Wells Fargo the First; Sanctioning Businesses; Duterte Goes Off the Defensive; Turkey Extension; Babi Yar; Hyper-elastic Bone; Only as Well as Your Tool; Working Bored; and Team AI

Banking

Wells Fargo’s Scandal Is a Harbinger of Doom time v

In the financial sector, scandal is the gift that keeps on giving. Publicly shamed by Senator Elizabeth Warren senate.gov after his bank opened as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts to goose profits, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, who had been reluctant to part with any of his own compensation following revelations of the scandal, has finally agreed to give up unvested equity worth about $41 million, and forgo his $2.8 million salary while the bank is being investigated. Warren called the act “a small step in the right direction, but nowhere near real accountability,” and said he should return every dime he’s made during the period where fraud was happening.

Also see California's Sanctions Against Wells Fargo theatlantic and Wells Fargo may not be the end: Clawbacks expected to become a bigger issue usatoday

Forced Murder; Christi Cross; Colombian Peace; (Toy) Air Show; On Being Judge, Jury, and God; Born High; Roman Coins in Japan; Shrinking Mercury; SpaceX's Lucid Dream; Augmented Lowe's; Googling Everyone; Risk of Driving; Uber Awaaaay; Printing the Future; and Dr. Computer

Abortion

Forced abortion and euthanasia? creation

A group of ‘bioethicists’ have recently released a 10-point “consensus statement” that outlines how they think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers who conscientiously object to ‘medical’ procedures like abortion and euthanasia should be forced to believe in and practice them

North Carolina Backs Down; Obama's Stump Speech; The Next Long Range Satellite; Heady Dog Test; Radioing Emotions; Cancer Anti-Virus; and Self-Driving Government

Society

North Carolina Governor Drops 'Bathroom Bill' Lawsuit Against U.S. npr.org

In court documents Friday, Gov. Pat McCrory cited "substantial costs to the State" as one reason for dropping his lawsuit against the federal government, writing that it did not serve the "interests of judicial economy and efficiency."

Chinese War Plans; Useless UN?; Obama and Xi Save the World; The Gay Bishop; Rising the Dead to Sainthood; Jupiter's Complex; and Cortana in the Fridge

War

Are We Ready for War With China? newsweek

China’s improved military capabilities, particularly for anti-access and area denial (A2AD), mean that the United States cannot count on gaining operational control, destroying China’s defenses and achieving decisive victory if a war occurred.

With that in mind, this report rand.org examines alternative paths that a war between the United States and China might take, losses and other effects on both sides, preparations that the United States should make and ways to balance U.S. war aims against costs should war occur.

Russia Against Gospel; Why the Transgender Rush?; Partnering with the Spread of the AI; Team Nano - Assemble!; EU Map; It's Russia's Syria Now; and Amphibious Centipede

Society

Proposed law in Russia would ban proselytizing washingtontimes

Should the new law go into effect, citizens wishing to share their faith will have to “secure a government permit through a registered religious organization, and they cannot evangelize anywhere besides churches and other religious sites,” according to the evangelical Christian magazine. “The restrictions even apply to activity in private residences and online.”

Also see Russia's Proposed Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church

Carrots for Peace; Jerusalem Dividing Deal; Israel-Turkey Coming to Terms; Iran's Unsurprising Finds; Brexit's Global Economy Effect; Paul Allen's Giant Plane; Starting Human Zika Trials; Hitler the Author; FBI's Redacted History; Okinawa Protests; and Historian's Pragmatism

Israel

Backing French peace push, EU ministers add carrots to sweeten deal timesofisrael

“The EU is determined, alongside other international and regional partners, to bring a concrete and substantial contribution to a global set of incentives for the parties to make peace with a view to an international conference planned to be held before the end of the year,” the foreign ministers said in a statement.

The Bright of Life; DNA Thermostat; Microsoft's Really Small Data Storage Plans; AI Set Free; Skin Deep Analysis; Rise of the Robot Kingdom!; The Knock Knock Boom; Shields Active; NK Preparing Seoul Dry Run; Suspended for Being Caught; Turkey's EU Effect; Ban Begs for Ban; Rainbow Design Turned Down; Ikea Quickly Abandons 'Mum'; FL Follows NC Into the Bathroom Debate; Putin's Space Egg; Clearer Mars Images, Still no Aliens; and Shark Vision

Today's a day for the fascinating (flash of light at the moment of conception), the tiny (DNA thermostats), and the...well, the just plain insane (beauty contest judged by machines). There was also a new bathroom scuffle and hate towards a graphic design business for not designing a rainbow logo...for a church

Life

Bright flash of light marks incredible moment life begins when sperm meets egg telegraph.co.uk v

An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

Pipe Flares; Google and BOFA Jump On-board; Military Suicide; NK in Semi-War Mode; Obama and Xi Shake Their Fist Some More; Resurrecting the Book of the Dead; Theology without Christ; Programming Cells; Smoking DNA; AI vs AI; Automated Lawyer; NASA Too Eager?; Amazon and Microsoft Joining the Street Fight; and Blockchain

Caution: Today is April 1st - I've done my best to watch out for prank articles, but if you find one that I fell for on this list, let me know!

Terrorism

Incendiary devices found hanging on Tyngsborough power lines   bostonglobe

Federal, state, and local authorities Thursday said they could find nothing to suggest the devices were installed as part of a terror plot. But they said the incident, which involved objects resembling pipe bombs, had targeted a key electrical link between Canada and the Northeastern United States.

Also Incendiary Devices Found On Power Lines In Tyngsboro

Society

Google Ventures Bans Investments in North Carolina   recode.net

Google Ventures, now known as GV, has joined a growing list of tech and corporate heavyweights speaking out against North Carolina’s HB 2, a law that the companies say discriminates against transgender people in the state.

They continue to line up. See also Bank of America Joins Backlash Against North Carolina LGBT Law

U.S. military suicides remain high for 7th year   usatoday

The Pentagon reported Friday that 265 active-duty service members killed themselves last year, continuing a trend of unusually high suicide rates that have plagued the U.S. military for at least seven years.

Heartbreaking.

North Korea

North Korea to pursue nuclear and missile programmes   uk.reuters

North Korea will pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile programme in defiance of the United States and its allies, a top Pyongyang envoy said on Friday, adding that a state of "semi-war" now existed on the divided Korean peninsula.

Obama and Xi agree to fully crack down on North Korea   businessinsider

"Both leaders committed... to strengthen coordination in addressing the shared threat presented by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile systems," the White House said.

Also see North Korea fires another missile into sea

Paganism

Spanish Archaeologists Try to Reconstruct Fragments of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead   ancient-origins

For the last 14 years, twenty archaeologists, Egyptologists, and Spanish specialists have been working on the southern foot of the hill of Dra Abu el-Naga with a team of over a hundred Egyptian workers. During this time, they have united their efforts and been studying every part of the area, and scrutinizing every centimeter of a vast necropolis which is overflowing with burials from different eras.

There seems to be a certain obsession with translating this book lately...

Apostasy

Christianity is no longer compulsory for Oxford Theology students   christiantoday

The reduction in compulsory modules for second and third year students will enable other papers to be taken, including "feminist approaches to religion and theology" and "Buddhism in space and time".

Biology

A programming language for living cells   mit.edu

MIT biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly design complex, DNA-encoded circuits that give new functions to living cells.

Smoking During Pregnancy Seems to Alter Fetal DNA   webmd

For the study, researchers collected blood samples from newborns, mainly from the umbilical cord. Compared to babies of nonsmokers, those born to regular smokers had over 6,000 spots where DNA was chemically modified.

AI

China To Face Off Against AlphaGo With Own AI Team   androidheadlines

An A.I. development team out of China, called China Computer Go Team, has announced that they have their own Go-playing A.I. in development. While an A.I. capable of playing Go at all is an accomplishment, this team has decided that’s not quite enough. Instead, they intend to develop their A.I. with the goal of challenging AlphaGO at its own native game.

Appeal Parking Tickets Via Bot in New York City   fortune

A parking-lawyer web robot that has saved British drivers nearly $4 million in fines over the past several months is now ready to help Americans, starting with New Yorkers, by appealing their tickets for free.

Complete with creepy eye icon for the bot

Space

ASAP concerned NASA is taking risks to meet Orion schedule   nasaspaceflight

NASA’s key advisory body has warned the agency that schedule pressure, in combination with cost pressure, is causing compromises that carry additional risk. Focusing on the Orion spacecraft, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) claimed NASA is “taking risk after risk” to meet the schedule for Orion’s opening missions.

Automation

Amazon, Microsoft look for big data role in self-driving cars   reuters

Amazon, Microsoft look for big data role in self-driving cars

Banking

Blockchain--What You Need to Know   prnewswire

Spearheaded by Bitcoin, blockchains achieve consensus among distributed nodes, allowing the transfer of digital goods without the need for centralized authorisation of transactions.

Other...

Scientists may have just uncovered an ancient Viking site in North America   businessinsider

HOW DID THE APOLLO COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULES SEPARATE?   popsci

Interesting videos about something you never even once wondered about

Nuclear Sized Leak; Earth Conscious Robot; NK Does Rockets a Solid; Chatbot Slurs; Baby X; and AI Co-Writer

Nuclear

Nuclear Plant Leak Threatens Drinking Water Wells in Florida nytimes

Samples of the water at various depths and sites around the power plant showed elevated levels of salt, ammonia, phosphorous and tritium, a radioactive isotope that is found in nature but also frequently associated with nuclear power plants.

Tech

Apple’s Recycling Robot Needs Your Help to Save the World wired

Apple calls the machine Liam. A custom-designed R&D experiment, Liam dismantles iPhones and sorts the components for recycling. The project was kept secret for three years, says Mashable deputy tech editor Samantha Murphy Kelly, who was allowed a sneak preview of Liam in action.

Saving the world, one iPhone at a time. Also: Liam Robot Recycles iPhones Piece by Piece (Video).

North Korea

North Korea Tests New Rocket Engine, State Media Says nytimes

North Korea said on Thursday that it had successfully tested a new rocket engine that would significantly bolster its missile capabilities, and South Korea called on its people to heighten vigilance against possible terrorist attacks by the North.

AI

Microsoft AI chatbot designed to learn from Twitter ends up endorsing Trump and praising Hitler independent.co.uk

Microsoft created a chatbot that tweeted about its admiration for Hitler and used wildly racist slurs against black people before it was shut down.

I wonder what offended Microsoft more - the Hitler reference or the Trump one? I kid! Seriously, though, I’m “eh” about chat bots in general (kind of like digital parrots, really). However, this ties into an article on a list I posted a couple days ago from business insider about machines being “Like sociopaths and psychopaths” when it comes to having a sense of morality.

Meet Baby X bloomberg

Mark Sagar started his career by building medical simulations of body parts. He took those skills and went into CGI, most famously for "Avatar," "King Kong" and others. Now he's combining his skills and building an entire brain and responsive face on a computer in order to map human consciousness.

(Video - 3:51)

Japanese AI software co-writes short story ibtimes.co.uk

The novel, ironically titled The Day a Computer Writes a Novel, was written by an AI software programme created by a team from Japan's Future University Hakodate. While it didn't take first prize at the third Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Literary Awards, it did make it through the first round of screening.

Other...

Scientists say Shakespeare's skull may be missing from grave businessinsider