AI Cracks Math, Governments Crack Down Hard!

Mysterious Victorian-Era Shoes Are Washing Up on a Beach in Wales

Key Points

• More than 400 likely Victorian-era boots found at Ogmore-by-Sea since September.
• Leading theory ties the shoes to a 19th-century Italian cargo ship wreck near Tusker Rock.
• Beach Academy is documenting the finds and crowdsourcing identification after excavations from sediment.

Do not mistake a resilient global economy for populist success

Key Points

• Global growth likely reached about 3% in 2025, beating midyear forecasts.
• US growth slowed only slightly after adjusting for lower immigration.
• Falling rates and fiscal stimulus in the US, China, and Germany underpin current resilience, not protectionism.

Photographing the hidden world of slime mould

Key Points

• Barry Webb uses focus bracketing and image stacking to produce sharply detailed macro images of slime moulds.
• His work has been recognized by the British Photography Awards and is primarily conducted west of London.
• Slime moulds have ecological roles and notable practical applications, according to the RHS.

What Happened to WebAssembly

Key Points

• WebAssembly is used in production for critical features across multiple products and tools.
• Performance depends on runtimes and engines; Wasm can achieve near‑native speed when appropriately compiled.
• WAT provides a near 1:1 textual view of Wasm, aiding learning and low-level control.

European Commission issues call for evidence on open source

Key Points

• EU launches call for evidence to inform its Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy.
• Open source highlighted as a secure, high‑quality alternative to proprietary software.
• Feedback sought from broad stakeholder groups until Feb 3, 2026 (Brussels time).

Samba Was Written (2003)

Key Points

• Public CIFS documents provided a starting point despite incomplete accuracy.
• Traffic analysis with network sniffers inferred protocol behaviors.
• Deliberate error induction mapped error codes and failure responses.

Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery

Key Points

• Grok limits image features to paying subscribers amid regulatory threats and public outcry.
• UK authorities signal potential enforcement under the Online Safety Act, including fines and possible blocking.
• Investigations found extensive nonconsensual and violent content generated via Grok and Grok Imagine.

1M for Non-Specialists: Introduction

Key Points

• 1ML is introduced as a type system by Andreas Rossberg, with the series aimed at demystifying it.
• Readers should reference the 2018 Journal of Functional Programming paper while following the series.
• 1ML functions as syntactic sugar for System Fω, translating terms and types into Fω.

Why women experience more gut pain

Key Points

• Estrogen drives a colon pathway (PYY to serotonin) that heightens gut pain sensitivity in females.
• Targeted interruption of this pathway may reduce chronic gut pain without affecting normal digestion.
• Estrogen increases responsiveness to short-chain fatty acids, explaining benefits of certain dietary interventions.

Why Is There a Tiny Hole in the Airplane Window? (2023)

Key Points

• Bleed holes equalize pressure between window panes and the cabin.
• Rounded windows replaced square ones to reduce stress concentrations after early jet failures.
• Aircraft windows use three-layer stretched acrylic with the bleed hole in the middle pane.

MCP Is a Fad

Key Points

• Function calling can be implemented directly via provider APIs; MCP is not required.
• Frameworks like LangChain, LiteLLM, and SmolAgents abstract provider differences in-process.
• MCP’s separate-process model introduces overhead and reduces application-level control.

Linux Runs on Raspberry Pi RP2350's Hazard3 RISC-V Cores (2024)

Key Points

• Linux now boots on RP2350’s Hazard3 RISC‑V cores, enabling native RISC‑V on a Raspberry Pi MCU.
• Nommu Linux and external PSRAM are required due to RP2350’s lack of MMU and limited SRAM.
• Confirmed working on SparkFun Pro Micro RP2350 (16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM); build steps available on GitHub.

Wolves Became Dogs

Key Points

• Explores how wolves became dogs through a human–canine symbiosis.
• Highlights cultural significance via a quote from Frederick the Great.
• Published as a Christmas Specials feature with print headline “Your flexible friend.”

Sorted string tables (SST) from first principles

Key Points

• SSD I/O is page-based, so reading small records still fetches full pages, causing read amplification.
• Direct I/O experiments show similar latency for 1KB and 4KB reads due to overhead-dominated SSD access.
• Data locality (spatial and temporal) is key to reducing unnecessary reads in SST-based systems.

"If Starmer is successful in banning X in Britain, I will move forward in . . ."

Key Points

• Proposed U.S. legislation threatened if the UK bans X.
• Brazil 2024–2025 dispute cited as precedent for tariffs, visas, and sanctions.
• Allegation that Starmer asked Ofcom to consider banning X over Grok-generated images.

Iran vows regime will "not back down" as web blackout continues

Key Points

• Khamenei vowed the regime would not back down and blamed President Trump for inspiring protests.
• NetBlocks reported Iran’s communications blackout continued, limiting reliable information.
• Reza Pahlavi coordinated timed chants and urged international help to restore communications.

Kagi releases alpha version of Orion for Linux

Key Points

• Alpha release targets Linux with core UI and navigation working.
• Advanced tab management functions; Tab Switcher UI not yet available.
• Session persistence, bookmarks, history, and a password framework are implemented; WebKit extensions and sync are planned.

People who come off slimming jabs regain weight four times faster than dieters

Key Points

• Stopping GLP-1 weight-loss drugs leads to faster regain (≈0.8 kg/month) than stopping dieting (≈0.1 kg/month).
• Evidence comes from a 37-study meta-analysis; GLP-1-specific post-cessation data are limited to one year.
• NHS recommends use for at-risk individuals alongside lifestyle changes; long-term therapy may be needed.

When Kitty Litter Caused a Nuclear Catastrophe

Key Points

• A 2014 transuranic release at WIPP triggered ventilation and filtration; a breached container was confirmed.
• WIPP leverages deep bedded salt for long-term isolation via natural creep and minimal groundwater.
• Ground control with epoxy-anchored roof bolts maintains stability during operations before ultimate entombment.

London–Calcutta Bus Service

Key Points

• Operated from ~1957 to 1976; regarded as the longest bus route of its time.
• ~10,000 miles one way, 50+ days per leg; traversed multiple countries before reaching Calcutta.
• Run by Albert Travel; all-inclusive service with extensive onboard facilities and historical ticket prices.

"They Saw a Protest": Cognitive Illiberalism and the Speech-Conduct Distinction [pdf]

Key Points

• Cultural outlooks systematically bias perceptions of identical protest footage.
• Framing the protest’s cause shifts judgments on legally salient facts.
• Findings challenge assumptions that video evidence is inherently objective.

How Will the Miracle Happen Today?

Key Points

• Reliable rides during daily hitchhiking in New Jersey established a pattern of strangers’ help.
• Travel across Asia featured multiple instances of unsolicited hospitality in the Philippines, Pakistan Himalayas, and Taipei.
• A cross-country bike trip showed a methodical approach to requesting backyard camping that was consistently granted.

DHS Invokes Immigration Enforcement to Justify Gathering Americans' DNA

Key Points

• DHS proposes expanded biometrics—including DNA—for anyone associated with immigration benefit requests.
• Institute for Justice objects, citing indefinite retention and constitutional concerns.
• A similar DHS effort in 2020 was withdrawn after extensive public comments.

Lego announces Smart Brick, the 'most significant evolution' in 50 years, no AI

Key Points

• Smart Brick launches March 1, 2026 with sensors, NFC, and Bluetooth mesh.
• No AI or camera; microphone used only as a virtual input sensor.
• Debut in three Lego Star Wars sets with detailed contents and pricing.

Show HN: Free noise evidence generator for tenant complaints

Key Points

• Smartphone-based noise metering aligned with US city ordinances
• Court-ready PDF reports with timestamps, location data, and ordinance references
• Guidance on recording duration, device considerations, and daily PDF limits

IcePanel (YC W23) is hiring full-stack engineers in Vancouver

Key Points

• Hybrid role in North Vancouver with CAD $170k base, profit share, and ~1% equity
• End‑to‑end responsibilities across UI/UX, backend, data migrations, and infrastructure
• YC W23 alum with ~CAD $4M ARR; multi‑stage interview process outlined

Cloudflare CEO on the Italy Fines

Key Points

• Cloudflare reports a $17 million fine from Italy over non-compliance with a content-blocking regime.
• Company alleges the rules required 30-minute takedowns, DNS-level and global blocking without judicial oversight.
• Cloudflare weighs service and investment withdrawals in Italy and plans meetings with U.S. officials and the IOC.

Cloudspecs: Cloud Hardware Evolution Through the Looking Glass

Key Points

• Network bandwidth per dollar improved 10x, driven by Nitro-powered, network-optimized instances.
• CPU and DRAM cost-performance gains were modest; Graviton drove much of the CPU improvement.
• AWS NVMe performance stagnated since 2016, pushing architectures toward disaggregated storage and S3.

Latest SteamOS Beta Now Includes Ntsync Kernel Driver

Key Points

• SteamOS 3.7.20 beta includes and autoloads the NTSYNC kernel driver.
• Wine 11.0 (due this month) and Proton 11.0 will support NTSYNC.
• Proton already uses FSYNC; NTSYNC offers an alternative synchronization path.

Show HN: Similarity = cosine(your_GitHub_stars, Karpathy) Client-side

Key Points

• Builds an embedding from a user’s GitHub stars for interest profiling
• Uses cosine similarity to compare profiles and discover similar people
• Provides repo recommendations and similar-repo search, plus a Skill Radar

Why is SendGrid emailing me about supporting ICE?

Key Points

• Phishing uses compromised SendGrid accounts to send emails that pass SPF/DKIM and look legitimate.
• Lures rely on politically provocative, platform-wide footer changes with “opt-out” traps.
• Issue persists over years; termed “Phishception” by Netcraft and reported by Brian Krebs.

Replit (YC W18) Is Hiring

Key Points

• Replit is hiring for 44 roles across multiple functions.
• Most positions are hybrid in Foster City, CA (in-office M, W, F), with some in the SF Bay Area.
• Openings span security, data, growth, design, and software engineering, including early-career roles for Summer 2026.

Developers Are Solving the Wrong Problem

Key Points

• Code quality practices historically target human comprehension; outcomes matter more than code aesthetics.
• Vibe coding enables faster, iterative problem-solving by generating workable solutions from problem descriptions.
• Improve vibe coding by choosing suitable models and supplying contextual code aligned with standards.

Scientists discover oldest poison, on 60k-year-old arrows

Key Points

• Earliest evidence of poisoned weapons found on 60,000-year-old arrow tips in South Africa.
• Chemical analyses identified toxins likely from Boophone disticha (Bushman’s poison bulb).
• Findings published in Science Advances support advanced cognitive abilities in early humans.

Agonist-Antagonist Myoneural Interface

Key Points

• AMI restores proprioception via linked agonist-antagonist muscles in the residual limb.
• First human implementation controlled a robotic ankle-foot prosthesis with improved sensing and control.
• Closed-loop neural feedback of prosthetic joint torque demonstrated functional gains.

Show HN: Various shape regularization algorithms

Key Points

• Provides segment, snap, metric, and contour regularization features for geometric data.
• Uses quadratic programming to align line segment angles and offsets.
• Offers multiple installation paths (pip, uv, and GitHub source) with clear example usage.

U.S. mandates more foreign travelers to pay $15,000 visa bond deposits

Key Points

• U.S. mandates a $15,000 visa bond for visitors from 13 countries.
• Most affected countries are in Africa.
• Visa Waiver Program nationals are exempt from the bond.

JavaScript Demos in 140 Characters

Key Points

• 140-character limit for JavaScript demos on dwitter.net
• Real-time loop: `u(t)` called 60 times per second
• Built-in shorthands and canvas/2D context provided for rendering

73% People Detained by ICE Have No Convictions

Key Points

• 73% of ICE book-ins since October 1, 2025, have no criminal conviction.
• Only 5% of detainees have violent convictions; 8% have violent or property convictions.
• FOIA data show 67% of ICE arrests are of people without convictions; ~40% without convictions or charges.

Show HN: Rocket Launch and Orbit Simulator

Key Points

• Comprehensive telemetry tracks launch and orbital metrics from T+00:00:00.
• Control modes include Manual Pitch Control and Guided Launch with target altitude.
• Orbital Mode and orbital burns enable direct practice of orbital mechanics.

Show HN: EuConform – Offline-first EU AI Act compliance tool (open source)

Key Points

• Offline, privacy-first EU AI Act compliance tool with risk classification and Annex IV PDF reporting.
• Bias detection via CrowS-Pairs with accurate log-probability metrics; supports local models through Ollama.
• WCAG 2.2 AA accessible interface; quick deploy on Vercel and local setup with Node.js/pnpm.

Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression

Key Points

• Exercise reduces depressive symptoms moderately versus no treatment and is comparable to psychological therapy.
• Comparable effects to antidepressants were observed, but evidence quality was low.
• Light/moderate intensity and mixed or resistance training programs are associated with better outcomes.

The (likely?) cheapest home-made Michelson interferometer

Key Points

• Built a working Michelson interferometer using 3D-printed parts and Amazon-sourced components.
• CAD modeled in Python with build123d; designs and STEP files available on GitHub.
• Explains interferometer principles and shows visible interference fringes from the completed setup.

AI Zealotry

Key Points

• Adopt AI to automate routine tasks and operate at higher abstraction levels.
• Use Hooks in AI tools (e.g., Claude Code) to enforce workflow instructions.
• Acknowledge trade-offs similar to moving from hand-written assembly to compiler-based development.

Amiga Pointer Archive

Key Points

• Shareable pointer link with Bluesky/Mastodon options.
• Downloadable preferences file for the Amiga “devs” folder.
• Create a bootable Amiga disk image with the selected pointer.

QtNat – Open you port with Qt UPnP

Key Points

• QtNat automates NAT port mapping via UPnP for Qt/C++ applications.
• Discovery uses M-SEARCH and description retrieval via QNetworkAccessManager.
• Mapping requests are templated with inja and success is indicated by NAT_ADD.

RTX 5090 and Raspberry Pi: Can It Game?

Key Points

• RTX 5090 eGPU attached to Raspberry Pi 5 via OCuLink and M.2 adapter.
• ARM SBCs need patched drivers; ready-made packages available for Ubuntu/Fedora.
• Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe bandwidth (~500 MB/s) is far lower than Gen3 x4 (~4,000 MB/s) on comparison machines.

Iran's complete Internet shutdown reaches 24 hours

Key Points

• Nationwide internet shutdown in Iran has lasted 24 hours.
• Connectivity reduced to about 1% of normal levels, creating a digital blackout.
• The update frames the shutdown as violating rights and concealing regime violence.

Vessel searching for MH370 moving at low speed in a specific area

Key Points

• Ocean Infinity vessel showed atypical low-speed movement in a specific area.
• Analysis suggests potential ROV deployment following AUV data review.
• No official confirmation of findings from Ocean Infinity or the Malaysian government.

How Markdown took over the world

Key Points

• Markdown’s simplicity and portability drive its widespread use across modern tech and everyday apps.
• John Gruber’s early-2000s blogging around Apple contextualized Markdown’s origins and influence.
• Blogs surged into the mainstream by 2004, boosted by U.S. political campaigns and media coverage.

Looking for flagged discussions on HN? See what's active

Key Points

• The “active” view lists high‑engagement Hacker News stories with points and comment counts.
• Flagged items still appear in the active feed alongside other discussions.
• Highlighted topics include AI tooling changes, developer frameworks, and policy actions affecting technology use.

Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

Key Points

• Generates static repositories for multiple package managers with automatic detection and metadata creation.
• Supports signing (GPG/RSA) and unsigned repo workflows with InRelease for Debian Trixie.
• Offers incremental updates and documented AWS S3 workflows for efficient repository maintenance.

Flock Hardcoded the Password for America's Surveillance Infrastructure 53 Times

Key Points

• Default ArcGIS API key embedded in public-facing bundles, with no access restrictions.
• 53 exposed endpoints enabled access to 50 private ArcGIS layers in Flock’s environment.
• FlockOS consolidates nationwide surveillance data into an ArcGIS-powered “one map.”

Ragdoll Mayhem Maker – a physics-based level editor for my indie game

Key Points

• Physics-based level editor with diverse interactive objects
• Ragdoll-style gameplay emphasizing chain reactions and destruction
• Large library of community-created levels with rating and sharing

Sigmund Freud's Begonia

Key Points

• A begonia cutting gifted to Emma Freud traces back to Sigmund Freud via a documented chain.
• Cuttings create genetically identical clones, making the plant a tangible historical heirloom.
• Clement Freud’s avoidance of Sigmund’s legacy left Emma with few family artifacts; the plant is a rare connection.

AI solves Erdos problem #728 (Terence Tao mathstodon post)

Key Points

• AI largely autonomously solved Erdős problem #728 using a recently reconstructed formulation.
• The solution is not known to be in prior literature, though similar methods/results exist.
• AI shows increasing capability in both solving problems and refining expository proofs.

TextMaze

Key Points

• Runs on systems with Perl and a curses library; Windows is generally unsupported.
• Offers both color and monochrome (VT100-style) display modes.
• Updates can be followed by subscribing via a Freshmeat page.

Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy Center

Key Points

• WNO will leave the Kennedy Center and become an independent nonprofit, reducing performance volume.
• Negotiations to end the 2011 affiliation agreement will proceed with Kennedy Center leadership.
• Cited reasons include attendance and donor declines and artist refusals following contested renaming.

Caltrain shows why every region should be moving toward regional rail

Key Points

• Caltrain’s electrification drove a 47% ridership increase to 9.1 million in FY2025.
• New schedule delivers ~20% more weekday service and 30‑minute off‑peak frequencies with clock‑face departures.
• Express electric service now covers San Francisco–San Jose in about one hour with higher‑capacity seven‑car trainsets.

See it with your lying ears

Key Points

• Audio downsampling via windowed averaging creates metallic artifacts; smoothing with a lowpass filter helps.
• Bit-depth reduction at 44.1 kHz introduces hiss and quickly degrades audio fidelity.
• Delay-based processing yields room ambience, echoes, flanger/phaser/chorus in audio but blurs or doubles images.

Design duality and the expression problem (2018)

Key Points

• Object-oriented design fixes operations, easing new variants but complicating new methods.
• Data-centric design fixes variants, easing new operations but complicating new variants.
• System boundaries heighten the importance of stability and adherence to design rules.

Start your meetings at 5 minutes past

Key Points

• Start meetings five minutes past the hour to create a reliable buffer.
• Ending early often fails; shifting start times is more effective.
• The practice spread organically across the organization and improved readiness.

Favorite Tech Museums

Key Points

• Highlights six best tech museums, plus sixteen more and three less-positive examples.
• Profiles Taiwan’s National Railway Museum Park/Taipei Railway Workshop with detailed exhibit descriptions.
• Notes planned campus expansion using surrounding disused buildings and provides official site link.

Pre-commit lint checks: Vibe coding's kryptonite

Key Points

• 523 lint violations identified with clear severity breakdown and top rule offenders.
• AI-assisted coding linked to increased clones and lower maintainability per cited studies.
• Zero-trust linting: make lint configs immutable (e.g., .pylintrc read-only).

Show HN: Roleplay-first chat UI for an OpenAI-compatible chat completions API

Key Points

• Roleplay and creative writing modes with strict in-character and collaborative narrative behaviors.
• Enforced output style: cinematic tone, second-person, present tense, dialogue plus action beats.
• OOC handling and legal-compliance requirements to preserve immersion and safety.

The Manchester Garbage Collector and purple-garden's runtime

Key Points

• mgc combines preallocated regions, root set tracing, and semi-space copying for efficient GC.
• Purple-garden is a C-implemented, register-based VM with a minimalist standard library.
• GC can be manually triggered via std::runtime::gc::cycle(), and call frames use a separate allocator.

Robotopia: A 3D, first-person, talking simulator

Key Points

• Robotopia introduces LLM-powered, dialog-free role-play in a 3D first-person format.
• The studio left stealth after industry demos and released a public trailer.
• Founders’ backgrounds span Minecraft mobile, VR at Meta, and procedural storytelling.

The rise and fall of the company behind Reader Rabbit (2018)

Key Points

• TLC dominated educational software in the 1980s–90s with titles like Reader Rabbit and Carmen Sandiego.
• By 2000, TLC was in financial disarray tied to a notorious business deal.
• Ann McCormick’s grants and team (Teri Perl, Warren Robinett) launched early edtech programs on the Apple II.

Show HN: Yellopages – New tab Chrome extension

Key Points

• Free Chrome new-tab extension by Ka Wai Cheung, available on the Chrome Web Store.
• Features include Tab Monster cleanup, unified search, and aggregated notifications.
• Audio tab controls, Mayday for tab hiding/restoration, and favorites support.

Show HN: Miditui – a terminal app/UI for MIDI composing, mixing, and playback

Key Points

• Rust-based terminal DAW-like app for MIDI with full mouse, piano roll, insert mode, and timeline.
• Low-latency 44.1kHz audio via rustysynth; autosave, undo/redo; unlimited tracks with per-track controls.
• Easy install via GitHub binaries or cargo; requires SoundFont (.sf2), with recommended options provided.

Greenland sharks maintain vision for centuries through DNA repair mechanism

Key Points

• Greenland sharks show preserved retinal function aided by DNA repair, with no degeneration detected.
• Active rhodopsin tuned to blue light indicates adaptation to low-light Arctic environments.
• Findings, published in Nature Communications, may inform strategies against age-related vision diseases.

Maine's black market for baby eels

Key Points

• “The Glass Eel” is the latest media work on elver poaching.
• The focus is Maine’s black market for baby eels.
• The article emphasizes a trend of books and TV exploring this topic.

OLED Not for Me

Key Points

• QD‑OLED’s subpixel layout caused colored fringing visible on text and fine lines.
• Side‑by‑side testing showed the LCD’s vertical RGB stripes produced cleaner edges.
• The author opted against the QD‑OLED for text‑centric tasks after comparative evaluation.

Changes to Android Open Source Project

Key Points

• From 2026, Android source code will be published to AOSP in Q2 and Q4.
• Use android-latest-release instead of aosp-main for building and contributing.
• The change aligns with a trunk stable development model to improve platform stability.

You probably don't need Oh My Zsh

Key Points

• OMZ adds measurable startup overhead; an example shows 0.38s per new interactive Zsh shell.
• A minimal Zsh config (history, autocd, compinit) plus starship prompt yields faster, cleaner setup.
• Switching to fzf for history and enabling Vim mode further improves usability; startup drops to 0.07s.

Alien: Braun Aromaster KF 20 Coffee Makers (2012)

Key Points

• Braun Aromaster KF 20 identified in the Nostromo kitchenette and designed in 1972 by Florian Seiffert.
• Distinctive c-principle closed filter system and multi-color availability; price DM139.
• KF 21 successor changed handle design, added thermostat slider, and reduced color choices.