DNA analysis of ancient ruins on Easter Island has revealed that the population was actually growing when Europeans arrived, rather than plummeting as some history books have reported.
The findings also indicate that there was contact between the inhabitants of this island and those of South America long before the arrival of Europeans. This island and its people are also known as Rapa Nui.
Located in the Pacific Ocean 3,500 km from South America, Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated inhabited islands on Earth. Polynesians first settled here around 1200 AD, when palm forests covered 164 square kilometers of the island.
By the time Europeans arrived in 1722, rats and excessive logging had almost completely destroyed the vegetation, and the island’s history has often been portrayed as an example of the unsustainable exploitation of ecosystems and their subsequent collapse after human population growth.
The researchers worked closely with representatives of the Rapa Nui community, and one of their aims was to verify that the people on display at the museum were in fact from the island, as efforts to repatriate remains are underway, led by modern residents.
The findings showed that 15 people who died in the past 500 years were from Rapa Nui.
Populations that are experiencing bottlenecks due to population decline will show signals in their DNA that indicate reduced genetic diversity, Moreno-Mayer said.
“We use statistical methods that allow us to reconstruct the genetic diversity of the Rapa Nui population over the past few thousand years,” he says, “and intriguingly, we find no evidence of the dramatic population decline around 1600 that would be predicted by collapse theory.”
Instead, the findings suggest that Rapa Nui’s population grew steadily until the 1860s, when slave traders abducted hundreds of islanders and many more died in a smallpox epidemic.
The study also identified regions of DNA in the ancient Rapa Nui genome that were of Native American origin, and the analysis suggests that mixing between these populations occurred around the 1300s.
“Our interpretation is that the ancestors of Rapa Nui first settled on the island and then returned to the Americas shortly thereafter,” Moreno-Mayer says.
Previous studies have also cast doubt on the idea of population decline. Carl Lipo The researcher, from New York’s Binghamton University, said it was
“fantastic” to see that a completely independent body of evidence points to the same conclusion his team reached in a paper published earlier this year using radiocarbon and archaeological evidence.
He said the research confirmed that the island was inhabited by people who lived resilient and successful lives before Europeans arrived.
The jawbone of a Neanderthal known as Thorin, thought to have belonged to an isolated group
Xavier Mus
Genetic analysis of Neanderthal fossils found in France has revealed that they are the remnants of a previously unknown lineage of ancient people that remained extremely isolated for more than 50,000 years, shedding new light on the final stages of the species' existence.
The fossil has been named Thorin, after a character from J.R.R. Tolkien's novels. The HobbitIt was discovered in 2015 in the Mandolin Cave in the Rhône Valley in southern France. Ludovic Slimak Researchers from the Centre for Human Biology and Genomics in Toulouse discovered a few teeth in the soil of the cave, and after nine years of painstaking excavation, they uncovered 31 teeth, a jawbone, part of a skull, and thousands of other bone fragments.
The discovery of so many fossils of Neanderthals, who lived in Eurasia from about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago and are now extinct, is extremely rare and a surprising find in itself.
Even more surprising, even though DNA doesn't normally preserve in warm climates, a fragment of Thorin's tooth yielded his genome, revealing that the fossil was male but solving a mystery that will take years to unravel.
Srimak and his colleagues compared Thorin's genome with those of other Neanderthals and estimated that he lived about 105,000 years ago, but archaeological evidence and isotope analysis of his bones clearly show that Thorin lived no more than 50,000 years ago, making him a “late Neanderthal” from the final stage of Neanderthal existence.
“We have been together for a long time [geneticists] “We were confident that Thorin was indeed an early Neanderthal precisely because his genetic lineage is very distantly related to modern Neanderthals from the same region,” the team said. Tarshika Vimala “On the one hand, archaeologists were convinced he was a late Neanderthal. It took years of work on both sides to arrive at the answer,” said a researcher from the University of Copenhagen.
Eventually, the researchers realized they must have discovered a previously unknown Neanderthal lineage: Thorin was part of a small group that lived between 42,000 and 50,000 years ago. This group was likely a remnant of a much older Neanderthal population that split off from the main Neanderthal population about 105,000 years ago and remained genetically isolated for more than 50,000 years afterwards.
Thorin's bones unearthed in the Mandolin Cave in France
Ludovic Slimak
Thorin's DNA showed no evidence of interbreeding between his lineage and the main Neanderthal population, despite their close proximity. “Thorin was completely different from other Neanderthals,” Slimak says.
This isolation may have made this population particularly vulnerable: “Prolonged isolation and inbreeding can reduce genetic diversity over time, which is detrimental to a population's survival, which in turn can negatively affect its ability to adapt to a changing environment,” Vimala says.
Srimak, Vimala and their colleagues then reanalyzed the genome of another Neanderthal who lived about 43,000 years ago at Les Côtés in France, and found traces in its DNA of a “ghost population” that interbred with another, previously unknown, Neanderthal group about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
“This means that there weren't just two populations among late Neanderthals, but possibly three,” says Slimak. Previously, it was thought that all Neanderthals before their extinction were part of a single genetically similar population.
“The evidence from Mandrin Cave is very exciting because it gives us fascinating insights into late Neanderthal populations and their movements.” Emma Pomeroy At Cambridge University.
We’ve probably all heard people jokingly or proudly describe their habit of meticulously rearranging their bookshelves or taking an incredibly long time to clean their bathroom as “a bit OCD.”
Most people have a rough idea of what OCD is, but it tends to be thought of as a behavioral quirk. In fact, the condition is characterised by intrusive thoughts and compulsions that cannot be stopped, and it is debilitating for the 1-3% of the world’s population that are affected.
In this light, the “kind of OCD” joke risks trivializing illnesses as serious as schizophrenia or depression. This misuse of the phrase may reflect our ignorance about OCD. But as we explore in “New Understanding of OCD Paves the Way for New Treatments,” we are now discovering more about how OCD manifests in the brain, which is influencing how we think about the illness.
It’s true that obsessions and compulsions exist in all of us to some degree — maybe you run back into the house to make sure the front door is locked, or you can’t help but think about an upcoming stressful event. In fact, many of the symptoms of OCD seem to represent distortions of beneficial behavior. But imagine what it would be like if the intrusive thoughts and urges to act were unstoppable. That’s the hallmark of OCD.
It is becoming clear that OCD is a complex condition that involves the immune system.
Thanks to decades of research into the mechanisms underlying this disease, we now know that entire brain networks are affected, causing a significant imbalance in the neurotransmitters that transmit signals around them, and that the disease is more complex than we thought, with the immune system and gut bacteria also playing a role.
These insights into the body and brain causes of OCD are paving the way for much-needed new treatments for people who don’t respond to current first-line therapies. But what’s clear is that OCD is an incredibly distressing condition, and we’re only just beginning to address the problem. It’s time to stop kidding ourselves.
New research has identified four genes that, if altered, could impact the age at which menopause occurs. These genes (ETAA1, ZNF518A, PNPLA8, and PALB2) were found to cause women to experience menopause two to 5.5 years earlier if they have only one functioning copy. The study, conducted by scientists from the Universities of Exeter, Cambridge, and Wellcome, was published in Nature.
Understanding these genetic changes is crucial for potential therapies to extend reproductive lifespan and plan for the impact of menopause on women’s career and life plans. The study also found links between these genetic changes and cancer risk, highlighting the importance of further research in this area.
These genetic changes can lead to the DNA damage of eggs, affecting the age at which menopause occurs. The study analyzed data from 106,973 postmenopausal women and found that rare genetic changes have a significant impact on the age at menopause. These changes not only shed light on menopause but also provide insight into disease risks.
Dr. Stasha Stankovic, Dr. Hilary Martin, and Professor John Perry, members of the research team, emphasized the importance of understanding ovarian function for reproductive health and disease prevention. They hope that further research in this area will lead to new treatments for ovarian-centered diseases and help predict age at menopause more accurately.
The study also revealed that changes in a mother’s DNA can impact the DNA passed on to her child, showing a link between genetic mutations and the rate of DNA changes. This discovery is significant in understanding the biological mechanisms behind infertility, reproductive disorders, and disease predisposition.
About our experts
Dr. Stasha Stankovic is a reproductive geneticist with a PhD in Reproductive Genomics from the University of Cambridge. Her research has been published in top scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, and Cell Genomics.
This groundbreaking achievement will improve our understanding of the Sun’s atmosphere and shed light on how its changing conditions affect our technology-dependent society.
The Inouye Solar Telescope has released the first map of the magnetic field signal in the solar corona measured using the Zeeman effect. Image courtesy of NSF/NSO/AURA/NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the solar wind, protects our atmosphere and makes life possible.
But electromagnetic fields and high-energy particles from extreme solar activity could disrupt satellites, power grids, and other systems necessary for an increasingly technological society.
Understanding these dynamic interactions, which change on timescales ranging from days to centuries, is crucial to safeguarding our infrastructure and current ways of life.
Measuring the magnetic properties of the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, has long challenged astronomers and the limits of technology.
today, Daniel K. Inouye Solar TelescopeLocated near the summit of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the facility is a state-of-the-art facility designed to study coronas.
The satellite has produced the first and most detailed map of the coronal magnetic field to date, taking an important first step in solving these mysteries.
“Inoue’s achievements in mapping the Sun’s coronal magnetic field are a testament to the innovative design and capabilities of this pioneering and unique observatory,” said Dr. Tom Shad, NSF National Solar Observatory investigator.
“This groundbreaking discovery is expected to greatly improve our understanding of the Sun’s atmosphere and its impact on the solar system.”
The researchers used the Zeeman effect, which measures magnetic properties by observing the splitting of spectral lines, to create a detailed map of the magnetic field of the solar corona.
“Spectral lines are distinct lines that appear at particular wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum and represent light absorbed or emitted by atoms and molecules,” they explained.
“These lines are unique to each atom and molecule and act like a fingerprint. By looking at the spectrum, scientists can determine the chemical composition and physical properties of an object.”
“When exposed to a magnetic field like the Sun’s, these lines split apart, giving us insight into the magnetic properties of the object.”
Previous attempts to detect such signals, last reported 20 years ago, have lacked the detail and regularity needed for widespread scientific investigation.
Now, Inouye’s unparalleled capabilities make it possible to study these important signals in detail and on a regular basis.
The solar corona can usually only be seen during a total solar eclipse, when most of the Sun’s light is blocked and Earth’s sky becomes dark.
But the Inouye Telescope uses a technique called coronagraphy to create an artificial eclipse that allows it to detect extremely faint polarized signals, highlighting its unparalleled sensitivity and cementing its status as a unique window into viewing our home star.
This telescope is Cryogenic near-infrared spectropolarimeter (Cryo-NIRSP) is one of the telescope’s main instruments used to study the corona and map its magnetic field.
“Just as detailed maps of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere have improved the accuracy of weather forecasts, this remarkably complete map of the magnetic field of the Sun’s corona will help us more accurately predict solar storms and space weather,” said Dr. Carrie Black, program director for NSF’s National Solar Observatory.
“The invisible yet incredibly powerful forces captured in this map will continue to drive solar physics for the next century and beyond.”
“Mapping the strength of the corona’s magnetic field is a fundamental scientific advance not only for solar research but for astronomy in general,” said Dr. Christoph Keller, director of the National Solar Observatory.
“This marks the beginning of a new era in understanding how stars’ magnetic fields affect planets in our solar system and the thousands of exoplanetary systems currently known.”
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This article has been edited from an original release by the National Solar Observatory.
Chemists at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research have discovered that sulfurous acid (H2So3), once formed in the gas phase, is kinetically stable enough to allow its characterization and subsequent reactions.
In the gas phase, sulfurous acid, once formed, exhibits some kinetic stability with a lifetime of at least 1 second in atmospheric water vapor conditions. Image courtesy of Berndt others., doi:10.1002/anie.202405572.
Sulfurous acid Having formula H2So3 The molecular weight is 82.075 g/mol.
This molecule, also known as sulfuric acid(IV) or thioic acid, is a difficult-to-reach acid that has never before been observed in aqueous solution.
However, sulfite Detected It was discovered in the gas phase in 1988 by dissociative ionization of diethyl sulfite.
“The only experimental detection of sulfurous acid to date was achieved in 1988 by the team of Helmut Schwarz at the Technical University of Berlin using in situ generation with a mass spectrometer,” said Dr. Torsten Berndt of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research and colleagues.
“Under vacuum conditions, we estimated an extremely short lifetime of more than 10 microseconds.”
“Theoretical calculations show that H2So3 As a possible reaction product of the gas-phase reaction of OH radicals with dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which are produced from ozone and water molecules in the troposphere primarily in the presence of ultraviolet light.”
“DMS is produced primarily by biological processes in the ocean and is the largest source of biogenic sulfur in the atmosphere, producing approximately 30 million tonnes per year.”
The researchers experimentally investigated possible reaction pathways to H.2So3 It starts with DMS.
Formation of H2So3 Its formation in the gas phase was clearly demonstrated in a flow reactor under atmospheric conditions.
“Under our experimental conditions, sulfurous acid remained stable for 30 seconds, regardless of humidity,” the researchers said.
“With the existing experimental setup, longer residence times have not yet been explored.”
“Therefore, H2So3 It may persist in the atmosphere long enough to affect chemical reactions.”
“The observed yields were somewhat higher than theoretically expected.”
According to related model simulations, about 8 million tons of H2So3 They form every year all over the world.
“In this pathway, the mass of H increases by about 200 times.2So3 Sulfuric acid (H2So4“It produces carbon dioxide (CO2) from dimethyl sulfide in the atmosphere,” said Dr Andreas Tilgner and Dr Eric Hofmann from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research.
“The new results may contribute to a better understanding of the atmospheric sulfur cycle.”
Team paper Published in the journal Applied Chemistry.
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Torsten Berndt others2024. Gas-phase production of sulfurous acid (H)2So3) floats in the atmosphere. Applied Chemistry 63(30):e202405572;doi:10.1002/anie.202405572
P
Think about artificial intelligence (AI) for a second. AI may not have emotions yet, but if it did, you’d be devastated by all the bad things people say about it. All it’s going to do is take our jobs and potentially destroy the world, yet people can’t stop being mean to it.
Evidence 1: A recent dispute with the organization behind National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an annual challenge to write a manuscript in one month. In a recent statement, NaNoWriMo wrote that it does not explicitly endorse or condemn methods of writing “including the use of AI.” Furthermore, “a blanket condemnation of artificial intelligence carries classist and ableist overtones…Questions about the use of AI are linked to questions about privilege.”
Um… what is it? AI is Working class Or did someone in management create ChatGPT and use the rhetoric of social justice to encourage them to defend the technology? Accused The act of stealing from artists and writers (training yourself with their work without compensation) is now The rich are richerThis strange statement Full of anger Four members of NaNoWriMo’s writers committee resigned in protest. When she resigned, bestselling author Maureen Johnson Encouraged other writers “Be careful: your work on their platform will almost certainly be used to train an AI.”
NaNoWriMo attempts damage control. A statement was issued Last week, the group said that the original wording was unclear (not ideal for a writing group) and that the group “does not believe that people who have concerns about AI are classist or ableist.” But many writers still seem wary of both the group and AI.
That should be enough. I am by no means anti-AI. It is clearly inappropriate to categorically condemn anything (apart from things like genocide). I believe that, properly guided, AI can enhance human creativity and improve society for everyone. On the other hand, I think the future of AI is in the hands of sociopathic technocrats who put profit first. We are currently in a “choose your own adventure” scenario with AI, and now it seems we are choosing the dystopian ending.
Arwa Mahdawi is a columnist for the Guardian.
Do you have any comments on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to email your response of 300 words or less for possible publication in our Letters section, please click here.
Leech waves on Mars are created when wind encounters an obstacle and builds up on the “leeward” or leeward side. Image courtesy of ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.
Mars Express's elliptical orbit allows the HRSC camera to observe the surface from a low altitude to map the planet at the highest possible resolution, but also to capture observations at a lower resolution from a higher altitude, covering a much larger portion of the surface in a typical edge-to-edge field of view.
These high altitude observations are ideal for observing Martian atmospheric phenomena.
More than 20 years have passed since the launch of the Mars Express mission, and a vast amount of image data on Martian atmospheric phenomena has been accumulated, which has great potential for scientific applications.
“Martian clouds are as diverse and fascinating as those seen in Earth's skies, but they also have some features that are unique to the Red Planet,” said Dr Daniela Tyrsch, researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
“One of my favorite phenomena is the beautiful 'cloud street' – a linear line of fleecy clouds that form around the rise of the giant volcano Tharsis Mons and the lowlands of the Northern Hemisphere during the Northern Hemisphere spring and summer.”
“They are similar to cumulus clouds on Earth, but form under different atmospheric conditions.”
“Impressive dust clouds stretching hundreds of kilometres have also been observed, a phenomenon that is fortunately not experienced on Earth.”
Dust plays a major role in the Martian atmosphere and climate.
Rare upwelling events can cause beige, dusty clumps to drift through the planet's atmosphere.
Large differences in temperature and air pressure during certain seasons can create stronger than normal winds and kick up large amounts of dust from the Martian surface.
The dust cloud rising from the summit of the giant volcano resembles an eruptive cloud, even though it is no longer active.
Large, swirling dust storms and cyclones are also observed near the Martian north pole every year.
Studying these phenomena is crucial for scientists to understand the Martian atmosphere and air mass circulation.
Rolling “gravity clouds” are one of the most common formations on both Mars and Earth.
They are found in the mid-latitudes of both hemispheres in winter, as well as over the Tharsis volcanic plateau in the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Lee waves are a special type of gravity cloud that can accumulate on the lee side of ridges, mountains, and other obstacles, forming repeating ridges.
Some of the cloud types studied are specific to certain locations and seasons, but there are also clouds such as “crepuscular clouds” that appear in the early morning at any time and any place throughout the year.
The new atlas provides valuable insight into the physics of clouds and storms, their appearance, and when and where they form.
This knowledge will not only help us better understand the dynamics of Mars' atmosphere and climate cycles, but will also be useful in studying the climates of other planets, such as Earth and Venus.
“ESA has extended the Mars Express mission until at least 2026, which will allow us to continue to enrich the database and further our understanding of the Martian atmosphere,” Dr Tilsch said.
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Daniella Tirsch others2024. Clouds and storms captured by HRSC – a catalog of Martian atmospheric phenomena. EPSC Abstract 17, EPSC2024-44; doi: 10.5194/epsc2024-44
Weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have been under discussion for some time, but new research suggests there may be better alternatives. Enter Amicretin, a novel weight-loss treatment available in pill form rather than injection.
In the initial human trials of this new weight loss medication, the developer Novo Nordisk A/S (the company behind Ozempic) saw promising results: participants taking Amicretin lost an average of 13.1 percent of their body weight over a 12-week period.
So, how does this new weight loss pill function? Amicretin is a dual-acting drug that emulates the effects of two hormones crucial in weight loss: amylin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which help curb hunger and regulate appetite.
Published in the journal Diabetology, the study compared average weight loss in three groups with BMIs between 25 and 39.9 who did not have diabetes.
By the end of the 12-week study, subjects taking two 50 mg tablets of Amicretin lost 13.1% of their body weight, compared to 10.4% in those taking one 50 mg tablet. In contrast, the placebo group only lost an average of 1.1% of their body weight throughout the study.
Compared to other weight loss drugs, a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients taking another weight-loss drug, Maunjaro, lost 5.9% body fat in 3 months, while those on Ozempic saw a decrease of 3.6%.
“The difference from injectable treatments is significant,” states obesity expert Christopher Clemmensen. “The dual mode of action offers promise, making Amicretin a valuable advancement for Novo Nordisk.”
While weight-loss drugs show promise in combating obesity worldwide, further confirmation awaits larger trials on individuals with chronic conditions. Professor Navid Sattar emphasizes the importance of developing safe and accessible medications for the millions suffering from obesity.
Excitement surrounds this early-stage study of a novel oral weight-loss medication combination due to its rapid effects on body weight.
About our experts
Associate Professor Christopher Clemmensen leads the Clemmensen Group at the University of Copenhagen, studying biological weight regulation and developing obesity treatment strategies. His research appears in respected publications such as Natural Metabolism and Molecular Metabolism.
Bluestreak Cleaner checking himself out in the mirror
Osaka Metropolitan University
Before deciding whether to fight another fish, wrasse look at their own reflection in the mirror to gauge their size.
Blue Streak Cleaner Lass (Loveroid) are astonishingly bright. This finger-sized coral reef fish is the first to pass the mirror test, a common assessment of whether an animal can recognize its own body and not another animal in a mirror. Researchers discovered that these wrasses use their own reflection to build an image of their own body size and compare it to others.
beginning, Taiga Kobayashi Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan conducted an experiment to see if fish were willing to attack. They held up images of different wrasses, each 10 percent larger or smaller than the real fish, against the glass wall of an aquarium. Regardless of the size of the model fish in the photo, the territorial wrasses put up a fight.
The researchers then repeated the test with additional mirrors, and the fish saw their own reflection in the mirror, but when the researchers held up pictures of larger or smaller wrasses on the glass plate, the fish chose to fight only the smaller rivals.
“This was unexpected, as this fish has always been known to be aggressive towards rivals, regardless of its size,” Kobayashi says.
Because the tanks are partitioned, the wrasses can't see both themselves and pictures of rival fish at the same time, so the scientists think the fish must be comparing the pictures to a mental approximation of their own size.
How did wrasses develop this ability, given that they evolved in an environment without mirrors? In both the lab and in the wild, it's advantageous for fish to know the size of their opponent before fighting, Kobayashi says. In other words, the fish were smart enough to use the mirror as a decision-making tool.
H
arding and Birkin may sound like law firms, but these two have a long history in the battlefield. Harding was a brilliant special forces operative who could handle any job, no matter how bloody. Birkin was Harding’s handler, and now he’s trying to bring him back for one last job. Harding has long ago hidden away in the woods to start a new life, but can Birkin chase him out at gunpoint? How far will they go? And with the two lost in the wilderness together, who is really chasing who?
That’s the engrossingly sleazy premise of Strange Scaffold’s latest action game, I Am Your Beast. What follows is not so much Rambo as an exploration of the way he’s become ingrained in our memory – the trees, the traps, the body counts. Strange Scaffold is known for making hectic, unrelenting games at a hectic, unrelenting pace. I Am Your Beast is another masterpiece of agility and efficiency. Playable in three hours at a stretch, this first-person shooter finds you constantly outgunned with firearms, but with infinite wit. Even the longest of the game’s “micro-sandbox” missions is over in 90 seconds, and you’ll be done before you have time to acknowledge the fact that the level names all sound like Jack Reacher novels – Late Shift, Breakdown, On Your Six.
I am your beast. Photo: Strange scaffolding
It all works extremely well: the beautifully streamlined design allows for fast first-person movement, having you ducking through roots one moment and leaping between the branches of a treetop canopy the next, while the sandbox approach to action sees you grabbing an enemy’s weapon, using it until it runs out of ammo, and hurling it at a nearby target to deliver the final blow, without having to be slowed down by tedious reloads.
There are elements of seminal first-person action games like Mirror’s Edge and SuperHot echoing this, but I Am Your Beast remains entirely its own thing. It has a speedrunner-like pacing, but the idea is that the simplest of mission structures, when combined with feel-good generic fiction, can really pump up the action. Simply fire up three laptops, target five satellite dishes, and kill everyone you come across. The objectives loop, but they add up to infinite lives in the game’s compact, complex arenas. A short health bar and a repetitive structure of attacking then disappearing behind the trees always make you feel like you’ve made a good getaway.
What makes I Am Your Beast thrilling is the vivid, well-chosen details. Grab the nearest herb and heal yourself on the spot. Let your enemy’s invincible attack helicopter wipe out hordes of enemies while sparing collateral damage. Kick people into ravines or jump on their heads to kill them. Every encounter is a chance to keep up the rhythm of carnage as inventively as possible, while increasingly frantic radio chatter from your enemies narrates the bloody and gore-splattered scenes as if they were commentating on a gruesome Olympics.
In fact, that emotion is at the heart of it all: Beneath the smoke and spent shells, I Am Your Beast is a reimagining of playground warfare as sport. On this forest battlefield, you perform deeds that are frighteningly good, and if you don’t get it right the first time, you’re one step closer to perfection.
Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 5 Pro console after months of speculation. This updated version of the current generation console boasts improved tech specs, a 2TB solid-state drive, and a price of £699/$699. The release date is set for November 7th, with pre-orders starting on September 26th.
Compared to the Digital Edition PlayStation 5 priced at £390, the PlayStation 5 Pro comes at a higher cost of £699. It’s a digital-only console, so if you want to utilize Blu-ray discs, you’ll need to purchase a separate Blu-ray player for an additional £100.
The PlayStation 5 Pro features an upgraded GPU with 67% more compute units, 28% more system memory, and enhanced graphics rendering for games. Sony claims these improvements result in a 45% boost in performance for games that support the updated machine, along with support for advanced ray tracing and 8K modes.
Games optimized for the upgraded hardware will be labeled “PS5 Pro Enhanced”, including first-party titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Third-party games such as Alan Wake 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows will also offer Pro enhancements.
The PS5 Pro also promises AI-driven game upscaling for back catalog games and a feature called PS5 Pro Game Boost, enhancing visual performance for over 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games.
Analysts are split on the PS5 Pro’s potential success, with some expressing concerns about its high price and the lack of new games or technology to accompany its release. It remains to be seen how Sony’s latest console update will perform in the market.
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro Photo: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Industry watchers are awaiting Microsoft’s response to the PS5 Pro and rumors of a portable Xbox console to compete in the handheld PC gaming market. With prices for these devices reaching £800, consumers may face tough decisions in the console market.
When you think of British cultural exports in the 21st century, familiar examples like James Bond, Downton Abbey, and Adele might spring to mind.
But in the algorithm-driven world of TikTok, where a trend known as “Britishcore” has become one of the most sought-after movements right now, everyday aspects of British life are becoming a hot topic.
British Core is Cultural Terms At the turn of the decade it was used to depict rundown pubs, lonely traffic cones and other symbols of the bleakness of British life.
Today, it has expanded to include Trainspotting-inspired videos, lip-syncing from the stars of Twilight Nights, and a satirical celebration of the Oasis reunion.
TikTok points to growing interest in British fashion, comedy, and travel on the platform as evidence of a renewed interest in British culture and its typically satirical take on it.
The trend has proven so popular that even international content creators are joining in, eager to show just how Britishcore their content is.
One notable example is American DJ The Dare. A jokey video of himself At Paddington Station, Ewan McGregor’s opening monologue from Trainspotting plays, with Born Slippy from Underworld playing in the background.
The Dare posted the video, which has been viewed 245,000 times, with the slogan “British Max”.
The Dare filmed themselves in Paddington bearing the slogan “British Max”, set to Ewan McGregor’s opening monologue from the film Trainspotting and a soundtrack of Underworld’s “Born Slippy”.
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images via NYFW: The Shows
Another video saw US cinema staff lip-synching to a clip of Gemma Collins from the film The Only Way is Essex, while an Australian radio host posted promoting an Oasis reunion, which has been viewed 3.7 million times.
In one TikTok US content creator @the_quivey10 has compiled a list of things he’d like to do if he were in the UK, including everyday activities made popular on Britishcore TikTok, like doing a “cheeky Tescoran” and getting a Greggs sausage roll.
TikTok said it has seen double-digit increases in posts using the hashtags #ukcomedy, #ukfashion, and #uktravel since January, and that the #OasisReunion video has been viewed more than 100 million times in the past two weeks.
“This summer, British pop culture exploded onto the global stage,” said Louisa McGillicuddy, TikTok’s UK trends expert. “From the Brat phenomenon to the excitement over the Oasis reunion… TikTok communities both in the UK and internationally have embraced all things Britcore.”
American content creator @the_quivey10 has a bucket list for when he visits the UK, which includes eating a Greggs sausage roll.
Photo: Newscast/UIG/Getty Images
TikTok, which has more than one billion users globally, said interest in Britishcore content was reflected in the popularity of The Killers’ videos. Performing Mr Brightside in front of a London audience Collins and Gary Barlow, regulars on the Love of Hands TikTok account, posted the meme following England’s victory in the Euro 2024 semi-final. TikTok said a video of the Take That singer in a vineyard saying “this is my idea of how to spend a pretty lovely day” has become a popular meme overseas.
Alwyn Turner, a senior lecturer at the University of Chichester and an expert on British popular culture, said a common thread among some of Britain’s most popular cultural exports was a sense of “cheekiness”.
Turner also pointed out how increased interest in British culture could benefit the national mood.
“As a citizen, when you achieve fame in America, it gives you a sense of optimism. It makes the country feel alive and vibrant. There’s a certain feel-good feeling in Britain when the world wants you,” he said.
More Fall Trends on TikTok
The British singer and her eponymous band, whose hits include “Smooth Operator” and “No Ordinary Love,” haven’t released an album since 2010. But TikTok has maintained interest in Sade’s music, with clips featuring her songs up 63%.
The singer’s looks have also become popular on the platform. 1 mood board clip The video has garnered nearly 5 million views, and the hashtag #sadegirl has also recently become popular on the platform.
A combination of travel trends and aesthetic sensibility has made the Northwestern United States popular on TikTok. Short slideshow And there are video edits capturing the region’s atmospheric woodland scenery. An account dedicated to the trend, @throughthepnw, has 1.6 million followers.
Food is a popular genre on TikTok, and Filipino cuisine has been gaining attention recently, in part due to interest in “boodle fights,” communal banquets in which participants eat with their bare hands at tables covered with banana leaves.
This trend supports playing easy, non-violent video games such as “Wild Flowers,” which features farming and magic, and “Moonstone Island,” a game where you collect creatures. There is also a rise in “deskscapes,” which create a relaxing gaming environment with plants and indirect lighting.
Educational influencers in fields such as history and science are becoming increasingly popular on TikTok. One example is Katie Kennedy (@thehistorygossip), a content creator who takes an unconventional approach to history education. One title is “Were people having sex during the plague?”, another is “Why did these royals enjoy pure body odor?”. Although she only started on TikTok in January 2024 while in her final year of university, Kennedy’s page has over 500,000 followers and 13.9 million likes. Her debut book, History Gossip: Was Anne of Cleves a Beggar? And 365 Other Historical Curiositieswill be released on October 7th.
circleIf you work security, stopping thieves can be an uphill battle. Most would-be thieves know that they have the same legal powers as security guards, so it can be hard to know who can use “appropriate force” when a teenager is trying to cut your bike lock right in front of you.
My shift coworker and I recently witnessed a heroin addict walking through the parking lot, repeatedly typing a shopping list into her phone of shampoo, school uniforms, and other low-quality items. She was part of a growing number of heroin addicts. Steal for othersIt focuses on things that people need but don’t want to pay for.
Shoplifting by telephone (aka “deliverobbing”) seems like a natural thing to happen when you consider the overall number of reported shoplifting cases. Store theft increased 37%But nobody wants to be caught in the act, and while the UK lacks police patrols to catch shoplifters, we make up for it in another area: cameras.
The UK is one of the most surveilled countries in the Western world. 13.21 cameras per 1,000 people That may seem Orwellian until you compare it with the estimated percentage for Chinese cities: 439.07.
It’s crazy to think that one of those cameras is now me. As a security guard who wears a body-worn camera (BWC) on his protective vest, I’m part of a growing demographic. This year alone, Pret a Manger staff members,BP and Greggs They are the latest employees to be issued BWCs to protect against misuse and theft.
Essex County Council Librarian Apparently “please be quiet” signs are no longer of any use: Rochdale crossing officers start recording the lollipop lady immediately after she crosses the road. Beaten Trying to stop traffic.
There’s a part of me that’s still in awe of this technology: when I was a kid in London in the ’80s, the only way to get on a screen was to walk past Rumbelows, an electronics store that happened to be promoting camcorders.
When I started working in security, I watched surveillance hardware evolve from bulky CCTV monitors like furniture to slim smart screens. Perhaps if frontline workers like me were issued BWCs, the conviction rate for shoplifting cases would be 100% today. 14% – Grow.
Recorded footage undoubtedly helped accelerate convictions after this summer’s riots, as far-right looters were quickly charged and convicted for stealing bath bombs (among other violent crimes) and begged for sympathy in court.
Some reports suggest the recent increase in shoplifting is due to gangs, not prices. account They were the “exploited middle class” who steal in the name of revenge against multinational corporations, then boast about the “big smile” they would give to security guards like me when we came out of the stores with our stolen goods.
I haven’t encountered any middle-class robbers yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. Like many facilities that require security guards, my workplace is privately owned, but the doors are wide open. The premises are used as a public thoroughfare, and frontline workers like me can encounter everyone from users of the brain-damaging synthetic cannabinoid Spice to violent drunks and even mentally ill dropouts.
The recent surge in shoplifting is Attack on store clerk Given the abuse and attacks against frontline NHS staff, it is understandable why ambulance staff are issued with BWCs. 3,500 attacks In one year. This is despite the maximum prison sentence for attacking emergency workers being doubled in a 2020 consultation.
As a uniformed intermediary, I often have to call 999, and my boss has made it very clear to me when to press the record button. I can only press record following a “dynamic risk assessment”, but that can be difficult to implement during sudden outbursts of violence.
When my boss explained to me how BWCs worked — that they would always record but the footage would be dumped unless the “capture” tab was pressed — I became nervous: I feared that coworkers who forgot to press “stop” after a confrontation would furtively scroll through their phones or archive something inappropriate, like a nasty comment about their team leader.
Knowing when to press the button isn’t the only thing I fear about BWCs. My starting pay for my job is £11.44 an hour, the current minimum wage. The retail price of the camera I’m wearing is £534. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if I broke it. Sometimes I feel like the uniform is worth more than I am.
One group that doesn’t seem to care much about prices or digital overexposure are teenagers: the gangs we encounter are more interested in smashing windows and tearing open manhole covers.
If we approach them and say we are being recorded, they will film us with their cell phones and broadcast it to their followers, or they will threaten to stab us.
Perhaps only once the current backlog in the courts is cleared will the wider impact of BWCs be seen. Another London memory of the last century is the installation of CCTV in football grounds. Millwall’s 96-strong camera system has been used to track down Bushwhacker hooligan hangouts. “A well managed venue.”
If they can do it at the Den, they can do it downtown, and I don’t mind being the referee in the meantime, which makes sense considering I already wear black for work.
The newly discovered theropod and ornithopod dinosaur footprints date back to the Early Cretaceous period, more than 120 million years ago, when Australia was still connected to Antarctica.
Melissa Lawley and Anthony Martin examine dinosaur footprints. Image by Ruth Showalter.
Dinosaur footprints from the Early Cretaceous period have been discovered in the Wonthaggi Formation south of Melbourne, Australia.
These include 18 footprints of medium to large theropods (0.8-1.9 metres waist height) and four footprints of small ornithopod dinosaurs (40-48 centimetres waist height).
“These numerous footprints provide the best evidence yet that polar environments once supported large carnivores,” said Professor Anthony Martin of Emory University.
“Large theropods probably fed on prey such as smaller dinosaurs, fish and turtles.”
“The hip height of this theropod would have been roughly the same as the height of a tall modern human.”
“Rocky coastal strata in Victoria, Australia, mark the spot where the ancient supercontinent Gondwana began to break up about 100 million years ago, separating Australia from Antarctica.”
“The polar environment at that time was a rift valley with a network of rivers running through it.”
“Although the average annual temperature during the Cretaceous period was higher than today, ecosystems experienced freezing temperatures and months of darkness during polar winters.”
“The Wonthaggi Formation has produced one of the best assemblages of polar dinosaur fossils in the Southern Hemisphere, but most of these fossils are small fragments of bone and teeth.”
“These pieces may have been carried to the buried site by heavy spring rains.”
“However, the discovery of so many theropod footprints confirms that a wide variety of dinosaurs did in fact live and walk on the surface where the bones were found.”
“Dinosaur footprints are actually more common here than we previously thought.”
Theropod footprints in the Wonthaggi Formation range in length from 18 to 47 cm (7 to 18.5 in).
They have relatively thin toes and sharp claw tips.
Ornithopod tracks vary in size from 10 to 18 cm (4 to 7 in).
The range of footprint sizes suggests that they may represent a mixture of juvenile and adult ornithopods and theropods.
“This suggests that these dinosaurs may have been nesting and raising their young in polar environments,” Prof Martin said.
This discovery paper of Archealinga, Australian Journal of Palaeontology.
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Anthony J. Martin othersPolar dinosaur footprints from the Wonthaggi Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Victoria, Australia, and their palaeontological significance. Archealinga, Australian Journal of PalaeontologyPublished online September 8, 2024; doi: 10.1080/03115518.2024.2392498
Paleontologists found fossilized seeds of gymnosperms, relatives of today’s conifers and ginkgo trees, in the stomachs of two of the specimens. Longipteryx caoyangensis One of the oldest known birds, and also one of the strangest. This discovery shows that these birds ate fruit, despite the long-held assumption that they were fish eaters, and the more recent hypothesis that they ate insects with their incredibly strong teeth.
Skull Longipteryx caoyangensis Image courtesy of Xiaoli Wang.
Longipteryx caoyangensis It lived in what is now northeastern China during the Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago.
First described in 2000, this ancient bird had a long skull and teeth only at the tip of its beak.
“Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body. Longipteryx” Human tooth enamel is 50 microns thick,” says Alex Clark, a doctoral student at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago.
“That’s the same thickness as the enamel of a large carnivorous dinosaur. Allosaurus It weighed 4,000 pounds. Longipteryx It was about the size of a blue jay.”
Scientists have previously found that the elongated skull of a kingfisher Longipteryx caoyangensis This means they hunted fish, but this hypothesis has been called into question by a number of studies.
“There are other fossil birds. Janornis “We know they ate fish because specimens have been found with preserved stomach contents, and fish tend to preserve well,” said Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum.
“In addition, these fish-eating birds had many teeth throughout their beaks. Longipteryx “It only has teeth at the tip of its beak. That doesn’t make sense.”
but, Longipteryx caoyangensis In some cases, animals have been found with fossilized food still in their stomachs, allowing scientists to determine what they had been eating.
In the new study, paleontologists examined two new specimens of this species.
They found that the small round structures in the bird’s stomach Gymnosperms seed.
Since Longipteryx caoyangensis Since they lived in a temperate climate, it is unlikely that they ate fruit all year round.
The authors speculate that when fruit was unavailable, they may have had a mixed diet that included insects.
Longipteryx caoyangensis Part of a larger group of prehistoric birds called enantiornithines, the discovery marks the first time that scientists have found the stomach contents of an enantiornithine in China’s Jehol Biota, despite the discovery of thousands of fossils.
“It’s always puzzling not to know what they were eating, but this study points to a larger problem in palaeontology, which is that the physical characteristics of fossils don’t always tell the whole story about what animals were eating or how they lived,” Dr O’Connor said.
Since Longipteryx caoyangensis It apparently did not hunt fish, which raises the question of what it used its long, pointed beak and unusually strong teeth for.
“The thick enamel seems to be overpowering and weaponized,” Clark said.
“One of the most common skeletal parts that birds use in aggressive displays is the proboscis, or beak.”
“Using the beak as a weapon makes sense because it keeps the weapon away from the rest of the body and helps prevent injury.”
“Modern birds don’t have teeth, but there are some really cool little hummingbirds that have keratinous projections near the tip of their snouts. Longipteryx And they are using it as a weapon to fight each other,” Dr O’Connor added.
“Hummingbird beaks have evolved at least seven times, allowing them to compete for limited resources.”
of Survey results Published in the journal today Current Biology.
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Jinmai O’Connor others Direct evidence for frugivory in Mesozoic birds Longipteryx This is inconsistent with morphological indicators of diet. Current Biology Published online September 10, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.012
California wildfires spread rapidly on Tuesday as firefighters faced strong winds, dry conditions, and a heatwave that pushed temperatures into triple digits in the Los Angeles area. However, cooler temperatures are predicted, and the fires may soon be contained.
Firefighters were also contending with blazes in western Nevada, just south of Reno, in extremely windy conditions. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for most of Nevada and parts of Southern California. Vast tracts of land were at risk of ignition.
The fires have added pressure to what has already been a busy season for firefighters across the Western U.S., burning nearly 7 million acres, more than double last year’s total. Over 24,000 firefighters were mobilized as of Tuesday.
Rhine fire spreads in Southern California
The Line Fire, burning in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest, poses a threat to approximately 65,600 structures. The fire had expanded to 26,400 acres as of Tuesday morning and was only 5% contained, according to CalFire.
Firefighters clean up burned trees and branches as the Rhine Fire spreads in San Bernardino, California, on September 8. Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images
The fire, which started on Thursday night in East Los Angeles, triggered evacuation orders across the area with 9,200 buildings, primarily homes, at risk, said Fire Information Officer Arnold Menjivar.
Menjivar expressed concern about the fire’s proximity to homes in Running Springs, the gateway to Big Bear Lake and Bear Mountain ski resorts.
“We’re very close,” Menjivar said, noting that firefighters were employing an aggressive response strategy but were wary of gusty winds in the canyon. “This is very challenging terrain.”
The Rhine fire led to the formation of its own weather system on Saturday, creating a fire cloud resembling a thunderstorm. Fire clouds emerge when a fire generates its weather pattern. The cloud produced around 280 lightning strikes, which hit the ground. According to the National Weather Service.
Pyrocumulus has also been observed at two other sizable fires in Southern California: the Airport Fire in Orange County and the Bridge Fire in Angeles National Forest.
A red flag warning surrounding the Rhine Fire area is set to expire at 8 pm on Tuesday night, and the arrival of cooler temperatures starting Wednesday “may lead to reduced fire activity and increased fuel moisture,” as per Cal Fire.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday due to the Rhine Fire, with fire officials announcing on Monday that the California National Guard would deploy four Black Hawk helicopters, other aircraft, and 80 soldiers to support the Modular Aerial Firefighting System. Approximately 2,100 firefighters were battling the blaze.
Evacuation Order and fire alerts were issued for several towns in the foothills east of California Highlands, outside San Bernardino, and along the route to Big Bear Lake. The Bear Valley Unified and Redlands Unified school districts canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday due to the fires.
More fires rage in Southern California
Hot, dry weather has fueled additional fires in the Southern California hills, prompting further evacuations.
The Airport Fire erupted on Monday afternoon. A 7-acre forest fire broke out in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Within hours, the fire had spread to an estimated 5,400 acres, as reported by the Orange County Fire Department. By Tuesday morning, the fire hadexpanded to 9,000 acres, stated the fire department.
Dangerous conditions in the Sierra Nevada foothills
Windy, dry conditions have put firefighters on high alert near Reno, Nevada. The Davis Fire has charred nearly 5,600 acres and is currently 0% contained. As stated in a status update on Tuesday.
The fire Davis Creek Regional Parkbroke out just south of Reno on Saturday, burning substantial timber and brush, causing damage to at least 14 structures, road closures, and evacuations for approximately 12,000 to 14,000 people.
The fire also resulted in power outages, leaving 17,000 customers without electricity on Saturday. About 3,000 customers in Washoe County, Nevada, were still without power as of Tuesday morning. Power outage.Us.
Over 400 personnel are actively combating the blaze. El Dorado County Fire Department video Footage shared on social media depicted intense flames engulfing the densely wooded mountains and thick smoke clouding the sky.
Actor Jeremy Renner is among the community members affected by the Davis fire, and on Sunday, he shared an Instagram Story showing a massive plume of smoke billowing from the mountain. People Magazine Reportedly, he posted additional photos on Tuesday showcasing firefighters in action and a plane releasing pink fire retardant.
Tuesday marks the final day of high temperatures for the most at-risk areas burning in Nevada and Southern California.
A cold front from the Pacific Ocean is expected to lower temperatures by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit in Southern California on Wednesday.
A cold front is also anticipated to move into the Reno area on Wednesday, which may not necessarily benefit the fires as it could bring stronger winds.
Dinosaurs ruled the earth for around 180 million years. But fossils that are at least 65 million years old are incredibly hard to decipher, so we know very little about what these iconic prehistoric creatures lived. Finding out more has long seemed impossible, but not anymore.
Over the past few decades, new techniques and new specimens have provided previously unimaginable insights into the behavior and ecology of dinosaurs. Combined with insights from modern animals, this has finally enabled paleontologists to understand dinosaur biology, from parental care, migration, and hunting styles to communication, sociality, and combat.
David Horne is one of the researchers trying to find out more about life during the time of the dinosaurs: the paleontologist at Queen Mary, University of London, is soon to publish a book about his latest findings. Revealing dinosaur behavior: What they did and how we know. New Scientist From mobile herbivores and semi-aquatic predators to why ostriches are problematic for understanding which dinosaurs doted on their young, here’s some of what’s been discovered so far.
Collin Barrass: Some of the biggest dinosaurs were Diplodocus or BrachiosaurusFor example, dinosaurs were not at all similar to living animals, so how do we figure out how they behaved?
David Horne: One of the most important things we can do as paleontologists is to better utilize our knowledge of the biology and behavior of modern animals. Mouth shapes are a good example. People with small mouths usually target nutritious food, such as shoots and leaves, one by one. If…
At least 140 million Sun-like stars in our Milky Way galaxy may have experienced similar stellar flybys, according to a new study by astrophysicists from the Jülich Research Centre and Leiden University.
Snapshot of a flyby of an ancient star. Blue-green particles indicate TNOs injected into the planetary region by the flyby. The perturbation star passed through the disk at perihelion distance 110 AU, on the right side of the picture. Image courtesy of Pfalzner others., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02349-x.
The planets in our solar system accumulated from a disk of dust and gas orbiting the young Sun.
Thus, the planets move in circular orbits close to a common plane.
About 3,000 small bodies have been observed orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. Surprisingly, most of them move in eccentric or inclined orbits.
Therefore, some force must have lifted these trans-solar objects (TNOs) out of the disk in which they formed and significantly altered their orbits.
“When we think about the solar system, we usually think of it ending with Neptune, the outermost known planet,” said Dr Susanne Pfalzner, astrophysicist at the Jülich Research Centre and lead author of the paper.
“However, thousands of objects are known to travel beyond the orbit of Neptune.”
“It is even suspected that there are tens of thousands of objects over 100 kilometers in diameter.”
“Surprisingly, many of these TNOs travel on eccentric orbits that are inclined with respect to the common orbital plane of the planets in our solar system.”
In this study, Dr. Falzner and her colleagues compared the properties of observed TNOs with thousands of flyby simulations to determine specific properties of stellar flybys that could potentially reproduce all of the different TNO populations, their locations, and relative abundances.
They Found A flyby of a 0.8 solar mass star at a distance of 110 AU could explain the inclined and highly eccentric orbits of known TNOs.
“We can even infer the orbits of very distant objects, such as Sedna, a dwarf planet discovered in the outermost solar system in 2003,” Dr Pfalzner said.
“There are also objects moving in orbits that are almost perpendicular to the planet's orbit.”
“Such flybys could even explain the orbits of two objects moving in the opposite direction to the planet: 2008 KV42 and 2011 KT19.”
“The best match we found in our simulations for the outer solar system today is a star that is slightly lighter than our Sun, about 0.8 times its mass,” said Dr Amis Govind, also of the Jülich research centre.
“It traveled about 16.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, which is about 110 times the distance between Earth and the Sun and just under four times the distance to the outermost planet, Neptune.”
Astrophysicists were surprised Found The irregular moons orbiting the giant planets in the solar system in distant, inclined, and eccentric orbits are actually TNOs that were launched into the inner solar system by close passes of their stars.
“Some of these objects could have been captured as moons by giant planets,” said Dr Simon Portegies Zwart, an astrophysicist at Leiden University.
“This would explain why the outer planets in our solar system have two different types of moons.”
“In contrast to regular moons, which orbit their planets in circular orbits close to the planet, irregular moons orbit their planets at greater distances in inclined, elongated orbits.”
“Until now, there has been no explanation for this phenomenon.”
“The beauty of this model is its simplicity. With just one source, it answers several outstanding questions about our solar system,” Dr Pfalzner said.
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Susanne Falzner othersOrbits of flybys of stars that formed the outer solar system. Nat AstronPublished online September 4, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02349-x
Susanne Falzner others2024. A close flyby of a star could inject an irregular moon from outside the solar system. Apu JL 972, L21;doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad63a6
With brighter screens, new hands-free gestures, and faster speeds for the first time in years, Apple’s smartwatch has firmly established itself as the market leader.
The Apple Watch Series 9 will be available in a variety of sizes and materials, with prices starting at £399 (€449 / $399 / AU$649), a £20 reduction in the UK. It will launch alongside the Ultra 2, which costs £799 (€899 / $799 / AU$1,399), £50 cheaper than last year’s model.
Both watches look similar to their predecessors on the outside, with the Series 9 sporting a slimmer, pillow-shaped shape and available in 41mm or 45mm size options, while the 49mm Ultra 2 sports a chunkier look with a sturdy titanium shell and oversized buttons.
New this year are significantly brighter screens. The Series 9 is twice as bright as last year’s Series 8, with a maximum brightness of 2,000. LiceThat puts it on par with rival Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6, and it has the same maximum brightness as the iPhone 15 Pro Max. A brighter screen makes it easier to read in direct sunlight, which is especially important for a watch.
The Ultra 2 goes even further, with a screen that can hit an impressive 3,000 nits at peak, which is 50% brighter than last year’s model. The super-bright screen is almost overkill unless you’re hiking through the desert, but you can unleash maximum brightness with the built-in torch mode to better light your way.
New, faster chips
Siri requests for apps, timers, and other simple actions are now much faster and more reliable, even when you’re out of range of your iPhone. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The new S9 chip in both watches is the first to offer a significant speed boost since the S6 in 2020. The 30% performance increase isn’t dramatic for everyday activities, except for interactions with Siri, many of which are now handled on the watch. Setting timers, taking calls and other simple interactions are quicker without an iPhone or data connection. Voice input for messages and notes is also up to 25% more accurate, making it faster to send replies without a phone call.
Battery life for both models is around 36 hours for the Series 9 and 70 hours for the Ultra 2, enough for a full day and night, or nearly three days, on a single charge.
Double Tap is coming soon
The double pinch gesture is simple and easy to perform, making it especially useful for quick actions like silencing a timer when your other hand is occupied. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Apple also added a new gesture for hands-free use of the Watch: “Double Tap,” which recognizes pinching your finger and thumb together twice, which is a simplified version of one of Apple’s existing gestures. AssistiveTouch accessibility features It’s for watches, but it’s faster and has become a standard part of every interface.
A double pinch will silence alarms and timers, start or end calls, and perform other basic actions. This feature only works when the screen is active, so the watch is facing you and can’t be accidentally activated. This feature requires the watchOS 10.1 update. It’s currently being tested in the public beta, but is working very well and should be fully rolled out by the end of October.
Sustainability
Apple doesn’t disclose the expected lifespan of the battery, but it is expected to last for more than 500 full charge cycles, retain at least 80% of its original capacity, and is replaceable. £95Repair costs Between £309 and £509 Varies by model.
They contain recycled aluminum, titanium, cobalt, copper, gold, plastic, rare earth elements, tin, and tungsten. Apple offers trade-ins and free recycling for its devices, and the report details the environmental impact of each watch.
price
The Series 9 comes in two sizes (41 and 45mm), a choice of materials, and a 4G option that requires an e-SIM-compatible phone plan add-on. Prices start from £399 ($399/AU$649), with the 4G model costing an extra £100 ($100/AU$160). The Ultra 2 costs £799 ($799/AU$1,399).
By comparison, the Apple Watch SE costs £259, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 costs £289, and the Google Pixel Watch 2 costs £269. £349The Garmin Venu 3 costs £449, while the Garmin Epix Pro costs £829.
verdict
Apple’s smartwatch didn’t need much to keep it in the top spot, but both the Series 9 and Ultra 2 look the same but with small but meaningful updates that are hard to beat.
The significantly brighter screen makes a big difference when you’re outside and want to see the time, alerts, and activity stats at a glance, and the faster chip means this watch will stay fast for years to come, making interactions with Siri super-fast, even when your phone isn’t nearby.
The upcoming double-tap gesture is also a handy addition, making tasks like checking train times a little easier when you’re rushing with your luggage.
If you want the best smartwatch for your iPhone, it’s hard to beat the Apple Watch, either model.
When the double-tap gesture is recognized, the watch vibrates and a notification pops up, here we are scrolling through widgets on the watch face. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
BP, a major player in the oil and gas industry, has recently entered into a five-year partnership with Palantir, a US company specializing in spy technology, to utilize artificial intelligence in expediting engineering decision-making processes.
This collaboration entails the implementation of large-scale language models to automate the analysis of data collected from BP’s various sites, thereby generating recommendations that can assist human decision-makers in drawing informed conclusions.
The partnership between BP and Palantir builds upon a longstanding relationship that has involved the use of Palantir’s technology to create digital replicas of BP’s oil and gas operations, such as the Khazan gas field in Oman and offshore oil platforms in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, including the location of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident.
Both companies affirm that their previous collaboration has led to performance enhancements, and the new software aims to ensure the safe deployment of reliable AI while guarding against potential inaccuracies or fabrications commonly associated with generative AI models.
The utilization of generative AI is becoming increasingly prevalent across various industries, from retail interactions to research and writing support, sparking debates on whether AI will replace or enhance existing job roles.
Sanjay Pandey, BP’s senior vice president of digital delivery, highlighted the benefits of employing advanced digital twin simulation techniques to optimize production processes and enhance operational performance in a secure manner.
Palantir’s Matthew Babin expressed enthusiasm about the potential of their technology to accelerate human decision-making by leveraging existing digital twins and operational workflows.
Noteworthy projects of Palantir include a five-year contract to develop a large-scale data platform for the NHS, raising privacy concerns about patient data security. The company’s founder, Peter Thiel, has been associated with supporting political figures like Donald Trump and has a history of collaborating closely with intelligence and military organizations.
Under the leadership of Murray Auchincloss, BP has been actively enhancing its technological capabilities, as evidenced by recent agreements such as the partnership with NASA to exchange expertise gained from working in challenging environments.
Additionally, BP made an investment of $5m (£3.8m) in Belmont Technology in 2019 to accelerate its AI platform development.
Recent news has not been favorable for those with a fear of flying. Reports of severe turbulence and mid-air door incidents can be distressing, especially for the estimated 5% of individuals who have a fear of flying.
With the summer holidays approaching, those of us with a fear of flying are preparing ourselves. Out of nearly two million flights in and out of the UK in 2023, only a small fraction experienced significant mechanical issues or worse.
A phobia often defies logic.
“When feeling anxious, the brain tends to exaggerate risks,” explains Professor Robert Baugh, Director of the Aviation Psychology Center. “While risks may seem more prominent and real, it doesn’t make them more likely to occur. You’re more likely to die from a donkey kick than from a plane crash.”
Baugh also acknowledges that fear of flying can be treated. As a pilot, Royal Air Force consultant, and fear of flying expert, he understands the obstacles individuals face.
Identifying the specific triggers is crucial to addressing flying anxiety. Techniques such as implementing cognitive and behavioral tools before boarding the flight can be beneficial.
Understanding flight mechanics and sounds can alleviate fears. Knowledge about what the pilot does during flight can provide comfort. Breathing techniques and muscle relaxation exercises can help manage anxiety during air travel.
For extreme cases, medication may be prescribed, and airlines offer courses for those with a fear of flying. Combining various techniques can significantly reduce flying anxiety and offer a sense of control.
About our experts
Professor Robert Baugh: Director of the Aviation Psychology Centre, psychologist, and Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Baugh has contributed to numerous publications on aviation psychology and human factors.
The second antitrust trial between Google and the U.S. Department of Justice commenced on September 9, with a federal judge in Virginia listening to opening arguments regarding whether the tech giant unlawfully monopolized the digital advertising sector. This trial carries significant implications for the tech industry, online publishers, and Google’s primary revenue stream.
This much-anticipated trial represents the second major U.S. antitrust case against Google, following a recent landmark ruling that found the company guilty of monopolizing the online search market illegally. Contrary to the previous case, the Justice Department is now seeking specific measures to compel Google to divest parts of its business and sell some of its advertising technology.
The Department of Justice’s second lawsuit, submitted in January 2023, targets Google’s Ads initiative, focusing on the company’s acquisition and utilization of digital advertising technology. The case revolves around Google’s role as an intermediary for website operators seeking to monetize through advertising, enabling them to sell ad space on their sites and connecting advertisers with potential customers, with Google retaining a significant portion of the ad revenue.
The Department of Justice argues that Google’s control over various aspects of digital advertising results from strategic acquisitions, culminating in a monopoly over the industry. The case delves into Google’s acquisitions of DoubleClick, Invite Media, and AdMeld, which allegedly granted the company dominance over both supply and demand in online advertising and intermediary exchange points.
During the trial, the Justice Department alleges that Google’s actions constitute anti-competitive behavior through exclusionary practices and acquisitions, leading to an illegal monopoly. Google’s defense maintains that its business model aligns with industry practices and that the Justice Department’s allegations stem from outdated perceptions of the digital advertising landscape.
Palaeontologists from the University of New South Wales have unearthed the fossils of three new species belonging to the thylacine genus. Basitinus, Nimbakinusand Ngamalasinas It inhabits upper Oligocene sediments in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwest Queensland, Australia. Bassinus timforkneri, Nimbasinus peterbridgeand Ngamalasinas NigermalbeniThese new species are among the oldest known thylacines and indicate an earlier diversification of the family Thylacidae. Thylacine More than previously understood.
Bassinus timforkneri Eating a corpse Silvavestius Michaelvirti.Image credit: Peter Schouten.
The three new species of Pectiniidae lived during the Late Oligocene epoch, between 25 and 23 million years ago.
The largest of these is Bassinus timforkneriThey weigh between 7 and 11 kg, roughly the same size as a large Tasmanian devil.
“Like the Tasmanian devil, Basisinas timforkneri “They could easily crush the bones and teeth of their prey,” said lead author Tim Churchill, a doctoral student at the University of New South Wales.
“But up until now, we've only seen much smaller Bassinus TurnbulliiWeighing in at around 2.7 kg, this dinosaur is the only thylacine relative found in the Late Oligocene.
“The lower jaw and teeth, including an isolated first molar, were found at the Hiatus site at Riversleigh, which is even older than the White Hunter site where B. turnbrii was previously found.”
“This will Basisinas timforkneri It is undoubtedly the oldest thylacine ever discovered.”
The second species is Nimbasinus peterbridgeIt was slightly larger than a long-eared quoll and weighed about 3.7kg.
The species was described from a nearly complete jawbone from the White Hunter site at Riversleigh.
“Nimbasinus peterbridge “It was probably a more generalist predator, targeting small mammals and other prey in the ancient woodland of Riversleigh,” Professor Mike Archer, from the University of New South Wales, said.
“We think it may have been directly related to only one other species. Nimbakinus,big Nimbasinus dicksoni (5-7kg) was discovered in 15 million year old deposits at Riversleigh.”
“This group of thylacines, Thylacine.”
“The other two new species described here appear to represent distinctive side branches on the increasingly complex thylacine phylogenetic tree.”
“This means Nimbasinus peterbridge It is probably the oldest known direct ancestor of the Tasmanian tiger.”
The third new species, Ngamalasinas NigermalbeniIt weighed about 5.1kg and was about the size of a red fox. This one was also unearthed at the White Hunter site in Riversleigh.
“This was a highly carnivorous thylacine,” said Dr Sue Hand, from the University of New South Wales.
“We know this because the cutting edges of the lower molars are elongated and have deep, V-shaped meat-cutting notches.”
“Ngamalasinas Nigermalbeni These notches were more developed than in any other thylacine species of similar size.”
The existence of three distinct lineages of specialized thylacines in the Late Oligocene highlights how rapidly this group of marsupials has diversified since they first appeared in the fossil record, the researchers say.
“These new species have very different dental adaptations, suggesting that several unique carnivore forest niches existed during this time,” Churchill said.
“All of these lineages became extinct by 8 million years ago, except for the lineage that gave rise to modern thylacines.”
“The previous idea that Australia was dominated by reptilian carnivores for the last 25 million years is steadily being disproved as each new discovery adds to the fossil record of these new thylacine-like marsupial carnivores,” Prof Archer said.
“The diversity of mammalian carnivores in Rivers Leaf during this period rivals any other ecosystem, including the large dispersal of mammalian carnivores that developed in South America,” Churchill added.
of study this month, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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Timothy J. Churchill othersThree new opossum species (Marsupialia, Opossumidae) discovered from Late Oligocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-west Queensland. Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyPublished online September 6, 2024; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2384595
Astronomers ESO’s Very Low Tilt Survey Telescope The Chilean VST satellite has captured a stunning image of the distorted spiral galaxy NGC 3312.
This VST image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3312. Image courtesy of ESO / INAF / M. Spavone / E. Iodice.
NGC 3312 It is located in the constellation Hydra and is more than 160 million light years away from Earth.
Also known as ESO 501-43, IC 629, IRAS 10346-2718, LEDA 31513, Found It was discovered on March 26, 1835 by British astronomer John Herschel.
NGC 3312 is Hydra I Cluster (Abell 1060) is a galaxy cluster containing over 150 luminous galaxies.
As galaxies move through the hotter gas in the cluster, they lose cooler gas.
It is likely distorted by the cluster’s main elliptical galaxies, NGC 3309 and NGC 3311.
“The spiral galaxy in the centre of this VST image appears fuzzy across the entire screen, seemingly leaking its contents into the surrounding space,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“This is NGC 3312, the victim of an astrophysical robbery: ram-pressure stripping.”
“This occurs when galaxies move through a dense fluid, such as the hot gas suspended between galaxies in a cluster,” the researchers explained.
“This hot gas is pulled by the cooler gas in the outer shell of the galaxy, causing it to be pulled out of the galaxy and leak out into space.”
“This cold gas is the raw material for star formation, which means that galaxies that are losing gas in this way are at risk of losing a decrease in their stellar population.”
“Affected galaxies, typically those that fall into the center of a cluster, tend to eventually form long trailing tendrils of gas behind them, which is where their nickname ‘jellyfish galaxies’ comes from.”
“This is just one of the many astronomical processes that make our cosmic pictures so diverse and fascinating.”
noNothing makes you feel older than seeing people two generations younger than you playing Minecraft, except for people two generations younger than you. Looking at other people YouTubers are playing Minecraft (what are they doing? Why are they always so excited?). This seems a bit 2011. Gen A has generally grown up watching YouTubers play Fortnite, Roblox, and Elden Ring with their hearts out. But there are millions of people playing it every month, most of them kids. And there’s a strong nostalgia for the game among Gen Z youth who grew up with this blocky, virtual Lego game. A Minecraft movie was inevitable.
The film has been in the works since 2012 and was originally set to be directed by Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham FC pal Rob McElhenney and star Steve Carell. But a series of setbacks, the COVID pandemic and a pesky actors’ strike meant filming didn’t begin (in Auckland, New Zealand) until early 2024. Due for release in April 2025, the Minecraft movie will be directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess and star Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Jennifer Coolidge, Jermaine Clement and Matt Berry. And judging by the trailer released this week, it’s even crazier than you’d think.
Video games and movie franchises can take many forms. Sometimes game characters escape into our world, like Sonic (the alien hedgehog) being sent to Earth or Barbie and Ken sneaking out of Barbieland. Real people get sucked into a video game and have to complete a magical quest to escape, like in Tron. Sometimes video game characters transform into humans, like in Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Prince of Persia, Doom and The Last of Us. Tetris is set in a real-life competition for the game’s license, while Gran Turismo tells the story of a player making it in real life as a driver.
In The Minecraft Movie, a group of humans are sucked into the Overworld, the dimension where Minecraft is real. A bewildered Momoa has just had highlights and bangs done at the hairdresser and accidentally bought a pink coat. Danielle Brooks from Orange is the New Black arrives with some “kids” (including 22-year-old Emma Myers from Wednesday). Here they meet Steve, one of Minecraft’s default characters. Steve is dressed in a light blue T-shirt and jeans, and is played by Jack Black, who is no doubt viewed as something of a talisman by Warner Bros. since playing Bowser in the Super Mario movie last year. “This guy is so useless,” Myers laments.
“Anything you can dream up, you can build here,” Black explains to our bewildered heroes, as cube-shaped pigs fly around and blocky pink sheep bleat. To get home, “they must embark on a magical quest to conquer the world (and protect it from piglins, zombies, and other evils).”
Box Office Quest…Minecraft Movie. Photo: Warner Bros.
Reaction to the trailer:terrible“, “Devastating” and “Expensive and cheap“To”It’s hard for the parents who are taken away.” and “The worst thing that will happen in the movie world in 2024” But like many video game spinoffs, the film isn’t aimed at adult film critics. Film buff Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian was highly critical of the 2023 film Super Mario Bros. The Movie in a two-star review (Wendy Eide of The Observer was similarly critical in a one-star review). That left The Guardian’s games editor Keza MacDonald inclined to defend the film as a decent translation of the game, even if it’s not that good a movie.
So what do the real connoisseurs think? “I think it looks awful,” says 10-year-old Arlo, playing Roblox on his iPad after school. “Minecraft isn’t even at its peak anymore, so why make a movie now? I don’t think it’ll be a hit.” (And he has a point.) Maybe he likes that the Minecraft world includes real people?
“No. They should have made it like The Lego Movie or Super Mario Bros., which were good because they didn’t have any live action characters. Steve is not Steve.” Sorry Minecraft. Sorry Jack Black. The experts said it. We’ll find out in April next year if the full version can save the day.
SpaceX launched the Polaris Dawn mission to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk, and one of the most dangerous spacewalks ever attempted.
The four-person crew will spend up to five days in Earth orbit, with two crew members performing an extravehicular activity (EVA) on the third day. During this EVA, the spacecraft will be depressurized for about two hours. The two remaining crew members will also need to wear space suits.
This is different from other modern spacewalks, which typically use an airlock to seal the craft off the vacuum of space while the astronauts are outside. The Crew Dragon capsule used in this mission has no airlock, making it more similar to the early days of spaceflight in the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, all previous spacewalks have been conducted by government-trained astronauts, while the Polaris Dawn crew is civilian.
Although the spacesuits have been thoroughly tested on Earth, they are a new design, and the risks are compounded by the fact that the flight will be farther from Earth than any other human spaceflight since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
Inside the Crew Dragon capsule
SpaceX
The flight’s mission commander is SpaceX’s Polaris program chief and billionaire co-founder Jared Isaacman. The rest of the crew is retired Air Force test pilot Scott Poteat and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
The Crew Dragon capsule used on this flight was named “Resilience” and was its third launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The reusable Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth and landed on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone over the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules are also used to transport astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station, and one of them is scheduled to return NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to Earth in early 2025 after they were stranded when their launch vehicle, the Boeing Starliner, encountered problems.
pictureRon Musk is making headlines lately, with controversial posts and support for Donald Trump’s campaign. However, his negative comments are starting to affect Tesla owners, leading to a decline in sales for the second consecutive quarter in July.
Despite this, Tesla produces excellent electric cars like the latest Model 3, which is one of the best options available. Many other major and newer car manufacturers are catching up to Tesla in the electric car market. Here are the top 10 non-Tesla EVs you can buy now, excluding the upcoming Renault 5 set to launch in the UK in Q1 2025.
Lease A 48-month lease starts from around £152 per month, with initial costs of around £1,370. Selective Car Lease Sample lease, or OffersPrices vary when it comes to leasing, however, so we recommend you always shop around – check out our FAQs below for more information.
The Dacia Spring may not be the ultimate car in terms of refinement, but with a range of up to 140 miles and a comfortable ride, it’s perfect for city use.
There’s not a lot of space inside, but it can seat two adults and two children comfortably. The trunk is big enough for a carry-on or your weekly groceries. All models come with air conditioning, and more expensive models have a 10-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone connectivity. There’s also an app that lets you control charging and turn on the heat and air conditioning before you get in the car.
Most people will avoid entry-level cars, especially since the monthly costs won’t be that high. Take out a finance deal and upgrade to a better-equipped, more powerful version, with prices not exceeding £16,995.
Lease A 48-month lease starts from around £423 per month, with initial costs of around £5,501. Lease.com Sample lease, or Volvo Cars.
Volvo’s EX30 is a smart small car that feels premium but doesn’t come with a steep price tag.
The audio system uses a full-dash sound bar instead of speakers in the doors to produce impressive sound, the window switches have been moved to the center of the car – all to save costs – and you can operate most…
TIt was difficult to decide what to focus on for Alex Hern’s first TechScape since his retirement. (If you missed it last week, re-read the farewell newsletter he wrote after 11 years at The Guardian.) Why? Because with everything happening all the time right now, there are tons of topics to delve into.
We could discuss the possibility of Elon Musk running Donald Trump’s “Government Efficiency Commission” if he is re-elected as President of the United States. But that would require writing another newsletter on Musk, and you might be as tired of it as Alex is. The latter possibility is still two sides of the same coin. The chances of Musk quitting running a multi-trillion dollar company for a low-paying government job are not that high.
We can also talk about Pavel Durov’s first public statements since his arrest in France last month, and how Telegram’s anti-censorship stance has crumbled (right now Report Contents Previously it was a private chat reviewed by a moderator).
Or we could delve into Nvidia’s significant role in the economy, which I discussed with Nimo Omer in Monday’s First Edition newsletter.
Instead, let’s focus on the latest major event in the tech world, which has become exhaustingly busy over the past few years: the launch of Apple’s latest iPhones, and why, despite its flashy features and tech-forward attitude, many of you probably won’t be lining up to purchase one.
The reasons are complex. One is the simple price of the iPhone 16, which starts at $799 (£610). For many, such a high price is just too much, especially at a time when the economy is sluggish, jobs are scarce, and the new prime minister is positioning himself as head of a “pessimistic” government, as the Observer’s political editor Toby Helm put it.
“Sales of new mobile phones have fallen dramatically over the past decade,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at market research firm CCS Insight. In 2013, Britons bought around 30 million new devices, up from just 13.4 million last year. CSS Insight predicts the figures will remain at roughly the same level. Its research suggests that most people expect to keep their next phone for up to five years.
At the same time, phone makers are making fewer dramatic changes to their products from year to year. “These days, phone updates are mostly incremental from a hardware perspective,” Wood says. “Last year’s iPhone might have a slightly bigger screen, a slightly better camera, and better battery life, but it’s probably pretty much the same as this year’s. This is in stark contrast to the mid-1990s through 2007 when there was an incredible acceleration in phone performance and features.”
AI is in the spotlight
Google’s Gemini enters a crowded AI “battlefield.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The adoption of AI in iPhones, which Apple teased at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, will arguably mark a major change in how iPhones work. But as I explained in a controversial comment piece back in June, it may not create a strong desire to use ChatGPT on your phone.
Lest you think I’m just a doom-and-gloom tech reporter, market analysts agree. Wood believes AI has become a “battleground” between Google (which owns Gemini), Samsung (which is touting Galaxy AI), and Apple (which understood the challenge and cleverly named its version Apple Intelligence, trying to make the name synonymous with the technology). Is it worth the investment to put AI in your phone? “I’m not convinced that AI is going to have a significant impact on overall new product sales,” Wood says.
Moreover, Apple has already stated that European users won’t have access to the AI integrated into its devices. this year That’s because the company isn’t sure it can do so without violating the rules of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, with one exception: It will be available in the UK in December, which of course is no longer in the EU, but if you spend much of your time on the continent, it won’t be available there. That means you’re paying for minor updates and the potential appeal of AI at a yet-to-be-determined point in time.
Here’s an embarrassing confession: Despite all the latest cutting-edge tech, I don’t see the point in keeping up with the latest hardware. I’m not a huge Apple fanboy, but I do use an iPad (the 7th generation, released in September 2019 and discontinued a year later) every day.
It’s five years old and it works just fine, in part because, with a few exceptions, Apple tweaks the little details with each yearly hardware update. Does it really matter if a flashier screen makes your news app look a little sharper, or if a slightly faster processor makes apps launch a millisecond faster? And if it does, does that slight benefit justify the cost of a new device?
The same goes for my phone. When I dropped my Samsung that I had for years two months ago and the screen repair destroyed the keyboard and I needed a replacement, I decided to buy a similarly outdated phone, the 2021 Samsung A52. I chose this one because it was the latest model available at a relatively affordable price, and it still has a great battery. 3.5mm headphone jackI rely on this technology because Bluetooth headphones only give me the pain of losing my earbuds or having to listen to someone else’s music on public transport.
I would argue that the new iPhones are pretty expensive without all that many new features. Still, you might not think so. If you do, let me know. You can find me at X. @Stokell.
If you’d like to read the full newsletter, sign up to receive TechScape in your inbox every Tuesday.
Apple has lost its high-profile 13 billion euro (11 billion pounds) Irish tax battle with the EU, but the ruling will bolster efforts by the European Commission to crack down on “preferential” tax regimes favoring multinational companies.
The long-awaited ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) came after a years-long legal battle over whether the European Commission was right in 2016 to demand the return of 13 billion euros of “illegal” tax breaks given to Apple for giving the iPhone maker an unfair advantage.
ECJ (European Court of Justice) The verdict was given The Commission argued that a lower court ruling in favor of Apple should be overturned, upholding a 2016 European Commission decision that found Ireland had provided unlawful assistance to Apple in the tax treatment of profits from Apple’s activities outside the United States and that Ireland was required to recoup the money.
In 2020, a lower court, the General Court, annulled the 2016 European Commission decision, finding that it had not been sufficiently established that Apple’s subsidiaries enjoyed a selective advantage. That ruling has now been set aside by the European Court of Justice, which has confirmed the European Commission’s 2016 decision.
The ruling was a victory for EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who concluded: 2016 The iPhone maker benefited from billions of dollars worth of unfair tax breaks from the Irish government.
Vestager, who is due to step down this year, has been seen as a tough enforcer who has boldly taken on powerful multinationals such as Fiat, Amazon and Starbucks over their tax claims. But some of the cases have not stood the test of time, with a 2022 ruling against Fiat that was later overturned.
The case brings to an end a years-long legal battle that began in 2016 when the European Commission ordered Apple to pay billions of euros for significant underpayment of tax on profits from 2003 to 2014. Apple, which has had its European headquarters in Cork since 1980, was found by the EU’s competition watchdog to have benefited from a tax ruling by Irish authorities and to have paid an effective tax rate of 0.005 percent in 2014.
Apple has denied the accusations, saying the government aid money had not been paid, and CEO Tim Cook said: It is called The claim is “political nonsense.”
Apple challenged the Commission at the General Court, the EU’s second-highest court, and won. Conclusion In July 2020, Brussels ruled that Apple had failed to prove that it had obtained an illegal economic benefit in terms of tax in Ireland.
The Commission appealed, and last year the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, Giovanni Pitruzzella, recommended that the Commission overturn the General Court’s earlier ruling. Advocate General Pitruzzella said the General Court had made an error of law and needed to carry out a new assessment. He recommended that the European Court of Justice remit the case back to the General Court for a new ruling on the substance of the case.
Pitruzella’s recommendation was not legally binding and did not have to be followed by the ECJ, but the attorney general’s opinion carries great weight and usually influences the court’s final decision.
Following the ECJ ruling, Apple said: “This case is not about how much tax we pay, but which government we owe tax to. We have always paid all taxes wherever we do business and have never had any special arrangements. Apple is a driver of growth and innovation in Europe and around the world, and we are proud to have consistently been one of the world’s largest taxpayers.”
“The European Commission is seeking to change the rules retroactively, ignoring the fact that our income is already subject to tax in the United States under international tax law. We are disappointed by today’s decision because the European Court of Justice previously reviewed the facts and invalidated this case in its entirety.”
Meanwhile, the ECJ It also ruled He upheld the 2.4 billion euro fine imposed by the European Commission against Google in an antitrust case. Whether Google falsely favored its online shopping service. In this case, the Attorney General said In January, the ECJ ruled that Google’s appeal should be dismissed.
Google said: “We are disappointed with the court’s decision, which concerns very specific facts. We made changes in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision. Our approach has been successful for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks across over 800 comparison shopping services.”
Time flies: If your days seem to fly by with meetings, phone notifications, and caffeine breaks, rest assured, you’re not alone. This concept traces back to the writings of the Roman poet Virgil over 2000 years ago.
Last year, a study found that many people felt there simply isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything. It often feels like time is rushing by at an unstoppable pace.
However, a recent study from George Mason University in the US sheds light on how to slow down time. The research explores the phenomenon of time dilation, where our perception of time is stretched and slowed.
The study delves into whether certain images, experiences, and scenarios can make us feel like we’re spending more time on them than we actually are. The more memorable an image is, the more likely we are to believe we are viewing it for longer than we really are.
The lead researcher, Professor Martin Wiener, explains that our brains may delay the perception of time to gather more information from the moment. This poses an intriguing question: can we mentally slow down time to live more in the present and elongate enjoyable experiences?
Our subjective perception of time is dynamic, as various factors can influence how time appears to pass. For individuals with impulsivity or ADHD, time may seem to move faster, while experiencing “flow” can create the sensation of time slowing down during engaging activities.
Wiener emphasizes the importance of seeking novel experiences to expand our sense of time and enhance our memory. By immersing ourselves in new hobbies, places, subjects, and interactions, we can make better use of our time and feel like we’re living in a state of artificial slow motion.
About our experts
Professor Martin Wiener: An associate professor at George Mason University, Wiener leads a lab that investigates how the brain processes time and space. His research spans areas such as mapping the human brain, neuroimaging, and neuroscience journals.
The history of water on Mars is important for understanding the evolution of planets like Earth. Water escapes into space as atoms, but hydrogen (H) atoms escape faster than deuterium (D) (hydrogen atoms with a neutron in their nucleus), increasing the residual D/H ratio. The current ratio reflects the total amount of water Mars has lost.
These far-ultraviolet Hubble images show Mars near its farthest point from the Sun (aphelion) on December 31, 2017 (top), and Mars near its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) on December 19, 2016 (bottom). Images by NASA/ESA/STScI/John T. Clarke, Boston University.
There is ample evidence that Mars experienced an early wet period when liquid water flowed across the surface, leaving distinct erosion patterns and the presence of clay in the topsoil.
This wet climate period is thought to have ended over 3 billion years ago, and the fate of that water has attracted considerable interest.
As Mars cooled, some of the water remained trapped in the crust, some broke down into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and many of the atoms escaped into space through the upper atmosphere.
“There are only two places water can go: it freezes to the ground, or the water molecules break down into atoms and those atoms escape through the top of the atmosphere into space,” said Dr John Clark, a researcher at Boston University.
“To understand how much water there was and what became of it, we need to understand how the atoms escaped into space.”
In the new study, Dr Clark and his colleagues combined data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to measure how many hydrogen atoms are escaping into space and the current rate of escape.
This information allowed the researchers to infer past rates of water escape and understand the history of water on Mars.
Specifically, the researchers measured hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium.
Over time, more hydrogen than deuterium was lost, increasing the D/H ratio in the atmosphere.
Measuring this ratio today can give scientists clues about how much water may have been present on Mars during its warmer, wetter periods.
By studying how these atoms escape in the present, we can understand the processes that determined escape rates over the past 4 billion years and extrapolate back in time.
Most of the data comes from MAVEN, but the spacecraft is not sensitive enough to observe deuterium emissions throughout the entire Martian year.
Unlike Earth, Mars is farther from the Sun in its elliptical orbit during its long winters, making its deuterium emissions weaker.
The authors needed Hubble data to fill in the gaps and complete a three-Martian year (687 Earth days) annual cycle.
The Hubble Space Telescope also provided additional data going back to 1991, before MAVEN arrived at Mars in 2014.
Combining data from these missions provided the first complete picture of hydrogen atoms escaping Mars into space.
“In recent years, scientists have discovered that the annual cycle of Mars is much more dynamic than people would have expected 10 or 15 years ago,” Dr Clark said.
“The whole atmosphere is very turbulent, heating and cooling on short timescales of a few hours.”
“The brightness of the Sun on Mars varies by 40 percent over the course of a Martian year, causing the atmosphere to expand and contract.”
The team found that the rate at which hydrogen and deuterium are released changes dramatically as Mars gets closer to the Sun.
The classical view that scientists had until now was that these atoms would slowly diffuse upwards through the atmosphere until they reached a height where they could escape.
But that picture no longer accurately reflects the whole picture, because scientists now know that atmospheric conditions change very rapidly.
As Mars approaches the Sun, water molecules, the source of hydrogen and deuterium, rise rapidly through the atmosphere and release atoms at high altitudes.
The second discovery is that the transformation of hydrogen and deuterium is so rapid that the escape of the atoms requires additional energy to account for it.
At the temperatures of the upper atmosphere, very few atoms would be fast enough to escape Mars’ gravity.
When something gives atoms extra energy, faster (super hot) atoms are created.
These phenomena include the impact of solar wind protons entering the atmosphere and sunlight causing chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere.
of Survey results Published in the journal Scientific advances.
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John T. Clark others2024. Hydrogen and deuterium in the Martian atmosphere: seasonal changes and a paradigm for escape into space. Scientific advances 10(30);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adm7499
In an experiment, physicists from the University of Bonn and the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau observed and studied the properties of a one- to two-dimensional crossover in a gas of harmonically confined photons (light particles). The photons were confined in dye microcavities, while polymer nanostructures provided the trapping potential for the photon gas. By varying the aspect ratio of the trap, the researchers tuned it from an isotropic two-dimensional confinement to a highly elongated one-dimensional trapping potential. The team paper Published in a journal Natural Physics.
A polymer applied to the reflective surface confines the photonic gas within the light's parabola. The narrower this parabola is, the more one-dimensional the gas behaves. Image courtesy of University of Bonn.
“To create a gas from photons, you need to concentrate a lot of photons in a limited space and cool them at the same time,” said Dr Frank Wevinger from the University of Bonn.
In their experiments, Dr. Wewinger and his colleagues filled a small container with a dye solution and used a laser to excite it.
The resulting photons bounced back and forth between the reflective walls of the container.
Each time they collided with a dye molecule they cooled, eventually condensing the photon gas.
By modifying the reflective surface, we can affect the gas's dimensions.
“We were able to coat the reflective surface with a transparent polymer and create tiny microscopic protrusions,” said Dr Julian Schulz, a physicist at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau.
“These protrusions allow us to confine and condense photons into one or two dimensions.”
“These polymers act as a kind of channel for the light,” said Dr Kirankumar Kalkihari Umesh, a physicist at the University of Bonn.
“The narrower this gap becomes, the more one-dimensional the gas behaves.”
In two dimensions, there is a precise temperature limit where condensation occurs, just as water freezes at exactly 0 degrees – physicists call this a phase transition.
“But if you create a one-dimensional gas instead of two-dimensional, things are a bit different,” Dr Wewinger said.
“So-called thermal fluctuations do occur in the photon gas, but in two dimensions they are so small that they have no practical effect.”
“But on one level, these fluctuations can make waves, figuratively speaking.”
These fluctuations destroy the order in a one-dimensional system, causing different regions in the gas to no longer behave in the same way.
As a result, phase transitions that are still precisely defined in two dimensions become increasingly blurred as the system becomes one-dimensional.
However, their properties are still governed by quantum physics, just like for two-dimensional gases, and these types of gases are called degenerate quantum gases.
It's as if water gets cold but doesn't freeze completely, but turns into ice at low temperatures.
“We were able to investigate this behavior for the first time in the transition from a two-dimensional to a one-dimensional photon gas,” Dr. Wewinger said.
The authors were able to demonstrate that a one-dimensional photon gas indeed does not have a precise condensation point.
By making small changes to the polymer structure, it becomes possible to study in detail what happens during the transition between different dimensions.
Although this is still considered fundamental research at this point, it has the potential to open up new applications of quantum optical effects.
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K. Kalkihari Umesh othersDimensional crossover in a quantum gas of light. National Physical SocietyPublished online September 6, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41567-024-02641-7
Palaeontologists from the University of Bath and elsewhere have described a new genus and species of kritosaurine hadrosaur dinosaur from a partial skull discovered in the Late Cretaceous Cerro del Pueblo Formation.
Reconstructing your life Coahuilasaurus lipani. Image credit: C. Diaz Frias.
The newly described species is Coahuilasaurus lipani. It has an estimated overall length of 8 metres (26.2 ft).
It dates back about 72.5 million years ago, towards the end of the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.
Coahuilasaurus lipani belongs to Kritosaurs, a unique family of duck-billed dinosaurs (Hadrosauridae), Kritosaurus navajovius and their relatives.
“Kritosaurus is one of the most diverse lineages of North American hadrosaurs, represented by numerous species that lived during the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior,” they said. Dr Nicholas Longrich Researchers from the University of Bath and their colleagues.
“The striking changes in jaw morphology suggest different ecological niches and dietary specialization.”
“The diversity of cranial vault morphology among kritosaurs suggests that sexual selection may have driven the evolution of kritosaurs, similar to the crested lambeosaurs and ceratopsids.”
“Although klitosaurins’ bone protuberances are not very sophisticated, klitosaurins may have had sophisticated soft-tissue structures.”
“The function of the Kritosaurus crest is unclear,” the paleontologist said.
“Because it is conspicuous, it probably functioned as a display. In modern birds, skull ornaments are sometimes used in intraspecific combat, for example in hornbills, and the relatively robust crest feathers may have served a similar function.”
“As in lambeosaurids, the elaborate nasal cavity may have also been involved in vocalization.”
Part of a skull Coahuilasaurus lipani comes from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation in Coahuila, Mexico.
“The Cerro del Pueblo Formation harbors a diverse assemblage of dinosaurs, including theropods and ornithischians,” the researchers said.
“Theropods include tyrannosaurs and deinocheirs. Paraxenisaurus normalensis, Ornithomimidae, Caenagnatidae, Dromaeosauridae, and Troodontidae.”
“The ornithischian family includes ankylosaurs, ceratopsids, thescelosaurs, and hadrosaurs.”
According to the team’s analysis, Coahuilasaurus lipani is distinct from the kritosaurs found further north on Laramidia.
It may be related to the kritosaurid hadrosaurids, Gryposaurus monumentensis. This suggests that it is part of a distinct southern kritosaur lineage.
“With specimens from the Naashoibito Formation of the Kirtland Formation in New Mexico, Coahuilasaurus lipani ,”This study shows that kritosaurs survived in the south of Laramidia after local extinction in the north, a pattern also seen in parasaurolophus and lambeosaurines,” the scientists said.
“The southern fauna not only has different species but also different patterns of diversity change compared to the northern Laramidia fauna.”
“Differences in species composition and community structure in different regions of Laramidia mean that further studies on dinosaurs from Mexico and the southwestern United States are needed to understand the evolution of dinosaur diversity in western North America.”
“Southern dinosaur faunas may have been characterized by higher origination rates and lower extinction rates than northern faunas.”
of study Published in the journal on September 1, 2024 Diversity.
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Nicholas R. Longrich others2024. Coahuilasaurus lipania new species of kritosaurine hadrosaurid from the Upper Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, northern Mexico. Diversity 16 (9): 531; doi: 10.3390/d16090531
A rare and lively encounter between a young wombat and an echidna has been caught on camera, delighting conservationists in Australia.
This active behaviour, captured on camera traps, is the work of the endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat (Laciorhinus kleftii) is proving successful.
At their lowest point in the late 1990s, with just 35 remaining in a small reserve in central Queensland, wombats were one of the rarest large mammals on the planet. Today, thanks to hard work, wombats' numbers have grown to around 400. In 2009, relocations began to the fenced Richard Underwood Sanctuary in southern Queensland, where around 15 wombats now live.
Andy Howe Howe of the Australian Wildlife Conservation Society in Newcastle, Australia, was sorting through 100 hours of footage recorded at the sanctuary when two clips caught his eye. The first, from early June, shows a northern hairy-nosed wombat baby, proving that the sanctuary's population has successfully raised young and that the pups are now foraging on their own. The wombats are well-groomed and at a healthy weight, Howe says.
Then, in footage taken a month later, he was seen with a young wombat and a short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatusThe echidna waddles around the frame, seemingly unfazed, while the wombat becomes increasingly agitated and throws himself into the dirt.
Tim Flannery A researcher at the Australian Museum in Sydney says he has never seen an interaction like this in his decades of experience studying mammals: “This is a nervous wombat and a happy echidna,” he says.
Northern hairy-nosed wombat, Richard Underwood Nature Reserve, Queensland, Australia
Brad Ruhe/Australian Wildlife Conservation Council
He says this is typical echidna behaviour, and that the animal's spine makes it difficult and dangerous to attack. For much of the video, the wombat points its tail at the echidna, a defensive posture in the tunnel where it presses the intruder against the roof of its burrow.
Flannery says it's “amazing” to see such natural, wild behaviour from a species so close to extinction. “It's very encouraging to see wombats thriving,” he says. Now that the transplant has proven successful, he suggests new populations be established elsewhere as soon as possible.
Before Europeans arrived, the species was found from northern Victoria through arid New South Wales and into central Queensland, and reestablishment of the species throughout its range would have major environmental benefits, Dr Flannery said.
“They're ecosystem engineers because they dig and burrow into the soil,” he says, “and their burrows provide shelter for other creatures during heat waves, droughts and fires.”
It has been found that Japanese eels attempt to escape from the stomachs of fish that have swallowed them whole, and sometimes succeed in doing so.
A few years ago, Yuba Hasegawa of Nagasaki University discovered that the Japanese eel (AnguillaAn eel (scientific name: Anguilliidae) that had been swallowed by a fish had somehow reappeared in the tank. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the eels had escaped through the fish's gills — 28 of the 54 that had been swallowed whole had managed to escape — but it was unclear how they had managed to do so.
Hasegawa and his team were able to capture this process by injecting a contrast agent into the eels, making them visible under X-rays.Odontobutis obscura), and 12 were able to navigate far enough back up the esophagus to bend their tails and exit the gill slits. Nine of these 12 escaped.
When the eels began to move backwards through the esophagus, in some cases their tails were not fully inside the stomach, but in other cases their entire bodies were inside the stomach and they spun around as if searching for an exit. Five of the 11 eels that were fully inside the stomach were able to place their tails at the entrance to the esophagus and return to the gills.
Two of the 11 took a wrong turn and headed for the intestines. All that didn't escape died within three and a half minutes.
The team now plans to test whether other eels and similarly shaped fish can escape in this way. “At present, the Japanese eel is the only fish species that has been confirmed to be able to escape from the digestive tract of a predator after being caught,” Hasegawa says.
However, other kinds of animals can escape being swallowed whole. For example, aquatic beetles Regimbaltia attenuata You can escape from the frog Crawling out of the anus.
Paleontologists have unearthed the fossils of two different large azhdarchoid pterosaurs. Inabatanin Arabia And previously known species Arambrugiana Philadelphia — Discovered in Upper Cretaceous deposits in Jordan, the fossils have led researchers to hypothesize that not only could the largest pterosaurs fly, but that they may have had a different style of flight.
Inabatanin Arabia (Top) Flying while flapping its wings Arambrugiana Philadelphia (Below) Soaring like a vulture. Image courtesy of Terrill Whitlatch.
Pterosaurs are an extinct group of flying reptiles that existed from the Late Triassic until the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
They evolved powered flight about 50 million years before flight feathers appeared in the fossil record, and some achieved wingspans twice that of the largest flying birds (12 metres versus 6 metres).
“Our team was very surprised to find a three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur bone, which is a very rare occurrence,” said University of Michigan paleontologist Kerstin Rosenbach.
“Because pterosaur bones are hollow, they are extremely fragile and, if preserved, are likely to be found flat like a pancake.”
Dr. Rosenbach and his colleagues discovered two azhdarchoid pterosaur specimens in Jordan, one of which corresponds to a giant species. Arambrugiana Philadelphia (wingspan about 10 meters) and the second is a new, smaller species. Inabatanin Arabia (Wingspan approximately 5 meters).
They used high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans to analyze the internal structure of the wing bones.
“3D preservation is very rare, so we don’t have a lot of information about what the inside of a pterosaur bone looks like, so we wanted to do a CT scan,” Dr Rosenbach said.
“It’s entirely possible that nothing was preserved inside, or that the CT scanner was not sensitive enough to distinguish the fossil bone tissue from the surrounding matrix.”
“But fortunately, what we found was amazing, with exciting internal structures that were not only preserved but could be seen with a CT scanner.”
New specimens Arambrugiana Philadelphia Its wingspan was determined to be 10 metres, and the first details about the reptile’s skeletal structure were revealed.
CT scans revealed that the humerus is hollow inside, with a series of spiral ridges running up and down the bone, similar to the internal structure of a vulture’s wing bones.
The spiral ridges are thought to resist the torsional loads associated with soaring (sustained powered flight that requires flapping wings to launch and maintain).
The Inabutinin Arabian specimen is one of the most complete pterosaurs ever discovered in Afro-Arabia.
CT scans revealed that the structure of its flight bones is completely different from that of Arambourgiania philadelphiae.
The interior of the flight bone was crossed with an arrangement of struts that matched those seen in the wing bones of modern flapping birds.
This indicates that it was adapted to withstand the bending loads associated with flapping flight, and so it is likely that Inabatanin flew in this way, although it does not exclude the possibility that other flight styles may have been used from time to time.
” Inabatanin Arabia “It’s not uncommon, but it’s fun to see,” Dr. Rosenbach said.
” Arambrugiana Philadelphia It was totally unexpected and at first I had no idea what I was looking at.”
“Being able to see the entire 3D model, Arambrugiana PhiladelphiaI was really excited to see the spiral ridges on the humerus.”
The discovery of diverse flight styles among different sized pterosaurs is extremely exciting as it gives clues about how these animals lived.
It also raises intriguing questions, such as to what extent flight style correlates with body size and which flight style is more common among pterosaurs.
“We have very limited information about the internal structure of pterosaur bones over time, so it’s hard to say with any certainty which style of flight emerged first,” Dr Rosenbach said.
“If you look at other groups of flying vertebrates, birds and bats, you’ll find that wing flapping is by far the most common flight behavior.”
“Even soaring and gliding birds need some flapping to take to the air and continue flying.”
“This leads us to suggest that if flapping flight was the default state and was advantageous for a population of pterosaurs in a particular environment, in this case the open ocean, then soaring behaviour probably evolved later.”
a paper The paper on the survey results is Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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Kirsten L. Rosenbach othersNew pterosaur fossils from the Afro-Arabian Late Cretaceous provide insight into the flying capabilities of large pterosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyPublished online September 5, 2024; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2385068
isEvangelion was released 10 years ago, an eternity in the world of video games. It's also one of the most compelling games of the decade, and sometimes it's not. On the surface, it's a gorgeous online progressive rock space shooter made by Bungie, the creators of the Xbox classic Halo. Gather up with some friends, deploy somewhere in the shimmering landscapes of a future solar system, and shoot people, aliens, and robots to earn better loot.
None of this is unprecedented, and maybe that's the point. You could say that Destiny's touchstones are Halo with its gunplay, World of Warcraft with its persistent online space, and (admittedly, this is a bit odd) the immortal British retailer Marks & Spencer. This last point is especially true because Destiny is a game of fluctuating destiny that seems to fascinate everyone involved in video games, whether they actually play Destiny or not. Just as many in the UK secretly know if M&S is currently trending up or down (there is no middle ground), everyone in the games industry knows if Destiny is doing well or not. Is it doing better than it has in many years? Or is it in a state of decline that is not comparable to where it was two, five, or seven years ago? Destiny is always an uneasy conversation topic for us.
Amazingly, this has been the case from the very beginning. in front The beginning. Fate met with great misfortune. Revealed as a company Long before it was announced as a fictional universe, the game was announced as SKUs and Q1 financial forecasts, not as a fun gunfighting world dreamed up by the best combat designers in the industry. When the first game finally arrived, it was seen as a beautiful epicenter of action surrounded by something that felt somewhat hastily produced. It was an early star where dust and gas hadn't yet fully solidified. Sure, if you had the right shotgun, you'd go into battle and the whole world would sing with you, but the story and lore were scattered across the game's surface as a series of trading cards, as if Homer had unleashed the Iliad on a collection of beer mugs and hidden them across various battlefields.
A great action game… Destiny was shown on a curved screen at E3 in Los Angeles in June 2014. Photo: Michael Nelson/EPA
But here's the thing: people just couldn't stop playing Destiny. From the start, nights spent online with friends couldn't have been more fun: join in, blow up stuff, win stuff, and compare your gains. Leveling up felt like something meaningful here. New loot had real personality. Set pieces unfolded beneath skyboxes so vast and intense they reminded us that, spaceships aside, Bungie's soul has always been deeply romantic.
Part of the game's enduring appeal is a series of striking images: the funereal hulk of the Traveler, an artificial moon, floating in the sky above the world's last city. Claw-like eruptions of Martian rock illuminated by sunlight turned into a barium haze through the airborne dust. But from the beginning, Bungie's games also seeped into the real world: players could view their builds outside the game, millions of raid-party WhatsApp groups sprung up overnight, and websites and YouTube channels were devoted to everything from leveling tips to reconstructing the story of a Frankenstein-style soap opera.
So for the last decade, playing Destiny has meant arguing about the game, getting annoyed and uninstalling it, then reinstalling it and spending the night engrossed in the game again. The existence of conspiracy theories means that the game means something to people. Caves with easy loot The in-game economy nearly collapsed within the first few months. Was this a bug or an intentional design flaw? Raid area with cheese spots A place where players can dish out massive amounts of damage without putting themselves in danger. Is this the sign of an unstable map, or a sign of a savvy developer generating a different kind of buzz?
Inevitably, people were nostalgic for even the Grimoire lore cards by the time Destiny 2 came out in 2017. Since then, there have been ups and downs. Death of a major character Everyone was talking about it The price of the expansion is the samePeople get tired of the drudgery, they think the raids are unfair, they understandably complain about the store, but they also understandably buy Destiny: The Official Cookbook. Complicating things is the fact that Destiny has been steeped in nostalgia from the get-go. Another final point of connection to M&S is that Destiny is an institution.
Few would argue that Destiny is a great action game, and always has been. At its heart is a core of charismatic gunplay, and what radiates outwards from there is an evocative and unforgettable twist of sci-fi, combined with Bungie's long-standing talent for sad, flashy naming conventions. This is the studio that brought us Halo levels “Pillar of Autumn” and “Silent Cartographer.” It's no wonder that the game “Destiny Weapon Name or Roxy Music Deep Cut?” remains a reliable drinking game. (It goes both ways; it's easy to imagine Bungie releasing Sentimental Fool and Mother of Pearl SMGs.)
Striking image…Destiny 2. Photo: Activision
Still, there are fluctuations. The latest expansion was hailed as one of the best in a while, but player numbers haven't increased significantly since then. Over time, Bungie has gone from questions about the cost of cosmetics to serious allegations about its internal culture; the studio has changed owners and recently suffered layoffs. Last week, Destiny 2 Steam player numbers hit all-time low.
Still, we talk about the games that are always in the news (Includes bungeeannounced that it would be publishing a developer blog tonight discussing the future of the game. Many of us still feel nostalgia for a game that was born out of nostalgia. And these two things create a powerful allure. I remember when I first played Destiny 2, long after everyone I knew had cooled off from their obsession with the game. I found a game that kept me entertained for a few minutes, but those minutes could easily turn into hours. I also found a world that felt as if it was covered in blue plaques that told of a painter from long ago who once vacationed here.
After all, Destiny as a game benefits greatly from its dialogue fallbacks. For example, when I first met Devrim Kay, Destiny's gentlemanly sniper, in person, I knew so much about him I could have been his biographer. I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity, even though he was just another quest giver.
of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope It has provided astronomers with a detailed new image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5668.
In this image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5668, the Hubble Space Telescope was used to survey the area surrounding a Type II supernova event called SN 2004G to study the types of stars that end their lives as supernovae. The color image is composed of near-infrared and visible light observations by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two filters were used to sample different wavelengths. The colors are obtained by assigning a different color to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.
NGC 5668 It is located in the constellation Virgo and is about 90 million light years away from Earth.
This galaxy, also known as IRAS 14309+0440, LEDA 52018, and UGC 9363, Found It was discovered on April 29, 1786 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
NGC 5668 belongs to two galaxy groups: the NGC 5638 group and the NGC 5746 group.
“At first glance, NGC 5668 does not appear to be a remarkable galaxy,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“It has a diameter of about 90,000 light-years and is roughly the same size and mass as our own Milky Way galaxy. It faces almost head-on, revealing open spiral arms made up of irregular, cloud-like patches.”
“One striking difference between the Milky Way and NGC 5668 is that new stars are forming 60 percent faster in this galaxy.”
“This confirms a galaxy with swirling clouds and gas flows, and bad weather that creates the perfect conditions for new star formation.”
Astronomers have identified two main drivers of star formation in NGC 5668.
“First, this high-quality Hubble Space Telescope snapshot reveals a central bar,” the researchers said.
“Although it may appear slightly elliptical rather than truly bar-shaped, it is likely to influence the galaxy's star formation rate, similar to the bar-like structure at the centers of many spiral galaxies.”
“Second, a high-velocity hydrogen gas cloud has been tracked moving perpendicularly between the galaxy's disk and the faint, spherical halo that surrounds it.”
“They are produced by the powerful stellar winds of hot, massive stars, which feed gas into new star-forming regions.”
“The elevated star formation rate in NGC 5668 is accompanied by a corresponding abundance of supernova explosions,” the researchers said.
“It has been discovered three times in our galaxy, in 1952, 1954, and 2004.”
Climate change affects our planet and our lives in many ways. Dry the atmosphere To Increase in home runs Climate change accelerates glacial melt with each Major League Baseball season. Greenland Ice Sheet The land ice mass that covers about 80% of Greenland. When glaciers melt, icebergs form, a process called “iceberg formation.” Glacier collapse Recent climate change has increased the rate at which icebergs are flowing from the Greenland Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic.
Scientists have found that in the past, large increases in the rate of glacial collapse have disrupted important ocean current systems in the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Meridional Gyre Or as the AMOC, it carries warm water north and cold water south, affecting global temperatures and moving nutrients across the Atlantic Ocean, meaning that disrupting the AMOC could change the climate and destabilize marine ecosystems. Recently, scientists conducted a study to determine whether the current increase in glacier collapse could disrupt the AMOC.
For this study, the researchers developed a method to quantify glacial runoff during past periods of increased glacial collapse in the North Atlantic that disrupted the AMOC. Heinrich Event They began by looking at present-day glaciers in the North Atlantic and the Arctic. As icebergs break up, they deposit sediment. This sediment includes sand and rocks from the land below the ice sheet, as well as the remains of organisms that lived on the ice sheet. When the icebergs melt at sea, the sediment is released and sinks to the ocean floor.
Scientists observed modern glaciers melting and measured the average amount of sediment, by volume, that they released. Using this average, the researchers estimated how much ice was released during past Heinrich events, based on the amount of sediment that was deposited on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists used this method to estimate the total amount of ice lost during 10 Heinrich events (the last of which) that occurred over the past 140,000 years. Glacial Cycle Previous scientists had determined the duration of Heinrich events, which allowed the researchers to estimate the ice runoff rate during each event. The researchers compared their estimated runoff rates to current ice runoff rates and found that current ice runoff rates are similar to those of previous mid-sized Heinrich events that disrupted the AMOC. However, the scientists who conducted the study also noted that the AMOC is currently stable.
The researchers suggested two factors that could help explain why the current increase in glacial collapse is not disrupting the AMOC as much as it has in the past. First, the researchers think that the AMOC was stronger when the current glacial runoff rate began to increase than it was at the start of past Heinrich events, which may make the current AMOC more resistant to disruptions. Second, each of the 10 Heinrich events the scientists used in their study lasted about 250 years, while the faster glacial collapse seen today may have been due to a slowdown in the early Heinrich events. It began in recent decades They suggested that AMOC collapse could only occur after a longer period of increased glacier calving than has happened previously.
If the rate of glacial calving continues to increase by the time the AMOC collapses, the size of the Greenland Ice Sheet may limit its influence on the AMOC. The researchers noted that if the Greenland Ice Sheet continues to melt at its current rate, the rate of calving will slow before 250 years have passed. The icebergs that caused the Heinrich events in the last glacial cycle broke off from a much larger ice sheet. Laurentide Ice Sheet It no longer exists.
The scientists who conducted the study said that freshwater runoff from the melting Greenland Ice Sheet could also disrupt the AMOC, but its impact would be less severe than ice runoff. However, they noted that freshwater runoff is likely to increase as glacial collapse slows in the coming decades, which could have unpredictable consequences. The researchers suggested that the scientific community should continue their work to model the impacts of a melting Greenland Ice Sheet as accurately as possible, because, in their words, “the fate of the AMOC remains uncertain.”
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