Whistleblower accuses Twitter of being 'grossly negligent' towards security


Mariella Moon
·Contributing Reporter
Tue, August 23, 2022 

Dado Ruvic / reuters


Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, says the company has misled regulators about its security measures in his whistleblower complaint that was obtained by The Washington Post. In his complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, he accuses the company of violating the terms it had agreed to when it settled a privacy dispute with the FTC back in 2011. Twitter, he says, has "extreme, egregious deficiencies" when it comes to defending the website against attackers.

As part of that FTC settlement, Twitter had agreed to implement and monitor security safeguards to protect its users. However, Zatko says half of Twitter's servers are running out-of-date and vulnerable software and that thousands of employees still have wide-ranging internal access to core company software, which had previously led to huge breaches. If you'll recall, bad actors were able to commandeer the accounts of some of the most high-profile users on the website in 2020, including Barack Obama's and Elon Musk's, by targeting employees for their internal systems and tools using a social engineering attack.

It was after that incident that the company hired Zatko, who used to lead a program on detecting cyber espionage for DARPA, as head of security. He argues that security should be a bigger concern for the company, seeing as it has access to the email addresses and phone numbers of numerous public figures, including dissidents and activists whose lives may be in danger if they are doxxed.

The former security head wrote:

"Twitter is grossly negligent in several areas of information security. If these problems are not corrected, regulators, media and users of the platform will be shocked when they inevitably learn about Twitter’s severe lack of security basics.

In addition, Zatko has accused Twitter of prioritizing user growth over reducing spam by distributing bonuses tied to increasing the number of daily users. The company isn't giving out any bonuses directly tied to reducing spam on the website, the complaint said. Zatko also claims that he could not get a direct answer from Twitter regarding the true number of bots on the platform. Twitter has only been counting the bots that can view and click on ads since 2019, and in its SEC reports since then, its bot estimates has always been less than 5 percent.

Zatko wanted to know the actual number of bots across the platform, not just the monetizable ones. He cites a source who allegedly said that Twitter was wary of determining the real number of bots on the website, because it "would harm the image and valuation of the company." Indeed his revelation could factor into Twitter's legal battle against Elon Musk after the executive started taking steps to back out of his $44 billion takeover. Musk accused Twitter of fraud for hiding the real number of fake accounts on the website and revealed that his analysts found a much higher bot count than Twitter claimed. As The Post notes, though, Zatko provided limited hard documentary evidence regarding spam and bots, so it remains unclear if it would help Musk's case.

When asked why he filed a whistleblower complaint — he's being represented by the nonprofit law firm Whistleblower Aid — Zatko replied that he "felt ethically bound" to do so as someone who works in cybersecurity. Twitter spokesperson Rebecca Hahn, however, denied that the company doesn't make security a priority. "Security and privacy have long been top companywide priorities at Twitter," she said, adding that Zatko's allegations are "riddled with inaccuracies." She also said that Twitter fired Zatko after 15 months "for poor performance and leadership" and that he now "appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders."

Shortly after the Post published its initial report, Senate and Congressional committee leaders announced they were already investigating Zatko's claims. The offices of Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin the committee's ranking member Chuck Grassley said they've already had discussions with Zatko. "The whistleblower’s allegations of widespread security failures at Twitter, willful misrepresentations by top executives to government agencies and penetration of the company by foreign intelligence raise serious concerns," Durbin wrote earlier today on Twitter.

Update: 8/23/22, 12:10PM ET: This story has been updated with the news that members of Congress have already begun investigating Zatko's claims about Twitter.

5 takeaways from Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko


The logo for Twitter appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Nov. 29, 2021. Startling new revelations from Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, have raised serious new questions about the security of the platform's service, its ability to identify and remove fake accounts, and the truthfulness of its statements to users, shareholders and federal regulators. 

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Startling new revelations from Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter Zatko, have raised serious new questions about the security of the platform’s service, its ability to identify and remove fake accounts, and the truthfulness of its statements to users, shareholders and federal regulators.

Zatko — better known by his hacker handle “Mudge” — is a respected cybersecurity expert who first gained prominence in the 1990s and later worked in senior positions at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Agency and Google. Twitter fired him from the security job early this year for what the company called “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” Zatko’s attorneys say that claim is false.

In a whistleblower complaint made public Tuesday, Zatko documented his uphill 14-month effort to bolster Twitter security, boost the reliability of its service, repel intrusions by agents of foreign governments and both measure and take action against fake “bot” accounts that spammed the platform. In a statement, Twitter called Zatko’s description of events “a false narrative.”

Here are five takeaways from that whistleblower complaint.

TWITTER’S SECURITY AND PRIVACY SYSTEMS WERE GROSSLY INADEQUATE

TWITTER INC


In 2011, Twitter settled a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its privacy practices by agreeing to put stronger data security protections in place. Zatko’s complaint charges that Twitter’s problems grew worse over time instead.

For instance, the complaint states, Twitter’s internal systems allowed far too many employees access to personal user data they didn’t need for their jobs — a situation ripe for abuse. For years, Twitter also continued to mine user data such as phone numbers and email addresses — intended only for security purposes — for ad targeting and marketing campaigns, according to the complaint.

TWITTER’S ENTIRE SERVICE COULD HAVE COLLAPSED IRREPARABLY UNDER STRESS

One of the most striking revelations in Zatko’s complaint is the claim that Twitter’s internal data systems were so ramshackle — and the company’s contingency plans so insufficient — that any widespread crash or unplanned shutdown could have tanked the entire platform.

The concern was that a “cascading” data-center failure could quickly spread across Twitter’s fragile information systems. As the complaint put it: “That meant that if all the centers went offline simultaneously, even briefly, Twitter was unsure if they could bring the service back up. Downtime estimates ranged from weeks of round-the-clock work, to permanent irreparable failure.”

TWITTER MISLED REGULATORS, INVESTORS AND MUSK ABOUT FAKE “SPAM” BOTS

In essence, Zatko’s complaint states that Tesla CEO Elon Musk — whose $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter is headed for October trial in a Delaware court — is correct when he charges that Twitter executives have little incentive to accurately measure the prevalence of fake accounts on the system.

The complaint charges that the company’s executive leadership practiced “deliberate ignorance” on the subject of these so-called spam bots. “Senior management had no appetite to properly measure the prevalence of bot accounts,” the complaint states, adding that executives were concerned that accurate bot measurements would harm Twitter’s “image and valuation.”

ON JAN. 6, 2021, TWITTER COULD HAVE BEEN AT THE MERCY OF DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES

Zatko’s complaint states that as a mob assembled in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, eventually storming the building, he began to worry that employees sympathetic to the rioters might try to sabotage Twitter. That concern spiked when he learned it was “impossible” to protect the platform’s core systems from a hypothetical rogue or disgruntled engineer aiming to wreak havoc.

“There were no logs, nobody knew where data lived or whether it was critical, and all engineers had some form of critical access” to Twitter’s core functions, the complaint states.

A PLAYGROUND FOR FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS

The Zatko complaint also highlights Twitter’s difficulty in identifying — much less resisting — the presence of foreign agents on its service. In one instance, the complaint alleges, the Indian government required Twitter to hire specific individuals alleged to be spies, and who would have had significant access to sensitive data thanks to Twitter’s own lax security controls. The complaint also alleges a murkier situation involving taking money from unidentified “Chinese entities” that then could access data that might endanger Twitter users in China.

Panel: Trump staffers pushed unproven COVID treatment at FDA

By MATTHEW PERRONE and KEVIN FREKING2 hours ago

FILE - President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, speaks during a media briefing in the James Brady Briefing Room of the White House, Aug. 23, 2020, in Washington. Officials in the Trump White House tried to pressure U.S. health experts into reauthorizing a discredited COVID-19 treatment, according to a congressional investigation that provides new evidence of that administration’s efforts to override Food and Drug Administration decisions early in the pandemic. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in the Trump White House tried to pressure U.S. health experts into reauthorizing a discredited COVID-19 treatment, according to a congressional investigation that provides new evidence of that administration’s efforts to override Food and Drug Administration decisions early in the pandemic.

The report Wednesday by the Democratic-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis also sheds new light on the role that television personalities played in bringing hydroxychloroquine to the attention of top White House officials. Investigators highlighted an email from Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and others from Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon who had a daytime TV show and is now the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania. Ingraham attended an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, who himself took the anti-malaria drug.

The FDA originally authorized use of hydroxychloroquine in late March 2020 based on small studies suggesting it could have some effectiveness against the coronavirus. At that time, many researchers hoped that existing antiviral drugs could be used to fight the virus. But by June, FDA officials had concluded the drug was likely ineffective and could cause potentially dangerous heart complications, revoking its emergency use.

Efforts by the Trump administration to control the release of COVID-19 guidance and install political operatives at public health agencies have been well documented.

The report by the House subcommittee investigating the government’s COVID-19 response focused on pressure at the FDA, which serves as gatekeeper for the drugs, vaccines and other countermeasures against the virus.

Much of the information comes from an interview with the agency’s former commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, who was picked for the job by Trump in late 2019. Frustrated by the pace of FDA’s medical reviews, Trump repeatedly accused Hahn -- without evidence -- of delaying decisions on COVID-19 drugs and vaccines “for political reasons.”

Although FDA commissioners are politically appointed, the agency’s scientists are expected to conduct their reviews free from outside influence. Indeed, the FDA’s credibility largely stems from its reputation for scientific independence.

But Hahn told investigators that he felt pressure due to the “persistence” of Trump aide Peter Navarro’s calls to reauthorize hydroxychloroquine after the FDA’s decision to pull its emergency use.

“We took a different stance at the FDA,” Hahn told investigators. “So that disagreement, which of course ultimately became somewhat public, was a source of pressure.”

The subcommittee chairman, Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, said efforts to bend the FDA’s scientific work on treatments and vaccines exemplified how the “prior administration prioritized politics over public health.” But Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the panel’s top Republican, said the report was “further proof” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “only set up this sham panel to carry out a political vendetta” against Trump.

Much of the report focuses on actions taken by Navarro and Dr. Steven Hatfill, a virologist and outside adviser described by the subcommittee as a “full-time volunteer” on COVID-19 for the White House.

“Dr. Hatfill and Mr. Navarro devised multiple pressure schemes targeting FDA and federal officials who they contended were wrongly impeding widespread access to hydroxychloroquine,” according to the report.

In his response, Hatfill said: “We never wrongly pressured anyone. We simply followed the science and the overwhelming evidence as detailed in several studies available at the time.”

Navarro, in an emailed statement, said the subcommittee was “wrongly” perpetuating that hydroxychloroquine “was somehow dangerous.” He also said he has chronicled his battles with the FDA in his White House memoir.

Importantly, there’s no evidence that White House efforts ultimately changed the FDA’s decisions on hydroxychloroquine or any other therapies.

Investigators also cited a March 28, 2020, email from Oz to Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, stating that the drug “appears safe and results are better than expected.”

Birx forwarded the email to Hahn within the hour, saying “we should talk.”

A cancer specialist with no prior political experience, Hahn was widely criticized during the early COVID-19 response for decisions that appeared to cave to White House officials.

According to emails obtained by the committee, Hatfill described “constant fighting with (Dr. Anthony) Fauci and Dr. Hahn” over access to hydroxychloroquine during the summer. Fauci is the nation’s top infectious disease expert.

During this period Hatfill also urged Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to request a federal investigation into the handling of hydroxychloroquine, according to a letter submitted for the Congressional Record.

There’s no indication such a request was made. But in mid-August, Johnson and fellow Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas wrote the FDA seeking an explanation for the denial to reinstate hydroxychloroquine’s authorization. Johnson also chaired a Senate committee hearing in November 2020 on treatment options and complained that doctors who prescribed hydroxychloroquine for COVID had been “scorned.”

In the fall of 2020, the focus of both FDA and White House officials turned to the upcoming authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

As previously reported, the White House objected to an FDA requirement that vaccine makers gather two months of safety data before filing their applications, contending that condition would delay the launch of the shots. Trump had repeatedly stated the shots would be authorized before Election Day, despite government scientists signaling that timeline was unlikely.

The committee report suggested that the FDA’s guidance for vaccine manufacturers was delayed more than three weeks — from mid-September until early October — due to White House concerns.

Hahn told investigators the agency faced “pushback about the issue” from multiple officials, including Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who told the FDA commissioner on Sept. 23, 2020, that the White House would not sign off on the two-month requirement.

On Oct. 6, the FDA quietly published its vaccine guidelines as part of a larger set of documents for drugmakers. After the materials posted online, Hahn said Meadows called him to indicate that the FDA guidelines were approved.

The online publication drew fury from the president on Twitter.

“New FDA rules make it more difficult for them to speed up vaccines for approval before Election Day. Just another political hit job!” Trump tweeted at his FDA commissioner.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Biden to unveil 3-part plan to wipe out $10,000 in student loan debt for millions


President Joe Bden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday after returning from Delaware, where he spent part of his two-week vacation. 

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- After thinking over the issue, President Joe Biden will announce a three-part plan on Wednesday to cancel some student loan debt for millions of borrowers and extend a pause on loan payments that's set to expire next week.

Biden had previously said he'd make a decision on the issue before the end of August.

The president's plan will include at least $10,000 in loan forgiveness for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 annually and is expected to apply only to undergraduate debt.

Biden is expected to announce the plan during a briefing in the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 2:15 p.m. EDT.

"For too many, the cost of borrowing for college is a lifelong burden," the White House said in a statement.

"Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has nearly tripled, even after accounting for inflation. Federal support has not kept up," it added. "Pell Grants once covered nearly 80% of the cost of a four-year public college degree for students from working families, but now only cover a third."

The three parts of Biden's plan include giving aid for COVID-19-related hardships, making the student loan system more manageable and reducing the cost of college and holding schools accountable when they hike tuition.

Biden said the plan will help as many as 43 million borrowers and entirely wipe away loan debts for 20 million people.

The president has been on vacation for the past two weeks in South Carolina and Delaware. He returned to the White House late Wednesday morning.

The $10,000 figure would fulfill a campaign promise from Biden and mark the largest forgiveness of federal student loans per individual to date. It's believed that canceling the debt will cost the government about $300 billion.

Canceling $10,000 in debt for many working-class Americans with federal student loans would settle the balances of about a third of borrowers and cut total debt by at least half for another 20%, according to Department of Education data.

Biden on Wednesday is also expected to extend the pause on loan payments that was ordered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pause is set to expire on Aug. 31, but Biden's extension is expected to be about four months.

According to a recent survey, about 30% of respondents said there should be no loan forgiveness for anyone, while 32% favored loan forgiveness for all who have student debt. A plurality, 34%, said that only those in need should have their loans forgiven. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

As the White House has worked to formulate a plan, both advocates and opponents of wide-scale student loan forgiveness have presented Biden with their pitches.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., both spoke with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain recently to request that significant amounts of debt be forgiven, the Post reported.

While canceling $10,000 for many Americans satisfies a campaign promise for Biden, some progressive Democrats are likely to think that's not enough. Some have called for more debt to be canceled and the NAACP pressed the administration to cancel up to $50,000 per borrower, citing higher loan burdens on Black Americans

"$10,000 alone is meager, to say the least -- it won't address the magnitude of the problem," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said according to the Post.

However, wiping out too much student loan debt carries with it an economic risk. Lawrence Summers and Jason Furman -- prominent Democratic economists who served in prior administrations -- have argued that forgiving too much debt runs the risk of worsening inflation, by increasing spending -- an issue that Democrats are already facing ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Along with the inflation risk, Summers and Furman say Biden's plan could end up mostly helping high-income graduates who can afford to pay their loans back.

"This is redistribution, and there's nothing wrong with redistribution -- if it was from the middle to the bottom. Much of this is redistribution from the middle to the upper-middle," Furman said.

A CNBC poll released Monday found that almost 60% of Americans shared concern that student loan forgiveness could worsen inflation.

About 30% of respondents said there should be no student loan forgiveness for anyone, while 32% were in favor of loan forgiveness for all who have student debt. A plurality, 34%, said that only those in need should have their loans forgiven.

Student loan forgiveness could help more than 40 million

By COLLIN BINKLEY, SEUNG MIN KIM and CHRIS MEGERIAN

President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, in Washington. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona listens at right. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)


WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt reduced — and in many cases eliminated — under the long-awaited forgiveness plan President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, a historic but politically divisive move in the run-up to the midterm elections.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, Biden is erasing $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that earn less than $250,000. He’s canceling an additional $10,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college.

It’s seen as an unprecedented attempt to stem the tide of America’s rapidly rising student debt, but it doesn’t address the broader issue — the high cost of college.

Republicans quickly denounced the plan as an insult to Americans who have repaid their debt and to those who didn’t attend college. Critics across the political spectrum also questioned whether Biden has authority for the move, and legal challenges are virtually certain.

Biden also extended a pause on federal student loan payments for what he called the “final time.” The pause is now set to run through the end of the year, with repayments to restart in January.

“Both of these targeted actions are for families who need it the most: working and middle class people hit especially hard during the pandemic,” Biden said at the White House Wednesday afternoon.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were issued before July 1. For dependent students, their parents’ household income must be below $250,000.

Most people will need to apply for the relief. The Education Department has income data for a small share of borrowers, but the vast majority will need to prove their incomes through an application process. Officials said applications will be available before the end of the year.

Biden’s plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration. About 60% of borrowers are recipients of federal Pell Grants, which are reserved for undergraduates with the most significant financial need, meaning more than half can get $20,000 in relief.

Sabrina Cartan, a 29-year-old media strategist in New York City, is expecting her federal debt to get wiped out entirely. When she checked the balance Wednesday, it was $9,940.

Cartan used the loans to attend Tufts University, and with Biden’s plan she will be able to help her parents repay the additional thousands they borrowed for her education. As a first-generation college student, she called it a “leveling moment.”

“I know there are people who feel that this isn’t enough, and that is true for a lot of people,” said Cartan, who already has repaid about $10,000 of her loans. “I can say for me personally and for a lot of people, that is a lot of money.”

For Braxton Simpson, Biden’s plan is a great first step, but it’s not enough. The 23-year-old MBA student at North Carolina Central University has more than $40,000 in student loans. As an undergraduate student she took jobs to minimize her debt, but at $10,000 a semester, the costs piled up.

As a Black woman, she felt higher education was a requirement to obtain a more stable financial future, even if that meant taking on large amounts of debt, she said.

“In order for us to get out of a lot of the situations that have been systemically a part of our lives, we have to go to school,” Simpson said. “And so we end up in debt.”

The plan doesn’t apply to future college students, but Biden is proposing a separate rule that would reduce monthly payments on federal student debt.

The proposal would create a new payment plan requiring borrowers to pay no more than 5% of their earnings, down from 10% in similar existing plans. It would forgive any remaining balance after 10 years, down from 20 years now.

It would also raise the floor for repayments, meaning no one earning less than 225% of the federal poverty level would need to make monthly payments.

As a regulation, it would not require congressional approval. But it can take more than a year to finalize.

Biden’s plan comes after more than a year of deliberation, with the president facing strong lobbying from liberals who wanted sweeping debt forgiveness, and from moderates and conservatives who questioned its basic fairness.

Once a popular campaign promise during the presidential primary, the issue created an almost unwinnable situation. Some fellow Democrats criticized the plan Wednesday, saying it’s too costly and does little to solve the debt crisis.

“In my view, the administration should have further targeted the relief, and proposed a way to pay for this plan,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. “While immediate relief to families is important, one-time debt cancellation does not solve the underlying problem.”

Still, many Democrats rallied around it, including support from those who wanted Biden to go beyond $10,000.

“I will keep pushing for more because I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who had urged Biden to forgive up to $50,000 a person. “But we need to take a deep breath here and recognize what it means for the president of the United States to touch so many hard-working middle class families so directly.”

Proponents see cancellation as a matter of racial justice. Black students are more likely to take out federal student loans and at higher amounts than their white peers.

The NAACP, which pressed Biden to cancel at least $50,000 per person, said the plan is “one step closer” to lifting the burden of student debt.

Derrick Johnson, the group’s president, urged Biden to cancel the debt quickly and without bureaucratic hurdles for borrowers.

Biden’s decision to impose an income cap goes against objections from some who say adding the detailed application process to verify incomes could deter some borrowers who need help the most.

The Biden administration defended the cap as a gate against wealthier borrowers. Politically, it’s designed to counter arguments from critics who call debt cancellation a handout for the wealthy. Republicans hit hard with that argument on Wednesday despite the cap.

“President Biden’s inflation is crushing working families, and his answer is to give away even more government money to elites with higher salaries,” Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said. “Democrats are literally using working Americans’ money to try to buy themselves some enthusiasm from their political base.”

One of the chief political sticking points has been the cost: Biden’s new plan, including debt cancellation, a new repayment plan and the payment freeze, will cost between $400 billion to $600 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit that advocates for lower deficits.

Asked about the cost Wednesday, Susan Rice, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, said, “I can’t give you that off the top of my head.”

There are also lingering questions about the administration’s authority to cancel student loan debt. The Justice Department released a legal opinion concluding that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act gives the Education secretary the “authority to reduce or eliminate the obligation to repay the principal balance of federal student loan debt.”

The legal opinion also concluded that the forgiveness could be applied on a “class-wide” basis in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a national emergency..

Lawsuits are likely nonetheless. The Job Creators Network, which promotes conservative economic policies, said it was considering legal options, with president and CEO Alfredo Ortiz calling the president’s effort “fundamentally unfair” to those who never took out loans for college.

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AP writers Zeke Miller Annie Ma and Sharon Lurye contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Follow AP’s coverage of student loan debt at https://apnews.com/hub/student-loans

Google Doodle celebrates Anna Mani's 104th birthday



A new Google Doodle is celebrating the birthday of renowned Indian meteorologist Anna Mani. Photo courtesy of Google

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A new Google Doodle released Tuesday celebrated the birthday of renowned Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani, who would've turned 104 years old.

The Doodle depicts Mani in front of a number of different climates, including a rainstorm and a beating sun. The physicist is also shown working on some calculations alongside a weather balloon, all of which work to make up the Google logo.

Mani would rise through the ranks of her nation's upper-class to become one of the most consequential scientists in Indian history.

Born on Aug. 23, 1918 in the village of Peermade in British India, Mani had read almost every book in her local library at the age of just 12, according to Google.

Following high school, Mani completed her undergraduate studies, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry from Pachaiyappa's College in Madras. She would then go onto post-graduate studies, learning spectroscopy under Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman.

Mani eventually earned her Ph.D. and began a graduate program at London's prestigious Imperial College.

In 1948, Mani returned to her native India to begin working for the country's Meteorological Department, helping a team of scientists design and manufacture weather-gauging instruments.

Despite meteorology being a male-dominated field at the time, Mani would end up leading the department by 1953, where over 100 different weather instrument designs were standardized under her watch.

Later in life, Mani would become the Deputy Director General of the India Meteorological Department and also hold multiple positions within the United Nations.

Beyond her contributions to meteorology, Mani was also an advocate for alternative energy. In the 1950s, she "established a network of solar radiation monitoring stations and published several papers on sustainable energy measurement."

Mani died in 2001 at the age of 83, but her influence on Indian science remains strong, with Google saying, " [Her] work inspired brighter days for this world."

Mani is not the only physicist to be honored with a Google Doodle in recent weeks.

A July 18 Doodle celebrated the life of German physicist and composer Oskar Sala, who would've been 112.

Sala studied physics at school and helped to develop a new system for composing electronic music.

Baby southern white rhino born at San Diego Zoo

By Justin Klawans

A baby southern white rhino was born at the San Diego Zoo in early 

August, marking another milestone for the subspecies. 

Photo courtesy of San Diego Zoo

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A California zoo is heralding the birth of a baby southern white rhinoceros in early August.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomed the male rhino on Aug. 6, born to first-time mom Livia and father J. Gregory, according to a press release from the zoo.

The calf, which does not yet have a name, was conceived naturally, and is reported to be "healthy, confident and full of energy." The zoo added that Livia was "very attentive and protective of her offspring."

The zoo also tweeted a video of the young calf exploring his enclosure with his mom.

"Seeing this energetic little rhino running around, wallowing in the mud and just being generally curious is very rewarding," said Jonnie Capiro, the San Diego Zoo's lead wildlife care specialist. "While this is the first time Livia has given birth, we expected she would be a great mother -- and she proves this every day."

While Livia had not previously given birth, she had cared for an orphaned rhino named Arthur in 2020, and the zoo reported that she had shown strong maternal instincts with the baby.

"All rhino births are significant, and this calf's birth represents an essential step in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's Northern White Rhino Initiative, showing Livia can carry a calf to term and care for her offspring," added Barbara Durrant, the San Diego Zoo's director of reproductive sciences. "This is vitally important, as Livia is now among the female rhinos at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center who could potentially serve in the future as a surrogate mother to a northern white embryo."

The Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center is a portion of the zoo dedicated to rhino conservation, working with southern white rhinos in an effort to save its sister subspecies, the northern white rhino.

Southern white rhinos have seen dwindling populations due to poaching, but, despite being listed as endangered, there are still an estimated 18,000 in the wild.

The northern white rhino, however, is one of the most critically endangered animals on Earth.

The subspecies is believed to be extinct in the wild, and the last two remaining northern white rhinos on the planet live at a conservancy in Kenya.

Both of these rhinos, though, are female, and are unable to reproduce naturally. The last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018.

Facilities like the Nikita Kahn Center are using the southern white rhino in an attempt to repopulate the northern white subspecies artificially.

This includes technologies such as "artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer."

"An interdisciplinary team -- including wildlife care and health teams, reproductive physiologists and geneticists -- are working with southern white rhinos as a model for developing these advanced reproductive technologies," the zoo said. "The ultimate goal [is] to establish a sustainable population of northern white rhinos using banked genetic material.

At least two of the southern white rhinos at the San Diego Zoo were born via artificial insemination.

While both subspecies remain officially endangered, there have been some strides made in recent years.

In 2019, researchers in Europe were able to successfully fertilize a pair of northern white rhino eggs, marking a breakthrough in the fight to save the animal.

Life expectancy in Hawaii is 9 years longer than in Mississippi

By HealthDay News

A new report found that Americans living in Hawaii, the Northwest, California and the Northeast had the longest life expectancy. People living in the Southeast typically had the shortest expected lifespans. 

Photo by Bettina Nørgaard/Pixabay

Differences in lifestyles and other factors are linked to big gaps in life expectancy between residents of various U.S. states, 2020 data shows.

That could mean almost a decade more or less of life, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

"Among the 50 states and D.C., Hawaii had the highest life expectancy at birth, 80.7 years in 2020, and Mississippi had the lowest, 71.9 years," concluded a team led by Elizabeth Arias, of the CDC's Division of Vital Statistics.

For the report, the researchers pored over data from each state on mortality rates, as well as 2010 census data and Medicare data, to tally up life expectancy at birth per state.

Much of the differences fell along regional lines, with Americans living in Hawaii, the Northwest, California and the Northeast living the longest. People living in the Southeast typically had the shortest expected lifespans.

The top 10 longest-lived states, by average life expectancy in years, are:

Hawaii -- 80.7
Washington -- 79.2
Minnesota -- 79.1
California -- 79
Massachusetts -- 79
New Hampshire -- 79
Vermont -- 78.8
Oregon -- 78.8
Utah -- 78.6
Connecticut -- 78.4

The states ranking in the bottom 10, by average life expectancy in years, are:

Mississippi -- 71.9
West Virginia -- 72.8
Louisiana -- 73.1
Alabama -- 73.2
Kentucky -- 73.5
Tennessee -- 73.8
Arkansas -- 73.8
Oklahoma -- 74.1
New Mexico -- 74.5
South Carolina -- 74.8

As seen in other tallies of national life expectancy data, the pandemic played a big role in shrinking American life spans.

"From 2019 to 2020, life expectancy at birth declined for all states and D.C," the CDC team noted.

Some states were hit harder than others: For example, in New York life spans fell by three years during the pandemic, and in Louisiana life expectancy declined by 2.6 years.

RELATED Optimism associated with longer lifespan in women

On the other hand, Hawaii seemed relatively spared: In the Aloha State, life expectancy fell by just 0.2 years between 2019 and 2020. In New Hampshire, the decline was just 0.4 years, the report found.

Women still tend to outlive men, living an average of 5.7 years longer than their male peers in 2020, the researchers noted.

The study was published Tuesday in National Vital Statistics Reports.

More information

Hopkins Medicine has tips to help you lead a long, healthy life.

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Germany and Canada sign hydrogen deal

Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Trudeau signed the agreement in Newfoundland, the future home of a green hydrogen plant. German energy companies have already agreed to import Canadian hydrogen.

Trudeau hailed Scholz as an 'important progressive voice' on the world stage

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a deal on Tuesday for Germany to import green hydrogen from Canada.

The two leaders signed the deal in the port town of Stephenville, Newfoundland.

The first deliveries are expected in just three years.

Earlier on Tuesday, the two heads of government attended an economic conference in Toronto.

Germany seeks options as it tries to move away from Russian gas

The trip to Canada, Scholz's first as chancellor, comes as Germany looks for ways to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.

At a press briefing in Toronto Tuesday, Scholz said Canada was the partner of choice, as Germany moves away from Russian energy imports at "warp speed."

"Your country has almost boundless potential to become a superpower in sustainable energy and sustainable resource production," he said.

The pair also said they would discuss the possibility of Germany buying Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

To that end, Trudeau said on Monday that "we are looking at every possible different way to help out the German people and Europeans in the short term as they face a real challenge this coming winter."

"Canada will play a very, very central role in the development of green hydrogen," Scholz said at the same joint press conference. "That's why we're very happy that we can also take this opportunity to expand our partnership in this field."

How does hydrogen work as a source of energy?

Both LNG and green hydrogen are seen as medium-term solutions and will not be able to help Germany in the next few months. Canada does not yet have the means to export LNG internationally, and the production of green hydrogen is still in its infancy.

The use of hydrogen does not produce greenhouse gases. To create it, water has to be split into hydrogen and oxygen, electrolysis that is only climate-friendly if sustainably produced energy is used.

In principle, hydrogen can serve as a basis for fuels to replace coal, oil, and natural gas in industry and transport. Because its production is very energy-intensive, hydrogen is currently still significantly more expensive than fossil fuels.

Sparsely populated windy areas such as Newfoundland are considered ideal for the production of green hydrogen.

German energy companies Eon and Uniper said on Tuesday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada's Everwind on the sidelines of the German-Canadian talks with the aim of importing hydrogen on a large scale from 2025.

Scholz called the agreement "an important step, not only for strengthening our bilateral economic relations but also for a sustainable energy supply for the future."

Trudeau and Scholz were also scheduled to take part in an online conference on Tuesday organized by the Ukrainian government. The aim of the summit is to mobilize international support for the return to Ukraine of Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Both leaders spoke on Monday of their continued dedication to helping Kyiv fight Russian aggression.

es/rt (AP, dpa, Reuters)

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Volkswagen signs agreement to bring battery manufacturing to Canada


Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and Canadian minister Francois-Philippe Champagne sit in the foreground with German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau standing during the memorandum signing Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Volkswagen

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Volkswagen on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government to bring some of its electric vehicle battery manufacturing to the country.

The European auto giant signed the deal in Toronto in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The deal is being viewed as an effort by Volkswagen to make sure it qualifies for electric vehicle tax credits in the United States. The U.S. government recently created new guidelines under the Inflation Reduction Act requiring electric batteries to be manufactured in North America to qualify for EV tax credits.

"Volkswagen has been vigorously pushing the transformation to e-mobility, recognizing the industry's responsibility in the global battle against climate change," Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen Group, said in a statement. He signed the agreement with Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, Francois-Philippe Champagne.

"The group today not only offers the broadest range of electric models to customers but is also rolling out an ambitious battery and charging strategy. Working hand in hand with governments around the world is an absolute prerequisite to meet our climate goals and I want to thank the Canadian government for their support," Diess said.

Volkswagen said the PowerCo, its newly founded battery company, will play a central role in future planned cooperation efforts in the fields of battery value creation, raw materials supply chains and cathode material production in the North American region.

"As an automaker, we see compliance with stringent sustainability criteria as a top priority," Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Board of Management member for Technology, said in a statement.

"For us, the availability of power from renewable sources and a raw materials sector with mines supplying materials conforming to the globally recognized environmental and social standards are crucially important. That is why Canada is an ideal partner for our e-mobility and battery strategy."

Art Meets Science
Doppelgängers Don’t Just Look Alike—They Also Share DNA

New research finds genetic and lifestyle similarities between unrelated pairs of “virtual twins”

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent

August 24, 2022 

Four pairs of "human doubles" included in the study Courtesy of François Brunelle

Doppelgängers share strikingly similar physical characteristics—they look so alike that, at times, these two unrelated people could easily pass for twins (or, at least, siblings).

Now, new research suggests that doppelgängers have more in common than meets the eye. People with very similar faces also share many of the same genes and lifestyle traits, according to a new paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports.

It may seem obvious that people with similar facial features would also have some of the same DNA, but no one had scientifically proven this, until now. Thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever for researchers to track down and study doppelgängers.

.

To understand what was going on at the genetic level among look-alikes, scientists collaborated with the Canadian photographer François Brunelle. Since 1999, Brunelle has been traveling around the world to capture intimate portraits of strangers who look nearly identical to one another for his “I’m not a look-alike!” project.

Researchers asked 32 pairs of Brunelle’s models to answer questions about their lifestyles and submit samples of their DNA.

Using facial recognition software, the scientists analyzed headshots of the so-called “human doubles” and computed a score to quantify similarities among their faces. They compared the scores to those of identical twins and found that the software had awarded twin-like scores to exactly half of the doppelgänger pairs.

To find out whether the similarities ran more than skin deep, the researchers next studied the participants’ DNA. They found that nine of the 16 very similar-looking pairs shared many common genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms. These pairs are “therefore like virtual twins,” says Manel Esteller, a geneticist who leads Spain’s Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, to Gizmodo’s Ed Cara.

In terms of their lifestyles, the "human doubles" were also more likely than non-doppelgängers to have characteristics in common, such as their weight, height, smoking history and education levels.

But though they had similar genetics and traits, the look-alikes had very different microbiomes, or communities of helpful and harmful microbes that live on and in the human body, and different epigenomes, or variations in expressed traits influenced by the experiences of past generations. From a nature vs. nurture perspective, this suggests that it’s DNA, not environmental factors or shared life experiences, that is primarily responsible for how similar doppelgängers look.

In a growing population, there’s bound to be some genetic overlap just by happenstance. “Because the human population is now 7.9 billion, these look-alike repetitions are increasingly likely to occur,”

Esteller says in a statement.

Aside from pulling back the curtain on one of life’s great curiosities, the research could have important medical implications in the future. People with similar DNA may be equally susceptible to certain genetic illnesses, so doctors could use facial analysis as a quick and easy pre-screening tool, reports the Telegraph’s Sarah Knapton.

Researchers say the findings may also someday help police investigators conjure up the faces of suspects from their DNA samples. But that potential application wades into murky ethical territory, says Daphne Martschenko, a biomedical ethicist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study, to the New York Times’ Kate Golembiewski.

“We’ve already seen plenty of examples of how existing facial algorithms have been used to reinforce existing racial bias in things like housing and job hiring and criminal profiling,” Martschenko says to the Times.



Sarah Kuta | READ MORE
Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

Finland PM Sanna Marin apologizes for 'inappropriate' party photo
By Matt Bernardini

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has been criticized for a photo depicting a party that was held in July, leading some critics to say she may have an excessive party lifestyle. Photo courtesy of Government of FInland


Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin apologized on Tuesday for an "inappropriate" photo that was taken by her friends and posted on social media this week.

Marin, who's faced criticism for the image, explained that it was taken at her home following a music festival in early July.

It shows two women kissing and covering their bare chest with a sign that says, "Finland."

Marin, 36, has been criticized for having an excessive party lifestyle.

"In my opinion that photo is not appropriate, I apologize for that," Marin said, according to YLE News. "That photo shouldn't have been taken."

Marin does not appear in the photo and she's said that her friends were using sauna facilities and were not inside of her residence.

The photo was taken after the Ruisrock music festival in Finland in July, but were posted to social media only recently.

Many women who support Marin have been posting videos of themselves dancing on social media, with the tag #SolidarityWithSanna.

The dancing supporters are showing solidarity to call out what they see as unfair and sexist treatment of Marin, who became Finland's prime minister in 2019. She is the youngest prime minister in Finland's history and the third-youngest leader in the world.

"It seems like certain people still today have a hard time comprehending the fact that you can be both a young woman ... and a competent politician at the same time," supporter Rikke Dal Stottrup told The Washington Post.