A class action lawsuit has been filed by independent British retailers against Amazon, seeking £1 billion in damages. They claim that Amazon is pushing them out of the online market.
Around 35,000 merchants are part of the lawsuit, led by the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira). They allege that from October 2015 to the present, Amazon used non-public data from retailers to launch its own competing products.
The lawsuit also highlights how Amazon’s “Buy Box” aims to direct shoppers away from independent retailers to its own products, further hurting the market competition.
Bira claims that Amazon already charges a non-negotiable 30% commission on every item sold on the site and has unfairly injected cheaper products into the market, driving many independent UK retailers out of business.
The group plans to submit over 1,150 pages of documents outlining their case against Amazon to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London.
Amazon has not yet commented on the lawsuit, but has stated in the past that they support over 100,000 small businesses in the UK and that their success is tied to the success of the businesses they work with.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority began investigating Amazon in 2022 for potentially giving its own brands and affiliated brands an unfair advantage over third-party sellers, following reports of data misuse.
The investigation concluded with Amazon agreeing to give independent sellers a fair opportunity to be featured in the site’s “buy box” and to refrain from using marketplace data from third-party sellers to gain an unfair competitive edge.
Amazon also made a similar commitment in December 2022, subject to an EU investigation.
When the Minneapolis City Council announced agreements with Uber and Lyft last month to increase wages and enhance working conditions for drivers, who emerged as the winner?
On May 20, the city council revealed a compromise with ride-hailing companies: Uber and Lyft would adhere to an inflation-linked minimum wage aligning with Minnesota’s $15 hourly minimum wage post expenses. Although some lawmakers touted this as a 20% pay surge for drivers, the agreed rate was lower, surpassing nearly all proposals from the previous two years amidst a contentious battle involving Uber, Lyft, drivers, and lawmakers.
Key elements of the deal include the allowance for drivers to contest firings due to opaque algorithms, funding for a non-profit driver center for driver rights education, and a raised insurance coverage requirement to $1 million for ride-hailing drivers to address post-trip medical expenses and lost wages following an assault or accident.
However, since the deal remains a vital component of digital ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft can sustain operations and potentially reverse the compromise in the future.
Over the course of two years, ride-hailing driver groups engaged in protests, advocacy efforts, and negotiations with Uber as the companies threatened capital strikes and announced withdrawal from the state multiple times due to the bill, causing political strife for both entities.
By resorting to capital strikes, these companies narrow the scope of our political discourse while bolstering their own influence. The digital ride-hailing model perpetuates worsened working conditions for drivers through misclassification and algorithmic control, and the Minneapolis deal fails to address data transparency, constituting a significant setback according to expert Veena Duvall from the University of California, Irvine.
While the deal provides instant benefits for drivers by averting Uber and Lyft’s potential exit from the state, it falls short of addressing fundamental structural challenges within the on-demand labor model.
The on-demand labor model relies on maintaining an asymmetric power balance between companies, passengers, drivers, and cities, sidestepping issues of misclassification, data extraction, and algorithmic control.
Uber and Lyft exhibit adeptness in reducing arguments to superficial levels, deterring meaningful change and reform within the industry. Despite the evident need for intervention to improve drivers’ conditions, the omnipresent influence and evasion of billions in taxes by such companies underscore the challenge of enacting lasting reform.
Ultimately, the digital ride-hailing model remains fundamentally flawed, necessitating a comprehensive reevaluation of its impact on urban transport, working conditions, and financial practices, urging a departure from the prevailing exploitative dynamics in favor of sustainable alternatives.
Dominant male lemurs grow more flexible testicles when other males are present, improving their position for successful mating.
In many species, dominant males have larger testes than subordinate males. Increased Testosterone Research has also shown that males of group-living, multi-male species have larger testes than males of group-living, single-male species. Larger testes mean more sperm can be produced, which increases the male’s chances of producing offspring if a female mates with multiple males.
Gabriel Bueno and Rebecca Lewis Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin tested whether this pattern held true within a single population by looking at testicle size in 23-year-old adult men. Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus beleaucii) took place outside of the mating season over a 13-year period in Kirindimitea National Park in western Madagascar.
This lemur group is made up of several groups, some with only one male and some with several. As in all lemur societies, the females hold the most social power, but the males also have their own hierarchy. Dominant lemurs have greasy brown spots on their chests from constant scent marking, while subordinate lemurs have clean white bodies.
The researchers found that the testicles of stained males in multi-male groups were on average 103 percent larger than those of clean males from the same groups and 31 percent larger than those of stained males in single-male groups. The stained lemurs in multi-male groups may be producing more testosterone than other lemurs or they may be suppressing the amount of testosterone that clean males can produce, Bueno says.
Stained males living in multi-male groups not only have larger scrotums in absolute terms, but also larger relative to their body size, which Bueno says suggests indicates that dominant males spend more energy competing for sperm when there are other males around.
“The key is that they can make that switch,” Bueno says. Because the dominant male always has the largest testicles, when a dirty male with larger testicles enters the group, the dirty male’s gonads grow. This “highlights how extraordinarily flexible they are and how they adapt to their social environment,” Bueno says.
“It is surprising that males can flexibly adjust their testis size across a range of environments throughout their lives,” he said. Peter Kappeler The researchers, from the University of Göttingen in Germany, added that their findings raise important questions about the potential costs of maintaining large testes: Enlarging them requires energy that cannot be used elsewhere, and likely requires the animal to search for more food.
The chairman of Tesla has suggested that Elon Musk might leave the company if shareholders do not support his $56 billion (£44 billion) pay package, implying that Musk has other opportunities to explore. Despite the vote next week on the CEO’s compensation deal, Robin Denholm emphasized that the decision is not solely about money, as Musk will still be one of the richest individuals regardless of the outcome.
Denholm mentioned that if the June 13 vote does not go in Musk’s favor, he could potentially depart from Tesla or reduce his presence at the company. In 2018, investors approved a similar compensation plan for Musk, which was later invalidated, prompting the board to seek investors’ approval once more.
Denholm emphasized the importance of Musk’s time and energy, stating that while he has many ideas and potential endeavors, Tesla and its owners should be his primary focus. Concerns have been raised by some investors about Musk’s engagement with Tesla given his involvement in other ventures like SpaceX, xAI, and X.
Denholm clarified that the compensation package includes a provision requiring Musk to hold the Tesla shares he receives for five years before selling any of them. With Musk’s net worth at $203 billion, he is currently ranked as the third wealthiest person globally, according to Bloomberg.
ISS and Glass Lewis have advised shareholders to vote against the proposed pay package, citing excessive payouts. Despite differing opinions among major investors, Denholm stressed the need to uphold the 2018 agreement to ensure Musk’s continued dedication and commitment to Tesla.
In a bid to streamline operations and facilitate growth, Denholm proposed relocating Tesla’s legal domicile to Texas, highlighting the state’s favorable corporate laws and potential for innovation. She noted that Texas legislators and courts are well-equipped to handle Tesla’s future endeavors effectively.
Analyst Dan Ives believes that while Musk is unlikely to leave Tesla entirely, a rejection of the compensation package could lead to his stepping down as CEO and reducing his involvement with the company over time.
This humpback whale (with its wide-open jaws and sharp teeth)Melanocetus johnsonii) looks even more terrifying when its internal complexity is revealed. Also known as Johnson’s Deep Sea Monster, this deep sea monster is Solvin Zankl.
This image shows the fish after a lengthy cleaning and staining process to reveal its internal structure. Scientists used digestive enzymes to remove the soft tissues, exposing the bones and collagen, which they then stained. Blue indicates cartilage, and red indicates bone. Not all tissues become transparent during the chemical processing; for example, the black mass (left) is the fish’s stomach.
The technique offers a glimpse inside the anglerfish, from its gills to its two fearsomely impressive pairs of jaws. It’s just one of the incredible adaptations that have evolved in this deep-sea species, Zankl says. But don’t worry: Females, like the one shown here, can grow to about 153 millimeters in length, while males are just 28 millimeters.
This fish lives at depths of about 900 metres in tropical oceans. The specimen was collected from the Benguela upwelling system, a very fertile deep water area of the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Africa and Namibia, during a research expedition to document the wildlife in the region.
Zankl says working with scientists allows him to visit places that are normally inaccessible, because photographing the deep sea is a huge challenge. Documenting these organisms can shed light on their ecology and broader ecological processes in fragile ecosystems, he says.
In today’s digital landscape, driving traffic to your website is crucial for success. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a budding entrepreneur, harnessing the power of traffic exchange platforms can significantly boost your online presence. These platforms serve as a hub where website owners exchange visits, increasing visibility and engagement. Here, we present the top 5 traffic exchange websites of 2024 that can elevate your online traffic game.
Trafficadbar stands out for its user-friendly interface and robust features. It offers targeted traffic options, allowing you to reach your desired audience effortlessly. With advanced analytics and real-time monitoring, Trafficadbar empowers users to optimize their campaigns for maximum impact.
Leadsleap boasts a diverse network of active users, ensuring a steady flow of traffic to your website. Its innovative credit system rewards engagement, incentivizing users to explore your content. Additionally, Leadsleap’s intuitive dashboard simplifies campaign management, making it an ideal choice for both beginners and seasoned marketers.
EasyHits4U takes a unique approach to traffic exchange by emphasizing community engagement. Through its interactive platform, users can connect with like-minded individuals, fostering meaningful relationships while driving traffic to their websites. EasyHits4U‘s emphasis on collaboration sets it apart as a dynamic traffic exchange option.
As the name suggests, HarvestTraffic delivers a surge of visitors to your website with its high-impact advertising solutions. From banner ads to pop-unders, HarvestTraffic offers versatile advertising formats to suit your promotional needs. With its expansive reach and customizable targeting options, TrafficJolt ensures your message reaches the right audience at the right time.
Infinity Traffic Boost has emerged as a popular traffic exchange platform, offering a range of features designed to help website owners amplify their online presence. With its user-friendly interface and intuitive functionality, Infinity Traffic Boost has garnered attention from individuals and businesses alike.
Conclusion
In conclusion, traffic exchange websites offer a strategic avenue for increasing website traffic and enhancing online visibility. By leveraging the power of these platforms, businesses can attract a steady stream of visitors and propel their growth in the digital age. With the top 5 traffic exchange websites outlined above, navigating the complexities of online marketing has never been easier.
As a human, you will play a crucial role in identifying whether a photo or video was created using artificial intelligence.
Various detection tools are available for assistance, either commercially or developed in research labs. By utilizing these deepfake detectors, you can upload or link to suspected fake media, and the detector will indicate the likelihood that it was generated by AI.
However, relying on your senses and key clues can also offer valuable insights when analyzing media to determine the authenticity of a deepfake.
Although the regulation of deepfakes, especially in elections, has been slow to catch up with AI advancements, efforts must be made to verify the authenticity of images, audio, and videos.
One such tool is the Deepfake Meter developed by Siwei Lyu at the University at Buffalo. This free and open-source tool combines algorithms from various labs to help users determine if media was generated by AI.
The DeepFake-o-meter demonstrates both the advantages and limitations of AI detection tools by rating the likelihood of a video, photo, or audio recording being AI-generated on a scale from 0% to 100%.
AI detection algorithms can exhibit biases based on their training, and while some tools like DeepFake-o-meter are transparent about their variability, commercial tools may have unclear limitations.
Lyu aims to empower users to verify the authenticity of media by continually improving detection algorithms and encouraging collaboration between humans and AI in identifying deepfakes.
audio
A notable instance of a deepfake in US elections was a robocall in New Hampshire using an AI-generated voice of President Joe Biden.
When subjected to various detection algorithms, the robocall clips showed varying probabilities of being AI-generated based on cues like the tone of the voice and presence of background noise.
Detecting audio deepfakes relies on anomalies like a lack of emotion or unnatural background noise.
photograph
Photos can reveal inconsistencies with reality and human features that indicate potential deepfakes, like irregularities in body parts and unnatural glossiness.
Analyzing AI-generated images can uncover visual clues such as misaligned features and exaggerated textures.
An AI-generated image purportedly showing Trump and black voters. Photo: @Trump_History45
Discerning the authenticity of AI-generated photos involves examining details like facial features and textures.
video
Video deepfakes can be particularly challenging due to the complexity of manipulating moving images, but visual cues like pixelated artifacts and irregularities in movements can indicate AI manipulation.
Detecting deepfake videos involves looking for inconsistencies in facial features, mouth movements, and overall visual quality.
The authenticity of videos can be determined by analyzing movement patterns, facial expressions, and other visual distortions that may indicate deepfake manipulation.
Skywatchers around the world should gear up for an incredible celestial event, as the binary star system T Corona (T CrB) is expected to experience a magnificent nova explosion sometime between now and September. This explosion could occur at any moment.
This remarkable outburst will change T CrB from an unseen star to one as bright as Polaris.
Novae like the one predicted for T CrB happen in binary star systems where a white dwarf orbits closely with a companion star.
“A nova is a binary system in which two stars orbit close to each other.”Dr. Darren Baskill, an Astronomy lecturer at the University of Sussex, tells BBC Science Focus, “About half of the stars in the night sky are double star systems.”
These should not be confused with supernovae, the dramatic explosions that occur when a massive star dies and can illuminate an entire galaxy momentarily.
White dwarfs accumulate material from their companion stars through a process called accretion. When this material reaches a critical temperature, it triggers powerful hydrogen fusion reactions.
The outcome? A nuclear explosion that ejects gas from the white dwarf, significantly increasing the system’s brightness.
“This sudden onset of nuclear fusion causes the surface gas layer to become even hotter, triggering more nuclear reactions and leading to a brightening of the star – a nova explosion,” Baskill explained.
This is a “fireworks nova,” captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2015. Like T CrB, it caused a stir in the astronomy community when it suddenly appeared as one of the brightest stars in the sky for a few days in 1901. – Image credit: NASA
While most novae are unpredictable and observed only once, T CrB is a recurrent nova that erupts roughly every 80 years. If you miss it this time, you’ll have to wait until around the year 2100!
T CrB is the closest star system to Earth, about 3,000 light years away, and is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye even in areas with moderate light pollution.
The nova explosion of T CrB is so distant from Earth that it has just reached us. Since then, there have been over 35-40 similar explosions, and the light signals from each one are yet to reach us.
Previous eruptions of T CrB were recorded in 1866 and 1946, with a noticeable brightness decrease before the latter eruption. A similar decline was noted earlier this year, hinting at a potential new explosion.
“Amateur astronomers around the world have observed slight brightness changes in this star every three to four months,” Baskill noted. “In 1945, when this happened, the gas on the white dwarf’s surface exploded dramatically within a year, causing a nova. Is it possible that the same scenario could repeat soon?”
How to witness a nova explosion
Although T CrB is currently too dim to be seen without help, a nova eruption would be visible without any special equipment. Amateur telescopes can observe T CrB before the eruption.
To prepare, stargazers should study Corona Borealis using a star chart or a smartphone app.
This preparation will enhance the spectacle when a nova suddenly emerges and brightens a familiar constellation.
Dr. Mark HollandsResearchers from the University of Warwick advise: “The nova will be visible to the naked eye for a few nights, reaching a brightness similar to other stars in Corona Borealis. If you miss that window, it should be visible for several weeks with binoculars.”
Though our Sun will become a white dwarf in billions of years, it will not undergo a nova explosion due to the lack of a companion star.
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event and seize the rare chance to witness a nova explosion bright enough to see without a telescope.
About the experts
Darren Baskill is an Outreach Officer and Lecturer at the University of Sussex. She previously taught at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, where she founded the observatory’s annual ‘Astronomy Photographer of the Year’ competition.
Mark Hollands is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, focusing on white dwarfs. His work appears in journals like Natural Astronomy, Monthly Bulletin of the Royal Astronomical Society, and he has spoken at conferences worldwide.
Considered one of West Antarctica’s most infamous glaciers, the “doomsday glacier” has earned its nickname due to the potentially significant rise in sea levels it could cause, ultimately reshaping coastlines. This glacier, known as Thwaites Glacier, is massive, the size of England and spanning 120km wide. It extends from the peak of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the Amundsen Sea, where it reaches out onto an ice shelf.
Unfortunately, Thwaites Glacier is experiencing troubling changes, with a notable increase in ice loss over recent years as a consequence of climate change. The rate of ice loss has doubled in the past 30 years due to rising ocean temperatures, which lead to the melting of the ocean floor beneath the glacier. Warm water is being transported towards Thwaites, particularly deep below the ocean surface, contributing to this rapid ice loss. The land beneath West Antarctic glaciers is below sea level, and the sloping ocean floor means warmer waters can intrude underneath, eroding the glaciers and making them less stable.
A recent study revealed that Thwaites Glacier may be more susceptible than previously believed, with seawater surging beneath it for kilometers. The melting of glaciers, including Thwaites, could result in a significant rise in sea levels, potentially impacting coastal areas worldwide. Additionally, the collapse of Thwaites could trigger nearby glaciers to follow suit, further elevating global sea levels by more than three meters. This irreversible loss on human timescales would mark a critical “tipping point.”
Scientists are concerned about the potential collapse of Thwaites Glacier, as it could have disastrous consequences for sea levels and climate. Researchers are exploring strategies to adapt to these expected changes and protect coastal regions at risk of submersion. The costs of preparing for rising sea levels are substantial, emphasizing the importance of proactive planning and adaptation. While sea level rise is inevitable, proactive measures can help mitigate its impact and protect vulnerable populations and ecosystems.
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Despite the impending challenges, scientists and experts emphasize the importance of courage and adaptation in the face of climate change. Dr. Caitlen Norton from the British Antarctic Survey stresses the need for resilience and preparedness to address the growing threat of rising sea levels. Adapting defenses, protecting coastal areas, and planning for future changes are crucial steps in mitigating the impact of climate change on coastal regions.
Music and physics are two disciplines that transcend mere study to become intertwined aspects of human creativity. This hidden harmony between music and physics has been acknowledged by luminaries such as Albert Einstein, who expressed a longing for music had he not pursued physics.
As someone who navigates both fields, I have uncovered deeper connections between them. My journey began in the Bronx, where the worlds of hip hop and science collided in unexpected ways. Later, while studying at Imperial College London, I witnessed the fusion of artistic expression and scientific inquiry in Brian Eno’s studio.
This intersection between art and science inspired me to explore further and led me to write the book “Physics Jazz.” Through this exploration, I delved into the commonalities between music and physics, from improvisation to quantum uncertainty.
My passion for sharing these discoveries prompted the creation of the course “Jazz in Modern Physics” at Brown University, bridging the gap between disciplines and offering students a new way to appreciate the symphony of the universe through mathematics and melody.
Believing in the transformative power of education, I founded the “Sound + Science” after-school program to provide underserved students with an opportunity to explore the fusion of music and physics through hands-on experimentation and collaboration.
This fusion of art and science celebrates human ingenuity and the interconnectedness of the universe. In embracing this harmonious blend, we can unlock the mysteries of the universe and delve into the depths of the human soul.
“This is a landmark day in Autonomy’s history,” Mike Lynch declared in a press release on August 18, 2011, as he announced the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.
June 6, 2024, will be an even more significant date for Lynch.
After nearly 13 tumultuous years and a drawn-out trial in the heart of Silicon Valley, Lynch, once known as the “British Bill Gates,” has been cleared of fraud charges. The verdict marks a stunning reversal of fortune for the entrepreneur.
Lynch said Thursday he was “overjoyed” at his acquittal. “The truth has finally prevailed,” his lawyers declared.
He is now due to return to Britain, but the fight to clear his name continues. HP nearly won a civil lawsuit against Lynch and another Autonomy head, Sushoban Hussain, in London two years ago. The company is seeking $4 billion in damages. Lynch had previously said he would appeal the decision.
By all accounts, the acquisition was a disaster. Just five weeks after it was announced, HP’s CEO, who had signed the deal, was fired. Lynch left Autonomy less than a year later. The lucrative acquisition briefly cemented Lynch’s reputation as Britain’s most successful tech mogul. Its real legacy was more than a decade of bitter legal battles.
In November 2012, HP’s new management wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion, alleging “significant” accounting irregularities, disclosure deficiencies, and “plain misrepresentations” prior to the acquisition. After years of investigations and legal proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic, a US federal grand jury indicted Lynch on criminal charges in November 2018. After the civil proceedings were concluded, the UK agreed to Lynch’s extradition.
His legal troubles grew last year. Having nearly lost a British civil lawsuit, Lynch also lost an appeal against his extradition in the UK High Court. A few weeks later, he was on a plane to California.
The trial in San Francisco has been a tough test for Lynch, who has been fighting to avoid extradition to the U.S. to face more than a dozen fraud charges. Federal prosecutors have a horrific record of convictions, forcing Lynch’s defense team to adjust their defense ahead of the trial.
From the start of the saga, Lynch has maintained that Autonomy’s collapse was the result of mismanagement of valuable HP assets, not fraud, but rather the failure of HP to provide evidence to support that claim, but U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over the case, has barred Lynch’s lawyers from presenting evidence to support that claim.
Failing to focus on the post-acquisition situation, Lynch’s defense was based on three main arguments: first, that running a company like Autonomy is much more complicated than the prosecution would have the jury believe, second, that Lynch is a very different person to the person he has been portrayed to be, and third, that HP rushed to conduct its due diligence and close the deal.
One of Lynch’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten, declared on the first day of the trial that the government’s case was “black and white,” “and this trial is going to show that that’s not how the world works. The world works in shades of gray. The world is complicated.”
Life is “delicate and messy”, Lynch told the court, suggesting that his trial is effectively “like peering through the door to watch sausages being made. The thing you have to bear in mind is that if you take a microscope to a clean kitchen, you’re going to find germs. And I think Autonomy is no exception.”
Prosecutors tried to portray Lynch as an intimidating, ruthless businessman responsible for every aspect of the Autonomy empire. Jurors heard about the piranha tank in the atrium of the company’s headquarters and conference rooms named after James Bond villains.
Lynch said he found it “surreal” to hear government witnesses testify about many discussions and decisions he was unaware of. He said he delegated work that was outside his expertise and spent “about 30 percent” of his time at Autonomy in his later years spending time with his family and pursuing other hobbies.
“I believe the more you know about him, the better it is for us,” Weingarten told jurors before Lynch’s testimony.
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Prosecutors said Mr Lynch had “half a billion reasons” to commit the fraud – one for every pound he claimed to have made from HP’s acquisition of Autonomy – but Mr Lynch said the company wanted to remain independent.
Autonomy is one of the stars of London’s FTSE 100 stock index and is still in the process of acquiring itself. Lynch says he only started considering the idea after meeting with HP executives at a luxury home in the English countryside. It was the 64% premium on Autonomy’s shares that ultimately convinced the company to accept the deal.
Lynch argued that HP was determined to rapidly transform itself from a hardware maker into a software giant. press release It was only when it was released that the company announced it was buying his company, a process he recalled on the stand as “total chaos.”
Prosecutors argued that HP’s handling of the proceedings was irrelevant: They alleged that Lynch orchestrated a massive fraud over years and that Autonomy used a variety of accounting tricks to inflate sales growth.
But Lynch stressed that HP was “not at all” misled about Autonomy’s value. A California jury believed Lynch and dismissed the case, which the U.S. government had detailed, calling more than 30 witnesses.
Six years ago, a jury in the same court came to a different conclusion about one of Lynch’s closest business partners. Hussain, who served as Autonomy’s chief financial officer, was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud in connection with the deal in 2018. He was released from a U.S. prison in January after serving a five-year sentence.
Lynch, who was awarded an OBE at the height of his career and served as an adviser to the British prime minister, spent much of the year before his trial under effective house arrest, guarded around the clock by two armed guards, and the threat of more than 20 years in prison loomed large if convicted.
The businessman left court a free man on Thursday. “I look forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most – my family and innovating in my field,” he said.
Giant viruses were first discovered in the ocean in 1981, when researchers discovered them. These viruses were specialized to infect green algae in the sea. Giant viruses were later found in soil on land and even in humans. However, this is the first time that giant viruses have been found living on the surface of ice or snow, where snow algae dominate. In Greenland, these viruses probably control the growth of snow algae by infecting them on the ice.
Giant virus species Pandoravirus Salinus Image courtesy of IGS CNRS-AMU.
“Every spring in the Arctic, the sun rises after months of darkness and life returns,” said Aarhus University researcher Laura Perini and her colleagues.
“Polar bears emerge from their winter dens, arctic terns return from their long journey south, and musk oxen trek north.”
“But animals aren’t the only life awakened by the spring sun. Algae that were dormant on the ice begin to flourish in the spring, turning large areas of the ice black.”
“As the ice darkens, it loses its ability to reflect sunlight, which accelerates its melting. More melting exacerbates global warming.”
“But we may have found a way to control the growth of snow algae, and in the long term, we may be able to reduce some of the ice melt.”
In the new study, the authors found signatures of giant viruses in snow and ice samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet.
The researchers believe that these viruses feed on snow algae and may act as a natural control mechanism against algal blooms.
“Although we still do not know much about viruses, we suspect they may be useful as a means to mitigate ice melt caused by algal blooms,” the researchers said.
“We don’t yet know how specific it will be and how efficient it will be, but we’re hopeful that further investigation will help answer some of those questions.”
“We analyzed samples of black ice, red snow, and melted pits (cryoconite),” they explained.
“We found traces of an active giant virus in both the dark ice and the red snow.”
“And this is the first time they’ve been found on ice or snow surfaces that are rich in pigmented microalgae.”
“The ecosystem surrounding the algae includes bacteria, fungi, and yeasts, as well as protozoans that eat the algae, various fungi that parasitize the algae, and giant viruses that infect the algae.”
“These last three groups need to be studied to understand the biological controls that act on algal blooms.”
“We can’t pinpoint which hosts the giant viruses will infect. Some of the viruses may infect protists, others may attack snow algae. We don’t know for sure yet,” Dr Perini said.
“We are continuing our research to learn more about giant virus interactions and their role in the ecosystem.”
of Negative Ion Laser Spectroscopy (NILS) Chinese Chang'e 6 Probe Negative ions have been detected on the surface of the moon. These ions are produced on the surface of the moon due to interactions with the solar wind.
The South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon is one of the largest and oldest impact features in the Solar System. It's easy to see in the elevation data: the low central area is dark blue and purple. The mountains on its edges, remnants of the outer ring, are red and yellow. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/University of Arizona.
The solar wind is a constant stream of radiation and particles emanating from the Sun. The Earth's magnetic field acts as a shield.
In contrast, the Moon has no magnetic field and a very thin atmosphere called the exosphere.
When the solar wind hits the Moon, it reacts with the surface, sending up secondary particles.
These particles may be positively or negatively charged, or may not be charged at all.
Positively charged particles have been measured from orbit before, but measuring negatively charged particles has been difficult.
Negative ions are short-lived and cannot reach orbit, which is why ESA scientists had to operate their instruments closer to the lunar surface.
“This is ESA's first operation on the lunar surface, a world first for science and our first lunar collaboration with China,” said Neil Melville, ESA's technical lead for the NILS experiment.
“We collected data in quantity and quality far beyond our expectations.”
“These observations on the Moon will help us to better understand the surface environment and serve as a precursor to exploring the distribution of negative ions on other atmosphere-less bodies in the Solar System, from planets to asteroids and other moons,” said NILS principal investigator Dr Martin Wieser.
Chang'e-6 is scheduled to successfully land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on June 1, 2024.
NILS began collecting science data 280 minutes after landing. The first data collection period lasted 23 minutes, after which the instruments experienced a voltage drop. Several further data collection periods followed, during which communications were interrupted and restarted.
“The equipment was getting hot, so it was alternating between short periods of running at full power and longer periods of cooling down,” Melville said.
“The fact that we managed to stay within the thermal design limits and achieve a successful recovery in extremely hot conditions is testament to the quality of the research at the Swedish Institute of Astrophysics.”
The entomologist described a new species of ant. Parapara Tretina He is from Inguk village in the East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India.
Paraparatretina NeelaHolotype worker: (A) Head viewed from the front, (B) Body viewed from the back, (C) Body viewed from the side. Images courtesy of Sahanashree other., doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1203.114168.
Parapara Tretina A genus of small ants, generally 1-2 mm in length, belonging to the subfamily. Formicidae.
They are typically found in the Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Oceania and Palaearctic biogeographical regions.
They live in a variety of tropical environments, from rainforests to forest clearings, and can be found in a wide range of habitats, from leaf litter on the ground to high up in the tree canopy.
Currently, the genus contains 38 valid species and four valid subspecies.
Fourteen species are known from the Indomalaya biogeographic region. Parapara Tretina Acetate It was previously the only species known from the Indian subcontinent.
Specimen of a new worker ant species Parapara Tretina The specimens were collected from a secondary forest at an altitude of 803 metres (2,635 feet) in Ing village, East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India.
“One evening, while I was exploring a tree hole about three metres high on a steep cattle track in the remote village of Inku, I saw something glow in the twilight,” he said. Dr. Dharma Rajan Priyadarsanan Ashoka Foundation for Ecological and Environmental Research and colleagues.
“In the dim light, two insects were sucked into the aspirator, which, to my surprise, I later discovered were ants.”
“Arunachal Pradesh, located in the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, Cyan Valley “There is a world of unparalleled diversity, much of which remains to be explored,” they said.
“But this richness, both culturally and ecologically, faces unprecedented threats.”
“Large infrastructure projects such as dams, highways and military installations, along with climate change, are rapidly transforming the valley.”
“The impacts extend beyond the valley itself, as these mountains not only sustain their own diverse ecosystems but also play a vital role in ensuring the well-being of millions of people living downstream.”
Named Paraparatretina NeelaThe newly discovered species is a tiny ant measuring less than 2mm in length.
The body is primarily metallic blue, except for the antennae, mandibles, and legs.
The head is subtriangular, with large eyes and triangular mouthparts (mandible) bearing five teeth.
This species has a distinctive metallic blue colour that distinguishes it from other species in the genus.
“With the exception of marine sponges, blue colouration in animals is a relatively rare phenomenon,” the researchers said.
“But there are also some blue species among vertebrates, such as fish, frogs and birds, and invertebrates, such as spiders.”
“Blue colors in insects are typically produced by the arrangement of biological photonic nanostructures rather than pigments, and have evolved independently in different groups.”
“This vibrant feature raises an intriguing question: Could it serve a purpose in communication, camouflage, or other ecological interactions? A closer look at the evolution of this conspicuous color and its relationship to elevation and biology could provide clues.” Paraparatretina Neela It points to exciting avenues for research.”
Discovery Paraparatretina Neela It has been reported paper In the journal Zookie.
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R. Sahanashree other2024. Amazing new species Parapara Tretina Donisthorpe (1947) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae), from the Eastern Himalayas of India. Zookie 1203: 159-172; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1203.114168
Very low-mass stars orbit rocky exoplanets more frequently than other types of stars. The composition of these planets is poorly understood, but it is thought to be related to the protoplanetary disk in which they form. In the new study, astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to investigate the chemical composition of the planet-forming disk around ISO-ChaI 147, a red dwarf star just one-tenth the mass of the Sun. They identified emission from 13 carbon-containing molecules, including ethane and benzene.
This is an artist's impression of a young star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
ISO-ChaI 147 It is a red dwarf star with a mass 0.11 times that of the Sun, located about 639 light years away in the constellation Chamaeleon.
The star was observed as part of the MIRI Mid-Infrared Disk Survey (MINDS), which aims to bridge the gap between the chemical composition of the disk and the properties of exoplanets.
These observations provide insight into the environments and fundamental elements for the formation of such planets.
Astronomers discovered that the gas in ISO-ChaI 147's planet-forming region is rich in carbon.
This could be due to carbon being removed from the solid material from which rocky planets form, which could explain why Earth is relatively carbon-poor.
“WEBB has greater sensitivity and spectral resolution than conventional infrared space telescopes,” said Dr Aditya Arabavi, an astronomer at the University of Groningen.
“These observations are not possible from Earth because the radiation is blocked by the atmosphere.”
“So far we have only been able to identify acetylene emissions from this object.”
“But Webb's high sensitivity and spectral resolution allowed us to detect faint emissions from fewer molecules.”
“Thanks to Webb, we now know that these hydrocarbon molecules are not only diverse, but abundant as well.”
The spectrum of ISO-ChaI 147 shows the richest hydrocarbon chemical composition ever observed in a protoplanetary disk, consisting of 13 carbon-containing molecules. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Ralf Crawford, STScI.
The spectrum of ISO-ChaI 147 is Webb's mid-infrared measuring instrument (MIRI) displays the richest hydrocarbon chemical composition ever observed in a protoplanetary disk, consisting of 13 carbon-containing molecules up to benzene.
This includes the first extrasolar detection of ethane, the largest fully saturated hydrocarbon detected outside the solar system.
Fully saturated hydrocarbons are expected to form from more basic molecules, so detecting them here can give researchers clues about their chemical environment.
Astronomers also detected ethylene, propyne, and methyl radicals in a protoplanetary disk for the first time.
“These molecules have already been detected in our solar system, for example in comets such as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy),” Dr. Arababi said.
“It's amazing that we can now see these molecules dancing in the cradle of the planet.”
“This is a completely different environment to how we normally think of planet formation.”
The team note that these results have significant implications for the astrochemistry within 0.1 AU and the planets that form there.
“This is very different to the composition found in disks around solar-type stars, where oxygen-containing molecules (such as carbon dioxide and water) dominate,” said Dr Inga Kamp, also from the University of Groningen.
“This object proves that these are unique classes of objects.”
“It's incredible that we can detect and quantify the amount of a molecule that's well known on Earth, such as benzene, in an object more than 600 light years away,” said Dr Agnes Perrin, an astronomer at the French National Center for Scientific Research.
The only example of life in the universe is Earth, a rocky planet with over 70% water on its surface. As far as we know, all life on Earth relies on water to survive and thrive, so scientists refer to other planets where liquid water is known to exist as “habitable.”
But scientists also know that a puddle of water alone is not enough to sustain life. Life depends on a constant flow of electrons between molecules, which Electronic GradientTo create energy, electrons move away from areas of high electron density. Reducelow density areas, so-called Oxidize.
Scientists have found several planets and moons in our solar system that have liquid water. Researchers are particularly intrigued by Jupiter's moon Europa, because remote sensing has revealed that it has a salty liquid ocean about 100 kilometers (60 miles) deep on top of a crust of iron-rich rock, with a layer of ice about 10 kilometers (6 miles) thick on top of that.
Europa has no atmosphere to protect it from the sun's radiation, which allows chemical reactions to take place that consume electrons on its surface, creating an oxidizing environment. In contrast, its iron-rich crust creates a reducing environment beneath its oceans. This means that an electron gradient naturally forms along the path from Europa's oxidizing surface to its reduced ocean floor. Scientists want to know if life could harness this electron gradient to obtain enough energy to sustain itself and survive.
Researchers studying Europa From the data Cassini and Galileo The mission found that Europa's ocean temperatures range from 0 to -13 degrees Celsius, or 32 to 9 degrees Celsius. They found that the hottest temperatures are found closest to the ocean floor, where heat is generated by reactions between water and rock, similar to Earth's hydrothermal systems. They also found that some of the most abundant molecules near Europa's surface are all oxide molecules, such as carbonates and sulfates.
Based on these temperature constraints and the amount of energy provided by oxidizing molecules on Europa's surface, a team of researchers from the University of Akron and the University of Southern California calculated the amount of energy available for life in Europa's ocean and investigated whether three types of Earth microorganisms could live beneath Europa's ocean. The microorganisms they tested generate energy using carbonates, sulfates, or iron particles. They reasoned that because all three of these oxidizing molecules are found on Europa's icy surface, if delivered to the ocean floor, the organisms could combine with reducing molecules on the ocean floor to generate energy.
The researchers calculated that in Europa's environment, molten iron near the surface layer of ice would form solid particles when exposed to penetrating radiation from the sun, and slowly fall to the ocean floor — like snow falling from the sky on Earth, except instead of water ice particles, the ocean rains down in the form of rust-like, reddish iron particles.
The scientists calculated that iron oxide snow would provide a larger electron gradient than carbonates or sulfates, ultimately generating more energy for life. They estimated that iron snow could provide up to 2.5×1026 More than 100 microbial cells are found on Europa's ocean floor per year, which represents about 0.1% of the total number of microbial cells currently living in Earth's oceans.
However, the authors caution that only around 10% of the energy produced by organisms on Earth is used to generate cells — the remaining 90% is used to maintain metabolism, meaning that the number of cells that microbial life could actually generate from Europa's underwater iron pathways would be much lower than the authors estimate.
Nevertheless, the authors suggest that these cell count calculations could be used to design missions to search for life on Europa: When future satellites orbit Europa, researchers could estimate how much cell mass we might expect from microbes living in the iron passages on the Europa ocean floor.
Two micropipettes hold the organism and extend its “neck”
Elliot Flaum and Manu Prakash/Stanford University
Imagine if your neck could stretch long enough to reach your local store while sitting on the couch. That would be a human representation of what a single-celled predator can do. And now, a long-standing mystery has been solved: how that animal can stretch its “neck” to more than 30 times the length of its “body.”
The organism’s cell membrane is folded into a series of folds that can only unfold and fold in one direction. Elliot Flaum Stanford University and her colleagues Manu Prakash They found ways to stretch and fold the paper without it getting tangled. “Most of this came from just playing with paper,” Prakash says.
Lacrimaria Aurore It is a single-celled organism, or protist, that lives in freshwater and hunts prey with a highly extensible neck-like protrusion. Its name means “swan’s tears” after its swan-like neck and teardrop-shaped body.
The cell membrane is very flexible, but it is not elastic and does not stretch. L. Aurore Why their necks stretch so far has remained a mystery since they were first observed under a microscope in the 16th century. “Compared to a lot of other organisms, the neck stretches by an order of magnitude,” Prakash says. “That’s the mystery.”
He and Flaum L. Aurore To solve this mystery, samples taken from the swamp six or seven years ago were studied. Flaum used a variety of techniques to L. Aurore And inside that cytoskeleton is made up of structures called microtubules. “We looked at it in a variety of different ways to try to understand what was going on,” she says.
This means: L. Aurore It is folded into 15 pleats, with each pleat spiralling around the cell to form a helical structure, a folding pattern Prakash calls “curved crease origami,” or “lacrigami.”
but, L. Aurore How can such a vast region of the cell membrane unfold and fold without getting tangled? What Prakash and Flaum discovered is that because the pleats are stabilized by bands of microtubules connected to them, the entire fold cannot unfold at once. Instead, only a single point of the fold can unfold or fold at any one time.
As these points move in parallel along each of the 15 wrinkles, the cell membrane unfolds in an orderly fashion, lengthening the neck. Reversing this process shortens the neck.
“Instead of folding randomly like you would when crumpling a sheet of paper, it has guide rails that help you fold it the same way every time,” Flaum says.
The folding and unfolding of cells is driven by the beating of cilia that cover the entire surface of the cell, Prakash said. Unlike springs, cilia require energy to refold and unfold, whereas cell membranes bend easily and require very little energy.
As far as he knows, no one has discovered this origami technique before. “When I discovered this, I always assumed that someone playing with paper would have discovered this origami,” Prakash says. “It’s so easy.” He says anyone with paper and tape can make it.
“The neck’s ingenious origami-like design makes the cilia effective for high-speed, long-distance hunting,” they write. Leonardo Gordillo and Enrique Cerda At the University of Santiago in Chile Accompanying Articles“The origami-like protrusion mechanism identified by Flaum and Prakash has the potential to inspire new strategies in soft-matter engineering.”
In fact, Prakash and Flaum are currently working on developing a medical robot based on Rakurigami. “If you had a tiny microrobot in a very tight space, and it could suddenly stretch, that would be very useful for microsurgery,” he says. “But we did this research because it’s just beautiful and a mystery to solve. We didn’t expect it to be useful in any way.”
Two NASA astronauts aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft successfully docked at the International Space Station on Thursday, despite issues with the spacecraft's thrusters.
NASA confirmed that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams docked with the space station at 1:34 p.m. ET.
“It's good to be connected to the great city of the sky,” Wilmore told mission controllers on the ground.
The docking attempt, originally scheduled for 12:15 p.m. ET, was postponed due to problems with five thrusters on the Starliner.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft docked with the International Space Station at 1:34 p.m. ET on June 6. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The hatch between the Starliner capsule and the space station was opened about two hours after docking.
Astronaut Williams was the first to enter the space station, greeted by the ISS crew members already on board.
Wilmore and Williams expressed their gratitude to the teams that worked to get them to the ISS and said they were ready to begin work in orbit.
Their arrival brings the International Space Station to full capacity.
Wilmore and Williams are expected to spend about a week on the ISS before potentially returning to Earth on June 14.
Flight controllers will continue to monitor the capsule's reaction control thrusters for further adjustments.
The Starliner capsule is capable of autonomous docking with the space station.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft prepares to dock with the International Space Station. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is more than 24 hours away from its first crewed test flight to the space station.
The test flight aims to demonstrate the capsule's ability to safely transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
This giant pangolin was caught on camera on March 8, 2023 in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal.
Panthera/DPN
A giant pangolin has been spotted in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park for the first time in 24 years, reviving hopes that the endangered animal still survives in the country.
“No one thought pangolins were still alive. [this park]” Muhammadu Modi Ndiaye At wildlife monitoring group Panthera.
Giant pangolin (Smutcha GiganteaThe pangolin, the only one of four African pangolin species found in Senegal, previously inhabited a wide area of forests and savannas from Senegal to western Kenya. But in recent decades, the scaly mammal's population has declined due to poaching for its meat and scales, as well as extensive deforestation. The report says: Over 8 million pangolins They were poached in West and Central Africa between 2014 and 2021, making them one of the most commonly trafficked animals in the world.
Giant pangolins are shy, solitary and nocturnal, so you probably won't see them outside their burrows. The last time a giant pangolin was captured and officially identified was in Senegal in April 1967. Thirty years later, two were found during an ecological survey. Since then, conservationists have not seen a single giant pangolin.
That was until he was photographed walking slowly across a dry riverbed at 1:37 a.m. on March 8, 2023. Snapshot was captured The image was captured by one of 217 research camera traps scattered across more than 4,000 square kilometres of Niokolo Koba National Park.
“I was so excited when I saw the baby pangolin,” Ndiaye said.
The sighting suggests that Niokolo-Koba National Park could become the last bastion for pangolin monitoring and conservation in Senegal, according to the report. Alan D.T. Muafo Researchers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Pangolin Specialist Group have produced a report on surveying pangolin habitat and identifying its habitat, which he says is particularly important as there are many areas where “local extinction” is suspected, where pangolins are no longer active.
“This sighting is a ray of hope for pangolins' survival in West Africa and could help raise public awareness of their plight,” Muafo said, adding that he hopes it marks a “turning point for new conservation efforts.”
What exactly can dogs offer cities? The answer is coming soon.
Reader Dorothy Sheckler informed Feedback that Brad D. Lee of the University of Kentucky will be presenting his views at the Soil & Water Conservation Association conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on July 22, 2024. What will Lee’s presentation topic be?Nutritional contributions of pet dogs in urban peri-urban environments” “.
Tensions may be palpable during the talks, as the host city announced that dogs will only be allowed on beaches this summer before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m., and owners “must pick up and properly dispose of their feces.”
Mussel-bound Death
Through investigation and international cooperation, two preserved bodies that had long been forgotten were rediscovered.
Keith Moeliker, a biologist who studies surprising animal behavior (he discovered homosexual necrophilia in mallards, according to feedback on February 10, 2024), tells us what happened.
“The fate of Denmark’s black-headed gulls is dramatic.Chroicocephalus ridibundus“In 1952 a seagull stepped on a freshwater clam,” he writes, “and the clam closed its valve and refused to let go. The proof, of the seagull (now dead) with the clam still attached to its right foot, was found in an old photograph I found in the depths of the Internet.”
Mölliker learned that the photo was taken at the Hunting and Forestry Museum in Hörsholm, eastern Denmark. In 2017, the museum moved to and became part of another institution, the Green Museum in Auning, western Denmark. As is often the case with large and diverse museum collections, some treasures were safely stored but largely unnoticed. Mölliker got in touch with the Green Museum curator, who picked up the twin objects (officially named JSH 05542) from their resting place on a long shelf in a heavily refrigerated building.
“In April 2024, I was allowed to observe the black-headed gull in the museum’s collection storage facility and was able to take this photograph,” Moeliker continues (see below). “There I learned more: the gull had not died embracing the mussels, but had been shot together with the mussels near Solo on Zealand. [Denmark]Another special item from the same Danish collection is JHS 05924, the leg of a herring gull that was found trapped inside a half-open tin can in 1954.”
Mustache denial
Feedback consulted with native Iranian (or, in the ChatGPT era, human, if you prefer) translators to solve this puzzling mystery. Several recent studies published in Iranian research journals use strange wording in their titles. Here are three examples:
Each paper is written in a mixture of Persian and Arabic, and includes a synopsis written in English, which includes a reference to “Moustache” as well as each title.
Why the moustache? Feedback’s language consultant was astonished. “Because the translator of the paper is a complete idiot!! The word for “path” in Arabic is [of doing something]’ is sometimes called SavilePersian [Farsi], Sybil It means “mustache.” The translator might just be Google.
The world will now find out what impact these moustache-twirling papers will have on international diplomatic relations.
Mustache measurement
While pursuing the intricacies of mustache negation rules, Feedback stumbled upon a (possibly unrelated) study published in 1982:Survival curves and growth rates of mustache populationsThe paper, written by Cliff Frohlich and Ruth Buskirk, reports measurements of “three previously unstudied characteristics of mustaches: hair length distribution, hair growth rate, and rate of hair shedding or weathering,” all of which were measured on “unshaven mustaches of 30-year-old Caucasian men.”
Eleven years later, Frohlich cited Mustache’s paper, studyPublished in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earthdiscussed the subtle mathematical aspects of measuring earthquake strength. He noted that, like mustache growth, “earthquakes are just one of many phenomena for which a logarithmic plot of number versus magnitude is approximately a straight line.”
Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible
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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.
SpaceX is preparing Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, for its next test launch. Here’s everything you need to know.
What time is the launch scheduled?
The launch is expected to take place today, pending regulatory approval, and each flight must be approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration. SpaceX tweeted: The live stream begins at 12:30 p.m. UK time.
Judge Eddie Trevino of Cameron County, Texas, where SpaceX’s Starbase launch site is located, has closed nearby roads for flight testing. The closures are limited to a 14-hour period between midnight and 5pm local time.
Where is Starship going?
The fourth test flight will focus on returning Starship from orbit and conducting a mock landing of both the Starship and the Super Heavy first stage booster. Both vehicles will make a “soft splashdown” in the ocean, using their engines to slow their descent and line up for a gentle touch down on the water. The first stage booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, while Starship aims to splash down in the Indian Ocean.
What has happened in Starship launches so far?
All three Starship launches have ended in explosions, as part of SpaceX’s strategy to learn from failures. The second launch reached space but was destroyed before completing an orbit. The third test flight reached space and achieved important milestones, despite failing to make a soft landing.
What would happen if this launch were to fail?
The chances of Starship completing its mission perfectly are slim, so failure is expected. However, this failure will provide valuable data and experience to improve future launches. SpaceX has shown the ability to iterate quickly and make progress with each launch.
A genetic study of hundreds of ancient horses suggests that ancient breeders dramatically shortened the horse’s natural development period, starting around 4,200 years ago. This intense breeding allowed the lineage to rapidly expand across Eurasia within a few centuries, according to researchers led by Ludovic Orlando at the Centre for Human Biology and Genomics in Toulouse, France.
“In other words, they controlled horse breeding,” he says, “so this tells us something about the breeding processes behind the success of horse breeding around the world.”
Horses were first domesticated 5,500 years ago by the Botai people in what is now Kazakhstan. The Botai, however, did not spread their horse culture to other regions and eventually went extinct. Horses released back into the wild.
More than 1,000 years later, a different lineage of horse was domesticated in the Pontic-Caspian steppes of southern Russia. This lineage eventually spread worldwide, giving rise to all the domesticated horses we see today, according to Orlando.
To trace the history of horse domestication, Orlando and his team analyzed the genomes of 475 ancient horses dating back 50,000 years in Eurasia. They compared these genomes with those of 71 modern domestic horses representing 40 breeds from around the world, along with six species of the endangered mullein genus (a separate subspecies).
The research found that, except for the Botai, horses were not domesticated before the third millennium BCE, indicating that horses did not play a significant role in early human migration or cultural expansion, as previously suggested, Orlando explained.
DNA analysis showed that horses in the Pontic-Caspian steppe underwent significant inbreeding around 4,200 years ago, likely in an effort to develop specific traits for high-quality riding or chariot horses, according to Orlando.
Through a combination of genome sequencing and carbon dating, scientists estimated that the average time between two successive horse generations, called the generation time interval, was significantly shortened during the same period of inbreeding in the Pontic-Caspian steppes, halving the interval seen in the wild.
“During the domestication bottleneck around 2200 BCE, breeders were able to control horse reproduction so well that generations became faster and faster,” Orlando said.
Orlando suggests that breeders may have achieved this shortening of generation times not by breeding horses at a younger age, but by increasing survival rates. Unlike wild horses, horses in human care are less susceptible to deaths among mares and newborn foals, as they are protected from predators and disturbances that could jeopardize their survival, according to researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna led by Kristin Orlich.
Apple has acknowledged a persistent bug in its parental controls that allowed children to bypass restrictions and access adult content online.
This bug, which enabled kids to evade controls by entering specific nonsensical phrases in Safari’s address bar, was initially reported to the company in 2021.
Despite being ignored, a recent Wall Street Journal report has shed light on this issue, prompting Apple to commit to addressing it in the next iOS update.
This loophole effectively disabled the Screen Time parental control feature for Safari, allowing children unrestricted access to the internet.
While the bug doesn’t seem to have been widely exploited, critics argue that it reflects Apple’s disregard for parents.
iOS developer Mark Jardine expressed frustration, stating, “As a parent who relies on Screen Time to keep my kids safe, I find the service buggy with loopholes persisting for over a decade.”
When Screen Time was introduced in 2018, it was promoted as a tool for parents to monitor their kids’ device usage and manage their own screen time habits.
Over time, parents have become heavily reliant on Screen Time to control features, apps, and usage times for their children.
Following the release of Screen Time, Apple implemented restrictions on third-party services that offered similar functionalities, citing security concerns. However, this move faced criticism for anticompetitive behavior.
Five years later, critics argue that Apple’s monopoly has led to neglect in improving parental controls. Apple blogger Dan Mollen highlighted concerns raised by parents disillusioned with Screen Time.
Apple responded by saying, “We take reports of issues with Screen Time seriously and have continually made improvements to give customers the best experience. Our work isn’t done yet, and we will continue to provide updates in future software releases.”
A collective of schools in London has made the decision to prohibit the use of smartphones, reflecting a growing concern about the reliance on mobile devices among children.
The heads of 17 out of 20 state secondary schools in Southwark, south London, have united to discourage students from using smartphones outside of school premises in an effort to address the negative impacts of excessive smartphone use.
Additionally, three other public schools in the area are working towards implementing the same policy.
The schools aim to educate families and students about the various harmful consequences associated with smartphone and social media use in young individuals. These include mental health issues, addiction to screen time, disruptions to sleep and concentration, exposure to inappropriate content, as well as an increased risk of theft and robbery.
Mike Baxter, principal at City of London Academy, stated, “We have witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of smartphones and social media on the health and education of children. The negative behaviors often manifested outside of school hours but were subsequently revealed within the school environment.”
The schools have collectively agreed to confiscate cellphones if used during class. Traditional phones without Wi-Fi access may be quickly returned, while smartphones may only be retrieved after a week or upon personal collection by a parent.
The new measures will impact over 13,000 young individuals in one of London’s top-performing boroughs. The policy applies to students in years 7 to 9 across all secondary schools, with some schools adopting a comprehensive approach.
Furthermore, a group of secondary school principals are collaborating with primary school leaders in Southwark to establish a borough-wide initiative.
Jessica West, principal at Ark Walworth Academy, emphasized that the inaction of phone companies compelled schools to take action to ensure the well-being of children. They aim to guide families and children in making healthy choices regarding smartphone usage.
Recent reports indicate a significant rise in screen time among young children and teenagers, with screen time among children increasing by 52% between 2020 and 2022, according to the UK House of Commons Education Committee.
Approximately 25% of children and adolescents are reported to use smartphones in a manner consistent with behavioral addiction, as per the findings of the report.
The collaborative effort has been praised by Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of A childhood without smartphones (SFC), who stated, “This united action by a headteacher in south London is groundbreaking and truly impactful. It is unprecedented for secondary schools to collectively address this issue. Commendably, this could potentially alter the lives of a generation of children in south London who are at risk of developing mental health challenges due to early smartphone usage.”
Concerns regarding smartphones and children are escalating rapidly, with SFC expanding its reach to other countries such as the US, UAE, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Portugal.
In the UK, an increasing number of parents are committing to delaying the provision of smartphones to their children until they reach the age of 14. Bristol is a prime example, where 80 schools have established SFC groups and over 1,000 parents have pledged their support.
Greenwell expressed excitement about the organic growth of this movement among schools, principals, and parents, indicating that this long-awaited conversation is finally gaining traction.
SpaceX’s Starship, the largest rocket ever, successfully completed its fourth test flight, with the first and second stages completing their missions as planned and each landing in different oceans.
Following liftoff from the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50 a.m. local time, one of the 33 Raptor engines on Super Heavy’s first stage failed to ignite. Despite this, the rocket continued into space and the two stages separated cleanly.
Super Heavy splashed down on schedule about seven minutes after liftoff, close to the launch site in the Gulf of Mexico. After plummeting to Earth from an altitude of more than 100 kilometers, the booster’s engines ignited normally and it slowed from more than 4,000 kilometers per hour to hover just a few meters above the sea surface, but then the live feed cut out and it plunged into the ocean.
Meanwhile, Starship reached an orbit at an altitude of more than 200 kilometers and traveled at a speed of more than 27,000 kilometers per hour. During its descent to Earth, about 60 kilometers above the surface, SpaceX’s livestream footage showed visible damage to one of its four control fins and what appeared to be a cracked camera lens. As it reached the Indian Ocean, it appeared to hover before plummeting into the water.
This fourth test flight focused on returning Starship from orbit after it had reached space for the first time in the previous test. SpaceX opted to perform a “soft splashdown” at sea, as landing on land is currently considered too risky. Instead, the craft would use its engines to slow its descent, align itself as if it were landing on a base, and then gently splash down on the water.
Eventually, the hope is that spacecraft will be able to be refurbished and reused by returning to land from space, as SpaceX already does with its Falcon 9 rocket.
Today’s launch marks the company’s fourth Starship launch and includes software and hardware upgrades, as well as changes to launch procedures based on lessons learned from previous tests. In the first test in April of last year, the first and second stages exploded before separating, and in another test in November, the second upper stage reached space but stopped transmitting data and self-destructed, and the first stage exploded shortly after separation.
SpaceX’s third Starship test flight on March 14 was at least partially successful, reaching space, conducting a fuel transfer test, and flying farther and faster than ever before, but the spacecraft lost control during the flight and failed to make a planned soft landing.
SpaceX is preparing for the next test launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built. Here’s everything you need to know.
What time is the launch scheduled?
The launch is expected to take place today, pending regulatory approval, and each flight must be approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration. SpaceX tweeted: The live stream begins at 12:30 p.m. UK time.
Judge Eddie Trevino of Cameron County, Texas, where SpaceX’s Starbase launch site is located, Nearby roads are closed In official documents, Treviño clarified that the closures were for “flight testing” and were limited to a 14-hour period between midnight and 5pm local time.
Where is Starship going?
The fourth test flight will focus on returning Starship from orbit and conducting a mock landing of both the Starship and the Super Heavy first stage booster. Both vehicles will make a “soft splashdown” in the ocean, using their engines to slow their descent and line up for a gentle touch down on the water. The first stage booster is scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the launch site, about seven minutes after liftoff, while Starship aims to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour later.
What has happened in Starship launches so far?
All three Starship launches have ended in explosions, which was expected as part of SpaceX’s “fail fast, learn fast” strategy.
During the first launch on April 20 last year, three of the first stage’s three engines (out of a total of 33) failed to ignite. Several more subsequently failed during the flight. The rocket then spun out of control and its self-destruct safety mechanism was activated. The entire flight lasted about three minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 39 kilometers.
Starship’s second launch was on November 18. This time, all 33 engines were working, and the rocket flew far enough for the first and second stages to separate. But as the first stage rotated to begin its deceleration and landing procedure, it exploded. The second stage continued on smoothly to an altitude of about 90 miles, passing the Kármán line, which marks the beginning of space. But it was destroyed by a safety device after it stopped transmitting data before completing an orbit or returning to Earth.
SpaceX’s third Starship test flight, on March 14, was at least partially successful, as it reached space, performed a fuel transfer test, and flew farther and faster than ever before. However, it lost attitude control during the flight and failed to make the planned soft landing. Nevertheless, it achieved several important milestones, including Starship’s first atmospheric reentry from space, the first opening and closing of Starship’s payload door in space, and a successful demonstration of fuel transfer, which is key for future NASA Artemis missions to the Moon.
What would happen if this launch were to fail?
The chances of Starship completing its mission perfectly are slim, so it’s likely to fail in some way. But failure will provide data and experience that can be used to improve the design and process for the fifth launch. SpaceX has shown it can iterate quickly and make great strides with each launch.
debtFor nearly 15 years, I used to fly to Los Angeles every June to cover E3, the massive video game conference where major games and consoles were unveiled for the first time, from PlayStation to Wii U, from Fallout 4 to Final Fantasy VII Remake. However, due to the pandemic, E3 was canceled this year and replaced by a series of loosely connected events: Summer Game Fest, organized by The Game Awards’ Jeff Keighley, the Xbox Game Showcase, and the indie-led event Day of the Devs. It all kicks off tomorrow, June 6th.
Publishers like Ubisoft and Devolver are hosting their own broadcasts, while other E3 regulars like EA and Square-Enix are absent. Live Show From leading games and entertainment website IGN – I worked there during the height of E3 in the early 2010s, when companies would rent studios and broadcast basically all of their announcements over four consecutive days. What’s basically happened is that it seems like we still get as much gaming news as we get at E3, but now it’s much more spread out and crammed into one weekend instead of a week-long conference.
In short, it’s all a bit chaotic right now, but I’m on a plane to Los Angeles just like the old days, so I’ll do my best to play and cover as many interesting games as I can. If you’re looking to follow events other than E3 over the weekend, here are five things to keep an eye on (and where to watch them).
It’s a two-hour live showcase hosted by Keighley from LA’s YouTube Theatre. Based on my previous experience with both SGF and the Game Awards, it’s going to be a series of blockbuster trailers interspersed with very tepid, very rehearsed conversations with developers. It’ll be an endurance test, but with all the big names in the video game industry in attendance, including Capcom, 2K Games, and PlayStation, there should be at least two major game announcements and it should be worth watching. Straight afterwards, for those staying up late in the UK, the Day of the Devs indie showcase (4pm PST/midnight BST) and Devolver Direct broadcast (5pm PST/1am BST) will showcase the satire and independent spirit of the games industry, dispelling any corporate chic.
If you’re looking for a cozy gaming vibe, this is the place. Farming simulators, dating games, anything with cats and frogs. I get a lot of emails from Pushing Buttons readers asking where to find non-violent, approachable games, and this is the place. In past years, this showcase has proven to be long-lasting enough to get cloyingly cute, and with over 70 games on display, it’s quite possible that will be the case in 2024 as well, but the wholesome intention behind it makes up for it for me.
Looks promising… Star Wars Outlaws. Photo: Ubisoft
Xbox Games Showcase – Sunday, June 9th9am PST / 5pm BST
I’m very interested to see how the rather embattled Xbox division will fare this year, having pushed through the Activision/Blizzard/King mega-merger last year and then made the very unpopular decision to close down some of their studios. With a new version of Xbox on the horizon, the Game Pass strategy seems to be shifting, and Microsoft now owning a lot of developers, should There’s no shortage of games to premiere, with the sequel to the Call of Duty Black Ops series (above), due to launch this year, also premiering shortly thereafter.
PC releases tend not to get as much attention in the games media as console releases, so this will be a most exciting showcase for a readership that loves real-time strategy, 4x, Moba, team-based FPS games, CRPGs, and other genre acronyms that accompany PC-exclusive games. Organized by venerable magazine PC Gamer, the event is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Ubisoft Forward – Monday, June 1012pm PST / 8pm BST
Ubisoft’s lineup this year is promising, with the new Assassin’s Creed game set in feudal Japan and the promising Star Wars Outlaws alone being enough to keep me entertained for an hour, but I Mario vs Rabbids Kingdom Battle 2017 Edition Shigeru Miyamoto made an appearance, Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani got emotional, and it wouldn’t be E3 without a slightly embarrassing “Just Dance” performance.
What to Play
One of the best… Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Photo: FromSoftware
I have two long-distance flights coming up, so it’s time to get serious. Elden Ring On Steam – Fortunately, the best game of 2022 (and in fact one of the best fantasy games of all time) runs great on a portable PC console. Shadow of the Elder TreeThe expansion is out on June 20th and is small enough to be considered a mini-sequel. The good news for those of you who haven’t finished Elden Ring yet, like me, is that you don’t have to finish the game to the end before the expansion comes out, but you’ll still get to enjoy the brutal yet exhilarating rhythm of the combat (and Substantial We’ll be looking back at the game’s history before taking on a new challenge later this month.
Available on: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Estimated play time: 60+ hours (expansion will take at least another 15-20 hours)
Now on TV… Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Photo: SEGA
Amazon Prime Unexpectedly Live-action television series It’s based on the fantastic cult-favorite crime drama game, Like a Dragon (pictured above).
Sony’s State of Play showcase last week technically kicked off a summer of gaming-related announcements. Gamesradar There is an overview Highlights from the trailer Astro Botstarring an adorable little white robot who serves as PlayStation’s best mascot, is a playful mix of platforming, puzzles, and action that’s great fun.
In news that’s too depressing for me to even think about, IKEA plans to pay its employees the minimum wage. Virtual Roblox Store You wanted the metaverse? Here’s the metaverse. Working at IKEA for minimum wage. But now. Not real.
Actor and developer Abubakar Salim recently released his debut game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, with his studio Surgent. made a statement He talks about the targeted racist harassment he and his team suffered, part of a resurgence of the anti-woke culture wars that have resurfaced this year in the games industry and beyond. “There’s always going to be a reason why diverse stories can’t exist. These exclusionary rules keep piling up, and the goalposts keep shifting, until I, my studio, and people like us just sit back, shut up, and accept the fact that we’re outsiders. And I won’t,” he says.
Xylitol is often marketed as a “natural” way to sweeten drinks and foods.
Pixelshot/Alamy
Xylitol, a sweetener commonly found in sugar-free drinks, chewing gum and toothpaste, has been shown to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Often marketed as “low carb,” “natural,” or “keto-friendly,” xylitol is a sugar alcohol found in fruits and vegetables, but at levels roughly 1,000 times lower than what’s added to commercial products. It can also be prepared artificially. Chemical reactions from plant materials.
last year, Stanley Hazen Hazen and his colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio found that the sweetener erythritol was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Suspecting that xylitol might also affect heart health, Hazen surveyed 3,306 adults in the United States and Europe.
The researchers took a single blood sample from participants to measure their xylitol levels after an overnight fast, and found that over a three-year follow-up, those with the highest blood xylitol levels were one-third more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack or stroke.
To better understand this trend, the researchers looked at the effects of xylitol in the lab on human blood cells called platelets, and on platelet activity in mice. Platelets crowd together at the site of an injury to prevent bleeding, but they can also clot within blood vessels. This can affect blood supply to the heart and brain, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers found that human platelets cultured in xylitol showed signs of being more likely to clot than those cultured in saline, and blood clots formed significantly more quickly in the veins of mice injected with xylitol.
Finally, the team tracked platelet activity in 10 subjects after they drank the same amount of water sweetened with xylitol. Within 30 minutes, plasma xylitol levels increased 1000-fold, and all indicators of platelet clotting readiness improved, especially in subjects with the highest levels of xylitol in their blood.
“This study highlights the urgent need to investigate sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners,” Hazen said. “While there’s no need to throw away your toothpaste just because it contains xylitol, people should be aware that consuming products high in xylitol may increase their risk of developing blood clot-related conditions.”
Combined with previous research on erythritol, the findings “emphasize the need for systematic research into the effects of artificial sweeteners on cardiovascular disease risk,” the researchers say. Silvia Radenkovic At the University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands.
A former Meta engineer filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the company of discriminatory practices in handling content related to the Gaza war. He claimed that he was fired by Meta for trying to fix a bug that was throttling Palestinian Instagram posts.
Feras Hamad, a Palestinian-American engineer on Meta’s machine learning team since 2021, sued the social media giant in California, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination over his firing in February.
Hamad accused Meta of bias against Palestinians, citing the removal of internal communications mentioning deaths of Gaza Strip relatives and investigations into the use of a Palestinian flag emoji.
The lawsuit alleged the company did not investigate employees posting Israeli or Ukrainian flag emojis in similar situations. Meta did not immediately respond to the allegations.
These allegations align with ongoing criticism from human rights groups about Meta’s moderation of Israel-Palestine content on its platform, including an external review in 2021.
Since last year’s conflict outbreak, Meta has faced accusations of suppressing support for Palestinians. The conflict erupted in Gaza in October after Hamas attacks, resulting in casualties and a humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this year, about 200 Meta employees raised similar concerns in a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders.
Hamad’s firing seems linked to a December incident involving a troubleshooting procedure at Meta. He raised concerns about restrictions affecting Palestinian content on Instagram.
The lawsuit mentioned a case where a video by a Palestinian photojournalist was wrongly classified as explicit, sparking further issues.
Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia are under increased scrutiny for their involvement in the artificial intelligence industry as U.S. regulators have reportedly agreed to investigate these companies.
The New York Times reported that the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have reached an agreement to investigate key players in the AI market, with the investigation expected to be completed within the next few days.
The Justice Department will lead an investigation into whether Nvidia, a leading chip maker for AI systems, has violated antitrust laws aimed at promoting fair competition and preventing monopolies, according to Wednesday’s NYT.
Meanwhile, the FTC will scrutinize OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, and Microsoft, the largest investor in OpenAI and supporter of other AI companies.
The Wall Street Journal also reported on Thursday that the FTC is investigating whether Microsoft structured a recent deal with startup Inflection AI in a way to avoid antitrust scrutiny.
In March, Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleiman, CEO and co-founder of Inflexion, to lead its new AI division and agreed to pay the company $650 million to license its AI software.
The FTC has shown interest in the AI market before, ordering OpenAI, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, and Anthropic to provide information on recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and cloud service providers.
An investigation into OpenAI was launched last year based on allegations of consumer protection law violations related to personal data and reputations being at risk.
Jonathan Cantor, head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, stated that the department will “urgently” investigate the AI sector to examine monopoly issues and the competitive landscape in technology.
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On my desk, next to my ultra-modern gaming PC, sits a strange device that resembles a spaceship control panel from a 1970s sci-fi movie. There’s no keyboard or monitor, just a few rows of colorful switches beneath a string of blinking lights. If you thought the recent proliferation of retro video game consoles, such as the Mini SNES and the Mega Drive Mini, was an amazing development in technology nostalgia, look no further than the PiDP-10. It’s a 2/3-scale replica of the PDP-10 mainframe computer, first introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1966. It was designed and built by an international group of computer enthusiasts known as the PiDP-10. Obsolescence is certain
It’s a beautiful thing.
The project’s genesis dates back to 2015, when Oscar Vermeulen, a Dutch economist and lifelong computer collector, wanted to build a single replica of the PDP-8 mainframe that had fascinated him since childhood. “I had a Commodore 64 and proudly showed it to a friend of my father’s,” Vermeulen says. “He scoffed and said the Commodore was a toy. The real computer was the PDP, specifically the PDP-8. So I started looking for discarded PDP-8 computers, but I couldn’t find a single one. Now they’re collector’s items, very expensive and most of the time broken. So I decided to build a replica for myself.”
Ever the perfectionist, Vermeulen decided he needed a professionally made front panel cover. “The company that could make them told me I’d have to pay for one four-square-metre sheet of Perspex to cover 50 of these panels,” Vermeulen says. “So I made 49 extra ones, thinking I’d find 49 idiots to do it for me. Little did I know it would end up costing me thousands of dollars on my dinner table.”
At the same time, Vermeulen began posting in various vintage computing Google Groups, where he worked on software emulators for pre-microprocessor computers. As word spread about his replica, it quickly became a group effort that now has over 100 members. While Vermeulen focuses on designing the hardware replica (a front panel with working switches and lights), others are working on different aspects of the open source software emulation, which has a complicated history. At its core is SIMH, created by the ex-SIMH. December Developed by employee and megastar hacker Bob Supnick, the program emulates a variety of classic computers, and it was later improved by Richard Cornwell and Lars Brinkhoff to add driver support for the PDP-10. the Many other people were involved in the operating system and other MIT projects, some of whom collected and preserved old backup tapes, some of whom added improvements and debugging, and some of whom provided documentation and schematics.
Happy hacking! …PiDP-10 replica computer in Keith Stewart’s game room Photo: Keith Stewart/The Guardian
The attention to detail is incredible. The lights on the front aren’t just decorative. They show the instructions being executed, CPU signals, and memory contents, just like the original machine. Vermeulen calls it watching the heartbeat of the computer. This element was taken very seriously. “Two people spent months on one particular problem,” Vermeulen says. “You know, LEDs blink, but incandescent bulbs glow. So we studied exhaustively the LEDs to simulate the glow of the original bulbs. And we found that different bulbs from different years glow for different amounts of time. Measurements were made and calculations were applied, but the glow of the lamps was added. More CPU time was spent simulating that than simulating the original.”
Why? Why go to all this trouble? First, there’s the historical importance. The PDP machines, built between 1959 and the early 1970s, were revolutionary. Not only were they much cheaper than the giant mainframes used by the military and big corporations, but they were designed to be general-purpose, fully interactive machines. Instead of writing a program on punch cards, giving it to the IT department to run on the computer, print it out, and debug it maybe a day later, PDP let you type directly into the computer and test the results immediately.
A tedious task… In the 1950s, before the advent of PDP machines, mainframe computers took up entire rooms and used punch cards to input computer programs. Photo: Pictorial Parade/Getty Images
These factors led to an explosion of experimentation. Most modern programming languages, including C, were developed on DEC machines. The PDP-10 was the heart of the MIT AI Lab, the room where the term artificial intelligence was born. “The PDP-10 computer dominated the Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet,” says Lars Brinkhoff. “Internet protocols were prototyped on the PDP-10, PDP-11, and other computers. The GNU Project was inspired by the free sharing of software and information on the PDP-10. Stephen Hawking’s artificial voice grew out of the DECtalk device, which grew out of Dennis Klatt’s speech synthesis research begun on the PDP-9.”
The PDP made its way into university labs around the world, where it was embraced by a new generation of engineers, scientists, and programmers — the original computer hackers. Steve Wozniak got his start programming on a PDP-8, a small, inexpensive machine that sold by the thousands to hobbyists. Its operating system, OS/8, was the precursor to MS-DOS. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were teenage students who would sneak into the University of Washington to program the PCP-10, and it was on a PDP computer that MIT student Steve Russell and a group of friends designed a shoot-’em-up game. Space War!was one of the first video games to run on a computer.
Pioneers… Steve Russell at the California Computer History Museum, 2011. Russell stands in front of the Digital PDP-1, a computer game he developed in the early 1960s. Photo: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News/Getty Images
This legendary game wasn’t the only one. There were many others at the time, because making games was a fun way to explore possibilities. “There were Dazzle Dart, a four-player laser tennis game, and Lunar Lander,” Vermeulen says. “Maze War was the first networked video game. People connected two IMLAC minicomputer/graphics terminals to the Arpanet via a PDP-10 mainframe, and used that million-dollar pile of hardware to chase each other through a maze or shoot each other.” And the original text adventures like Colossal Cave and Zork, as well as the first multiplayer online games like MUDs and Star Trek, were also written on PDP computers.
These machines are an essential part of our digital culture, the furnace of the modern gaming and tech industries. But to be understood, Already used
“The problem with computer history is that putting old computers in a museum that aren’t being used communicates very little,” says Vermeulen. “You need to experience these machines and how they worked. And the problem with computers before about 1975 is that they were huge, heavy and nearly impossible to keep running. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen loved his PDP-10 deeply, and with the funds he had, he was able to hire a team of skilled technicians to repair and get it running. But it was very expensive, and sadly, his family decided to discontinue this after he passed away.”
The answer is emulation. The PDP replica has all the look of the original terminal, including the lights and switches, but the calculations are done by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer connected to the back via a serial port. To get it running at home, just plug in the Raspberry Pi, connect a keyboard and monitor, boot it up and download the software. Then flip the switch on the front of the PDP-10, reboot the Raspberry Pi, and you’ll be in PDP mode, with a window on your monitor emulating the old Knight TV terminal display. A command line interface (remember those?) gives you access to a range of the original programs, including games.
This is what I’ve been waiting for. We all know the important role SpaceWar played in the birth of the modern games industry, but actually playing it and controlling a spaceship battling amongst vector explosions against a flickering starry sky…it feels like you’re living history.
In the 15 years since Vermeulen began developing his personal PDP-8 emulator, the Obsolescence Guaranteed group has sold hundreds of replicas and continues to develop more, including a replica of MIT’s experimental Project Whirlwind computer from the 1950s (which ran a simple version of tic-tac-toe). Today, a company in Panama called Chiriqui Electronic Design Studio manufactures the hardware. What started as a personal project has become something much bigger. “We had an ‘official’ launch of our PiDP-10 replica at MIT in Boston, where the original machine was kept. The demo session was attended by about 50 hackers from the 1970s. It was fun to see people playing the multi-user Maze War game 50 years later.”
Another reason the PiDP-10 is worth it is because it’s fun. I never imagined seeing something like this up close, much less plugging it into a monitor at home and playing with it. It was an exciting, nostalgic, and weirdly emotional experience. Navigating the ITS disk system, the glowing green dot-matrix font, the appealing list of programs and games, the “happy hacking!” message above the terminal command line – it’s very evocative.
Impressive…PiDP-10 screen. Photo: Keith Stewart/The Guardian
Meanwhile, programmers who bought PiDP machines are creating new programs and games. They range in age from 80-year-old PDP veterans to 20-year-olds who want to relive a bygone era of programming. Memory and processing power were scarce, so elegant and super-efficient code had to be written; there was no room for bloat. “Quite a few universities are using the PiDP-11 and -8 in their classes,” Vermeulen says. “Partly to show computer science students our origins, but also because the super-low-level programming still required for microcontrollers and hardware drivers is the type of coding you learn very well on these dinosaurs.”
Brinkhoff agrees that while these machines have a certain nostalgia, they also have something to teach us: They’re functional. “I enjoy writing new software for the 10, like a program to display fractals or generate QR codes,” he says.
“I hope it becomes more widely accepted, because if you don’t do anything with PiDP, it just sits on a shelf and the lights flash. It looks pretty, but I don’t think the computer can be truly happy unless you program it.”
I
If Franz Kafka were alive and commenting on the video game adaptation of his work, Playing Kafka, the big question might have been: “Where’s the sex?” This interactive version of The Trial has branching narratives, but it’s lacking in sexuality. It’s not hard to imagine the author and playtester being infuriated by the lack of sadomasochism or desire. Overall, the choices made in this literal and lightly interactive adaptation seem tuned to be appropriate for leaving it running on an iPad in a museum. The barrier to entry is low with simple binary choices and touchscreen controls, and there’s no imagery to frighten classroom visitors.
Playing Kafka, released just a few weeks before the 100th anniversary of Kafka’s death, is a collaboration between the Goethe-Institut and developer Charles Games (a studio, not an individual). It adapts Kafka’s unfinished novels The Trial and The Castle, along with lengthy, critical letters Kafka wrote to his father about their relationship.
Playing Kafka.
Photo: Charles Games
The Trial lost the most in translation, speeding through the text and stripping away the complexities of its protagonist, reducing him to a hollow, docile avatar. Video game mechanics can offer stories and experiences other media can’t, but in this case they’re not enough to make up for what the developers gave up. And Kafka’s letters to his father don’t gain emotional weight from formulaic dialogue and pattern-matching puzzles; his father probably would have loved them.
Bigger and deeper than any of Kafka’s plots is his world and the Kafkaesque sense of an anonymous institution that is indifferent and incomprehensible to its participants. This contrasts with the practice of good game design, which demands clear rules, victory conditions, and systems that work as you expect them to. In Kafka’s world, the court is unknowable. It’s outside the courthouse, in attics and tenements, in wallpaper and lamplight. There may be no courthouse, no rules, no meaning at all.
So Playing Kafka doesn’t suggest that you can achieve anything with the experience. It’s full of movement without progress, choices without consequences. It can be a boring video game for players and purists. The German character light is adapted to the system and language of a mobile game with a story choice.
A screenshot of playing the Kafka video game.
Photo: Charles Games
This is where The Castle works best: Kafka didn’t give the novel an ending, which may have relieved the developers of the pressure to reach a certain point; their version is free of burden and admirably silly and playful, a boring exercise in what is probably nothing.
Would Kafka approve? Of course not; he never wanted to publish it in the first place. But if Kafka’s adaptation doesn’t satisfy the author, it will trap him in a hell of his own making. Playing Kafka Playing Kafka would have been Kafka’s ultimate nightmare: lost in a maze of his own words, stumped by unclear (or non-existent) objectives, bewildered by dialogue options that offer no alternative, and ultimately unable to proceed after a glitch prevents his lawyer character from smashing through the floor. There’s something at least a little Kafkaesque about the idea.
HHave you ever been to Taylor Town? As you know, it’s where The Beatles came from. It’s where you can catch a ferry across the River Mersey. It’s home to two famous football stadiums, Goodison Park and Anfield, the latter of which I think was home to Taylorpool FC. Oh, wait. It’s not. It’s Liverpool, right?
Frankly, you could be forgiven for making that mistake, because the place is getting all hyped up about Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert, with “Liverpool Loves Taylor” posters plastered all over the city and an 11-part art installation trail featuring a grand piano, a throne and “hand-made seagulls” has been created. Rename the town after the star.
But is it too much? When does one musician have too big an impact on the world? Is Taylor Swift (whisper it) boring? These are the topics explored in detail in the latest series of The Guardian’s Pop Culture With Chanté Joseph. Swift’s Elle Hunt takes a deep dive into the artist. This week, we’re joined by a great club history of a Welsh LGBTQ+ venue, a wild tale of people mixed up at birth, and a profile of sporting heroes from Colin Murray and Ellis James. We also bring you a roundup of the best podcasts to get you through the upcoming Euros. And if England doesn’t perform as well as expected, there’s one piece of advice from Liverpool’s new de facto mayor: shake it off.
Alexi Duggins Deputy TV Editor
This week’s picks
East Block, an LGBT club in London. Photo: PYMCA/UIG/Getty Images
All you need to play for Wondery+, all episodes will be released on Monday Just in time for the Euros, Ellis James and Colin Murray launch their Sports Heroes Podcast to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wayne Rooney’s Euro debut. Their fact-packed commentary is passionate and they have a lot of empathy for the young Rooney’s first appearance as he faced off against the press conferences and tabloids. With Euro 2004 coming up, the pressure is even greater as a nation places its hopes on the talented 18-year-old. Hannah Verdier
A new study led by scientists at the University of New South Wales confirms that eating fruit can help ward off depression – but eating vegetables does not.
High fruit intake is associated with a reduced risk of developing depression.
Depression is a major public health concern: the global impact of depressive disorders is estimated to be over 50 million years of life lived with disability, making depression the largest contributor to non-fatal disease burden.
More than 80% of this burden is borne by low- and middle-income countries.
Compared with depression in younger adults, depression in older adults has a greater impact on physical and cognitive abilities and is associated with reduced quality of life and increased all-cause mortality.
A growing body of evidence suggests that diet, particularly increasing fruit and vegetable intake, may be important in reducing the risk of depression.
“The aim of this new study was to examine the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and depression in adults aged 45 and over,” said researcher Dr Annabel Mattison, from the University of New South Wales.
The study involved 7,801 non-depressed, community-dwelling adults from multiple sites across six continents, including the United States, Sweden, Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia and Australia.
The results showed a beneficial association between higher fruit intake and a lower risk of depression over a nine-year period.
“This intriguing finding of a protective relationship between fruit consumption and risk of depression points to the need for greater emphasis on diet in healthcare,” said Dr Mattison.
The results suggested a benefit to vegetable consumption, but the benefit was not statistically significant.
“The reason we found a beneficial association with fruit consumption but not with vegetable consumption may be because fruits are typically consumed raw, whereas vegetables are typically consumed cooked, which may affect their nutritional value,” Dr Mattison said.
“Fruit and vegetable intake was self-reported via a comprehensive food frequency questionnaire, a short food questionnaire, or a dietary history.”
“Depressive symptoms were assessed using validated scales, and depression was defined by applying validated cut-offs.”
“We used Cox regression to examine the association between baseline fruit and vegetable intake and incident depression over 3- to 9-year follow-up periods.”
It has been suggested that the high antioxidant, dietary fiber, and vitamin content of fruits and vegetables may have beneficial effects on depression through a variety of mechanisms, including their role in inflammation, oxidative stress, and gut microbiota.
Because fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients, it is also possible that different types of fruits and vegetables may have different effects on depression risk.
The evidence that citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables reduce the risk of depression is particularly strong.
“Future studies that take into account consumption of different types of fruit and vegetables using standardized measures and focus on a larger number of older people, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are definitely needed,” Professor Henry Brodaty, from the University of New South Wales, said.
“The expanding research currently being conducted into genes associated with dietary intake provides a promising avenue for influencing fruit and vegetable intake.”
“To better understand the association, the types of fruits and vegetables consumed also need to be taken into account, and studies need to be designed to be more comparable across cohorts.”
of study Published in Journal of Affective Disorders.
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Annabelle P. Mathison others2024. Associations between fruit and vegetable intake and incident depression in middle-aged and older adults in 10 diverse international longitudinal cohorts. Journal of Affective Disorders 359: 373-381; doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.05.096
Neutron stars typically spin quickly, taking just a few seconds or even a fraction of a second to complete one revolution around their axis, but one neutron star labeled ASKAP J1935+2148 bucks this rule, emitting radio signals at a relatively slow interval of 53.8 minutes.
Artist's impression of a neutron star. Image courtesy of Sci.News.
“We're used to extreme examples when studying radio-emitting neutron stars, so the discovery of such a compact star that is still emitting radio waves despite rotating slowly was unexpected,” said Professor Ben Stappers, from the University of Manchester.
“This new generation of radio telescopes demonstrates that pushing the boundaries of our search space will reveal surprises that will shake up our understanding.”
At the end of their lives, massive stars use up all their fuel and undergo a spectacular explosion called a supernova.
What remains is a stellar remnant called a neutron star, which consists of trillions of neutrons packed into an extremely dense sphere with a mass 1.4 times that of the Sun, packed into a radius of just 10 km.
Astronomers detected an unexpected radio signal from ASKAP J1935+2148 that traveled about 16,000 light-years to Earth.
The nature of its radio emission and the rate of change of its rotation period suggest that it is a neutron star, but further study is needed to confirm what this object is.
“This discovery relied on the complementary capabilities of the ASKAP and MeerKAT telescopes, combined with our ability to probe these objects on timescales of minutes, and examine how their radiation changes from second to second,” said Dr Kaustubh Rajwade, an astronomer at the University of Oxford.
“Such synergies can shed new light on how these compact objects evolve.”
ASKAP J1935+2148 was detected by CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope in the Wadjari Yamatji region of Western Australia.
“What's interesting is that this object exhibits three different radiation states, each with completely different properties to the others,” said Dr Manisha Caleb, an astronomer at the University of Sydney.
“The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a key role in distinguishing between these states.”
“If the signals had not come from the same point in the sky, it would be hard to believe that it was the same object producing these different signals.”
“Until the arrival of these new telescopes, the dynamic radio sky was relatively unexplored,” said Professor Tara Murphy, from the University of Sydney.
“Now we can look deeply and frequently see a variety of unusual phenomena.”
“These events give us insight into how physics works in extreme environments.”
This discovery paper In the journal Natural Astronomy.
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M. Caleb othersA radio transient phenomenon in which the radiation state switches with a period of 54 minutes. Nat AstronPublished online June 5, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02277-w
Pachystropheus reticulum One of the last thalattosaurs, it was a large marine lizard with otter-like behaviour that could move on land, but was likely a primarily marine predator with a different ecological niche from contemporary marine reptiles (placodonts, ichthyosaurs) and carnivorous fishes (hybodont sharks, actinopterygii).
Restoration of Life Thalattosaurus alexandraePhoto courtesy of: Nobu Tamura, translation:.
Pachystropheus reticulum It is a type of thalattosaur that lived in the Late Triassic deposits of Britain and continental Europe.
Although known for a long time, this ancient reptile still remains shrouded in mystery.
For many years, is assumedPachystropheus reticulum the first chorusAnother group of marine reptiles similar to crocodiles.
In the new study, paleontologist Jacob Quinn of the University of Bristol and his colleagues Pachystropheus reticulum Since 1935.
They called this PachistropheusKnown as Annie, the cave contains hundreds of bones from several different humans.
“Thalattosaurs existed throughout the Triassic Period, some of which reached lengths of up to four metres (13 feet) and would have been terrors of the seas,” Quinn said.
“But our Pachystropheus reticulum Its body was just over a metre (3.3 feet) long, half of which was its long tail.”
“It had a long neck, a tiny head the size of a matchbox (which has yet to be found) and four paddles.”
“If it was like its relatives, it would have had lots of sharp little teeth that were ideal for catching fish and other small, mobile prey.”
“Before Pachystropheus reticulum “This dinosaur was the first to be identified as a member of the Choristoderes, another group of crocodile-like marine reptiles, and was held in great importance because it was the oldest,” said Professor Mike Benton, from the University of Bristol.
“Jacob said some of the bones were from fish and others were actually Pachystropheus reticulum “That indicates that it was in fact a small thalattosaur.”
“So what was thought to be the first of the choristoderes has now been identified as the last of the thalattosaurs.”
“Pachystropheus reticulum “It probably lived a similar lifestyle to modern otters, feeding on small fish, shrimp and other invertebrates,” said Dr David Whiteside.
“This slender reptile had a long neck, a flattened tail for swimming, and surprisingly strong forelimbs for a marine animal. Pachystropheus reticulum They may have come onto land to feed or to avoid predators.”
“At the time, the Bristol area, and much of Europe, was covered by shallow waters and these animals likely lived in large populations in the warm, shallow waters around the islands.”
of result Appears in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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Jacob G. Quinn othersRelationships and paleoecology Pachystropheus reticuluman enigmatic marine reptile (diapsid: Thalattosaurinae) from the Late Triassic period. Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyPublished online June 4, 2024; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2350408
The Alameda, California City Council decided not to permit ongoing controversial experiments related to technology that aims to brighten clouds. The project involves spraying saltwater onto a former aircraft carrier’s deck at the city’s pier to test devices that can create and measure aerosol plumes. This research could lead to marine cloud brightening, a form of climate intervention aimed at making clouds more reflective to send heat back into space and help mitigate global warming. Despite the potential long-term benefits, the council unanimously voted against continuing the experiments.
This decision placed city officials in the midst of a national debate about geoengineering and whether testing such technology should be allowed. The council’s vote does not reject the science or the concept of geoengineering but rather criticizes the lack of transparency, safety vetting, and misguided approach of the researchers. The researchers from the University of Washington had already begun the experiment on the USS Hornet in Alameda without proper public disclosure. The experiments aimed to study the effects of increasing water droplets in clouds to make them more reflective to sunlight, which could help reduce global warming.
The council’s concerns focused on potential health risks to the community surrounding the experiment site, lack of regulatory measures, and insufficient transparency from the project leaders. Despite claims of safety from the researchers, city leaders stopped the experiments, prompting a discussion on the risks and benefits of geoengineering.
While project organizers expressed disappointment with the council’s decision, outside environmental groups warned about the broader implications of geoengineering, fearing unintended consequences that could impact global climate efforts. The debate highlights the challenges of advancing geoengineering research in the face of skepticism and concerns about the potential risks associated with altering natural systems.
Earth’s Speed It’s getting warmer 2023 is the highest on record, beating last year’s astonishing 92%. Record-breaking heatwave Leading scientists have calculated that the cause is human.
A group of 57 scientists from around the world used UN-approved methods to investigate what’s behind it. Last year’s heatwaveThey said that even if the rate of warming has increased, they found no evidence of a significant acceleration of human-induced climate change beyond increased burning of fossil fuels.
Last year’s record temperatures were so extraordinary that scientists have been debating what’s behind the spike, whether climate change is accelerating or if other factors are at play.
“When we see the world accelerating or going through a major tipping point, things aren’t happening,” said Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds and lead author of the study. “Temperatures are rising and things are getting worse exactly as we predicted.”
A person sprays water at passersby on a hot summer day in Karachi, Pakistan on May 30, 2024. Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images
This can mostly be explained by the buildup of carbon dioxide from increased fossil fuel use, he and his co-authors said.
Last year’s warming rate was 0.26C (0.47F) per decade, up from 0.25C (0.45F) the year before. Forster said that’s not a huge difference, but this year’s rate is the highest on record.
Still, outside scientists said the report paints a more alarming picture than ever before.
“While whether or not to tackle climate is a politically contentious issue, this report should remind people that it is actually a fundamentally life-saving choice,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin who was not part of the international research team. “To me, that’s something worth fighting for.”
Ocean Beach in San Francisco during a heat wave warning in California on June 4, 2024. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
The authors, who formed to provide an annual scientific update between major UN scientific assessments every seven to eight years, concluded that last year’s temperature was 1.43 degrees Celsius higher than the 1850-1900 average, of which 1.31 degrees was due to human activities. The remaining 8 percent of warming was Mainly due to El NiñoThese include natural, temporary warming in the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather around the world, as well as unusual warming along the Atlantic Ocean and other weather randomness.
Looking at longer time frames — decade-by-decade, which scientists prefer over annual periods — the world has warmed about 1.19 degrees Celsius (2.14 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, the report said. Earth System Science Data Journal found.
The report also says that if the world continues to burn coal, oil and natural gas, the planet is likely to reach a point within four and a half years where it will become unavoidable to cross internationally accepted warming thresholds. 1.5℃ (2.7℃) ).
Students experience extreme heat at an elementary school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on May 7, 2024. Chaidir Mahyudin/AFP via Getty Images
This is consistent with previous studies that project that if emissions trajectory remains unchanged, the planet will reach at least 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by early 2029. While reaching 1.5 degrees may be years away, it seems inevitable once all the carbon is used, Forster said.
Scientists say that going over 1.5 degrees won’t mean the end of the world or humanity, but it will be pretty dire. Past UN Studies Large-scale changes to Earth’s ecosystems are expected to become more likely with a warming of between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius, ultimately resulting in the loss of the planet’s coral reefs, Arctic sea ice, plant and animal species, as well as more extreme and life-threatening weather events.
Last year’s temperature rise wasn’t just a minor spike — September was particularly unusual, said study co-author Sonia Seneviratne, head of the land climate dynamics department at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.
A caged howler monkey receives treatment during a heatwave in Cunduacan, Mexico, on May 24, 2024. The heat was so severe that the monkey fell from a tree and died. Jose Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images
Seneviratne said this year was at the higher end of the range but within expectations.
“If there was an acceleration, it would be even worse, perhaps a worst-case scenario, where the world would reach a tipping point,” Seneviratne said. “But what’s happening now is already very bad, and we’re already seeing big impacts. We’re in the middle of a crisis.”
Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Environmental Studies, and Zeke Hausfather, a global climate scientist at the University of Berkeley, neither of whom worked on the study, said they still see an acceleration in warming, which Hausfather noted is much faster than the 0.18 degrees Celsius (0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade that occurred from 1970 to 2010.
Medical workers treat a dehydrated patient in Austin, Texas, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty Images file
The scientists Big increase in SeptemberHausfather called that “staggering.” Wednesday’s report didn’t find enough warming from other potential causes. It said that while reduced sulfur pollution from ships had some cooling effect on the atmosphere, that was offset last year by carbon particles released into the atmosphere by Canadian wildfires.
The report also noted that undersea volcanoes, which released huge amounts of heat-trapping water vapor into the atmosphere, also spewed cooling particles, with the two forces roughly cancelling each other out.
“The future is in our hands,” said Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “It’s up to us, humans, not physicists, to decide how fast and how much the Earth will warm.”
Gene therapy involves administering normal copies of the mutated gene that causes a particular disease.
nobeastsofierce/Shutterstock
Five Chinese children born deaf have received gene therapy that provides them with a healthy copy of a mutated gene, allowing them to hear in both ears. Although the children have varying degrees of hearing loss, all can now hear and localize sounds at conversational volume.
Six months after treatment, the five children’s hearing was about 50 to 60 percent of normal levels, team members say. Chen Yi Chen “They get confused when we whisper, but normal conversation is fine,” he said at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. “We’re very happy.”
In the first phase of the trial, which began in 2022, the team gave another group of six children in China the gene therapy in just one ear. Five of the six children had their hearing restored in the treated ear, with continued improvement, Chen said.
The team expects to see further progress in the second group of five children. “The progress we’re seeing now isn’t the peak,” Chen says. “We expect to see even more progress.”
The trial in China is the first of several ongoing trials around the world. She lives in the UK with her two children. There have also been reports in the United States of people regaining hearing in one ear after undergoing gene therapy.
“The tests are all pretty much the same.” Manohar Bans Doctors from Cambridge University treated two children in the UK.
All of the children in these trials were born with hearing loss because they carry a mutation in both copies of the gene for a protein called otoferin, which plays a key role in synapses, or connections, between the hair cells in the ear that detect sound and the nerves that transmit signals to the brain. The mutation affects the protein, blocking the transmission of signals.
Between 2 and 8 percent of children worldwide who are born with hearing loss are thought to have this condition, known as DFNB9.
Both parents of a child with DFNB9 have normal hearing if they each have just one mutant copy of otoferlin. These couples are often unaware that they have a one in four chance of having a child that is born deaf.
Gene therapy relies on the help of a virus called AAV to deliver a working version of the otoferlin gene to hair cells. Due to the gene’s large size, it needs to be split and put into two separate viruses.
The virus cocktail is injected into the inner ear, and the complete gene is reconstituted in cells that receive both halves. The DFNB9 trial marks the first time that so-called dual AAV gene therapy has been used to treat humans.
“This is a major technological advance,” Chen says, “and we hope that this technology will be widely used to treat other genetic diseases.”
The clinical trials will begin by treating one ear at a time because half the dose of AAV is needed, reducing the chance of adverse events, he says. No serious adverse events have been reported in any of the trials.
Chen’s team now plans to treat the other ears of the first group of children. This could be difficult because an immune response to the initial AAV injection could block gene delivery, but Chen believes it is possible.
Treating other inherited hearing loss is more difficult because some of the structures inside the ear degenerate. With DFNB9, all of the structures remain intact. “You only need to repair one element,” Chen says.
“Parents and young people need to be aware of all the risks and, above all, understand that hearing loss in itself does not prevent people from living a happy and fulfilling life,” he says.
People collect water in hot weather in New Delhi, India on May 22.
Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu via Getty Images
With each new month comes new records as the planet continues to experience unprecedented, record-breaking heatwaves. Last month, global temperatures were the warmest on record for a May, marking the 12th consecutive month of such record-breaking weather, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Copernicus’ Carlo Buontempo said in a statement that while the current record will eventually end, the record set over the past year is likely to be broken in coming years as the world continues to warm due to rising greenhouse gases. “This period of the hottest months will likely be remembered as a relatively cool one,” Buontempo said.
The average Earth’s surface temperature in May 2024 was 1.52°C higher than the 1850-1900 average, considered pre-industrial levels, and 0.19°C higher than the warmest May to date, in 2020. May 2024 will mark the 11th consecutive month with average temperatures more than 1.5°C higher than pre-industrial levels, the threshold that countries aim to avoid exceeding under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The global average temperature over the past 12 months was 1.63°C higher than the average from 1850 to 1900, the highest on record, but climate scientists will not consider the 1.5°C limit to have been breached until the long-term average exceeds this level.
Climate scientists had predicted that 2023 and 2024 would be hotter because of an El Niño weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean that dumps ocean heat into the atmosphere, temporarily warming the surface of the planet on top of the trends caused by rising greenhouse gases. But temperatures actually turned out to be even hotter than predicted, and it’s unclear why.
El Niño is now being replaced by La Niña, during which much of the Pacific Ocean absorbs more heat than usual from the atmosphere. This may temporarily cool sea surface temperatures, but because sea surface temperatures are still at record levels, 2024 is likely to be even hotter than 2023.
Unusually warm May caused extreme heat and heat waves Heat waves are occurring in parts of the world, including large swaths of India, where temperatures in the capital Delhi reached a new record of 49.9°C (121.8°F) on May 28.
Howler monkeys in Mexico Falling from a tree and dying This heat has now spread to the northern United States during a prolonged heat wave.
Last year, a study warned that if the world exceeds the 1.5°C limit, heatwaves could become so intense that they cause mass deaths in places where people are not used to such heat and buildings are not designed with it in mind.
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