GeekSpeak for October 21, 2006

Evolutionary Nonsense

The BBC recently posted an article suggesting that humans would split into two distinct species, one "tall and beautiful" and the other "dumb and troll-like." It's a shame that the BBC was taken in by this nonsense as it belies a fundamental misunderstanding of how evolution works.

Biologist PZ Meyers thoroughly debunks this nonsence (non-science?). The bottom line? Consider the source.

For more information on how it really works, check out this online resource on evolution published by UC Berkeley.

Darwin Online

The complete works of Charles Darwin are being made available online, including the very first edition of Origin of Species. Unfortunately, Darwin's original notebook was stolen in the 1980s. The notebook's content will be available online however. It is hoped that the online release of this material will aid in finding the original.

Zombie PCs Harder to Detect

Those malicious individuals that control Zombie PCs have been changing their methods. Where they once were almost exclusively controlled through IRC, now botnets are blending in better to the general network by transmitting their commands through HTTP (the Web).

Internet Explorer 7 Released

Speaking of exploited systems, a new version of Microsoft's popular web browser is available for free download. This release adds new features such as tabbed browsing and phishing and fraud protection. Unfortunately, security with this browser is still an issue. An exploit was found in the new browser within 24 hours of release.

The Geeks still recommend alternative web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera instead. With the release of Microsoft's next operating system, Vista, the security of Internet Explorer should improve. We'll keep you posted.