Category: Technica Aquarius

Enlarge / If homeopathic remedies had this much nonwater material in them, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. (credit: Iryna Veklich / Getty Images)

One of the more productive ways that the methods of science can be used is to look at the scientific process itself. A “meta-science” study (like a recent one published on brain scans) can help tell us when research approaches aren’t producing reliable data and can potentially show what we might need to change to get those approaches to work.

Now, someone’s applied a bit of meta-science to an area of research where we shouldn’t expect to see improvements: homeopathy. A group of Austrian researchers looked into why a reasonable fraction of the clinical trials on homeopathy produce positive results. The biggest factor, the researchers found, is that the trials that show homeopathy is ineffective are less likely to get published.

A method to the madness

There are plenty of ways to test potential treatments but, over the years, problems have been identified in almost all of them. That’s left the double-blind, randomized clinical trial as the most trusted method of getting rid of some of the biases that make other approaches less reliable. But even in double-blind trials, problems can creep in. There’s always a bias toward publishing positive results—ones where the treatments have an effect.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

A relatively new entrant to the ransomware scene has made two startling claims in recent days by posting images that appear to show proprietary data the group says it stole from Microsoft and Okta, a single sign-on provider with 15,000 customers.

The Lapsus$ group, which first appeared three months ago, said Monday evening on its Telegram channel that it gained privileged access to some of Okta’s proprietary data. The claim, if true, could be serious because Okta allows employees to use a single account to log into multiple services belonging to their employer.

Gaining “Superuser” status

“BEFORE PEOPLE START ASKING: WE DID NOT ACCESS/STEAL ANY DATABASES FROM OKTA,” the Telegram post stated. “Our focus was ONLY on okta customers.”

Enlarge / Jeff Bezos (right), the founder of Blue Origin and Amazon.com, and Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance, display a small-scale version of the BE-4 rocket engine during a press conference in 2014. (credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

As Blue Origin nears the critical point of delivering flight-ready BE-4 rocket engines to United Launch Alliance, the engineer in charge of the company’s rocket engine program has decided to leave.

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith recently informed employees of the departure of John Vilja, the senior vice president of Blue Engines. In Smith’s email to employees, obtained by Ars, Vilja is said to be leaving Blue to pursue his “many” interests and hobbies outside of work.

“During his time at Blue, John led the team to support eight New Shepard missions powered by BE-3PM engines, countless hot fire tests, and made progress on multiple engines development programs,” Smith wrote. “He also built a world-class Engines team, recruiting some of the best talent in the business.”

Enlarge / Google CEO Sundar Pichai uses his phone during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 12, 2018, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (credit: Getty Images | Drew Angerer )

The US Department of Justice and 14 state attorneys general yesterday asked a federal judge to sanction Google for misusing attorney-client privilege to hide emails from litigation.

“In a program called ‘Communicate with Care,’ Google trains and directs employees to add an attorney, a privilege label, and a generic ‘request’ for counsel’s advice to shield sensitive business communications, regardless of whether any legal advice is actually needed or sought. Often, knowing the game, the in-house counsel included in these Communicate-with-Care emails does not respond at all,” the DOJ told the court. The fact that attorneys often don’t reply to the emails “underscor[es] that these communications are not genuine requests for legal advice but rather an effort to hide potential evidence,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ made its argument in a motion to sanction Google “and compel disclosure of documents unjustifiably claimed by Google as attorney-client privileged” and in a memorandum in support of the motion. “The Communicate-with-Care program had no purpose except to mislead anyone who might seek the documents in an investigation, discovery, or ensuing dispute,” the DOJ alleged.