● [Tech] Fewer people 'using Facebook for news'. ︴ ︴

▼ Fewer people are using Facebook to discover and discuss news, as messaging apps such as WhatsApp gain in popularity, a study has suggested. The seventh annual Digital News Reportsaid the fall in users accessing news on Facebook reflected concerns about privacy and the toxic nature of debate. Changes to Facebook's algorithms, which had de-prioritised news in people's feeds, had also played a part. The report sought to explore how people accessed news around the world. The research, by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at the University of Oxford, was based on a YouGov online survey of 74,000 people in 37 countries. It suggested young audiences were more likely to use WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat for news, partly because there was a growing desire to discuss news in relative privacy. The proportion of those surveyed that accessed news via WhatsApp had tripled in four years, to 15%. This tended to be much higher in countries, such as Malaysia and Turkey, where it can be dangerous to express views in more open networks. Report lead author Nic Newman said: "We're seeing many switching their focus to more personal, private spaces like messaging apps for sharing and discussing news. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] iPhone security loophole used by police closed by Apple. ︴ ︴

▼ Apple says it is to change the default settings of its iPhone to stop hackers and others unlocking devices without proper legal authorisation. The move will also make it more difficult for police to unlock handsets without authorisation. However, Apple denied the changes were designed to thwart US law enforcement. The company has been a prominent opponent of US legislation to force technology companies to maintain access to users' communications. The loophole also applies to countries outside the US, including the UK. Police forces say that being able to unlock iPhones and iPads is crucial to their work. But in 2016 Apple refused to help police unlock a phone used by a gunman who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] AI gives silenced radio journalist his voice back. ︴ ︴

▼ A US radio journalist who lost his voice two years ago will soon return to the air, thanks to artificial intelligence. Jamie Dupree, 54, a political radio journalist with Cox Media Group, is unable to talk due to a rare neurological condition. A new voice was created for him by Scottish technology company CereProc. CereProc trained a neural network to predict how Mr Dupree would talk, using samples from his old voice recordings. "This has saved my job and saved my family from a terrible financial unknown," Mr Dupree told the BBC. "There is not much of a market for radio reporters who can't talk." Typically, in order to create a voice for someone, the individual needs to read out a script for 30 hours in order to gather enough data. Then artificial intelligence is applied to either chop up words from the audio file and stick them back together on demand, or the technology is used to predict and imitate the person's speech patterns. Both of these methods can cost tens of thousands of pounds, and take a month to produce just one voice. Neural networks To speed up the process and make it more affordable, CereProc started developing its own neural networks in 2006. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Why Is This Tree Covered in a Ghostly Web? ︴ ︴

▼ I've seen some mysterious sights at work but this took me by surprise today. The entire tree 'moving' with caterpillars pic.twitter.com/s5W6ykIDHG— PC Rich Sutcliffe (@KiloSierra1728) June 10, 2018 Caterpillars, it seems, are not afraid to make big statements when designing their homes. Hundreds to thousands of the insect craftsmen covered a tree in Yorkshire, England, with so much of their eerie, white webbing that the result looks like a giant, moving ghost. Police officer Rich Sutcliffe recently found and snapped a photo of the tree while on duty in Northern Yorkshire, according to the BBC. The so-called ermine moth caterpillarshave a habit of draping their webs over random trees and other objects, according to Callum MacGregor, a postdoctoral researcher of biology at the University of York in the U.K. Just last week, MacGregor captured some photos of the apple ermine moth (Yponomeuta malinellus) forming a similar web on a crabapple tree. Other news reports have shown that these moth caterpillars can also cover cars and other structures, according to the BBC. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Gene therapy reverses rat's paralysis. ︴ ︴

▼ Scientists say they have taken a significant step towards the goal of giving paralysed people control of their hands again. The team at King's College London used gene therapy to repair damage in the spinal cord of rats. The animals could then pick up and eat sugar cubes with their front paws. It is early stage research, but experts said it was some of the most compelling evidence that people's hand function could one day be restored. The spinal cord is a dense tube of nerves carrying instructions from the brain to the rest of the body. The body repairs a wounded spinal cord with scar tissue. However, the scar acts like a barrier to new connections forming between nerves. How the gene therapy works The researchers were trying to dissolve components of the scar tissue in the rats' spinal cord. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Contrary to most doomsday visions, climate change will probably make for smaller waves and calmer seas Unfortunately, it's still going to suck. ︴ ︴

▼ As more and more greenhouse gases gather in Earth’s atmosphere, extreme weatheris expected to rise. Wild weather like hurricanes drive big waves. So doesn’t that mean you’ll find some gnarly surfing opportunities before being inundated by Earth’s rising, churning oceans? Mark Hemerhas bad/good news for you. If you don’t live in Australia, the answer is likely no. A research scientist at CSIRO’s Ocean Atmosphere Climate Science Centre, Hemer studies waves for a living. And what would seem like a relatively relaxing gig can actually be a minefield of assumptions, missing data, and seemingly endless question marks. First thing’s first: Forget about the monster waves typically predicted inDay After Tomorrow-style doomsday scenarios. “People jump to the conclusion that waves will be bigger and more destructive,” Hemer says. But in the future, he explains, most people will find them to be anything but. He predictsthat weather-fueled wave height increases will only occur in a tiny fraction of Earth’s oceans. Much of the rest of the world will likely see much shorter waves and calmer seas in the years to come—a bonus for shippers, not surfers. “A large chunk of the global ocean is actually projected to have a decrease in wave height,” he says. “It’s really only the Southern Ocean that will have an increase.” (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Russia Wants to Blast Space Junk with Laser Cannon. ︴ ︴

▼ Ground-based lasers developed by the USSR decades ago — conceptually illustrated here by artist Edward L. Cooper — were capable of interfering with some U.S. satellites. Credit: U.S. Department of Defense Russian. Space. Lasers. That's right, Russian scientists are developing cosmic guns capable of blasting some of the half-million bits of space junk orbiting our planet into oblivion. Precision Instrument Systems — a research and development arm within the Russian space agency, Roscosmos — recently submitted a proposal to the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) for transforming a 3-meter (10 feet) optical telescope into a laser cannon, the RT network reported. Scientists at Russia's Altay Optical-Laser Center will build this debris-monitoring telescope. Then, to turn it into a debris-vaporizing blaster, the researchers plan to add an optical detection system with an onboard "solid-state laser," according to the Sputnik news agency. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Prehistoric frogs in amber surface after 99 million years. ︴ ︴

▼ Frogs trapped in amber for 99 million years are giving a glimpse of a lost world. The tiny creatures have been preserved in sticky tree resin since the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs. The four fossils give a window into a world when frogs and toads were evolving in the rainforests. Amber from Myanmar, containing skin, scales, fur, feathers or even whole creatures, is regarded as a treasure trove by palaeontologists. Dr Lida Xing of China University of Geosciences in Beijing said it was a "miracle" find. "In China, frogs, lizards and scorpions are called three treasures of amber," he told BBC News. "These amber fossils provide direct evidence that frogs inhabited wet tropical forests before the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous." The fossil record of the earliest amphibians is sparse, which makes the discovery particularly valuable for science. Dr David Blackburn of the University of Florida, who worked on the fossils alongside Dr Xing, said being small and living in a tropical forest makes the likelihood of ending up in the fossil record "pretty low". "Frogs have been around on earth for approximately 200 million years," he said. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] These Gourmet Snakes Prefer to Eat Snails. ︴ ︴

▼ There's something strange about the five newly discovered snakes in Ecuador: Unlike most snakes that dine on rats, lizards and other small animals, these slithery reptiles eat snails. And that's pretty much all these snakes can eat. There are now 75 known species of snail-eaters, according to a new study on the reptiles. "The jaws of these snakes are modified so much that they cannot eat anything that isn't a snail or a slug," said lead study author Alejandro Arteaga, a doctoral student with the American Museum of National History in New York. "Sometimes, you can see [one] hanging from vegetation with a snail in its mouth," he said. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] India Delhi residents choke as dust blankets capital. ︴ ︴

▼ Residents of India's capital Delhi are battling high pollution levels and extreme temperatures due to an unusual dust haze covering the city. People have been complaining about breathing problems, with many saying the city has become unliveable. The state government has responded by banning all construction and deploying the fire brigade to sprinkle water across the city. People have been advised to stay indoors as much as possible. "In this case, dust has become a carrier of toxic pollutants. Pollution levels are 8-9 times higher than normal. And when we breathe, we are taking in toxic substances, which can have serious health repercussions," Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Centre For Science and Environment, told BBC Hindi. Delhi is already one of the most polluted cities in the world but the recent weather pattern has caused more problems for its residents. Many have taken to social media to share their concerns and are urging the government to do something about it. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Breaking bread, piercing prejudice: how a Ramadan meal united faiths Concerned about the portrayal of Muslims in India, author Nazia Erum hosted a multi-faith dinner in New Delhi to lay a few misconceptions to rest. ︴ ︴

▼ ‘We work in the same offices and factories, we eat the same food, we wear the same clothes’: an interfaith iftar in Gurgaon, organised by film-makers Saba Dewan and Rahul Roy. Photograph: Shamim Akhter At a dinner in a Delhi home on Sunday, guests around the table were asked to write down one stereotype that they – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus – had about one another. The purpose? Breaking prejudices while breaking bread together. The interfaith meal was prompted by the hosts’ desire to address preconceptions about Muslims, whom they feel have been targeted under Narendra Modi’s government. Muslims spit in their food before eating. Muslims cut off the head of goat and eat it raw. Muslim homes are dirty. Muslims don’t bathe. Muslims are illiterate. These were some of the guest comments read out by the host, Nazia Erum, a Muslim author. “We had a good discussion – both serious and hilarious – about these stereotypes,” says Erum. “And smashing the stereotype further was that a Muslim female pilot, biker, lawyer, doctor, and historian were present. So in one go, they saw educated and articulate Muslim women, saw the inside of a Muslim house and saw that it wasn’t dirty.” (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Kashmir journalist Shujaat Bukhari shot dead in Srinagar. ︴ ︴

▼ A leading newspaper journalist and editor in Indian-administered Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Srinagar. Bukhari, a frequent contributor to the BBC News website, was attacked in his car near the office of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, which he edited. He was taken to hospital but was later declared dead. One of his guards was also killed in the attack and another is critically injured, police told the BBC. No group has claimed the killings but police say militants are suspected to have carried out the attack. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Argentina congress takes historic step towards legalising abortion Lower house votes 129-123 to allow abortion in first 14 weeks If senate approves bill President Macri has said he will sign it. ︴ ︴

▼ Pro-choice activists react outside the Argentinian congress in Buenos Aires, on Thursday, shortly after lawmakers approved a bill to legalize abortion. Photograph: Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images The lower house of Argentina’s congress has narrowly approved a bill that would legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, in a historic victory for the country’s growing women’s movement. Tens of thousands of women – many wearing the green headscarfs which have become a symbol of the movement – braved a freezing winter night to stand vigil outside the congress building in Buenos Aires during the marathon 20-hour debate. The bill was finally passed early on Thursday by 129 votes to 125, paving the way for Argentinato become the third nation in Latin America – after Cuba and Uruguay – to legalise abortion. It will now go before the country’s upper house, where it will face another tough battle. The centre-right president, Mauricio Macri, has declared himself personally against legal abortion, but has pledged to sign the bill into law if it is passed. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Chile police raid Catholic Church offices amid sex abuse scandal. ︴ ︴

▼ Police and prosecutors in Chile have raided offices and seized documents of the Roman Catholic Church amid a child sexual abuse and cover-up scandal. The surprise raids took place in the capital Santiago and in the city of Rancagua. They come as two Vatican envoys are in Chile to investigate the claims and advise dioceses how to respond. On Monday the Pope accepted the resignations of three Chilean bishopsin the wake of the scandal. They included the controversial Juan Barros who was accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by priest Fernando Karadima in the 1980s and 1990s. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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