Tuesday, June 08, 2021

African great apes to suffer massive range loss in next 30 years

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

IMAGE: A NEW STUDY PUBLISHED PREDICTS MASIVE DECLINES FOR CHIMPANZEES AND OTHER AFRICAN GREAT APES DUE TO THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, LAND-USE CHANGES AND HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH. view more
CREDIT: EMMA STOKES/WCS

A new study published in the journal Diversity and Distributions predicts massive range declines of Africa's great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos - due to the impacts of climate change, land-use changes and human population growth.

For their analysis, the authors compiled information on African ape occurrence held in the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database, a repository that includes a remarkable amount of information on population status, threats and conservation for several hundred sites, collected over 20 years.

The first-of-its-kind study quantifies the joint effects of climate, land-use, and human population changes across African ape ranges for the year 2050 under best- and worst-case scenarios. "Best case" implies slowly declining carbon emissions and that appropriate mitigation measures will be put in place. "Worst case" assumes that emissions continue to increase unchecked - business as usual.

Under the best-case scenario, the authors predict that great apes will lose 85 percent of their range, of which 50 percent will be outside national parks and other areas protected by legislation. Under the worst-case scenario, they predict a 94 percent loss, of which 61 percent will be in areas that are not protected.

This paper examines whether great apes can or cannot disperse away from where they are currently found, and the best- and worst-case scenarios in each case. For example, mountains are currently less suitable than lowland areas for some great ape species. However, climate change will render some lowlands less suitable - warmer, drier, perhaps less food available - but the nearby mountains will take on the characteristics that those lowlands currently have. If great apes are able to physically move from the lowlands to the mountains, they may be able to survive, and even increase their range (depending on the species, and whether it is the best- or worst-case scenario). However, they may not be able to travel (disperse) away from the lowlands in the time remaining between today and 2050.

Joana Carvalho, postdoctoral researcher in the Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, lead author of the study says: "By integrating future climate and land-use changes as well as human population scenarios, this study provides strong evidence for synergistic interactions among key global drivers constraining African ape distribution."

Carvalho adds: "Importantly, massive range loss is widely expected outside protected areas, which reflects the insufficiency of the current network of protected areas in Africa to preserve suitable habitats for great apes and effectively connect great ape populations."

Fiona Maisels of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and a co-author of the study, said: "As climate change forces the different types of vegetation to essentially shift uphill, it means that all animals - not only great apes - that depend on particular habitat types will be forced to move uphill along with the vegetation, or become locally extinct. And when the hills are low, many species, great and small, will not be able go higher than the land allows, and huge numbers of animals and plants will simply vanish."

The authors argue that effective conservation strategies require careful planning for each species that focuses on both existing and proposed protected areas - the creation and management of which can be informed by these habitat suitability models. Additionally, efforts to maintain connectivity between the habitats predicted to be suitable in the future will be crucial for the survival of African apes. Conservation planners urgently need to integrate land-use planning and climate change mitigation and adaptation measures into government policy of great ape range countries.

The study highlights the need for urgent action to combat both biodiversity loss and climate change if great apes are to continue into the future. Governments must protect and conserve the habitats of great apes--where they are now, and where they will need to move. Governments attending the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity CoP 15 in September and the UN Climate Change Conference in November should adopt meaningful commitments to protect and conserve great apes and their habitats and combat climate change.

The results of the study corroborate other recent studies showing that African ape populations and their habitats are declining dramatically. All African great apes are classified either as Endangered (mountain gorillas, bonobos, Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, eastern chimpanzees, and central chimpanzees) or Critically Endangered (Cross River gorillas, Grauer's gorillas, western lowland gorillas, and western chimpanzees) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and all are regarded as flagship species for conservation.

Hjalmar Kuehl, from iDiv in Leipzig, Germany, and senior author of the study said: "There must be global responsibility for stopping the decline of great apes. Global consumption of natural resources extracted from ape range countries is a major driver of great ape decline. All nations benefitting from these resources have a responsibility to ensure a better future for great apes, their habitats and the people living therein by developing more sustainable economies."

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The study involved over 60 co-authors from academic and non-academic organizations and government agencies, including Antwerp Zoo Society, Born Free Foundation, Chimbo Foundation, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, Environment and Rural Development Foundation, Fauna & Flora International, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Jane Goodall Institute, Rio Tinto, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Sekakoh Organisation, Sierra Rutile Limited, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, The Biodiversity Consultancy, West African Primate Conservation Action, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and World Wide Fund for Nature.

High blood lead levels found in indigenous peoples in Peruvian Amazonia

The study finds higher concentrations of lead in communities living where oil extraction has been most intense

UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE CATALUNYA (UOC)

Research News

IMAGE: OIL SPILL FROM SAN JACINTO FACILITY, DOCE DE OCTUBRE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY IN THE TIGRE RIVER BASIN, LORETO, PERU. view more
CREDIT: (PHOTO: JEAN PIERRE, OPIKAFPE)

Lead is a toxic metal, and its widespread use has led to significant environmental pollution and public health problems in many parts of the world. This has led the WHO to include it on a list of ten chemicals that cause serious health problems. However, lead poisoning continues to affect many population groups. A study published today in open access in the journal Environment International found high levels of lead in indigenous people in Peruvian Amazonia living near areas where oil extraction takes place. The research was led by Cristina O'Callaghan-Gordo, a professor and researcher in Health Sciences Studies at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation and the National Institute of Health of Peru.

"The main hypothesis is that the metal reaches them through their diet in areas with the most serious environmental pollution, as the population hunts and fishes for food, and previous studies have shown the that lead is present in animals in this region. On the other hand, in places with lower levels of environmental pollution, the most likely route is occupational exposure, such as coming into direct contact with oil due to participating in clean-up tasks after oil spills," explained Cristina O'Callaghan-Gordo.

The closer and more intense the extraction, the higher the levels of lead

The study included 1,047 people, of whom 309 (31%) were children under 12 years old. The population studied lives in four river basins in Peruvian Amazonia, a remote non-industrialized region.

The work took place between May and June 2016, and involved face-to-face interviews to collect data on the participants' risk factors and lifestyle, as well as blood tests. The research also took the distance between where the population lived and the oil extraction facility into account. The highest blood lead levels were found among participants from the Corrientes river basin, which accounts for most of the oil extraction activity in the region.

The study also found higher levels of lead in the blood of people living less than an hour's walk from an oil facility. The values observed in this study are twice as high as the values reported for children in Europe between 1999 and 2007, at a time when leaded petrol was still used in Europe (which in some countries continued until 2005).

The results showed high levels of lead, especially among males. "This is quite common, as men tend to be involved more often in activities that expose them to lead, such as cleaning up spills," said O'Callaghan-Gordo.

Health problems

This study is the result of an agreement reached between the indigenous peoples' federations in the river basins affected and the Peruvian Government, aimed at addressing their concerns about the potential effects on health. "This study came about at the request of the indigenous communities, as they have been calling upon the Government to do something in this respect for decades," said the researcher.

Alterations in the nervous, haematological, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and renal systems are associated with exposure to lead in both adults and children, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

"Levels of lead like those we found in Peru have effects on health. In fact, any amount of this metal in the blood has consequences for health. The most well-known known effects are neurological and neurodevelopmental problems in children," warned Cristina O'Callaghan-Gordo.

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The study received funds from the National Institute of Health of Peru and count with the collaboration of the indigenous federations FEDIQUEP, ACODECOSPAT, FECONACOR and OPIKAFPE, which are part of the Amazonian Indigenous Peoples United in Defence of their Territories (PUINAMUDT). The research has also been carried out in collaboration with Centro de Políticas Públicas y Derechos Humanos in Peru, the University of Cambridge, Universitat Central de Catalunya-Universitat de Vic, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the e-Tech International from the USA.

This research contributes to achieving sustainable development goal (SDG) number 3, "To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages".

Reference article:

Cristina O'Callaghan-Gordo, Jaime Rosales, Pilar Lizárraga, Frederica Barclay, Tami Okamoto, Diana M. Papoulias, Ana Espinosa, Martí Orta-Martinez, Manolis Kogevinas, John Astete, "Blood lead levels in indigenous peoples living close to oil extraction areas in the Peruvian Amazon" (2021) Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106639

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The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu. #UOC25years

Monday, June 07, 2021

HIP CAPITALI$M

HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND NOW OWNS A MUSIC CATALOG WORTH OVER $2.2 BILLION

JUNE 7, 2021

BY TIM INGHAM

Hipgnosis is the owner of a catalog that has been independently valued at USD $2.21 billion, the UK-listed company revealed today (June 7) in a financial update.

That catalog, valued as of the end of March 2021, contained 64,555 songs across 138 catalogs, according to a preliminary annual financial filing.

The $2.21 billion valuation, said Hipgnosis, reflected a multiple of 17.96x historical annual net publisher share income.

The valuation is over $200 million larger than the approximate $2 billion Hipgnosis cumulatively spent on the catalog following the firm’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2018.

That ≈$2 billion cumulative expenditure, said Hipgnosis today, represents an average/blended acquisition multiple of 15.32x.

In the 12 months to end of March 2021, said Hipgnosis, it acquired 84 catalogs for $1.06 billion – an average per-deal price of $12.6 million.

These acquisitions included music catalogs from the likes of Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, Chrissie Hynde, Shakira, Walter Afanasieff, Steve Winwood and Grammy Award-winning producer, Andrew Watt.

Calling 2020/2021 a “remarkable year”, Hipgnosis founder and CEO, Merck Mercuriadis said today: “[Whilst] we never would have wished for a pandemic, it has accelerated the consumption of classic songs through streaming and demonstrated exactly what an excellent uncorrelated asset class proven songs are. The pandemic looks set to now lead us into inflation and again we are extremely well placed with Songs as an asset class for our shareholders to be beneficiaries.”

“THE PANDEMIC LOOKS SET TO NOW LEAD US INTO INFLATION AND AGAIN WE ARE EXTREMELY WELL PLACED WITH SONGS AS AN ASSET CLASS FOR OUR SHAREHOLDERS TO BE BENEFICIARIES.”
MERCK MERCURIADIS, HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND

He added: “Our goals when we listed three years ago were to: (1) Establish Songs as an asset class; (2) Use the leverage of our fund and the great songs in our catalog to be a catalyst to change where the songwriter sits in the economic equation for the benefit of the songwriting community and our shareholders; (3) To replace the broken traditional publishing model with Song Management and add value.

“Having given our shareholders a 41% total return since inception, grown our NAV by more than 11% across this fiscal year, having advocated for songwriters at the highest level including the DCMS hearings taking place in Parliament and having increased our sync income from 9% to 15%, I’m delighted to say we are well on our way to Hipgnosis achieving all.”

Having rooted through Hipgnosis’ new preliminary update, below MBW presents three key takeaways from the music company’s latest numbers…

1) HIPGNOSIS HAS TRANSFORMED INTO A DEEPER CATALOG COMPANY IN THE PAST YEAR

One of the most interesting parts of Hipgnosis’ new results covers the make-up of the company’s portfolio of 64,555 songs (or, more accurately, its portfolio of songs and/or portions of songs).

The 84 catalogs acquired by Hipgnosis in the year to end of March 2021 – which also included deals for catalogs/income streams related to Blondie, Barry Manilow, Rick James, and Jimmy Iovine – changed the mix of its portfolio significantly.

As you can see below, some 60.2% of Hipgnosis’ song portfolio, in terms of fair value, is now at least a decade old.

At the end of March 2020, this figure came in at just 32.5%, and at the end of March 2019, 10-years-plus aged catalog represented just 10.2% of the firm’s total fair value.

Obviously as time ticks on, acquired catalogs are getting older, but there’s been a clear acquisitive swing at Hipgnosis to more evergreen/classic catalogs in the past 15 months.

That said, major contemporary music deals are still getting done by Hipgnosis, with the likes of Andrew Watt and Joel Little (Taylor Swift, Lorde). Hipgnosis acquired 178 songs from Little earlier this month.

2) HIPGNOSIS SAW ITS NET REVENUE GROW 66% IN FY 2020/2021 – BUT PANDEMIC-HIT PERFORMANCE RIGHTS WERE A PAIN POINT

Hipgnosis Songs Fund‘s net revenue increased by 66% in the year ended March 31, 2021, to $138.4 million.

That number was up on the prior year’s net revenue figure of $83.3 million. It included both new revenue from acquisitions, and $22.7 million of “Right To Income” which Hipgnosis says “in effect reduces the net purchase price [of acquisitions], to the benefit of the company”.

Hipgnosis also posted a healthy EBITDA in FY 2021 of $106.7 million.

That was up 49.8% on the $71.2 million EBITDA the company posted in the prior year period.

The $106.7 million EBITDA in FY 2021 represented a 77.1% margin on Hipgnosis’ net revenue in the period ($138.4m).

Hipgnosis has started recognizing two separate calculations for its portfolio: one for its entire catalog, and one for “steady state catalogs”, from which it says “we would not expect decay from peak earnings”.

Streaming income increased 18.4% across the whole Hipgnosis portfolio in the six months to end of March 2021 versus the prior six months, said the company. And its “steady state” catalog grew by 24.3% on the same six month vs six month basis in the second half of the FY.

However, Hipgnosis added: “[Performance] income – which is predominantly received from shops, bars and restaurants as well as live music – has fallen across the music industry in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns globally, with PRS recently stating [UK] performance revenues fell by 19.7% in 2020.

“As a result of these industry wide trends, performance income in our catalogs’ royalty earnings income decreased by 25.8% in the second half of the year from the previous six month period across all catalogs, and 21.3% on our ‘steady state’ catalogs where we would not expect decay from peak earnings.”

Hipgnosis said it expected a “further modest fall” in performance revenues in the first half of the current financial year (to end of September 2021), but that it expects “performance income will quickly return to and exceed pre-COVID-19 levels as lockdowns are being lifted in our largest revenue generating markets”.

On 26 March 2021, Hipgnosis drew down USD $90 million under its Revolving Credit Facility, resulting in total gross indebtedness of $577 million and net indebtedness of $438 million.

3) HIPGNOSIS SAYS ITS COPYRIGHT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM IS INCREASING SOME CATALOGS’ REVENUES BY AS MUCH AS 40%

Hipgnosis’ preliminary results filing reads: “We have launched a platform that matches all data points to identify issues that can stop or delay payments. It provides a 3D picture of the data across 200 outside partners who collect revenue on the Company’s behalf. The platform is expected to shorten payment times and increase accuracy as we identify data breaks in real time.

“Our initial trial catalogs have identified 62% of Songs had data issues and we estimate a significant revenue uplift, projected to be as much as 40%, which will be realised by correcting the mistakes in registrations inherited from previous owners. These issues existed before our ownership, therefore every issue fixed is pure revenue upside for the Company.”

“SYNC REVENUES HAVE EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS AND, DESPITE FILM AND TV PRODUCTION BEING SHUT DOWN FOR MUCH OF THE LAST 16 MONTHS, REVENUES HAVE INCREASED.”
MERCK MERCURIADIS, HIPGNOSIS

In addition, Hipgnosis is buoyant about its ‘Song Management’ team, led by Ted Cockle and Amy Thomson.

Said Merck Mercuriadis: “Our new Song Management team, led by Ted Cockle and Amy Thomson, has made a strong impact, growing revenue and enhancing the legacies of our great Songs, which will make a positive economic impact to the Company in periods to come. Sync revenues have exceeded all expectations and, despite film and TV production being shut down for much of the last 16 months, revenues have increased. This has highlighted not only that we have bought well but also how undervalued our iconic songs have been by traditional publishers and the massive opportunity this affords Hipgnosis.”

Speaking of sync, Hipgnosis’ results revealed that it has now hired former BMG Global Head Of Sync, Patrick Joest, in Europe.Music

TOOK 'EM A LONG TIME TO DO WHAT'S BASIC

In an aviation first, Boeing drone refuels another aircraft in mid-air

By Ben Coxworth
June 07, 2021

The MQ-25 T1 and the F/A-18 Super Hornet, connected via the drone's fuel hose

Kevin Flynn

For the first time ever, an un-crewed aircraft has successfully refuelled another aircraft while both planes were in flight. In the test, Boeing's MQ-25 T1 aerial tanker drone transferred jet fuel to a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Codenamed the Stingray by the Navy, the MQ-25 T1 was developed and built at Boeing's facilities in St. Louis, Missouri, after the aerospace company won a US$805 million US Navy contract. The prototype drone made its first autonomous flight at the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in 2019, although no refuelling was performed at that time.

Such was not the case on June 4th of this year, however, when the autonomously flying MQ-25 refuelled a piloted F/A-18 Super Hornet in mid-air. The fighter pilot started by flying in close formation below and behind the drone, at which point the MQ-25 released and extended its fuel-delivery drogue – this is essentially a funnel-like receptacle on the end of a long hose.

The pilot then moved in so that the drogue was able to couple with the F/A-18's nose-mounted fuel probe, at which point jet fuel was transferred from the MQ-25 to the Super Hornet. According to Boeing, both aircraft were flying at "operationally relevant speeds and altitudes."

The refuelling exercise came after 25 prior test flights of the MQ-25 T1
Kevin Flynn

Ultimately, plans call for Stingray tanker drones to operate off of aircraft carriers, taking to the air to refuel passing F/A-18 Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and F-35C Lightning II aircraft. That task is currently performed by piloted F/A-18s, which have to be removed from combat duty in order to do so.

"This history-making event is a credit to our joint Boeing and Navy team that is all-in on delivering MQ-25's critical aerial refuelling capability to the fleet as soon as possible," says Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

The MQ-25 T1 is now due to be shipped to Norfolk, Virginia, where it will the subject of aircraft carrier deck trials later this year.

You can watch the refuelling exercise for yourself, in the video below.

Boeing MQ-25 Becomes First Unmanned Aircraft to Refuel Another Aircraft

OUCH

U.S. seizes most of Colonial Pipeline's $4.4M ransom payment

The successful operation underscores the need for companies to cooperate with investigators after a hack, federal officials said.

“The sophisticated use of technology to hold businesses and even whole cities hostage for profit is decidedly a 21st-century challenge, but the old adage ‘follow the money’ still applies,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a news conference. | Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images

By ERIC GELLER

06/07/2021

Federal investigators were able to recover more than half of the $4.4 million ransom payment that Colonial Pipeline made to the hackers who froze its computers and forced the shutdown of its massive fuel distribution system, the Biden administration announced on Monday.

By tracing the payment across the ostensibly anonymous cryptocurrency ecosystem, the government was able to locate and seize $2.27 million from a virtual currency account used by the hackers.

“The sophisticated use of technology to hold businesses and even whole cities hostage for profit is decidedly a 21st-century challenge, but the old adage ‘follow the money’ still applies,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a news conference.

The announcement represents a rare bit of good news for the Biden administration as it rushes to fix digital weaknesses in the United States’ critical infrastructure, most of which is run by companies that have scant cyber expertise and are subject to little, if any, regulation.

It also bolsters federal officials’ argument that companies can help fight back against a rising tide of ransomware attacks if they cooperate with government investigations.

May's five-day shutdown of Colonial’s pipeline — one of the East Coast’s biggest fuel suppliers — led to gasoline hoarding that produced widespread, albeit short-term, shortages and helped drive up the price at the pump. The incident refocused attention on the threat of ransomware, prompting new cyber rules for pipeline operators, a bipartisan congressional push for a hack notification law and a parade of hearings, including two this week.

The Colonial hack, and a subsequent attack last week on the world’s largest meat supplier, forced the steadily growing threat of ransomware onto the front-burner for the Biden administration

The DarkSide ransomware used to hack Colonial is one of more than 100 variants that the FBI is tracking, Deputy Director Paul Abbate said Monday. DarkSide, which is developed by a Russian criminal group that licenses it out to less sophisticated hackers, has struck more than 90 U.S. critical infrastructure companies in sectors ranging from manufacturing and health care to energy and insurance, Abbate said.

CYBERSECURITY
Cyberattack on food supply followed years of warnings
BY RYAN MCCRIMMON AND MARTIN MATISHAK

DOJ has created a task force on ransomware attacks, and the department recently announced that it was elevating the issue to the same severity level as terrorism, creating greater coordination between U.S. attorneys’ offices and prosecutors in Washington about which cases to charge. FBI Director Christopher Wray described the ransomware epidemic as a modern version of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Wray’s analogy, which was about the importance of public-private cooperation, underscored why ransomware has continued to plague society. For years, U.S. officials have urged companies to be more forthcoming when they are hacked, both so the government can help them recover and so federal experts can analyze the attacks and warn other potential victims. But many companies still refuse to disclose their breaches, fearing the legal, financial and reputational consequences of doing so.

Monaco used Monday’s announcement as an opportunity to hammer home the government’s message about preparing for and reporting breaches. “We are all in this together,” she said.

President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order that requires federal contractors to report cyber incidents to the government, and bipartisan draft legislation would extend that obligation to critical infrastructure operators and major IT service providers.

Colonial faced criticism for its initial reluctance to share information with the federal government. It alerted the FBI to the breach, but it did not notify DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the government’s primary cyber defender. It took several days for Colonial to share breach data with CISA so the agency could prepare guidance for other potential targets, and even then, CISA’s acting director said he was in the dark about Colonial’s ransom payment.

That Colonial even paid the ransom was another source of controversy, as U.S. officials routinely warn against doing so, saying it fuels more attacks. “You are encouraging the bad actors,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Asked on Monday whether companies could feel better about paying ransoms given the possibility of their recovery, Monaco said doing so always entailed a risk.

“We may not be able to do this in every instance,” she said.

An affidavit filed by an FBI special agent to obtain the seizure warrant reflects the challenges facing investigators as they try to recover ransom payments.

Thanks to the transparent, decentralized nature of the technology underpinning Bitcoin, it was fairly easy for the FBI to use public tools to trace Colonial’s payment as it left the digital address that the hackers provided to the company and moved from one virtual wallet to another.

But the FBI was able to recover the money only because it had separately obtained the private key for the wallet where the money ended up. Without that key, the money would have remained locked away, as is true in many other ransomware cases. Officials did not say how they obtained the key in this case.

SEIZURE —
US seizes $2.3 million Colonial Pipeline paid to ransomware attackers

Funds seized after Justice Department IDs Bitcoin wallet and obtains its private key.

DAN GOODIN - 6/7/2021

The FBI said it has seized $2.3 million paid to the ransomware attackers who paralyzed the network of Colonial Pipeline and touched off gasoline and jet fuel supply disruptions up and down the East Coast last month.

In dollar amounts, the sum represents about half of the $4.4 million that Colonial Pipeline paid to members of the DarkSide ransomware group following the May 7 attack, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company's CEO. The DarkSide decryptor tool was widely known to be slow and ineffective, but Colonial paid the ransom anyway. In the interview with the WSJ, CEO Joseph Blount confirmed that the shortcomings prevented the company from using it and instead had to rebuild its network through other means.

Cutting off the oxygen supply

On Monday, the US Justice Department said it had traced 63.7 of the roughly 75 bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to DarkSide, which the Biden administration says is likely located in Russia. The seizure is remarkable because it marks one of the rare times a ransomware victim has recovered funds it paid to its attacker. Justice Department officials are counting on their success to remove a key incentive for ransomware attacks—the millions of dollars attackers stand to make.

"Today, we deprived a cyber criminal enterprise of the object of their activity, their financial proceeds and funding," FBI Deputy Director Paul M. Abbate said at a press conference. "For financially motivated cyber criminals, especially those presumably located overseas, cutting off access to revenue is one of the most impactful consequences we can impose."Advertisement

The Justice Department officials didn't say how they obtained the digital currency other than to say they seized it from a bitcoin wallet through court documents filed in the Northern District of California. The seizure is a badly needed victory by law enforcement in its uphill effort to curb the ransomware epidemic, which is hitting governments, hospitals, and companies—many providing critical infrastructure or services—with increasing regularity.

FURTHER READING

Pipeline attacker DarkSide suddenly goes dark—here’s what we know

The seizure is consistent with statements from almost four weeks ago attributed to a DarkSide team leader. Without providing evidence, the post claimed that the group’s website and content-distribution infrastructure had been seized by law enforcement, along with all the cryptocurrency it had received from victims.

If true, the seizure would represent a small fortune. According to recently released figures from cryptocurrency tracking firm Chainalysis, DarkSide netted at least $60 million in its first seven months starting last August, with $46 million of it coming in the first three months of this year. While corroborating that law enforcement has, in fact obtained that much is not possible, Monday’s disclosure shows it did receive at least some digital assets from DarkSide.

During Monday's conference, Justice Department officials said they had tracked 90 victims who have been hit by DarkSide.

Paying by bitcoin rather than monero

FURTHER READING

Attack on meat supplier came from REvil, ransomware’s most cutthroat gang

Over the past year, ransomware has evolved from representing a financial risk to one that has the potential to disrupt critical services and cause loss of life. On several occasions, infections hitting hospitals caused outages that required the hospitals to cancel elective surgeries or reroute emergency patients to nearby facilities. Last week, JBS, the world's biggest producer of meat, temporarily shut facilities throughout the US and elsewhere after it lost control of its network to a ransomware group known as REvil.

The law enforcement success intensifies speculation that Colonial Pipeline paid the ransom not to gain access to a decryptor it knew was buggy but rather to help the FBI track DarkSide and its mechanism for obtaining and laundering ransoms.Advertisement

The speculation is reinforced by the fact that Colonial Pipeline paid in bitcoin, despite that option requiring an additional 10 percent added to the ransom. Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous, meaning that while names aren't attached to digital wallets, the wallets and the coins they store can still be tracked.

It's possible that Colonial Pipeline chose to pay the higher ransom at the behest of law enforcement because bitcoin could be tracked and monero—the other currency accepted by DarkSide—is completely untraceable. Even if that is the case, it's not clear how law enforcement gained possession of the cryptographic key needed to empty the wallet.

"As alleged in the supporting affidavit, by reviewing the Bitcoin public ledger, law enforcement was able to track multiple transfers of bitcoin and identify that approximately 63.7 bitcoins, representing the proceeds of the victim's ransom payment, had been transferred to a specific address, for which the FBI has the 'private key,’ or the rough equivalent of a password needed to access assets accessible from the specific Bitcoin address," Monday's release stated. “This bitcoin represents proceeds traceable to a computer intrusion and property involved in money laundering and may be seized pursuant to criminal and civil forfeiture statutes."

With most of the ransomware groups headquartered in Russia or other Eastern European countries without extradition treaties with Western nations, US officials have largely been hamstrung in their efforts to bring the attackers to justice. It’s too early to know if the techniques that allowed the officials to track the funds Colonial Pipeline paid to DarkSide can be used in investigations of other ransomware attacks. If they do, law enforcement may have gained a powerful tool when it was needed most.

ANOTHER FROZEN LIFE FROM THE PERMAFROST
Weird "wheel animals" wriggle back to life after 24,000 years frozen

June 07, 2021

Bdelloid rotifers can survive being frozen for long periods by entering a state called cryptobiosis
Michael Plewka

Scientists have managed to revive microscopic animals that had been frozen in the Siberian permafrost for 24,000 years. The Bdelloid rotifers, or “wheel animals” as they’re sometimes called, shook off their long sleep and went right back to moving, eating and reproducing like the Ice Age was only yesterday.

Bdelloid rotifers are tiny tubular creatures that are surprisingly tough. In that way, rotifers are a lot like tardigrades, except that the latter eats the former. When conditions get too cold or dry for them, rotifers will curl up into a ball and dry out, hibernating for months or years until conditions become more favorable again.

A close up of a bdelloid rotifer
Michael Plewka

But now the little critters have absolutely smashed their previous record of about 10 years. In this case, the researchers used radiocarbon dating to determine that the permafrost from which they were recovered was between 23,960 and 24,485 years old. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the rotifers were still able to reproduce through their usual asexual process, called parthenogenesis.

The researchers examined these second generation rotifers more closely, and found that while they were very closely related to modern ones, they’re different enough to constitute a new species. Next, to examine just how the animals might survive such extreme conditions, the researchers froze some of these rotifers at -15 °C (5° F) for one week, then thawed them out and watched them reawaken.

While most multicellular forms of life are damaged by the formation of ice crystals, rotifers seem to be able to protect their cells and organs from this damage. Exactly how remains unknown at this point, the team says.

The experimental setup designed to test how the rotifers could withstand being frozen and thawed
Stas Malavin

As impressive as a 24,000 year slumber is, these rotifers don’t actually hold the record. Worms called nematodes have wriggled back to life after about 40,000 years, while a batch of bacteria has them both beat at an astonishing 100 million years. Still, rotifers may be the most complex creatures in the club so far.

"The takeaway is that a multicellular organism can be frozen and stored as such for thousands of years and then return back to life – a dream of many fiction writers," says Stas Malavin, an author of the study. "Of course, the more complex the organism, the trickier it is to preserve it alive frozen and, for mammals, it's not currently possible. Yet, moving from a single-celled organism to an organism with a gut and brain, though microscopic, is a big step forward.”

The research was published in the journal Current Biology.

Source: Cell Press via Scimex

THE RUSSIANS HAVE BEEN DOING CRYOSCIENCE SINCE THE SIXTIES, TRYING TO REVIVE FROZEN LIFE FOUND IN THE PERMAFROST

SPACE RACE 2.5 BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE
Jeff Bezos and his brother to be on first Blue Origin passenger flight
By David Szondy
June 07, 2021

Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark will be passengers on the first Blue Origin human flight
Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos has announced that he and his brother Mark will be aboard the first passenger-carrying Blue Origin flight on July 20, joining the winner of the continuing auction for the first paid seat, which now stands at US$2.8 million. If all runs to plan, this means Bezos will beat his fellow billionaires with space ambitions, Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson, into space courtesy of technology developed by his own company.

Today's announcement signals confidence on the part of the Blue Origin founder regarding the odds of success for the first passenger flight of the Reusable Space Ship First Step crew capsule atop the New Shepard booster, which will lift off next month for a 10-minute suborbital flight into space from the company's Launch Site One in West Texas.

During the mission, the capsule will separate from the booster and coast to an altitude of over 62 miles (100 km), letting the passengers experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth, before returning to the ground by parachute.

The run up to the flight is marked by the auction for the first paying passenger seat, which has attracted almost 6,000 people from 143 countries. Opening bidding will run until June 10 and will continue as a live online auction on June 12 at 1 pm EDT for registered and verified bidders.

If you have a few million dollars going spare, auction details can be found on the Blue Origin site. Proceeds from the auction will go to Blue Origin's Club for the Future, which encourages young people to enter the STEM field.

Jeff Bezos discusses the flight in the video below.

MISSION MORNINGSTAR

NASA selects 2 Venus missions to explore Earth’s ‘hellish’ neighbor

By Eliza Fawcett, Hartford Courant
Published: June 7, 2021

For decades, scientists who study Earth’s neighbor Venus have watched with dismay as NASA sends mission after mission to Mars.

The last time the United States visited Venus was in 1989, when it sent the spacecraft Magellan to map the topography of the “hellish” planet. Although Venus is roughly the size of Earth, the planet is fundamentally different, encased in a dense, toxic atmosphere of carbon dioxide. The air pressure on Venus’ surface is equivalent to the pressure experienced a mile beneath Earth’s oceans.

Now, a Wesleyan professor is playing a key role in two newly-announced NASA missions to Venus.

“The question has always been, if you have two Earth-sized planets right next to each other, and one of them is habitable and teeming with life, and the other is not, what happened?” said Dr. Martha S. Gilmore, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

At long last, the moment to answer that question has come. Last week, NASA selected two Venus missions, both of which Gilmore helped develop, for its Discovery Program. Each project will receive about $500 million from NASA for development. The missions are expected to launch by 2028 to 2030.

One mission, VERITAS, will send an orbiter to Venus to create high-resolution imaging of the planet’s surface and gather data on the composition of its rocky topography. The other mission, DAVINCI+, will drop an atmospheric probe through Venus’ harsh atmosphere to measure its chemical composition.

“These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world capable of melting lead at the surface,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a speech last week. “They will offer the entire science community the chance to investigate a planet we haven’t been to in more than 30 years.”

NASA’s selection was a thrilling victory for Gilmore and other scientists in the small, insular research community that studies Venus. For years, researchers have submitted proposals to return to the planet, only to see them passed over in favor of other projects. In 2017, both Venus missions were in contention for NASA funding but lost out to two asteroid missions.

It’s different this time around.

“The relief we feel, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, finally!’” Gilmore said.

‘Other Earths’

Gilmore has been enamored of Venus since she was a doctoral student at Brown University, back when the Magellan mission was deployed. Although she has also studied Mars extensively over the course of her career, she has always been drawn to Venus, partly because the planet may hold the key to understanding what she calls “the basic building blocks of planets.”

“As we look out there, we want to find other Earths. We want to look at Earth-sized planets,” Gilmore said. “And so what better way to do that than to study an Earth-sized planet that we have access to, which is Venus?”

ANOTHER SOVIET FIRST

The Soviet space program began exploring Venus in the early 1960s and eventually landed spacecraft on the planet’s surface that took images of its rugged, rocky terrain — before getting crushed under the intense heat and pressure. Magellan spent four years in Venus’ orbit and mapped the planet’s surface, returning images that, at the resolution of a football field, showed that it was covered in ancient lava flows, indicating a history of volcanic activity.

Over the last decade, Gilmore said, scientific research has shown evidence for active volcanism on Venus, and new models have indicated that the planet’s climate may have been habitable for billions of years. The two new missions will provide the most extensive opportunity in years to explore the many unanswered questions about Venus — and our solar system.

For instance: Why do some planets become habitable while others don’t? Where does water come from? Do planets have an initial supply of water, or does it arrive from comets or meteorites?

“The imaging that DAVINCI+ will do and then mapping that VERITAS will do will let us look at landforms. That’s how we identified water on Mars: We can see sedimentary rocks; we can look for river channels and morphology,” Gilmore said.

In addition to obtaining high-resolution images of Venus’ surface, VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), the orbiter, will conduct a spectroscopy to determine the composition of the planet’s rocks, enabling scientists to study how the rocks were formed. Gilmore specializes in studying the oldest rocks on Venus, and her research suggests that those rocks are “compositionally different than the younger lava flows and different in a way that suggests they were formed in the presence of water.”

As it falls toward Venus’s surface, DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus) will have just 62 minutes to collect data and measure the atmosphere’s chemical composition. The probe is not designed to withstand the impact of landing.

On the DAVINCI+ mission, Gilmore has worked to fit the probe with a camera that will return high-resolution images of “tesserae,” unique geological features on Venus which may be similar to the Earth’s continents.

“As we go down over these old terrains, we can get images of them at the centimeter scale, to understand what those rocks are,” she said. “Are they sediments? Are there channels down there? We don’t know.”
Preparing for the launch

The two Venus missions are still seven to nine years away from being launched. In the coming years, Gilmore and other scientists will work with engineers to refine the mission designs. Gilmore is also conducting experiments on rocks that will eventually help her interpret the data the missions generate.

The real work begins once the missions are complete and a fresh trove of data is available for analysis — a task that Gilmore’s undergraduate and graduate students will be able to assist on.

“That’ll probably take me through the rest of my career,” she said.

For now, Gilmore said she’s proud of the work the Venus community has done to get to this point. And she’s eagerly anticipating the work to come.

“I’m still shocked,” she said. “But I’m thrilled.”

NASA eyes return to inhospitable Venus

By MARCIA DUNN, Associated Press
Published: June 3, 2021

This image shows the planet Venus made with data from the Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter. On Wednesday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced two robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is returning to sizzling Venus, our closest yet perhaps most overlooked neighbor, after decades of exploring other worlds.

The space agency’s new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system’s hottest planet, during his first major address to employees Wednesday.

“These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world capable of melting lead at the surface,” Nelson said.

One mission named DaVinci Plus will analyze the thick, cloudy Venusian atmosphere in an attempt to determine whether the inferno planet ever had an ocean and was possibly habitable. A small craft will plunge through the atmosphere to measure the gases.

It will be the first U.S.-led mission to the Venusian atmosphere since 1978.

The other mission, called Veritas, will seek a geologic history by mapping the rocky planet’s surface.

“It is astounding how little we know about Venus,” but the new missions will give fresh views of the planet’s atmosphere, made up mostly of carbon dioxide, down to the core, NASA scientist Tom Wagner said in a statement.

NASA’s top science official, Thomas Zurbuchen, calls it “a new decade of Venus.” Each mission, launching around 2029, will receive $500 million for development under NASA’s Discovery program.

The missions beat out two other proposed projects, to Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s icy moon Triton.

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