Science and Technology (old posts, page 220)

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I’m obsessed with brittle stars: fish often nip off bits of their arms but they regenerate

These starfish relatives have lots of remarkable features and are a keystone species. My hope is that we will recognise how vital these charismatic creatures are

Brittle stars have a lot of remarkable features as a species. Many of them are bioluminescent and can flash blue light; some will have patterns and do displays. These slender relatives of starfish can be very beautiful to look at and come in a range of colours – in the tropics, for example, they can be red, black or orange. And they’ve got spines all over them, so they can look quite ornate.

They can also regenerate. Fish and other creatures will often nip off bits of their arms – known as sublethal predation – so they are constantly regenerating themselves. You can even break off all their arms, and sometimes even half the disc, and the brittle star will still regenerate.

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Is it true that … we’re all a little bit intolerant to dairy?

Occasional sensitivity to lactose can occur as we get older, or through stress, but for most people it’s only temporary

Most of us aren’t inherently dairy intolerant, but we can go through periods where we become more sensitive to lactose in our diet, says Amanda Avery, an associate professor in nutrition and dietetics at the University of Nottingham.

She says that when people talk about being “dairy intolerant”, they’re usually referring to lactose, the sugar found in milk and dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yoghurt. In most people, that sugar is broken down by an enzyme called lactase, which is found in our small intestine. It helps our bodies digest and absorb lactose without causing discomfort. “We’re born with plenty of lactase. But as our diets diversify, our lactase levels decline,” says Avery. “If there is minimal milk in the dairy diet then lactase levels may be zero, thus people from some cultural backgrounds and countries where dairy intake is negligible may be intolerant.”

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Unsung observatory worker was UK’s first professional female astronomer, experts say

Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy is trying to find a photo of Annie Walker, who died in 1940, to give her star billing

For more than a century, astronomers assumed she had simply “computed” complex calculations for the Victorian men who had exclusive use of Cambridge Observatory telescopes.

But researchers now say that Annie Walker – a Victorian woman who began working at the observatory in 1879, when she was only 15 – actually observed thousands of stars herself.

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Starwatch: Spica greets the passing moon

The brightest star in the constellation Virgo, Spica appears as a single object but is in fact a binary star

This week, the bright star Spica greets the passing moon. The chart shows the view looking south-west from London at 22.15 BST on 3 July 2025.

At 8.3 days old, and with 60% of its visible surface illuminated, the moon will be just past its first quarter (half moon) phase and into its waxing gibbous phase, on the way to becoming full next week.

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More than 25% of UK businesses hit by cyber-attack in last year, report finds

Exclusive: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says lack of action leaves firms at risk of ‘sleepwalking’ into problems

More than one in four UK businesses have been the victim of a cyber-attack in the last year and many more risk “sleepwalking” into such disruption unless they take urgent action, according to a report.

About 27% of companies said their building had suffered a cyber-attack in the last 12 months, according to a survey of facilities managers, service providers and consultancies undertaken by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) and shared with the Guardian. The figure is up from 16% a year ago.

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Fake, AI-generated videos about the Diddy trial are raking in millions of views on YouTube

Channels serving AI slop feature videos full of false claims about celebs and their involvement with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for quick cash

This story was reported by Indicator, a publication that investigates digital deception, and co-published with the Guardian.

Dozens of YouTube channels are mixing AI-generated images and videos with false claims about Sean “Diddy” Combs’s blockbuster trial to pull in tens of millions of views on YouTube and cash in on misinformation.

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‘Lidar is lame’: why Elon Musk’s vision for a self-driving Tesla taxi faltered

The company’s rollout of its new driverless cars has gotten off to a wobbly start – and rival Waymo remains well ahead

After years of promising investors that millions of Tesla robotaxis would soon fill the streets, Elon Musk debuted his driverless car service in a limited public rollout in Austin, Texas. It did not go smoothly.

The 22 June launch initially appeared successful enough, with a flood of videos from pro-Tesla social media influencers praising the service and sharing footage of their rides. Musk celebrated it as a triumph, and the following day, Tesla’s stock rose nearly 10%.

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317: Steam Summer Sale, Fedora 32-Bit Controversy, Fairphone 6, KDE Korner, & more Linux news

video: https://youtu.be/GH18mp-2d90

Comment on the TWIL Forum

This week in Linux is packed! It's an extra long episode. So if you were wanting more and more TWIL, then you're going to get it this week because Steam Summer Sale is here and it is torching bank accounts. Fedora developers are talking about getting rid of 32-bit support and there's a little bit of controversy around that. We're going to break all of that down. Also, Fairphone 6 has been announced and it comes with kernel patches, an upstream Linux kernel on day one. Firefox 140 has arrived as the new ESR, and there's also some exciting news coming in the next release of Firefox as well. And later in the show, KDE's Wayland wave is continuing to grow to about 70% of users these days. Kubuntu drops X11 by default, and KDE is working on a slick first run wizard. All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what's going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews.

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro
01:06 Steam Summer Sale 2025, here's some Steam Deck ready bargains
03:12 Fedora’s Controversial 32-Bit Proposal (Could this kill Bazzite?)
09:23 Fairphone 6 Announced: Modular, Repairable, Linux-Ready
14:54 Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security [ad]
16:40 Firefox 140 ESR lands with Tab Unloading & Vertical Pinned Zone
19:41 KDE Korner: Wayland Surges in Usage, Kubuntu Dropping X11, New Initial Setup Wizard
25:27 Flathub Hits 3 Billion Downloads
27:36 Destination Linux podcast for more great content
28:38 2K Classics Humble Bundle with BioShock & Mafia (90% Discount!)
31:24 ONLYOFFICE 9.0 Released: AI Tools, Visio Viewer & Fresh UI!
34:15 Lyon Goes Open Source (France’s Third-Largest City)
36:31 Outro

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