Washington – Early Man utilized animal bones to create cutting tools 1.5 million years ago on a regular basis.
A recent discovery of 27 sculptures and sharp bones from elephants and hippos in Tanzania’s All-Bai Valley site has extended the timeline for the use of ancient bones by around a million years. Researchers already knew that early individuals crafted simple tools from stones as long ago as 3.3 million years.
New discoveries of ancient humans published in Nature on Wednesday have shown that they had a more sophisticated toolkit, incorporating various materials, according to William Harcourt Smith, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History. He was not involved in the study.
A well-preserved bone tool measuring up to 16 inches (40 cm) may have been created by fracturing the bulky ends of leg bones and chipping off the flakes from the remaining bone shaft using stones. Research co-author Ignacio de la Torre, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council, explained that this technique was used to produce one sharp edge and one tip.
The bone tools were likely used as hand axes, handheld blades not attached to a handle, for the purpose of butchering animal carcasses.
These blades were ideal for removing flesh from elephant and hippo carcasses but were not utilized as spears or projectiles. “I don’t believe they were hunting these animals. They were likely scavenging,” he stated.
Numerous artifacts exhibit signs of being struck in order to remove more than dozens of flakes, indicating a sustained level of craftsmanship.
The consistent choice of bones – specifically large, heavy leg bones from a particular animal – and a pattern of uniform modifications suggest that early humans deliberately selected and crafted these bones, as noted by paleobiologist Milia Pacheco from the Federal University of San Carlos in Brazil, who was not part of the study.
The bones show minimal signs of erosion, trampling, or gnawing by other animals, ruling out the possibility of natural factors shaping the tools.
These bone tools date back over a million years, predating the emergence of our species, Homo Sapiens, by approximately 300,000 years.
According to Brianna Poviner, a paleontologist with the Smithsonian Human Origins program, when the tools were created, three types of human ancestors coexisted in the same East African region.
This tool could have been created and used by Homo Erectus, Homo Habilis, or Paranthropus Boisei. “It could have been any of these three, but it’s nearly impossible to determine which one,” Poviner mentioned.
After facing opposition from education secretaries Peter Kyle and Bridget Phillipson, the bill seeking to ban addictive smartphone algorithms targeting young teenagers was weakened.
The Safer Phone Bill, introduced by Labour MP Josh McAllister, is set to be discussed in the Commons on Friday. Despite receiving support from various MPs and child protection charities, the government has opted to further investigate the issue rather than implement immediate changes.
Government sources indicate that the new proposal will be accepted, as the original bill put forward by McAllister did not receive ministerial support.
The government believes more time is needed to assess the impact of mobile phones on teenagers and to evaluate emerging technologies that can control the content produced by phone companies.
Peter Kyle opposes the major bill, which would have been the second online safety law some advocates were hoping for.
Although not fundamentally against government intervention on this issue, a source close to Kyle mentioned that the work is still in its early stages.
The original proposal included requirements for social media companies to exclude young teens from their algorithms and limit addictive content for those under 16. However, these measures were removed from the final bill.
Another measure to ban mobile phones in schools was also dropped after objections from Bridget Phillipson, who believes schools should self-regulate. There are uncertainties regarding potential penalties for violations.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been vocal about addressing the issue of addictive smartphones, publicly supporting McAllister’s bill.
The revised Private Membership Bill instructs Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty to investigate the health impacts of smartphone use.
McAllister hopes that the bill will prompt the government to address addictive smartphone use among children more seriously, rather than just focusing on harmful or illegal content.
If the Minister commits to adopting the new measures as anticipated, McAllister will not push for a vote on the bill.
The government has pledged to “publish a research plan on the impact of social media use on children” and seek advice from the UK’s chief medical officer on parents’ management of their children’s smartphone and social media usage.
Polls indicate strong public support for measures restricting young people’s use of social media, with a majority favoring a ban on social media for those under 16.
In less than a week, the second privately constructed US spacecraft is poised to land on the moon.
The robot lander, named Athena, was created by an intuitive machine based in Texas. It was launched into space on February 26th and has been traveling to the moon for the past week.
About the size of a dishwasher, the six-legged ship is set to land in the lunar Antarctic area, with plans to spend a week searching for possible water ice beneath the lunar surface.
The landing is scheduled for Thursday at 12:32 pm ET.
If successful, Athena will be the second vehicle to land on the moon in five days, following another robotic lander built by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, which landed there on Sunday.
Both missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Moon Payload Services program, aimed at assisting private companies in developing Moonlander technology. Over a dozen US companies are involved in this initiative, which is crucial to NASA’s overarching goal of returning astronauts to the moon.
Athena’s landing will mark the second moonshot for the intuitive machine. The company previously made history in February 2024 by landing a commercially built spacecraft on the moon, becoming the first American spacecraft to land there in over 50 years since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission.
Athena’s Moon Lander. An intuitive machine
The Lander, known as Odysseus, experienced a successful landing despite tipping over afterwards.
Both intuitive machine missions are focused on the Antarctic region of the moon. Odysseus landed near a crater called Marapart A, while Athena is targeting a vast flat mountain plateau known as Mons Mouton.
Scientists believe that water ice is relatively abundant in the moon’s Antarctic region, making it a crucial resource for potential crew missions and long-term stays on the moon.
Athena is equipped with several rovers, including the suitcase-sized vehicles developed by Colorado-based Lunar Outpost called Mapp (Mobile Autonomous Research Exploration Platform). These rovers are designed to explore the landing site and capture 3D images of the terrain.
Furthermore, a thumb-sized rover named “Astroant,” created by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will assess the health of the map rover and take regular temperature measurements.
In addition, the mission includes releasing a drone named Grace, which will hop around the Athena landing site, covering approximately 650 feet in four hops to explore nearby craters and scan for hydrogen traces and ice deposits.
While on the moon, Athena will also test a 4G communications system developed by Nokia, which could facilitate communication and data transfer between spacecraft on the moon.
Moon exploration continues beyond this week, with a Lander and small rover from a Japanese company called Ispace set to land near the northern pole’s vast basin known as Male Frigolis.
According to the UK boss of Microsoft, some companies are “neutral” in their approach to artificial intelligence.
A Microsoft survey of almost 1,500 senior leaders in public and private sectors and 1,440 employees revealed that more than half of executives believe their organization does not have official AI plans. Nearly the same percentage reported increased productivity gaps between employees using AI and those who do not.
“Some organizations seem to be stuck in the experimental phase and remain in neutral rather than moving towards deployment of AI,” said Darren Hardman, the UK CEO of high-tech companies.
Microsoft, a major financial supporter of Openai, the developer of ChatGPT, is driving AI deployment in the workplace through autonomous AI agents. These agents allow tasks to be performed without human intervention. Early adopters of Microsoft’s Copilot Studio products, which operate bots, include the consulting company McKinsey. McKinsey uses agents to schedule meetings with potential clients.
The Tony Blair Institute estimates that AI could create up to 3 million jobs in the UK, but also anticipates net job losses in the hundreds of thousands as technology creates new roles. Hardman mentioned to the Guardian that AI agents would eliminate the tedious digital tasks from people’s work, allowing them to focus on the creative aspects of their roles.
In terms of creating new roles in retail stores, such as data analysts, web designers, and social media managers, he stated: “And I think that the creation of agency workplaces will do the same thing.”
Hardman also mentioned proposed reforms to UK copyright law, which have faced opposition from the UK’s creative industry.
He said: “We believe it would bring clarity. I think it will support AI development.”
The UK government is proposing that tech companies like Microsoft can utilize copyrighted work without permission to train models. Critics of the proposal see it as a “wholesale” transfer of wealth from the creative industry to the technology sector.
In other news, the former CEO of BP, Bernard Looney, has been appointed as the chairman of a UK technology startup. Looney departed the oil and gas company in 2023 after admitting to not fully disclosing a series of personal relationships with colleagues to the board.
He has been appointed to accelerate the expansion of data so that small and medium-sized businesses can utilize data to reduce costs and emissions.
According to satellite measurements from the European Union’s Climate Service Copernicus, there is less sea ice covering the ocean this February.
“One of the consequences of a warm world is to melt sea ice, and both Poles’ records or near-recorded low-sea ice covers have pushed the world’s sea ice cover to the lowest ever.” Samantha Burgess The European Middle Distance Centre is forecast in a statement. According to the service, global temperatures in February this year rose 1.59°C above the pre-industrial average, making it the third security in March on record.
These high temperatures have affected the global sea ice range, including both the Arctic and Antarctic, which is currently close to the largest in the year. Satellite records from both regions date back to 1979.
In the Arctic, sea ice was 8% below average throughout February, missing an area of nearly the size of the UK ice. This was the three consecutive months of successive months that set a low monthly new record in the Arctic.
This decline in the Northern Hemisphere is combined with the long-term decline in Antarctic sea ice seen over the past two years. Antarctic ice appeared to recover to near average levels last December, but then again fell rapidly. In February, the ice reached the fourth-lowest range on record for the month, 26% below the average.
Record low ice in both hemispheres is a “cause of serious concern,” he said. Robert Larter In a statement in the UK Antarctic Survey. He says that ice shortages could harm the polar ecosystems, expose ice shelves to more seawater, and accelerate melting and rising sea levels.
The lack of ice also affects beyond the poles. Less ice means less solar radiation is reflected in the universe, increasing warming. It can also weaken global ocean currents, relying on the dense salt water that is generated when sea ice forms.
In recent months, game makers have faced challenges with age classifications for video games. Age ratings are meant to assist parents in determining if a game is suitable for their children. However, incorrect labels can mislead consumers and impact the success of a game.
Balatro is a poker game created by an anonymous developer known as LocalThunk. The game relies on chaos, with constantly changing conditions that challenge players to form the best possible poker hands. Players earn in-game money to buy new cards during each round, adding an element of strategy. Despite its initial success, Baratoro faced classification issues when it was labeled as a gambling game.
Originally rated for ages 3 and older, the game was later reclassified as suitable for adults only. This decision caused Baratoro to be removed from digital storefronts in Europe and Asia. The publisher, PlayStack, appealed the decision but faced obstacles in various regions.
Ultimately, after updates and appeals, Baratoro received a Pegi rating of 12 or higher, resolving the classification issue. The experience highlighted the challenges of rating systems and the impact they can have on game sales.
Pegi clarified its standards for assessing games that depict gambling, aiming to provide fair and accurate classifications. The case of Baratoro led to the development of a more detailed classification system for games involving gambling.
While the reclassification brought relief to publishers, it also raised questions about age rating systems and their ability to inform consumers about game content. The evolving nature of rating systems reflects the need to adapt to changing cultural expectations in the gaming industry.
Balatro’s journey highlights the importance of clear and accurate age classifications for games and the ongoing need to ensure that players understand the content they are engaging with.
The Blue Ghost took a photo of the shadows on the moon.
Firefly Air Space
The Texas company has achieved its second commercial landing on the moon. And the first company didn't fall with a touchdown. Success comes even in the gusts of private and state moon exploration.
The Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Lander was launched on January 15th on top of the SpaceX rocket, and spent 45 days of travel to the moon. It landed at 8:34am on March 2nd. Chrysium in the Maresa smooth basin formed by a volcanic eruption three billion years ago.
Using thrusters, Blue Ghost slowed from an orbital speed of 1.7 km/sec to just 1 meter/sec, then landed on shock absorbing legs within 100 meters of the target. Jason Kim, CEO of Hotaru; I told CNN That the short height of the craft was the key to a safe landing: “It is a successful design, you see past designs and successful past designs, [they] Very similar – short and squatti. ”
The Blue Ghost is approximately 2 metres tall and 3.5 metres wide, and features 10 scientific instruments as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program, which uses the private sector to perform various experiments prior to the planned crew mission.
These include testing of the lunar planet, which uses compressed gas blasts to mix and collect samples of lunar dust, radiation-curable computer chips, and lunar GNSS receiver experiments that pick up signals from GPS and Galileo navigation satellite constellation to bring Earth into orbit to provide timing data for the moon.
The Lander will be operating on Earth Day-Moon Day, approximately 14 days before falling into the darkness and closing around March 16th. While other landers have unexpectedly survived the harsh conditions before, a frostling moon night will likely be the end of the mission.
Last February, the Texas-based intuitive machine landed the Odysseus spacecraft on the moon, becoming the first private company to achieve a feat previously only achieved by the National Space Agency. Odysseus fell to the side while landing, but still managed to work surprisingly well.
Many moon missions are in progress or planning. Also, Blue Ghost's Launch Rocket was another commercial moon mission, Ispace's Resilience Lander, intended to land in April. It is expected that around 12 landers will reach the moon in 2025 alone.
Light micrographs of neck smears or Pap smears from people with bacterial vaginosis
Dr. Y. Boussougan/CNRI/Science Photo Library
Women with bacterial vaginosis, a recurrent condition that increases the risk of pregnancy complications, can benefit from male sexual partners being treated with antibiotics, according to a trial that found that their risk of symptoms returning was nearly half.
“Treating male partners has led to the most important invasions to improve the rate of recurrence in women that we have seen for decades,” he says. Catriona Bradshaw He led the work at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) affects Approximately one-quarter of women of reproductive age all over the world. It occurs when “harmful” bacteria grow in excess in the vagina and cause vaginal discharge. Turn the greyish white and smell the fishthere are potentially serious complications. “It increases the risk for women to acquire a wide range of sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV, and complications during pregnancy, such as preterm birth and miscarriage,” says Bradshaw.
Doctors usually treat the condition with antibiotics in the form of creams that can be applied inside the vagina, but symptoms often recur because having a sex appears to reintroduce the problematic bacteria, Bradshaw says. “One in two people will regain their BV within three to six months of the recommended treatment regimen,” Bradshaw said.
To address this, Bradshaw and her colleagues recruited 137 monogamous women in Australia with bacterial vaginosis along with their male partners. All women took standard antibiotics for a week, but about half of their partners were given oral antibiotics and were told to apply antibiotic cream to their penis during the same period. The remaining men were not treated. None of the participants were transgender.
Three months later, 63% of women whose partners were not treated had recurrence symptoms, while only 35% of women who received antibiotics experienced a recurrence. “This definitely has a significant effect of becoming a valuable intervention for this group of women,” he says. Janneke van de Wijgert At Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
“I've seen a lot of women who have issues with BV ongoing. I'll definitely apply this new information to my clinical practice.” Christina Muzny University of Alabama at the University of Birmingham.
The team did not track all participants over the long term, but they regained contact after years and said they had no symptoms. “Last week I spoke to someone who had been exempt from BV for two years since they joined. These women had been recurring very much before the trial.” Lenka Vodstrcil At Monash University.
However, this approach does not work for women with casual sexual partners. There, it may be difficult to get people to adhere to taking antibiotics, says Van de Wijgert. Even in monogamous relationships, she says, men may not always be willing to take antibiotics. “We've seen this with condom use. This also reduces BV recurrence. It can be really difficult for women to have their male partners use condoms.”
Early trials of the norovirus vaccine pill are committed to protecting against the infamous “winter vomiting” bug, and researchers say it could be used in a few years.
The virus is highly contagious and infects and causes the stomach and intestines Vomiting and diarrhea. Most people recover within a few days, but very young people and older people, especially going to the hospital, costing a considerable amount of medical care. “In the US alone, it’s 10 billion.[dollar]- A problem of one year.” Shawn Tucker At Biotech Company Vaxart in San Francisco, California.
This has spurred scientists to develop vaccines, but so far, efforts have failed. This is because previous attempts focused on developing injectable vaccines. This isn’t very good for producing protective antibodies in the intestines where the virus replicates. Tucker says.
To deal with this, Tucker and his colleagues Previously developed oral norovirus vaccines This will supply proteins to the intestines from the Gi.1 norovirus mutant. The first trials in adults under the age of 50 found that tablets can produce norovirus-specific antibodies in the intestines, but it is probably not a vaccine priority given that people in this age group generally recover easily from the virus.
Researchers are currently testing vaccines in people in the US between the ages of 55 and 80. The team gave 11 people the pills, while the other 22 took the placebo. About a month later, the researchers collected blood and saliva samples from the participants.
They found that people who took the vaccine had higher levels of IgA antibodies. These antibodies were increased by more than 10 times in the blood and about 7 times in saliva compared to samples just before vaccination. In contrast, the placebo group showed little change in antibody levels.
Importantly, antibodies are still present in people who took the pills, albeit at lower levels after 6 months, suggesting that they can provide permanent immunity. “The fact that they have this robust antibody response makes me hope that it can provide protection. [against infection]”I say Sarah Cady At Cornell University in New York. “In particular, the salivary antibody response is a way to get a snapshot of what’s going on in the intestines because of similar immune responses,” she says.
However, further research should investigate whether the vaccine actually prevents infection or reduces spread spread of norovirus, she says. The team wants to explore this.
Furthermore, this study focused only on one norovirus variant. “In the real world, there are a number of different strains you may encounter. The vaccine may not protect all of them,” says Caddy. In an unpublished study, researchers found that versions of vaccines containing both Gi.1 and Gii.4 norovirus variants (the latter currently surges in the UK) produce antibodies against multiple variations.
This suggests we may soon have norovirus vaccines, Tucker says. “If there’s no funding hiccups, if everything goes smoothly, the vaccine could be available in a few years,” he says.
hAll those of Akki Monster Hunter Wild Week Week Celebration: Capcom's thrilling action game for sale 8m unit In 3 days, that means there's a good chance that many of you are playing it. I'm a huge fan of this series and am pleased with the latest entries, but after submitting a review last week I barely had the time to play it after it came out. Regular readers will know that this is a familiar problem to me. I have two kids so my game time is strict and the living room TV is used very often.
I was expecting this, so on the landing to the release of Monster Hunter Wild, I spent £200 on the PlayStation Portal. This is basically a screen sandwiched between two halves of a PlayStation 5 controller. It's impossible to tell if Sony is one of the most cumbersome things that have come out so far, or one of the most elegant ones. You can stream games from the PS5, so the console can scream under the TV, be on the sofa on a small screen, waving x to convert. A scary octopus.
Here's how the portal works: Turn it on and it becomes a pleasant, futuristic noise. When you try to connect to the home console, a soothing pulsating circular portal appears. Then, if it works (sometimes I have tried a few times), your PlayStation 5 homepage will be displayed through that portal and expand to fill the entire screen in your hands. You can then use the controller's rumble and tactile feedback and more to play everything like you do on a TV. When your internet connection becomes unstable, your device will downgrade the appearance of the game rather than launching you. Rather than force the game to reconnect with pixel soup, it becomes a strange messy visual artifact.
Monster Hunter Wilds looks perfect on the PS portal… when the device works. Photo: Capcom
I've played a lot of game streaming “solutions” over the years (at first GaikaiBack in 2009, we streamed games like World of Warcraft from the cloud, and at the time it was very novel and not always optimal. No matter how good your internet connection was, it has always been too much delayed. The streamed games always looked significantly worse. There was never wifi very It's reliable. However, the portal works surprisingly well in the wifi at my home. Monster Hunter looks perfect. It's a tough action game so lag feels like it's not playable right away, but I was able to play on the portal for hours without being too annoyed.
You can also use the portal to play PS5 games away from home and use your device to turn the console remotely in an empty house (tip: Yank to not turn on the TV before leaving the HDMI cable). I took the portal on a semi-annual holiday with my family – certainly more convenient than packing the entire console and all of its gubbins – and then tried connecting from my hotel room to my home's PlayStation 5. It took a few times, but did I also work on the hotel wifi. Unfortunately, in this situation, the quality of the streaming was very poor, and the game got worse on the PSP 15 years ago, making the delay seem unbearable. It wasn't the on-the-go PlayStation gaming experience I wanted.
The portal is a handy little gadget – at home, when it works. And that's the case for all kinds of internet-dependent game streaming: it's good When it works. One day, I want to be able to play games wherever I am, without sacrificing the quality of my game, but streaming technology hasn't gotten there yet. It's certainly getting better. I've streamed games from my Xbox Game Pass library from my Home Console Game Pass library and occasionally had problems. But what I really want is that I can stream games to the handheld when I'm in my office or while traveling.
The Nintendo Switch was released eight years ago, but it remains the gold standard for hybrid games at home/outdoors as it does not rely on an internet connection. It just works seamlessly. Pick it up, bring it in, put it in the dock, and it will appear on the TV right away. Switch changed my life by adjusting time for games with work, friends, travel and family. Steam decks are also transformative, allowing you to take games you review (or enjoy) from the office to the home, or play on long distance flights. We're used to this now almost ten years later, but it was really one of the most innovative technical things the console has achieved.
Until the Big Nintendo Switch 2 event becomes two events on April 2nd, we'll learn more about what this next console actually can do. Given that this is Nintendo, I would be surprised if internet-based game streaming was part of the new console offering. Nintendo tends to favor older, proven technology than risky bets. It's been eight years that Nintendo's competitors have completed alternative, neglected gaming solutions. Perhaps that's not possible. It's no wonder Switch 2 is stuck with what works.
What to do
Ambitious, gentle and stupid… split fiction Photo: Electronic Arts
The manufacturer of the cooperative divorce platformer unexpectedly sold 230,000 copies. This will work if publishers remember this safe betting age – Divided fiction It's an ambitious, kind and stupid game about two writers who are forced to live in each other's stories. Sci-fi writer Mio and fantasy writer Zoe will compete in a meeting at Big Publishing House. Just jail in a machine that steals futuristic ideas.
This game requires two players. This is because it completely relies on working together on both puzzles and action bits. (Don't worry if there is a difference in skills between you and your future cooperative partner. One player can do most of the heavy lifts if necessary.) This was designed around cooperative play, whether this is full and playing with friends, partners, or older kids.
Available at: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5 Estimated playtime: 15 hours
What to read
Never Better Skate… Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. Photo: Steam
Tony Hawk's Pro Skator I'm back again. The third and fourth entries in the series are Remastered by ActivisionAnd then I'm off in the summer.
Activision performed a bunch Scary AI-ART ads Last weekend, on Instagram for a game Please don't actually exist. The ads link to a survey to a survey that is likely to measure interest in fake games, but instead everyone is talking about the band. Guitar Hero Mobile There are no four guitarists, singers, or phantom drummers.
Rockstar has I bought an Australian studio It is executed by Brendan McNamaradirector of the 2011 detective drama game La Noire, was also published by Rockstar. His previous studio, Team Bondi, was closed shortly after Rawar ended his past development. A toxic, oppressive, crunchy work culture Leading by McNamara.
Game Industry Analysts Matt Piscaterra Running the numbers, I discovered that 40% of all the time spent playing games in the US in January was spent playing The same 10 live service gamesMost of them are age. Draw a dark picture for developers who are about to break into this space.
My favourites from the past… Arcadia Sky. Photo: Dean Mortlock/Super8 Media
There was something wrong with the answer in question block last week: Doug I wrote it saying it was a Nintendo switch I'll do it I now have the YouTube app, but fortunately he says that parental control is enough to stop my 11 and 8 year olds from constantly loading it again.
Thanks to readers for this week's questions Emily:
“Did you previously love the game that you didn't enjoy playing today?”
A United States judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the transition to an open commercial model, but agreed to hear the case this autumn.
Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a US District Judge in Oakland, California, stated that the tech billionaire did not meet the “high burden necessary for a temporary injunction” to stop the conversion to openness.
Nevertheless, Rogers expressed the importance of quickly resolving the lawsuit, considering “the potential for crisis and harm if conversion takes place unlawfully.”
Elon Musk and Openai, co-founded as a nonprofit in 2015 but left before it gained momentum, have been embroiled in a year-long legal dispute. CEOs of Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) have accused Openai of deviating from its original goal of developing artificial intelligence for the betterment of humanity, rather than corporate profits.
Openai and its CEO, Sam Altman, have denied these allegations. The lawsuit revolves around the shift to a for-profit model for chat developers, with Altman citing the need for more capital and competitiveness in the costly AI industry.
Openai welcomed the judge’s ruling, stating that Musk’s lawsuit, who launched rival startup Xai in 2023, was always about competition. Microsoft, the primary supporter of Openai, did not provide a comment.
Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, commended the judge for promising a swift trial on the core claims of the case. Toberoff emphasized the importance of ensuring Altman utilizes Musk’s charitable contributions for the benefit of the masses, not personal gain.
The ruling comes after Altman rejected a $97.4 million acquisition offer from a consortium led by Musk, claiming Openai is not for sale and accusing Musk of attempting to hinder its competitors.
Softbank Group is reportedly discussing leading a funding round of up to $400 million for Openai, valuing the company at $300 million. This surpasses the $75 billion valuation discussed by Xai in a recent fundraising round.
Light has become a strange material called Super Lido
baac3nes/getty images
For the first time, strange solids that can flow like liquids were created from light. Studying it will help researchers to better understand the exotic quantum state of matter.
“We actually made light on a solid. It's pretty amazing.” dimitris trypogeorgos At the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). He points out Daniele SanvittCNR also showed how light becomes a fluid over a decade ago. Now, Trypogeorgos, Sanvitto and colleagues use light to create quantum “superlides” that are not just robust.
Supercrissilicon has a simultaneously zero viscosity and has a crystalline-like structure similar to the arrangement of atoms in salt crystals. None of these strange materials correspond to outside the quantum domain. For this reason, they were previously only created in experiments with atoms cooled to very low temperatures.
However, in this experiment, the researchers replaced the supercold atoms with superconducting aluminum gallium arcenide and lasers.
They illuminated the laser on small sections of the semiconductor with narrow ridge patterns. The complex interaction between light and material ultimately formed a type of hybrid particle called polaritons. The ridge pattern constrained how these “quasiparticles” could move, and what energy could the polytons have in such a way as to form a superlide.
Sanvitto says the team had to measure the sufficient properties of this trapped and converted light very accurately and prove it was a solid and fluid with no viscosity. This was a challenge, he says, as scientists have never previously created and evaluated superspores made from light experimentally before.
The new experiments say it contribute to a general understanding of how quantum matter can change states by undergoing topological transitions. Alberto Bramati At the Sorbonne University in France. The team clearly demonstrated that they made a superlido, but he says more measurements need to be made to understand its properties.
According to Trypogeorgos, light-based superlides may be easier to manipulate than those previously created with atoms.
“We're really at the beginning of something new,” he says.
The UK Competition Watchdog has decided not to conduct a formal investigation into the partnership with the startups behind Microsoft’s AI chatbot, ChatGPT. The tech company, valued at 2.9TN (£2.3TN), claims it has a “material impact” on OpenAI but does not exercise control over it.
While the Competitive Markets Agency (CMA) acknowledged Microsoft’s significant financial support of OpenAI with a $13 billion investment, it concluded that Microsoft’s influence did not reach the threshold for an official investigation due to lack of control.
The CMA’s decision comes amidst concerns over the appointment of former Amazon UK boss Duggar as interim chairman. The CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, emphasized the need to maintain business trust without creating undue regulatory pressure from the UK government.
Joel Bamford, executive director of CMA’s merger, stated that as there was no change in control, the current partnership structure did not warrant review under UK’s merger regulations.
However, Bamford clarified that this decision does not imply that the partnership has been cleared of competitive concerns.
Following Sam Altman’s appointment as OpenAI’s CEO, the CMA initiated an investigation into OpenAI’s relations, noting a decrease in its reliance on Microsoft for computing power as a factor influencing their decision.
A Microsoft representative emphasized that the partnership with OpenAI supports competition, innovation, and responsible AI development. The decision to end the investigation was made after careful consideration of commercial realities.
Last year, the CMA chose not to investigate Amazon’s investment in AI companies, and similarly did not delve deeper into Microsoft’s partnerships with Mistral and Decleft.
Microsoft recently invested $6.6 billion in OpenAI, contributing to a funding round that valued the company at $15.7 billion. OpenAI, run by a non-profit committee, has subsidiaries of for-profit entities, with Microsoft being the major supporter of these subsidiaries.
Despite concerns over Gurr’s appointment and the avoidance of negative economic impact, the CMA has focused on scrutinizing Big Tech, particularly during Gurr’s tenure. Alongside investigations into Google’s internet search dominance, the CMA is also exploring the effects of Apple and Google’s mobile platforms on consumers and businesses.
In January, Microsoft criticized the CMA’s cloud market survey, claiming it impedes tech companies from effectively competing with Google and Amazon in cloud computing services.
There is Estimated genetic differences of 1.5 million Between wool mammoth and an Asian elephant. Colossal Biosciences, a company that seeks to revive extinct species through genetic engineering, now makes mice with “mammoth-like” fur, each with up to five genetic changes. It seems there's still a way to go.
Certainly, these mice have long, curly hair and blonde hair. In that way, it resembles a wool mammoth coat stored in permafrost. However, it is not clear that bringing the same genetic alterations in Asian elephants with far fewer hairs per area of the skin will result in similar results.
“The work done with these mice doesn't mean there's a solution ready to regain the huge phenotype,” says team members. I love Darren At Stockholm University in Sweden, on the Scientific Advisory Committee of Corosal. “As you point out, we also need to understand how to grow more fur.”
Creating an Asian elephant with these genetic changes would also be much more difficult than doing it in a mouse. “Engineering mutations in mice are an established process and are not particularly challenging.” Dusko Ilic King's College London.
Mouse that has been fixed and unfixed
Huge
Techniques that work in mice often fail in other species, and the size of elephants and their slow breeding significantly increases the time and cost involved. “These methods have not been developed for elephants. They are not easy based on anatomy.” Vincent Lynch At Buffalo University, New York. “That's probably the biggest challenge.”
However, Lynch is undoubtedly achievable. surely, Thomas Hildebrandt At the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany – Another giant advisor – New Scientist His team is the first time they've collected eggs from elephants, but the results have not yet been made public. Egg collection is an important step in IVF and is a genetic modification of mammals.
So how did Colossal make a “mammoth” mouse? Researchers began by looking for known mutations in mice that looked like fur. “[T]The majority of these genes were selected based on previous observations of the coat phenotype in mice,” read in a paper published today, which has not been peer-reviewed.
They identified eight genes that affect patterns (curse), color and hair length when disabled in mice. According to Colossal, one of these eight is a mammoth and is naturally disabled.
From the mammoth genome, the team identified small mutations that are thought to affect hair patterns, along with another disordered gene involved in fat metabolism.
The company then tried to modify these genes in mice. For example, one experiment used CRISPR gene editing to attempt to disable five of these genes in fertilized eggs. From 134 edited eggs, 11 puppies were born, and one of these puppies invalidated copies of both five genes.
Fur stored in frozen mammoth rank
Arami Stock Photo
In another study, the researchers used a form of CRISPR called base editing to abolish several genes in embryonic mouse stem cells. They combined this with another technique called homologous recombination to create the exact mutations found in the mammoth genome. Make accurate changes is much more difficult than disabling genes, but the recombination method works well only in the mouse.
The team then sequenced the cells to identify cells with the desired change and injected into mouse embryos to create chimeric mice. Of the 90 injected embryos, seven mice were born with four intended changes.
These experiments can be said to be successful in producing several mice with desirable physical changes in the fur, but only one genetic change is in exact agreement with what is found in the mammoth genome. It takes more work to achieve Colossal's stated purpose With the creation of “a cold-resistant elephant with all the core biological properties of wool mammoths,” and the elephant pregnancy lasting for about two years, Colossal is in time for a spontaneous 2028 deadline.
“Elephants with fur are not mammoths in the way we think of them.” Juan Antonio Rodriguez At the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He says many of the 1.5 million differences between the mammoth and the Asian elephant genome may not be effective, but it is not clear which is more important.
Even if we did, it's dangerous to make broader changes, says Rodriguez. “The more things change in organisms, the more likely they are to tinker with major metabolic pathways and genes.”
Imagine looking over a beautiful view. The sun peers closely at the snowy peaks of the mountains in the distance, passing through gentle hills with rivers. There is something wonderful about looking at the outlines of a majestic landscape.
It may not be obvious when you see the night sky, but the universe has its own landscape – the galaxy filaments are separated by empty spaces. We've known this for a long time. But now, a group of cosmologists are taking things further, suggesting that the universe has not only landscapes but also timescapes. The idea is that time flows differently depending on where it is.
To say this is against grain is an understatement. We have always thought that at a large scale, time runs at the same speed across the universe. However, in this photo, known as Timescape Cosmology, there is a large patch of the universe that is ticking over billions of years, for billions of years more than we normally imagine.
It may sound strange, but it is the simple elegance of this idea that seduces physicists. Funny physics has nothing to do with it. It arises naturally from established theories. “It's part of the structure of the general theory of relativity,” the inventor says David Wiltshire At the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. “It's not just a part…
Radcliffe’s wave visualization, a series of dust and gas clouds (marked here) throughout the Milky Way. Approximately 400 light years from the sun, marked yellow
Alyssa A. Goodman/Harvard University
Our solar system passed through vast waves of gas and dust about 14 million years ago, darkening the views of the Earth’s night sky. The waves may have left a trace on our planet’s geological records.
Astronomers previously discovered large ocean-like waves of milky stars, gas and dust that ripple up and down for millions of years. One of these closest and most studied is the Radcliffe waves, about 9,000 light years wide and only 400 light years from the solar system.
Now, Efrem Maconi The University of Vienna and his colleagues discovered that the waves of Radcliffe once were far closer to us, surpassing the solar system 11 to 18 million years ago.
Maconi and his team used data from Gaia Space Telescope, which tracked billions of stars in the Milky Way, to identify recently formed groups of stars within the Radcliffe Wave, and identify the dust and gas clouds that formed from them.
Using these stars, they tracked the cloud orbits in time to reveal historic locations to show how the entire wave was moving. They also calculated the past paths of the solar system, rewind the clock for 30 million years, and discovered that the waves and our sun were approaching intimately about 15-12 million years ago. It is difficult to accurately estimate when the intersection began and ended, but the team believes the solar system is within the wave range around 14 million years ago.
This would have made Earth’s galactic environment as dark as it is today, as we currently live in a relatively empty space realm. “If we are in a dense region of interstellar media, that means that the light coming from the stars will dim,” says Macconi. “It’s like being on a foggy day.”
The encounter may have left evidence in Earth’s geological records and deposited radioactive isotopes on the crust, but considering how long ago it happened, this would be difficult to measure, he says. It says it is useful to find such a galactic encounter, as explaining the geological record of the Earth is a continuous problem. Ralph Schoenrich University College London.
More speculatively, the crossing appears to have occurred during a period of cooling, known as the mid-Miocene. Maconi said the two could be linked, but this would be difficult to prove. Schoenrich thinks that is unlikely. “The rule of thumb is that geology outweighs the influence of the universe,” he says. “When you move around the continent or disrupt ocean currents, you need more because climate change is occurring.”
Under tech billionaire Elon Musk, the Doge Task Force cuts jobs across the US government
AFP via Getty Images
The independent task force, US Government Efficiency (DOGE), has closed 18F, a group of in-house technical experts focused on improving the efficiency of the US government. The 18th floor consulted with other government agencies about adopting cost-effective technology and built digital services for tasks such as applying for a passport or submitting online taxes.
Initiatives such as the 18F, another government unit of high-tech consultants, and the US Digital Services (USDS), are “a wealth of professional networks, fixers and dreamers who can modernize government services.” Daniel Castro at Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
He says the recent rapid elimination of the 18th floor could halt US government projects. He then expressed his skepticism that Doge is the right organisation to replace USDS or 18F to help the US government use the technology efficiently. “I didn't hire a demolition crew to build a skyscraper,” says Castro.
The US government typically spends over $100 billion on IT services each year, but these expensive technology investments don't often work as they are actually promised. According to to the US Government Accountability Office. 18F said it helped to avoid such waste by consulting with federal and state agencies adopting high-tech solutions and determining which companies could deliver on time and on budget Danhongovernment digital services and technology experts.
Three former 18th floor employees who requested anonymity had recently cut jobs New Scientist. It helped digitize the healthcare application system to make states easy access to federal Medicaid funds. These provide health insurance to 70 million Americans, including 40% of all children and 60% of all nurse residents.
Another former employee interactively collaborated with the US Department of the Interior Website This tracks environmental damage caused by the release of petroleum or other harmful substances. Such data helped ensure that the person responsible for the damages, not the taxpayer, would pay to clean it, they said.
Members of the 18th floor also had the National Weather Service updated. Prediction website To make it more user-friendly. The 18F team worked with USDS to develop a free direct file program. This allows participating states to submit their taxes directly to the Internal Revenue Service, instead of purchasing tax preparation software or hiring an accountant. The government estimates that more than 30 million taxpayers from 25 states will be eligible for services in 2025.
The future of these projects is currently uncertain. Since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, he has changed his name, I'll remake it The USDS is a clumsy USDS, led by government civil servant Amy Gleason, but is actually led by high-tech billionaire Elon Musk. Many previous US digital services members have since been fired or resigned.
Musk I was aiming It was on the 18th floor early in Trump's second administration, but former 18th floor employees had not received official “forced” notifications to close the organization until February 28th. Approximately 85 members on the 18th floor were directly affected by the layoffs, and three more received previous acquisition offers.
The combination of 18F exclusion and layoffs and resignation from the previous USDS team means there is no government-wide mission left to develop and build technology. say Former 18th floor employee. A spokesman for the General Services Agency (GSA), a US government organization that provides operational support to all federal agencies, said: “GSA will continue to support the administration's willingness to adopt best-in-class technologies to accelerate digital transformation and modernize IT infrastructure.”
Male chimpanzees may have sexual contact during stressful periods
Jake Brooker/Chimhunsi Wildlife Orphanage Trust
Some chimpanzees seem to use sexual behaviors like genital rubbing to manage stressful situations. This shows that our closest living relatives – or in fact, as we thought, isn’t that different from highly sensitive bonobos.
Jake Brooker Durham University in the UK and his colleagues investigated the sexual behavior of non-human primates Rolaya Bonobo Sanctuary The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chimhunsi Wildlife Orphanage Trust In Zambia. Both sanctuaries contain a mixture of wild and captive-born apes, allowing them to roam freely and forage within them.
Researchers observed 53 bonobos (Pampaniscus) It spans three groups: Lola Ya Bonobo and 75 chimpanzees (Pantrogloid) across two groups of chimhunsi over the course of the feeding event of events, including swings distributing limited supply of peanuts to specific regions.
“Bonobos and chimpanzees both live in extremely complex social structures. Zanna Clayat Durham University. Predicting such feeding events can be stressful due to the competition for those who will first reach the food.
Researchers observed 107 instances of genital contact in bonobos and 201 instances of chimpanzees five minutes before 45 feeding events in five groups.
“This involves placing your hands or feet in another primate's biogenic area, and it could also involve the genital organs that touch each other, like the bonobo's very well-known genital friction behavior,” says Brooker.
This study revealed differences between species. “We found that sex frequency in these situations was more common in other women and female bonobos, but more common among chimpanzee men,” says Clay. It may be related to the fact that bonobos live in patriarchal groups, but chimpanzees live in patriarchal groups, she says.
“By using sex as a social tool to navigate all kinds of social issues, bonobos have given them a bit of a reputation as a kind of sexy hippie ape,” says Clay. “This study shows that the differences between the two species are not as large as previously assumed. Chimpanzees are known to be aggressive and violent, but in reality they have a truly rich repertoire of behaviors used to manage social life.”
“Chimpanzees definitely draw PR short straws compared to bonobos.” Matilda Brindle At Oxford University.
Chimpanzees use sex in ways that go beyond breeding, unlike human sexuality, but we don’t just have sex for breeding, says Clay. for example, Stress reduction It was given as a reason for people to have sex.
Kit Opie At the University of Bristol in the UK, I wonder if the same level of behavior can be seen in wild environments rather than sanctuaries.
The work may also shed light on our last common ancestors, who lived around five to seven million years ago, before humans branch out from dicks and bonobos, he says.
“If we consider that all three use sexual behaviors to navigate social relationships, it is likely that the common ancestors we share did too,” Brindle says.
The first water molecules could have formed just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang – even the first galaxy kicked off the processes that led to life on Earth.
Shortly after the Big Bang, most of the problems in the universe were hydrogen and helium, with only traces of other lighter elements, such as lithium. Heavy elements like oxygen are not yet present, and water is impossible to form.
These early elements were combined into the first star and produced heavier elements through oxygen-containing fusion. When these stars reach the end of their lives, they explode as supernovae, releasing these heavier elements, allowing oxygen to mix and mix with existing hydrogen to combine H.2O – Water.
Previous research It shows that even the relatively small amount of oxygen produced by the earliest stars could create water molecules, but they say up until now they have not simulated exactly what happens when a protostar becomes a supernova, and how the elements it released blended with the cosmic environment in which the stars were formed. Daniel Warren At the University of Portsmouth, UK. “To do anything less, you just don't know what's going on,” he says.
To investigate this, Whalen and his team used computer models to simulate the birth and death of the first star in a realistic context. These early stars are thought to range from 13 times the massive range of the Sun to 200 times the size of the Sun, so researchers modeled both extremes.
As you can imagine, the larger stars spit out more oxygen and produced more water in the form of steam clouds around the Jupiter mass, while the smaller stars produced Earth's mass, says Whaleen.
Depending on the mass of the star, researchers discovered that water took between 3 million and 90 million years after the supernova explosion. In other words, the first water molecules were formed 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
Importantly, however, the team discovered that this water was not simply spreading throughout the universe. Instead, gravity caused it, and the other heavy elements produced by the first star were clumped together. That meant these chunks were breeding grounds for the second generation stars, and perhaps the first planet. “It was a huge result,” Whalen says.
“Even before the galaxy took place, this idea of water forming essentially overturning decades of thought about the first emergence of life in the universe,” says Whalen. Team Members Muhammadratif At UAE University, researchers now say they will simulate whether water vapor can survive the destruction of the formation of the first galaxy and harsh radiation.
“We know that the chemistry of life we know requires liquid water and can only be obtained in objects with surfaces in the universe or atmospheric.” avi loeb At Harvard University. It would have been a lot of time before this initial vapor condense into liquid water, but he says it could have helped them to find second-generation stars and their planets using instruments like the James Webbspace Telescope to help them understand this process more, and perhaps these planets could have been habitable millions of years after the Big Bang.
A scientist with a Ph.D. issues tsunami alerts and serves as a Hurricane Hunting Flight Director. Researchers investigate communities that are prone to flooding during storms.
They were part of over 600 workers who were laid off last week by the Trump administration, resulting in around a 5% reduction in the workforce of the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Kayla Besong, a physical scientist at the Tsunami Warning Center, was one of the affected employees. She played a key role in the safety monitoring team, which was reduced from 12 members to 11. She was responsible for programming a system that assessed the risk to the U.S. coastline and issued alerts accordingly.
The layoffs have raised concerns about the impact on public safety programs and the ability to deal with the increasing frequency of weather disasters due to climate change. Last year alone, NOAA recorded a $27 billion disaster that resulted in 568 deaths in the U.S., marking the second-highest death toll since 1980, accounting for inflation.
Meteorologists are facing challenges and criticism, despite their improving accuracy in predicting weather events. The Trump administration’s decision to cut jobs at NOAA has been met with protests and legal challenges. Experts warn that these cuts threaten progress and could hinder crucial scientific advancements.
NOAA has declined to comment on the layoffs, emphasizing its commitment to providing timely information and resources to the public. Former agency officials argue that the cuts jeopardize public safety, especially during weather emergencies.
Congressional Democrats have also opposed the layoffs, citing the impact on public safety and the ability to provide accurate weather forecasts. The cuts have affected essential roles, such as hurricane modeling specialists and flight directors, who play a vital role in predicting and responding to severe weather events.
The reduction in NOAA’s workforce has sparked concerns about the agency’s ability to effectively respond to upcoming weather seasons, potentially putting lives at risk and undermining public safety efforts.
Immediately after my 54th birthday, I received the package. The enclosed instructions said the next time I empty my intestines, I should shave a little of the stool, shave it into a small sample bottle, seal it in a prepaid envelope and drop it in a post. I did the act and a few weeks later I was invited to the hospital. My sample contained blood. Colonoscopy was ordered to rule out colorectal cancer.
Thankfully, I don’t have colorectal cancer. Colonoscopy of 54 is not a classic start to middle age. However, over the next few years, this particular rite of passage may begin to occur much earlier. The proportion of this cancer among people in my age group has been declining thanks to screening programs like this, but talking about under 50 years is much more troubling.
Early onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is now the circumstance, as is known in people under the age of 50, due to its virtually unprecedented nature of the 20th century. 10% of all new cases worldwide. That number is expected to more than double by 2030, and by then EOCRC is expected to be the most common form of fatal cancer among Americans aged 20-49.
The reasons are uncertain, but ambitious new projects explore potential causes. The idea is that EORC may also be a more clear and aggressive form of illness. Meanwhile, as routine screening expanded to younger groups – in January, the UK reduced the screening age to 50 – and the new, less invasive test…
Flowers and other plants need to pollinate insects to spread and reproduce. Their bright colours and intense smells attract bumblebees that pollinate them and play an important role in their survival. Without pollination, most fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants would not grow and diversify. Bumblebees eat nectar from flower to flower and collect them to store nutrient-rich pollen. In the process, their abdomen are covered in pollen. Pollen spreads from male flowers to female flowers as they fly between them. However, as global temperatures have risen in recent years, many scientists have noticed that bumblebees struggle to find colorful flowers and plants to pollinate.
This concern allowed a team of German scientists to take a closer look at how excessive heat affects bumblebees. They chose two types of Bumblebee to study: Bombus PascuorumAlso known as Carder Bumblebee Bombus Terrestris LinnaeusAlso known as bufftail bumblebee. These two bee species are common in Germany and most other parts of Europe, making them ideal options for research. Known as the ocean west coast climate, the region is a mild, comfortable summer and cool winter with plenty of rain.
Scientists suggested that heat waves due to climate change could affect how carder and bufftailed bumblebees survive during mild summers. In their study, the researchers exposed bees of both species to four different heat treatments and three different foods designed to replicate the scent of bees in the wild.
Scientists kept the bees in a comfortable, simulated environment a week before treatment. They then removed the individual bees and placed them in environments with different temperatures and humidity. Their goal was to simulate irregular weather phenomena such as drought and extreme heat and observe the bees' ability to find the scent of different flowers.
For each test, the researchers placed individual bees in long glass tubes to observe them. They performed their first treatment at 90% humidity and 104°F (40°C) to make the air very wet and hot. They performed a second treatment under the same humidity and temperature conditions, but added sugar syrup. They again administered a third treatment under the same conditions, but added a 24-hour rest period between heat and access to the sugar syrup. They had their fourth and final treatment at the same temperature, but only 15% humidity.
Scientists then applied the floral scent to Okimen, geraniol and nonnal on special absorbent paper and introduced it to each bee. They used a technique called to observe the electrical activity of bee antennas in response to odors Electrounnography. They explained that this process helps track bumblebee behavior after heat treatment.
Scientists have found that all heat treatments affect how bee antennae responded to the scent of three flowers. Specifically, we found that bufftailed bumblebees' sensory responses to flower scents reduced by up to 29%, while bufftailed bumblebees had a 42% to 81% reduction in their scent detection skills. Of all treatments, they found that the fourth treatment with low humidity had the greatest effect on honeybee sensation.
Scientists have concluded that research like theirs is useful when it is necessary to survive, taking into account the bees' experiences in the natural environment. With this in mind for global pollinators facing climate change, scientists have recommended that future researchers prioritize studying the effects of heat stress on cellular changes in bee antennas.
When it comes to sensitivity, the question of which generation is the most sensitive depends on who you ask. American Psychologist Dr. Jean Twenghe has conducted research comparing different cohorts and suggested that “millennials” (those born between 1981 and 1996) exhibit traits such as neurotic narcissism and anxiety more than previous generations. They tend to have unrealistically high expectations and struggle with criticism.
However, other studies have not always supported these findings. Research on nearly 500,000 American high school students between 1976 and 2006 found minimal differences in psychological characteristics across generations, including egoism and sensitivity to social status, which may indicate hypersensitivity.
Contrarily, some studies suggest that older generations may actually be more sensitive. A study from 2019 that analyzed hundreds of people born between 1923 and 1969 showed that those born earlier in the century exhibited greater signs of hypersensitivity.
Another study from 2024 focused on changes in narcissistic traits, including hypersensitivity, over the lifespan and across generations. It revealed that narcissism tends to decrease with age consistently across generations.
Overall, these studies suggest that hypersensitivity tends to decrease with age, with age being a more significant factor than the generation one belongs to. Some experts, like psychologist Professor Cote Rudolph, argue that the concept of individual generations like “Boomers” and “Gen X-ers” is arbitrary, and age and life experiences have a more significant impact.
This article addresses the question of which generation is the most sensitive, as asked by Madison Halladay from Jersey.
To submit a question, please email Questions@sciencefocus.com or reach out on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram page (remember to include your name and location).
For more fascinating science content, visit our Ultimate Fun Facts page.
SpaceX is set to launch the Starship Megarocket on its upcoming test flight on Monday, approximately six weeks after the top stage of the vehicle exploded over the Atlantic during its final test.
Following the incident on January 16th, SpaceX lost contact with Starship about eight minutes after the flight, leading to subsequent explosions that scattered debris and small fragments near Turks and Caicos. Local authorities confirmed no injuries occurred.
The US Federal Aviation Administration initiated an investigation after the accident and grounded the rocket during the probe. On Friday, the agency announced clearance for the spaceship to resume flights, although the investigation remains ongoing.
SpaceX’s own investigation identified the “attic” section as the source of the leak that caused propellant to escape, triggering a fire and shutting down most of the spacecraft’s engines in a controlled sequence.
Strips of the recent SpaceX launch dotted the sky on January 16th. Courtesy Todd Martin
Data transmission ceased over eight minutes into the test flight, resulting in the vehicle disintegrating three minutes later.
Subsequent to the incident, SpaceX implemented several hardware and operational modifications to Starship’s upper stage, without disclosing specific details of the upgrades.
The eighth test flight for Starship, originally planned for Friday, encountered brief delays without explanation.
The FAA green-lit the flight, amidst broader fiscal and personnel reductions targeting various federal agencies during the Trump administration’s tenure. Reuters reported that the Government Efficiency Bureau, spearheaded by SpaceX’s Elon Musk, engaged with the FAA, with SpaceX engineers assisting as specialized government personnel.
The existence of Doge personnel within the FAA’s commercial spaceflight division overseeing private companies like SpaceX remains undocumented, prompting some lawmakers and critics, including Senator Ed Markey, to voice reservations regarding potential conflicts of interest.
The planned Monday launch aims to deploy four mock Starlink satellites mid-flight, marking the first payload release by the vehicle.
Upon separation from the second stage, Starship’s first Hull King stage is slated to return to the launch pad, where SpaceX intends to “catch” it using extensive mechanical equipment at the rocket’s launch tower. This stage was successfully retrieved during the January flight, signaling partial testing success for the company.
The catch maneuver is pivotal in SpaceX’s ambition to establish Starship as a fully reusable rocket system.
If the launch proceeds as planned, the upper stage will soar for about an hour on Monday before splashing down in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia.
Standing at 400 feet tall, the spacecraft constitutes the most potent rocket ever developed, comprising a super-heavy first-stage booster and an upper-stage spaceship.
Envisioned to play a crucial role in NASA’s moon missions, SpaceX has been selected by the agency to ferry astronauts during the Artemis III mission scheduled for 2027. Musk hinted at potential application for future Mars missions utilizing the spacecraft.
The personally built spacecraft is a few hours away from landing on the moon, a feat only achieved by one other company in spaceflight history.
The robot lander, known as Blue Ghost, has been orbiting the moon for approximately two weeks, gearing up for a daring descent. Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based company, has developed a spacecraft with the goal of landing on the moon around 3:34 am early Sunday.
If all goes as planned, Blue Ghost will become the second privately owned vehicle to land on the moon. In February 2024, another Texas-based company, Intuitive Machines, made history with the Odysseus Lander successfully touching down near the moon’s Antarctic region.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Lunar Lander took a selfie on Earth. Firefly Air Space
Firefly Aerospace’s future landing attempts are set for 2025 as part of a robotic mission to the moon. Recently, Intuitive Machines launched its second lunar landing vehicle into space. Japanese company, The Ispace, was also sent towards the moon on the same rocket as Blue Ghost, taking a longer route but expected to arrive around late May or early June.
Blue Ghost is targeting a landing site in a 350-mile-wide basin near the moon’s surface, always facing the Earth. This area is believed to be the location of an ancient asteroid impact, according to NASA.
During a recent orbit around the moon, the Lander captured footage showing distant craters on the lunar surface.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Lander filmed footage of the other side of the Moon on February 24th. Firefly Air Space
Blue Ghost is scheduled to begin its descent around 2 am on Sunday. NASA will broadcast live streams starting at 2:20 am ET on NASA TV.
Equipped with 10 NASA science instruments, the spacecraft will conduct various studies, including surveying the moon’s interior up to 700 miles deep, capturing Earth-focused x-ray images, analyzing space weather interactions with Earth’s magnetic field, and capturing detailed images during the descent for future missions.
The instruments onboard the Lander will examine lunar soil samples, study lunar dust adherence to different surfaces, and use lasers to measure Earth-Moon distance accurately.
Blue Ghost is expected to gather data on the moon for about two weeks.
While in Lunar Orbit, Firefly’s Blue Ghost Lander captured images of the moon’s Antarctic. Firefly Air Space
This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, a public-private partnership between NASA and US companies to deliver scientific experiments, technology, and cargo to the moon. It is a critical component of NASA’s Artemis program, designed to eventually return humans to the moon.
NASA allocated approximately $101.5 million to Firefly Aerospace to carry out the Blue Ghost Mission.
NASA states that the scientific experiments and technology demonstrations on these missions will enhance our understanding of the moon’s Antarctic region, where future human crews are expected to land.
The Trump administration has publicly stated that Russia is not considered a cyber threat to US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a significant departure from previous assessments.
Experts warn that this policy shift could leave the US vulnerable to Russian hacking attacks and may signal warming relations between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Recent incidents indicate that the US no longer views Russia as a cybersecurity threat.
Liesyl Franz, the State Department’s deputy director of international cybersecurity, did not mention Russia as a threat in her recent speech before the UN Working Group on Cybersecurity. This contrasts with statements from European Union and UK officials who highlighted the threat posed by Moscow.
US policy changes regarding cybersecurity have been made behind closed doors, with new directives focusing on China and neglecting to mention Russia.
Anonymous sources familiar with the matter have expressed concern that the US is ignoring the Russian cyber threat, which was previously a primary focus for agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Reports indicate that CISA officials have been reassigned, raising questions about the US government’s approach to protecting against cyber threats from Russia.
The New York Times reported that CISA officials tasked with safeguarding elections from cyberattacks have also been reassigned.
Concerns have been raised about the shift in US policy towards Russia, as many believe that Russia remains a significant cyber threat to US interests.
The CISA and State Department have not provided comments on these developments.
The change in US policy regarding Russia’s cyber threat is seen as a departure from previous assessments and has raised concerns among experts.
For over a quarter-century, Putin’s Russia has been active in cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, posing a challenge to the international order.
If you have any tips about this story, you can reach out to us at +1 646 886 8761 on Signal
The design of the flow headset resembles a prop from a futuristic movie, featuring a sleek curve and two large circular pads that utilize electrodes to deliver small currents to the brain.
Claimed to aid in treating depression, the company behind the headsets – Flow Neuroscience, priced at £400 (around $520) – boasts a 77% improvement rate in symptoms within just three weeks.
Initially skeptical, I am intrigued by the potential of wearable devices to enhance our well-being. However, I have encountered many grand claims in the past that failed to materialize.
Nevertheless, Flow’s compelling evidence could sway my opinion. Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of the devices on individuals with depression, funded by Flow Neuroscience but conducted by external researchers and mental health professionals.
The most recent research, led by a team from East London University and involving 174 patients in the UK and US, revealed that 56% of those using the flow headset were symptom-free after 10 weeks, prompting consultant psychiatrist Alex O’Neill Kerr to emphasize the significance of these results.
“We’re talking about remission,” O’Neill Kerr remarked. “Symptom-free.”
O’Neill Kerr, who participated in a previous trial with the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and prescribes the headset in his practice, shared anecdotes of how the device had transformed the lives of some patients.
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“Upon initial use, I was astounded,” O’Neill Kerr noted. “Patients are regaining control of their lives. I recently spoke with an individual using a flow device, and it completely turned their life around.”
While not everyone benefits from using the headset, and not all research yields promising outcomes, recent studies have underscored the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) in treating depression. By sending mild currents to the brain, TDCS stimulates less active areas associated with depression, potentially revolutionizing treatment for individuals who are unresponsive to traditional interventions.
In the trial, more than half of the flow headset users had symptoms – Credit: Justinpadget
O’Neill Kerr highlighted the potential of TDCS to address the underlying communication issues in the brain that lead to depression, offering hope to individuals who do not respond to standard treatments.
With milder side effects compared to traditional antidepressants, such as tingling sensations or headaches near the electrodes, TDCS presents a safer and non-addictive alternative that could be used in conjunction with conventional therapies.
While other TDCS headsets like Platowork and brain driver exist, Flow stands out as the sole device endorsed by the NHS due to its proven efficacy. Ongoing research aims to explore TDCS applications beyond mental health, potentially offering relief for conditions like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and tinnitus.
Envisioning a future where TDCS becomes a standard treatment option, O’Neill Kerr emphasized the profound impact it could have on patients. “It’s restoring your brain to its natural state,” he concluded.
About our experts
Professor Alex O’Neill Kerr, an expert in treating OCD, PTSD, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and addiction therapy, has contributed to publications like bjpsych open, Open Journal of Depression, and Journal of Affective Disorder Reports.
Humans have been striving to measure the world we live in for a long time. Our measurement systems and units help us comprehend ourselves and our environment, whether we are dealing with basic physics theories or not.
When we measure something, we compare it to a standard benchmark to ensure accuracy and stability. The current benchmark for time is the atomic clock, which relies on the precise energy levels of electrons in an atom.
Atomic clocks, however, have limitations due to environmental factors affecting the energy levels within the atom. This has led to the exploration of nuclear clocks, especially using the rare thorium-229 isotope.
Thorium-229 has unique characteristics that make it an ideal candidate for creating nuclear clocks. Its nucleus has closely spaced energy levels that can provide more stable measurements of frequency and time compared to atomic clocks.
The recent advancements in using thorium-229 for nuclear clocks have opened up new possibilities for accurate time measurements and potential breakthroughs in fundamental physics theories.
Why go to the nuclear?
Nuclear clocks offer greater stability and accuracy compared to atomic clocks due to the small size of the nucleus and reduced influence from external factors. By utilizing thorium-229 and its unique energy levels, nuclear clocks can revolutionize time measurements.
These advancements in time measurement are not only essential for navigation and communication systems but also play a crucial role in testing fundamental physics theories such as relativity.
Accurate clocks can also help in exploring dark matter and understanding its interactions with normal matter. Nuclear clocks provide a more precise benchmark for detecting the effects of dark matter on time measurements.
What’s next?
The next step after harnessing thorium-229 for nuclear clocks is to develop a functional and reliable clock system. This involves stabilizing a laser to the frequency corresponding to nuclear energy levels and constructing a robust clock design.
While there are challenges in developing nuclear clocks, the potential for unprecedented accuracy in time measurement is promising. These advancements require in-depth calculations and understanding of fundamental forces like quantum chromodynamics (QCD).
Overall, the progress in nuclear clocks signifies a new era in precise timekeeping and could lead to significant advancements in our understanding of the universe and fundamental physics theories.
“Brain corruption” was named the term Oxford’s year 2024. This is defined as the “degradation of a person’s mental or intellectual state” that arises from seeing “trivial” content online, such as a Tiktok video.
It’s a term that is often joked about, but what If there is a grain of truth? This is the seemingly scary implications of a new study published by a large team of brain scientists based at Tianjin Division University in China.
What did this study find?
They scanned the brains of over 100 undergraduates and completed a survey on their habits of watching short online videos. The survey included statements such as “My life will be empty without a short video” and “Not able to watch a short video will be as painful as losing a friend,” indicating how much they agreed.
Interestingly, researchers found that those who felt most obsessed with short videos had significant differences in brain structure. These participants had more gray matter in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). This is an area near the front of the brain that is involved in decision-making and emotional regulation. Similarly, they had more gray matter in the cerebellum – the small cauliflower-shaped structures behind the brain play a role in movement and emotions.
The team concluded that this is bad news, as for Tiktok enthusiasts, having an oversized OFC could be a sign that it is described as “an increased sensitivity to rewards and stimuli associated with short video content.” They speculated that watching too many Tiktok videos could have led to this nerve distension.
Similarly, they suggested that enhanced cerebellum could help the brain process short video content more efficiently – perhaps the result of frequent rampages. This can create a reinforcement cycle. In this cycle, watching more videos strengthens these brain pathways and habits become even more ingrained.
Over 23 million videos are uploaded to Tiktok every day – Photo Credit: Getty
But that’s not all. The team also performed a second brain scan to track participants’ brain activity while participants were resting with their eyes closed.
They found a greater synchronization of activity within multiple regions of the brain. These include the dorsal prefrontal cortex (areas involved in self-control), the posterior cingulate cortex (areas involved in thinking about oneself), the thalamus (a type of relay station for brain signals), and the cerebellum.
The researchers suggested that these functional brain differences could reflect a variety of issues among addiction participants. The issues include the tendency to overly social comparisons while having trouble leaving the video and watching them.
They also asked participants to fill out a survey on “promising temperament.” This is a factor measured by agreeing to statements such as “I strive to reach other people’s outstanding results.”
Interestingly, scientists have found that many links between video addiction and brain differences are also linked to a higher level of envy. This suggests that feeling of envy can make someone more likely to watch a short video. And over time, this habit can lead to potentially harmful changes in the brain.
Does Tiktok cause brain decay?
If you are an avid consumer of fun online videos, or a related parent, the idea that seeing habits can reconstruct brain structures is no surprise.
However, it is important to consider this study in a broader historical context in which new technologies and media have long been causing exaggerated neurological claims. It is also important to understand the deep limitations of research.
It’s been nearly 20 years Atlantic Ocean The magazine ran a cover function that asked, “Is Google making us stupid?” And, in a nutshell, the answer that was asserted was “Yes!” Author Nicholas Kerr lamented that he was once a “scuba diver in the sea of words,” but now, thanks to Google, he zipped “along the surface like a jet ski man.”
Countless brain imaging studies of questionable quality were also published in the same era. Many aim to demonstrate the disaster effect of the World Wide Web on our vulnerable minds.
A few years later, Professor Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist professor of Baronness, launched a media campaign claiming that “mind change” (the impact of the internet and video games on the brain) is just as serious threat to humanity as climate change.
She even wrote dystopian novels about the dehumanizing effects of the internet, but received mixed reviews (One critic (I questioned whether this was one of the worst science fiction books ever written).
Scientists still don’t know how much Tiktok affects the brains of young people, but research is still underway. – Photo credit: Getty
Almost 20 years later, we’re fine. At least I don’t think our brains have been transformed into mash. But of course, these previous horrors were before the appearance of Tiktok. Perhaps there is something uniquely damaging about the types of short, scrollable, meaningless content available today.
I asked Professor Peter Etchellsif this is plausible, expert on the psychological impact of digital technology at Bathspa University. “As far as I know, there is no good science to support the idea that short videos are either tangible or uniquely bad in terms of their impact on the brain,” he says.
read more:
Is short video brain research a good science? Not so, but the evidence suggests that it is not.
What is wrong with this research?
Let’s take a look at some of the limitations of the research. If the goal was to prove that seeing tiktok is harmful to the brain, a more effective approach would be to scan participants’ brains and then consume different amounts of harmful content.
However, this study is completely cross-sectional, meaning that only a single snapshot was captured in time. This was not a pre- and post-comparison of causes and effects.
Or, as Etchell says: “[From this study] I can’t say anything about whether watching a short video will cause brain changes, or whether certain types of brain structures precede certain types of video consumption.
“This research doesn’t really add anything that will help us understand how digital technology affects us.”
Even if we accept the speculative leap of researchers that Tiktok’s videos may have caused the brain changes they observed, there are still some issues to consider.
First, the researchers searched the entire brain for differences that correlated with the scores on the video addiction scale. This approach is a common problem in brain imaging studies as it increases the risk of finding false positives. In other words, the more comparisons you make, the more likely you will stumble over random differences that seem important but are actually just a coincidence.
Second, even if we accept that the observed brain differences are real and caused by seeing Tiktok, interpreting them involves a lot of speculation. Researchers enveloped an increase in brain synchronization (known as regional homogeneity (Reho). However, Rejo itself is not inherently a good or bad thing. In fact, other studies have associated with an increase in Reho in certain brain regions. positive Results such as results observed during meditation training.
Perhaps the biggest flaw in the study relies on questionable survey-based measures of short video addiction that lacks strong scientific validity.
As Etchells put it, “Short video addiction is essentially an invented term, not a formal diagnostic clinical disorder.”
Taken together, these issues suggest that we should not be overly concerned that Tiktok fundamentally shapes the brains of young people in harmful ways.
That said, the excessive amount of time spent watching frivolous videos can still be a problem for some. However, it is more productive to focus on developing healthy media habits rather than worrying about brain changes or addiction.
“In many cases, when research like this hits the news, it’s a good opportunity to pause and reflect on whether we’re happy with the use of the technology,” says Etchells.
“If there’s concerns there, it’s worth thinking about what you can do to eliminate your frustration, knowing that you’ll benefit a lot from these technologies.”
About our expert, Professor Pete Etchell
Pete is a professor of psychology at Bath Spa University. His research focuses on how playing video games and using social media affects our mood and behavior. He is the author of I got lost in a good game We are currently investigating whether game mechanics can promote gambling behavior in other parts of our lives.
New research suggests that Mars once was the perfect holiday destination (if they were willing to overlook radiation exposure or lack of food sources), but also had the right conditions for alien life. why? The discovery of ancient sandy beaches on the red planet suggests that once a large liquid ocean spread across the north of the planet.
“Looking back at the places where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between the ocean and the land, which paints a picture of an ancient habitable environment that can embrace the conditions for microbial life,” he said. Benjamin Cardenasassistant professor of geology at Penn State University in the United States and co-author of the study.
Four billion years ago, these beaches would have been the best variety. The waves are softly wrapped sandy and immersed in the sun.
“We found evidence of a lack of wind, waves and sand. It’s a proper vacation style beach,” says Cardenas, whose research was published. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (pnas).
To find this, researchers used a probe up to 80m (260 feet) below the Mars surface in a region of North Mars called the Utopian Plain, using radar imaging, using a probe up to 80m (260 feet) below the Mars surface.
We discovered 76 hidden structures at depths of 10-35m (33-115ft). Sadly, this turned out to be not a mysterious alien infrastructure (we can dream of it), but rather a sedimentary deposit similar to what is found around the Earth’s coastline.
3.6 billion years ago, the ocean may have covered almost half of the red planet. The Orange Star shows where China’s Roberzouron began its exploration. Meanwhile, the Yellow Star is where NASA’s patient rover landed. Both arrived on Mars in 2021. -Image credit: Robert Citron
The structure, thickness and length of Martian sediments showed that they were not formed by the melting of rivers, winds, lava or ice, but rather by stable ancient seas. In fact, they were roughly the same as 21 people on Earth, including the Bay of Bengal.
Specifically, a formation called “foreshore sediments” is formed by the tide and wind that descends the slope towards the ocean at a 15° angle and carries sediments like sand and gravel.
“This quickly stood out to us because it suggested there were waves, meaning there was a dynamic interface between air and water,” Cardenas said. This interaction, which also took place in the early history of the Earth, is important for the beginning of life.
The discovery suggests that Mars had a warm, humid climate for tens of millions of years.
“We tend to think of Mars as a static snapshot of the planet, but it was evolving. The rivers were flowing, the sediment was moving, the land was built and eroding,” Cardenas said.
“This type of sedimentary geology tells us how the landscape looks, how they evolved, and, importantly, helps us identify where we want to look for our past life.”
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Entomologists describe a new species of the Tiger swallow (genus genus) Papirio) From eastern North America.
Papilio Sorstian: (a) male, holotype and (b) female, arotype. Scale bar – 10 mm. Image credit: Derotler et al. , doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1228.142202.
Papirio It is a large genus of swallowtail butterflies within the family Papillonidae.
The only representative of the Papillionini family, the genus contains about 200 scientifically recognized species.
Newly identified members of the genus Papilio Sorstianbelongs to North America Papilio Glaucus Species group.
” Papilio Glaucus The group is a model research system for insect evolutionary biology. ” Dr. B. Christian Schmidt Arknides, nematodes and colleagues wrote on paper from the Canadian National Insect Collection.
“Recognition and boundaries” Papilio Glaucus and Papilio canadensis Three decades of study in speciation, host plant adaptation, hybridization, and molecular evolution have been conducted as a pair of classical sibling species. ”
“Recently, we have discovered a third species. Papilio appalachiansisprovided unprecedented insights into speciation by hybridization. ”
” Papilio Glaucus The group is primarily part of the clades of the subgenos of the New World clades on a large scale Pterourussometimes recognized as a distinct genus,” they added.
“The various within the group demonstrate adaptation to a variety of thermal niches that are warmly characterized (Papilio Glaucus), intermediate (Papilio appalachiansis), and cool (Papilio canadensis) Climate region; all have a wide larval host plant diet and are not limited by its distribution. ”
Papilio Sorstian It is closely related to these three species, but unlike all of the series of characters.
“The most important differences are evident in developmental biology and biology,” the researchers wrote.
“Papilio Sorstian Compared to May for all other species, it is unique during long delays in appearance after adult escape, starting from late June to early July to late June to early July. ”
Papilio Sorstian'The geographical range is Papilio Glaucus The southern end of Papilio canadensis.
“Core Range Papilio Sorstian It includes eastern and south-central Ontario, northern and central New York, and adjacent Vermont, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.2The scientist wrote in his paper.
“In New York Papilio Sorstian He lives in most of the states except the Southeast and New York City metropolitan areas. ”
“In Canada, Papilio Sorstian It extends westward from Montreal, Quebec, to the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario and south to the Niagara region. ”
“The western limits seem to be on the east coast of Lake Huron. We haven’t seen any verifiable specimens of the west there.”
“Current evidence is consistent with the possibility Papilio Sorstian There is a recombinant evolutionary origin of Papilio appalachiansisThey added.
“However, the evolutionary origin of this kind, Papilio Glaucus-complex, I still can’t answer. ”
“Recognizing and defining the taxonomic identity of this unique evolutionary lineage is our hope to provide a staging point on the fertile grounds for future research.”
CJ Derotler et al. 2025. A mysterious new species of the tiger swallow (Capidae, Papillonidae) in eastern North America. Zookeys 1228:69-97; doi:10.3897/zookeys.1228.142202
Taste hydrogels are administered to the mouth via small tubes
Shryn Chen
Electronic tongues that can replicate flavors like cake and fish soup can help you replicate food in virtual reality, but still can’t simulate anything else that affects taste, such as smell.
Yizhen Jia Ohio State University and his colleagues developed a system called e-Taste. This can solve a way to sample food and partially reproduce its flavor in someone’s mouth.
This includes using chemicals that correspond to five basic flavors. Sodium chloride, salty water, sour citric acid, glucose for sweetness, magnesium chloride for bitterness, umami glutamic acid. “These five flavors already explain the very large spectrum of food we have every day,” says Jia.
The system uses sensors to detect the levels of these chemicals in the food, convert them into digital measurements, pumping these values into a pump, and pushing a small amount of hydrogel containing different flavors into a small tube under a person’s tongue.
First, the researchers tested a system with a single flavor and asked how well the device reproduced sour on a 5-point scale, comparing it to a real sample of sour taste. They gave the same number for 70% of the time for the true sour thing that was reproduced.
The team then tested whether the system was able to replicate more complex flavors such as lemonade, cake, fried eggs, fish soup, coffee, etc., and asked a group of six if they could distinguish them, and felt they could have over 80% of the time.
However, I say it’s not very useful to focus on such flavors alone. Alan Chalmers Because other sensations are also involved in our taste at Warwick University in the UK. “Next time you have strawberries, close your nose and eyes. Strawberries are very sour, but are perceived as sweet because of their aroma and red colour. So if you send them just sour on your device, you’ll never know that they’re actually from strawberries.”
“This kind of electron can extract the amount of sweetness [and] It’s sour, but it’s not a taste for a human tongue,” he says.
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