Interesting Links: May 4, 2019

Business, News, Science, Technology, or whatever gets my attention.

Straight from my RSS feed:

Ten links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.

1. Cybersecurity for the Public Interest - Security expert Bruce Schneier argues in IEEE Security & Privacy for people to adopt the role of public interest cryptographer and more generally, public interest technologist. According to Schneier, there are too many policy makers who don't understand technologies, and too many technologists who don't understand policy, and the two groups are talking past one another. He argues that a public interest cryptographer/technologist could help to mediate by balancing between competing needs. To accomplish this, he suggests changes to be implemented on the supply side, the demand side, and the market place. The argument assumes that there is a collective public interest that is somehow different from the overall aggregation of individual self-interests. h/t Bruce Schneier


2. Engineering Solar Radiation Is a Crazy Idea - In this Intelligence² debate, Clive Hamilton and Anjali Viswamohanan argue for the motion, "Engineering solar radiation is a crazy idea." David Keith and Ted Parson argue against it. The "for" side argues that it side-steps root causes, leads to unintended consequences, and has potential for abuse. The "against" side argues that it mimics natural processes, is cost efficient, and there is too much risk if we don't.


3. Ancient DNA reveals two lost lineages of horses—but not their elusive origins - French molecular archaeologist, Ludovic Orlando worked with 120 other researchers to amass the largest database of horse DNA, but after years of analysis with DNA from as far as 42,000 years ago, he still hasn't been able to identify the ancient ancestors of the modern domesticated horse. He did, however, identify two previously unknown lines of ancient horses that were not ancestors of the modern horse, one in Portugal and Spain from 4,000 years ago, and another in Russian Siberia from around the same time. Analysis also revealed "major genetic turnovers" in the 7th century, when Arabs migrated to Europe, and that selective breeding accelerated to such a degree about 200 years ago that today's horses are very different animals from those of 1,000 years ago. h/t archaeology.org


4. Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peaks: When To View In Eastern PA - If the skies clear up, the best time to watch is around 3am local time on 5/4 and 5/5, when Aquarius starts to emerge from the east/south-east horizon, but skies are expected to be cloudy. The meteor shower runs through May 28, so there will be more opportunities to see it. Other upcoming summer meteor showers will peak on July 26-27, July 29-30, and August 12-13.


5. 15 Basic Words That Are Etymological Mysteries - From dog, bad, and big to toad, curse, and kick, the origins of these 15 words are unknown. Click through to learn what etymologists do know about them.


6. How to Save $45 Billion on Health Care Costs Each Year - Every year, 3% of visitors to American hospitals get health-care associated infections (HAIs). These are infections that are received when seeking treatment for another condition. Those infections are mostly preventable, and lead to roughly 72,000 deaths and a bill of $45 billion dollars. Governments have been working on policies to promote and incentivize HAI prevention, but existing policies seem to be counter-productive. The article suggests that instead of punishing hospitals with high HAI rates, a more effective policy would be to reward those with low HAI rates.


7. NASA's 5-step plan for when it discovers a giant, killer asteroid headed straight for Earth - (i) text a research team with 12 or less members; (ii) track the object's path; (iii) determine object size and time of impact; (iv) confirm with FEMA that the accident is inevitable; (v) NASA and FEMA issue joint public statement, and begin developing scenarios to best protect earth. NASA estimates that collisions with a mile or longer meteor only happen once every million years, and they are actively working to develop countermeasures.


8. 68% of Global Millionaires Already Invested or Plan to Invest in Crypto by 2022: Survey - Not counting Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), motivating factors include cross-border trading capability, trends toward increasing digitalization, real-life problems like remittances & services for unbanked individuals, acceptance by the younger generation, and increasingly active engagement by institutional investors.


9. What’s the best way to help the people who supply the things we buy every day? - From the article: "Our latest research in 4 sentences: Over the course of 3 payments in 4 months, GiveDirectly delivered $1,000 to 3,415 households in coffee growing communities. One year later, we surveyed them to measure their economic well-being and coffee production. Recipients of the cash consumed more, earned more, had more assets, and greater food security. Also, coffee farmers invested more in their coffee farms and sold more coffee."


10. STEEM 5 Hard Truths I Learned From Art - @marthejose writes 5 about lessons from his artwork: (i) It takes more than just hard work; (ii) networking is important; (iii) artists need patience; (iv) don't fear radical change; and (v) it's ok to get paid. Click through to the article for explanations. (@marthejose will receive 5% of this post's payout)

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