During evolution, new types of cells emerge and perform new functions, resulting in changes in animals. Scientists study the origin and development of these new cell types to understand how they affect the animal’s bodily functions, structure, or behavior.
Scientists previously Mammalian ancestors Mammals live solitary lives, and parental care of young has developed over time in some mammalian groups. A research team led by scientists from Columbia University in New York recently used two closely related mouse species to elucidate how parental care evolved in mammals. The first species, the Asian goshawk, is monogamous and displays strong parenting behaviors, including grooming, herding, and retrieving young that have strayed from their nests. The second species, the deer mouse, is promiscuous and does not display parenting behaviors. The researchers aimed to investigate the genetic drivers of parental care in Asian goshawks.
They performed their experiments on two small clusters of cells located in the top part of each kidney. Adrenal glands These glands produce fat hormones, Steroid hormones Once produced, it immediately affects bodily function. The researchers found that the adrenal glands of monogamous Oldfield mice were six times heavier than those of promiscuous deer mice, an unexpectedly large size difference for such closely related species. When the researchers examined the tissue composition of both glands, they realized that the larger adrenal glands of Oldfield mice were due to larger and more numerous adrenal cells.
To look for molecular differences between the adrenal glands of the two mouse strains, the team studied the RNA molecules in their glands. RNA molecules copy genetic instructions from DNA and carry out the functions of genes. By counting and comparing the types and amounts of RNA molecules in the adrenal glands, the scientists hoped to understand how the adrenal glands functioned differently. They took adrenal tissue from adult mice, broke it down to release the RNA, and counted that RNA. They looked for differences in the amount of RNA, called ribosomal RNA. Akrc18 This level was 3,200 times higher in Oldfield mice than in deer mice, a difference that led the researchers to wonder whether this RNA might be related to the parental behavior seen in Oldfield mice.
The researchers, Akrc18 It produces steroid hormones. Steroid hormones affect parental behavior, so the team tested whether the hormone had an effect on mice. They gave Oldfield mice a single dose of the hormone and measured their parental behavior 20 hours later. They observed that these mice groomed and cuddled their pups longer, brought them back to their nests more frequently, and built stronger nests. In deer mice, which don’t normally show parental behavior, 17% of the injected mice groomed and brought back their pups. From these results, the scientists concluded that the hormone shapes the parental behavior of Oldfield mice.
The researchers also explained that mate bonding is an important aspect of monogamy. To understand partner choice, the researchers measured how long mice huddled with their partners compared to opposite-sex mice of the same species. They found that monogamous Oldfield mice huddled three times longer with their partners than with new individuals, whereas promiscuous deer mice huddled neither with their partners nor with strangers. Injecting the Akrc18 steroid hormone did not change these preferences, suggesting that the hormone only affected parenting behavior and not pair bonding.
The research team found that Oldfield mice had larger adrenal glands and that Akrc18 RNA production was related. To test whether the adrenal glands of the two mouse species had different cell types, the researchers used the RNA from the adrenal glands of both mice that they had previously counted. They used computational methods to search for specific RNAs in the cells and identify what cell types were present. They found that nearly all cell types were shared between the two species, except for one type that was present in Oldfield mice but not in deer mice.
Also, Akrc18 RNA was the most abundant element in these new cells. The researchers examined the structure and composition of the tissue and observed these cells lining the adrenal glands of wolf mice, which are absent in deer mice. The researchers suggested that these cell types may have evolved from existing adrenal cells by increasing production of steroid hormones and related genes. The researchers concluded that the parenting behavior of wolf mice is linked to this new type of cell in the adrenal glands.
So far this year, hail — not hurricanes, floods or tornadoes — has caused the most costly weather damage in the United States.
Research suggests that large hailstorms will become more frequent due to climate change.
Next year, scientists are planning the first field study of hail in the United States since the 1970s, and will track hailstorms in the same way they track tornadoes.
Barb Berlin was standing in the garage of her farmhouse near Inman, Nebraska, when she heard a sudden crackling noise.
“I thought it was a gun,” she said.
Then a streak of white appeared, and she realized the sound wasn't a gunshot, but hail.
Fist-sized hailstones pounded on the tin roof of Berlin's garage, and soon others began punching softball-shaped holes in the hood of her Ford Mustang parked outside.
“It was very loud and scary. I prayed a lot,” Berlin said, adding that she was worried about her livestock. “I've never seen hail like that before.”
Hail is a hidden danger: Despite the extreme weather this spring and summer, hail — not hurricanes, floods or tornadoes — caused the most losses in the U.S., according to Gallagher Re, a global reinsurance firm that tracks such data.
And as the planet warms, research suggests large hailstorms like the one observed in Berlin on Monday will become more frequent. A study published last monthThis suggests that the chances of smaller, less damaging hail will decrease.
A study by researchers at Northern Illinois University projects that the frequency of hailstones larger than about 1.5 inches could increase by 15% to 75%, depending on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution humans emit.
Hail occurs when thunderstorms circulate raindrops in the upper layers of the atmosphere, and typically occurs where temperatures are between -22°F and 14°F. Climate change affects hail because warmer temperatures create more energy to push air upwards.In a thunderstorm.
“We expect to see stronger updrafts in the future as the atmosphere becomes more unstable,” said Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University and lead author of the study.
According to the study, these strong updrafts allow hail to remain in the right places in the storm longer, allowing more ice to accumulate before the hail becomes too heavy and falls to the ground.
“Imagine trying to balance a ping pong ball on an upside-down hair dryer pointing up into the sky,” Gensini said, explaining how updrafts lift hailstones. “Now try balancing a baseball or a grapefruit. You'll need a stronger updraft to…
…..
Many of the AI-generated images look realistic upon closer inspection.
On the road
Did you notice that the image above was created by artificial intelligence? It can be difficult to spot AI-generated images, videos, audio, and text as technological advances make them indistinguishable from human-created content and more susceptible to manipulation by disinformation. However, knowing the current state of AI technology being used to create disinformation and the various signs that indicate what you're seeing may be fake can help you avoid being fooled.
World leaders are concerned. World Economic Forum ReportMisinformation and disinformation “have the potential to fundamentally disrupt electoral processes in multiple economies over the next two years,” while easier access to AI tools “has already led to an explosion in counterfeit information and so-called 'synthetic' content, from sophisticated voice clones to fake websites.”
While the terms misinformation and disinformation both refer to false or inaccurate information, disinformation is information that is deliberately intended to deceive or mislead.
“The problem with AI-driven disinformation is the scale, speed and ease with which it can be deployed,” he said. Hany Farid “These attacks no longer require nation-state actors or well-funded organizations — any individual with modest computing power can generate large amounts of fake content,” the University of California, Berkeley researchers said.
He is a pioneer of generative AI (See glossary below“AI is polluting our entire information ecosystem, calling into question everything we read, see, and hear,” and his research shows that AI-generated images and sounds are often “almost indistinguishable from reality.”
However, Farid and his colleagues' research reveals that there are strategies people can follow to reduce the risk of falling for social media misinformation and AI-created disinformation.
How to spot fake AI images
Remember when we saw the photo of Pope Francis wearing a down jacket? Fake AI images like this are becoming more common as new tools based on viral models (See glossary below), now anyone can create images from simple text prompts. study Google's Nicolas Dufour and his colleagues found that since the beginning of 2023, the share of AI-generated images in fact-checked misinformation claims has risen sharply.
“Today, media literacy requires AI literacy.” Negar Kamali at Northwestern University in Illinois in 2024 studyShe and her colleagues identified five different categories of errors in AI-generated images (outlined below) and offered guidance on how people can spot them on their own. The good news is that their research shows that people are currently about 70% accurate at detecting fake AI images. Online Image Test To evaluate your detective skills.
5 common types of errors in AI-generated images:
Socio-cultural impossibilities: Does the scene depict behavior that is unusual, unusual, or surprising for a particular culture or historical figure?
Anatomical irregularities: Look closely. Do the hands or other body parts look unusual in shape or size? Do the eyes or mouth look strange? Are any body parts fused together?
Stylistic artifacts: Do the images look unnatural, too perfect, or too stylized? Does the background look odd or missing something? Is the lighting strange or variable?
Functionality Impossibility: Are there any objects that look odd, unreal or non-functional? For example, a button or belt buckle in an odd place?
Violation of Physics: Do the shadows point in different directions? Does the mirror's reflection match the world depicted in the image?
Strange objects or behaviors can be clues that an image was created by AI.
On the road
How to spot deepfakes in videos
An AI technology called generative adversarial networks (See glossary belowSince 2014, deepfakes have enabled tech-savvy individuals to create video deepfakes, which involve digitally manipulating existing videos of people to swap out different faces, create new facial expressions, and insert new audio with matching lip syncing. This has enabled a growing number of fraudsters, state-sponsored hackers, and internet users to produce video deepfakes, potentially allowing celebrities such as Taylor Swift and everyday people alike to unwillingly appear in deepfake porn, scams, and political misinformation and disinformation.
The AI techniques used to spot fake images (see above) can also be applied to suspicious videos. What's more, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University in Illinois have A few tips There has been a lot of research into how to spot these deepfakes, but it's acknowledged that there is no foolproof method that will always work.
6 tips to spot AI-generated videos:
Mouth and lip movements: Are there moments when the video and audio are not perfectly in sync?
Anatomical defects: Does your face or body look strange or move unnaturally?
face: Look for inconsistencies in facial smoothness, wrinkles around the forehead and cheeks, and facial moles.
Lights up: Is the lighting inconsistent? Do shadows behave the way you expect them to? Pay particular attention to the person's eyes, eyebrows, and glasses.
hair: Does your facial hair look or move oddly?
Blink: Blinking too much or too little can be a sign of a deepfake.
A new category of video deepfakes is based on the diffusion model (See glossary below), the same AI technology behind many image generators, can create entirely AI-generated video clips based on text prompts. Companies have already tested and released commercial versions of their AI video generators, potentially making them easy to create for anyone without requiring special technical knowledge. So far, the resulting videos tend to feature distorted faces and odd body movements.
“AI-generated videos are likely easier for humans to detect than images because they contain more motion and are much more likely to have AI-generated artifacts and impossibilities,” Kamali says.
How to spot an AI bot
Social media accounts controlled by computer bots have become commonplace across many social media and messaging platforms. Many of these bots also leverage generative AI techniques such as large-scale language models.See glossary below) will be launched in 2022, making it easier and cheaper to mass-produce grammatically correct, persuasive, customized, AI-written content through thousands of bots for a variety of situations.
“It's now much easier to customize these large language models for specific audiences with specific messages.” Paul Brenner At the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Brenner and his colleagues found that volunteers were only able to distinguish between AI-powered bots and humans when About 42 percent Even though participants were told they might interact with a bot, they would still be able to test their bot-detection skills. here.
Brenner said some strategies could help identify less sophisticated AI bots.
5 ways to tell if a social media account is an AI bot:
Emojis and hashtags: Overusing these can be a sign.
Unusual phrases, word choices, and analogies: Unusual language can indicate an AI bot.
Repetition and Structure: Bots may repeat words that follow a similar or fixed format, or may overuse certain slang terms.
Ask a question: These may reveal the bot's lack of knowledge on a topic, especially when it comes to local locations and situations.
Assume the worst: If the social media account is not a personal contact and its identity has not been clearly verified or confirmed, it may be an AI bot.
How to detect audio duplication and audio deepfakes
Voice Clone (See glossary belowAI tools have made it easier to generate new voices that can imitate virtually anyone, which has led to a rise in audio deepfake scams replicating the voices of family members, business executives and political leaders such as US President Joe Biden. These are much harder to identify compared to AI-generated videos and images.
“Voice clones are particularly difficult to distinguish between real and fake because there are no visual cues to help the brain make that decision,” he said. Rachel TobackCo-founder of SocialProof Security, a white hat hacking organization.
Detecting these AI voice deepfakes can be difficult, especially when they're used in video or phone calls, but there are some common sense steps you can take to help distinguish between real human voices and AI-generated ones.
4 steps to use AI to recognize if audio has been duplicated or faked:
Public figures: If the audio clip is of an elected official or public figure, review whether what they say is consistent with what has already been publicly reported or shared about that person's views or actions.
Look for inconsistencies: Compare your audio clip to previously authenticated video or audio clips featuring the same person. Are there any inconsistencies in the tone or delivery of the voice?
Awkward Silence: If you're listening to a phone call or voicemail and notice that the speaker takes unusually long pauses while speaking, this could be due to the use of AI-powered voice duplication technology.
Weird and redundant: Robotic or unusually verbose speech may indicate that someone is using a combination of voice cloning to mimic a person's voice and large language models to generate accurate phrasing.
Out of character behaviour by public figures like Narendra Modi could be a sign of AI
Follow
Technology will continue to improve
As it stands, there are no consistent rules that can consistently distinguish AI-generated content from authentic human content. AI models that can generate text, images, videos, and audio will surely continue to improve, allowing them to quickly generate content that looks authentic without obvious artifacts or mistakes. “Recognize that, to put it mildly, AI is manipulating and fabricating images, videos, and audio, and it happens in under 30 seconds,” Tobac says. “This makes it easy for bad actors looking to mislead people to quickly subvert AI-generated disinformation, which can be found on social media within minutes of breaking news.”
While it's important to hone our ability to spot AI-generated disinformation and learn to ask more questions about what we read, see and hear, ultimately this alone won't be enough to stop the damage, and the responsibility for spotting it can't be placed solely on individuals. Farid is among a number of researchers who argue that government regulators should hold accountable the big tech companies that have developed many of the tools that are flooding the internet with fake, AI-generated content, as well as startups backed by prominent Silicon Valley investors. “Technology is not neutral,” Farid says. “The tech industry is selling itself as not having to take on the responsibilities that other industries take on, and I totally reject that.”
Diffusion Model: An AI model that learns by first adding random noise to data (such as blurring an image) and then reversing the process to recover the original data.
Generative Adversarial Networks: A machine learning technique based on two neural networks that compete by modifying the original data and attempting to predict whether the generated data is genuine or not.
Generative AI: A broad class of AI models that can generate text, images, audio, and video after being trained on similar forms of content.
Large-scale language models: A subset of generative AI models that can generate different forms of written content in response to text prompts, and in some cases translate between different languages.
Voice CloneA potential way to use AI models to create a digital copy of a person's voice and generate new voice samples with that voice.
In late last year, Duan*, a Chinese university student, bypassed China’s Great Firewall using a virtual private network to access the social media platform Discord.
He discovered a community within Discord where members discussed political ideologies like democracy, anarchism, and communism. Popular blogger Yang Minghao highlighted the importance of these discussions in a YouTube video.
Duan was drawn to this community after watching Yang’s videos. However, he and several others from the group were later interrogated by police in a different city.
The interrogation focused on Duan’s connection with Yang, his use of a VPN, and his Discord comments. Duan was released after 24 hours, but concerns remain for Yang, who has been silent online since then.
This incident reflects China’s strict censorship policies, where online comments can lead to serious consequences.
At an online conference in China, people stand in front of a screen showing a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Alex Prabevski/EPA
The situation highlights the expanding web of online surveillance in China. Authorities are cracking down on dissenting voices, even those operating outside the country.
The web of online surveillance is widening
Li Ying, a prominent social media figure, warned his followers in China about police interrogations, urging them to unfollow him to avoid trouble.
The crackdown on online dissent indicates a growing trend of repression, with even overseas influencers facing pressure from Chinese authorities.
Online censorship campaigns have become routine in China, targeting those who express opinions contrary to the government’s narrative.
Despite the challenges, activists and dissenters continue to resist censorship and uphold their beliefs, fostering common values across borders.
The Discord crackdown has sparked discussions in online forums, underscoring the ongoing struggle for freedom of expression in China.
ohOn September 1, 1974, two men made the fastest trip ever between New York and London. Traveling three times the speed of sound and taking less than two hours, this incredible journey set a record that still stands 50 years later.
Even the mighty Concorde, which set the record for the fastest commercial transatlantic flight in 1996, was almost an hour late.
The US Air Force Lockheed Blackbird SR-71 jet, with a crew of two – pilot James Sullivan and reconnaissance systems operator Noel Widdifield – completed the flight between the two cities in one hour, 54 minutes and 56 seconds, before landing in triumph to a great welcome at the Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire.
Widdifield, now 83, divides his time between Virginia and Florida in the US. “In some ways it was a normal flight for us,” he said, reflecting on that momentous day. “There was nothing unusual about the flight or the way we flew the plane, but in July 1974 we were told we were going to attempt the world record for flying from New York to London, which had previously been held by a Royal Navy pilot. There was a lot of media interest.”
It wasn’t just the Air Force’s prestige that was at stake. America was facing an international public relations crisis. Just three weeks earlier, disgraced President Richard Nixon had resigned after the Watergate scandal and Gerald Ford had taken over the White House. The country was still reeling from its disastrous involvement in the Vietnam War. The country needed something to cheer about.
There were other schemes as well. Widdifield observer“Although I didn’t know anything about it at the time, behind the scenes, negotiations were taking place between the US and the UK to deploy Blackbird SR-71s on British soil.
Widdifield flew B-52 bombers before joining the Blackbird SR-71 program. Photo: Noel Widdifield
“There were fears in the UK that this move might cause a lot of backlash, especially in the Middle East. But after we broke the record and flew into the Farnborough Air Show, that seemed to be the clincher and the UK allowed the SR-71 to be parked.”
Widdifield was 33 when he made this historic flight. He originally wanted to be a train driver, but after seeing U.S. Air Force jets flying low over his house at age 12, he decided to become a pilot.
After training and flying B-52 bombers, Widdifield served in the Blackbird SR-71 program at Beale Air Force Base in California from 1971 to 1975, after which he retired from flying to serve in the U.S. space program until 1982.
Piloting a Blackbird was akin to being an astronaut: The crew wore space suits and flew at an altitude of 80,000 feet (most commercial airliners top out at 42,000 feet). “It was pitch black up there,” Widdifield said. “You could see the stars and, depending on the time of day, the moon or the sun.”
Their plane took off from Beale and had to fly along the coast to New York to avoid creating a sonic boom over populated areas and causing significant damage to buildings. High above the city was an invisible “gate” where the journey would begin. Reaching a speed of Mach 3.2 (three times the speed of sound, about 2,455 miles per hour), the Blackbird crashed through the gate and the record attempt began.
The plane had to refuel twice: once upon takeoff, once when it docked with a tanker over California to top off, and once en route to near Greenland.
In one incident that looked terrifying from the outside but was handled with cool by the crew, the Blackbird suddenly began to “yaw,” or move quickly from side to side, after losing thrust.
Because the Blackbird took in air from the front to provide thrust for the engines, the air intake mechanisms would often become misaligned, causing a momentary, significant loss of power in one engine.
Widdifield and Sullivan stand in front of a Blackbird SR-71. Photo: Noel Widdifield
“The automatic restart system was activated, the misaligned cones were corrected and the engine was restarted,” Widdifield said. “We had no real concerns other than what this would do to our record speed run.”
The plane then flew through the London “gates” without incident, and the Blackbird landed at Farnborough, where a large crowd waited and a press conference was held, during which Widdifield and Sullivan were on the phone with the new president. “It got huge international coverage for the next year,” says Widdifield, who has six scrapbooks of the clippings. “But what Jim and I always tried to emphasize was that although it was just the two of us who got the glory, there was a huge team behind every flight.
“When you take into account the support staff, the administrative staff and all the people who work to get us flying, that’s 1,000 people. They deserve as much credit as Jim and I do.”
Widdifield, who has been married to his wife Ann for 63 years and has two children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, is mourning the loss of his co-pilot, Jim Sullivan, who died in 2021, and the Blackbird SR-71 itself, which was officially retired in 1998.
He said: “Jim and I kept in touch but then lived far apart so we only saw each other a few times at SR-71 reunions.
“Obviously I was sad when the SR-71 program ended. So am I surprised that no one has beaten our record in 50 years? No, because no aircraft has been built since then that could break that record.”
Increasingly frequent and intense heat waves in the Southwest are damaging some of the desert plants known to thrive in harsh conditions.
Saguaro cacti and agaves were damaged by the extreme heat this summer and last.
Ecologists are working to understand how different species respond to prolonged heatwaves and pinpoint how hot is too hot for them.
LAS VEGAS — On a sun-dappled stretch of West Charleston Boulevard, Norm Schilling parked his truck on the side of the road just to check out his favorite tree.
Schilling, a local horticulturist and owner of a landscape company and garden shop called Mojave Bloom Nursery, rescued the African sumac decades ago after its branches froze and died during an unusually frosty winter. Careful pruning helped the tree survive, but this summer, it faces a new danger: Months of intense heat have dried out the branches, causing the droopy leaves to die in clumps.
This is a seemingly counterintuitive question: the Southwest is accustomed to sweltering heat, and desert plants and trees are drought- and heat-tolerant. Dry, harsh environments are exactly where desert plants and trees thrive.
But as climate change makes heat waves more frequent, intense, and long-lasting, experts say increasingly harsh conditions are testing some iconic desert plants known for their resilience, including saguaro cacti and agaves.
“This summer we’ve seen damage to plants that previously didn’t show heat stress,” Schilling said.
Sun-bleached mock-orange shrub leaves, photographed Aug. 23. Brown spots indicate areas of damaged tissue. Dennis Chou/NBC
As we drove through Las Vegas, he pointed out the results.
A magnolia shrub in a quiet residential neighborhood was sunburned, its shiny leaf tissue bleached and damaged in places by the sun. On another street, two mulberry trees were dying, likely because they weren’t getting enough water to survive the heat. Around the corner, a large juniper tree was showing signs of “severe decline,” Schilling said, with brown, dead leaves still hanging from its dead branches, evidence that the heat damage was recent.
“That juniper is probably close to 40 or 50 years old. It’s a magnificent tree, but it will soon die,” he said, patting and kissing its rough trunk.
Norm Schilling surveys the deaths of juniper trees in Las Vegas on August 23. Dennis Chou/NBC
Then, a few blocks away, there was a row of succulents known as gopher spurge, parts of which looked burnt, branches yellowed with dried sap splayed out in all directions.
“This species is very dependable and very common throughout the valley,” Schilling said, “and some of the plants here are getting to the point where they’re not likely to recover.”
Las Vegas has already broken several heat records this summer, including the hottest day on record when temperatures reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit on July 7. Then, seven consecutive days of temperatures above 115 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded. For most of June, July, and August, temperatures remained in the triple digits with little cooling at night.
“The heat we’re seeing right now is a new paradigm. It’s like the ground is shifting beneath our feet,” Schilling said.
Ecologists across the Southwest are studying how different species respond to the annual heatwaves, trying to understand how hot is too hot for desert plants and trees.
Kevin Hultin, director of research at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, studies the effects of heat stress on ecosystems in the Sonoran Desert. He and his colleagues have been tracking an uptick in saguaro cactus mortality that began in 2020 when the state was in the midst of its worst years-long drought and hasn’t slowed down.
“The summer of 2020 was the hottest on record until last year, and we saw a lot of deaths,” Hultin said. “We’ve been seeing deaths ever since, and we’ve seen an accelerated pace of deaths in 2023.”
The debate on whether cats or dogs are smarter has been ongoing for ages. Dogs typically have larger brains than cats, with more neurons in their cerebral cortex and brains overall. Golden Retrievers, for example, have been found to have 623 million neurons in their cortex compared to 429 million in small dogs and 250 million in cats.
It’s not just about the number of neurons, though. Dogs have been studied more extensively than cats, making their intelligence capabilities more well-known. Cats are harder to study due to their aversion to new environments like laboratories.
Researchers have categorized the intelligence of pets based on three main factors.
Social Intelligence
Social cognition, or an animal’s ability to understand the mental states of others, can be evaluated through unsolvable tasks. For example, when faced with a closed container, dogs are known to turn to humans for help, displaying referential signaling similar to pointing. Cats, on the other hand, are less likely to seek help but show some level of visual communication skills.
When it comes to “counting,” both cats and dogs can discriminate between quantities. Studies have shown that vision plays a crucial role in this ability, with neither species relying heavily on other senses.
Self-awareness
The mirror test, a common method for testing self-recognition, has shown that cats and dogs do not pass the visual test. However, studies have explored the olfactory version of the mirror test, with dogs showing the ability to recognize scents associated with themselves or other dogs.
Cats have also demonstrated the ability to distinguish their feces from others, indicating a level of self-awareness based on smell.
Final Verdict
Intelligence in pets is multifaceted and context-dependent. Cats and dogs exhibit intelligence in different ways, influenced by factors such as genetics, socialization, and training. While some dogs may excel in tasks like remembering toy names, each pet has its unique strengths.
Ultimately, both cats and dogs are intelligent creatures in their own right, deserving of love and appreciation for their individual characteristics.
The Supreme Court of Brazil has ordered the suspension of social media platform X’s activities in the country as the company failed to appoint a legal representative within the specified deadline.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, in a continuing legal battle with X’s owner Elon Musk, issued an order on Friday evening for the complete suspension of X’s operations until all court orders are fulfilled, fines are paid, and a new legal representative is appointed in the country.
The National Telecommunications Agency of Brazil has been given 24 hours to enforce the court’s decision, after which over 20,000 broadband providers in the country will be required to block access to X.
The agency’s director, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, confirmed that the order has been communicated to internet providers, with the expectation that all businesses will have implemented the blocks by the weekend.
Initially, Judge Moraes instructed Apple and Google to block X apps and VPN applications. However, these references were later removed pending further information from the involved parties.
Individuals or companies attempting to use X through VPNs will face fines of 50,000 reais per day.
Following X’s failure to appoint new legal representatives, Musk announced that the platform would not comply with the court’s orders.
Musk criticized Brazil’s actions, accusing the country of stifling the truth and intimidating those seeking it.
The conflict between Musk and the Brazilian authorities began in April, with accusations of spreading misinformation and censorship.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva emphasized the need for compliance with Brazilian laws and court decisions, warning against disrespect for the country’s sovereignty.
In response to Musk’s actions, local bank accounts linked to Starlink, Musk’s satellite and internet provider, were blocked to enforce fines imposed on X.
As legal experts criticized the decision affecting Starlink, the internet provider assured customers of continued service despite the financial implications.
Starlink has requested the Supreme Court to reconsider Moraes’ decision and lift the freeze on its accounts, or alternatively, limit the freeze to the fine amount imposed on X.
THus’ kingdom is a rural idyll, with happy villagers wandering around the market, the young shepherd Len tending his flock and his partner Tyra repairing the shed. It’s as if they all live in a cozy farming simulator made by a benevolent game developer. But is that really the case? Or is it just an illusion cast by an evil god that has trapped them in their horrible pixelated appearance?
That’s the fun “meta” setting of Quantum Witch, a pixel-art platform game by lone developer Nikki Jay. Heavily inspired by old LucasArts adventures and the legendary Dizzy series for the ZX Spectrum, it’s a comedy game with a serious autobiographical heart. Jay grew up in a right-wing religious sect with very closed-minded views, based in the northeast of England. “They were obsessed with the end of the world,” she says. “They believed it could happen at any time, and that all evil people would be destroyed. So I Had “Being good. It was very oppressive.”
“This is not a platform game. Plot Former“…Quantum Witch.” Photo: Nikki Jay
Jay came out as a lesbian as a teenager, but was quickly shunned by her group. After a period of homelessness, she taught herself to code and found work as a software engineer, but the desire to share her story haunted her. “My mind was constantly swirling with what had happened to me,” she says. “I thought, ‘I can’t just hold onto this trauma, I have to do something about it.’ I knew there were other people out there who had been through the same thing. I wanted to tell them a story they could relate to and let them know there was something better out there.”
She initially thought she would write a novel, but found the process terrifying. Instead, she turned to games. Growing up in the 1980s, her family had a ZX Spectrum, which was her escape. “I escaped into video games because they let me create the worlds I wanted,” she says. “I was obsessed with computer-generated worlds. When I first played Trashman on the Spectrum, I thought, ‘This is amazing. This is a completely self-contained, internally consistent world that I can interact with.’ I loved it. It freed me from the fears I was facing in my life.”
“Multi-layered metaphor”…Quantum Witch. Photo: Nikki Jay
In Quantum Witch, Ren discovers that something malevolent exists beyond the saccharine pixel-art world she’s lived in, and sets off on a journey to discover the truth. Along the way, she’ll complete fetch quests and pick flowers for her partner, but ultimately must attack a god and take his throne. While the open Metroidvania-style structure suggests a standard platform game, the game is actually a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style narrative quest. You’ll make many choices over the course of four hours of play, meeting characters and taking on optional side quests that will affect the outcome. “This isn’t just a platform game, it’s a game about discovering the truth,” says Ren. Plot Former“Your choices shape the story. There are multiple endings and, where possible, each side quest also has multiple endings. It’s a total logistical nightmare,” says Jay.
Throughout the adventure, the story is filled with the wonderfully silly humor that is typical of the ZX Spectrum development scene. Available on Steamyou encounter dancing skeletons who can see into time, a lampshade-worshipping religious group (“We’re not a cult!”), and a marketplace where all the merchants resemble famous video game protagonists, including a wordy archaeologist selling dodgy artifacts and a strange circular character trying to sell you stimulants to fight the ghosts in your mind. Naturally, Jay was also a big fan of Digitizer, the cult teletext gaming magazine known for its surreal humor. She later became friends with the magazine’s writer Paul Rose, who served as a script consultant for the game. “I had lots of ideas for storyline and character development for Quantum Witch, but I’d never written anything this long or complex,” Jay explains.[Rose] It’s really helped me organize and make it all work together.
After being blown away by how fun Thank Goodness You’re Here is, it’s great to see other developers taking cues from quirky British humor from the ’70s and ’80s. But Quantum Witch isn’t just a pun-filled comedy quest. It’s a multi-layered metaphor about game development, identity and escapism, and it’s based on its creators’ own experiences. It’s about what games are supposed to be about: making the biggest decisions that sometimes save your life.
“I wanted to introduce a theme of choice and responsibility that is really central to the story,” Jay says. “A lot of religions involve giving up your autonomy to some mysterious force you’ve never seen, heard or met. In the game, Ren reclaims that agency… It’s a queer liberation story.”
isDuring this long, hot, dreary summer, I’ve come to believe in only one thing: seeing Twisters in 4DX. Set in Oklahoma, this Lee Isaac Chung-directed film gets a 7/10 in 2D. It’s a sort of blockbuster sequel to the 1996 disaster movie, with Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones playing tornado chasers and showing off some modest chemistry. But in the immersive theater format of 4DX, where audiences are pelted with literal wind and rain, Twisters gets a can’t-miss 10/10.
In 4DX, you feel every jolt, from the punch in your back to the tickle in your ankles, as the truck sways in the F5 winds. When the characters cling to their bolted-down theater seats during the climactic storm, I clung to the armrests to keep from being torn apart by the wind. There were loud cheers at my screening every time the movie’s tornado hit, as in the scene in which Powell wears a skin-tight white T-shirt in a light rain. I emerged from Twisters with matted hair and tear stains down my side. A friend lost a shoe. In 4DX, in the words of Tyler Owens, who plays Powell, you don’t just “ride out” the storm. teeth storm.
I’m not alone Glorious Recognition4DX has been around in the US for a decade, first introduced with Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014, but Twisters marks 4DX’s culmination and breakout success this summer. Domestic box office records were broken 4DX grossed $2.3 million in its opening weekend across 62 theaters across the US. A TikTok user recorded himself leaving a screening of Twisters and heading home. Mascara streaks, Pushing and shoving in a four-person theater seat and Seeing God (With shocked parents) In the wind tunnel. A week later, Deadpool and Wolverine Exceeded Twisters’ record $2.8 million marked the second consecutive best weekend ever for 4DX, the second most popular of the so-called “premium large-format” viewing options after IMAX, which accounted for a significant chunk of this month’s box office takings. Alien: Romulus box office.
“Premium formats like 4DX and IMAX are making a full comeback,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “People complain about the price of movie tickets, but audiences don’t seem to mind paying a premium for a particular film experience.” For an average of $8 more than a standard ticket, audiences can feel the impact of a sandworm in Dune, simulate the terror of zero gravity in Alien, and scream inside a tornado. The hype for Twisters has been building for years. A Post-Pandemic Craze for Bold, Spectacular Theatrical Experiences “With Twisters, everything clicked,” says Duncan MacDonald, head of worldwide marketing and theatrical development for 4DX company CJ 4DPlex Americas. “We’ve been stuck at home for so long, and theaters have been closed for so long, so we wanted to see something different, and 4DX gave us that.”
4DX’s summer is largely thanks to a team of artists (whom the company calls “editors”) based in Seoul, South Korea, who adapt 35-40 Hollywood movies and about 70-80 non-Hollywood films a year. Since 2009, the studio has enhanced some 1,050 movies, from horror to the Fast and Furious to Pixar films, with 4DX effects such as smells (gardenias, roses from Beauty and the Beast, Wonka chocolate), weather, lighting, and chair programming adapted from a military flight simulator. What began as an experiment by South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV is now screening in 792 cinemas worldwide, including 63 in the U.S. and Canada, according to the company.
Editors take over once nearly all post-production is finished, usually about a month before the film’s release. The team then goes through the film scene by scene, and frame by frame for particularly intense action sequences, choreographing the chair movements and fine-tuning the effects to match the change in perspective. They have to decide which elements to emphasize at which moments and which to tone down. In the case of Twisters, do you focus on the experience of the battered truck, or the wind? In one storm scene, the 4DX experience “starts with the truck, and you feel every little impact,” says Paul Hyun Kim, senior vice president of content and production at CJ 4DPlex. When a tornado forms in the distance, the seats shake less to match the swaying of the truck, emphasizing the tornado’s intense gusts and smooth movement, drawing the audience into the larger storm. “You’re focused on the tornado, you become part of it,” Kim says.
“It’s a very creative process,” he added. It’s also collaborative: Each team has a lead editor who pitches internally to the studio’s editor-in-chief, Cindy Lee, who has edited 300 titles in 15 years. “With that experience, you really start to gain nuance and a feel and expertise for what to highlight and what to distance yourself from,” Kim said.
Embark on a journey through the most peculiar corners of the cosmos, where the laws of “normal” reality are left behind. Explore places where time can be squeezed, bubbles blown, and glass rain falls… sideways.
Diamond Planet – Planet 55 Cancer e
Artwork for exoplanet 55 Cancri e. – Image courtesy of Science Photo Library
At a distance of 41 light years lies the star 55 Cancri, or Copernicus, accompanied by a planet named 55 Cancri e, also called Jansen’s Star, completing an orbit in just over 17 hours.
With a mass eight times that of Earth, 55 Cancri e is a scorching super-Earth with temperatures soaring to 2,400 °C (4,350 °F), capable of melting almost any metal.
In 2010, a study discovered that the planet’s host star has a high carbon-to-oxygen ratio, hinting at the possibility of carbon existing mainly in diamond form on 55 Cancri e. It may be a blazing planet adorned with diamonds.
However, subsequent investigations have revealed a different carbon-to-oxygen ratio, casting doubt on the diamond hypothesis. Nonetheless, even if the ratio doesn’t align, 55 Cancri e could still hold the title of the most valuable planet in the known universe.
The deformed star Vega
Vega, the egg-shaped star – Image credit: Matúš Motlo/Wikipedia
Vega, a brilliant star in the sky, serves as a reference point for measuring the brightness of other stars. Astronomers use apparent magnitude, Vega’s magnitude being zero. A magnitude 1 star is 2.5 times dimmer, while a magnitude -1 star is 2.5 times brighter than Vega.
Vega has also taken on the role of the North Star in the past due to Earth’s axial movements. The star’s rapid rotation, complete every 12.5 hours, causes it to bulge at its equator, giving it an egg-shaped appearance unlike the Sun’s near-perfect sphere.
Continue reading:
Curveball Cluster – Globular Cluster NGC 6791
Open cluster NGC 6791, Hubble Space Telescope image. – Image courtesy of Science Photo Library
NGC 6791, a globular cluster, challenges traditional classifications by blending characteristics of both globular and open clusters. Its ancient, metal-rich stars with unique compositions defy typical cluster norms, hinting at a new cluster type distinct from the traditional categories.
Learn more about the universe’s mysteries and anomalies with Professor Brian Cox from the BBC: universe.
circleWhen Pavel Durov faced criticism from Russian regulators for promoting adult content on his social media platform VKontakte, he responded by changing his Twitter handle from “VK CEO” to “Porn King.”
Over a decade later, Durov’s anti-authoritarian views and moderation practices have led to even more significant issues.
A 39-year-old man was indicted by a Paris court for his involvement in distributing child sexual abuse images on the Telegram messaging app and other offenses.
Since its launch in 2013, Durov has positioned Telegram as a politically impartial space for free speech, resisting government influence. Despite mounting global regulation targeting tech companies and criticism for criminal and terrorist use of his platform, Durov seemed unperturbed.
However, recent events indicate that Durov may have overestimated his position of power and freedom. Following his bail payment of €5 million (£4.2 million) to avoid prison, he had to surrender three passports, limiting his ability to move freely.
Born in the Soviet Union in 1984, Durov exhibited a rebellious streak from a young age, challenging authority and displaying immense self-confidence. His journey from founding VKontakte to creating Telegram has been marked by bold decisions and a commitment to freedom of expression.
Durov’s eccentricities and tech innovations have drawn comparisons to Steve Jobs rather than Mark Zuckerberg. His unorthodox leadership style and strong beliefs have shaped his public persona as a visionary in the tech world.
Telegram’s success, boasting nearly a billion users, showcases Durov’s entrepreneurial skills and technological acumen. The app’s innovative features have attracted a diverse user base and have been instrumental in social movements across the globe.
Despite facing challenges and legal troubles, Durov continues to advocate for freedom of speech and positions himself as a champion of the cause. His journey from a rebellious teenager to a tech giant reflects a complex and intriguing narrative in the digital age.
NGC 261 is located within the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's closest neighbors.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the diffuse nebula NGC 261, about 200,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sivir. Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/LC Johnson, Northwestern University/Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.
NGC 261 It is a diffuse nebula located about 200,000 light years away in the constellation Tetranychus.
The object, also known as Brook 42, ESO 29-12, and IRAS 00447-7322, Found It was discovered on September 5, 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
“The ionized gas burning up from within this diffuse region characterizes NGC 261 as an emission nebula,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“The stars are so hot that they irradiate the surrounding hydrogen gas, giving the clouds a pinkish-red glow.”
The Hubble Space Telescope has turned its keen eye to NGC 261 to study how efficiently stars form within molecular clouds, extremely dense regions of gas and dust.
“These clouds are often composed of large amounts of molecular hydrogen and are the cold regions where most stars form,” the researchers explained.
“But molecular hydrogen is poorly radiative, making it difficult to measure this fuel for star formation in stellar nurseries.”
“Because they're difficult to detect, scientists instead track other molecules present within the molecular cloud.”
“The Small Magellanic Cloud contains a gas-rich environment of young stars, as well as traces of carbon monoxide, which correlates with hydrogen and is a chemical often used to confirm the presence of such clouds.”
“The combined powers of the ACS and WFC3 instruments allowed us to probe the star formation properties of the nebula through its carbon monoxide content at visible and near-infrared wavelengths,” the scientists said.
“This work helps us better understand how stars form in our host galaxy and in our Galactic neighbours.”
Archaeologists say Genovesa Cave Discovered in Mallorca, the main Balearic island and the Mediterranean's sixth largest, the find suggests that humans settled in the western Mediterranean much earlier than previously thought.
5,600-year-old underwater stone bridge in Genovesa Cave, Mallorca, Spain. Image courtesy of R. Landreth.
Limited archaeological evidence makes it difficult to reconstruct early human colonization of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean.
By studying the 7.7-metre (25-foot) submerged bridge, Professor Bogdan Onak of the University of South Florida and his colleagues were able to provide compelling evidence of prior human activity within Genovesa Cave.
“The presence of this underwater bridge and other artefacts indicates a high level of activity and suggests that early settlers were aware of the cave's water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate through them,” Prof Onak said.
Genovesa Cave, located near the coast of Mallorca, has had parts of its passage flooded by rising sea levels and has clear calcite deposits when sea levels were higher.
These layers, along with the light-colored bands on the submerged bridge, act as markers to precisely track historical sea-level changes and pinpoint the date of the bridge's construction.
Previous studies had suggested a human presence at the site as far back as 9,000 years ago, but inconsistencies in nearby carbon-dated bones, pottery and other evidence, as well as poor preservation, had left the findings in doubt.
Recent studies have used charcoal, ash and bones found on the island to create a timeline of human settlement dating back about 4,400 years ago.
This allows the timeline of human presence to coincide with important environmental events, such as the extinction of the goat antelope. Myotragus balearix.
By analysing the bridge's mineral overgrowths and the height of the bridge's colour bands, the authors found that the bridge was built around 6,000 years ago – more than 2,000 years older than previous estimates, narrowing the gap in the timelines between eastern and western Mediterranean settlements.
“The history of the bridge's construction appears to be closely linked to the rapid Holocene sea-level rise just before 6,000 years ago and the brief period of sea-level stillness that caused parts of the upper part of the cave to be flooded,” the researchers said.
“Our chronology shows that sea-level rise stopped and stabilized for several hundred years, between 5,964 and 5,359 years ago. During this time, so-called phreatic expansions of speleothems (POS) formed in the cave lake and the characteristic 'bathtub ring' formed on the bridge.”
“Construction of the bridge probably began early in this period, as it was needed to cross the 0.25 metre deep lake, but it must have been completed before 5,600 years ago, when the upper part of the bridge was submerged.”
“Evidence suggests that humans constructed a cobblestone path and a sturdy bridge leading to the cave's water pool, facilitating access to the only dry part of the cave, located in the Sala d'Entrada across the lake.”
“The exact reason these structures in Genovesa Cave were built remains unclear.”
“However, the dating constraints imposed by the depth of the bridge, and the similar depths at which the POS and colour marks are found, support the idea that early humans were present on the island by 5,600 years ago, potentially extending the date back to 6,000 years ago.”
a paper A paper describing the findings was published in the journal Neurology today. Communication Earth and the Environment.
_____
BP Onac others2024. An underwater bridge built at least 5,600 years ago marks early human arrival on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Community Global Environment 5, 457; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01584-4
Recent respiratory disease epidemics have attracted a lot of attention, yet most respiratory monitoring is limited to physical signals. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is packed with rich molecular information that can reveal various insights into an individual's health. Now, Professor Wei Gao and colleagues at California Institute of Technology have developed EBCare, a mask-based device that monitors EBC biomarkers in real time. For example, the EBCare mask can monitor asthma patients for their levels of nitrite, a chemical that indicates airway inflammation.
This diagram shows how the smart mask detects breathed chemicals, such as nitrite, an indicator of airway inflammation. Images by Wei Gao and Wenzheng Heng, Caltech.
“Monitoring a patient's breathing is routinely done, for example to assess asthma and other respiratory diseases,” Prof Gao said.
“However, this method requires patients to visit a clinic to have a sample taken and then wait for the test results.”
“Since COVID-19, people have started wearing masks. We can leverage this increased use of masks for remote, personalized monitoring to get real-time feedback on one's health from the comfort of one's own home or office.”
“For example, we could use this information to evaluate how effective a medical treatment is.”
To selectively analyze the chemicals and molecules in your breath, you first need to cool them down and condense them into a liquid.
In a clinical setting, this cooling step is separate from the analysis: Moistbreath samples are cooled in a bucket of ice or a large refrigerated cooler.
The EBCare mask, on the other hand, is self-cooling, according to the team.
The breath is cooled by a passive cooling system that integrates hydrogel evaporative cooling and radiative cooling to effectively cool the breath on the facemask.
“This mask represents a new paradigm for respiratory and metabolic disease management and precision medicine because wearing it daily allows for easy collection of breath samples and real-time analysis of exhaled chemical molecules,” said Wen-zheng Heng, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology.
“Breath condensate contains soluble gases as well as non-volatile substances in the form of aerosols and droplets, including metabolic products, inflammatory indicators and pathogens.”
Once the breath is converted into liquid, a series of capillaries in a device called bioinspired microfluidics immediately transports the liquid to a sensor for analysis.
“We learned how to transport water from plants, which use capillary action to pull water up from the ground,” Professor Gao said.
“The analysis results are then sent wirelessly to an individual's phone, tablet or computer.”
“The smart mask can be prepared at a relatively low cost. The materials are designed to cost just $1.”
To test the masks, the authors conducted a series of human studies, focusing primarily on patients with asthma or COPD.
The researchers specifically monitored the patients' breath for nitrite, a biomarker of inflammation in both diseases.
Results showed that the masks accurately detected biomarkers indicative of inflammation in patients' airways.
In a separate experiment, the masks demonstrated that they could accurately detect subjects' blood alcohol levels, suggesting that they could potentially be used for field DUI checks and other alcohol consumption monitoring.
We also explored how the mask can be used to assess blood urea levels in the monitoring and management of kidney disease.
As kidney function declines, by-products of protein metabolism, such as urea, accumulate in the blood.
At the same time, the amount of urea in saliva increases, which breaks down into ammonia gas, leading to high ammonium concentrations in the breath condensate.
The study showed that the smart mask could accurately detect ammonium levels, closely reflecting the urea concentration in blood.
“Our smart mask platform for EBC collection and analysis represents a major advancement in the potential for real-time monitoring of lung health,” said Professor Harry Rossiter, director of the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
“This concept, with the potential to add biosensors for a wide range of compounds in the future, highlights the groundbreaking potential of smart masks in health monitoring and diagnostics.”
An AI-generated replica scene from the computer game Doom
ID Software
Recreating classic computer games with AI Doom It's playable without any computer code or graphics, and researchers on the project say it may be possible in the future to use similar AI models to create games from scratch, in the same way that we currently create text and images.
This model Game NGenIt was compiled by Dani Walewski of Google Research and his colleagues, who declined to be interviewed. New ScientistAccording to them paper According to the study, the AI can play for up to 20 seconds while retaining all the features of the original, including score, ammo levels, map layout, etc. The player can attack enemies, open doors, and interact with the environment as normal.
After this period, the model's memory begins to run out and the illusion begins to break down.
original Doom It was released in 1993 and has since become a popular subject for computer science projects. Running on specially restricted hardware Toasters, treadmills, espresso machines, etc.
But in all of these cases, the hardware is simply running the original game's code. What GameNGen does is fundamentally different: a type of AI called a neural network learns by observation how to recreate a game, without ever seeing the game's code.
The researchers first created an AI model that learned how to interact with Doom in a human-like way, then had it play the game over and over again, and then the second AI model learned how to interact with Doom in a human-like way. Stable diffusion The image generator learned how the game state changes with hundreds of millions of inputs.
The second model was essentially a copy of the game, with all of the knowledge, rules, and instructions from the original code encoded into a mysterious network of artificial neurons within its own architecture. In tests, human players were slightly better than chance at distinguishing between short clips of the game and clips of the AI simulation.
In their paper, GameNGen's developers claim that this is a proof of concept that games can be created by neural networks rather than lines of code. They suggest that games can be generated from text descriptions and concept art, making them cheaper to produce than using human programmers.
Andrew Rogojski Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK say the idea of having neural networks hallucinate game environments and human interactions is an interesting step forward, but it's not meant to replace human game designers.
“I don't think it's the end of game studios. I think what game studios have is the imagination and the skill – the ability to actually create these worlds, understand gameplay, understand engagement, understand how to draw us into a story – that's not just the nuts and bolts or bits and bytes,” he says. “There's something very human about creating compelling experiences that we humans enjoy, and that's going to come primarily from other humans at the moment, and for the foreseeable future.”
Polarized light can erase messages encoded in quantum holograms
Hong Liang, Wai Chun Wong, Tailing Ang, Jensen Lee 2024
The quantum evanescence phenomenon makes it possible to embed secure messages in holograms and selectively erase parts of them even after they have been transmitted.
Quantum optical signals are inherently secure information carriers: any interception of the message destroys the fragile quantum states that encode it. To harness this without the use of bulky devices, Jensen Lee Researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK MetasurfaceIt is a 2D material engineered with special properties to create quantum holograms.
Holograms encode complex information that can be restored when light is shone on it. For example, when light hits a 2D holographic paper card at the right angle, a 3D image appears. To create quantum holograms, researchers encoded information in the quantum state of particles of light, or photons.
First, they used a laser to emit two photons from a special crystal that were tightly bound by quantum entanglement. The photons traveled along separate paths, with only one encountering the metasurface along the way. Thousands of tiny components on the metasurface, like nano-sized bumps, altered the photon’s quantum state in a preprogrammed way, encoding a holographic image into it.
The partner photon encountered a polarizing filter, which controlled which parts of the hologram appeared and which disappeared. The first photon’s state was a superposition of holograms, so it contained different variations of the message at the same time. Because the photons were in an entangled state, polarizing the second photon affected the image the other photon created when it hit the camera. For example, a test hologram contained the letters H, D, V, and A, but adding a filter for horizontal polarization caused the letter H to disappear from the final image.
Li says metasurfaces could be used to encode more complex information into photons, for example as part of quantum cryptography protocols. He calls the research SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference August 21st, San Diego, California.
“Everyone dreams of quantum technology going from square metres on a table to being compact enough to fit in a smartphone, and metasurfaces seem like a good way to achieve that. [about that]” Andrew Forbes A researcher at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said quantum holograms like the one used in this experiment could also be used to image tiny biological structures in the rapidly expanding medical field.
A research team from Finland and Norway has identified two candidate anti-toxic compounds against enteric pathogens. E. coli Marine actinomycete strains from the bacterial metabolite (EPEC) infection Cochlea and Rhodococcus From the Arctic Ocean.
Strain T091-5 of this genus RhodococcusImages/Photos Courtesy of: Pylkkö others., doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1432475.
“We show that advanced screening assays can identify anti-toxic and antibacterial metabolites from actinomycete extracts,” says Professor Paivi Tamela from the University of Helsinki.
“We discovered compounds in the Arctic actinomycete that inhibit virulence without affecting EPEC growth, as well as compounds that inhibit growth.”
Professor Tamera and his colleagues have developed a series of new methods that allow them to simultaneously test the antitoxic and antibacterial effects of hundreds of unknown compounds.
They targeted a strain of EPEC that causes severe, sometimes fatal, diarrhea in children under the age of 5, especially in developing countries. EPEC attaches to cells in the human intestine and causes disease.
Once EPEC attaches to these cells, it injects so-called “virulence factors” into the host cell that hijack its molecular machinery and ultimately kills the cell.
The compounds tested were extracted from four species of actinomycetes isolated from invertebrates collected in the Arctic waters off the coast of Svalbard during an expedition by a Norwegian research vessel. Cronprince Haakon August 2020.
These bacteria were cultured, the cells were extracted, and their contents were separated into fractions.
Each fraction was then tested in vitro against EPEC attached to cultured colon cancer cells.
The researchers discovered two previously unknown compounds with strong anti-toxic or anti-bacterial activity: one from an unknown strain of the genus (called T091-5); Rhodococcusand another strain from an unknown strain of this genus (T160-2). Cochlea.
These compounds exhibited two complementary biological activities.
First, it inhibits the formation of the so-called “actin pedestal” by EPEC bacteria, a key step in the attachment of this pathogen to the host intestinal wall.
The second is to block EPEC binding to so-called Tir receptors on the surface of host cells, a necessary step to rewire intracellular processes and cause disease.
Unlike compounds in T160-2, compounds in T091-5 did not slow the growth of EPEC bacteria.
This means that T091-5 is the most promising of the two strains, as EPEC is unlikely to eventually develop resistance to its antivirulence effects.
Using advanced analytical techniques, the authors determined that the active compounds in T091-5 were likely phospholipids, a type of fatty phosphorus-containing molecule that plays an important role in cellular metabolism.
“The next steps are to optimise the culture conditions for compound production and to isolate sufficient quantities of each compound to elucidate their structures and further explore their respective biological activities,” Prof Tamera said.
of Survey results Published in today's journal The cutting edge of microbiology.
_____
Tuomas Pirko others2024. Bioprospecting EPEC virulence inhibitors from metabolites of an Arctic marine actinomycete. Front. Microbiol 15;doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1432475
Researchers are experimenting with biosensors that can monitor workers’ vital signs and provide warnings if they show signs of heatstroke.
The four-year study involves more than 150 farmworkers in Florida who have been wearing sensors in the fields.
Agricultural workers are 35 times more likely to die from heatstroke than other workers.
People who work outdoors are at greatest risk from extreme heat, which can be fatal within minutes, so researchers have begun experimenting with wearable sensors that can monitor workers’ vital signs and warn them if they are starting to show the early symptoms of heatstroke.
In Pearson, Florida, where temperatures can soar to nearly 90 degrees just before and after noon, workers on a fern farm wear experimental biopatches as part of a study sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. National Institutes of HealthThe patch also measures a worker’s vital signs and skin hydration, and is equipped with a gyroscope to monitor continuous movement.
Scientists from Emory University and Georgia Tech are collecting data and feeding it into an artificial intelligence algorithm. The ultimate goal is for the AI to predict when workers are likely to suffer from heatstroke and send them a warning on their phone before that happens. But for now, the researchers are still analyzing the data and plan to publish a research paper next year.
“There’s a perception that field work is hot, and that’s the reality,” says Roxana Chicas, a nurse researcher at Emory University who has been overseeing Biopatch data collection. “I think with research and creativity, we can find ways to protect field workers.”
average 34 workers died of heatstroke According to the Environmental Protection Agency, farmworkers will be killed every year from 1992 to 2022. 35x odds Workers are more likely to die from heatstroke than other workers, but until now it has been left to states to decide how to protect workers from heatstroke. California, for example, requires employers to provide training, water, and shade when temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but many states have no such rules.
Chicas and his team partnered with the Florida Farmworkers Association to recruit participants for the study, aiming to have 100 workers wear the biopatch over the four-year study, but were surprised by how many volunteered, ultimately enrolling 166.
Participating workers arrive at work before dawn, receive a patch, have their vital signs monitored, and then head out into the fields before the hottest, most dangerous parts of the day.
“We hope this study will help improve working conditions,” study participant Juan Pérez said in Spanish, adding that he has worked in the fern fields for 20 years and would like more breaks and higher wages.
Other farmworkers said they hoped the study would shed light on just how tough their jobs are.
Study participant Antonia Hernandez, who lives in Pearson, said she often worries about the heat hazards facing her and her daughter, who both work in fern fields.
“When you don’t have a family, the only thing you worry about is the house and the rent,” Hernandez said in Spanish. “But when you have children, the truth is, there’s a lot of pressure and you have to work.”
Chicas said he could see the heat-related fatigue showing on some of the workers’ faces.
“They look much older than their real age, some of them look much older than their real age, because it takes a toll on their body and their health,” she said.
Chikas has been researching ways to protect farmworkers from the heat for nearly a decade. In a project that began in 2015, workers were fitted with bulky sensors that measured skin temperature, skin hydration, blood oxygen levels, and vital signs. This latest study is the first to test a lightweight biopatch that looks like a large bandage and is placed in the center of the chest.
Overall, wearable sensors are much easier to use, and some are becoming more widely used. While the biosensors that Cikas’ team is experimenting with aren’t yet available to the public, a brand called SlateSafety sells a system (sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) that is available to employers. The system includes an armband that transmits measurements of a worker’s core temperature to a monitoring system. If the temperature is too high, the employer can notify the worker to take a break.
A similar technology, called the Heat Stroke Prevention System, is used in the military. Developed by the U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine, the system requires soldiers or Marines in a company to wear a chest strap that estimates core temperature, skin temperature and gait stability, allowing commanders to understand a soldier’s location and risk of heatstroke.
“The system is programmed to sense when a person is approaching higher than appropriate levels of heat exposure,” says Emma Atkinson, a biomedical researcher at the institute. stated in a news release “Our system allows us to provide warnings before heat stroke occurs, allowing us to intervene before someone collapses,” the report, released in February, added.
The system that Chicas and his team are developing differs from those systems in that it notifies workers directly, rather than in a larger system controlled by their employers. They haven’t finished collecting data from farmworkers yet, but the next step is for algorithms to start identifying patterns that might indicate risk of heatstroke.
“Outdoor workers need to spend time outdoors – otherwise food wouldn’t be harvested, ferns wouldn’t be cut, houses wouldn’t be built,” Chicas said. “With the growing threat of climate change, workers need something to better protect themselves.”
David Bennett Jr. knelt at his bedside, phone in hand, anxiously waiting for the call he’d never received before: The hospital was supposed to update him on whether his father, who had received a new heart transplanted from a pig, was still alive.
It was the first time a living human had received a pig organ transplant.
“I don’t know what the news is, but my dad opened his eyes, he was awake and he was OK. It was unbelievable,” Bennett Jr. said.
Bennett’s father, David Bennett Sr., had severe congestive heart failure and was not a candidate for a transplant. He knew he would likely die soon. There was nothing else he could do but take a chance on a novel, cutting-edge procedure. Bennett Sr. and his son agreed it was worth the risk.
The achievement made headlines around the world following the transplant in January 2022. Initially, the results looked promising, with some family members beginning to entertain the idea that Bennett Sr. might eventually be released from the hospital.
“There were definitely future-oriented conversations about the home environment, who was going to care for him and what that was going to look like,” Bennett Jr. said. “Everyone was very optimistic and hopeful.”
David Bennett Jr. and his family. Jesse Barber, NBC News
But two months later, Bennett Sr.’s body rejected the heart and he died at age 57. paperDoctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center said his body likely produced too many antibodies to fight the new organ. The drugs he was given may have also increased the chance of rejection, and a virus in the pig’s heart further complicates things.
Three other patients have followed in Bennett Sr.’s footsteps and received pig organs, most recently a pig kidney transplant in April. Together, they are pioneers in the burgeoning field of xenotransplantation. For them, the journey has been a roller coaster of emotions, from anxiety to blind hope and ultimately praise for their loved one’s decision, three family members told NBC News.
“Obviously, I wish my dad was still here, but I know his sacrifice was not in vain,” Bennett Jr. said.
None of the patients survived more than three months. To the public, it may have seemed a failure. But to their families, the transplants had accomplished a goal: to buy their loved ones more time and to advance research that may one day save their lives.
“Larry thought: He’s going to die. It’s inevitable, it’s coming,” says Anne Fawcett, whose husband of nearly 38 years, Laurence Fawcett, is the second person to receive a pig heart transplant. “So to gather as much data as we can, to do as much research as we can, why not use Larry’s body as a test subject, to give people in the future who need a transplant another option?”
The potential of xenotransplantation lies in the shortage of available human organs. 17 people die every day in the United States while waiting for an organ transplantBecause pig organs are more readily available, doctors expect such surgeries to become as common as hip replacements in the future, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
circleWhen it comes to video games, they all have one thing in common: Releasing one game is hard. But releasing 50? All at once? That’s a whole other challenge. That’s the challenge for the team behind UFO 50. Seven years after it was announced, this long-awaited anthology of 8-bit, retro-style games is finally set to release this September. With 50 games included, it’ll be worth the wait.
UFO 50 is a giant variety pack of complete video games, each with its own title, genre, and story. “These aren’t mini-games,” asserts Derek Yu, creator and developer of the 2008 platform game Spelunky. Considered one of the greatest games of all time“All of the games could potentially exist as full releases on ’80s consoles or computers.”
The concept that holds this collection together is that these games were all developed by UFO Soft, a mysterious (fictional) 80s video game company that developed an entire catalog for an equally fictional gaming console. There’s a mix of single-player and multiplayer, and everything from puzzle games and platform games to tactical war games and RPGs. Some games don’t fit into typical categories at all, like Pingolf, a side-scrolling pinball-golf hybrid, or Waldorf’s Journey, where you try to crash your flying walrus into your friend’s flying walrus. Every game looks like it was released for the NES, but with a decidedly modern gaming feel. Think low-res, high-concept games.
While some genres in the mix didn’t exist in the ‘80s, like roguelike platformers and tower defense games, classic genres bring new mechanics to their retro roots. “Take Mini & Max, for example. It looks like a regular platform game, but you can make yourself small or big anywhere and explore the world. You might find an entire microscopic city on an unremarkable dirt tile,” hints Yu.
A simple arcade style experience…UFO 50 screenshots. Photo: Mossmouth
Some of the games are simple arcade-style, where the goal of the game is to get a high score, but others are on a grander scale. “Grimstone is one of the largest games in our collection. It’s an RPG, so I think it’s not crazy to say it takes 20 hours to play,” Yu reveals. “UFO Soft’s history stretches from 1982 to 1990, and games have become more technologically advanced over the years. If you go through the timeline, you’ll notice that there are games with sequels and recurring characters.”
One such character is the company’s mascot, the Pilot, who appears in many of its games, including in Pilot Quest, a dedicated top-down action game in which players explore dungeons and expand their base.
The not-so-fictional team behind UFO 50 is a six-strong supergroup of indie game developers known for cult hits like Spelunky, Catacomb Kids, Cadence of Hyrule, and Madhouse, as well as card games like Air and Land & Sea. For the group, the ‘80s gaming style is more than just an aesthetic: “Everyone on the team loves the mystery and charm of ‘80s games,” says Yu.
“You didn’t always know what experience you were going to have, which only added to the tension and excitement. I wasn’t afraid to get a little lost while playing. The design was more adventurous, despite the limitations of the hardware.” The original Legend of Zelda was a particular reference for Yu. “I remember playing the game while my dad drew maps, marking dungeons and secret locations. It really felt like we were on an adventure together. Working together as a team, we began to understand where everything was and how it worked. The graphics weren’t realistic, but the world felt incredibly real.”
There’s a lot to explore in UFO 50. It could take you months to play through all of these games, unlock their secrets, and find their connections, but whether you’re familiar with video games from this era or not, you’ll have a ton of fun making those discoveries.
aWith school starting back up, the pressure is on for parents to get their kids their first mobile phone, and when you decide the time has come, there are plenty of options: a smartphone, a basic phone, or upgrading to something new.
From the phone to the mobile services that come with it, key parental controls, to how well the phone fits with the devices you already use, here are some things you need to know before you buy, including which model is best for you.
Your best option might be the phone you already have, especially if you plan on replacing it in the near future. As long as it’s given a thorough cleaning, a new battery, a new case, and the software support is still there, a hand-me-down might be the best way to give your child a phone, while also being kind to the planet and your wallet.
A battery replacement will usually cost between £50 and £150 depending on the model and the shop. If you know how to use your mobile phone well, it will be easier to wipe the battery and set it up for your child.
The Nokia 3210 is one of HMD’s latest retro revival phones. Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
Mobile operator EE recently advised parents not to give smartphones to primary school-aged children. So if your only purpose is to make and receive calls and texts, or to arrange a pick-up or make an emergency call, a basic “dumb” phone would be the solution. However, be aware that these phones only support SMS, not messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, etc.
The downside is that many lower spec phones still have limited access to the internet, and only a handful have basic parental controls that lock the camera, browser and picture messaging (MMS). The lack of restrictions on things like calls and text contacts may also be a turn off, so check the manufacturer’s help documentation to see what’s possible before you buy.
Nokia makes a range of feature phones for around £30 to £60, such as the 110 4G and 225. For more fun there are nostalgic models such as the remake of the Nokia 3210, or film tie-in models such as the recently released HMD Barbie phone. Whatever model you choose, make sure it’s 4G compatible with most 3G services in the UK. Shutdown by the end of 2024.
Nokia 110 4G, £39.99 Argos
Nokia 225, £59.99 Argos Home page
Nokia 3210, £59.99 Argos Home page
The Moto G34 comes with 5G, Android 14, and will support security updates until January 2027. Photo: Motorola
Affordable Android phones are a good starting point; there are a variety of models available in the £80 to £180 price range. They usually have large screens and good battery life, although the cameras aren’t the best and apps can be slow to open and use.
Avoid models with Android Go or without access to the Play Store or Google services. Check the remaining time for software support; phones at this level usually only get updates for 2-3 years from the initial release, not at the time of purchase. Kids drop their phones more than adults, so a sturdy case with some water resistance is a good idea.
HMD sells a range of Android devices, either under its own brand or the Nokia brand, and offers longer software support than many others: the HMD Pulse costs under £100, runs Android 14 with security updates until May 2027, and if anything breaks you can fix it at home.
Motorola offers some great value products. Moto G34 Equipped with 5G, large battery, large screen, Android 14, and security updates Until January 2027.
If you’re in the Samsung family, the Galaxy A15 might be a better choice: it costs around £170, runs Android 14 with security updates until January 2029, and has a range of first- and third-party case options to ensure protection.
“There’s no moon, but the sky is full of stars.” The Milky Way in the Atacama Desert
Alamy Stock Photo
Chapter 1
Everything you touch changes.
Everything you change changes you.
The only lasting truth is change.
God is change.
Earthseed: The Book of the Living
Saturday,July20,2024
I had the same dream last night. I should have expected it. This dream appears when I am struggling – when I am trying to twist my own personal hooks and pretend nothing unusual is happening. It appears when I am trying to be my father’s daughter. Today is our birthday – mine is 15, my father’s is 55. Tomorrow I will try to please my father, my community and God. So last night I had a dream that reminded me that it is all a lie. I feel I need to write about this dream because this lie is bothering me so much.
I am learning to fly, to levitate. Nobody is teaching me. I am learning bit by bit, in my dreams, little by little. Not very subtle images, but persistent images. I have taken many lessons, and I am better at flying than I was before. I trust my abilities a lot more now, but it still scares me. I still can’t control my direction very well.
I lean toward the door. It’s the kind of door between my room and the hallway. It seems far away from me, but I lean toward it. I stiffen and tense, releasing everything I’ve been holding onto that’s kept me from rising or falling. I lean into the air, straining upward. Not moving upward, but not falling completely either. And I begin to glide on the air a few feet above the floor, oscillating between fear and delight.
I drift toward a doorway. A cold, pale light shines from it. I slide a little to the right, then a little further. I pass the door and nearly hit the wall beside it, but I can’t stop or turn. I drift away from the doorway, away from the cold, glowing light and into another light.
The wall in front of me is on fire. Fire has come out of nowhere, eating through the wall, coming towards me, towards me. The fire spreads. I drift into it. It burns around me. I struggle and struggle, grasping for air and fire, kicking and burning, trying to swim back out of it. Darkness.
Maybe it wakes me up a little. When the fire engulfs me, I wake up sometimes. That’s bad. If I wake up completely, I can’t go back to sleep. I try, but I’ve never been able to fall asleep.
This time I didn’t wake up completely. I gradually blended into the second half of the dream, the part that actually happened years ago when I was little, the part that seemed like no big deal at the time.
darkness.
Darkness turns to light. Stars.
The stars cast a cold, pale light.
“We were invisible So “When I was little, I could see a lot of stars,” my mother-in-law tells me. She speaks Spanish as her native language. She stands small and still, gazing up at the wide sweep of the Milky Way. She and I went outside after dark to retrieve the laundry that was hanging on the clothesline. The day was still hot, and we both like the cool darkness of the early evening. There is no moon, but it’s easy to see. The sky is full of stars.
The neighborhood wall is a huge, looming presence. To me it looks like a crouching animal, ready to pounce at any moment, more threatening than protective. But my mother-in-law is there and she is not scared. I am with her. I am 7 years old.
I look up at the stars and the deep black sky. “Why didn’t you see the stars?” I ask her. “Everyone can see them.” I speak to her in Spanish, just like she taught me. It feels somehow intimate.
“The city lights,” she says. “The lights, the progress, the growth, all that stuff, I just don’t care anymore because it’s too hot and too poor.” She pauses. “When I was your age, my mother told me that the stars, the few stars we could see, were windows to heaven. Windows through which God could look at us. And for almost a year, I believed her.” My stepmother handed me an armful of diapers for my youngest brother. I took them and walked back to the house where she kept a big wicker laundry basket, and piled the diapers on top of the rest of the clothes. The basket was full. I made sure she wasn’t looking, and then collapsed backwards onto the pile of stiff, clean, soft clothes. For a moment, the fall felt like floating.
I lie there and look up at the stars, pick out some constellations and name the stars that make up them, which I learned from an astronomy book that belonged to my paternal grandmother.
Suddenly, I saw a streak of light from a meteor streak across the western sky. I stared at it, hoping to see another one. Then my mother-in-law called me, and I returned to her.
“We have city lights now,” I told her. “They don’t hide the stars,” she shook her head. “There aren’t as many as there used to be. Kids today don’t know how bright the city lights used to be, and that wasn’t that long ago.” “I want stars,” I said.
“The stars are free,” she shrugs. “I want the city lights back, I wish they’d come back soon. But you can buy the stars.”
excerpt The Parable of the Sower Written by Octavia E. Butler and published by Headline, this is the latest selection from the New Scientist Book Club. Sign up here to read it with us.
I I’m dying. I found some life expectancy calculators online that put me at either extremes of 84 or 54, and I’m turning 55 in December, so I’m worried. I’m running out of time to do the things I dream of doing: seeing Machu Picchu, finding a good vegan sausage, beating the kids at Mario Kart again.
The cats were our family’s favorite pastime, but when they began to gleefully slaughter me, I was forced to exact a petty revenge: take what they loved and secretly donate it to a charity shop. They still miss them to this day.
When they got Mario Kart 8, I called it a day, saying I was done with that childish stuff. But with death looming in the months or decades to come, I spent a week training to get to the top again.
The game has thousands of characters now. In addition to various versions of the original characters, there’s Kamek, a mysterious stranger known only as the Villager, and some totally random people, though I’m not sure who Pauline is. Glen Powell is probably in there somewhere, too; he’s been in everything else lately.
This was my first time handling the Switch OLED, and it’s a fragile little thing the size of a 1970s sandwich, with a recessed on/off button that requires tweezers — this is not a machine made for big fingers.
But those bloated fingers still have the skill. I tell my oldest daughter that she is easily passing the 50cc and 100cc levels. She says to me, “That’s amazing, Dad. As long as you do your best, that’s all you can do.” She smiles, but her eyes are not smiling. “Remember, Dad… Rainbow Road.”
Destroyer of dreams…Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Tour. Photo: Nintendo
I broke out in a cold sweat. That song destroyed dreams. It drove me crazy. It mocked my sense of depth.
On day two, I dominated Rainbow Road in the 100cc Star Cup and racked up wins like a pro. With perfect drift boost timing, I won four Grand Prix in one day. The menu music felt like something straight out of a “comedy” cop movie where one of Kevins (Hart or James) chases someone through a cake factory and comes out covered in icing, but it got the joy flowing in my old plaque covered veins.
I was surprised that I never went off course. Steering assist on…oh my gosh. This is like when my wife found out I was playing Horizon Zero Dawn on “Story” difficulty.
Without steering assist it’s a whole different story. The 150cc Star Road is the exact same nightmare as before. I hate this track, it’s like something out of a Gaspar Noe movie. 4 hours of practice on Friday gave me a stress rash on my face. My wife asks me why I yelled “Forget you, Lady Rosaline!”
On Saturdays, I go out drinking under pressure.
The Sunday of the Diamond Family Grand Prix arrives. My wife is called in to work. It’s a shame because she loses easily. “Are you good at Mario Kart?” I ask my son’s girlfriend.
“Not really,” she replied.
“Perfect,” I announced. “You’re player number four.”
My son plays shirtless because he doesn’t want to get his work shirt dirty, but it’s clearly an act of power, so I take my shirt off too. I have more hair and tattoos than he does. Nice try, son.
The controllers are the bigger problem. I’ve practiced with two Joy-Cons welded together into a single device, but with four players, each person shrinking one Joy-Con to the size of an inflated Mars bar and the shoulder buttons deforming into staple-sized flakes, my hands are twisted into unnatural shapes, and within minutes I’m in pain like I’m not feeling arthritis in 20 years.
This game is Should Play Mario Kart 8 on Nintendo Switch. Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images (Courtesy of Nintendo of America)
There are other oddities too: My guy (Dry Bones, chosen to reflect one of my many ailments) keeps veering off to the right.
“What the hell is wrong with my controls?” I exclaim, in seventh place.
“The controller is drifting,” my son says.
“why?”
“Because it’s Nintendo.”
I’d completely forgotten about this. Just like the shoulder buttons on an Xbox controller start to wear out after a year, Nintendo controllers also drift. Good thing Nintendo can’t control the Mars Rover buggy, or it would just be spinning around in circles.
“You’ll get used to it, Dad.”
He does. I don’t.
I finished the Grand Prix in third place behind my son and the number one kid. The number one kid is a really good gamer. I asked her how she was so good. “Hmm. Autism, Dad!” she replied.
I demand a rematch, in which Number 1 Child must use a drift controller.
I get even worse. My son’s girlfriend is hitting on me. She is the sweetest, kindest, most respectful girl in the world, the kind of girl I would dream of giving to my son. But she Now he cries as if it were his own child. What a terrible child.
Miraculously (that is, thanks to me firing off an armada of blue shells), I overtook the number one kid in the final race and won. She still won the grand prize, but I proved I could still win. I did a loud, incredibly complicated victory dance and then booked myself in for a massage to fix my twisted, claw-like hands.
My elderly father still has some life left in him.
Driving these days can be quite challenging with traffic jams, road construction, and unexpected hazards causing delays to your daily schedule. But imagine if things were even worse, like driving down a mountain road where one wrong move could mean catastrophe.
This is a reality in many parts of the world, where the only way to get from point A to point B is by taking your life into your own hands.
Buckle up and prepare for a harrowing journey on some of the most treacherous roads in the world.
Keylon Kishtwar Road, India
The mountainous section of India’s “Kila-Kishtwar” road. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
If a 235km stretch of single-track dirt road through treacherous mountain passes sounds like a fun road trip to you, then the road from Keylong to Kishwar in India is perfect for you.
With no safety fences and cliffs thousands of metres below, along with the risk of landslides and unpredictable weather, it’s no surprise this road is one of the most perilous in India.
A portion of the road called the “Cliffhanger” is narrow and could collapse if too close to the cliff.
Ibarska Magistrala, Serbia
A truck climbs the steep hill towards Mount Rudnik on the Ibar highway in Serbia. Photo credit: BrankaVV/Wikipedia Commons
National Route 22 or the “Ibar Highway,” also known as the “Black Highway,” is among the most dangerous roads in Europe and one of the busiest in the country.
Connecting Belgrade with other major municipalities in Serbia and neighboring countries like Montenegro, this highway features long stretches of straight road with perilous curves that lead to many accidents, especially at night, often due to speeding or drunk driving.
The village of Vrjani, a quiet corner of the Ibar Highway, Serbia. Photo credit: BrankaVV/Wikipedia Commons
Transfagarasan, Romania
Romania’s Transfagarasan Highway is one of the most beautiful roads in Europe, but also one of the most dangerous. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Romania’s highways might not be the best in Europe in terms of quality, but the most famous and perilous is the Transfagarasan highway.
This winding mountain road climbs to over 2,000 meters, offering breathtaking views along its 150-kilometer route. Its hairpin turns, tunnels, and dramatic elevation changes pose a real challenge for drivers, with the added danger of encountering large flocks of sheep on the road, as shepherds use it to move their sheep between pastures.
Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand
Skippers Canyon, Queenstown, New Zealand. Photo by Bernard Spragg/Wikipedia Commons
Skippers Canyon is a hazardous road in New Zealand, carved into rock by miners using hand tools and explosives. With steep cliffs, hairpin turns, and a one-way road for most of its 22-kilometer length, it’s extremely dangerous, and rental car insurance doesn’t cover this section.
Though the Gold Rush that spurred its construction is long over, the area’s historical significance and stunning landscapes make it a tourist attraction today.
A warning sign highlighting the dangers encountered on the road to Skippers Canyon, New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Alamy
James Dalton Highway, USA
A truck drives along the James Dalton Highway (also known as Haul Road) in the Arctic Circle of Alaska, USA, on a stormy day. Photo credit: Alamy
Made famous by the TV show “Ice Road Truckers,” the James Dalton Highway is a challenging road in Alaska that connects Fairbanks to Deadhorse north of the Arctic Circle.
This 666-km road, named after an Alaskan engineer, is the main route for trucks transporting fuel and supplies to oil field workers. Only a third of the road is paved, with the rest being gravel and stone.
The main hazards on this highway include severe weather, isolation, and encounters with polar bears, making it a risky journey for any driver.
A large trailer truck travels along the Dalton Highway through the Brooks Range region of Alaska’s North Slope, USA. The Dalton Highway (Alaska State Route 11) runs 412 miles (666 km) through northern Alaska from Livengood (53 miles north of Fairbanks) to Prudhoe Bay. Photo by Lance King/Getty Images
Zojila Pass, India
Indian Army vehicles travel through the Zojila Pass in India, the only road connecting Kashmir with Ladakh. Photo: Faisal Khan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Zojila Pass is a critical road linking Ladakh with the Kashmir Valley, situated high in the Himalayas. The road faces challenges like snow, ice, and seasonal closures lasting months.
The narrow pass with no safety fences has no room for more than one car at a time, making it a daunting route with cliffs that drop straight into the valley below – not for the faint of heart.
A new tunnel is under construction to protect the road from harsh winters, keeping it open year-round, but its safety remains to be seen.
Fairy Meadows Road, Pakistan
This photo of Fairy Meadows Road in Pakistan shows how narrow and dangerous the road is. Photo by Alamy
The harrowing Fairy Meadows Road in Pakistan winds through mountainous terrain over 3,000 meters above sea level. With only enough room for one car at a time and no safety barriers, accidents are frequent.
This 16km road connects the Karakoram Highway to the village of Tato inside Fairy Meadows National Park, reserved exclusively for local drivers due to its extreme danger.
Yungas Road, Bolivia
Bolivia’s North Yungas Road, known as the “Road of Death,” is one of the most dangerous roads in the world. Looking at this image, it’s easy to see why. Photo: Anton Petras/Getty Images
The North Yungas Road in Bolivia, famously known as the “Road of Death,” is a treacherous 64km route connecting La Paz to the Yungas region. The road saw an average of 200 to 300 fatalities annually until a safer alternative was built.
This gravel road climbing up the mountain is notorious for poor visibility due to fog and rain, narrow and winding paths, and steep cliffs that make overtaking traffic a dangerous endeavor.
A bus approaches a simple bridge on Bolivia’s “Road of Death.” Photo by Anton Petras/Getty Images
Sichuan-Tibet Expressway, China
The winding road connecting Sichuan and Tibet on the snow-covered Qier Mountains in Dege County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
The Sichuan-Tibet Expressway in China, one of the world’s highest roads, presents challenges like avalanches, landslides, and single-track sections at high altitudes with low grip.
This busy road, known for frequent traffic jams and gridlock, can take up to 15 days to navigate, testing drivers’ patience and skill amid snow-capped mountains and dramatic canyons.
Bayburt D915, Türkiye
Drivers Yagiz Avci and Dmitry Sotnikov speed along the D915 road from Trabzon to Bayburt in Turkey. Photo courtesy of Alamy
The twisty D915 in Turkey is often cited as one of the world’s scariest roads due to its numerous hairpin turns through mountainous terrain. Linking the Black Sea to Bayburt, a city with roots in the ancient Silk Road trade route, this road demands careful navigation due to its loose surface, exposure to bad weather, and various hazards.
The winding Bayburt D915 highway crosses the Soganli mountainside in Trabzon, Turkey. Photo: Ali Ihsan Özturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Paleontologists have unearthed the 20-million-year-old fossil skeleton of a species of sirenian mammal from the dugong family. Cleavage Shark and crocodile bite marks have been found in northwestern Venezuela. The most prominent bite marks are from deep, dragging tooth impacts concentrated on the snout of the animals. Researchers interpret this as the result of active predation, as they are similar to bite marks made by crocodiles when they grab and roll their prey. Moreover, shark bite marks can be observed throughout Venezuela. CleavageThe skeleton of Tiger shark (Galeocerdo Aduncus) The teeth associated with this skeleton.
Tiger sharks are congregating to make easy catches of larger prey as crocodiles attack ancient dugong-like siren mammals. CleavageImage courtesy of Jaime Bran Sarmiento.
“Our discovery adds to the growing evidence that food chains millions of years ago worked in a similar way to how they do today,” said Dr Aldo Benitez Palomino, a paleontologist at the institute. University of Zurich.
“Today, when we observe predators in the wild, we often find dead prey, indicating that the animal also served as a food source for other animals. However, the fossil record of this is rare.”
“It was unclear which animals would serve this purpose as a food source for multiple predators.”
“Our previous research has confirmed that several shark species scavenge sperm whale carcasses, and this new study highlights the importance of sea cows in the food chain.”
Evidence for food web interactions is abundant in the fossil record, but most of it is represented by fragmentary fossils that provide ambiguous meaning.
Therefore, it is often difficult to distinguish between active feeding and signs of saprophytic activity.
“Our results are one of the few to document multiple predators on a single prey and provide a glimpse into food webs in the region during the Miocene,” Dr Benitez-Palomino said.
The dugong specimen studied by the team was collected from an outcrop of the Agua Clara Formation, south of the city of Coro, Venezuela.
The fossil is closely related to a species of sirenian in the dugong family. Cleavage.
“We first heard about the site through word of mouth from local farmers who noticed some unusual 'rocks'. We were intrigued and decided to investigate,” said Professor Marcelo Sánchez-Vilagra from the University of Zurich.
“Initially, we weren't familiar with the geology of the site, and the first fossil we unearthed was just part of a skull.”
“It took us a while to identify what it was – very strange looking remains of a sea cow.”
“By studying geological maps and examining the sediments at the new site, we were able to determine the age of the rocks in which the fossils were found.”
“One of the factors that allowed us to observe evidence of aquatic mammal predation, which is known to exist in this region, is the extremely well-preserved cortical layer of the fossil, which is likely due to the fine sediment in which the fossil was embedded.”
“After locating the fossils, our team organized a paleontological rescue operation, employing extraction techniques with full case protection.”
“A team of five people was involved in working on the fossil, and the job took about seven hours.”
“The subsequent preparations, particularly the meticulous task of preparing and repairing the skull, took several months.”
Team Survey results Published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
_____
Aldo Benitez Palomino othersTrophic interactions between sharks and crocodiles and Sirenia in the Miocene of Venezuela. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontologyy, published online August 28, 2024, doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2381505
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority have discovered a stone seal from the First Temple period near the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. The ancient seal bears a name inscribed in ancient Hebrew script and a winged figure.
A 2,700-year-old stone seal discovered in Jerusalem, Israel. Image courtesy of Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful seals ever found in excavations in ancient Jerusalem and is executed at the highest artistic level,” said Dr. Yuval Baruch and Dr. Navot Rom, directors of the excavation at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“These objects, inscribed with mirror writing, served as talismans for their owners and as a means of legally signing documents and certificates.”
“It has convex notches on both sides and holes along its length so it can be put on a chain and worn around your neck.”
“In the centre is a profile of what is probably a king, winged and wearing a long striped shirt, striding to the right.”
“The figure has a long, curly mane that covers his neck and wears a hat or crown on his head.”
“The figure has one arm raised in front of him with the palm open, possibly suggesting that he is holding something.”
On either side of the statue are ancient Hebrew inscriptions. Rehoezer ben Hoshayahu.
“We believe this seal was worn around the neck as a talisman by a man named Hoshayahu, who was a high-ranking official in the administration of the kingdom of Judah,” said Dr Philip Vukosavovich, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“Hoshayahu, by virtue of his authority and position, allowed himself to be ennobled and to sport a seal bearing an awe-inspiring figure that embodied the symbols of his authority.”
“The amulet was likely made by a local craftsman, a Jew, at the request of the owner. It was made at a very high artistic level.”
“The hypothesis is that after Hoshaiah died, his son Jehoezer inherited the seal and added his own name and his father's name on either side of the demon.”
“Perhaps he did so in order to directly adopt for himself the beneficial properties that he believed the talisman embodied as a magical item.”
The name Jehoezer is better known in the Bible (1 Chronicles 12:7) as its abbreviated form, Yoezer. King David's Warriors.
“And in the Book of Jeremiah (43:2), which records the events of these times, a man with a similar name, Azariah ben Hoshaiah, is mentioned.”
“The two parts of his first name are written in reverse order to the seal bearer's name, and his surname is the same, but in an abbreviated form.”
“The text matches the name on the newly discovered seal and is appropriate for the period.”
“When we compare the shape and writing of the letters with other Hebrew seals and stamps from Jerusalem, we see that the names on the seals were carelessly engraved, in contrast to the carefully carved sculptures of demons,” said Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa.
“It is possible that it was Jehoezeru himself who inscribed his name on the object.”
“This is further evidence of the literacy that existed during this time,” Dr Baruch said.
“Contrary to popular belief, literacy during this period does not appear to have been the sole domain of the elite of society.”
“People were able to read and write at least at a basic level because of commercial necessity.”
“Numerous traces of seals written in ancient Hebrew characters have been found in the City of David and in the surrounding areas of the Kingdom of Judah.”
“The distinctive Neo-Assyrian image of the winged man is unique and highly unusual for a hieroglyphic style from the Late First Temple period.”
“The influence of the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the entire region, is clearly visible here.”
“Judah in general, and Jerusalem in particular, was under the hegemony and influence of the Assyrian Empire at that time, a reality that is reflected in its culture and art.”
“That the seal's owner chose the devil as the symbol of his seal may prove that he felt he belonged to a broader cultural context, much like the people of Israel today who consider themselves part of Western culture.”
“But even in his emotions, this Jehoezer held firmly to his local identity, so his name is written in Hebrew letters and his name is a Hebrew name that belongs to the Judah culture.”
Polyethylene plastic bags are difficult to recycle
Robert Sanders/University of California, Berkeley
Plastic bottles and bags can be evaporated into their chemical components and turned into new plastic that has all the properties of virgin material. Though there are still hurdles to overcome, this new process is a big step towards a truly circular economy for plastics.
About 5 billion tons of plastic Plastics have been heading to landfills since the 1950s, but recycling efforts only address 9% of what we produce. With current technology, plastics degrade every time they are recycled, and after just a few rounds of this process they end up in landfills.
John Hartwig Dr. Hartz and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, had previously developed a process to break down waste plastic into its component parts, but it relied on expensive metal catalysts — iridium, ruthenium and palladium — that were lost in the process and couldn't be recovered. Hartwig says the technology is “good for academic papers and demonstrations, but it's not anywhere near what could be considered industrialized.”
Now his team has found an improved process that works for both polyethylene, the raw material in most plastic bags, and polypropylene, used to make stiffer objects. The process uses only a catalyst that's so common it's considered “earthy” in nature, Hartwig says.
Plastics are made up of large molecules called polymers, which are in turn made up of smaller units called monomers. The catalyst breaks the chemical bonds in the polymers, turning them into gaseous monomers from which new plastic can be made with all the properties of virgin, non-recycled material.
In their experiments, the team used two catalysts — sodium on aluminum oxide and tungsten oxide on silica — to convert a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene into the monomers propylene and isobutylene with nearly 90 percent efficiency.
Benjamin Ward A researcher from Cardiff University in the UK, who was not involved in the study, says thousands of additives, including dyes, flame retardants and plasticizers, make plastics difficult to recycle. These additives can make up a third of the finished product and can contaminate the end product after it's recycled. “Additives delay landfilling. They delay the environmental problem. But they don't prevent it entirely,” he says.
Ward believes the new process solves the additive problem by stripping the material down to its constituent gaseous monomers, which also removes the additives.
Hartwig cautions that there are still many hurdles to overcome, and that the process has only been tested in the presence of a small number of common additives. “There will be additives that poison the catalyst or inhibit it,” he says. “We need to find a way to isolate them, which may not be optimal, or we need to find a different catalyst structure or composition that is more resistant to those additives. It's definitely a challenge.”
Cressida Bowyer Researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the UK say that even if there are processes in place that can break down waste plastic into its component parts and tolerate additives, further concerns remain: “The toxicity and disposal of the recycled end product.” [such as catalysts and additives] “These must be taken into account, and may outweigh the benefits of recycling technologies,” she says. “Recycling should not be seen as a solution or justification for maintaining or increasing the production of single-use or unnecessary plastics and continuing the current prevalent 'take, make and throw away' culture.”
Composite image of a jumping spherical collembolan
Adrian Smith
High-speed cameras have clearly captured the springtails spinning in the air faster than any other animal ever recorded.
Springtails are a type of arthropod, a group related to insects, that are a few millimeters long and can be found in most places on Earth.
As its name suggests, the animal leaps off the ground using a tail-like appendage called a “furka” that folds up under its body and can instantly unfold to launch the creature into the air and escape predators.
Adrian Smith A North Carolina State University student was sifting through leaves in his backyard when he came across a round, mottled orange-and-brown reptile. Dikiltmina Minuta.
“We brought them into the lab to film them, and we were amazed by what they did,” Smith says.
Working together Jacob Harrison Smith, of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, used a high-speed camera to capture dozens of Springtail shells, and to encourage the arthropods to turn over, the researchers placed the Springtails under bright lights and sometimes poked them with tiny paintbrushes.
With each jump, the tiny acrobatic creatures arc backwards up to 80 times their body length, and springtails can spin up to 368 times a second, faster than any animal yet studied.
Smith and Harrison found that springtails have two ways of landing: by bouncing and rolling uncontrollably, or by a fixed stop made possible by organs called colophores, sticky tubes that allow them to attach to the ground.
Scientists continue to study the jumping mechanics of springtails for engineering clues, and they are also studying the forward somersaults of the blue-green algae, another arthropod that has evolved a rapid escape jump.
Smith says people may think that everything in the natural world is explained and known, but that's not the case: “There's so much that exists within us and between us that is incredible.”
An important California bill, aimed at establishing safeguards for the nation’s largest artificial intelligence systems, passed a key vote on Wednesday. The proposal is designed to address potential risks associated with AI by requiring companies to test models and publicly disclose safety protocols to prevent misuse, such as taking down the state’s power grid or creating chemical weapons. Experts warn that the rapid advancements in the industry could lead to such scenarios in the future.
The bill narrowly passed the state Assembly and is now awaiting a final vote in the state Senate. If approved, it will be sent to the governor for signing, although his position on the bill remains unclear. Governor Gavin Newsom will have until the end of September to make a decision on whether to sign, veto, or let the bill become law without his signature. While the governor previously expressed concerns about overregulation of AI, the bill has garnered support from advocates who see it as a step towards establishing safety standards for large-scale AI models in the U.S.
Authored by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, the bill targets AI systems that require over $100 million in data for training, a threshold that no current model meets. Despite facing opposition from venture capital firms and tech companies like Open AI, Google, and Meta, Wiener insists that his bill takes a “light touch” approach to regulation while promoting innovation and safety hand in hand.
As AI continues to impact daily life, California legislators have introduced numerous bills this year to establish trust, combat algorithmic discrimination, and regulate deep fakes related to elections and pornography. With the state home to some of the world’s leading AI companies, lawmakers are striving to strike a delicate balance between harnessing the technology’s potential and mitigating its risks without hindering local innovation.
Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of AI regulation, expressed cautious support for Wiener’s bill despite running AI tools with lesser safeguards than other models. While the proposal has garnered backing from AI startup Anthropik, critics, including some California congresswomen and tech trade groups, have raised concerns about the bill’s impact on the state’s economic sector.
The bill, with amendments from Wiener to address concerns and limitations, is seen as a crucial step in preventing the misuse of powerful AI systems. Antropic, an AI startup supported by major tech companies, emphasized the importance of the bill in averting potential catastrophic risks associated with AI models while challenging critics who downplay the dangers posed by such technologies.
What effect might it have on adolescents and young children to see the positive expressions on the faces of strangers eating raw broccoli?
Katie Edwards of Aston University in the UK, along with colleagues from the same university and the University of Birmingham, also in the UK, set out to find out.
There's no need to mince words about what they found: in their own words, “Contrary to our hypothesis, the facial expression of the model while eating broccoli did not significantly affect their initial willingness to try it.”
Circle of Life
In the 1960s, young intellectuals in the West encouraged each other to adopt the philosophy and path of Zen Buddhism. They were encouraged to “walk the Zen path” and “become one with the universe” in order to live a thoughtful, wise and good life.
Sixty years later, thinking and conversation have advanced.
No alternative to this has been widely adopted in the West in the 2020s, but feedback suggests a Venn diagram.
Like Zen, Venn diagrams aim to provide a simpler understanding of seemingly complex things. Venn diagram masters might describe the practice like this: Venn diagrams use overlapping circles or similar shapes to show logical relationships between different types of items.
Adopt the philosophy and method of the Venn diagram. Recognize and nurture the overlaps in your life. Draw a Venn diagram of the characteristics of all the people, places, and things in your life from birth to the present. The Venn diagram overlaps will reveal commonalities. Embrace them. Identify with the few.
Ven, let's go.
The talent for titration
Psychics, whether trivial or not, have a reputation for being either you get it all or you get nothing. John Hancock tells Feedback about an exception to that, perhaps a partial exception:
He says, “I can consistently pour almost half a 339ml bottle of beer so that the height of the beer in two identical glasses is within 1mm, 2mm at most. I can do this in one go, unassisted, and I seem to know when to stop pouring.”
(Feedback: The name Hancock is well known to Americans. On January 4, 1776, the late John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, a document that egged on Britain. Hancock wrote it in such large, bold letters that his name became synonymous with “a man's handwritten signature.” In the U.S., people still say “Sign John Hancock.” The late John Hancock, unlike today's John Hancock, hated doing things by halves.)
Questionable discomfort
A recent addition to Feedback's collection is called “The Title Tells You Everything You Need to Know.”
“The pain one may experience when executed in various ways” probably came as a surprise to magazine readers. Sensing It was published in 1993, and in 1997 Harold Hillman of the University of Surrey in the UK was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize.
If you've come across similarly impressive examples, please submit them to Telltale titles, c/o Feedback, along with citation details.
Teflon Diet
Teflon, prized as a “non-stick” coating for frying pans and other cookware, may become a common additive to foods, especially in weight-control diets.
The 2016 paper has an intelligent and intriguing title:Consuming polytetrafluoroethylene is a way to increase food volume and feel full without increasing calorie content.“US authors Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich and Frank Greenway explain that polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as PTFE or Teflon) is a plastic. They claim its benefits: “Animal feeding studies showed that rats fed a diet of 25% PTFE for 90 days showed no signs of toxicity and lost weight.”
They further hypothesized that “incorporating PTFE powder into foods (1 part food to 1 part PTFE) and increasing the portion size of the food would significantly increase satiety and decrease caloric intake.”
Polytetrafluoroethylene “does not impart flavor (as evidenced by its use in tongue piercings) and therefore does not affect the taste of food,” they write, and is “highly inert, meaning it does not react with food in the body.”
This makes it an “ideal ingredient to use as a bulking agent for foods that are not metabolized” and can be used in foods that don't make you feel stuffed.
Do you have a story for feedback? Send it to feedback@newscientist.com or New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY. Review of mailed items is delayed
You can submit articles for Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedback can be found on our website.
CBeloved actor, film star, and refugee advocate Atheé Blanchett stands at the podium addressing the European Parliament: “The future is now,” she says authoritatively. So far, so normal, but then you’re asked, “But where are the sex robots?”
The footage is from an actual speech Blanchett gave in 2023, but the rest is fictional.
Her voice was generated by Australian artist Xanthe Dobie using text-to-speech platform PlayHT for Dobie’s 2024 video work, Future Sex/Love Sounds, which imagines a feminist utopia populated by sex robots and voiced by celebrity clones.
Much has been written about the world-changing potential of large-scale language models (LLMs), including Midjourney and Open AI’s GPT-4. These models are trained on massive amounts of data, generating everything from academic papers, fake news, and “revenge porn.” Music, images, software code.
While supporters praise the technology for speeding up scientific research and eliminating routine administrative tasks, it also presents a wide range of workers, from accountants, lawyers, and teachers to graphic designers, actors, writers, and musicians, with an existential crisis.
As the debate rages, artists like Dobie are beginning to use these very tools to explore the possibilities and precarity of technology itself.
“The technology itself is spreading at a faster rate than the law can keep up with, which creates ethical grey areas,” says Dobie, who uses celebrity internet culture to explore questions of technology and power.
“We see replicas of celebrities all the time, but data on us, the little people of the world, is collected at exactly the same rate… It’s not a question of technology capabilities. [that’s bad]That’s how flawed, stupid, evil people choose to use it.”
Choreographer Alisdair McIndoe is another artist working at the intersection of technology and art: His new work, Plagiary, premieres this week at Melbourne’s Now or Never festival before running in a season at the Sydney Opera House, and uses custom algorithms to generate new choreography for dancers to receive for the first time each night.
Although the AI-generated instructions are specific, each dancer is able to interpret them in their own way, making the resulting performance more like a human-machine collaboration.
In Alisdair McIndoe’s Plagiary at Now or Never festival, dancers respond to AI-generated instructions. Photo: Now or never
Not all artists are fans of technology. Nick Cave, January 2023 Posted a scathing review He called the song ChatGPT generated by imitating his work “nonsense” and a “grotesque mockery of humanity.”
“Songs come from suffering,” he says, “which means they’re based on complex, inner human conflicts of creation. And as far as I know, algorithms don’t have emotions.”
Painter Sam Leach doesn’t agree with Cave’s idea that “creative genius” is an exclusively human trait, but he encounters this kind of “total rejection of technology and everything related to it” frequently.
Fruit Preservation (2023), directed by Sam Leach. Photo: Albert Zimmermann/Sam Leach
He justifies his use of sources by emphasizing that he spends hours “editing” with a paintbrush to refine the software’s suggestions. He also uses an art critic chatbot to question his ideas.
For Leach, the biggest concern about AI isn’t the technology itself or how it’s being used, but who owns it: “There are very few giant companies that own the biggest models and have incredible power.”
One of the most common concerns about AI is copyright. This is an especially complicated issue for people working in the artistic sector, whose intellectual property is being used to train multi-million dollar models, often without their consent or compensation. For example, last year, it was revealed that 18,000 Australian books had been used in the Book3 dataset without permission or compensation. Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan described this as “the biggest act of copyright theft in history.”
And last week, Australian music rights organization APRA AMCOS Presenting the survey results They found that 82% of members are concerned that AI will reduce their ability to make a living from music.
A sweet dessert made from Neurospora crassa served at the Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen.
Alchemist
A type of mold that grows on discarded food has been shown to fundamentally change the taste of the food, making food that would otherwise be thrown away edible in new ways.
Neurospora crassa, Orange fungus, grown from waste products from soy milk production, has been used for centuries to make onkom, a traditional food from the Indonesian island of Java.
Vayuhir Maini The UC Berkeley professor and his colleagues worked with chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and Copenhagen to develop new foods using the bacteria, some of which are now appearing on their menus, including a cheese-flavored toast made with stale bread and a sweet dessert made with sugar-free rice custard.
About a third of food is wasted worldwide, and discarded agricultural products account for about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling, or turning discarded produce into new, edible foods, can divert waste from landfills and reduce the climate impact of food production while also strengthening food security, Hill-Maini said.
His team: N. Intermedia It can thrive on at least 30 types of agricultural waste, including tomato pomace and banana peels, without producing toxins.
The fungus is capable of turning indigestible plant waste into nutritious food in about 36 hours. “It seems to be on a unique trajectory of transforming waste from trash to treasure,” Hill-Maini said.
When the team first had Danish consumers try Oncom, people consistently rated it a six or above on a scale of one to nine, and described the taste as “earthy and nutty,” he says.
Hill-Maini developed the fungus-based food in collaboration with Rasmus Munk, owner of the Copenhagen restaurant The Alchemist, and Andrew Lasmore of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York.
In The Alchemist, N. Intermedia It was used in a dessert of gelled plum wine and unsweetened rice custard and was fermented for 60 hours, a process that Munch says changed both the aroma and flavor “pretty dramatically.”
“It was shocking to suddenly discover flavors like banana and pickled fruit without adding anything other than the fungus itself,” he says. “Of course, not all of our wild shots work, but when they do, they can produce pretty revolutionary results.”
By demonstrating what upcycled food can achieve at the highest gastronomic level, the chefs hope to help accelerate commercial acceptance of the concept.
“We're just in the beginning stages of realizing its full potential,” Hill-Maini says.
I Located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, the Lemonade Games team lived in a rented house sandwiched between two vintage shops. With former antiques professionals and years of game-making experience joining the team, the idea for the studio’s esoteric adventure game began to come together. “We spent a week conceptualizing, making art, taking photos, watching films, and prototyping,” says Creative Director Ally MacLean-Hennessy. “It was a very organic way of shaping the game, and the spirit of that week continues into the way we work together today.”
In “Mystique: Haunted Antiques,” Its creators Described as “a game about a struggling antiques store run by four of the worst women I’ve ever met,” players slip on the platform sneakers of Jem, a fashionista and business owner struggling to run her struggling antiques curation business. Using her recently acquired, professionally useful psychic abilities, Jem will pierce the veil between life and death to track down troves of high-quality goods. “Players will travel to jobs such as the homes and estates of the recently deceased to search for cursed items and use information gained from communicating with spirits to find the most valuable items to take home and sell,” says MacLean Hennessy. From string-bound gaming magazines and lava lamps to cursed vases, players will examine and inventory all kinds of mysterious antiques as they progress through the game.
Jem is joined by a cast of lovable, problematic prima donnas. “The women of Mystique are partly inspired by the wave of con artists, con artists, and divas of the late 2010s and early 2020s, including Anna Delvey, Caroline Calloway, and Elizabeth Holmes,” Allie points out. “I can’t help but be drawn to them, in part because there’s a morbid thrill in watching people behave badly, but also in a way that I feel a genuine affection for them. There’s something so liberating about mentally stepping out of the psychodrama of modern womanhood and existing as someone who can commit incredibly selfish, self-centered, extravagant acts and still consider herself the moral high ground. Maybe they’re on to something.”
Among the antiques is a cursed vase… Mystique: Haunted antiques. Photo: Lemonade Games
Mystiques: Haunted Antiques takes its paranormal cues from Tulpamancy, a phenomenon that originated in Tibetan Buddhism and has inspired other strange and eerie media, such as David Lynch’s cult TV series Twin Peaks. “Tulpamancy currently exists primarily as a subreddit for people interested in the boundary between ‘reality’ and ‘imagination,'” says MacLean Hennessy. “There are lots of people who believe they can manifest entities through faith and will. We’re interested in them in the same way we’re interested in the female con artists of our current cultural moment. These are people who can construct the reality they want to exist for themselves. Who are we to tell them what is real?”
MacLean Hennessy are clear that Mystique: Haunted Antiques, which took inspiration from Italian horror classics like Suspiria and self-consciously girlcore movies like Jennifer’s Body, is not a cozy game in the modern sense of the word. “We were exploring stories of spiritual affliction, and these filmmakers knew how to bring it to life in a glamorous, stylish, extravagant way, which is what we really love and are inspired by,” they say. This strange and fresh blend of influences also extends to the soundtrack (which follows the brief: what if a 1970s detective thriller had a hyper-pop soundtrack?) and the game’s fashion, which is influenced by playfully eccentric brands like Schiaparelli and Moschino.
Lemonade Games is passionate about infusing its fantasy worlds with plenty of vulnerability and authenticity, drawing from a wellspring of personal experience to create a game that McLean Hennessey sees as an expression of the studio’s soul: “If the people making this game can find elements of themselves, their friendships, their experiences of the world in it, and feel a sense of relief, laughter, or catharsis from playing it, that would mean a lot to us.”
Struggling to catch some shut-eye with temperatures soaring in your bedroom? As climate change intensifies and heatwaves become more common, researchers have observed that nighttime temperatures are rising at a faster rate compared to daytime temperatures.
This trend of climate change is affecting sleep quality, making it increasingly difficult to get a good night’s rest. Studies show that people lose an average of 44 hours of sleep due to heat every year, and this is not limited to specific regions. A recent global study revealed that higher temperatures are linked to shorter sleep durations across 68 countries, with individuals experiencing shortened sleep times with warmer temperatures.
The study involved 47,000 adults who used wrist-worn sleep trackers to monitor their sleep patterns compared to both the average and their personal baseline. The results confirmed that as temperatures increased, sleep durations decreased.
“People are going to bed later and waking up earlier than usual,” said Dr. Kelton Miner, a data scientist at Columbia University and the lead author of the study. “This shift in sleep patterns increases the likelihood of experiencing shorter sleep durations compared to one’s individual baseline.”
Research projections indicate that by the end of the century, individuals could lose an average of two weeks of sleep annually due to temperature-related disturbances, equating to 50 to 58 hours of lost sleep. Compensating for this significant sleep deficit becomes challenging for many.
Addressing the issue, Miner suggested that while air conditioning provides relief, the widespread adoption of this technology would significantly impact global energy consumption. Alternatively, using fans can be a more energy-efficient cooling option, promoting heat loss through convection and evaporation.
Adhering to optimal sleep temperatures, enhancing indoor ventilation, and adopting cooling measures like cold showers can aid in combating the adverse effects of rising nighttime temperatures on sleep quality. As the battle against heat-induced sleep loss continues, exploring innovative solutions such as cooling mattress toppers can provide additional relief.
About our experts
Dr. Kelton Miner: A data scientist at Columbia University specializing in climate and technological change research, encompassing studies like One Planet, Lancet, and Sleeping pills reviews.
Shares in the chip designer Nvidia have fallen after investors were spooked by signs of slowing growth and production issues, despite the artificial intelligence company posting a 122% rise in second-quarter revenues compared with the same period last year.
The Silicon Valley company’s revenues for the period more than doubled to $30bn (£23bn), beating average analyst estimates of $28.7bn. However, investors were concerned about signs of a slowdown in growth, in particular around its next-generation AI chips, code-named Blackwell.
The stock fell as much as 7% in pre-market trading, before paring back losses to a 3% fall. The chipmaker is the third most valuable company in the world, with a market value of $3.1tn.
Nvidia said the delivery of its Blackwell chips – which comprises 208bn transistors that carry out calculations to train its large language model – would be delayed by several months from January. Its chief executive, Jensen Huang, has previously said that Blackwell would generate “a lot of revenue” for the business this year.
Simon French, the chief economist and head of research at the investment bank Panmure Liberum told the BBC: “There were just some signs around the edges in numbers that that rate of growth was trying to slow.
“Their current AI chip ‘hopper’ is selling well, but the next one, the next generation Blackwell, has faced some production delays, and that perhaps is one of the reasons why Wall Street, after hours, sold off the stock.”
Speaking to investors and journalists overnight, Nvidia bosses did not detail the extent of the delay for Blackwell deliveries but said manufacturing issues had been addressed by TSMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor firm that builds the US company’s most advanced chips. They added that early samples were now shipping to a small group of customers
The drop in Nvidia’s share price dragged on US markets, in particular the S&P 500 index. Nvidia makes up about 6% of the total value of the index and has helped drive its gains this year, after rising more than 160% over the past 12 months.
Matt Britzman, an analyst at the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said Nvidia was facing the major challenge of how to match the hype. “It’s less about just beating estimates now, markets expect them to be shattered and it’s the scale of the beat that looks to have disappointed a touch.”
While many investors have bought into the theoretical impact of artificial intelligence and claims that it could transform nearly every global industry, French noted that the practical use cases “haven’t yet been proven”.
“Such are the lofty expectations for this stock, not just as a single company, but its broader economic impact,” he said. “If you’re going to raise expectations that high, then you’ve got to keep growing at spectacular rates .”
However, Britzman cautioned against reading too much into the market reaction, given that investors tended to “overstate” the importance of one set of quarterly results, particularly in the “grand scheme of AI” prospects. Instead, he said companies such as Microsoft and Tesla, and the Facebook and Instagram owner, Meta, were working on a “multi-year, even multi-decade, time frame and investors would be wise to adopt a similar mentality”.
He added: “The question of return on investment, that many AI bears fall back on, simply isn’t the main consideration for Nvidia’s biggest customers at this stage. Like many before, this cycle won’t be a straight line, but while the ‘build it and they will come’ approach continues, it plays right into Nvidia’s hands.”
Widely available, with weekly episodes
Mo Gilligan is as loveable as ever in his new podcast series, inviting famous guests like George the Poet, Aisling Bea and Joel Dommett to talk about their careers and the legacy they want to leave behind. First up is Jonathan Ross, who’s in full chat mode, sharing great anecdotes like the origins of his legendary star-studded Halloween party and the time he showed Eminem his laundry room. Hannah Verdier
For her first-ever podcast, Maisie Williams has decided to tell the story of her idol Winona Ryder so far. Why now? Because Ryder is returning in the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel, and her life has certainly had its ups and downs, from being Tim Burton’s favorite to that infamous shoplifting arrest to her career resurgence thanks to Stranger Things. But that’s just the plot of a six-episode series. Holly Richardson
Mo Gilligan, host of “Beginning, Middle & End.” Photo: Paul Hansen/Observer
What more can be said about The Godfather, a film that has been celebrated worldwide for 50 years? Host Rebecca Keegan discovers much more with the help of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Talia Shire, covering a huge range of ground from delicate family dynamics to Francis Ford Coppola’s approach to improvisation. HV
Do you like stories about book thieves, heavy metal con artists, arson, fraud and deception? Then James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, hosts of McMillion$ and The Big Conn, are your go-to host. This highly entertaining podcast uncovers twists, wild tactics and stories that are almost unbelievable. HV
Episodes will be released weekly starting September 4th and will be widely available
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to your mother?” Filmmaker and “reformed bigot” Alan Zweig asks his guests the nastiest questions in his intentionally somber podcast. Topics include hemorrhoids, terrible mistakes and major regrets, and Zweig doesn’t know who he’s interviewing in advance. HV
There is a podcast
Pacific Crest Trail. Photo: Danita Delimont/Alamy
this week, Ella Braidwood 5 best podcasts The Great Outdoorsfrom the wild adventures of adventurers to a practical hiking handbook
Byland Podcast
The Byland Podcast is full of practical advice for getting started in the outdoors, including tips on the best gear. Hosted by Emory Wanger (above), who started the podcast after hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, each episode features guest interviews, many of which are with industry experts who outline the best gear for camping, thru-hiking, mountaineering, and more. There are also interviews with outdoor enthusiasts, like David Daly, who hikes with his three kids, and Bailey Bremner, who takes her dogs on adventures.
pictureEven in the warm summer sunshine, the stagnant pools and rugged rock faces of Ribblehead Quarry in North Yorkshire feel like an unlikely frontier for the AI industrial revolution. Standing next to a waterfall gushing from broken rock, Bupe Mwambingu reaches his hand into the green mud behind the falls and emerges with a handful of algae.
Balancing precariously on the rock, the researcher passes the dripping glob to his colleague Emma Bolton, who uses a mobile app to record GPS coordinates as well as acidity, temperature, and light exposure.
“Be careful,” Bolton told Mwambing, who stumbled over the edge of the waterfall, and the two moved on to another part of the former limestone quarry in search of more dirt and debris.
The pair work for London-based startup Basecamp Research and are collecting genetic information.This is information from the organisms hiding in the nooks and crannies of rocks. In the past, scientists hoping to develop new products from rare lichens, microbes, or fungi had to travel to their habitats to collect samples. Now, most of the genetic code from these organisms is exchanged digitally through genetic signatures called digital sequence information (DSI).
Samples are collected carefully to avoid contamination. Photo: Rebecca Cole/The Guardian
The back-and-forth is at the heart of an international battle over who owns the world’s genetic data and who should benefit from the multi-billion-dollar discoveries that could result from it. In October, world leaders met to discuss the issue. Cali, Colombia attends COP16The World Biodiversity Summit was held to reach a first-of-its-kind global agreement on the issue.
Low-income countries, where much of the world’s remaining biodiversity remains, are hoping to pump billions of dollars into protecting the rainforests, lakes, and oceans where it resides.
With the abundance of news stories, one might believe that humanity is on a path to self-destruction due to pollution, microplastics, and harmful chemicals. Reports of decreasing sperm counts have led to discussions about a possible “Spermageddon,” with politicians even considering incentivizing women to have children (source).
However, after speaking with experts like Professor Alan Pacey, a male infertility researcher, and Professor Sarah Harper, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, it seems that while there is reason to be concerned, we are not currently in a crisis.
Why are some people concerned about “Spermageddon”?
The concern dates back to a study from 1974 that showed a decrease in sperm counts among American men compared to the data from the 1950s (source). While various factors like climate change, genetic defects, and microplastics have been suggested as causes for declining sperm counts, not all experts are convinced about the severity of the issue.
Recent studies, including those conducted in Denmark, have not shown significant declines in sperm quality, leading to doubts about the extent of the problem. While concerns about microplastics and chemicals are valid, they may not be directly linked to infertility as some believe.
Recent research published in the journal Nature also suggests that semen quality worldwide may not be declining significantly.
Is global infertility on the rise?
While birth rates are indeed falling, experts argue that there is no concrete evidence of a widespread increase in infertility. Factors like delayed childbearing, improved access to fertility treatments, and reduced stigma around infertility may be contributing to more people seeking assistance at fertility clinics.
Why are populations declining in many areas?
The declining birth rates in countries like South Korea, China, and the United States are influenced by various factors, including economic growth and changing societal norms. While it may seem like an “infertility epidemic,” some experts see it as a demographic outcome of broader trends.
Should we be concerned?
Experts have differing perspectives on the issue. While some, like Professor Harper, believe that falling birth rates are not a cause for alarm, others, like Professor Pacey, are concerned about the barriers to fertility treatment and the impact on individuals facing infertility. Both emphasize the need for a nuanced approach to addressing the complex factors affecting fertility rates.
About our experts
Professor Alan Pacey MBE is a renowned researcher in male fertility and sperm biology at the University of Manchester, with over 30 years of experience in the field.
Professor Sarah Harper CBE is a gerontology expert at the University of Oxford, focusing on population aging and fertility trends.
Nvidia, the chipmaker, revealed its latest financial statements on Wednesday, with revenue reaching $30.04 billion in the last three months. This is a significant increase of 122% compared to the previous year, indicating sustained growth in their artificial intelligence investments.
Despite analysts’ projections of $28.7 billion in sales, the company’s shares dropped more than 3% in after-hours trading.
Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, announced plans to ship a greater number of chips and hardware next year than in the company’s 31-year history during an earnings call.
Huang highlighted the importance of fast development due to the increasing complexity of their models. He stated that the company aims to lower costs while scaling AI models to unprecedented levels for the next industrial revolution.
Analysts, while optimistic about the results, acknowledged signs that Nvidia’s exceptional revenue growth might be slowing down. Major tech companies’ aggressive AI investments are driving demand for Nvidia chips, but these companies are also investing in their own silicon development.
The company informed customers about a delay in the launch of their next-generation AI chip, known as Blackwell. Early samples have already been sent to a limited number of customers. Despite this, the current graphics processing unit, Hopper, continues to sell well according to CEO Jensen Huang.
Nvidia reported record revenue with a 154% increase in data center revenue year over year, amounting to $26.3 billion, reflecting the demand for accelerated computing and generative AI in data centers globally.
Nvidia’s earnings results hold great significance on Wall Street, as the company accounts for 6% of the total value of the S&P 500 and is the third-largest company globally with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion.
Recent reports from major tech customers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google, show increased capital spending as they utilize Nvidia chips to develop and train their AI models.
The company’s earnings per share were $0.68, and they announced a $50 billion share repurchase. Profit is expected to rise to $15.1 billion, up from approximately $6.2 billion in the same period last year.
Ives, a Wedbush analyst, emphasized the importance of Nvidia’s earnings report on the stock market, estimating that every dollar spent on Nvidia’s GPU chips contributes $8 to $10 to profits across the tech sector.
The market’s focus on Nvidia’s performance stems from the belief that AI advancements will boost global productivity for years to come.
Comparisons to the Internet bubble of the late 1990s have emerged, with concerns that the AI boom might peak if Nvidia’s results disappoint investors.
Regulators are closely monitoring Nvidia, following an antitrust investigation launched by the Department of Justice after allegations from rival chipmakers. The investigation claims Nvidia is using its market power to monopolize markets and compel customers to continue buying its products.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
