Israeli startup Renewal Bio is pursuing recent advances in stem-cell technology and artificial wombs to harvest tissues for use in transplants. A team of scientists recently grew mice embryos from stem cells that developed beating hearts, flowing blood, and cranial folds. The technology could be used to make cells for transplantation. Renewal has licensed the technology and it will help fund future research.
SpaceX and South Korea are working together to launch a payload directly to the Moon. It is South Korea's first mission to the Moon and SpaceX's first direct launch to the Moon. The payload is the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter. It will operate 60 miles above the surface of the Moon for at least one year. Many more details about the mission are available in the article.
Scientists have recently observed light working as the glue between weakly bound molecules. They successfully polarized several atoms in a controlled way to create a measurable attractive force between them. The force is very weak when compared to others. The discovery could help scientists explain how molecules form in space.
California-based nonprofit Earth Species Project (ESP) wants to use machine learning to translate animal communication into something humans can understand. The project aims to help humans understand as many species as possible. It will include non-verbal communication. ESP has made some progress, with an algorithm that can tell which individual in a group of animals is speaking and an algorithm that can generate mimicked animal calls.
sqlite-html is an SQLite extension for querying, manipulating, and creating HTML elements. It can extract HTML or text from HTML with CSS selectors, generate tables of matching elements from CSS selectors, and create HTML elements in a query. sqlite-html's API is modeled after the official JSON1 SQLite extension.
Tabby is a highly configurable terminal emulator, SSH, and serial client for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It features theming and color schemes, fully configurable shortcuts, split panes, full Unicode support, and more. Screenshots are available.
Visa has suspended card payments for MindGeek and its companies, including Pornhub, after a lawsuit accused the payments giant of facilitating child pornography. A federal judge in California has denied Visa its motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Visa cards can no longer be used to purchase advertising on any sites affiliated with MindGeek. The company previously suspended sites that contained user-generated content and acceptance on those sites has not been reinstated.
SHARPEXT is a malware that installs a browser extension for Chrome and Edge browsers on Windows that lets hackers from North Korea read email from infected users' Gmail and AOL accounts. The extension can't be detected by the email services. SHARPEXT has been in use for well over a year. It gets installed on systems through a combination of spear phishing and social engineering techniques. Many more details about the malware are available in the article.