Your WIRED daily briefing. Today, the USA has expelled Russian diplomats over the country's involvement in US election hacks, scientists have developed a method of stopping CRISPR-Cas9 gene edits to avoid unwanted changes, SpaceX has published the first photo of its forthcoming Falcon Heavy rocket.
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The US government has expelled 35 Russian diplomats over the country's alleged involvement in hacks related to the US Presidential elections earlier this year (BBC). The United States has also imposed sanctions on Russia's GRU and FSB intelligence agencies, whose compounds in the USA will be closed. In a press release, President Obama wrote that the move is "in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election. These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior." Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham of the Republican party have said they "intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia". Meanwhile, the Kremlin has warned that it will retaliate in kind.
A newly-published paper by researchers from the University of California San Francisco details a method of preventing specific genes from being edited by the CRISPR-Cas9 gene snipping technique (Motherboard). CRISPR-Cas9 hunts for and cuts out anything matching a specific DNA or RNA sequence, but this can sometimes affect cells that researchers didn't want changed. The team derived an "anti-CRISPR" from Listeria, which, the paper says "present(s) tools that can be used to regulate the genome engineering activities of CRISPR-Cas9."
SpaceX has published the first photo of its new Falcon Heavy rocket booster on its Instagram account (Ars Technica). A caption describes the photo, which shows a small section of the rocket with the Falcon Heavy logo on it, as: "Falcon Heavy interstage being prepped at the rocket factory. When FH flies next year, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two." SpaceX hopes to launch the rocket for the first time in "early-to-mid" 2017. When operational, it will have double the capacity of the world's current most powerful booster, the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy.
A recently-uncovered Amazon patent details plans for an "Airborne Fulfillment Center" that would act as a warehouse and mothership for a fleet of delivery drones (CNET). The airship would float 45,000 feet (13,716 metres) above the ground, allowing it to move to follow customer demand and fine weather. The flying warehouse would initially have to be crewed, at least at the goods fulfilment end - Amazon notes that the piloting system could be automated.
The world of banking, says Anthony Thomson, has a dirty little secret: "Nobody actually cares about banks" (WIRED). But the 62-year-old British entrepreneur believes he can make people care about his new bank, Atom. The key? It's not really a bank at all. "I could make a compelling argument to say that Atom is actually a data company that happens to have a banking licence," he says.
Nasa has announced that three astronauts will be making space walks on January 6 and January 13 to install a new set of batteries in the International Space Station (Motherboard). Six lithium-ion batteries are to replace 12 older nickel-hydrogen batteries that store energy to power the station when its position limits the amount of solar power it can generate. While part of the operation will be carried out by robots, Nasa's Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and the ESA's Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet will have to carry out vital connection stages. The new batteries are built to last 10 years - the ISS is due to be retired in 2020.
A new study has found that evidence of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease cam be detected in works painted years before their artists were diagnosed (Gizmodo). The researchers used a technique called fractal analysis to examine the unique characteristics of the artists' brush strokes, and found that the distinctive fractal fingerprints of artists including Salvador Dali and Norval Morrisseau changed as their neurological conditions progressed. Lead author Alex Forsythe of the University of Liverpool’s School of Psychology said that "this process offers the potential for the detection of emerging neurological problems. We hope that our innovation may open up new research directions that will help to diagnose neurological disease in the early stage."
Free language learning service Duolingo has added a new social feature to its apps for Android and iOS (TechCrunch). The apps now have a language club screen, where you can create your own club and invite friends, or search for a club to join. Members will have access to a shared newsfeed and competitive leaderboard to encourage them to progress in their chosen language. Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn said: "Learning a language is an inherently social experience. One of the hardest things about learning a language is staying motivated, and we believe this new feature will draw friends and family together around a common goal to help our users hit their goals more quickly."
Super Mario Run is coming to Android, and you can pre-register for it on the Google Play Store now (VentureBeat). Nintendo's staying mum about exactly when it'll be available, but users who pre-register will be notified as soon the game is available to download. Like the iOS version, Super Mario Run for Android will be free to download with three levels, but to unlock the rest of the game, you'll have to upgrade to the full version, presumably for £7.99, as on Apple's platform.
Running With Scissors' controversial isometric shooter [i]Postal[/link] turns 20 in 2017, and to celebrate, the company has made it open source (PC Gamer). The developer published a blog - currently struggling under the weight of interest - including instructions on downloading the source from Bitbucket. The blog says that "It’s definitely been a wild ride for us all, and POSTAL means a lot to us – it’s our baby… But now we’re ready to hand the future of ‘the little shooter that could’ to the public at large." All Running With Scissors asks in exchange is that some kind soul ports the game to the Dreamcast.
Augmented reality (AR) - at this fledgeling stage at least - projects and amplifies that which already exists. At a basic level, it's a series of glorified apps escaping a hand-held format for a pseudo-holographic one. It will also allow us to alter our surroundings. Yet this technology is about to take over our environments in a much deeper sense. The effects of AR on our behaviour and identity will be substantial. Saturated with information, we will have more choice than ever, provided we can afford the options on show.
This month's double-issue of WIRED is all about the 'tastemakers' – the behind-the-scenes figures who decide what we watch, read and listen to, from Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy to Drake. We also go inside Sellafield and its clean-up mission, and discover the fascinating story behind the £500 million cocaine haul; the UK's largest drug bust. Out now in print, iPad and iPhone. Subscribe now and save.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
