Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with mind-reading technology is essential for recreating the sensations we experience in our dreams.
In a well-known Japanese study, the initial steps of this method were showcased in 2023. Researchers employed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner to monitor the brain activity of participants during sleep and utilized machine learning to identify recognized objects like keys, individuals, and chairs from that activity.
Nevertheless, this study concentrated on sleep onset, the first two stages of sleep where visual imagery (hallucinations) occur, and did not explore dreams at all.
They adopted this approach so participants could articulate what they observed upon waking.
To replicate dreams, we need an extensive database of detailed fMRI information from dreaming volunteers to educate a large-scale AI. Participants should possess exceptional recall abilities to describe their dreams vividly, which will help determine the accuracy of the predictions.
Recording dreams in this level of detail poses a significant challenge, and establishing a reliable method to generate such data remains uncertain.
Nonetheless, progress has already been made in related areas, with research studies producing vast datasets of fMRI brain activity from conscious participants watching videos, listening to spoken language, and reading text.
By employing AI trained on these datasets, we can already predict what people are viewing or reading while awake.
Assuming there is enough data to develop such an AI in a few years, as well as portable fMRI machines that allow for dreaming individuals to be monitored while asleep, the required methodologies to exhibit results will already be in place.
Generative AI such as OpenAI’s Sora and Google DeepMind’s Lumiere can already generate captivating video sequences. Utilizing dream analysis AI, when you provide a textual depiction to the generative AI, you receive a video illustrating the dream sequence.
However, it’s important to note that these AIs are not actually reading minds, but rather matching brain activity patterns with images that may have been previously seen. The generative AI cannot validate if the video accurately represents the dream—it simply pieces together images and possibly adds a rudimentary narrative.
Though the end product may strikingly resemble a dream with many familiar elements, it does not provide an exact replica, similar to how the movie Cast Away featuring Tom Hanks only loosely mirrors the true story of Jose Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman stranded for 14 months in the Pacific Ocean.
AI is remarkable, intelligent, and sometimes eerie, but in terms of understanding the human brain, it is not always precise.
This article responds to a query by Andrew Taylor via email: “How close are we to being able to record our dreams?”
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New studies conducted by USGS geophysicist Danny Brothers reveal that the Cascadia subduction zone, stretching along the US west coast from northern California to northern Vancouver Island, may have seen around 30 large earthquakes over the past 14,200 years. On average, a large earthquake could occur in that area approximately every 450 to 500 years.
Despite this history, the Cascadia Volcano has remained dormant for years, as many scientists believe the volcano is mainly “frozen” and under immense pressure. Should the volcano erupt, it could cause a significant shift in the ocean floor, leading to potential tsunamis heading towards the shore.
Washington State Emergency Management Director Robert Ezell has warned that this event could be the most catastrophic natural disaster in the country’s history.
Seismologists are now focused on predicting these potential cataclysms, with research suggesting that faults like Cascadia and Nankai may give off warning signs, such as minor foreshocks or subtle tremors only detectable by specialized sensors (known as slow-slip events).
In a worst-case scenario proposed by Tobin, if the Cascadia Fault were to release such vibrations suddenly, the consequences could be devastating.
A major earthquake in the Cascade Range could leave over 100,000 people injured, lasting for five minutes and generating tsunamis along the coast for up to 10 hours. Liquefaction could occur in inland hills, destroying roads and bridges, with around 620,000 buildings, including hospitals and schools, facing severe damage or destruction.
Ezell emphasized that the state is not adequately prepared for such an event, warning residents to be self-sufficient for at least two weeks following a disaster.
The maps of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates converge to create subduction zones and volcanoes, particularly concern Ezell.
“Over the past few decades, we’ve witnessed major ruptures in all subduction zones’ faults except for Cascadia,” Ezell noted.
OpenAI announced on Friday that it had taken down the accounts of an Iranian group using its chatbot, ChatGPT, to create content with the aim of influencing the U.S. presidential election and other important issues.
Dubbed “Storm-2035,” the attack involved the use of ChatGPT to generate content related to various topics, including discussions on the U.S. presidential election, the Gaza conflict, and Israel’s involvement in the Olympics. This content was then shared on social media platforms and websites.
A Microsoft-backed AI company investigation revealed that ChatGPT was being utilized to produce lengthy articles and short comments for social media.
OpenAI noted that this strategy did not result in significant engagement from the audience, as most of the social media posts had minimal likes, shares, or comments. There was also no evidence of the web articles being shared on social media platforms.
These accounts have been banned from using OpenAI’s services, and the company stated that it will continue to monitor them for any policy violations.
In an early August report by Microsoft threat intelligence, it was revealed that an Iranian network called Storm 2035, operating through four websites posing as news outlets, was actively interacting with U.S. voters across the political spectrum.
The network’s activities focused on generating divisive messages on topics like U.S. presidential candidates, LGBTQ rights, and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
As the November 5th presidential election approaches, the battle between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican opponent Donald Trump intensifies.
OpenAI previously disrupted five covert influence operations in May that attempted to use their models for deceptive online activities.
ohRan Knowles, a British teenager with a severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, became the first person to try the new brain implant last October, with astonishing results: his daytime seizures reduced by 80 percent.
“The device has had a huge impact on my son's life as he no longer falls and injures himself like he used to,” said his mother, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (Gosh), who implanted the device. She added that there has been a huge improvement in her son's quality of life as well as his cognitive abilities. He is more alert and outgoing.”
Oran's neurostimulator is implanted under the skull and sends constant electrical signals deep into the brain with the aim of blocking the abnormal impulses that cause seizures.The implant, called Picostim, is about the size of a cell phone battery, is charged through headphones and works differently during the day and at night.
“The device has the ability to record from the brain, to measure brain activity, and we can use that information to think about how to improve the effectiveness of the stimulation that children are receiving,” says Tisdall. “What we'd really like to do is to make this treatment available on the NHS.”
As part of the trial, three children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome will be fitted with the implant in the coming weeks, with a full trial planned for 22 children early next year. If the trial is successful, academic sponsors Ghosh and University College London plan to apply for regulatory approval.
Tim Denison, a professor of engineering science at the University of Oxford and co-founder and chief engineer at Amber Therapeutics, a London-based company that developed the implant in collaboration with the university, hopes that the device will be available on the NHS and around the world within the next four to five years.
The technology is one of a number of neural implants being developed to treat a range of conditions, including brain tumors, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson's disease, incontinence and tinnitus. These devices are more sophisticated than traditional implants in that they not only decode the brain's electrical activity but also control it, and this is where Europe is racing against the US to develop life-changing technology.
The latest generation of brain implants can not only detect brain activity but also control it. Photo: UCL
Amber isn't the only company working on brain implants to treat epilepsy. California-based Neuropace has developed a device that responds to abnormal brain activity and has been cleared by US regulators for use by people aged 18 and over. But the battery is not rechargeable and must be surgically replaced after a few years. Other devices are implanted in the chest with wires running to the brain that must be reinserted as the child grows.
When most people think of brain chips, they think of Neuralink, another California-based startup from Elon Musk that just implanted a brain chip in a second patient with a spinal cord injury. The device uses tiny wires thinner than a human hair to capture signals from the brain and translate them into actions.
The first recipient, Noland Arbaugh, was in January and is paralyzed from the neck down. Some of the wires had shifted and the implant needed to be adjusted. The implant allows Arbaugh to control a mouse cursor on a computer screen with his mind, as if he were watching a movie. Star Wars A Jedi who “uses the Force.”
Other US companies, such as Syncron, backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, have also recently implanted brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in people who cannot move or speak.
But scientists say these implants simply decode electrical signals. In contrast, a number of companies in the U.S., Britain and Europe, like Amber, are working on so-called “BCI therapy,” or modulating signals in deep brain stimulation to treat disease. Amber's implants are also being used in academic trials for Parkinson's disease, chronic pain and multiple system atrophy, a condition that gradually damages nerve cells in the brain. The company is also sponsoring an early trial in Belgium to treat incontinence, with promising results.
Professor Martin Tisdall led the team that gave Oran Noorsson, who suffers from severe epilepsy, the implant last October. Photo: UCL
A different kind of technology will be tested in humans in clinical trials starting in a few weeks, using the first brain implant made from graphene, a “miracle material” discovered 20 years ago at the University of Manchester.
Medical teams at Salford Royal Infirmary will implant a device with 64 graphene electrodes into the brains of patients with glioblastoma, a fast-growing form of brain cancer. The device will stimulate and read neural activity with high precision, to spare other parts of the brain while removing the cancer. The implant will be removed after surgery.
“We use this interface to map out where the glioblastoma is and then remove it. [cut it out] “Without affecting areas of function such as language or cognition,” says Carolina Aguilar, co-founder and CEO of InBrain Neuroelectronics, the Barcelona-based company that developed the implant in collaboration with the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the University of Manchester.
Traditionally, platinum and iridium have been used in implants, but graphene, made from carbon, is ultra-thin, harmless to human tissue, and can be decoded and modulated very selectively.
InBrain plans to conduct clinical trials of similar artificial intelligence-powered implants in people with speech disorders caused by Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and stroke.
Professor Costas Kostarellos, head of nanomedicine at the University of Manchester, co-founder of InBrain and principal investigator on the glioblastoma trial, says the company's goal is to “develop more intelligent implantable systems”.
Equipped with AI, the device, with 1,024 electrical contacts, “will help provide optimal treatment for each patient without the neurologist having to program all those contacts individually, as they do today,” he says.
InBrain has partnered with German pharmaceutical company Merck to use its graphene device to stimulate the vagus nerve, which controls many bodily functions including digestion, heart rate and breathing, to treat severe chronic inflammatory, metabolic and endocrine diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Galvani Bioelectronics, founded in 2016 by the UK's second-largest pharmaceutical company GSK and Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences, has a pioneering treatment that treats rheumatoid arthritis by stimulating the splenic nerve. Galvani has begun clinical trials with patients in the UK, US and the Netherlands, with first results expected within the next 6-12 months.
Bioelectronics, which combines biological sciences and electrical engineering, is a market worth $8.7 billion today and is predicted to reach more than $20 billion (£15 billion) by 2031. According to Verified Market Research:The field focuses on the peripheral nervous system, which transmits signals from the brain to organs and from organs to the brain. When brain-focused neuromodulation and BCIs are added, Aguilar believes the overall market could be worth more than $25 billion.
While U.S. neuromodulation companies are making waves with devices targeting chronic pain and sleep apnea, a growing number of European startups are also working on the technology. MintNeuro, a spinout from Imperial College London, Working on developing next-generation chips The company is developing an implant that can be combined into a smaller implant and has partnered with Amber. With the support of an Innovate UK grant, its first project will be to develop an implant to treat mixed urinary incontinence.
Geneva-based Neurosoft has developed a device that uses a thin metal film attached to stretchy silicon – soft enough to put less pressure on the brain and blood vessels – to target severe tinnitus, which affects 120 million people worldwide.
“Tinnitus begins with ear damage, typically caused by loud noise, but it can also cause changes in the wiring of the brain, making it effectively a neurological disorder,” said Nicholas Batsikouras, the company's chief executive officer.
Founded in 2009 by 13 neurosurgeons, neurologists, engineers and other scientists from the Policlinico Research Center and the University of Milan, Neuronica has developed a rechargeable deep brain neurostimulator that can be used to treat Parkinson's disease. The device provides closed-loop stimulation and adapts moment-to-moment to the patient's condition, and is currently being tested on patients.
“Europe and the UK can compete head-to-head with the US when it comes to getting treatments onto the NHS and distributing them around the world,” Denison said. “It's a fair competition and we're going to give it our all.”
Over the past five years, there have been more than 1,400 ambulance dispatches to Amazon warehouses, a figure that has been described as shocking by the GMB trade union. This raises concerns about the safety of Amazon’s UK workplaces.
The Dunfermline and Bristol Amazon centers had the highest number of ambulance attendees in the UK, with 161 and 125 respectively during the period.
In Dunfermline, a third of Scottish Ambulance Service call-outs were for chest pain, along with incidents related to convulsions, strokes, and breathing difficulties.
Since 2019, Amazon Mansfield has had 84 ambulance calls, with over 70% of them being for serious incidents such as heart attacks and strokes.
Accidents related to pregnancy, miscarriages, traumatic injuries, and suspected heart attacks have been reported at some Amazon sites, as well as exposure to harmful substances and severe burns.
The data was obtained through freedom of information requests to 12 emergency services covering more than 30 Amazon sites. However, the actual numbers may be higher as complete data was not available for all sites.
GMB staff campaigned for union recognition outside an Amazon warehouse in Coventry. Photo: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian
In Coventry, Amazon workers and GMB union members narrowly lost a crucial union recognition vote amid allegations of intimidation by the company.
Amanda Gearing, a GMB organizer, called for investigations into Amazon’s working practices, citing the shocking figures as evidence of unsafe working conditions.
Martha Dark from Foxglove emphasized the danger of working at Amazon, criticizing the company’s disregard for safety.
Workers work at an Amazon fulfillment center in Peterborough ahead of the store’s annual Black Friday sales. Photo: Daniel Leal Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
An Amazon spokesperson denied claims of dangerous working conditions, stating that safety is a top priority and ambulances are always called for emergencies.
The spokesperson also refuted claims that ambulances were not called, emphasizing that the majority of calls were for pre-existing conditions, not work-related incidents.
They encouraged individuals to visit Amazon fulfillment centers to see the truth for themselves.
pictureRon Musk isn’t stopping tweeting. In just seven days last week, he made nearly 650 posts on the social network he bought in November 2022 and reluctantly rebranded as X. He also spent nearly three hours wrestling with technical issues in what he would later conclude was the result of an unproven hacking attack while trying to host a “conversation” with Donald Trump, and livestreamed himself playing Blizzard’s sword-and-sorcery game Diablo IV for several hours.
The volume of his content alone is impressive enough, but even for someone who was so into posting that he spent more money on a site than the Manhattan Project budget, Musk’s consistency is astonishing.
In the week of tweets analysed by The Guardian, there was a 90-minute period when he posted nothing, between 3am and 4:29am local time, but he tweeted at least once every other half hour throughout the day and night: at 4:41am on Saturday morning, 2:30pm on Wednesday night, and at 11pm on six of the seven days.
The longest Musk went without tweeting that week was seven and a half hours, when he slept until 8:10 a.m. after a late-night posting session. On Saturday night, Musk logged out after retweeting a meme likening the Metropolitan police to the SS, then returned online four and a half hours later to retweet a tweet from a cryptocurrency influencer complaining about the prison sentences of British protesters.
Awesome, awakened, cool
Not all of Musk’s posts on X are loaded with meaning. Most are simple one- or two-word replies to fans, followers and allies. Two minutes after he replies “Cool” to a construction influencer’s AI-generated photo of himself, he replies “Cool” to a montage of photos of the Tesla Cybertruck driving through North America, and a minute later an AI-generated cartoon of himself points to a sign that reads “Criticism is welcome on this platform” and replies “💯.”
One-word replies can sometimes be a good thing and a bad thing. Musk, who has never been one to follow traditional “online etiquette,” occasionally replies to messages with a “😂” emoji and then copies the exact same thing to his own feed without credit. It’s unclear why some posts get Musk’s treasured retweets while others get stolen and reposted.
Musk is sometimes careful with his praise, especially when it comes from users he’s not comfortable being too vocal about. An End Wokeness post about a California early release bill, a Malaysian far-right influencer’s post about Haitian criminals, and a Libs of TikTok post about another California bill have all been marked with a simple “!!” by Musk, while a post by Dom Lucre, a far-right influencer who was banned from the site for posting child abuse imagery, doesn’t even get that mark. Personally covered In 2023, I received just one “!” from a billionaire.
Riot and Grok
Musk’s outrage over the UK riots seems to be deepening his ties to the far-right: Over the past week, he has begun a conversation with Canadian influencer Lauren Southern, one of three anti-Muslim activists named in the UK riots. Banned from entering the UK It was launched by Theresa May’s government in 2018. Though the pair share a distrust of the media, Musk is now a paying subscriber to her feed, supporting her – along with more than 160 other users – for £4.92 a month.
But Musk’s crazy behavior makes sense. A showman, the memes and chatter he retweets and reposts are full of promotions he wants to make that day. Sometimes, it’s professional. On Wednesday and Thursday, when his AI company xAI released the latest version of its large-scale language model, Grok, a significant percentage of his posts were sharing quotes and images generated by it.
In the UK in 2030, you could be executed for posting a meme…
And then there are the riots. During the week, Musk’s attention was diverted from tensions in the UK, but the spate of rulings handed down over the weekend meant he was primed for a bit of mayhem.
He latched onto right-wing memes about Keir Starmer promoting a “two-tier” policing system and downplayed their contribution to the violence while constantly drawing attention to the punitive sentences given to rioters. Early on Friday morning, he expanded on his criticism of the SNP's Humza Yousaf, calling the former Scottish First Minister a “super super racist” and challenging him to take legal action in response.
Trump and Tesla
On Monday and Tuesday, Musk drew attention to his conversation with Donald Trump, sharing posts before the livestream in which fans excitedly wondered how many people would tune in and what the two smartest people in the world would discuss, then reposting posts after the livestream in which fans were upset that biased media wouldn’t write more positive headlines and asking fans to shorten the conversation into a more manageable hour-long highlights reel.
Despite this friction, another side of Musk shows up when he talks about his two biggest companies, Tesla and SpaceX. With Tesla being a public company, Musk has to be careful with what he says. He has a fiduciary duty to shareholders and legal obligations on how to disclose material information. Those obligations came to a head when the SEC sued him over his infamous tweets in which he falsely claimed he had “secured funding” to take Tesla private. In a subsequent settlement with regulators, Musk agreed to have his lawyers review all of his tweets about Tesla, a deal he has since regretted.
But after an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, the deal remains valid, meaning Musk’s final chance to escape the “Twitter guards” may be… It was scrapped in April this year.His posts about Tesla have been surprisingly muted. Shortly after his conversation with Trump, he posted a lengthy, mostly standard, statement retracting some of his comments about climate change: “To be clear, I believe global warming is real.” He startedWhat he meant was that even without global warming, high levels of CO2 It was dangerous.
“Guardians are trash…”
Musk also used the opportunity to take aim at another favorite target, The Guardian. After the paper quoted experts in what he called “the dumbest climate change debate in history,” Musk slammed others he follows who shared the article, telling author Stephen King that “The Guardian cannot be considered objective” and entrepreneur Vinod Khosla that “The Guardian is rubbish.”
Scientists in Japan have captured full-spectrum, two-dimensional (2D) auroral images using a newly developed Hyperspectral Camera for Auroral Imaging (HySCAI).
(a) All-sky camera and (b) HySCAI keograms, and (c) time evolution of the spatially averaged spectrum of auroral emission measured by HySCAI on October 20-21, 2023. Image courtesy of Yoshinuma others., doi: 10.1186/s40623-024-02039-y.
The aurora is a natural optical phenomenon caused by the interaction of precipitation particles with components of the upper atmosphere.
The majority of the observed spectrum consists of lines or bands of neutral and ionized nitrogen and oxygen atoms.
The aurora comes in a variety of distinctive colors, including green and red, but there are multiple theories about how the different auroras emit light, and understanding their colors requires breaking down the light.
To study the auroral radiation processes and colors in detail, comprehensive (temporal and spatial) spectral observations are required.
“We have observed light being emitted from plasma within the magnetic field of the Large Helical Device (LHD),” said Dr. Katsumi Ida of the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan and his colleagues.
“Various systems have been developed to measure the spectrum of light emitted from plasmas, and the processes of energy transport and the emission of atoms and molecules have been studied.”
“By applying this technology and knowledge to auroral observations, we can contribute to our understanding of auroral luminescence and to research into the electron energy generation process that produces auroral luminescence.”
The newly developed camera, HySCAI, consists of an all-sky lens, a monitor camera, a galvanometer scanner, a grating spectrometer, and an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device.
“Aurora observations use optical filters to capture images of specific colors, but this has the drawback of limited wavelengths and low resolution,” the researchers said.
“On the other hand, hyperspectral cameras have the advantage of being able to obtain the spatial distribution of the spectrum with high wavelength resolution.”
“In 2018, we started a project to develop a high-sensitivity hyperspectral camera by combining an image sweeping optical system using a galvanometer mirror with the EMCCD camera and lens spectrometer used in the LHD.”
“It took five years of planning to develop a system with the sensitivity to measure auroras down to 1kR (1 kiloraylei).”
“The system was installed in May 2023 at the Swedish Space Corporation's Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, Sweden, which is located directly below the auroral zone and where auroras can be observed frequently.”
“The system successfully captured hyperspectral images of the aurora, i.e. two-dimensional images resolved by wavelength.”
Team work Published in the journal Earth, planets, space.
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Masayuki Yoshinuma others2024: Development of a hyperspectral camera for photographing the aurora (HySCAI). Earth Planet Space 76, 96; doi: 10.1186/s40623-024-02039-y
This overlooked mechanism could allow lightning energy to reach the top of the atmosphere, threatening the safety of satellites and astronauts.
When lightning strikes, the energy it carries can create special electromagnetic waves called whistlers, so named because they can be converted into sound signals. For decades, researchers thought that the whistlers produced by lightning remained confined to altitudes relatively close to the Earth's surface, below about 1,000 kilometers.
now Vikas Sonwalkar and Amani Lady Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks discovered that some whistlers bounce off a layer of the atmosphere filled with charged particles called the ionosphere, which allows whistler waves and the energy they carry to travel up to 20,000 kilometers above Earth's surface—all the way into the magnetosphere, the region of space governed by Earth's magnetic field.
Researchers found evidence of these reflective whistlers in data from the Van Allen Probes, twin robotic spacecraft that measured the magnetosphere between 2012 and 2019. They also found hints of the phenomenon in studies published in the 1960s. Both the old and new data indicate that the phenomenon is very frequent and happens all the time, Reddy said.
In fact, the lightning may be depositing twice as much energy into this region as previously estimated, the researchers say, and this energy charges and accelerates nearby particles, creating electromagnetic radiation that can damage satellites and endanger the health of astronauts.
“Lightning has always been considered a bit of a smaller player. Until 10 years ago, this data wasn't available and we'd never looked at it at this level of detail.” Jacob Bortnick researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. He says the new study is a call for others to develop a more accurate picture of the magnetosphere.
Establishing the connection between lightning and the magnetosphere is also important because changes in Earth's climate could make lightning storms more frequent, Sonwalker said.
The research team now hopes to analyze data from more satellites to learn more about how lightning-based whistlers are distributed in the magnetosphere and how they are affected by space weather.
The asteroid, called the Chicxulub impactor, was a carbonaceous asteroid that formed outside the orbit of Jupiter. New Paper Published in the journal Science.
Ankylosaurus magniventrisA Tyrannosaurus, a type of large armored dinosaur, witnessed the impact of an asteroid that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. Image by Fabio Manucci.
About 66 million years ago, a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now a small town called Chicxulub in Mexico.
This impact released incredible amounts of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, setting off a chain of events that led to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.
Evidence includes the presence of high concentrations of platinum group elements (PGE) in the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer, including iridium, ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, platinum, and palladium, which are rare on Earth but common in meteorites.
These elevated PGE levels have been found worldwide, suggesting that the impact spread debris around the world.
Some have proposed large-scale volcanism in the Deccan Traps igneous province of India as an alternative source of PGEs, but the specific PGE ratios at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary are more consistent with an asteroid impact than volcanism.
However, little is known about the nature of the Chicxulub impactor, including its composition and extraterrestrial origin.
To answer these questions, Dr Mario Fischer-Gödde from the University of Cologne and his colleagues measured ruthenium isotopes in samples taken from three sites at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary.
For comparison, the team also analysed samples from five other impacts that occurred between 36 million and 470 million years ago, an ancient impact spherule from 3.5 to 3.2 billion years ago, and two carbonaceous meteorites.
The researchers found that the ruthenium isotope signature of samples taken from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary was uniform and matched very closely to that of carbonaceous chondrites rather than those from Earth or other types of meteorites, suggesting that the Chicxulub impactor likely came from a carbonaceous-type asteroid that formed in the outer solar system.
The other five impact structures have isotopic signatures more consistent with silicic asteroids that formed closer to the Sun.
The ancient spherulitic samples are consistent with a carbonaceous asteroid impact during the final stages of Earth's accretion.
“The composition of this asteroid is consistent with that of carbonaceous asteroids that formed outside Jupiter's orbit during the formation of the solar system,” Dr Fischer-Gödde said.
“Asteroid impacts like Chicxulub turn out to be very rare and unique events in geological time,” said Professor Carsten Müncher from the University of Cologne.
“The fate of the dinosaurs and many other species was sealed by this object that came from the outer solar system.”
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Mario Fischer-Gedde others2024. Ruthenium isotopes indicate that the Chicxulub impactor was a carbonaceous asteroid. Science 385 (6710): 752-756; doi: 10.1126/science.adk4868
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing MPOX (formerly known as monkeypox) outbreak in Central and West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This is the second time in two years that the disease has spread sufficiently to prompt a WHO declaration. On August 15, Swedish health authorities confirmed the first cases of infection outside of Africa with the MPOX strain currently causing the outbreak.
What is mpox?
Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus in the same family as the virus that causes smallpox. It spreads regularly among animals such as rodents and monkeys in Central and West Africa, but occasionally infects humans, causing small-scale epidemics.
There are two distinct lineages of mpox. Lineage I and Lineage IILineage I is associated with more severe disease and a higher risk of death. A subtype of lineage I, lineage Ib, is driving the current epidemic, while the 2022 and 2023 global MPOX epidemics were driven by a lineage II subtype.
So far, there is no evidence to suggest that lineage Ib is more dangerous than the original lineage I strains, he said. Jonas Alvarez This was said in a statement by the UK’s Pirbright Institute.
How many cases of MPOX were there in 2024?
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Reported on August 13th There are more than 17,000 suspected cases across the continent, “and this is just the tip of the iceberg, given the many weaknesses in surveillance, testing and contact tracing,” the agency said in a statement.
According to the WHO, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone has reported 15,664 cases and 537 deaths so far — more than the entire 2023 total. statement WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on August 15.
Where was mpox found?
The current outbreak began in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). MPOX variants have now spread to at least 11 other African countries, including four where MPOX had not previously been reported (Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda), and one patient in Sweden has also been found to have MPOX.
What is the survival rate for mpox?
More than 99.9 percent of people survive infection with lineage II, but up to 10 percent of MPOX outbreaks caused by lineage I die. Children, immunocompromised individuals, and pregnant women are particularly susceptible to severe illness.
What are the symptoms of MPOX?
The first symptom of MPOX is usually a rash, which begins as flat sores that later develop into itchy, painful blisters. The rash begins on the face and then spreads throughout the body, including the hands and feet. Lesions may also appear inside the mouth, genitals, and anus.
The rash or lesions usually last for 2-4 weeks and are often accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle and back pain, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes. Symptoms usually appear within a week of exposure to the virus, but can appear anywhere from 1 to 21 days after exposure. However, some people can be infected with the virus without experiencing any symptoms.
How does mpox spread?
Mpox is transmitted through close contact with a person who has the disease. Usually, this occurs through skin-to-skin contact, such as sexual intercourse, kissing, or touching. The virus can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets or contact with contaminated materials, such as sheets, other linens, and sharp objects, such as needles. You remain infectious until all wounds have healed.
Mpox is spread through contact with infected animals via bite or scratch, or when people hunt or eat the animals.
Young people and children are being hit hardest by this outbreak, a trend not seen in the 2022-2023 outbreak. In some provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children under the age of 15 are the most affected. 69% of suspected cases.
How is mpox treated?
Treatment consists mainly of managing symptoms and preventing complications such as secondary infections. Some of the antiviral drugs developed to treat smallpox have also been used to treat smallpox in the past. However, recent trials of the antiviral drug tecovirimat, used in previous outbreaks, have shown that Found to be ineffective against clade I virusesPeople with MPOX should self-isolate, wear a mask and avoid scratching wounds, which can prevent wounds from healing and increase the risk of secondary infections, which can spread to other parts of the body.
Is there an MPOX vaccine?
The mpox vaccine provides maximum protection when given in two doses. Smallpox vaccines are also known to protect against mpox, but it is not clear whether any of these vaccines are effective against the new mpox variants.
It is only recommended that people get vaccinated if they are at high risk of contracting MPOX. For people in areas not affected by the current outbreak, the risk remains very low.
African countries currently have little to no vaccine supplies, but estimates say the region needs 10 million doses. Jimmy Whitworth Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said in a statement.
This week, New Google smartphone series Cameras with AI image generation capabilities are now available, but for an increasing number of people, the allure of a less cutting-edge gadget: a compact camera.
US soccer player Megan Rapinoe was spotted taking a photo from the stands at the Paris Olympics, with model Alexa Chung captioning the photo: A recent Instagram photo of her with her camera“I’m part of the photo-dependent millennial generation, and I’m fighting the digital threat with analog mode.” Recent Glimpse Photos of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s home life show disposable cameras placed amongst clutter, while Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift have both been photographed holding compact cameras.
While there’s still a mix of digital and film cameras from the early 2000s, the new generation is also embracing the older technology. On Instagram this week, Mihara, star of Industry, which just wrapped its third season, posted a selfie with a compact camera. Ayo Edebiri took her own camera to the Emmy Awards Both are 28. Model Bella Hadid, 27, is a fan. Online, Gen Z content creators are giving the camera a TikTok-esque treatment, stealing public clout from the latest It products and offering up expensive model dummies.
According to a Cognitive Market Research survey conducted earlier this year: The global film camera market is expected to reach £303 million by 2030, up from £223.2 million in 2023. Kodak has seen demand for film nearly double in recent years, and in July Harman, the UK’s only 35mm film maker, announced that Multi-million pound investment in new facilities announced Spurred by rising demand: Tesco, which still has more than 480 photo-printing locations, has seen demand for its film-developing services rise, with take-up up by nearly 10% this year.
The Pentax 17, released earlier this summer, was “the first film camera produced by a global camera brand in 21 years,” according to Paul McKay, co-founder of Analog Wonderland, a company that sells film products while seeking to support the growing analog film photography community. Pentax “has had to bring back retired engineers to mentor younger engineers because they believe this market is “growing and not going to go away.”
Stores targeting young people, such as Urban Outfitters, sell Hello Kitty-themed disposable cameras, lilac and matcha green Fujifilm Instax Minis and Lomography cameras.
Part of the appeal of film cameras compared to digital cameras is the way the photos look. Dazed magazine’s art and photography editor Emily Dinsdale described the aesthetic as romantic: “Even the mistakes are romantic: the light leaks, the red-eye, the grain in the first few frames of a new roll of film.” In a feed full of glossy photos, analog commands attention.
Images taken with real film cameras often have a “nostalgic, grainy, film-like texture” and are full of charm and imperfections, says Eliza Williams, editor of Creative Review magazine.
For some older users, it’s nostalgia, but for younger people in particular, “part of what draws us to the camera is this idea of it as an object — it’s a beautiful thing to hold in your hand, and it looks really cool compared to other people holding their phones,” Williams says.
The camera is tapping into Gen Z’s resurgence in all things Y2K, from low-rise jeans to velour. “There’s a well-known resurgence of the ‘indie sleaze’ era of the mid-to-late 2000s,” says Louise Iames, strategy director at Digital Fairy, a creative agency that specializes in internet and youth culture. “Digital cameras have been pretty much ever-present during this period.”
She noted the re-emergence of nostalgic technologies across internet culture, This video From Super 8 photos of 80s parties to early internet design codes like Frutiger Aero, [that] is once again attracting attention.
The coolness of cameras is in play even when the technology isn’t being used: In the new season of “Emily in Paris,” which premiered this week to a furor of derision and delight, the protagonist’s phone case mimics the look of a point-and-shoot camera, cloaking her always-on smartphone with more analog flourishes.
According to Yems, “On a deeper level, Gen Z is the first generation that has the ability to document their lives in a completely seamless way. They never have to fill up their memory cards, and they don’t have to spend hours transferring videos and photos between devices and to Myspace and Facebook,” so, she said, “the process of using a point-and-shoot camera gives the output meaning, intention and tactility.”
In a survey McKay conducted this week, the most common reason cited for shooting with film was that it allowed them to slow down (66%). “There’s a mindfulness element to it,” McKay said. “When this generation talks about film photography, they talk a lot about mental health.” Those who choose to develop their own photos, rather than relying on snapshots, may be even slower.
Dinsdale believes the increased use of analog cameras indicates a desire for authenticity in an age when deepfakes mean a distrust of visual imagery. “People trust photos taken with a film camera more than digital photos,” he said, adding, “As AI-generated imagery becomes more prevalent, this sentiment will only increase.”
She continues, “Given how digital photography and smartphones have really changed the value of images, it comes back to the idea that photos taken on a phone are not as special as photos taken on film.”
For Williams, “at a time when all of us, especially Gen Z, are looking for relief from the pressures of daily life and the addictive nature of screens, cameras and taking photos bring nostalgic joy, give us a sense of wholesomeness and artistry, and make us look cool all at the same time.”
Russia has been attempting online fraudulent activities using generative artificial intelligence, but according to a Metasecurity report published on Thursday, these efforts have not been successful.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, discovered that AI-powered strategies have only brought minimal benefits in terms of productivity and content generation to malicious actors. Meta was successful in thwarting deceptive influence campaigns.
Meta’s actions against “systematic fraud” on its platform are in response to concerns that generative AI could be employed to mislead or confuse individuals during elections in the U.S. and other nations.
David Agranovich, Meta’s director of security policy, informed reporters that Russia continues to be the primary source of “coordinated illicit activity” using fake Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, these efforts have been aimed at weakening Ukraine and its allies, as outlined in the report.
With the upcoming U.S. election, Meta anticipates Russian-backed online fraud campaigns targeting political candidates who support Ukraine.
Facebook has faced accusations of being a platform for election disinformation, while Russian operatives have utilized it and other U.S.-based social media platforms to fuel political tensions during various U.S. elections, including the 2016 election won by Donald Trump.
Experts are worried that generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E image generator can rapidly create on-demand content, leading to a flood of disinformation on social networks by malicious actors.
The report notes the use of AI in producing images, videos, translating and generating text, and crafting fake news articles and summaries.
When Meta investigates fraudulent activity, the focus is on account behavior rather than posted content.
Influence campaigns span across various online platforms, with Meta observing that X (formerly Twitter) posts are used to lend credibility to fabricated content. Meta shared its findings with X and other internet companies, emphasizing the need for a coordinated defense against misinformation.
When asked about Meta’s view on X addressing scam reports, Agranovic mentioned, “With regards to Twitter (X), we’re still in the process of transitioning. Many people we’ve dealt with there in the past have already gone elsewhere.”
X has disbanded its trust and safety team and reduced content moderation efforts previously used to combat misinformation, making it a breeding ground for disinformation according to researchers.
The movements of worm-like organisms in the soil produce unique sound patterns.
Vitaly Stock/Shutterstock
While they may not be as captivating as a dawn bird chorus, the sounds of ants, beetle larvae and earthworms recorded underground provide a snapshot of whether an ecosystem is healthy.
“The idea is that we can monitor soil health using the sounds made by invertebrates.” Jake Robinson At Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
He and his colleagues Mount Bald Conservation AreaThe project will involve 240 recordings over five days in spring 2023, with each recording lasting nine minutes, covering a 55 square kilometre area around a reservoir south of Adelaide.
Two sites had been cleared of trees approximately 15 years ago and maintained as grassland, two sites had been cleared but had regrowth of trees and bushes over the course of approximately 15 years, and the remaining two were intact grassland forests.
Robinson and his colleagues dug up soil samples at each site, placed them in containers, and placed them in sound-attenuating chambers — devices that allow them to record sounds from the soil in a controlled environment while filtering out other sounds. The researchers then examined the soil samples and counted the types and numbers of invertebrates present in each sample.
Jake Robinson (left) and his colleagues listen to sounds in the soil.
Tracy Klarenbeek
The researchers found that intact and revegetated plots contained more soil invertebrate species, including organisms such as beetle larvae, earthworms, centipedes, woodlice and ants, and generally more specimens, than did the clear-cut plots.
To analyze the noise, Robinson and his colleagues used a sound complexity index, which works on the premise that many biological behaviors, such as millipede movements, produce distinctive sound patterns.
More diverse sound activity corresponds to a higher index score and more species of organisms present. Soils in revegetated sites had an index score 21 percent higher than soils in deforested sites.
IIn the past, whenever I’ve written enthusiastically about the latest retro consoles, like the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES or Analogue Duo, there have been a few comments below the article asking why people don’t just buy a Raspberry Pi mini computer, download emulators, and play their favorite games for next to nothing. My answer is usually ease of use and accessibility. When you buy a mini console, you get a plug-and-play product with no complicated setups or potential compatibility issues. Simple.
However, having recently purchased a Raspberry Pi to write an article about the beautiful PiDP-10 machine, I thought I’d check out its retro gaming capabilities as well. This is what I found.
Hardware
Raspberry Pi with case, SD card, and SD card reader Photo: Keith Stewart/The Guardian
To put together your retro machine, you’ll first need a Raspberry Pi computer. It’s a tiny PC built on a circuit board a little bigger than a credit card. There are currently two supported models: the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (£34) and the newer Raspberry Pi 5 (£58), which has a more powerful processor and is better suited for emulating later consoles. I bought the 5 model on the Pi Hut site, which offers a decent starter kit including a compatible power adaptor and HDMI cable, a cute case to house the Pi in (with a little fan to cool the CPU), and an SD card, which you’ll need as the computer doesn’t have a built-in hard drive. The kit costs £94. However, the Raspberry Pi 4 is good enough to run emulators for old machines, so if you go for it, you’ll be ready for retro gaming for around £60.
emulator
Lakka emulator. Photo: Raqqa
Here’s where it gets a bit complicated. There are a number of retro gaming apps that are compatible with the Raspberry Pi, with the main contenders being RetroPie, Recalbox, Batocera and Lakka. All of these are essentially a collection of different, mostly open-source emulators that let you play games from a range of systems, from very early home computers to later consoles like the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Want to experience Manic Miner on Oric or Rainbow Islands on the Wonderswan? UtopiaCan you recreate the Dragon 32 games you made with your friend John in 1987? Now you can. It also supports MAME, which runs hundreds of classic arcade games. There are differences between the two, such as how the games run and how many configuration options you have. For example, you might want to tweak the visual settings to add realistic scanlines. Here is a very good comparison. hereHowever, most people agree that RetroPie is the most versatile.
It’s all very easy to do. First, connect the SD card to your PC or Mac using a USB SD card reader and download Raspberry Pi Imager. This is a small program that will install the operating system onto the card. It’s very user friendly and has three drop-down menus to choose from:[オペレーティング システムの選択]With the click of a button, you can designate your machine as a retro console and it will automatically download the emulators. Currently, your options are limited to either Recalbox for Model 5, or RetroPie or Recalbox for Model 4 (Retropie doesn’t have a native Model 5 version yet). To get anything else, you’ll need to download their own installation imagers separately and select your custom OS in the Raspberry Pi imager.
Don’t panic, there are plenty of guides online to help you solve this problem.
game
Rev your engines… in the classic 80s driving game Out Run. Photo: SEGA
Now, this is Really Here’s the complicated part. To run retro games on these emulators you need game ROMs – software versions of the original programs, chips or cartridges. Downloading them from ROM sites on the internet is effectively copyright infringement and illegal. “Computer games are protected from copying by intellectual property law,” explains Alex Tutty of law firm Sheridans. “Generally, in the UK and around the world, games are protected by copyright and cannot be copied without the owner’s permission.
“Copyright law has various exceptions, such as personal copying, but emulation of the games or making them available online is not permitted. Even if a game is discontinued, copyright remains in place even if it is not being used, so copying is not permitted.”
that teeth It’s possible to find games that have had their copyrights removed by their developers. These tend to be found on abandonware sites or software archives. (I won’t sue you if you download Utopia, but you might want to sue me if you play it.) In any case, I won’t tell you how to find ROMs, but I can tell you that it’s a risky business. Game files on unofficial sites might be full of viruses and malware, or they might simply not work, or be in a foreign language.
Getting the ROMs onto your Raspberry Pi from your computer where you downloaded them is also a bit complicated. The basic method is to plug the Raspberry Pi SD card into your PC and download the ROMs directly to the board, but there are more elegant solutions that use SD card shared folders or file manager apps. To be honest, I struggled with all of them.
Conclusion
Here’s how to build a retro gaming machine for under £100. I prefer the more expensive but legally clear methods – keeping your original console, buying a retro gaming compilation such as Sega Genesis Classics or Rare Replay, downloading digital versions of old games from sites such as Steam, Gog or the online store of your current gaming console, or buying a mini retro machine that runs fairly stable versions of your favourite games.
However, I’m a big fan of the Raspberry Pi, so I think it’s worth buying one and giving it a try. If you’re worried about downloading retro ROMs, Huge game library Anything made specifically for your device or downloaded Dos Box or later DosBox-X A program that lets you play hundreds of old PC games, including shareware. Alternatively, you can use your Raspberry Pi to access cloud-based gaming services such as: Xbox Cloud Gaming. you too Stream games from your PC to your Raspberry PiDiscovering games on new platforms is fun, and having something to run on a computer that fits in your pocket is a fascinating experience.
Creative hobbies give us a sense of self-expression and progress.
Botanical Vision/Alamy
Engaging in arts and crafts improves mental health and a sense that life is worth living, and these activities have positive effects that are equal to or greater than the improvements in mental health that come with employment.
Decades of research have shown that health, income, and employment status are key predictors of people’s life satisfaction. But researchers from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK wanted to explore what other activities and situations might improve mental health. “Crafts are accessible, affordable, and already popular, so we were interested in finding out whether they have health benefits,” the researchers say. Helen Keyes.
Keys and her colleagues analyzed more than 7,000 responses to the annual survey. Participate in the surveyThe survey asks people in England about their involvement in activities such as arts and culture, sport and internet use. All participants were also asked about their levels of happiness, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction and whether they feel their life is worth living.
More than a third of participants said they had done at least one arts or crafts activity in the past year, including pottery, painting, knitting, photography, filmmaking, woodworking, and jewelry making. The researchers found that engaging in arts and crafts was associated with higher scores across measures of mental health, even after accounting for factors such as health and employment status.
Although the increase was small (about 0.2 on a 10-point scale), crafting was a stronger predictor of feeling that life was worth living than factors that are harder to change, such as having a job.
“There’s something about making things that gives you a sense of progress and self-expression that you can’t get in a job,” Keys says. “You can take real pride in what you make, and you can see the progress in real time.” The positive effect of creative activities on people’s sense of value in life was 1.6 times higher than in a job situation.
Arts and crafts also increased happiness and life satisfaction, but did not produce significant changes in reported loneliness, which may be because many crafts can be done alone.
Promoting and supporting arts and crafts can be used as a preventative mental health strategy on a national scale, Keys said: “When people do it, they have fun. It’s an easy win.”
Paleontologists unearthed three large seeds (up to 7.2 centimeters long) and 43 fossil leaves of the ancient legume at the Wahana Baratama coal mine near Satui in South Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.
The newly identified legume lived in Southeast Asia between 40 and 34 million years ago (the Eocene Epoch).
Named Juntungspermum gunneriIt is very similar to the Australian black bean plant. Cassis.
“The tree currently occurs only in the coastal rainforests of northern Australia and nearby islands,” said Professor Peter Wilf of Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues.
Paleontologists found three fossil seeds, 43 leaves and pollen samples. Juntungspermum gunneri of Tanjun Formation South Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.
Also found were fossil tracks of a variety of birds, burrowing evidence of marine invertebrates, and the fossil remains of turtles.
“The seeds Juntungspermum gunneri “Apart from coconuts and other palm trees, it is one of the largest in the fossil record,” the researchers said.
“They probably grew up to a metre (3 feet) in length – about the length of a baseball bat – and in pods that could hold up to five seeds.”
“This fossil is the oldest legume fossil ever found in the Malay Archipelago and the first fossil record of a plant related to the black bean plant anywhere in the world.”
The researchers suggest that ancestors of the black bean plant migrated from Asia to Australia during a plate collision that brought the continents closer together, allowing for the exchange of plants and animals between the continents.
“The collision of the Southeast Asian and Australian plates, which began approximately 20 million years ago and is ongoing today, has led to a large-scale exchange of plant and animal species between the two continents,” the researchers said.
“This discovery provides the first macrofossil evidence of a migration of plant lineages from Asia to Australia following the Asia-Australia tectonic collision.”
“These fossil seeds are Cassis “They migrated from Southeast Asia to Australia during a tectonic collision and then became extinct in Asia,” said Edward Spagnolo, a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University.
“This proposal runs counter to most of the existing direct macrofossil evidence of plant migration, which shows lineages migrating from Australia into Asia.”
of result Appears in International Journal of Plant Science.
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Edward J. Spagnuolo others2024. Giant seeds of extant Australian legumes are discovered in Eocene Borneo (South Kalimantan, Indonesia). International Journal of Plant Sciencein press; doi: 10.1086/730538
July marked the 14th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency predicts that this year is likely to be the hottest or near the hottest on record, with a 77 percent chance of being the hottest and nearly 100 percent chance of being among the top five hottest years. Karin Gleason, from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, reported that record temperatures were observed across nearly a fifth of the world’s land area in July.
Record temperatures were recorded in Europe, Africa, and Asia, making July their warmest month on record. North America experienced the second warmest July. The planet experienced its hottest July on record for two consecutive days, leading to heat warnings in the southwestern U.S. and triple-digit temperatures in Central California, where the Park Fire became the fourth-largest wildfire in state history.
NOAA predicts that most of the continental U.S. will experience above-normal temperatures in September, with the exception of coastal California and parts of the Pacific Northwest. Researchers attribute the extreme temperatures to the burning of fossil fuels and the continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The recent temperatures are also influenced by the natural weather pattern El Niño.
El Niño’s influence is expected to weaken, potentially making way for La Niña, which could develop in September, October, and November. La Niña is associated with cooler global temperatures, but it could also intensify hurricanes in the Atlantic. It may lead to wetter winters in the Pacific Northwest and drier conditions in the Southwest, potentially causing recurrent droughts.
The Copernicus project, which combines real-world observations with computer modeling, reported that July was the second-hottest on record. US and European scientists agree that this July’s temperatures were comparable to those of 2023 in terms of heat. Despite slight differences in data and methodologies, the consistency in global data sets suggests that the planet is approaching record levels of heat.
After 15 months of record-high sea surface temperatures, NOAA noted a slight easing in levels. Sea surface temperatures are still trending about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average, although below the record set in 2023.
New Zealand’s justice minister has announced that Kim Dotcom will be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges related to the file-sharing site Megaupload. This decision could finally bring an end to a legal battle that has spanned over a decade.
Kim Dotcom, a German-born resident of New Zealand, has been contesting his extradition to the US since a 2012 FBI-ordered search of his Auckland home. Despite repeated legal challenges, New Zealand’s courts have upheld the decision for his extradition, with the country’s Supreme Court affirming the ruling in 2020.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has signed the extradition order for Dotcom, stating, “Having carefully considered all the information, I have determined that Mr. Dotcom should be extradited to the United States to stand trial.”
Dotcom, who is facing charges including money laundering and copyright infringement, has argued against being held accountable for the actions of users on his site. Despite his claims, the courts have ruled in favor of his extradition, citing violations under New Zealand law.
US authorities allege that Dotcom and other Megaupload executives caused significant financial losses to film studios and record companies by profiting from copyrighted material shared on the website.
Following the shutdown of Megaupload, the site was rebranded as Mega in 2013 with a New Zealand domain. Dotcom is no longer associated with the company, which now focuses on online privacy services.
Megaupload executives who were arrested alongside Dotcom have faced legal consequences, with some striking plea deals and others receiving sentences. The unfolding legal saga has drawn attention to issues of copyright infringement and online file-sharing.
TThe story begins on a road miles from the border of another American state. The danger is clear, even when everything else is clear. Pax, the player character, is a black woman in her 30s who has just finished a robbery with friends. The border means freedom. A police car telling you to pull over means trouble.
Pax and her allies are anomalies, people with manipulative voice abilities called Vox. Pax is able to manipulate people into doing what she wants by making them feel bad for her, using abilities she calls “Triggers” and “Cancels.” Her ex-partner, Noam, is able to placate people with an ability she calls “Gaslighting.” What Dustborn is trying to communicate is certainly not subtle. Soon, we encounter people infected with weaponized disinformation.
Vox is available in certain situations, such as dialogue choices, often when the issue is time-sensitive. When you tap on a dialogue choice, you're presented with Pax's thoughts before you decide. Does Pax think it would be better to use a block to stop someone from asking a question, or would using a trigger to start a fight be the better option?
“The story you actively shape”…Dustborn. Photo: Red Thread Games
This is a very handy feature, especially when it's not clear what a one-word dialogue option represents. In my case, my first run-in with the police ends with an agitated officer stepping onto the highway and a truck doing the rest. This is just one of many tense encounters between the group on their way to safely delivering the stolen data drive to Nova Scotia, Canada.
It's amazing how well Dustborn remembers your choices: a little comic book icon appears on screen whenever a character mentions a past event that was influenced by a choice you made. This often happens multiple times in a single conversation, making Dustborn feel like a narrative experience that you're actively shaping.
“A balancing act between serious themes and the supernatural”…Dustborn. Photo: Red Thread Games
Dustborn also has hack-and-slash combat, but it's very easy and monotonous. If you're not enjoying it, you can reduce the frequency of encounters. There's also a small rhythm game section, as the group travels around undercover as a touring punk rock band. It's a fun diversion, but the songs are pretty awful. Maybe it's because of the band's undercover story, but I can't stand songs that rhyme the word “born” with “born.” Three times.
The game will certainly irritate some people by stating the characters' politics loudly and explicitly – Nazis are bad – but it also doesn't say anything else of note beyond that. The setting, for example, doesn't stand up to casual examination. A paranoid JFK is said to have “basically resurrected Nazi Germany” after surviving an assassination attempt. To be clear, Dustborn's setting doesn't reflect the horrors of Nazi Germany in any way. The problem is, it might think it does. There are stories of people talking about book burnings and “fighting,” but it never really connects to anything substantial. A lot of ideas are vying for space – robots, a near-apocalyptic event, the dangers of totalitarianism – but none of them get the space they deserve.
Meanwhile, real-world problems are transformed into supernatural ones, and later in the game you learn how to cure people infected with disinformation. Point the device at a person, and the person regains consciousness screaming something like “Wait, the awakened mind virus doesn't exist! What was I saying?”. Transforming the real fight against disinformation into a supernatural element is very damaging to the game. What's even more offensive is that issues like racism don't seem to be involved. Every member of the team is from a minority background, and none of the characters feel the need to comment on it. This is a good thing, but from my experience as a minority, it's just as offensive as not having any diverse characters at all. The game didn't need this kind of set dressing, it didn't even need supernatural powers. A lot of it would just make the well-intentioned message worthless.
Meanwhile, the characterization is fantastic throughout. Dustborn is a game where characters talk about their feelings openly and in detail, which is charming and complemented by regular check-ins with friends around the campfire after each mission.
Dustborn's fundamental problem is its apparent desire to balance serious themes with the supernatural, and to alternate between fun moments, activism, and drama, but it ultimately fails to achieve this balance. For example, a raccoon's birthday party is held after a tragedy befalls the entire community. I enjoyed it more once I stopped taking it so seriously, because the standout moments come when Dustborn leans into the ridiculousness of its supernatural storyline. In Dustborn, you might expect a tense journey across the United States, but what you actually get is the equivalent of an interactive Marvel movie, and that's fine.
THow do we solve the world's problems? Apparently with a podcast. Today. Assembly requiredA Fine Mess is a new show from former US politician Stacey Abrams that aims to help listeners understand the planet's biggest ills and how they can be part of solving them. The show airs on the heels of A Fine Mess, in which entrepreneur Sabrina Merage Naim tackles some of society's toughest problems and “finds a way out of this chaos” by approaching them with curiosity rather than fear. Will it work? Who knows. But at this point, we're willing to try anything.
This week we're also highlighting the best podcasts about love, from profiles of Hollywood romances to a binge-worthy audio drama about two men falling in love, told over an answering machine. We're also featuring a moving confession from a former professional football player turned match fixer, a fascinating investigation into psychiatric medication, and a preview of the inspiring story of the Olympic refugee team. We hope one of them will bring you joy, even if it can't save the planet.
This week's picks
Dorsa Yavarivafa at the Paris Games. Along with fellow refugee swimmer Matin Barsini, she talks about her Olympic journey on the Unsung podcast. Photo: Kinh Chun/AP
Confession of match fixing BBC Sounds, weekly episodes “I would load up my car with cash and drive around London to see which footballers I could get to throw out,” Moses Swaibu says at the start of this confessional podcast. The former professional footballer admits he had the power to manipulate scores and make millions for overseas betting cartels. His voice is filled with regret as he tells Troy Deeney how he went from promising young player to traitor to the sport he loves. Hannah Verdier
script Radio Atlantic, full episodes available Can a “safe” opioid save you after another has ruined your life? If buprenorphine helped people quit heroin in France, why hasn't it worked in the U.S.? The Atlantic's Ethan Brooks asks these questions in a nuanced, thought-provoking examination of the withdrawal drug. HV
Hidden stars of unknown sports Widely available, available now Formed in 2016, the Refugee Olympic Team made history at Paris 2024 when boxer Sindy Ngamba won the team's first medal. In this special episode of our series celebrating unsung athletes, fellow Refugee Olympians badminton player Dolsa Yabalivafa and swimmer Matin Barsini share what such a journey is really like. Holly Richardson
A wonderful mess Widely available, with weekly episodes Philanthropist and investor Sabrina Meraj Naim lives a seemingly perfect and fulfilling life, but she's not in top shape. So she invites guests to help her face the big questions “with curiosity, not fear.” Questions on AI, cannabis legalization, the meaning of success, and more are all addressed here, with contributions from comedian Samantha Bee and reformed “girl boss” Samhita Mukhopadhyay. HV
Master Plan Widely available, with weekly episodes For two years, David Sirota, former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders and co-author of Don't Look Up, and his highly talented team have been investigating corruption and scandal at the U.S. Supreme Court. From Watergate to the 2020s, this podcast shows how corruption impacts everyday life and offers a frightening vision of what the future may hold. HV
There is a podcast
John Lennon and Yoko Ono was one of many celebrity romances detailed on the Significant Lovers podcast. Photo: Pacific Press/Shutterstock
this week, Charlie Lindler 5 best podcasts A wonderful love storyFrom stories of celebrity couples like John and Yoko to Dolly Alderton's fascinating miniseries
Precious Lover A reimagined Twilight podcast, hosts Melissa Duffy and Kelly Anderson (known to listeners as Mel and Kel) delve into Hollywood romances in detail that borders on obsession, digging into the classics (John and Yoko, Brangelina) as well as a host of millennial-friendly couples, including Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson, Alex Turner and Alexa Chung, and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Their investigative skills and genuine empathy with each couple make every episode heartbreaking.
Hook up and hitch Page Six's podcast about celeb rock-solid marriages ran from 2020 to 2022, but — with apologies to Jason Momoa, Lisa Bonet and co — much of the content is still relevant today. Reporters Eileen Lethreng and Brian Firth dig into showbiz's biggest names' love stories, asking how their marriages have endured long-distance relationships, scandals, and the occasional infidelity. While other podcasts downplay the twists and turns in a tabloid-style manner, Hooked Up to Hitched is surprisingly short, with each episode taking fans on a whirlwind ride through history in under 10 minutes.
Palaeontologists from Japan, Belgium, and the United States have identified a new species of the extinct genus. Ontocetus Nearly complete fossil jaws from the Early Pleistocene in Britain and the Netherlands, and a fragmentary jaw from the Late Pliocene in Belgium, have been found. Ontocetus posti The new species shows striking similarities in its adaptations to modern diets. Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) It highlights an intriguing case of convergent evolution.
Ontocetus posti Image courtesy of Jaime Bran.
“Walruses are one of the most iconic mammals of the Arctic, distinguished from all other seals (pinnipeds) by their large bodies and conspicuous tusks,” said paleontologist Matthieu Boisville of the University of Tsukuba and his colleagues.
“Walruses are one of the largest carnivorous animals, with males of this species weighing up to 2.5 tonnes and reaching an average length of 3 meters.”
“They live in the shallow, cold Arctic waters, where males form small harems during the breeding season.”
“Their primary diet is bivalve mollusks such as clams, which they capture using a unique ‘suction feeding’ technique, sucking out the shellfish flesh using their lips, tongue and arched palate as pistons.”
“Extant walruses live mainly in the Arctic, but their extinct relatives once lived in temperate and subtropical latitudes, mainly in the eastern North Pacific Ocean during the Miocene. They come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, from small, sea-lion-like ‘adults’ to the bizarre and unique two-tusked walrus.”
Ontocetus posti It lived in what is now Europe between 3.7 and 1.7 million years ago (Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene).
The remains of this marine animal were initially thought to belong to a different species, Ontocetus emmonsi.
However, detailed analysis of the specimen revealed a unique combination of characteristics that distinguished the creature as a new species.
These features include four posterior canine teeth, large mandibular canines, and a fused and short mandibular symphysis.
These anatomical features are Ontocetus posti They are highly adapted to feeding by sucking cups, somewhat similar to their modern relatives, the walruses.
“Ontocetus and Odobenus They did not coexist in the North Atlantic. Odobenus Appeared almost a million years after extinction Ontocetus” the paleontologist said.
“Described as a temperate to high temperature resistant tusked walrus, Ontocetus They colonized the western North Atlantic during the Early Pliocene and migrated to the North Sea during the Late Pliocene warm period.
“Its prevalence in warm waters is Odobenus.”
“The global climatic cooling during the Early Pleistocene inevitably affected the North Sea’s molluscan fauna and contributed to its isolation from the North Atlantic,” the researchers said.
“External factors related to the specialization of sucker feeding are Ontocetus posti This probably contributed to their extinction about 1.7 million years ago.”
“We hope that more detailed investigations will shed light on past diversity. Ontocetus and Odobenus This revealed the superiority of cold-tolerant plants on a global scale. Odobenus rosmarus As the sole survivor.”
M. Boisville others2024. A new species Ontocetus The pinniped family Odobenidae, which lived in the Lower Pleistocene of the North Atlantic, is a similar group to modern walruses (Odobenus rosmarus). Peer J 12
Archaeological sequence Abrik Pissarro ruins The southeastern Pre-Pyrenees About MIS4 (about 71,000 years ago), a little-known period in Neanderthal history.
Iberian Neanderthals sampled wild mushrooms, pine nuts, and forest moss. Image by Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.
A team of archaeologists led by the Australian National University has collected hundreds of thousands of artefacts at the Abric Pizarro site, including stone tools, animal bones and other evidence, providing crucial data about Neanderthal lifestyles.
The discovery reveals that Neanderthals were able to adapt to their environment, calls into question archaic humans' reputation as slow-footed cavemen, and sheds light on their survival and hunting abilities.
“Our results show that Neanderthals knew how to best exploit their area and territory, and were able to withstand harsh climatic conditions,” said archaeologist Sophia Samper-Caro of the Australian National University.
“The amazing finds at Abric Pizarro show how adaptable the Neanderthals were. The animal bones we found show that they made good use of the fauna around them, hunting red deer, horses and bison, but also eating freshwater turtles and rabbits. This suggests a level of planning that is rarely associated with Neanderthals.”
“These new findings call into question the widely held belief that Neanderthals only hunted large animals such as horses and rhinos.”
“The bones we found contain cut marks, providing direct evidence that Neanderthals were able to hunt small animals.”
“The bones at this site are so well preserved that you can see traces of how the Neanderthals handled and butchered these animals.”
“Analysis of stone tools also shows a great deal of diversity in the types of tools made, indicating that Neanderthals were capable of exploiting the resources available in their region.”
By uncovering this critical transition period, archaeologists are one step closer to solving a mystery that has vexed researchers for decades: what caused the Neanderthals to go extinct?
“The discovery of sites like Abric Pizarro from this particular, poorly documented period gives us information about how Neanderthals lived and shows that they were thriving at a time when modern humans were not yet in the area,” Dr Samper-Caro said.
“The unique site of Abric Pissarro offers us a glimpse into the behaviour of Neanderthals in the landscape they roamed for hundreds of thousands of years.”
“The Neanderthals disappeared about 40,000 years ago. All of a sudden, we modern humans showed up in this part of the Pyrenees and the Neanderthals disappeared. But before that, the Neanderthals had been living in Europe for almost 300,000 years.”
“They obviously knew what they were doing. They knew the area and they knew how to survive for a long period of time.”
“One of the most fascinating aspects of this site is that it provides unique information about a time when Neanderthals lived alone in harsh conditions and how they thrived before the arrival of modern humans.”
Thanks to modern excavation techniques, Abric Pizarro and other nearby sites provide detailed data for understanding Neanderthal behavior.
“We make a 3D plot of each and every bone found that is larger than one or two centimetres,” Dr Sampar Karo said.
“This slows down the work – excavations at some sites have been going on for over 20 years – but the result is that the sites are documented with unparalleled accuracy.”
“We're interested in how all these different pieces of data, from stone tools to bones to hearths, relate to each other.”
“This more thorough excavation will provide archaeologists with information about how Neanderthals lived and how long they were in the area.”
“It's not just the individual item that gives us clues, but knowing where it is found in relation to other items at the site helps us understand how and when Neanderthals visited these sites. Did they settle there or were they just passing through?”
of result Appears in Journal of Archaeological Sciences.
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Sophia C. Samper-Caro others2024. Living dangerously: Abrik Pissarro, a MIS 4 Neanderthal site in the lowermost foothills of the southeastern Pre-Pyrenees (Lleida, Iberian Peninsula). Journal of Archaeological Sciences 169: 106038; doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106038
A new study led by archaeologists from Curtin University suggests that Stonehenge’s iconic circle of stones – the Altar Stone, a six-tonne sandstone megalith – was discovered at least 750 kilometres from its current location.
Stonehenge. Image by Regina Wolfs.
Stonehenge, a Neolithic standing stone monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, provides invaluable information about prehistoric Britain.
Construction of Stonehenge began around 3000 BC and was modified over the next 2000 years.
The megaliths at Stonehenge are divided into two main categories: sarsens and bluestones.
The larger sarsens consist mainly of duriclast silicrite, taken from Marlborough’s West Woods, about 25km north of Stonehenge.
Bluestone is a general term for a variety of locally uncommon rocks, including volcanic tuff, rhyolite, dolerite, and sandstone.
Stonehenge’s central megalith, the Altar Stone, is the largest of the bluestones, measuring 4.9 x 1 x 0.5 metres, lying stone, weighing 6 tonnes, and is composed of a pale green mica sandstone with a distinctive mineral composition.
In the new study, Curtin University PhD student Anthony Clark and his colleagues studied the age and chemical composition of mineral grains within the altar stone fragments.
“Analysis of the age and chemical composition of the minerals in the altar stone fragments showed that they matched rocks from north-east Scotland, but were clearly different to the bedrock in Wales,” Mr Clarke said.
“We found that certain mineral grains in the altar stones are mostly between 1 and 2 billion years old, while other minerals date back to around 450 million years ago.”
“This provides a clear chemical fingerprint suggesting that the stone came from rocks in Scotland’s Auckland Basin, at least 750km from Stonehenge.”
“Given the constraints of Neolithic technology and its Scottish origin, this discovery raises intriguing questions about how such large stones could have been transported long distances around 2600 BC.”
Stonehenge layout and view of the Altar Stone. Image courtesy of Clark. others., doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07652-1.
“This discovery has important implications for our understanding of ancient communities, their connections and transportation,” Professor Chris Kirkland, from Curtin University, said.
“Our discovery of the altar stone’s origins highlights the importance of social co-operation in the Neolithic period and helps to paint a fascinating picture of prehistoric Britain.”
“Transporting such a large amount of cargo over land from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely difficult, so it is more likely that it was transported by sea along the English coast.”
“This suggests the existence of longer-distance trade networks and more advanced social organisation than is widely understood to have existed in the Neolithic in Britain.”
“We have succeeded in determining the age and chemical signature of perhaps one of the most famous stones from any world-famous ancient site,” said Professor Richard Bevins, from Aberystwyth University.
“We can now say that this iconic rock is Scottish rather than Welsh, but further research is needed to establish exactly where in the north-east of Scotland the Altar Stone came from.”
“The discovery is truly shocking, but if plate tectonics and atomic physics are correct, the altar stone is Scottish,” said Dr Robert Iksar, from University College London.
“This work raises two important questions: why and how was the altar stone transported from the far north of Scotland, over 70 kilometres away, to Stonehenge?”
Some people in comas can imagine themselves swimming or walking
Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
As many as one in five people in a coma may be “locked in,” meaning they are aware of their surroundings but unable to communicate, and a large study has found that some people with severe brain injuries can carry out complex intellectual tasks when instructed, despite being unable to move or speak.
“It was easy to downplay this phenomenon when it was thought to be a rare event,” he said. Nicholas Schiff The study was published at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. But in light of the latest findings, “no one can ignore this.”
People with so-called disorders of consciousness are either in a comatose or vegetative state, unaware of their surroundings, or in a minimally conscious state, with occasional signs of wakefulness like opening their eyes. In 2019, researchers found that as many as one in 10 of these people may have disorders of consciousness.
To find out whether doctors are missing these patients, Schiff and his colleagues conducted behavioral and brain imaging tests on 353 people with severe brain injuries over an eight-year period at six international centers.
Participants were asked to think about performing different activities for 15 to 30 seconds — playing tennis, swimming, clenching their fists or walking around the house — then pause and think about the activity again, seven times over the course of five minutes.
In healthy people, these thoughts produce clear brain activity that can be seen on MRI scans and electroencephalograms (EEGs). Of the 353 people with brain damage, 241 showed no visible reaction to verbal commands, but 25% of these matched the brain activity of volunteers without brain damage; for those in a coma or vegetative state, the figure was 20%.
“This is an extremely demanding task — think about swimming intermittently for five minutes,” Schiff says. “We don’t know exactly what they’re going through, but the fact that they’re able to do this means they’re likely conscious.”
Schiff said estimates suggest there are 300,000 to 400,000 people worldwide who suffer from long-term consciousness disorders, and up to 100,000 who may have subconscious disorders.
This research is very important, Ranan GillonFor many people, the prospect of being kept alive while unconscious is at best futile and at worst abhorrent, says the professor, who is emeritus professor of medical ethics at Imperial College London. “But if unconsciousness is likely to be merely spurious, as these studies suggest, we might expect more people to want to be kept alive and to want to be consulted about their wishes before a decision is made to withdraw life-sustaining treatment.”
Several ethical issues, including respect for people’s autonomy and human rights, “all need to be reevaluated in light of these studies,” he says.
The results also raise questions about equity regarding access to MRIs and EEGs, he said. Erin Puckett “If non-specialized centers do not have access to these technologies, their patients may not have the same life-changing opportunities as others,” say researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could offer a way to provide two-way communication for people with impaired consciousness, but they aren’t commonly used by this group, Schiff said. It takes just 30 minutes to train a BCI to translate brain activity. Associated with attempts to dictate text onto an on-screen screen.
“Why not give it to someone who is impaired by cognitive impairment and see if we can use it to communicate with them? At worst, we’ll have two weeks of useful data, but at best, we’ll set them free.”
Should NASA opt to utilize SpaceX for the return journey, Wilmore and Williams would be required to stay aboard the space station for an additional six months.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is set to launch a new crew to the orbital outpost in September on a mission named Crew 9. NASA has announced a change in plans to send only two astronauts instead of the initial four, and could potentially use the available seats to bring back Wilmore and Williams at the conclusion of Crew 9 in February.
Under this scenario, the Starliner spacecraft would return to Earth without one crew member, as stated by NASA.
Bowersox mentioned on Wednesday that no decisions have been made as yet, but NASA must soon finalize a plan to manage the space station’s resources and ensure smooth operations in orbit.
“We’re approaching a point where a decision needs to be made by the end of August, potentially even earlier,” he explained.
The launch of Wilmore and Williams marked the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. This mission was intended to serve as a critical final test before NASA grants approval for Boeing to conduct regular trips to and from the International Space Station.
However, in June, five of Starliner’s thrusters malfunctioned as the spacecraft was nearing the space station, leading to a delay in the rendezvous and docking process. Helium leakage was detected from the capsule’s propulsion system during the flight. Mission managers were already aware of this issue prior to Starliner’s launch into orbit, but stated that it was unlikely to impact the mission or the astronauts’ safety.
Joe Acaba, astronaut office chief at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, stated that astronauts undergo training for potential contingencies, including accidents that could result in an extended stay in space.
While in orbit, Wilmore and Williams utilize their free time to conduct scientific experiments and assist the space station’s crew with maintenance work.
Acaba mentioned that the duo are kept informed about NASA’s decision-making process, but ultimately must rely on the expertise of engineers and mission managers on the ground.
“They will adhere to our directives. That’s their duty as astronauts,” Acaba affirmed.
People buying insecticide sprays to get rid of cockroaches are wasting money because the bugs have developed a resistance to the key ingredients, prompting calls for U.S. regulators to tighten product testing rules.
There are about 30 species of cockroaches living around humans, but the German cockroach (German cockroachThe common dust mite ( ), found worldwide, is the dust mite most likely to infest buildings. Previous research There is evidence of widespread resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, which are commonly found in consumer products.
now, Jonalyn Gordon University of Florida researchers found that while commercial insecticides continue to work effectively on lab-derived German cockroaches bred from strains that have not been exposed to insecticides, they are ineffective against insects taken from real-world infestations.
The products are designed to be sprayed on surfaces to kill insects that walk across them, but in the team's tests, the coated surfaces killed fewer than 20 percent of the cockroaches they collected after 20 minutes of exposure. “Spraying these products directly in a closed container did not result in a 100 percent kill rate,” Gordon says.
When cockroaches were forced to remain on treated surfaces, most products took between eight and 24 hours to kill them. Previous research In reality, this is unlikely to occur, as these insects have been shown to avoid landing on pyrethroid-treated surfaces.
Pest-control products sold in the United States are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers must prove they are 90 percent effective, but field testing on insects is not generally required.
That needs to change, Gordon says, noting that any bedbug-control products sold in the US should be required to be tested on recently collected specimens. “If that were to happen for cockroach control, I think it would raise the bar for cockroach-control products and ensure that the products on the shelves are providing the control people reasonably expect,” Gordon says.
In the meantime, cockroach repellents are probably the most effective consumer product for controlling pests, with the added benefit of minimizing human exposure to pesticides, Gordon says. Home measures like eliminating food and water sources the pests use and cleaning up clutter can also help. Professional pest control using non-pyrethroid insecticides is also recommended.
South American lungfish probably has a lot of 'junk' DNA
Katherine Segers/Louisiana State University
The largest sequenced genome on record, containing 90 billion DNA letters, belongs to a South American lungfish.
“Obviously, making this happen was a technical challenge,” he said. Axel Meyer “This is the largest animal genome ever found,” said researchers from the University of Konstanz in Germany.
South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxaThere are two copies of the human genome, with a total of 180 gigabases (Gb) of DNA, which would stretch to 55 metres if laid out in a line – 30 times the amount of DNA found in a single human cell (6 Gb).
The South American lungfish has 19 chromosomes, 18 of which are larger than a single copy of the human genome, Meyer said.
His team also sequenced a single copy of the 40 Gb African lungfish genome (Protopterus annectens), the researchers have now sequenced all six species of lungfish found around the world, all of which have unusually large genomes.
“It's really puzzling how these fish can tolerate such large genomes,” Meyer says. The nucleus in each cell must be very large to accommodate so much DNA, meaning each cell is larger than normal, he says. Replicating that much DNA also requires a lot of energy with each cell division.
There's no evidence that this extra DNA does anything useful. Rather, it appears to be the result of a “genetic parasite” replicating itself endlessly. It's probably mostly junk, Meyer says.
His team found that mechanisms that other organisms use to limit the spread of genetic parasites appear to be damaged or missing in all lungfish species, resulting in the South American lungfish genome growing by 3.7 Gb every 10 million years – more than one copy of the human genome.
The reason for sequencing all lungfish species is to get a better understanding of what their common ancestor was like, a close relative of the lungfish that evolved into the first tetrapod land animal.
“Of all fish, lungfish are our closest relatives,” Meyer says. As their name suggests, lungfish breathe air and would drown without it.
They can also live for more than 100 years and regrow fins and tails, Meyer said, and his team hopes to figure out how they do this.
Some plant genomes are even larger than that of the South American lungfish: a small fern found on several Pacific islands is thought to have 321 Gb of DNA per cell, but there are no plans to sequence it.
The Altar Stone is located within the two large stone rings of Stonehenge.
Gavin Hellyer/Robert Suding/Getty Images
A study of the six-tonne altar stone at the heart of Stonehenge has revealed that it was almost certainly brought from northeast Scotland, much further away than any of the other stones in the megalithic structure.
“We were all in shock, we couldn't believe it,” the geologist said. Anthony Clark Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
It's unclear how the altar stone got from Scotland to southern England, but it was probably by sea, Clark said, because there is evidence people at the time traveled by sea.
Stonehenge is thought to have been begun about 5,100 years ago and constructed over a period of about 1,500 years. The outer circle is made of large stones called sarsens, weighing about 25 tons, while the inner circle and altar are made of small stones called bluestones, weighing about 3 tons. Bluestones are any rock that is not a sarsen. Bluestones are made of many different types of rock.
“What's unique about Stonehenge is the distance the stones were transported,” the geologist says. Richard Bevins Bevins, a researcher at Aberystwyth University in the UK, said most of the stone circles were made from rocks found within one kilometre of the site.
But the sarsens' source has been identified as West Woods in Wiltshire, about 15 miles (25 km) from the site, and Bevins' team has found that almost all of the bluestones came from the Preseli Hills in Wales, about 175 miles (280 km) away. One theory is that they were part of an even older Welsh stone monument that had been moved.
Stonehenge's Altar Stone is different to other bluestones: “By the end of 2021, we had concluded that the Altar Stone does not match any known geology in Wales,” team members said. Nick Piercealso at Aberystwyth University.
The five-metre-long stone is set into the ground with only one side exposed and partially covered by two other stones. It is thought to have been placed there around 4,500 years ago.
Stonehenge's altar stone (which is embedded beneath the other stones) was brought from north-east Scotland.
Nick Pearce, Aberystwyth University
Clark is currently analyzing samples of the altar stone using sophisticated equipment commonly used in the mining industry. The altar stone is made of sandstone, which means grains of rock that were deposited on the floor of an ancient sea eroded away and eventually stuck together to form new rock. The age of each grain varies depending on when the eroded rocks first formed, so each sandstone is a mix of grains of different ages.
Clark analyzed the zircon, apatite, and rutile crystals in the rock sample. These minerals contain uranium, which slowly decays into lead, so the ratio of uranium to lead can be used to determine the age of the rock. For example, the zircon in the rock is between 500 million and 3 billion years old.
The dating pattern indicates with more than 95 percent certainty that the altar stone is made from ancient red sandstone from the Auckland Basin in northeast Scotland, team members say. Chris Kirkland Located at Curtin University, the basin was once a huge ancient body of water called Lake Orcadie.
The nearest older red sandstone sites to Stonehenge are near Inverness, 750 kilometres (470 miles) away, and the furthest are in the Shetland Islands, up to 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, so the team believes the altar stone was probably transported by sea.
Glaciers can carry rocks long distances, and there's evidence that during the last ice age, ice in the Orkney region flowed north rather than south, Kirkland said.
So why was the altar stone transported so far? “That's a big question that's impossible to answer,” Clark says. “All we know is that it's a six-tonne rock that was transported from 750 kilometres away. That alone tells us an enormous amount about Neolithic societies and their connections.”
“What they did was pretty rigorous.” David Nash A team from the University of Brighton in the UK has pinpointed the exact source of Wiltshire sarsens: “This is really solid research.”
Nash said pinpointing the source of the altar stone more precisely would be difficult because the Orkney Basin spans a vast area and is up to five miles deep. “It's a huge task, because there's a huge amount of old red sandstone in the north of Scotland.”
In contrast, finding the exact source of the sarsens was easier because there were fewer possible sources, he said.
Genetic studies have shown that the people responsible for much of Stonehenge's construction were largely replaced by new waves of immigrants by about 4,000 years ago, likely after a major epidemic wiped out much of Europe's population.
The Justice Department is weighing various options, including the breakup of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, with a reported market capitalization of approximately $2 trillion, following a court ruling that tech giants monopolized the online search market illegally. The New York Times and Bloomberg News.
According to reports, one of the potential remedies frequently discussed by Justice Department lawyers is the sale of the Android operating system.
Authorities are also reportedly exploring options such as forcing the sale of Google’s search advertising program, AdWords, and its Chrome web browser.
A spokesman for the Justice Department stated that they are assessing the court’s decision and will determine the appropriate next steps in compliance with the court’s directives and applicable antitrust laws.
No decision has been made yet, as per a spokesman, and Google declined to comment. Google intends to appeal the ruling and faces a separate antitrust trial filed by the Department of Justice next month.
Other potential measures being considered by the Justice Department include mandating Google to share data with competitors and implementing safeguards to prevent unfair advantages with its AI products, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In the recent trial outcome, it was revealed that Google had paid over $26 billion in 2021 to secure agreements with companies like Apple to maintain its search engine as the default option on Safari, leading to monopoly allegations and anti-competitive practices, as ruled by the judge.
Following the judge’s ruling, rival search engine DuckDuckGo proposed banning exclusive agreements of this nature.
The ruling, issued last week, found Google in violation of antitrust laws and spending billions to establish an illegal monopoly that cemented its position as the global default search engine. This ruling marks a significant win for federal regulators challenging the dominance of tech giants in the market.
In the last four years, federal antitrust regulators have sued Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Apple Inc. for allegedly maintaining monopolies unlawfully.
In 2004, Microsoft reached a settlement with the Department of Justice over claims that it compelled Windows users to use its Internet Explorer web browser.
Around this time last year, Dean Grubbs and his colleagues were celebrating a conservation success story.The star of the show was the smalltooth sawfish, a large ray with a saw-like snout lined with tiny teeth. Victim of coastal development and bycatch, in 2003 it became the first saltwater fish to receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. By 2023, Florida's population will be the last sawfish in the US, and it's on the rise. “We were excited. We were seeing the population start to bounce back,” says Grubbs, a marine ecologist at Florida State University.
Then disaster struck. In January, a sawfish was found dead, thrashing about in shallow waters, spinning like crazy. This was after months of the smaller fish exhibiting similar behavior. Suddenly, Grubbs and his team were spending their days pulling dead sawfish from the water. After months of research and testing, the culprit finally emerged: ocean heat. A record-breaking heatwave brought “hot tub” water temperatures to Florida's coast in 2023, setting off a chain reaction that appears to have devastated the vulnerable sawfish population.
This is just one cautionary tale: something is wrong with the world's oceans. From orange algae blooms in the North Sea to outbreaks of gelatinous Bombay duckfish off the coast of China to the disappearance of Antarctic “bottom waters,” evidence is mounting that extreme temperatures are wreaking havoc on our oceans. After years of acting as silent sinks for excess human-made heat, the oceans are beginning to creak under the pressure. And we're finally starting to realize just how worried we should be.
The “altar stone” at the heart of Stonehenge was likely made in what is now Scotland, a study has found.
It’s more than 450 miles away, raising the question of how ancient humans managed to transport the stone that far.
The study authors suggest they may have used boats.
Scientists say they have unlocked the secrets of Stonehenge’s six-tonne rock, a discovery that adds even more mystery to the site.
A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests that the ancient site’s central sandstone “altar stone” was likely created in what is now Scotland, meaning it was transported more than 450 miles to southern England — farther than any of Stonehenge’s other stones of known origin.
The discovery raises important questions: Researchers estimate that the altar stone was placed about 4,500 years ago, meaning Neolithic people could have moved it hundreds of miles, long before the invention of the lightweight spoked wheel.
The find also suggests that culture and social structure in the British Isles at this time was more intertwined than previously thought, and that Neolithic people were capable of carrying out complex projects with relatively simple tools.
The discovery was made based on the dating analysis of mineral grains within the sandstone. After profiling the age of the grains, the researchers were able to compare the altar stone’s age “fingerprint” with a database of sandstone samples from across the UK and nearby areas, such as Brittany in France.
“We can link the age spectrum with a fairly high degree of statistical certainty – in fact more than 95% confidence – to a very specific region in northeast Scotland,” said study co-author Chris Kirkland, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Curtin University in Australia.
“We can’t directly answer the question of why this rock was transported,” Kirkland said, “all we know is that this 6.5-ton rock was transported from 750 kilometers away, and that alone tells us an awful lot about Neolithic societies and their connections.”
Stonehenge — UNESCO World Heritage Site One of the best-preserved prehistoric megalithic monuments, the site is surrounded by large sandstone slabs called “sarsens”, which support stone lintels (also horizontal spans of rock, some held together by joints). Inside the outline of the sarsens is an inner circle of “bluestones”, which in turn is a horseshoe shape.
The new study concerns the central Altar Stone, a roughly 16-foot-long slab of stone that shows evidence of being shaped by human tools. Stonehenge’s other slabs currently rest on top of the Altar Stone but have apparently been toppled over time.
“Whatever the reason, this is a special stone,” said David Nash, a professor of physical geography at the University of Brighton who has studied Stonehenge but was not involved in the new study. “It’s totally different to the other stones on the site.”
Kirkland and his colleagues looked at three possible routes the altar stones could have taken from Scotland to Stonehenge: They could have been transported by shifting glacial ice during the Ice Age, but the study authors don’t think that’s a good explanation, or they could have been transported overland by humans, but the team thinks that would be too difficult in the wooded area.
The third possibility, which they consider to be the most likely, is that the stones were transported by ship, and there is evidence of seaborne transport during this period, when England’s coastline was different to what it is today.
Nash said the authors had reached a “sound conclusion” about the altar stone’s origins.
“Their work is really fascinating,” he said, adding that their findings add to the evidence that Neolithic people travelled throughout the British Isles and were part of wider social structures. “There was clearly a social structure, there were connections and there was a very clear transmission of ideas.”
Stonehenge is one of approximately 1,300 surviving ancient stone circles. According to the British MuseumResearchers believe the site’s stones were shaped with hand tools and assembled using a winch and pulley system, with the stones aligned to coincide with the movement of the sun and the summer and winter solstices.
Experts speculate that Neolithic people may have used these sites for rituals and ceremonies, but details have been lost to time — especially what was so special about the altar stones.
“Today’s billionaires decorate their mansions with Italian Carrara marble, but I don’t understand why they do it. It’s a mystery,” said Anthony Clark, lead author of the new study and a doctoral student at Curtin University. “Humans have always been fascinated by finding the perfect stone, and perhaps Neolithic Britons were too, so their motivations have been forgotten over time.”
As a next step, the researchers hope to pinpoint the exact outcrop or region where the rocks originated, but said fundamental mysteries are likely to remain.
“They placed a lot of value in transporting that stone 700, 800, 900 kilometres,” said Nick Pearce, a professor of geography and geosciences at Aberystwyth University in Wales and another co-author of the study. “However they transported it, it meant something to them. What did it mean? Why did it mean so much to them? It gives us all something to think about.”
Google, the creator of Android, is set to release a range of new devices including smartphones, smartwatches, and earbuds featuring advanced AI technology like Gemini Live. This move is aimed at surpassing competitors like Apple and Samsung.
The new Pixel products unveiled at the event in California showcase Google’s commitment to integrating AI into its devices, showcasing their superiority over the competition.
Pixel 9 Series
The Pixel 9 Pro is Google’s first “pro” phone with a smaller screen size. Photo: Google
The new Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL feature Google’s advanced Tensor G4 chip with a faster AI processor, setting them apart from their competitors.
An exciting new AI feature, Gemini Live, promises natural conversations with AI assistants, reminiscent of sci-fi movies like Iron Man’s Jarvis.
Other notable features include the Pixel Studio image generator and the camera’s “Add Me” function, merging two consecutive images to include the photographer in group photos.
The Pixel 9 comes with a 6.3-inch screen and dual-camera system, the Pixel 9 Pro adds a telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL features a 6.8-inch screen similar to last year’s model.
The “Pro” smartphones are direct competitors to Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro series, offering similar features and a year of access to Gemini Advanced.
All models include two years of free satellite SOS messaging in the U.S., akin to Apple’s latest iPhones.
Prices for the Pixel 9 start at £799, the 9 Pro XL at £1,099, and the 9 Pro at £999, available for shipping in August and September.
Pixel 9 Pro Foldable
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is equipped with a large foldable screen. Photo: Google
Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold boasts a thinner, lighter design with an 8-inch flexible internal screen and a 6.3-inch external screen.
Featuring the Tensor G4 chip and advanced AI capabilities, the Pro Fold surpasses its predecessor and rivals other foldable phones on the market.
With 5x optical zoom, the triple camera system outperforms competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, offering innovative features like “Made You Look” animations.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is priced at £1,749 and will be available for shipping in September.
Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2
The Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 offer advanced AI technology. Photo: Google
Google also revealed new accessories including the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2. The smartwatch features improved health and fitness tracking, longer battery life, and advanced health monitoring capabilities.
The Pixel Buds Pro 2 offer enhanced noise cancellation and support for Gemini Live, allowing users to interact naturally with their AI assistant.
The Pixel Watch 3 is priced at £349 and the Pixel Buds Pro 2 at £219, set to ship in late September.
aAbout 700 well-heeled Democrats packed San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on Sunday to see Kamala Harris return to the city for the first time since launching her presidential campaign. The crowd at the fundraiser, where the cheapest tickets cost $3,300 and the highest was $500,000, included tech billionaires, corporate executives, and Silicon Valley venture capitalists who are quick to endorse Vice President Harris in her bid for the White House.
The event, which raised more than $12 million, was the latest in the Harris campaign’s outreach to tech Democrats and an extension of ties to Silicon Valley elites that go back more than a decade.
Harris, a former California attorney general and then senator, has extensive ties to some of the tech industry’s most influential figures and big donors. Her campaign has yet to release detailed policy positions on issues such as tech regulation, but tech executives speculate that her track record suggests she could take a more industry-friendly approach than Joe Biden.
Democrats from the tech industry who have promoted or donated to the Harris campaign include former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg; LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who attended the fundraiser in San Francisco; philanthropist Melinda French Gates; IAC Chairman Barry Diller; and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway. Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of Apple’s Steve Jobs, is a longtime friend of Harris’ and held a fundraiser for her at her home in 2013. Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings, who publicly called on the president to drop out after his disastrous debate performance, publicly endorsed Harris for the race. Donated $7 million It funded a pro-Harris super PACac within days of her becoming the presumptive nominee.
Some of these donors have come to Harris’ campaign with their own agendas. Most notably, Hoffman and Diller have called for the removal of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, whose agency has aggressively regulated big tech companies, angering the industry with lawsuits against companies like Microsoft and Amazon. (Hoffman sits on the Microsoft board of directors.) Targeted of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.
That Hoffman and Diller are donating heavily to Harris while also calling for the removal of Khan gives the appearance of billionaire donors trying to sway policy for their own benefit. Hoffman’s denial Harris claims Hoffman’s donations were made in exchange for influence. While she has not yet commented on the donations from Khan or her critics, her campaign hosted him at an organizing event in early August after his attacks on the FTC chairman.
Harris has received public pledges of support from big-name donors as well as hundreds of venture capitalists and technology industry insiders. “VCs For Kamala” website More than 800 signatures were collected from various companies. Bloomberg reported Tech4Kamala’s open letter has garnered more than 1,200 signatures, and the two groups are planning to hold an event later this month.
Trump battles Harris to build new relationships in Silicon Valley
Harris may have more vocal tech advocates than Biden, but the industry has also seen a shift toward conservatism and embrace of far-right ideology, and she faces a host of strong opponents. Last month in San Francisco, venture capitalists David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump that raised about $12 million, while Silicon Valley powerhouses Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced plans to make large donations to the former president.
Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, also ran his Ohio Senate campaign with roughly $15 million in contributions from tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who was briefly employed by Thiel’s venture capital firm in 2015. Before becoming a senator, Vance worked in Silicon Valley and was connected to a wide network of wealthy conservatives in the tech industry.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has openly supported Trump while promoting attacks on Harris and the Democratic Party on his social media platform, X. Last month, Musk shared a deepfake parody video on the platform that showed manipulated footage of Harris saying, “I’m the ultimate diversity hire.” Musk’s Grok chatbot has also Spreading disinformation Harris drew condemnation from Democrats after suggesting she was ineligible to appear on the ballot in some states.
On Monday, Musk spoke with Trump in a more than two-hour interview in which he praised the president and did not refute a variety of falsehoods and baseless election conspiracy theories.
“The Trump campaign is run by self-centered rich people like Elon Musk and Trump himself who have betrayed the middle class and won’t be able to live stream in 2024,” Joseph Costello, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement after the interview.
California’s ties to big tech companies
Harris, who served as California’s attorney general and then senator from 2010 to 2020, served during a pivotal period in the rise of Silicon Valley’s largest social networks, including Facebook. Her record on tech legislation and litigation has been praised by regulatory and privacy advocates, but she has also been criticized for not trying to rein in companies that have accumulated monopolies.
Harris, as attorney general, had close ties to the industry, and had been close to Sandberg, who was Facebook’s COO, and had worked on the PR campaign for her memoir, “Lean In.” Sandberg made the maximum legal individual contribution to Sandberg’s 2016 Senate campaign, Emails obtained by HuffPostsent Harris a message two days after the election saying, “Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! We need your help now,” but Harris did not respond.
aAt first glance, Wanderstop seems to stimulate the same restless urge as many other feel-good games: the desire to escape a stressful life into a secluded wilderness. The game begins with you taking a job as an assistant in a tea shop in the forest, where you spend your days cleaning, tending to the garden, and researching the perfect tea blend to satisfy the needs of visiting customers. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that the game rips away the hollow rewards of escapist fantasies.
This idyllic setting was born from an idea that game designer Davey Redden had in mind a few months after the game’s release. Beginner’s Guide for 2015He had a recurring daydream about going to a coffee shop in the woods and lying on a bench by the water. He drew various sketches of that scene for several months, before finally deciding that it would be his next game.
“I thought feel-good games would soothe my soul. But I was so wrong” … Wanderstop. Photo: Ivy Road
“I was feeling extremely exhausted,” he says, “like I was trying to summon up some energy within myself to rest and relax. I thought that some feel-good games would soothe a part of me. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that this was completely wrong.”
Making a feel-good game is a marathon of hard work, just like making any other game, and one that’s not made easier by a cute sensibility, but Wreden was also consumed by the same illusion at the heart of the genre: that the satisfaction of completing a series of tasks is the same as solace.
It wasn’t until Carla Zimonja, one of the creators of Gone Home, came on board that Welden realized he was making a seemingly heartwarming game about trauma.[We realized Wanderstop’s] “The characters were really conflicted and in a really bad situation,” he says. “And they’re not going to be magically cured by having tea in the middle of the woods.”
The protagonist, Alta, is at the heart of Wonderstop’s heartwarming fantasy, a character who seeks healing through escapism and the mundane. Once a champion fighter and human weapon, she was sharp and violent. “Her whole life and mind is focused on progressing and achieving future accomplishments,” says Redden. Her time in the arena left her traumatized, and she believes completing the tea shop job will help her heal.
If Alta were a player, she’d be a quintessential min-maxer, figuring out the most efficient way to get the coffee shop’s work done in the shortest time possible. She sweeps her broom as if she were swinging a sword. But without spoiling the story, Ureden makes it clear that running through a checklist of wholesome tasks won’t lead to the solace Alta or her customers are looking for. “A character who offers you a cup of tea and says, ‘Great, well done, thank you for cheering me up. Here’s a token of my appreciation!’ and then just walks away is the last thing we can do,” Ureden says. “I think this place is a place where you can be yourself and not just be yourself.” [challenge] If she doesn’t, the activity won’t have the predictable results that players are accustomed to.”
“WonderStop was created not to shatter the comfort zone of gamers and their escapist fantasies, but to change our understanding of where healing comes from,” he said. “In Studio Ghibli films, [we watch] “This is someone doing chores,” Zimonja says, “sweeping the floor, washing dishes, tidying up. You can see that these ritualistic elements, these ongoing acts of maintenance, are important and meaningful parts of living in the world.”
Through Arta’s story, we learn that tasks are restorative only because of the intrinsic pleasure of performing them, and not, as Redden puts it, “because of the promise of future reward.” As Zimonja adds, “It’s our daily rituals that are the foundation of our lives.”
Charles Darwin observed that dogs exhibit a sense of humor in between their other activities like studying bird beaks or riding giant turtles.
In his work, The Origin of Man, Darwin recounted a dog playing a prank by dropping a stick near its owner, then running off with it when the owner tried to pick it up. Darwin suggested that the dog found this prank amusing.
This scenario is familiar to many dog owners, prompting the question of whether dogs are truly aspiring comedians or if there’s something else going on.
Dogs are descendants of wolves, which are highly social animals that live in packs, leading to dogs also being social creatures by nature.
It is instinctual for dogs to interact with humans and other animals in their group, attempting to elicit a response, whether through a playful bow, a wagging tail, or even attempting to open the fridge for a snack.
Human ancestors began domesticating dogs over 30,000 years ago, and selective breeding has further shaped their behavior, making them more playful and less timid compared to their wolf ancestors.
Dogs essentially remain forever young mentally, displaying a mischievous nature that stems from their lack of mental maturation.
Some dog breeds are more playful than others, with Irish setters and English springer spaniels considered more clumsy while Samoyeds and Chihuahuas are seen as more serious.
During play, dogs may exhibit “play panting” vocalizations and wag their tails, which can help alleviate stress.
This behavior has been described as a “dog laugh,” reflecting the pleasurable experiences that elicit laughter among humans. However, it does not necessarily mean that dogs possess a sense of humor or are intentionally trying to make people laugh.
If dogs engage in playful antics like stealing sticks, it’s likely for fun rather than intentional comedy. Dogs are adept at reading human emotions and social cues, understanding that laughter is positive. Consequently, if stealing a stick leads to laughter, the dog is more likely to repeat the behavior.
While it may seem like dogs are intentionally trying to be funny, they might simply be responding to the joy and reduced stress their actions bring to humans.
In the end, only the dog truly knows if it’s intentionally trying to make us laugh. Until we can communicate with dogs more effectively, the joke may remain on us.
This article is in response to a query from Joseph Bennett of Manchester: Is my dog intentionally trying to make me laugh?
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Charles Darwin observed that dogs possess a sense of humor when not preoccupied with other activities like studying bird beaks or riding giant turtles.
In his work, The Origin of Man, he recounted a dog playing a prank on its owner by dropping a stick and then grabbing it before the owner could. Darwin interpreted this as the dog enjoying the joke.
While many dog owners may have experienced similar antics, the question remains: are dogs truly aspiring comedians or is there a deeper motivation behind their behaviors?
Dogs, being descendants of wolves, are inherently social animals due to their pack-oriented nature. This sociability extends to interactions with humans and other animals within their social group, manifesting in behaviors like playful gestures, wagging tails, and curious exploration.
Human domestication of dogs over millennia, coupled with selective breeding practices, has further molded their behavior to be less timid and more playful. Essentially, dogs retain a puppy-like demeanor throughout their lives, a trait absent in their wolf ancestors.
Various dog breeds exhibit different levels of playfulness, with some like Irish setters and English springer spaniels being known for their exuberant antics, while others like Samoyeds and Chihuahuas seem more reserved.
Dogs also engage in “play panting” vocalizations and tail-wagging to initiate play and reduce stress, behaviors that have been equated to laughter due to their pleasurable nature. However, whether dogs possess a genuine sense of humor remains a topic of debate.
Despite this uncertainty, dogs are adept at interpreting human emotions and behaviors, often engaging in behaviors that evoke positive responses from their owners. So, while it may seem like dogs are purposefully trying to be funny, their actions are likely driven by a desire to elicit a positive reaction.
Ultimately, deciphering a dog’s intentions, especially regarding humor, remains a challenge without the ability to communicate with them directly. Until we bridge this communication gap, the humor in our interactions with dogs may remain a subjective experience.
This article addresses a question posed by Joseph Bennett from Manchester: Is my dog deliberately trying to make me laugh?
If you have any inquiries, please reach out to us via the provided contact information.
Water on Mars may be lurking beneath or even above the planet’s surface.
NASA/JPL/USGS
Mars isn’t as dry as it seems. Billions of years ago, oceans and rivers of liquid water rippled across its surface, but now it appears that all of that liquid has disappeared, leaving behind a dusty barren landscape. But as we explore Mars with probes, landers, rovers, and even distant telescopic images, more and more traces of water are popping up.
Each hint fascinates researchers about how important water is to life and how it could aid future exploration. Water has now been found in various forms all over Mars. Here are five places where water has been found.
1. Buried underground
The InSight lander, visualized here, recently discovered new potential water reservoirs on Mars.
NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology
Just beneath Mars’ dry surface lies an icy wonderland. These deposits are insulated by an overlying layer of dust, but erosion or meteorite impacts could expose them to the watchful eye of Mars orbiters. A single icy deposit recently identified using data from the Mars Express spacecraft appears to contain enough water to cover the entire Martian surface with an ocean 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep.
It’s not just ice buried under the orange sand. There’s a controversial theory that there’s a huge lake beneath Earth’s Antarctic pole. It could just be wet silt or volcanic rock. But… New Research Using data from the InSight lander, researchers have uncovered the possibility of another reservoir of water near the Martian equator. InSight found this water, buried 11.5 to 20 kilometers underground, by sensing Martian earthquakes and measuring the speed at which seismic waves travel. The results revealed that the rocks through which the earthquakes travel appear to be saturated with water.
2. Frost the pole
Frost in a crater on the North Plains of Mars
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Reaching buried water on Mars will be difficult. For future explorers, the more promising reservoirs are probably exposed on the surface. Mars has ice caps at both poles, just like Earth’s, and we’ve known about them for decades. Many of Mars’ craters also contain small ice sheets inside them, the only places on the Martian surface cold enough to hold ice.
However, at higher latitudes on Mars, the air is cooler and more moist, and temporary frosts can occur. On frigid Martian mornings, volcano peaks are also covered in frost, likely caused by water vapor in the atmosphere freezing.
Deuteron It is believed that atomic nuclei consisting of protons and neutrons, like those of helium-3 nuclei, are formed in collisions between helium-4 nuclei and other nuclei in the interstellar medium. If this were the case, the flux ratio of deuterons to helium-4 should be similar to that of helium-3 to helium-4. However, this is not the case. Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (AMS) are watching.
Aguilar othersThe deuteron flux was measured using the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on board the International Space Station.
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles with energies ranging from MeV to 10.20 Electronic V.
These properties are studied from measurements of the energy (stiffness) spectrum (number of particles per unit time, solid angle, surface area, and energy as a function of energy), which is characterized by a rapid decrease in the spectrum as the energy increases.
Cosmic rays with energies below PeV are thought to originate in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The elemental composition of these galactic cosmic rays is dominated by hydrogen nuclei, primarily protons, with helium nuclei making up about 10%, and electrons and nuclei heavier than helium making up just 1% each.
The species synthesized in stars, such as protons, electrons, and most atomic nuclei, are called primary cosmic rays.
Light nuclei, synthesized by nuclear fusion in the cores of stars, are more abundant than heavy nuclei because their production becomes energetically unfavorable as mass increases.
The synthesis of atomic nuclei heavier than iron, such as nickel, occurs through explosive phenomena such as supernova explosions that occur at the end of the life of massive stars, so atomic nuclei heavier than iron are extremely rare.
When primary nuclei are ejected from their source in space, they can collide with interstellar material and split into lighter species.
This is the primary production mechanism for atomic nuclei that are energetically unfavorable to produce by stellar nucleosynthesis, such as lithium, beryllium, boron, fluorine, scandium, titanium, and vanadium. These are called secondary cosmic rays.
Compared to primary nuclei of similar mass, secondary nuclei are less abundant and, as stiffness increases, their stiffness spectrum decreases faster than that of primary nuclei.
The energy (or rigidity) dependence of the cosmic ray spectrum arises from a combination of source-directed emission, acceleration, and propagation mechanisms that occur during a cosmic ray's passage through the galaxy.
Cosmic rays are diffusely accelerated by expanding shock waves, propagate diffusely through the interstellar medium, and are scattered by irregularities in the galactic magnetic field, both of which depend on the particle's momentum, and thus on its magnetic stiffness.
Cosmic ray propagation is described by a stiffness-dependent diffusion coefficient that incorporates the properties of turbulence in the galactic magnetic field.
“Hydrogen nuclei are the most abundant species of cosmic ray,” members of the AMS collaboration wrote in the paper.
“They are made up of two stable isotopes: protons and deuterons.”
“Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts negligible production of deuterium, and over time the abundance of deuterons has decreased from its primordial value, with the ratio of deuterons to protons measured in the interstellar medium being 0.00002.”
“Deuterons are thought to arise primarily from the interaction of helium with interstellar matter, rather than being accelerated in supernova remnants like primary cosmic ray protons and helium-4.”
“Deuterons, along with helium-3, are called secondary cosmic rays.”
For the latest study, AMS physicists examined data from 21 million cosmic deuterons detected by AMS between May 2011 and April 2021.
When investigating how the deuteron flux varies with rigidity, a surprising feature was discovered.
The AMS data show that these ratios differ significantly above a stiffness of 4.5 GV, with the deuteron to helium-4 ratio decreasing more slowly with stiffness than the helium-3 to helium-4 ratio.
Furthermore, and again contrary to expectations, when stiffness exceeds 13 GV, the data show that the flux of deuterons is nearly the same as the flux of protons, the primary cosmic ray.
Simply put, researchers found more deuterons than expected from collisions between main helium-4 nuclei and interstellar matter.
“Measuring deuterons is very challenging due to the large cosmic proton background radiation,” said Dr Samuel Ting, spokesman for the AMS collaboration.
“Our unexpected results show how little we know about cosmic rays.”
“Future upgrades to AMS will increase the acceptance rate by 300 percent, enabling AMS to measure all charged cosmic rays with 1 percent accuracy, providing the experimental basis for the development of accurate cosmic ray theory.”
The team's paper was published in the journal Physics Review Letter.
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M. Aguilar others(AMS Collaboration). 2024. Properties of cosmic deuterons measured with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Physiotherapy Rev Lett 132(26):261001;doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.261001
Chloride deposits are indicators of the presence of water on early Mars and have important implications for understanding the Martian climate and habitability. Color and Stereo Surface Imaging Systems Using the spacecraft (CaSSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Trace Gases Explorer (TGO), planetary researchers conducted a planet-wide search for chloride-bearing deposits in Terra Sirenum and other parts of Mars.
This CaSSIS/TGO image shows chloride-bearing deposits (purple-colored scaly waves) in Terra Sirenum on Mars. Image credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS.
“Mars is currently a desert world, but around 3.5 billion years ago it was covered by rivers, lakes and possibly oceans,” said University of Bern researcher Valentin Bickel and his colleagues.
“The Cold Period began as Mars lost its magnetic field, could no longer retain its atmosphere, and water evaporated, froze, or became trapped within the surface.”
“Over time, the water disappeared, leaving behind mineral fingerprints on the surface.”
In this study, the researchers used neural networks to map potential chloride-bearing deposits in CaSSIS images across a large portion of Mars.
They identified a total of 965 potential chloride deposits ranging from 300 to 3,000 metres in diameter.
“These salt deposits probably formed from shallow pools or brines that evaporated in the sun,” the scientists said.
“Similar methods are used in saltwater pools on Earth to produce salt for human consumption.”
“Highly salty water could be a haven for life and an indicator of habitable parts of Mars,” the researchers added.
“Due to the high salinity, the water remains liquid even at minus 40 degrees.”
“The presence of chloride deposits, pictured above, and their direct association with liquid water, make areas like Terra Sirenum good targets for future robotic missions to search for signs of life.”
“While chloride-bearing terrains are not noticeable in regular black-and-white images, they show up as a distinct purple color in color infrared images, making CaSSIS a unique tool for studying the distribution of salts across Mars.”
“Our paper contains never-before-seen data that will help us better understand the distribution of water on Mars' distant past,” they said.
“TGO continues to image Mars from orbit to understand the planet's ancient past and potential habitability.”
“Not only will the spacecraft send back stunning images, it will also provide the best inventory of atmospheric gases and map water-rich areas on the planet's surface.”
“Understanding the history of water on Mars and whether it once allowed life to thrive is at the heart of ESA's ExoMars mission.”
Team paper Featured in this month's journal Scientific Data.
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VT Bickel others2024. Global dataset of potential chloride deposits on Mars identified by TGO CaSSIS. Scientific Data 11,845;doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03685-3
Using new data about the Martian crust collected by NASA’s InSight spacecraft, geophysicists from the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Berkeley estimate that groundwater could cover the entire planet to a depth of one to two kilometers. Groundwater exists in tiny cracks and pores in rocks in the mid-crust, 11.5 to 20 kilometers below the surface.
A cross section of NASA’s InSight lander and the data it collected. Image courtesy of James Tuttle Keane / Aaron Rodriquez.
“Liquid water existed at least occasionally in Martian rivers, lakes, oceans, and aquifers during the Noachian and Hesperian periods more than 3 billion years ago,” said Dr Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues.
“During this time, Mars lost most of its atmosphere and therefore the ability to support liquid water on its surface for any sustained period of time.”
“Ancient surface water may have been incorporated into minerals, buried as ice, trapped as liquid in deep aquifers, or lost to space.”
For the study, Dr Wright and his colleagues used data collected by InSight during its four-year mission, which ends in 2022.
The lander collected information from the surface directly beneath it about variables such as the speed of Mars’ seismic waves, which allowed scientists to infer what materials exist beneath the surface.
The data was fed into a model based on mathematical theories of rock physics.
Based on this data, the researchers determined that the presence of liquid water in the Earth’s crust was the most plausible explanation.
“If we prove that there is a large reservoir of liquid water, it could give us insight into what the climate was or could be like at that time,” said Professor Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley.
“And water is essential for life as we know it. I don’t see why underground reservoirs wouldn’t be habitable environments. On Earth they certainly are. There is life in deep mines, there is life at the bottom of the ocean.”
“We still don’t have evidence of life on Mars, but we’ve identified places that could, at least in principle, support life.”
“A wealth of evidence, including rivers, deltas, lake deposits, and hydrologically altered rocks, supports the hypothesis that water once flowed on the planet’s surface.”
“But that wet period ended more than 3 billion years ago, when Mars lost its atmosphere.”
“Planetary scientists on Earth have sent many probes and landers to Mars to learn what happened to the Martian water (water frozen in the Martian polar ice caps does not explain the whole story), when this happened, and whether life exists or ever existed on Mars,” the authors said.
“The new findings indicate that much of the water has seeped into the crust rather than escaping into space.”
“The new paper analyzes the deeper crust and concludes that the available data are best explained by a water-saturated mid-crust beneath the InSight location.”
“Assuming the crust is similar across the planet, this mid-crustal zone should contain more water than would have filled the hypothetical ancient Martian ocean.”
of Survey results Appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Vashan Wright others2024. Liquid water exists in the central crust of Mars. PNAS 121 (35): e2409983121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2409983121
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