The Supreme Court of Brazil has ordered the suspension of social media platform X’s activities in the country as the company failed to appoint a legal representative within the specified deadline.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, in a continuing legal battle with X’s owner Elon Musk, issued an order on Friday evening for the complete suspension of X’s operations until all court orders are fulfilled, fines are paid, and a new legal representative is appointed in the country.
The National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil has been given 24 hours to enforce the court’s decision, after which over 20,000 broadband providers in the country will be required to block access to X.
The agency’s director, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, confirmed that the order has been communicated to internet providers, with the expectation that all businesses will have implemented the blocks by the weekend.
Initially, Judge Moraes instructed Apple and Google to block X apps and VPN applications. However, these references were later removed pending further information from the involved parties.
Individuals or companies attempting to use X through VPNs will face fines of 50,000 reais per day.
Following X’s failure to appoint new legal representatives, Musk announced that the platform would not comply with the court’s orders.
Musk criticized Brazil’s actions, accusing the country of stifling the truth and intimidating those seeking it.
The conflict between Musk and the Brazilian authorities began in April, with accusations of spreading misinformation and censorship.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva emphasized the need for compliance with Brazilian laws and court decisions, warning against disrespect for the country’s sovereignty.
In response to Musk’s actions, local bank accounts linked to Starlink, Musk’s satellite and internet provider, were blocked to enforce fines imposed on X.
As legal experts criticized the decision affecting Starlink, the internet provider assured customers of continued service despite the financial implications.
Starlink has requested the Supreme Court to reconsider Moraes’ decision and lift the freeze on its accounts, or alternatively, limit the freeze to the fine amount imposed on X.
THus’ kingdom is a rural idyll, with happy villagers wandering around the market, the young shepherd Len tending his flock and his partner Tyra repairing the shed. It’s as if they all live in a cozy farming simulator made by a benevolent game developer. But is that really the case? Or is it just an illusion cast by an evil god that has trapped them in their horrible pixelated appearance?
That’s the fun “meta” setting of Quantum Witch, a pixel-art platform game by lone developer Nikki Jay. Heavily inspired by old LucasArts adventures and the legendary Dizzy series for the ZX Spectrum, it’s a comedy game with a serious autobiographical heart. Jay grew up in a right-wing religious sect with very closed-minded views, based in the northeast of England. “They were obsessed with the end of the world,” she says. “They believed it could happen at any time, and that all evil people would be destroyed. So I Had “Being good. It was very oppressive.”
“This is not a platform game. Plot Former“…Quantum Witch.” Photo: Nikki Jay
Jay came out as a lesbian as a teenager, but was quickly shunned by her group. After a period of homelessness, she taught herself to code and found work as a software engineer, but the desire to share her story haunted her. “My mind was constantly swirling with what had happened to me,” she says. “I thought, ‘I can’t just hold onto this trauma, I have to do something about it.’ I knew there were other people out there who had been through the same thing. I wanted to tell them a story they could relate to and let them know there was something better out there.”
She initially thought she would write a novel, but found the process terrifying. Instead, she turned to games. Growing up in the 1980s, her family had a ZX Spectrum, which was her escape. “I escaped into video games because they let me create the worlds I wanted,” she says. “I was obsessed with computer-generated worlds. When I first played Trashman on the Spectrum, I thought, ‘This is amazing. This is a completely self-contained, internally consistent world that I can interact with.’ I loved it. It freed me from the fears I was facing in my life.”
“Multi-layered metaphor”…Quantum Witch. Photo: Nikki Jay
In Quantum Witch, Ren discovers that something malevolent exists beyond the saccharine pixel-art world she’s lived in, and sets off on a journey to discover the truth. Along the way, she’ll complete fetch quests and pick flowers for her partner, but ultimately must attack a god and take his throne. While the open Metroidvania-style structure suggests a standard platform game, the game is actually a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style narrative quest. You’ll make many choices over the course of four hours of play, meeting characters and taking on optional side quests that will affect the outcome. “This isn’t just a platform game, it’s a game about discovering the truth,” says Ren. Plot Former“Your choices shape the story. There are multiple endings and, where possible, each side quest also has multiple endings. It’s a total logistical nightmare,” says Jay.
Throughout the adventure, the story is filled with the wonderfully silly humor that is typical of the ZX Spectrum development scene. Available on Steamyou encounter dancing skeletons who can see into time, a lampshade-worshipping religious group (“We’re not a cult!”), and a marketplace where all the merchants resemble famous video game protagonists, including a wordy archaeologist selling dodgy artifacts and a strange circular character trying to sell you stimulants to fight the ghosts in your mind. Naturally, Jay was also a big fan of Digitizer, the cult teletext gaming magazine known for its surreal humor. She later became friends with the magazine’s writer Paul Rose, who served as a script consultant for the game. “I had lots of ideas for storyline and character development for Quantum Witch, but I’d never written anything this long or complex,” Jay explains.[Rose] It’s really helped me organize and make it all work together.
After being blown away by how fun Thank Goodness You’re Here is, it’s great to see other developers taking cues from quirky British humor from the ’70s and ’80s. But Quantum Witch isn’t just a pun-filled comedy quest. It’s a multi-layered metaphor about game development, identity and escapism, and it’s based on its creators’ own experiences. It’s about what games are supposed to be about: making the biggest decisions that sometimes save your life.
“I wanted to introduce a theme of choice and responsibility that is really central to the story,” Jay says. “A lot of religions involve giving up your autonomy to some mysterious force you’ve never seen, heard or met. In the game, Ren reclaims that agency… It’s a queer liberation story.”
isDuring this long, hot, dreary summer, I’ve come to believe in only one thing: seeing Twisters in 4DX. Set in Oklahoma, this Lee Isaac Chung-directed film gets a 7/10 in 2D. It’s a sort of blockbuster sequel to the 1996 disaster movie, with Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones playing tornado chasers and showing off some modest chemistry. But in the immersive theater format of 4DX, where audiences are pelted with literal wind and rain, Twisters gets a can’t-miss 10/10.
In 4DX, you feel every jolt, from the punch in your back to the tickle in your ankles, as the truck sways in the F5 winds. When the characters cling to their bolted-down theater seats during the climactic storm, I clung to the armrests to keep from being torn apart by the wind. There were loud cheers at my screening every time the movie’s tornado hit, as in the scene in which Powell wears a skin-tight white T-shirt in a light rain. I emerged from Twisters with matted hair and tear stains down my side. A friend lost a shoe. In 4DX, in the words of Tyler Owens, who plays Powell, you don’t just “ride out” the storm. teeth storm.
I’m not alone Glorious Recognition4DX has been around in the US for a decade, first introduced with Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014, but Twisters marks 4DX’s culmination and breakout success this summer. Domestic box office records were broken 4DX grossed $2.3 million in its opening weekend across 62 theaters across the US. A TikTok user recorded himself leaving a screening of Twisters and heading home. Mascara streaks, Pushing and shoving in a four-person theater seat and Seeing God (With shocked parents) In the wind tunnel. A week later, Deadpool and Wolverine Exceeded Twisters’ record $2.8 million marked the second consecutive best weekend ever for 4DX, the second most popular of the so-called “premium large-format” viewing options after IMAX, which accounted for a significant chunk of this month’s box office takings. Alien: Romulus box office.
“Premium formats like 4DX and IMAX are making a full comeback,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “People complain about the price of movie tickets, but audiences don’t seem to mind paying a premium for a particular film experience.” For an average of $8 more than a standard ticket, audiences can feel the impact of a sandworm in Dune, simulate the terror of zero gravity in Alien, and scream inside a tornado. The hype for Twisters has been building for years. A Post-Pandemic Craze for Bold, Spectacular Theatrical Experiences “With Twisters, everything clicked,” says Duncan MacDonald, head of worldwide marketing and theatrical development for 4DX company CJ 4DPlex Americas. “We’ve been stuck at home for so long, and theaters have been closed for so long, so we wanted to see something different, and 4DX gave us that.”
4DX’s summer is largely thanks to a team of artists (whom the company calls “editors”) based in Seoul, South Korea, who adapt 35-40 Hollywood movies and about 70-80 non-Hollywood films a year. Since 2009, the studio has enhanced some 1,050 movies, from horror to the Fast and Furious to Pixar films, with 4DX effects such as smells (gardenias, roses from Beauty and the Beast, Wonka chocolate), weather, lighting, and chair programming adapted from a military flight simulator. What began as an experiment by South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV is now screening in 792 cinemas worldwide, including 63 in the U.S. and Canada, according to the company.
Editors take over once nearly all post-production is finished, usually about a month before the film’s release. The team then goes through the film scene by scene, and frame by frame for particularly intense action sequences, choreographing the chair movements and fine-tuning the effects to match the change in perspective. They have to decide which elements to emphasize at which moments and which to tone down. In the case of Twisters, do you focus on the experience of the battered truck, or the wind? In one storm scene, the 4DX experience “starts with the truck, and you feel every little impact,” says Paul Hyun Kim, senior vice president of content and production at CJ 4DPlex. When a tornado forms in the distance, the seats shake less to match the swaying of the truck, emphasizing the tornado’s intense gusts and smooth movement, drawing the audience into the larger storm. “You’re focused on the tornado, you become part of it,” Kim says.
“It’s a very creative process,” he added. It’s also collaborative: Each team has a lead editor who pitches internally to the studio’s editor-in-chief, Cindy Lee, who has edited 300 titles in 15 years. “With that experience, you really start to gain nuance and a feel and expertise for what to highlight and what to distance yourself from,” Kim said.
Embark on a journey through the most peculiar corners of the cosmos, where the laws of “normal” reality are left behind. Explore places where time can be squeezed, bubbles blown, and glass rain falls… sideways.
Diamond Planet – Planet 55 Cancer e
Artwork for exoplanet 55 Cancri e. – Image courtesy of Science Photo Library
At a distance of 41 light years lies the star 55 Cancri, or Copernicus, accompanied by a planet named 55 Cancri e, also called Jansen’s Star, completing an orbit in just over 17 hours.
With a mass eight times that of Earth, 55 Cancri e is a scorching super-Earth with temperatures soaring to 2,400 °C (4,350 °F), capable of melting almost any metal.
In 2010, a study discovered that the planet’s host star has a high carbon-to-oxygen ratio, hinting at the possibility of carbon existing mainly in diamond form on 55 Cancri e. It may be a blazing planet adorned with diamonds.
However, subsequent investigations have revealed a different carbon-to-oxygen ratio, casting doubt on the diamond hypothesis. Nonetheless, even if the ratio doesn’t align, 55 Cancri e could still hold the title of the most valuable planet in the known universe.
The deformed star Vega
Vega, the egg-shaped star – Image credit: Matúš Motlo/Wikipedia
Vega, a brilliant star in the sky, serves as a reference point for measuring the brightness of other stars. Astronomers use apparent magnitude, Vega’s magnitude being zero. A magnitude 1 star is 2.5 times dimmer, while a magnitude -1 star is 2.5 times brighter than Vega.
Vega has also taken on the role of the North Star in the past due to Earth’s axial movements. The star’s rapid rotation, complete every 12.5 hours, causes it to bulge at its equator, giving it an egg-shaped appearance unlike the Sun’s near-perfect sphere.
Continue reading:
Curveball Cluster – Globular Cluster NGC 6791
Open cluster NGC 6791, Hubble Space Telescope image. – Image courtesy of Science Photo Library
NGC 6791, a globular cluster, challenges traditional classifications by blending characteristics of both globular and open clusters. Its ancient, metal-rich stars with unique compositions defy typical cluster norms, hinting at a new cluster type distinct from the traditional categories.
Learn more about the universe’s mysteries and anomalies with Professor Brian Cox from the BBC: universe.
circleWhen Pavel Durov faced criticism from Russian regulators for promoting adult content on his social media platform VKontakte, he responded by changing his Twitter handle from “VK CEO” to “Porn King.”
Over a decade later, Durov’s anti-authoritarian views and moderation practices have led to even more significant issues.
A 39-year-old man was indicted by a Paris court for his involvement in distributing child sexual abuse images on the Telegram messaging app and other offenses.
Since its launch in 2013, Durov has positioned Telegram as a politically impartial space for free speech, resisting government influence. Despite mounting global regulation targeting tech companies and criticism for criminal and terrorist use of his platform, Durov seemed unperturbed.
However, recent events indicate that Durov may have overestimated his position of power and freedom. Following his bail payment of €5 million (£4.2 million) to avoid prison, he had to surrender three passports, limiting his ability to move freely.
Born in the Soviet Union in 1984, Durov exhibited a rebellious streak from a young age, challenging authority and displaying immense self-confidence. His journey from founding VKontakte to creating Telegram has been marked by bold decisions and a commitment to freedom of expression.
Durov’s eccentricities and tech innovations have drawn comparisons to Steve Jobs rather than Mark Zuckerberg. His unorthodox leadership style and strong beliefs have shaped his public persona as a visionary in the tech world.
Telegram’s success, boasting nearly a billion users, showcases Durov’s entrepreneurial skills and technological acumen. The app’s innovative features have attracted a diverse user base and have been instrumental in social movements across the globe.
Despite facing challenges and legal troubles, Durov continues to advocate for freedom of speech and positions himself as a champion of the cause. His journey from a rebellious teenager to a tech giant reflects a complex and intriguing narrative in the digital age.
NGC 261 is located within the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's closest neighbors.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the diffuse nebula NGC 261, about 200,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sivir. Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/LC Johnson, Northwestern University/Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.
NGC 261 It is a diffuse nebula located about 200,000 light years away in the constellation Tetranychus.
The object, also known as Brook 42, ESO 29-12, and IRAS 00447-7322, Found It was discovered on September 5, 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
“The ionized gas burning up from within this diffuse region characterizes NGC 261 as an emission nebula,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“The stars are so hot that they irradiate the surrounding hydrogen gas, giving the clouds a pinkish-red glow.”
The Hubble Space Telescope has turned its keen eye to NGC 261 to study how efficiently stars form within molecular clouds, extremely dense regions of gas and dust.
“These clouds are often composed of large amounts of molecular hydrogen and are the cold regions where most stars form,” the researchers explained.
“But molecular hydrogen is poorly radiative, making it difficult to measure this fuel for star formation in stellar nurseries.”
“Because they're difficult to detect, scientists instead track other molecules present within the molecular cloud.”
“The Small Magellanic Cloud contains a gas-rich environment of young stars, as well as traces of carbon monoxide, which correlates with hydrogen and is a chemical often used to confirm the presence of such clouds.”
“The combined powers of the ACS and WFC3 instruments allowed us to probe the star formation properties of the nebula through its carbon monoxide content at visible and near-infrared wavelengths,” the scientists said.
“This work helps us better understand how stars form in our host galaxy and in our Galactic neighbours.”
Archaeologists say Genovesa Cave Discovered in Mallorca, the main Balearic island and the Mediterranean's sixth largest, the find suggests that humans settled in the western Mediterranean much earlier than previously thought.
5,600-year-old underwater stone bridge in Genovesa Cave, Mallorca, Spain. Image courtesy of R. Landreth.
Limited archaeological evidence makes it difficult to reconstruct early human colonization of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean.
By studying the 7.7-metre (25-foot) submerged bridge, Professor Bogdan Onak of the University of South Florida and his colleagues were able to provide compelling evidence of prior human activity within Genovesa Cave.
“The presence of this underwater bridge and other artefacts indicates a high level of activity and suggests that early settlers were aware of the cave's water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate through them,” Prof Onak said.
Genovesa Cave, located near the coast of Mallorca, has had parts of its passage flooded by rising sea levels and has clear calcite deposits when sea levels were higher.
These layers, along with the light-colored bands on the submerged bridge, act as markers to precisely track historical sea-level changes and pinpoint the date of the bridge's construction.
Previous studies had suggested a human presence at the site as far back as 9,000 years ago, but inconsistencies in nearby carbon-dated bones, pottery and other evidence, as well as poor preservation, had left the findings in doubt.
Recent studies have used charcoal, ash and bones found on the island to create a timeline of human settlement dating back about 4,400 years ago.
This allows the timeline of human presence to coincide with important environmental events, such as the extinction of the goat antelope. Myotragus balearix.
By analysing the bridge's mineral overgrowths and the height of the bridge's colour bands, the authors found that the bridge was built around 6,000 years ago – more than 2,000 years older than previous estimates, narrowing the gap in the timelines between eastern and western Mediterranean settlements.
“The history of the bridge's construction appears to be closely linked to the rapid Holocene sea-level rise just before 6,000 years ago and the brief period of sea-level stillness that caused parts of the upper part of the cave to be flooded,” the researchers said.
“Our chronology shows that sea-level rise stopped and stabilized for several hundred years, between 5,964 and 5,359 years ago. During this time, so-called phreatic expansions of speleothems (POS) formed in the cave lake and the characteristic 'bathtub ring' formed on the bridge.”
“Construction of the bridge probably began early in this period, as it was needed to cross the 0.25 metre deep lake, but it must have been completed before 5,600 years ago, when the upper part of the bridge was submerged.”
“Evidence suggests that humans constructed a cobblestone path and a sturdy bridge leading to the cave's water pool, facilitating access to the only dry part of the cave, located in the Sala d'Entrada across the lake.”
“The exact reason these structures in Genovesa Cave were built remains unclear.”
“However, the dating constraints imposed by the depth of the bridge, and the similar depths at which the POS and colour marks are found, support the idea that early humans were present on the island by 5,600 years ago, potentially extending the date back to 6,000 years ago.”
a paper A paper describing the findings was published in the journal Neurology today. Communication Earth and the Environment.
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BP Onac others2024. An underwater bridge built at least 5,600 years ago marks early human arrival on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Community Global Environment 5, 457; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01584-4
Recent respiratory disease epidemics have attracted a lot of attention, yet most respiratory monitoring is limited to physical signals. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is packed with rich molecular information that can reveal various insights into an individual's health. Now, Professor Wei Gao and colleagues at California Institute of Technology have developed EBCare, a mask-based device that monitors EBC biomarkers in real time. For example, the EBCare mask can monitor asthma patients for their levels of nitrite, a chemical that indicates airway inflammation.
This diagram shows how the smart mask detects breathed chemicals, such as nitrite, an indicator of airway inflammation. Images by Wei Gao and Wenzheng Heng, Caltech.
“Monitoring a patient's breathing is routinely done, for example to assess asthma and other respiratory diseases,” Prof Gao said.
“However, this method requires patients to visit a clinic to have a sample taken and then wait for the test results.”
“Since COVID-19, people have started wearing masks. We can leverage this increased use of masks for remote, personalized monitoring to get real-time feedback on one's health from the comfort of one's own home or office.”
“For example, we could use this information to evaluate how effective a medical treatment is.”
To selectively analyze the chemicals and molecules in your breath, you first need to cool them down and condense them into a liquid.
In a clinical setting, this cooling step is separate from the analysis: Moistbreath samples are cooled in a bucket of ice or a large refrigerated cooler.
The EBCare mask, on the other hand, is self-cooling, according to the team.
The breath is cooled by a passive cooling system that integrates hydrogel evaporative cooling and radiative cooling to effectively cool the breath on the facemask.
“This mask represents a new paradigm for respiratory and metabolic disease management and precision medicine because wearing it daily allows for easy collection of breath samples and real-time analysis of exhaled chemical molecules,” said Wen-zheng Heng, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology.
“Breath condensate contains soluble gases as well as non-volatile substances in the form of aerosols and droplets, including metabolic products, inflammatory indicators and pathogens.”
Once the breath is converted into liquid, a series of capillaries in a device called bioinspired microfluidics immediately transports the liquid to a sensor for analysis.
“We learned how to transport water from plants, which use capillary action to pull water up from the ground,” Professor Gao said.
“The analysis results are then sent wirelessly to an individual's phone, tablet or computer.”
“The smart mask can be prepared at a relatively low cost. The materials are designed to cost just $1.”
To test the masks, the authors conducted a series of human studies, focusing primarily on patients with asthma or COPD.
The researchers specifically monitored the patients' breath for nitrite, a biomarker of inflammation in both diseases.
Results showed that the masks accurately detected biomarkers indicative of inflammation in patients' airways.
In a separate experiment, the masks demonstrated that they could accurately detect subjects' blood alcohol levels, suggesting that they could potentially be used for field DUI checks and other alcohol consumption monitoring.
We also explored how the mask can be used to assess blood urea levels in the monitoring and management of kidney disease.
As kidney function declines, by-products of protein metabolism, such as urea, accumulate in the blood.
At the same time, the amount of urea in saliva increases, which breaks down into ammonia gas, leading to high ammonium concentrations in the breath condensate.
The study showed that the smart mask could accurately detect ammonium levels, closely reflecting the urea concentration in blood.
“Our smart mask platform for EBC collection and analysis represents a major advancement in the potential for real-time monitoring of lung health,” said Professor Harry Rossiter, director of the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
“This concept, with the potential to add biosensors for a wide range of compounds in the future, highlights the groundbreaking potential of smart masks in health monitoring and diagnostics.”
An AI-generated replica scene from the computer game Doom
ID Software
Recreating classic computer games with AI Doom It's playable without any computer code or graphics, and researchers on the project say it may be possible in the future to use similar AI models to create games from scratch, in the same way that we currently create text and images.
This model Game NGenIt was compiled by Dani Walewski of Google Research and his colleagues, who declined to be interviewed. New ScientistAccording to them paper According to the study, the AI can play for up to 20 seconds while retaining all the features of the original, including score, ammo levels, map layout, etc. The player can attack enemies, open doors, and interact with the environment as normal.
After this period, the model's memory begins to run out and the illusion begins to break down.
original Doom It was released in 1993 and has since become a popular subject for computer science projects. Running on specially restricted hardware Toasters, treadmills, espresso machines, etc.
But in all of these cases, the hardware is simply running the original game's code. What GameNGen does is fundamentally different: a type of AI called a neural network learns by observation how to recreate a game, without ever seeing the game's code.
The researchers first created an AI model that learned how to interact with Doom in a human-like way, then had it play the game over and over again, and then the second AI model learned how to interact with Doom in a human-like way. Stable diffusion The image generator learned how the game state changes with hundreds of millions of inputs.
The second model was essentially a copy of the game, with all of the knowledge, rules, and instructions from the original code encoded into a mysterious network of artificial neurons within its own architecture. In tests, human players were slightly better than chance at distinguishing between short clips of the game and clips of the AI simulation.
In their paper, GameNGen's developers claim that this is a proof of concept that games can be created by neural networks rather than lines of code. They suggest that games can be generated from text descriptions and concept art, making them cheaper to produce than using human programmers.
Andrew Rogojski Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK say the idea of having neural networks hallucinate game environments and human interactions is an interesting step forward, but it's not meant to replace human game designers.
“I don't think it's the end of game studios. I think what game studios have is the imagination and the skill – the ability to actually create these worlds, understand gameplay, understand engagement, understand how to draw us into a story – that's not just the nuts and bolts or bits and bytes,” he says. “There's something very human about creating compelling experiences that we humans enjoy, and that's going to come primarily from other humans at the moment, and for the foreseeable future.”
Polarized light can erase messages encoded in quantum holograms
Hong Liang, Wai Chun Wong, Tailing Ang, Jensen Lee 2024
The quantum evanescence phenomenon makes it possible to embed secure messages in holograms and selectively erase parts of them even after they have been transmitted.
Quantum optical signals are inherently secure information carriers: any interception of the message destroys the fragile quantum states that encode it. To harness this without the use of bulky devices, Jensen Lee Researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK MetasurfaceIt is a 2D material engineered with special properties to create quantum holograms.
Holograms encode complex information that can be restored when light is shone on it. For example, when light hits a 2D holographic paper card at the right angle, a 3D image appears. To create quantum holograms, researchers encoded information in the quantum state of particles of light, or photons.
First, they used a laser to emit two photons from a special crystal that were tightly bound by quantum entanglement. The photons traveled along separate paths, with only one encountering the metasurface along the way. Thousands of tiny components on the metasurface, like nano-sized bumps, altered the photon’s quantum state in a preprogrammed way, encoding a holographic image into it.
The partner photon encountered a polarizing filter, which controlled which parts of the hologram appeared and which disappeared. The first photon’s state was a superposition of holograms, so it contained different variations of the message at the same time. Because the photons were in an entangled state, polarizing the second photon affected the image the other photon created when it hit the camera. For example, a test hologram contained the letters H, D, V, and A, but adding a filter for horizontal polarization caused the letter H to disappear from the final image.
Li says metasurfaces could be used to encode more complex information into photons, for example as part of quantum cryptography protocols. He calls the research SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference August 21st, San Diego, California.
“Everyone dreams of quantum technology going from square metres on a table to being compact enough to fit in a smartphone, and metasurfaces seem like a good way to achieve that. [about that]” Andrew Forbes A researcher at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said quantum holograms like the one used in this experiment could also be used to image tiny biological structures in the rapidly expanding medical field.
A research team from Finland and Norway has identified two candidate anti-toxic compounds against enteric pathogens. E. coli Marine actinomycete strains from the bacterial metabolite (EPEC) infection Cochlea and Rhodococcus From the Arctic Ocean.
Strain T091-5 of this genus RhodococcusImages/Photos Courtesy of: Pylkkö others., doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1432475.
“We show that advanced screening assays can identify anti-toxic and antibacterial metabolites from actinomycete extracts,” says Professor Paivi Tamela from the University of Helsinki.
“We discovered compounds in the Arctic actinomycete that inhibit virulence without affecting EPEC growth, as well as compounds that inhibit growth.”
Professor Tamera and his colleagues have developed a series of new methods that allow them to simultaneously test the antitoxic and antibacterial effects of hundreds of unknown compounds.
They targeted a strain of EPEC that causes severe, sometimes fatal, diarrhea in children under the age of 5, especially in developing countries. EPEC attaches to cells in the human intestine and causes disease.
Once EPEC attaches to these cells, it injects so-called “virulence factors” into the host cell that hijack its molecular machinery and ultimately kills the cell.
The compounds tested were extracted from four species of actinomycetes isolated from invertebrates collected in the Arctic waters off the coast of Svalbard during an expedition by a Norwegian research vessel. Cronprince Haakon August 2020.
These bacteria were cultured, the cells were extracted, and their contents were separated into fractions.
Each fraction was then tested in vitro against EPEC attached to cultured colon cancer cells.
The researchers discovered two previously unknown compounds with strong anti-toxic or anti-bacterial activity: one from an unknown strain of the genus (called T091-5); Rhodococcusand another strain from an unknown strain of this genus (T160-2). Cochlea.
These compounds exhibited two complementary biological activities.
First, it inhibits the formation of the so-called “actin pedestal” by EPEC bacteria, a key step in the attachment of this pathogen to the host intestinal wall.
The second is to block EPEC binding to so-called Tir receptors on the surface of host cells, a necessary step to rewire intracellular processes and cause disease.
Unlike compounds in T160-2, compounds in T091-5 did not slow the growth of EPEC bacteria.
This means that T091-5 is the most promising of the two strains, as EPEC is unlikely to eventually develop resistance to its antivirulence effects.
Using advanced analytical techniques, the authors determined that the active compounds in T091-5 were likely phospholipids, a type of fatty phosphorus-containing molecule that plays an important role in cellular metabolism.
“The next steps are to optimise the culture conditions for compound production and to isolate sufficient quantities of each compound to elucidate their structures and further explore their respective biological activities,” Prof Tamera said.
of Survey results Published in today's journal The cutting edge of microbiology.
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Tuomas Pirko others2024. Bioprospecting EPEC virulence inhibitors from metabolites of an Arctic marine actinomycete. Front. Microbiol 15;doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1432475
Researchers are experimenting with biosensors that can monitor workers’ vital signs and provide warnings if they show signs of heatstroke.
The four-year study involves more than 150 farmworkers in Florida who have been wearing sensors in the fields.
Agricultural workers are 35 times more likely to die from heatstroke than other workers.
People who work outdoors are at greatest risk from extreme heat, which can be fatal within minutes, so researchers have begun experimenting with wearable sensors that can monitor workers’ vital signs and warn them if they are starting to show the early symptoms of heatstroke.
In Pearson, Florida, where temperatures can soar to nearly 90 degrees just before and after noon, workers on a fern farm wear experimental biopatches as part of a study sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. National Institutes of HealthThe patch also measures a worker’s vital signs and skin hydration, and is equipped with a gyroscope to monitor continuous movement.
Scientists from Emory University and Georgia Tech are collecting data and feeding it into an artificial intelligence algorithm. The ultimate goal is for the AI to predict when workers are likely to suffer from heatstroke and send them a warning on their phone before that happens. But for now, the researchers are still analyzing the data and plan to publish a research paper next year.
“There’s a perception that field work is hot, and that’s the reality,” says Roxana Chicas, a nurse researcher at Emory University who has been overseeing Biopatch data collection. “I think with research and creativity, we can find ways to protect field workers.”
average 34 workers died of heatstroke According to the Environmental Protection Agency, farmworkers will be killed every year from 1992 to 2022. 35x odds Workers are more likely to die from heatstroke than other workers, but until now it has been left to states to decide how to protect workers from heatstroke. California, for example, requires employers to provide training, water, and shade when temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but many states have no such rules.
Chicas and his team partnered with the Florida Farmworkers Association to recruit participants for the study, aiming to have 100 workers wear the biopatch over the four-year study, but were surprised by how many volunteered, ultimately enrolling 166.
Participating workers arrive at work before dawn, receive a patch, have their vital signs monitored, and then head out into the fields before the hottest, most dangerous parts of the day.
“We hope this study will help improve working conditions,” study participant Juan Pérez said in Spanish, adding that he has worked in the fern fields for 20 years and would like more breaks and higher wages.
Other farmworkers said they hoped the study would shed light on just how tough their jobs are.
Study participant Antonia Hernandez, who lives in Pearson, said she often worries about the heat hazards facing her and her daughter, who both work in fern fields.
“When you don’t have a family, the only thing you worry about is the house and the rent,” Hernandez said in Spanish. “But when you have children, the truth is, there’s a lot of pressure and you have to work.”
Chicas said he could see the heat-related fatigue showing on some of the workers’ faces.
“They look much older than their real age, some of them look much older than their real age, because it takes a toll on their body and their health,” she said.
Chikas has been researching ways to protect farmworkers from the heat for nearly a decade. In a project that began in 2015, workers were fitted with bulky sensors that measured skin temperature, skin hydration, blood oxygen levels, and vital signs. This latest study is the first to test a lightweight biopatch that looks like a large bandage and is placed in the center of the chest.
Overall, wearable sensors are much easier to use, and some are becoming more widely used. While the biosensors that Cikas’ team is experimenting with aren’t yet available to the public, a brand called SlateSafety sells a system (sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) that is available to employers. The system includes an armband that transmits measurements of a worker’s core temperature to a monitoring system. If the temperature is too high, the employer can notify the worker to take a break.
A similar technology, called the Heat Stroke Prevention System, is used in the military. Developed by the U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine, the system requires soldiers or Marines in a company to wear a chest strap that estimates core temperature, skin temperature and gait stability, allowing commanders to understand a soldier’s location and risk of heatstroke.
“The system is programmed to sense when a person is approaching higher than appropriate levels of heat exposure,” says Emma Atkinson, a biomedical researcher at the institute. stated in a news release “Our system allows us to provide warnings before heat stroke occurs, allowing us to intervene before someone collapses,” the report, released in February, added.
The system that Chicas and his team are developing differs from those systems in that it notifies workers directly, rather than in a larger system controlled by their employers. They haven’t finished collecting data from farmworkers yet, but the next step is for algorithms to start identifying patterns that might indicate risk of heatstroke.
“Outdoor workers need to spend time outdoors – otherwise food wouldn’t be harvested, ferns wouldn’t be cut, houses wouldn’t be built,” Chicas said. “With the growing threat of climate change, workers need something to better protect themselves.”
David Bennett Jr. knelt at his bedside, phone in hand, anxiously waiting for the call he’d never received before: The hospital was supposed to update him on whether his father, who had received a new heart transplanted from a pig, was still alive.
It was the first time a living human had received a pig organ transplant.
“I don’t know what the news is, but my dad opened his eyes, he was awake and he was OK. It was unbelievable,” Bennett Jr. said.
Bennett’s father, David Bennett Sr., had severe congestive heart failure and was not a candidate for a transplant. He knew he would likely die soon. There was nothing else he could do but take a chance on a novel, cutting-edge procedure. Bennett Sr. and his son agreed it was worth the risk.
The achievement made headlines around the world following the transplant in January 2022. Initially, the results looked promising, with some family members beginning to entertain the idea that Bennett Sr. might eventually be released from the hospital.
“There were definitely future-oriented conversations about the home environment, who was going to care for him and what that was going to look like,” Bennett Jr. said. “Everyone was very optimistic and hopeful.”
David Bennett Jr. and his family. Jesse Barber, NBC News
But two months later, Bennett Sr.’s body rejected the heart and he died at age 57. paperDoctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center said his body likely produced too many antibodies to fight the new organ. The drugs he was given may have also increased the chance of rejection, and a virus in the pig’s heart further complicates things.
Three other patients have followed in Bennett Sr.’s footsteps and received pig organs, most recently a pig kidney transplant in April. Together, they are pioneers in the burgeoning field of xenotransplantation. For them, the journey has been a roller coaster of emotions, from anxiety to blind hope and ultimately praise for their loved one’s decision, three family members told NBC News.
“Obviously, I wish my dad was still here, but I know his sacrifice was not in vain,” Bennett Jr. said.
None of the patients survived more than three months. To the public, it may have seemed a failure. But to their families, the transplants had accomplished a goal: to buy their loved ones more time and to advance research that may one day save their lives.
“Larry thought: He’s going to die. It’s inevitable, it’s coming,” says Anne Fawcett, whose husband of nearly 38 years, Laurence Fawcett, is the second person to receive a pig heart transplant. “So to gather as much data as we can, to do as much research as we can, why not use Larry’s body as a test subject, to give people in the future who need a transplant another option?”
The potential of xenotransplantation lies in the shortage of available human organs. 17 people die every day in the United States while waiting for an organ transplantBecause pig organs are more readily available, doctors expect such surgeries to become as common as hip replacements in the future, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
circleWhen it comes to video games, they all have one thing in common: Releasing one game is hard. But releasing 50? All at once? That’s a whole other challenge. That’s the challenge for the team behind UFO 50. Seven years after it was announced, this long-awaited anthology of 8-bit, retro-style games is finally set to release this September. With 50 games included, it’ll be worth the wait.
UFO 50 is a giant variety pack of complete video games, each with its own title, genre, and story. “These aren’t mini-games,” asserts Derek Yu, creator and developer of the 2008 platform game Spelunky. Considered one of the greatest games of all time“All of the games could potentially exist as full releases on ’80s consoles or computers.”
The concept that holds this collection together is that these games were all developed by UFO Soft, a mysterious (fictional) 80s video game company that developed an entire catalog for an equally fictional gaming console. There’s a mix of single-player and multiplayer, and everything from puzzle games and platform games to tactical war games and RPGs. Some games don’t fit into typical categories at all, like Pingolf, a side-scrolling pinball-golf hybrid, or Waldorf’s Journey, where you try to crash your flying walrus into your friend’s flying walrus. Every game looks like it was released for the NES, but with a decidedly modern gaming feel. Think low-res, high-concept games.
While some genres in the mix didn’t exist in the ‘80s, like roguelike platformers and tower defense games, classic genres bring new mechanics to their retro roots. “Take Mini & Max, for example. It looks like a regular platform game, but you can make yourself small or big anywhere and explore the world. You might find an entire microscopic city on an unremarkable dirt tile,” hints Yu.
A simple arcade style experience…UFO 50 screenshots. Photo: Mossmouth
Some of the games are simple arcade-style, where the goal of the game is to get a high score, but others are on a grander scale. “Grimstone is one of the largest games in our collection. It’s an RPG, so I think it’s not crazy to say it takes 20 hours to play,” Yu reveals. “UFO Soft’s history stretches from 1982 to 1990, and games have become more technologically advanced over the years. If you go through the timeline, you’ll notice that there are games with sequels and recurring characters.”
One such character is the company’s mascot, the Pilot, who appears in many of its games, including in Pilot Quest, a dedicated top-down action game in which players explore dungeons and expand their base.
The not-so-fictional team behind UFO 50 is a six-strong supergroup of indie game developers known for cult hits like Spelunky, Catacomb Kids, Cadence of Hyrule, and Madhouse, as well as card games like Air and Land & Sea. For the group, the ‘80s gaming style is more than just an aesthetic: “Everyone on the team loves the mystery and charm of ‘80s games,” says Yu.
“You didn’t always know what experience you were going to have, which only added to the tension and excitement. I wasn’t afraid to get a little lost while playing. The design was more adventurous, despite the limitations of the hardware.” The original Legend of Zelda was a particular reference for Yu. “I remember playing the game while my dad drew maps, marking dungeons and secret locations. It really felt like we were on an adventure together. Working together as a team, we began to understand where everything was and how it worked. The graphics weren’t realistic, but the world felt incredibly real.”
There’s a lot to explore in UFO 50. It could take you months to play through all of these games, unlock their secrets, and find their connections, but whether you’re familiar with video games from this era or not, you’ll have a ton of fun making those discoveries.
aWith school starting back up, the pressure is on for parents to get their kids their first mobile phone, and when you decide the time has come, there are plenty of options: a smartphone, a basic phone, or upgrading to something new.
From the phone to the mobile services that come with it, key parental controls, to how well the phone fits with the devices you already use, here are some things you need to know before you buy, including which model is best for you.
Your best option might be the phone you already have, especially if you plan on replacing it in the near future. As long as it’s given a thorough cleaning, a new battery, a new case, and the software support is still there, a hand-me-down might be the best way to give your child a phone, while also being kind to the planet and your wallet.
A battery replacement will usually cost between £50 and £150 depending on the model and the shop. If you know how to use your mobile phone well, it will be easier to wipe the battery and set it up for your child.
The Nokia 3210 is one of HMD’s latest retro revival phones. Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
Mobile operator EE recently advised parents not to give smartphones to primary school-aged children. So if your only purpose is to make and receive calls and texts, or to arrange a pick-up or make an emergency call, a basic “dumb” phone would be the solution. However, be aware that these phones only support SMS, not messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, etc.
The downside is that many lower spec phones still have limited access to the internet, and only a handful have basic parental controls that lock the camera, browser and picture messaging (MMS). The lack of restrictions on things like calls and text contacts may also be a turn off, so check the manufacturer’s help documentation to see what’s possible before you buy.
Nokia makes a range of feature phones for around £30 to £60, such as the 110 4G and 225. For more fun there are nostalgic models such as the remake of the Nokia 3210, or film tie-in models such as the recently released HMD Barbie phone. Whatever model you choose, make sure it’s 4G compatible with most 3G services in the UK. Shutdown by the end of 2024.
Nokia 110 4G, £39.99 Argos
Nokia 225, £59.99 Argos Home page
Nokia 3210, £59.99 Argos Home page
The Moto G34 comes with 5G, Android 14, and will support security updates until January 2027. Photo: Motorola
Affordable Android phones are a good starting point; there are a variety of models available in the £80 to £180 price range. They usually have large screens and good battery life, although the cameras aren’t the best and apps can be slow to open and use.
Avoid models with Android Go or without access to the Play Store or Google services. Check the remaining time for software support; phones at this level usually only get updates for 2-3 years from the initial release, not at the time of purchase. Kids drop their phones more than adults, so a sturdy case with some water resistance is a good idea.
HMD sells a range of Android devices, either under its own brand or the Nokia brand, and offers longer software support than many others: the HMD Pulse costs under £100, runs Android 14 with security updates until May 2027, and if anything breaks you can fix it at home.
Motorola offers some great value products. Moto G34 Equipped with 5G, large battery, large screen, Android 14, and security updates Until January 2027.
If you’re in the Samsung family, the Galaxy A15 might be a better choice: it costs around £170, runs Android 14 with security updates until January 2029, and has a range of first- and third-party case options to ensure protection.
“There’s no moon, but the sky is full of stars.” The Milky Way in the Atacama Desert
Alamy Stock Photo
Chapter 1
Everything you touch changes.
Everything you change changes you.
The only lasting truth is change.
God is change.
Earthseed: The Book of the Living
Saturday,July20,2024
I had the same dream last night. I should have expected it. This dream appears when I am struggling – when I am trying to twist my own personal hooks and pretend nothing unusual is happening. It appears when I am trying to be my father’s daughter. Today is our birthday – mine is 15, my father’s is 55. Tomorrow I will try to please my father, my community and God. So last night I had a dream that reminded me that it is all a lie. I feel I need to write about this dream because this lie is bothering me so much.
I am learning to fly, to levitate. Nobody is teaching me. I am learning bit by bit, in my dreams, little by little. Not very subtle images, but persistent images. I have taken many lessons, and I am better at flying than I was before. I trust my abilities a lot more now, but it still scares me. I still can’t control my direction very well.
I lean toward the door. It’s the kind of door between my room and the hallway. It seems far away from me, but I lean toward it. I stiffen and tense, releasing everything I’ve been holding onto that’s kept me from rising or falling. I lean into the air, straining upward. Not moving upward, but not falling completely either. And I begin to glide on the air a few feet above the floor, oscillating between fear and delight.
I drift toward a doorway. A cold, pale light shines from it. I slide a little to the right, then a little further. I pass the door and nearly hit the wall beside it, but I can’t stop or turn. I drift away from the doorway, away from the cold, glowing light and into another light.
The wall in front of me is on fire. Fire has come out of nowhere, eating through the wall, coming towards me, towards me. The fire spreads. I drift into it. It burns around me. I struggle and struggle, grasping for air and fire, kicking and burning, trying to swim back out of it. Darkness.
Maybe it wakes me up a little. When the fire engulfs me, I wake up sometimes. That’s bad. If I wake up completely, I can’t go back to sleep. I try, but I’ve never been able to fall asleep.
This time I didn’t wake up completely. I gradually blended into the second half of the dream, the part that actually happened years ago when I was little, the part that seemed like no big deal at the time.
darkness.
Darkness turns to light. Stars.
The stars cast a cold, pale light.
“We were invisible So “When I was little, I could see a lot of stars,” my mother-in-law tells me. She speaks Spanish as her native language. She stands small and still, gazing up at the wide sweep of the Milky Way. She and I went outside after dark to retrieve the laundry that was hanging on the clothesline. The day was still hot, and we both like the cool darkness of the early evening. There is no moon, but it’s easy to see. The sky is full of stars.
The neighborhood wall is a huge, looming presence. To me it looks like a crouching animal, ready to pounce at any moment, more threatening than protective. But my mother-in-law is there and she is not scared. I am with her. I am 7 years old.
I look up at the stars and the deep black sky. “Why didn’t you see the stars?” I ask her. “Everyone can see them.” I speak to her in Spanish, just like she taught me. It feels somehow intimate.
“The city lights,” she says. “The lights, the progress, the growth, all that stuff, I just don’t care anymore because it’s too hot and too poor.” She pauses. “When I was your age, my mother told me that the stars, the few stars we could see, were windows to heaven. Windows through which God could look at us. And for almost a year, I believed her.” My stepmother handed me an armful of diapers for my youngest brother. I took them and walked back to the house where she kept a big wicker laundry basket, and piled the diapers on top of the rest of the clothes. The basket was full. I made sure she wasn’t looking, and then collapsed backwards onto the pile of stiff, clean, soft clothes. For a moment, the fall felt like floating.
I lie there and look up at the stars, pick out some constellations and name the stars that make up them, which I learned from an astronomy book that belonged to my paternal grandmother.
Suddenly, I saw a streak of light from a meteor streak across the western sky. I stared at it, hoping to see another one. Then my mother-in-law called me, and I returned to her.
“We have city lights now,” I told her. “They don’t hide the stars,” she shook her head. “There aren’t as many as there used to be. Kids today don’t know how bright the city lights used to be, and that wasn’t that long ago.” “I want stars,” I said.
“The stars are free,” she shrugs. “I want the city lights back, I wish they’d come back soon. But you can buy the stars.”
excerpt The Parable of the Sower Written by Octavia E. Butler and published by Headline, this is the latest selection from the New Scientist Book Club. Sign up here to read it with us.
I I’m dying. I found some life expectancy calculators online that put me at either extremes of 84 or 54, and I’m turning 55 in December, so I’m worried. I’m running out of time to do the things I dream of doing: seeing Machu Picchu, finding a good vegan sausage, beating the kids at Mario Kart again.
The cats were our family’s favorite pastime, but when they began to gleefully slaughter me, I was forced to exact a petty revenge: take what they loved and secretly donate it to a charity shop. They still miss them to this day.
When they got Mario Kart 8, I called it a day, saying I was done with that childish stuff. But with death looming in the months or decades to come, I spent a week training to get to the top again.
The game has thousands of characters now. In addition to various versions of the original characters, there’s Kamek, a mysterious stranger known only as the Villager, and some totally random people, though I’m not sure who Pauline is. Glen Powell is probably in there somewhere, too; he’s been in everything else lately.
This was my first time handling the Switch OLED, and it’s a fragile little thing the size of a 1970s sandwich, with a recessed on/off button that requires tweezers — this is not a machine made for big fingers.
But those bloated fingers still have the skill. I tell my oldest daughter that she is easily passing the 50cc and 100cc levels. She says to me, “That’s amazing, Dad. As long as you do your best, that’s all you can do.” She smiles, but her eyes are not smiling. “Remember, Dad… Rainbow Road.”
Destroyer of dreams…Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Tour. Photo: Nintendo
I broke out in a cold sweat. That song destroyed dreams. It drove me crazy. It mocked my sense of depth.
On day two, I dominated Rainbow Road in the 100cc Star Cup and racked up wins like a pro. With perfect drift boost timing, I won four Grand Prix in one day. The menu music felt like something straight out of a “comedy” cop movie where one of Kevins (Hart or James) chases someone through a cake factory and comes out covered in icing, but it got the joy flowing in my old plaque covered veins.
I was surprised that I never went off course. Steering assist on…oh my gosh. This is like when my wife found out I was playing Horizon Zero Dawn on “Story” difficulty.
Without steering assist it’s a whole different story. The 150cc Star Road is the exact same nightmare as before. I hate this track, it’s like something out of a Gaspar Noe movie. 4 hours of practice on Friday gave me a stress rash on my face. My wife asks me why I yelled “Forget you, Lady Rosaline!”
On Saturdays, I go out drinking under pressure.
The Sunday of the Diamond Family Grand Prix arrives. My wife is called in to work. It’s a shame because she loses easily. “Are you good at Mario Kart?” I ask my son’s girlfriend.
“Not really,” she replied.
“Perfect,” I announced. “You’re player number four.”
My son plays shirtless because he doesn’t want to get his work shirt dirty, but it’s clearly an act of power, so I take my shirt off too. I have more hair and tattoos than he does. Nice try, son.
The controllers are the bigger problem. I’ve practiced with two Joy-Cons welded together into a single device, but with four players, each person shrinking one Joy-Con to the size of an inflated Mars bar and the shoulder buttons deforming into staple-sized flakes, my hands are twisted into unnatural shapes, and within minutes I’m in pain like I’m not feeling arthritis in 20 years.
This game is Should Play Mario Kart 8 on Nintendo Switch. Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images (Courtesy of Nintendo of America)
There are other oddities too: My guy (Dry Bones, chosen to reflect one of my many ailments) keeps veering off to the right.
“What the hell is wrong with my controls?” I exclaim, in seventh place.
“The controller is drifting,” my son says.
“why?”
“Because it’s Nintendo.”
I’d completely forgotten about this. Just like the shoulder buttons on an Xbox controller start to wear out after a year, Nintendo controllers also drift. Good thing Nintendo can’t control the Mars Rover buggy, or it would just be spinning around in circles.
“You’ll get used to it, Dad.”
He does. I don’t.
I finished the Grand Prix in third place behind my son and the number one kid. The number one kid is a really good gamer. I asked her how she was so good. “Hmm. Autism, Dad!” she replied.
I demand a rematch, in which Number 1 Child must use a drift controller.
I get even worse. My son’s girlfriend is hitting on me. She is the sweetest, kindest, most respectful girl in the world, the kind of girl I would dream of giving to my son. But she Now he cries as if it were his own child. What a terrible child.
Miraculously (that is, thanks to me firing off an armada of blue shells), I overtook the number one kid in the final race and won. She still won the grand prize, but I proved I could still win. I did a loud, incredibly complicated victory dance and then booked myself in for a massage to fix my twisted, claw-like hands.
My elderly father still has some life left in him.
Driving these days can be quite challenging with traffic jams, road construction, and unexpected hazards causing delays to your daily schedule. But imagine if things were even worse, like driving down a mountain road where one wrong move could mean catastrophe.
This is a reality in many parts of the world, where the only way to get from point A to point B is by taking your life into your own hands.
Buckle up and prepare for a harrowing journey on some of the most treacherous roads in the world.
Keylon Kishtwar Road, India
The mountainous section of India’s “Kila-Kishtwar” road. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
If a 235km stretch of single-track dirt road through treacherous mountain passes sounds like a fun road trip to you, then the road from Keylong to Kishwar in India is perfect for you.
With no safety fences and cliffs thousands of metres below, along with the risk of landslides and unpredictable weather, it’s no surprise this road is one of the most perilous in India.
A portion of the road called the “Cliffhanger” is narrow and could collapse if too close to the cliff.
Ibarska Magistrala, Serbia
A truck climbs the steep hill towards Mount Rudnik on the Ibar highway in Serbia. Photo credit: BrankaVV/Wikipedia Commons
National Route 22 or the “Ibar Highway,” also known as the “Black Highway,” is among the most dangerous roads in Europe and one of the busiest in the country.
Connecting Belgrade with other major municipalities in Serbia and neighboring countries like Montenegro, this highway features long stretches of straight road with perilous curves that lead to many accidents, especially at night, often due to speeding or drunk driving.
The village of Vrjani, a quiet corner of the Ibar Highway, Serbia. Photo credit: BrankaVV/Wikipedia Commons
Transfagarasan, Romania
Romania’s Transfagarasan Highway is one of the most beautiful roads in Europe, but also one of the most dangerous. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Romania’s highways might not be the best in Europe in terms of quality, but the most famous and perilous is the Transfagarasan highway.
This winding mountain road climbs to over 2,000 meters, offering breathtaking views along its 150-kilometer route. Its hairpin turns, tunnels, and dramatic elevation changes pose a real challenge for drivers, with the added danger of encountering large flocks of sheep on the road, as shepherds use it to move their sheep between pastures.
Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand
Skippers Canyon, Queenstown, New Zealand. Photo by Bernard Spragg/Wikipedia Commons
Skippers Canyon is a hazardous road in New Zealand, carved into rock by miners using hand tools and explosives. With steep cliffs, hairpin turns, and a one-way road for most of its 22-kilometer length, it’s extremely dangerous, and rental car insurance doesn’t cover this section.
Though the Gold Rush that spurred its construction is long over, the area’s historical significance and stunning landscapes make it a tourist attraction today.
A warning sign highlighting the dangers encountered on the road to Skippers Canyon, New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Alamy
James Dalton Highway, USA
A truck drives along the James Dalton Highway (also known as Haul Road) in the Arctic Circle of Alaska, USA, on a stormy day. Photo credit: Alamy
Made famous by the TV show “Ice Road Truckers,” the James Dalton Highway is a challenging road in Alaska that connects Fairbanks to Deadhorse north of the Arctic Circle.
This 666-km road, named after an Alaskan engineer, is the main route for trucks transporting fuel and supplies to oil field workers. Only a third of the road is paved, with the rest being gravel and stone.
The main hazards on this highway include severe weather, isolation, and encounters with polar bears, making it a risky journey for any driver.
A large trailer truck travels along the Dalton Highway through the Brooks Range region of Alaska’s North Slope, USA. The Dalton Highway (Alaska State Route 11) runs 412 miles (666 km) through northern Alaska from Livengood (53 miles north of Fairbanks) to Prudhoe Bay. Photo by Lance King/Getty Images
Zojila Pass, India
Indian Army vehicles travel through the Zojila Pass in India, the only road connecting Kashmir with Ladakh. Photo: Faisal Khan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Zojila Pass is a critical road linking Ladakh with the Kashmir Valley, situated high in the Himalayas. The road faces challenges like snow, ice, and seasonal closures lasting months.
The narrow pass with no safety fences has no room for more than one car at a time, making it a daunting route with cliffs that drop straight into the valley below – not for the faint of heart.
A new tunnel is under construction to protect the road from harsh winters, keeping it open year-round, but its safety remains to be seen.
Fairy Meadows Road, Pakistan
This photo of Fairy Meadows Road in Pakistan shows how narrow and dangerous the road is. Photo by Alamy
The harrowing Fairy Meadows Road in Pakistan winds through mountainous terrain over 3,000 meters above sea level. With only enough room for one car at a time and no safety barriers, accidents are frequent.
This 16km road connects the Karakoram Highway to the village of Tato inside Fairy Meadows National Park, reserved exclusively for local drivers due to its extreme danger.
Yungas Road, Bolivia
Bolivia’s North Yungas Road, known as the “Road of Death,” is one of the most dangerous roads in the world. Looking at this image, it’s easy to see why. Photo: Anton Petras/Getty Images
The North Yungas Road in Bolivia, famously known as the “Road of Death,” is a treacherous 64km route connecting La Paz to the Yungas region. The road saw an average of 200 to 300 fatalities annually until a safer alternative was built.
This gravel road climbing up the mountain is notorious for poor visibility due to fog and rain, narrow and winding paths, and steep cliffs that make overtaking traffic a dangerous endeavor.
A bus approaches a simple bridge on Bolivia’s “Road of Death.” Photo by Anton Petras/Getty Images
Sichuan-Tibet Expressway, China
The winding road connecting Sichuan and Tibet on the snow-covered Qier Mountains in Dege County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
The Sichuan-Tibet Expressway in China, one of the world’s highest roads, presents challenges like avalanches, landslides, and single-track sections at high altitudes with low grip.
This busy road, known for frequent traffic jams and gridlock, can take up to 15 days to navigate, testing drivers’ patience and skill amid snow-capped mountains and dramatic canyons.
Bayburt D915, Türkiye
Drivers Yagiz Avci and Dmitry Sotnikov speed along the D915 road from Trabzon to Bayburt in Turkey. Photo courtesy of Alamy
The twisty D915 in Turkey is often cited as one of the world’s scariest roads due to its numerous hairpin turns through mountainous terrain. Linking the Black Sea to Bayburt, a city with roots in the ancient Silk Road trade route, this road demands careful navigation due to its loose surface, exposure to bad weather, and various hazards.
The winding Bayburt D915 highway crosses the Soganli mountainside in Trabzon, Turkey. Photo: Ali Ihsan Özturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Paleontologists have unearthed the 20-million-year-old fossil skeleton of a species of sirenian mammal from the dugong family. Cleavage Shark and crocodile bite marks have been found in northwestern Venezuela. The most prominent bite marks are from deep, dragging tooth impacts concentrated on the snout of the animals. Researchers interpret this as the result of active predation, as they are similar to bite marks made by crocodiles when they grab and roll their prey. Moreover, shark bite marks can be observed throughout Venezuela. CleavageThe skeleton of Tiger shark (Galeocerdo Aduncus) The teeth associated with this skeleton.
Tiger sharks are congregating to make easy catches of larger prey as crocodiles attack ancient dugong-like siren mammals. CleavageImage courtesy of Jaime Bran Sarmiento.
“Our discovery adds to the growing evidence that food chains millions of years ago worked in a similar way to how they do today,” said Dr Aldo Benitez Palomino, a paleontologist at the institute. University of Zurich.
“Today, when we observe predators in the wild, we often find dead prey, indicating that the animal also served as a food source for other animals. However, the fossil record of this is rare.”
“It was unclear which animals would serve this purpose as a food source for multiple predators.”
“Our previous research has confirmed that several shark species scavenge sperm whale carcasses, and this new study highlights the importance of sea cows in the food chain.”
Evidence for food web interactions is abundant in the fossil record, but most of it is represented by fragmentary fossils that provide ambiguous meaning.
Therefore, it is often difficult to distinguish between active feeding and signs of saprophytic activity.
“Our results are one of the few to document multiple predators on a single prey and provide a glimpse into food webs in the region during the Miocene,” Dr Benitez-Palomino said.
The dugong specimen studied by the team was collected from an outcrop of the Agua Clara Formation, south of the city of Coro, Venezuela.
The fossil is closely related to a species of sirenian in the dugong family. Cleavage.
“We first heard about the site through word of mouth from local farmers who noticed some unusual 'rocks'. We were intrigued and decided to investigate,” said Professor Marcelo Sánchez-Vilagra from the University of Zurich.
“Initially, we weren't familiar with the geology of the site, and the first fossil we unearthed was just part of a skull.”
“It took us a while to identify what it was – very strange looking remains of a sea cow.”
“By studying geological maps and examining the sediments at the new site, we were able to determine the age of the rocks in which the fossils were found.”
“One of the factors that allowed us to observe evidence of aquatic mammal predation, which is known to exist in this region, is the extremely well-preserved cortical layer of the fossil, which is likely due to the fine sediment in which the fossil was embedded.”
“After locating the fossils, our team organized a paleontological rescue operation, employing extraction techniques with full case protection.”
“A team of five people was involved in working on the fossil, and the job took about seven hours.”
“The subsequent preparations, particularly the meticulous task of preparing and repairing the skull, took several months.”
Team Survey results Published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
_____
Aldo Benitez Palomino othersTrophic interactions between sharks and crocodiles and Sirenia in the Miocene of Venezuela. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontologyy, published online August 28, 2024, doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2381505
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered a stone seal from the First Temple period near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. The ancient seal bears a name inscribed in ancient Hebrew script and a winged figure.
A 2,700-year-old stone seal discovered in Jerusalem, Israel. Image courtesy of Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful seals ever found in excavations in ancient Jerusalem and is executed at the highest artistic level,” said Dr. Yuval Baruch and Dr. Navot Rom, directors of the excavation at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“These objects, inscribed with mirror writing, served as talismans for their owners and as a means of legally signing documents and certificates.”
“It has convex notches on both sides and holes along its length so it can be put on a chain and worn around your neck.”
“In the centre is a profile of what is probably a king, winged and wearing a long striped shirt, striding to the right.”
“The figure has a long, curly mane that covers his neck and wears a hat or crown on his head.”
“The figure has one arm raised in front of him with the palm open, possibly suggesting that he is holding something.”
On either side of the statue are ancient Hebrew inscriptions. Rehoezer ben Hoshayahu.
“We believe this seal was worn around the neck as a talisman by a man named Hoshayahu, who was a high-ranking official in the administration of the kingdom of Judah,” said Dr Philip Vukosavovich, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“Hoshayahu, by virtue of his authority and position, allowed himself to be ennobled and to sport a seal bearing an awe-inspiring figure that embodied the symbols of his authority.”
“The amulet was likely made by a local craftsman, a Jew, at the request of the owner. It was made at a very high artistic level.”
“The hypothesis is that after Hoshaiah died, his son Jehoezer inherited the seal and added his own name and his father's name on either side of the demon.”
“Perhaps he did so in order to directly adopt for himself the beneficial properties that he believed the talisman embodied as a magical item.”
The name Jehoezer is better known in the Bible (1 Chronicles 12:7) as its abbreviated form, Yoezer. King David's Warriors.
“And in the Book of Jeremiah (43:2), which records the events of these times, a man with a similar name, Azariah ben Hoshaiah, is mentioned.”
“The two parts of his first name are written in reverse order to the seal bearer's name, and his surname is the same, but in an abbreviated form.”
“The text matches the name on the newly discovered seal and is appropriate for the period.”
“When we compare the shape and writing of the letters with other Hebrew seals and stamps from Jerusalem, we see that the names on the seals were carelessly engraved, in contrast to the carefully carved sculptures of demons,” said Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa.
“It is possible that it was Jehoezeru himself who inscribed his name on the object.”
“This is further evidence of the literacy that existed during this time,” Dr Baruch said.
“Contrary to popular belief, literacy during this period does not appear to have been the sole domain of the elite of society.”
“People were able to read and write at least at a basic level because of commercial necessity.”
“Numerous traces of seals written in ancient Hebrew characters have been found in the City of David and in the surrounding areas of the Kingdom of Judah.”
“The distinctive Neo-Assyrian image of the winged man is unique and highly unusual for a hieroglyphic style from the Late First Temple period.”
“The influence of the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the entire region, is clearly visible here.”
“Judah in general, and Jerusalem in particular, was under the hegemony and influence of the Assyrian Empire at that time, a reality that is reflected in its culture and art.”
“That the seal's owner chose the devil as the symbol of his seal may prove that he felt he belonged to a broader cultural context, much like the people of Israel today who consider themselves part of Western culture.”
“But even in his emotions, this Jehoezer held firmly to his local identity, so his name is written in Hebrew letters and his name is a Hebrew name that belongs to the Judah culture.”
Polyethylene plastic bags are difficult to recycle
Robert Sanders/University of California, Berkeley
Plastic bottles and bags can be evaporated into their chemical components and turned into new plastic that has all the properties of virgin material. Though there are still hurdles to overcome, this new process is a big step towards a truly circular economy for plastics.
About 5 billion tons of plastic Plastics have been heading to landfills since the 1950s, but recycling efforts only address 9% of what we produce. With current technology, plastics degrade every time they are recycled, and after just a few rounds of this process they end up in landfills.
John Hartwig Dr. Hartz and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, had previously developed a process to break down waste plastic into its component parts, but it relied on expensive metal catalysts — iridium, ruthenium and palladium — that were lost in the process and couldn't be recovered. Hartwig says the technology is “good for academic papers and demonstrations, but it's not anywhere near what could be considered industrialized.”
Now his team has found an improved process that works for both polyethylene, the raw material in most plastic bags, and polypropylene, used to make stiffer objects. The process uses only a catalyst that's so common it's considered “earthy” in nature, Hartwig says.
Plastics are made up of large molecules called polymers, which are in turn made up of smaller units called monomers. The catalyst breaks the chemical bonds in the polymers, turning them into gaseous monomers from which new plastic can be made with all the properties of virgin, non-recycled material.
In their experiments, the team used two catalysts — sodium on aluminum oxide and tungsten oxide on silica — to convert a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene into the monomers propylene and isobutylene with nearly 90 percent efficiency.
Benjamin Ward A researcher from Cardiff University in the UK, who was not involved in the study, says thousands of additives, including dyes, flame retardants and plasticizers, make plastics difficult to recycle. These additives can make up a third of the finished product and can contaminate the end product after it's recycled. “Additives delay landfilling. They delay the environmental problem. But they don't prevent it entirely,” he says.
Ward believes the new process solves the additive problem by stripping the material down to its constituent gaseous monomers, which also removes the additives.
Hartwig cautions that there are still many hurdles to overcome, and that the process has only been tested in the presence of a small number of common additives. “There will be additives that poison the catalyst or inhibit it,” he says. “We need to find a way to isolate them, which may not be optimal, or we need to find a different catalyst structure or composition that is more resistant to those additives. It's definitely a challenge.”
Cressida Bowyer Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the UK say that even if there are processes in place that can break down waste plastic into its component parts and tolerate additives, further concerns remain: “The toxicity and disposal of the recycled end product.” [such as catalysts and additives] “These must be taken into account, and may outweigh the benefits of recycling technologies,” she says. “Recycling should not be seen as a solution or justification for maintaining or increasing the production of single-use or unnecessary plastics and continuing the current prevalent 'take, make and throw away' culture.”
Composite image of a jumping spherical collembolan
Adrian Smith
High-speed cameras have clearly captured the springtails spinning in the air faster than any other animal ever recorded.
Springtails are a type of arthropod, a group related to insects, that are a few millimeters long and can be found in most places on Earth.
As its name suggests, the animal leaps off the ground using a tail-like appendage called a “furka” that folds up under its body and can instantly unfold to launch the creature into the air and escape predators.
Adrian Smith A North Carolina State University student was sifting through leaves in his backyard when he came across a round, mottled orange-and-brown reptile. Dikiltmina Minuta.
“We brought them into the lab to film them, and we were amazed by what they did,” Smith says.
Working together Jacob Harrison Smith, of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, used a high-speed camera to capture dozens of Springtail shells, and to encourage the arthropods to turn over, the researchers placed the Springtails under bright lights and sometimes poked them with tiny paintbrushes.
With each jump, the tiny acrobatic creatures arc backwards up to 80 times their body length, and springtails can spin up to 368 times a second, faster than any animal yet studied.
Smith and Harrison found that springtails have two ways of landing: by bouncing and rolling uncontrollably, or by a fixed stop made possible by organs called colophores, sticky tubes that allow them to attach to the ground.
Scientists continue to study the jumping mechanics of springtails for engineering clues, and they are also studying the forward somersaults of the blue-green algae, another arthropod that has evolved a rapid escape jump.
Smith says people may think that everything in the natural world is explained and known, but that's not the case: “There's so much that exists within us and between us that is incredible.”
An important California bill, aimed at establishing safeguards for the nation’s largest artificial intelligence systems, passed a key vote on Wednesday. The proposal is designed to address potential risks associated with AI by requiring companies to test models and publicly disclose safety protocols to prevent misuse, such as taking down the state’s power grid or creating chemical weapons. Experts warn that the rapid advancements in the industry could lead to such scenarios in the future.
The bill narrowly passed the state Assembly and is now awaiting a final vote in the state Senate. If approved, it will be sent to the governor for signing, although his position on the bill remains unclear. Governor Gavin Newsom will have until the end of September to make a decision on whether to sign, veto, or let the bill become law without his signature. While the governor previously expressed concerns about overregulation of AI, the bill has garnered support from advocates who see it as a step towards establishing safety standards for large-scale AI models in the U.S.
Authored by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, the bill targets AI systems that require over $100 million in data for training, a threshold that no current model meets. Despite facing opposition from venture capital firms and tech companies like Open AI, Google, and Meta, Wiener insists that his bill takes a “light touch” approach to regulation while promoting innovation and safety hand in hand.
As AI continues to impact daily life, California legislators have introduced numerous bills this year to establish trust, combat algorithmic discrimination, and regulate deep fakes related to elections and pornography. With the state home to some of the world’s leading AI companies, lawmakers are striving to strike a delicate balance between harnessing the technology’s potential and mitigating its risks without hindering local innovation.
Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of AI regulation, expressed cautious support for Wiener’s bill despite running AI tools with lesser safeguards than other models. While the proposal has garnered backing from AI startup Anthropik, critics, including some California congresswomen and tech trade groups, have raised concerns about the bill’s impact on the state’s economic sector.
The bill, with amendments from Wiener to address concerns and limitations, is seen as a crucial step in preventing the misuse of powerful AI systems. Antropic, an AI startup supported by major tech companies, emphasized the importance of the bill in averting potential catastrophic risks associated with AI models while challenging critics who downplay the dangers posed by such technologies.
What effect might it have on adolescents and young children to see the positive expressions on the faces of strangers eating raw broccoli?
Katie Edwards of Aston University in the UK, along with colleagues from the same university and the University of Birmingham, also in the UK, set out to find out.
There's no need to mince words about what they found: in their own words, “Contrary to our hypothesis, the facial expression of the model while eating broccoli did not significantly affect their initial willingness to try it.”
Circle of Life
In the 1960s, young intellectuals in the West encouraged each other to adopt the philosophy and path of Zen Buddhism. They were encouraged to “walk the Zen path” and “become one with the universe” in order to live a thoughtful, wise and good life.
Sixty years later, thinking and conversation have advanced.
No alternative to this has been widely adopted in the West in the 2020s, but feedback suggests a Venn diagram.
Like Zen, Venn diagrams aim to provide a simpler understanding of seemingly complex things. Venn diagram masters might describe the practice like this: Venn diagrams use overlapping circles or similar shapes to show logical relationships between different types of items.
Adopt the philosophy and method of the Venn diagram. Recognize and nurture the overlaps in your life. Draw a Venn diagram of the characteristics of all the people, places, and things in your life from birth to the present. The Venn diagram overlaps will reveal commonalities. Embrace them. Identify with the few.
Ven, let's go.
The talent for titration
Psychics, whether trivial or not, have a reputation for being either you get it all or you get nothing. John Hancock tells Feedback about an exception to that, perhaps a partial exception:
He says, “I can consistently pour almost half a 339ml bottle of beer so that the height of the beer in two identical glasses is within 1mm, 2mm at most. I can do this in one go, unassisted, and I seem to know when to stop pouring.”
(Feedback: The name Hancock is well known to Americans. On January 4, 1776, the late John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, a document that egged on Britain. Hancock wrote it in such large, bold letters that his name became synonymous with “a man's handwritten signature.” In the U.S., people still say “Sign John Hancock.” The late John Hancock, unlike today's John Hancock, hated doing things by halves.)
Questionable discomfort
A recent addition to Feedback's collection is called “The Title Tells You Everything You Need to Know.”
“The pain one may experience when executed in various ways” probably came as a surprise to magazine readers. Sensing It was published in 1993, and in 1997 Harold Hillman of the University of Surrey in the UK was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize.
If you've come across similarly impressive examples, please submit them to Telltale titles, c/o Feedback, along with citation details.
Teflon Diet
Teflon, prized as a “non-stick” coating for frying pans and other cookware, may become a common additive to foods, especially in weight-control diets.
The 2016 paper has an intelligent and intriguing title:Consuming polytetrafluoroethylene is a way to increase food volume and feel full without increasing calorie content.“US authors Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich and Frank Greenway explain that polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as PTFE or Teflon) is a plastic. They claim its benefits: “Animal feeding studies showed that rats fed a diet of 25% PTFE for 90 days showed no signs of toxicity and lost weight.”
They further hypothesized that “incorporating PTFE powder into foods (1 part food to 1 part PTFE) and increasing the portion size of the food would significantly increase satiety and decrease caloric intake.”
Polytetrafluoroethylene “does not impart flavor (as evidenced by its use in tongue piercings) and therefore does not affect the taste of food,” they write, and is “highly inert, meaning it does not react with food in the body.”
This makes it an “ideal ingredient to use as a bulking agent for foods that are not metabolized” and can be used in foods that don't make you feel stuffed.
Do you have a story for feedback? Send it to feedback@newscientist.com or New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY. Review of mailed items is delayed
You can submit articles for Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedback can be found on our website.
CBeloved actor, film star, and refugee advocate Atheé Blanchett stands at the podium addressing the European Parliament: “The future is now,” she says authoritatively. So far, so normal, but then you’re asked, “But where are the sex robots?”
The footage is from an actual speech Blanchett gave in 2023, but the rest is fictional.
Her voice was generated by Australian artist Xanthe Dobie using text-to-speech platform PlayHT for Dobie’s 2024 video work, Future Sex/Love Sounds, which imagines a feminist utopia populated by sex robots and voiced by celebrity clones.
Much has been written about the world-changing potential of large-scale language models (LLMs), including Midjourney and Open AI’s GPT-4. These models are trained on massive amounts of data, generating everything from academic papers, fake news, and “revenge porn.” Music, images, software code.
While supporters praise the technology for speeding up scientific research and eliminating routine administrative tasks, it also presents a wide range of workers, from accountants, lawyers, and teachers to graphic designers, actors, writers, and musicians, with an existential crisis.
As the debate rages, artists like Dobie are beginning to use these very tools to explore the possibilities and precarity of technology itself.
“The technology itself is spreading at a faster rate than the law can keep up with, which creates ethical grey areas,” says Dobie, who uses celebrity internet culture to explore questions of technology and power.
“We see replicas of celebrities all the time, but data on us, the little people of the world, is collected at exactly the same rate… It’s not a question of technology capabilities. [that’s bad]That’s how flawed, stupid, evil people choose to use it.”
Choreographer Alisdair McIndoe is another artist working at the intersection of technology and art: His new work, Plagiary, premieres this week at Melbourne’s Now or Never festival before running in a season at the Sydney Opera House, and uses custom algorithms to generate new choreography for dancers to receive for the first time each night.
Although the AI-generated instructions are specific, each dancer is able to interpret them in their own way, making the resulting performance more like a human-machine collaboration.
In Alisdair McIndoe’s Plagiary at Now or Never festival, dancers respond to AI-generated instructions. Photo: Now or never
Not all artists are fans of technology. Nick Cave, January 2023 Posted a scathing review He called the song ChatGPT generated by imitating his work “nonsense” and a “grotesque mockery of humanity.”
“Songs come from suffering,” he says, “which means they’re based on complex, inner human conflicts of creation. And as far as I know, algorithms don’t have emotions.”
Painter Sam Leach doesn’t agree with Cave’s idea that “creative genius” is an exclusively human trait, but he encounters this kind of “total rejection of technology and everything related to it” frequently.
Fruit Preservation (2023), directed by Sam Leach. Photo: Albert Zimmermann/Sam Leach
He justifies his use of sources by emphasizing that he spends hours “editing” with a paintbrush to refine the software’s suggestions. He also uses an art critic chatbot to question his ideas.
For Leach, the biggest concern about AI isn’t the technology itself or how it’s being used, but who owns it: “There are very few giant companies that own the biggest models and have incredible power.”
One of the most common concerns about AI is copyright. This is an especially complicated issue for people working in the artistic sector, whose intellectual property is being used to train multi-million dollar models, often without their consent or compensation. For example, last year, it was revealed that 18,000 Australian books had been used in the Book3 dataset without permission or compensation. Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan described this as “the biggest act of copyright theft in history.”
And last week, Australian music rights organization APRA AMCOS Presenting the survey results They found that 82% of members are concerned that AI will reduce their ability to make a living from music.
A sweet dessert made from Neurospora crassa served at the Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen.
Alchemist
A type of mold that grows on discarded food has been shown to fundamentally change the taste of the food, making food that would otherwise be thrown away edible in new ways.
Neurospora crassa, Orange fungus, grown from waste products from soy milk production, has been used for centuries to make onkom, a traditional food from the Indonesian island of Java.
Vayuhir Maini The UC Berkeley professor and his colleagues worked with chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and Copenhagen to develop new foods using the bacteria, some of which are now appearing on their menus, including a cheese-flavored toast made with stale bread and a sweet dessert made with sugar-free rice custard.
About a third of food is wasted worldwide, and discarded agricultural products account for about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling, or turning discarded produce into new, edible foods, can divert waste from landfills and reduce the climate impact of food production while also strengthening food security, Hill-Maini said.
His team: N. Intermedia It can thrive on at least 30 types of agricultural waste, including tomato pomace and banana peels, without producing toxins.
The fungus is capable of turning indigestible plant waste into nutritious food in about 36 hours. “It seems to be on a unique trajectory of transforming waste from trash to treasure,” Hill-Maini said.
When the team first had Danish consumers try Oncom, people consistently rated it a six or above on a scale of one to nine, and described the taste as “earthy and nutty,” he says.
Hill-Maini developed the fungus-based food in collaboration with Rasmus Munk, owner of the Copenhagen restaurant The Alchemist, and Andrew Lasmore of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York.
In The Alchemist, N. Intermedia It was used in a dessert of gelled plum wine and unsweetened rice custard and was fermented for 60 hours, a process that Munch says changed both the aroma and flavor “pretty dramatically.”
“It was shocking to suddenly discover flavors like banana and pickled fruit without adding anything other than the fungus itself,” he says. “Of course, not all of our wild shots work, but when they do, they can produce pretty revolutionary results.”
By demonstrating what upcycled food can achieve at the highest gastronomic level, the chefs hope to help accelerate commercial acceptance of the concept.
“We're just in the beginning stages of realizing its full potential,” Hill-Maini says.
I Located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, the Lemonade Games team lived in a rented house sandwiched between two vintage shops. With former antiques professionals and years of game-making experience joining the team, the idea for the studio’s esoteric adventure game began to come together. “We spent a week conceptualizing, making art, taking photos, watching films, and prototyping,” says Creative Director Ally MacLean-Hennessy. “It was a very organic way of shaping the game, and the spirit of that week continues into the way we work together today.”
In “Mystique: Haunted Antiques,” Its creators Described as “a game about a struggling antiques store run by four of the worst women I’ve ever met,” players slip on the platform sneakers of Jem, a fashionista and business owner struggling to run her struggling antiques curation business. Using her recently acquired, professionally useful psychic abilities, Jem will pierce the veil between life and death to track down troves of high-quality goods. “Players will travel to jobs such as the homes and estates of the recently deceased to search for cursed items and use information gained from communicating with spirits to find the most valuable items to take home and sell,” says MacLean Hennessy. From string-bound gaming magazines and lava lamps to cursed vases, players will examine and inventory all kinds of mysterious antiques as they progress through the game.
Jem is joined by a cast of lovable, problematic prima donnas. “The women of Mystique are partly inspired by the wave of con artists, con artists, and divas of the late 2010s and early 2020s, including Anna Delvey, Caroline Calloway, and Elizabeth Holmes,” Allie points out. “I can’t help but be drawn to them, in part because there’s a morbid thrill in watching people behave badly, but also in a way that I feel a genuine affection for them. There’s something so liberating about mentally stepping out of the psychodrama of modern womanhood and existing as someone who can commit incredibly selfish, self-centered, extravagant acts and still consider herself the moral high ground. Maybe they’re on to something.”
Among the antiques is a cursed vase… Mystique: Haunted antiques. Photo: Lemonade Games
Mystiques: Haunted Antiques takes its paranormal cues from Tulpamancy, a phenomenon that originated in Tibetan Buddhism and has inspired other strange and eerie media, such as David Lynch’s cult TV series Twin Peaks. “Tulpamancy currently exists primarily as a subreddit for people interested in the boundary between ‘reality’ and ‘imagination,'” says MacLean Hennessy. “There are lots of people who believe they can manifest entities through faith and will. We’re interested in them in the same way we’re interested in the female con artists of our current cultural moment. These are people who can construct the reality they want to exist for themselves. Who are we to tell them what is real?”
MacLean Hennessy are clear that Mystique: Haunted Antiques, which took inspiration from Italian horror classics like Suspiria and self-consciously girlcore movies like Jennifer’s Body, is not a cozy game in the modern sense of the word. “We were exploring stories of spiritual affliction, and these filmmakers knew how to bring it to life in a glamorous, stylish, extravagant way, which is what we really love and are inspired by,” they say. This strange and fresh blend of influences also extends to the soundtrack (which follows the brief: what if a 1970s detective thriller had a hyper-pop soundtrack?) and the game’s fashion, which is influenced by playfully eccentric brands like Schiaparelli and Moschino.
Lemonade Games is passionate about infusing its fantasy worlds with plenty of vulnerability and authenticity, drawing from a wellspring of personal experience to create a game that McLean Hennessey sees as an expression of the studio’s soul: “If the people making this game can find elements of themselves, their friendships, their experiences of the world in it, and feel a sense of relief, laughter, or catharsis from playing it, that would mean a lot to us.”
Struggling to catch some shut-eye with temperatures soaring in your bedroom? As climate change intensifies and heatwaves become more common, researchers have observed that nighttime temperatures are rising at a faster rate compared to daytime temperatures.
This trend of climate change is affecting sleep quality, making it increasingly difficult to get a good night’s rest. Studies show that people lose an average of 44 hours of sleep due to heat every year, and this is not limited to specific regions. A recent global study revealed that higher temperatures are linked to shorter sleep durations across 68 countries, with individuals experiencing shortened sleep times with warmer temperatures.
The study involved 47,000 adults who used wrist-worn sleep trackers to monitor their sleep patterns compared to both the average and their personal baseline. The results confirmed that as temperatures increased, sleep durations decreased.
“People are going to bed later and waking up earlier than usual,” said Dr. Kelton Miner, a data scientist at Columbia University and the lead author of the study. “This shift in sleep patterns increases the likelihood of experiencing shorter sleep durations compared to one’s individual baseline.”
Research projections indicate that by the end of the century, individuals could lose an average of two weeks of sleep annually due to temperature-related disturbances, equating to 50 to 58 hours of lost sleep. Compensating for this significant sleep deficit becomes challenging for many.
Addressing the issue, Miner suggested that while air conditioning provides relief, the widespread adoption of this technology would significantly impact global energy consumption. Alternatively, using fans can be a more energy-efficient cooling option, promoting heat loss through convection and evaporation.
Adhering to optimal sleep temperatures, enhancing indoor ventilation, and adopting cooling measures like cold showers can aid in combating the adverse effects of rising nighttime temperatures on sleep quality. As the battle against heat-induced sleep loss continues, exploring innovative solutions such as cooling mattress toppers can provide additional relief.
About our experts
Dr. Kelton Miner: A data scientist at Columbia University specializing in climate and technological change research, encompassing studies like One Planet, Lancet, and Sleeping pills reviews.
Shares in the chip designer Nvidia have fallen after investors were spooked by signs of slowing growth and production issues, despite the artificial intelligence company posting a 122% rise in second-quarter revenues compared with the same period last year.
The Silicon Valley company’s revenues for the period more than doubled to $30bn (£23bn), beating average analyst estimates of $28.7bn. However, investors were concerned about signs of a slowdown in growth, in particular around its next-generation AI chips, code-named Blackwell.
The stock fell as much as 7% in pre-market trading, before paring back losses to a 3% fall. The chipmaker is the third most valuable company in the world, with a market value of $3.1tn.
Nvidia said the delivery of its Blackwell chips – which comprises 208bn transistors that carry out calculations to train its large language model – would be delayed by several months from January. Its chief executive, Jensen Huang, has previously said that Blackwell would generate “a lot of revenue” for the business this year.
Simon French, the chief economist and head of research at the investment bank Panmure Liberum told the BBC: “There were just some signs around the edges in numbers that that rate of growth was trying to slow.
“Their current AI chip ‘hopper’ is selling well, but the next one, the next generation Blackwell, has faced some production delays, and that perhaps is one of the reasons why Wall Street, after hours, sold off the stock.”
Speaking to investors and journalists overnight, Nvidia bosses did not detail the extent of the delay for Blackwell deliveries but said manufacturing issues had been addressed by TSMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor firm that builds the US company’s most advanced chips. They added that early samples were now shipping to a small group of customers
The drop in Nvidia’s share price dragged on US markets, in particular the S&P 500 index. Nvidia makes up about 6% of the total value of the index and has helped drive its gains this year, after rising more than 160% over the past 12 months.
Matt Britzman, an analyst at the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said Nvidia was facing the major challenge of how to match the hype. “It’s less about just beating estimates now, markets expect them to be shattered and it’s the scale of the beat that looks to have disappointed a touch.”
While many investors have bought into the theoretical impact of artificial intelligence and claims that it could transform nearly every global industry, French noted that the practical use cases “haven’t yet been proven”.
“Such are the lofty expectations for this stock, not just as a single company, but its broader economic impact,” he said. “If you’re going to raise expectations that high, then you’ve got to keep growing at spectacular rates .”
However, Britzman cautioned against reading too much into the market reaction, given that investors tended to “overstate” the importance of one set of quarterly results, particularly in the “grand scheme of AI” prospects. Instead, he said companies such as Microsoft and Tesla, and the Facebook and Instagram owner, Meta, were working on a “multi-year, even multi-decade, time frame and investors would be wise to adopt a similar mentality”.
He added: “The question of return on investment, that many AI bears fall back on, simply isn’t the main consideration for Nvidia’s biggest customers at this stage. Like many before, this cycle won’t be a straight line, but while the ‘build it and they will come’ approach continues, it plays right into Nvidia’s hands.”
Widely available, with weekly episodes
Mo Gilligan is as loveable as ever in his new podcast series, inviting famous guests like George the Poet, Aisling Bea and Joel Dommett to talk about their careers and the legacy they want to leave behind. First up is Jonathan Ross, who’s in full chat mode, sharing great anecdotes like the origins of his legendary star-studded Halloween party and the time he showed Eminem his laundry room. Hannah Verdier
For her first-ever podcast, Maisie Williams has decided to tell the story of her idol Winona Ryder so far. Why now? Because Ryder is returning in the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel, and her life has certainly had its ups and downs, from being Tim Burton’s favorite to that infamous shoplifting arrest to her career resurgence thanks to Stranger Things. But that’s just the plot of a six-episode series. Holly Richardson
Mo Gilligan, host of “Beginning, Middle & End.” Photo: Paul Hansen/Observer
What more can be said about The Godfather, a film that has been celebrated worldwide for 50 years? Host Rebecca Keegan discovers much more with the help of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Talia Shire, covering a huge range of ground from delicate family dynamics to Francis Ford Coppola’s approach to improvisation. HV
Do you like stories about book thieves, heavy metal con artists, arson, fraud and deception? Then James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, hosts of McMillion$ and The Big Conn, are your go-to host. This highly entertaining podcast uncovers twists, wild tactics and stories that are almost unbelievable. HV
Episodes will be released weekly starting September 4th and will be widely available
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to your mother?” Filmmaker and “reformed bigot” Alan Zweig asks his guests the nastiest questions in his intentionally somber podcast. Topics include hemorrhoids, terrible mistakes and major regrets, and Zweig doesn’t know who he’s interviewing in advance. HV
There is a podcast
Pacific Crest Trail. Photo: Danita Delimont/Alamy
this week, Ella Braidwood 5 best podcasts The Great Outdoorsfrom the wild adventures of adventurers to a practical hiking handbook
Byland Podcast
The Byland Podcast is full of practical advice for getting started in the outdoors, including tips on the best gear. Hosted by Emory Wanger (above), who started the podcast after hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, each episode features guest interviews, many of which are with industry experts who outline the best gear for camping, thru-hiking, mountaineering, and more. There are also interviews with outdoor enthusiasts, like David Daly, who hikes with his three kids, and Bailey Bremner, who takes her dogs on adventures.
pictureEven in the warm summer sunshine, the stagnant pools and rugged rock faces of Ribblehead Quarry in North Yorkshire feel like an unlikely frontier for the AI industrial revolution. Standing next to a waterfall gushing from broken rock, Bupe Mwambingu reaches his hand into the green mud behind the falls and emerges with a handful of algae.
Balancing precariously on the rock, the researcher passes the dripping glob to his colleague Emma Bolton, who uses a mobile app to record GPS coordinates as well as acidity, temperature, and light exposure.
“Be careful,” Bolton told Mwambing, who stumbled over the edge of the waterfall, and the two moved on to another part of the former limestone quarry in search of more dirt and debris.
The pair work for London-based startup Basecamp Research and are collecting genetic information.This is information from the organisms hiding in the nooks and crannies of rocks. In the past, scientists hoping to develop new products from rare lichens, microbes, or fungi had to travel to their habitats to collect samples. Now, most of the genetic code from these organisms is exchanged digitally through genetic signatures called digital sequence information (DSI).
Samples are collected carefully to avoid contamination. Photo: Rebecca Cole/The Guardian
The back-and-forth is at the heart of an international battle over who owns the world’s genetic data and who should benefit from the multi-billion-dollar discoveries that could result from it. In October, world leaders met to discuss the issue. Cali, Colombia attends COP16The World Biodiversity Summit was held to reach a first-of-its-kind global agreement on the issue.
Low-income countries, where much of the world’s remaining biodiversity remains, are hoping to pump billions of dollars into protecting the rainforests, lakes, and oceans where it resides.
With the abundance of news stories, one might believe that humanity is on a path to self-destruction due to pollution, microplastics, and harmful chemicals. Reports of decreasing sperm counts have led to discussions about a possible “Spermageddon,” with politicians even considering incentivizing women to have children (source).
However, after speaking with experts like Professor Alan Pacey, a male infertility researcher, and Professor Sarah Harper, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, it seems that while there is reason to be concerned, we are not currently in a crisis.
Why are some people concerned about “Spermageddon”?
The concern dates back to a study from 1974 that showed a decrease in sperm counts among American men compared to the data from the 1950s (source). While various factors like climate change, genetic defects, and microplastics have been suggested as causes for declining sperm counts, not all experts are convinced about the severity of the issue.
Recent studies, including those conducted in Denmark, have not shown significant declines in sperm quality, leading to doubts about the extent of the problem. While concerns about microplastics and chemicals are valid, they may not be directly linked to infertility as some believe.
Recent research published in the journal Nature also suggests that semen quality worldwide may not be declining significantly.
Is global infertility on the rise?
While birth rates are indeed falling, experts argue that there is no concrete evidence of a widespread increase in infertility. Factors like delayed childbearing, improved access to fertility treatments, and reduced stigma around infertility may be contributing to more people seeking assistance at fertility clinics.
Why are populations declining in many areas?
The declining birth rates in countries like South Korea, China, and the United States are influenced by various factors, including economic growth and changing societal norms. While it may seem like an “infertility epidemic,” some experts see it as a demographic outcome of broader trends.
Should we be concerned?
Experts have differing perspectives on the issue. While some, like Professor Harper, believe that falling birth rates are not a cause for alarm, others, like Professor Pacey, are concerned about the barriers to fertility treatment and the impact on individuals facing infertility. Both emphasize the need for a nuanced approach to addressing the complex factors affecting fertility rates.
About our experts
Professor Alan Pacey MBE is a renowned researcher in male fertility and sperm biology at the University of Manchester, with over 30 years of experience in the field.
Professor Sarah Harper CBE is a gerontology expert at the University of Oxford, focusing on population aging and fertility trends.
Nvidia, the chipmaker, revealed its latest financial statements on Wednesday, with revenue reaching $30.04 billion in the last three months. This is a significant increase of 122% compared to the previous year, indicating sustained growth in their artificial intelligence investments.
Despite analysts’ projections of $28.7 billion in sales, the company’s shares dropped more than 3% in after-hours trading.
Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, announced plans to ship a greater number of chips and hardware next year than in the company’s 31-year history during an earnings call.
Huang highlighted the importance of fast development due to the increasing complexity of their models. He stated that the company aims to lower costs while scaling AI models to unprecedented levels for the next industrial revolution.
Analysts, while optimistic about the results, acknowledged signs that Nvidia’s exceptional revenue growth might be slowing down. Major tech companies’ aggressive AI investments are driving demand for Nvidia chips, but these companies are also investing in their own silicon development.
The company informed customers about a delay in the launch of their next-generation AI chip, known as Blackwell. Early samples have already been sent to a limited number of customers. Despite this, the current graphics processing unit, Hopper, continues to sell well according to CEO Jensen Huang.
Nvidia reported record revenue with a 154% increase in data center revenue year over year, amounting to $26.3 billion, reflecting the demand for accelerated computing and generative AI in data centers globally.
Nvidia’s earnings results hold great significance on Wall Street, as the company accounts for 6% of the total value of the S&P 500 and is the third-largest company globally with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion.
Recent reports from major tech customers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google, show increased capital spending as they utilize Nvidia chips to develop and train their AI models.
The company’s earnings per share were $0.68, and they announced a $50 billion share repurchase. Profit is expected to rise to $15.1 billion, up from approximately $6.2 billion in the same period last year.
Ives, a Wedbush analyst, emphasized the importance of Nvidia’s earnings report on the stock market, estimating that every dollar spent on Nvidia’s GPU chips contributes $8 to $10 to profits across the tech sector.
The market’s focus on Nvidia’s performance stems from the belief that AI advancements will boost global productivity for years to come.
Comparisons to the Internet bubble of the late 1990s have emerged, with concerns that the AI boom might peak if Nvidia’s results disappoint investors.
Regulators are closely monitoring Nvidia, following an antitrust investigation launched by the Department of Justice after allegations from rival chipmakers. The investigation claims Nvidia is using its market power to monopolize markets and compel customers to continue buying its products.
Those who suffer from the throbbing pain of migraines know how challenging everyday tasks can become. However, a new medication, if taken at the first signs of a migraine, could potentially prevent the onset of debilitating symptoms.
The drug, ubrogepant, has recently been approved for use in the US and is available in the UK, although not covered by the NHS. A study funded by AbbVie, the manufacturer of ubrogepant, revealed that taking the pill at the first indication of a migraine can prevent severe headaches from developing.
Before a migraine attack, some individuals experience early warning signs like sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, neck pain, stiffness, and dizziness. Identifying these symptoms can help in timely treatment with ubrogepant to inhibit the protein CGRP in the brain responsible for migraines.
The research conducted by Dr. Richard B. Lipton and his team involved 518 participants who were able to predict the onset of migraines within a few hours. Those who took ubrogepant reported being able to function normally two hours after ingestion, with fewer limitations on their activities even after 24 hours.
While promising, ubrogepant may not be effective for those who experience sudden migraine attacks without warning signs. Regardless, experts view this development as a positive step in migraine treatment, providing hope for those who suffer from this common but debilitating condition.
About our experts:
Dr. Steven Ross, a professor and vice chair of clinical affairs in the Department of Neurology at Pennsylvania State University College and Penn State Health, USA, has conducted extensive research in neurology, medicine, and pediatric emergency medicine.
DNA methylation is a widely observed epigenetic modification in biological systems that serves diverse functions in transcriptional regulation, transposable element silencing, and innate immunity.
A nucleosome composed of DNA (grey) and histones (blue) with a single hemimethylated cytosine bound by CDCA7 (purple). Image courtesy of Kyohei Arita and Kazuaki Ushi.
DNA methylation is the process by which methyl groups are added to cytosine bases in DNA molecules and is the primary way in which DNA is epigenetically marked.
Epigenetic modifications act as on-off switches that regulate gene expression, helping to generate diverse cell types without altering the underlying DNA sequence – a way for the body to ensure that brain-related genes aren’t turned on in heart cells, for example.
Therefore, maintenance of DNA methylation patterns is crucial to ensure correct and consistent function of each cell type.
However, this is not easy: DNA methylation patterns can change over time, and this has been linked to a range of diseases.
One is a rare genetic disorder called immunodeficiency, centromere instability and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome, whose symptoms include recurrent respiratory infections, facial abnormalities, and poor growth and cognitive function.
Although it was known that mutations in the CDCA7 gene cause ICF syndrome, little was known about the molecular function of this gene.
In a new study, Professor Hironori Funabiki of Rockefeller University and his colleagues have identified unique functional features of CDCA7 that ensure the correct inheritance of DNA methylation.
The researchers discovered that CDCA7 senses hemimethylation in eukaryotes, an important finding because hemimethylation sensing was long thought to be carried out exclusively by a protein called UHRF1.
“This is a really surprising discovery,” said Isabel Wassing, a scientist at Rockefeller University.
“The discovery that CDCA7 also acts as a sensor explains why mutations in it lead to diseases like ICF syndrome and fills a major gap in the field of epigenetics.”
“But it also raised new questions, such as why do cells need two different hemimethylation sensors?”
“We discovered that the CDCA7 gene, known to be the causative gene for ICF syndrome, specifically binds to hemimethylated DNA on nucleosomes and promotes DNA methylation by controlling the ubiquitination of histone H3,” said Atsuya Nishiyama, a research scientist at the University of Tokyo.
Scientists know that chromatin limits access for many enzymes and DNA-binding proteins, including those needed to introduce methylation into DNA.
Previous research by Professor Funabiki’s team has shown that CDCA7 forms a complex with a protein encoded by the HELLS gene, mutations of which also cause ICF syndrome.
HELLS is a so-called nucleosome remodeller that can temporarily release DNA molecules from nucleosomes.
“We reasoned that the CDCA7-HELLS complex is important in helping cells overcome the barrier of condensed heterochromatin and make DNA molecules available for methylation deposition,” Professor Funabiki said.
“But there are many nucleosome remodelers that can expose DNA molecules in this way.”
“It remained a mystery to us why CDCA7-HELLS is the only nucleosome-remodeling complex directly linked to DNA methylation maintenance.”
“By showing that CDCA7 specifically recruits HELLS to hemimethylated DNA, we finally have an explanation.”
In this model, CDCA7 recognizes hemimethylated DNA in chromatin and recruits HELLS to the site, which acts as a nucleosome remodeler to slide nucleosomes and reveal the hemimethylated site to UHRF1.
The takeover of hemimethylation sensing indicates that CDCA7 is better at detecting hemimethylation in dense heterochromatin than UHRF1 and also explains why cells require two distinct sensors.
“For these sensors to detect hemimethylation, they need to bind directly and selectively to hemimethylated DNA substrates,” Dr. Wassing said.
“CDCA7 appears to perform its function independently while DNA is wrapped around the nucleosome. Without CDCA7, UHRF1 cannot recognize the hemimethylation signals within the nucleosome particle.”
“Our findings suggest that CDCA7 and HELLS promote DNA methylation through a mechanism distinct from de novo DNA methylation, and this is strengthened by our demonstration that the CDCA7 HMZF domain specifically recognizes hemimethylated CpGs, which are substrates for the maintenance DNA methyltransferase DNMT1,” said Dr. Nishiyama.
“ICF disease-associated mutations in the CDCA7 gene abolish hemimethylated DNA binding, supporting the functional importance of hemimethylation detection by CDCA7.”
This new understanding may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of diseases resulting from methylation dysfunction.
In the future, the functions of hemimethylation sensors beyond maintaining DNA methylation will be explored.
“Because some chromosomal regions are known to maintain a hemimethylated state, their recognition by CDCA7 may play a broader role in gene regulation and chromosomal organization, which is a very intriguing possibility,” says Professor Funabiki.
“Our research lays the foundation for the development of new DNA methylation inhibitors and therapeutic drugs for ICF syndrome,” said Dr. Nishiyama.
“Therapies that artificially control CDCA7-dependent DNA methylation may be useful for preventing cancer and aging and extending healthy lifespan.”
of Survey results Featured in this month’s journal Scientific advances.
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Isabel E. Wassing others2024. CDCA7 is an evolutionarily conserved hemimethylated DNA sensor in eukaryotes. Scientific advances 10 (34); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5753
This article is based on a press release from Rockefeller University.
Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to capture a detailed image of the spectacular centre of the Triangulum Galaxy.
The Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest galaxy in our galaxy group. Image credit: NASA/ESA/M. Boyer, STScI/J. Dalcanton, University of Washington/Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.
The Triangulum Galaxy, also known as Messier 33, M33, and NGC 598, is a spiral galaxy located about 3 million light-years away.
Under very dark sky conditions, the galaxy can be seen with the naked eye as a faint, fuzzy object in the constellation Triangulum, and its ethereal glow makes it a fascination for amateur astronomers.
The galaxy is a notable member of the Local Group, a collection of more than 50 galaxies bound together by gravity. It is the third largest galaxy in the Local Group, but it is also the smallest spiral galaxy in the group.
The Triangulum Galaxy is only about 60,000 light years in diameter, and the Andromeda Galaxy is 200,000 light years in diameter. The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter, placing it halfway between these two extremes.
“The Triangulum Galaxy is a known hotbed of star birth, forming stars at an average rate ten times higher than in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Interestingly, its well-ordered spiral arms indicate that it has few interactions with other galaxies, so galactic collisions are not driving rapid star formation as they do in many other galaxies.”
“The galaxy has an abundance of dust and gas to produce stars, and it also has many clouds of ionized hydrogen, also known as HII regions, that give rise to phenomenal star formation.”
“Researchers present evidence that high-mass stars form in collisions between giant molecular clouds in the Triangulum Galaxy.”
This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a reddish cloud of ionized hydrogen dotted with dark dust bands that make the image look grainy but are actually a swarm of stars.
“The Triangulum Galaxy is one of fewer than 100 galaxies close enough that a telescope like Hubble can resolve individual stars, as revealed here,” the astronomers write.
“It is known that this galaxy does not have a central bulge, and there is no evidence of a supermassive black hole at its center. This is odd, given that most spiral galaxies have a central bulge made of densely packed stars, and most large galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers.”
“Galaxies with this type of structure are called pure disk galaxies, and studies suggest that they make up about 15-18 percent of galaxies in the universe.”
“The Triangulum Galaxy could lose its streamlined appearance and peaceful state in a dramatic way, potentially colliding with both the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies.”
“The image was taken as part of an investigation of the Triangulum Galaxy to refine theories on topics such as the physics of the interstellar medium, star formation processes and stellar evolution.”
The impact of intergroup conflict on demographics has long been debated, especially in prehistoric and non-state societies. In their study, scientists from the Complexity Science Hub, the University of Washington, and the Leibniz Center for Archaeology believe that beyond the direct casualties of combat, conflicts can create “landscapes of fear” that can lead many non-combatants near conflict zones to abandon their homes and migrate.
The Battle of Orsha by Hans Krell.
“Around the world, scientists have extensively studied and debated the existence and role of prehistoric conflict,” said Dr Daniel Condor, a researcher at the Complexity Science Hub.
“But it remains difficult to estimate the impact on population numbers and so on.”
“The situation is further complicated by potential indirect effects, such as people leaving their homes or avoiding certain areas out of fear.”
These indirect effects of conflict can have caused significant long-term demographic changes in non-state societies such as Neolithic Europe (c. 7000-3000 BC).
“Our model shows that fear of conflict led to population declines in potentially dangerous areas.”
“As a result, people began concentrating in safer areas, such as on the hills, and overpopulation threatened to increase death rates and decrease birth rates.”
“The results of the simulation study are in good agreement with empirical evidence from archaeological field investigations, for example the Late Neolithic site of Kapellenberg near Frankfurt, dating to around 3700 BC,” added Dr Detlef Groenenborn, researcher at the Leibniz Archaeological Centre.
“There are many examples of agricultural land being temporarily abandoned as groups retreated to more defensible locations and invested heavily in extensive defensive systems such as walls, palisades and ditches.”
“The concentration of people in particular, often well-defended locations, may have led to growing wealth inequalities and political structures that legitimised these differences,” said Dr Peter Turchin, a researcher at the Complexity Science Hub.
“Thus, the indirect effects of conflict may also have played an important role in the emergence of larger political units and the rise of early states.”
To simulate the demographic dynamics of Neolithic Europe, the authors developed a new computational model.
To test their model, the researchers used a database of archaeological sites and analysed a number of radiocarbon dates from different locations and time periods, under the assumption that this reflects the scale of human activity and therefore population numbers.
“This allows us to explore the typical amplitudes and time scales of population growth and decline across Europe. Our goal was to reflect these patterns in our simulations,” Dr Conder said.
“Direct collaboration with archaeologists is crucial to ensure we have as complete a picture as possible.”
“This study is a great example of the potential of such interdisciplinary collaboration.”
of study Published in Royal Society Journal Interface.
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Daniel Condor others2024. Landscapes of Fear: Indirect Impacts of Conflict May Cause Large-Scale Population Declines in Non-State Societies. JR Association Interface 21(217):20240210;doi:10.1098/rsif.2024.0210
This article is based on an original release by Complexity Science Hub.
First hypothesized over 60 years ago Bipolar electric field Polar winds are the primary driver of a constant outflow of charged particles into space above the Earth’s poles. These electric fields lift charged particles in the upper atmosphere to higher altitudes than usual, and may have shaped the evolution of Earth in ways that are still unknown.
Collinson othersThey report that a potential drop of +0.55 ± 0.09 V exists between 250 km and 768 km due to the planetary electrostatic field, generated solely by the outward pressure of ionospheric electrons. They experimentally demonstrate that the Earth’s ambipolar field controls the structure of the polar ionosphere, increasing its scale height by 271%. Image courtesy of NASA.
Since the 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected streams of particles streaming from Earth’s atmosphere into space.
Theorists predicted these outflows, named them polar winds, and stimulated research to understand their causes.
Some outflow from the atmosphere was expected — intense, unobstructed sunlight should send some atmospheric particles escaping into space, like water vapor evaporating from a pot of water — but the observed polar winds were more puzzling.
Many of the particles inside were cold and showed no signs of heating, but they were moving at supersonic speeds.
“Something must be attracting these particles to the outer reaches of the atmosphere,” said Dr. Glynn Collinson, Endurance mission principal investigator and a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The electric fields, hypothesized to be generated at subatomic levels, would be incredibly weak and their effects would be expected to be felt only for distances of hundreds of miles.
For decades, detecting it has been beyond the limits of existing technology.
In 2016, Dr Collinson and his colleagues began inventing a new instrument that they thought would be suitable for measuring Earth’s bipolar magnetic field.
The team’s equipment and ideas were perfectly suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic.
The researchers named the mission “Antarctic Expedition,” in honor of the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 Antarctic voyage. Endurance.
They set course for Svalbard, a Norwegian island just a few hundred miles from the North Pole and home to the world’s northernmost rocket launch site.
“Svalbard is the only rocket launch site in the world that can fly through the polar winds and make the measurements we need,” said Dr Susie Ingber, an astrophysicist at the University of Leicester.
Endurance was launched on May 11, 2022, reaching an altitude of 768.03 kilometers (477.23 miles) and splashing down in the Greenland Sea 19 minutes later.
Over the 518.2 kilometres (322 miles) altitude where Endurance collected data, it measured a change in electrical potential of just 0.55 volts (V).
“Half a volt is almost meaningless – it’s about the strength of a watch battery – but it’s just right for describing polar winds,” Dr Collinson said.
Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field that is 10.6 times stronger than gravity.
“That’s more than enough to counter gravity, in fact to launch you into space at supersonic speeds,” said Dr. Alex Grosser, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Endurance project scientist.
Heavier particles are also accelerated: an oxygen ion at the same altitude, immersed in this 0.5 volt electric field, loses half its mass.
In general, scientists have found that bipolar magnetic fields increase what’s called the scale height of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser up to higher altitudes than it would be without the bipolar magnetic field.
“It’s like a conveyor belt that lifts the atmosphere up into space,” Dr Collinson said.
The Endurance discovery has opened up many new avenues of exploration.
The polarity field, as a fundamental energy field of the Earth alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continually shaped the evolution of the atmosphere in ways that we are only now beginning to explore.
Because it is generated by the internal dynamics of the atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.
“Any planet with an atmosphere should have a bipolar magnetic field, and now that we’ve finally measured it we can start to learn how it has shaped our planet and other planets over time,” Dr Collinson said.
G.A. Collinson others2024. Earth’s bipolar electrostatic field and its role in the escape of ions into space. Nature 632, 1021-1025;doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07480-3
This article is a version of a press release from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is not scheduled to return astronauts from space this year
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
It’s official: Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will remain aboard the International Space Station until at least February. While it’s a major setback for Boeing’s Starliner, the plane that carried them there, it doesn’t spell doom for the U.S. space program. Rather, it highlights the success of the transition from the government providing the sole rocket to space to a proliferation of commercial spaceflight options.
This is exactly the contingency that NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which transports astronauts to the ISS using spacecraft built by private companies, was designed to handle. “The Commercial Crew Program deliberately selected two providers for redundancy in preparation for exactly this situation,” he said. Laura Forzigan independent space industry consultant. The two NASA astronauts were originally scheduled to arrive at the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 and return to Earth about a week later. However, issues with the spacecraft resulted in them staying for an extended mission before returning home aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft instead of the Starliner.
“If they had only picked one provider, it would have been Boeing because SpaceX was a riskier proposition at the time,” Forczyk said, “so in some sense, this is a win for the Commercial Crew program.”
The mission was Starliner’s first manned test flight, and it was rocky from the start: valve leaks and thruster failures on the journey into space forced NASA and Boeing to reconsider whether the spacecraft could safely return astronauts to Earth. Tests of the thrusters on the ground were inconclusive, and there was still a risk of the thrusters failing during the return journey.
The safest alternative would be for astronauts to remain on the ISS until SpaceX’s proven Crew Dragon spacecraft has room to return, which could happen in early 2025. In the meantime, Starliner will autonomously detach from the ISS in September and return to Earth without a crew member while Boeing engineers continue to troubleshoot.
“This was a test mission, but sometimes testing gives you answers that tell you there are things that need to be fixed,” said former NASA astronaut Michael Fossum. statement“Testing doesn’t necessarily prove that everything worked perfectly.”
At a press conference on August 24, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Though Boeing has been adamant that Starliner will get another chance to carry crew to the ISS, some aren’t so convinced. Boeing’s contract requires that the vehicle isn’t certified for use in real missions until it completes a successful test flight, which it didn’t this time. If NASA requires Starliner to undergo another test flight, Forchik says, the first operational flight could be delayed until 2026 at the earliest. With the ISS scheduled to close around 2030, keeping Starliner ready for active duty may not be worth it.
Without redundancy in the commercial crew program, the failure of Starliner could have left the U.S. without a launch provider entirely. As it stands, SpaceX will continue to shuttle astronauts to and from the ISS. Although Wilmore and Williams will need to stay aboard the ISS for a little longer, they are veteran astronauts with the experience and equipment to quickly jump into daily life in space before returning safely to Earth.
For Wilmore and Williams, the challenges and inconveniences of a long-term stay may not outweigh the excitement of life in orbit. “I know them really well, and I think in some ways they were a little disappointed to be up there in such a short amount of time,” Fossum said. “They both have been on long-term missions aboard the space station before… and they both enjoyed it.”
Typically, plants grow in crowded environments where neighboring plants compete for light while shading each other. The presence of neighboring plants varies through space and time, and plants have developed the ability to detect neighboring plants and grow away from their shade. Although it is generally accepted that these responses help plants increase their individual light exposure, it is not clear how plants find solutions that are beneficial for them as a whole. In a new study, physicists from Tel Aviv University and elsewhere focus on the spontaneous self-organized pattern formation of sunflower flocks mediated by shade avoidance. Their analysis reveals that circumnavigation (the innate movement of plants) results in random perturbations that follow a restricted random walk.
Circling is widespread in plant systems and is commonly associated with exploratory behavior, but its role is difficult to quantitatively understand. otherswere the first to report their role in promoting optimal growth patterns in dense plant populations that shade each other. Image courtesy of Manuel H.
“Previous studies have shown that when sunflowers are planted close together in a field and shade each other, they will grow in a zigzag pattern, one forward and one backward, to avoid shading each other,” said Professor Yasmin Meros of Tel Aviv University.
“That way the plants can grow side by side, maximizing the light they receive from the sun and maximizing photosynthesis overall.”
“In fact, plants know how to distinguish between the shadow of a building and the green shadow of their leaves.”
“When they sense the shadow of a building, they usually don't change their growth direction because they know it won't have any effect.”
“But when a plant senses shadow, it grows away from the shadow.”
In this study, the researchers investigated the question of how sunflowers “know” how to grow optimally (i.e. to capture the most sunlight collectively) and analysed the growth dynamics of sunflowers in the lab that exhibit a zigzag pattern.
Meros and his colleagues grew sunflowers in high-density environments, photographing them every few minutes as they grew, and then stitched together the images to create a time-lapse video.
The researchers followed the movements of each sunflower and observed the blossoms dancing en masse.
According to the authors, Darwin was the first to recognise that all plants grow by exhibiting a kind of cyclical movement (circumlocution), and that both stems and roots exhibit this behaviour.
But until now, apart from a few examples such as vines that grow in large circular motions searching for something to grab hold of, it hasn't been clear whether this is an artefact or an important feature of growth. Why would a plant expend energy growing in a random direction?
“As part of our research, we carried out a physical analysis to capture the behaviour of each sunflower in the colony and found that they dance to find the optimal angle to avoid blocking the sunlight of their neighbours,” Professor Meros said.
“We statistically quantified this movement and showed through computer simulations that these random movements are used collectively to minimize the amount of shadowing.”
“We were also very surprised to see that the distribution of sunflower stride lengths was so wide, spanning three orders of magnitude, from nearly zero displacement to moving two centimetres in either direction every few minutes.”
“Sunflower plants take advantage of the fact that they can use both small, slow steps and large, fast steps to find the optimal arrangement for their population,” Professor Meros said.
“That means that if the steps are narrow or wide, the arrangement will increase mutual shading and reduce photosynthesis.”
“It's like a crowded dance party, where people dance around to get more space. If you move too much, you get in the way of the other dancers, but if you move too little, it doesn't solve the crowding problem, because one corner of the square will be very crowded and the other side will be empty.”
“Sunflowers also exhibit similar communication dynamics: a combination of response to the shade of neighboring plants and random movement without regard to external stimuli.”
of result Published in the journal Physical Review X.
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Chantal Nguyen others2024. Noisy turning movements promote self-organized shade avoidance in sunflowers. Physical Review X 14 (3): 031027; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevX.14.031027
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