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Why is Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample canister ‘scientific treasure box’ to scientists?

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As scientists took a closer look at the sample of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu that was recently collected by Nasa, they were greeted with a pleasant surprise.

Last week, scientists discovered a dark, fine-grained material on the inside of a canister containing a sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu which could provide key insights about the asteroid before the primary sample is analysed.

Nasa’s 7-year OSIRIS-Rex mission returned to Earth on September 24, carrying the asteroid sample, topping a total trip distance of some 3.86 billion miles.

The canister, which according to Nasa is a “scientific treasure box,” was taken to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where a clean room was built for the analysis of the cosmic sample.

Asteroids, remnants of the solar system’s formation, provide insights into the early days of planet formation. However, they also pose a threat to Earth, highlighting the importance of understanding their composition and orbits crucial for deflecting space rocks on collision courses, CNN reported.

In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx used its ouch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head to collect a sample from Bennu’s surface, which gathered so much material that particles drifted off into space before being stowed in a canister.

Scientists believed they could analyse the material quickly, but there was plenty before reaching the bulk of the sample, requiring more time to collect all the material.

“The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” said Christopher Snead, deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead, in a statement.

“There’s a lot of abundant material outside the TAGSAM head that’s interesting in its own right. It’s really spectacular to have all that material there.”

The asteroid sample will be revealed on October 11 in a live Nasa broadcast. The TAGSAM head will be carefully disassembled in a specialised glovebox to reveal initial findings from Bennu material.

“We have all the microanalytical techniques that we can throw at this to really, really tear it apart, almost down to the atomic scale,” said Lindsay Keller, OSIRIS-REx sample analysis team member, in a statement.

Additionally, the team plans to examine Bennu’s collected material using scanning electron microscopes, X-rays, and infrared instruments to understand its chemical composition and detect hydrated minerals or organic particles.

The instruments will also reveal the abundance of specific minerals on the asteroid.

The initial analysis will help researchers have a better idea of what to expect from the bulk sample collected from Bennu.

Scientists believe asteroids like Bennu may have introduced essential elements like water to Earth early in our planet’s formation, potentially answering questions about the origins of our solar system.

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Cybersecurity firm reports exposure of sensitive DeepSeek data on the internet.

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The New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz has discovered a cache of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek that was mistakenly exposed to the public internet.

In a blog post released on Wednesday, Wiz reported that examinations of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had inadvertently exposed over a million lines of unencrypted data. The materials were digital software keys and chat logs that seemingly documented prompts transmitted from consumers to the company’s complimentary AI assistant.

The chief technical officer of Wiz stated that DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data following the notice from his organisation.

“It was removed in under an hour,” stated Ami Luttwak. “However, this was exceedingly easy to locate, leading us to believe we are not the sole discoverers.”

DeepSeek did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

DeepSeek’s rapid success after the introduction of its AI helper has exhilarated China and incited concern in America. The Chinese company’s evident capacity to rival OpenAI’s skills at a significantly reduced cost has raised concerns regarding the viability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft.

By Monday, it surpassed the U.S. competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, prompting a worldwide decline in technology stocks.

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WhatsApp launches bulk channel management functionality

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WhatsApp has initiated testing of a bulk channel administration feature on iOS for select beta users, enabling the simultaneous selection of many channels, hence enhancing the efficiency of managing following channels.

This essential update enables users to perform bulk activities, including muting many channels simultaneously, designating them as read, and altering notifications. If the chosen channels are muted, users will now have the option to activate notifications. Users can swiftly silence unmuted channels in one action.

Additionally, this feature enables users to unfollow many channels simultaneously, thereby optimizing the process of decluttering their channel list. This change is particularly beneficial for users that oversee numerous subscriptions, as reported by WABetaInfo.

Previously, users were required to manage each channel individually, rendering tasks such as muting or designating channels as read laborious and time-consuming.

The functionality provides enhanced flexibility and control over channel subscriptions, enabling users to efficiently manage notifications. The solution streamlines laborious operations for consumers who subscribe to numerous channels, hence enhancing their entire experience.

Accessibility
The bulk management feature is presently accessible exclusively to a limited number of beta testers who installed the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS using the TestFlight application. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, plans to expand the feature’s availability to a larger user base in the next weeks.

This update demonstrates WhatsApp’s dedication to enhancing user experience by offering a clear and efficient method for managing channels and notifications.

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Pakistani internet slowdown: ongoing submarine cable issue

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Even after two weeks, the global submarine cable AAA-1 problem that was discovered on January 2 near Qatar has not been fixed, causing sluggish internet connection in several Pakistani towns.

According to a representative for Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the issue has affected customers’ capacity to effectively access social media applications and browse the online. Even with initiatives to fix the problem, social networking sites still lag during busy times.

Internet traffic has been redirected via alternate channels to lessen the impact, and more capacity has been set up to stabilize the service.

The PTCL representative promised that “Internet service across the country is operating normally, and there will be no issues with web browsing,” noting that social media applications’ lag is common during

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