

The Protection Racket

Published by skeptic

In October 2020, on the morning after Kamala Harris had debated then vice-president Mike Pence, Donald Trump would not say her name. Calling in to Fox Business from the White House, he referred to her as “this monster that was onstage with Mike Pence.” The choice of this term was not accidental—he repeated it for […] Source link

Alan Bates calls for protection of legal funding that helped bring Horizon scandal to court | Post Office Horizon scandal

Alan Bates calls for protection of legal funding that helped bring Horizon scandal to court | Post Office Horizon scandal

Published by skeptic

Alan Bates has warned of a “concerted effort” by big business to constrain access to the kind of funding that allowed the post office operators to bring a landmark case against their former employer. In an article for the Guardian, Bates, who exposed the Horizon scandal that has been described as one of the UK’s “greatest miscarriages of justice”, said ministers should push forward with legislation to protect the litigation funding sector. Litigation funders give financial backing to legal battles that they calculate are likely to succeed in exchange for a share of the compensation. It allows expensive class action-style cases to be launched by people who could not otherwise afford them. The government’s bill, which is going through parliament and applies to England and Wales, seeks to overturn the effects of an obscure supreme court ruling last year that threw litigation funding into disarray. The Guardian reported this week that Fair Civil Justice, a campaign linked to the US and UK chambers of commerce, wrote to ministers twice in March lobbying against the legislation, …