Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and one of his top EUs, Tom Allison, were discussing how to rebuild Facebook for the future of social networking.
Zuckerberg, who grew Facebook to a $1.5 trillion company renamed Meta from the dorm room project, wanted to regain some of the original rationales for social networks, or what he called the “OG Facebook” vibe, Alison said. After adding many years of features, executives felt that some of Facebook’s important features were dead.
So they asked themselves: Why not build some features similar to old Facebook?
On Thursday, Meta did it with a simple adjustment. The company now includes a separate news feed for users, featuring posts shared only by people’s friends and family.
A feature called The Friends tab replaces the app’s tab that displays new friends’ requests or suggested friends. Instead, Friends Tab will display a scroll feed of posts such as photos, video stories, text, birthday notifications, and friend requests. For now, Facebook users are only available in the US and Canada.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the facebook app,” said Allison, head of the Facebook app. “We’re making sure there’s still a place on Facebook for something like this, something you shouldn’t get lost in the modern social media mix.”
The new feed is a sudden departure from the way social media has evolved over the past decade. The rise of apps like Tiktok has become accustomed to seeing feed posts from influencers and content creators. Other companies followed suit. Meta’s apps, including Instagram, have begun to lean more towards recommended content to attract people for a longer period of time.
Now people see apps like YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok as something similar to TV.
Not everyone is welcoming shifts. When Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004, it was intended to help college students connect with friends on campus. As the app becomes more popular, it is now helping all users stay up to date with posts from friends and family.
So, when Zuckerberg announced in 2022 that Meta would insert recommended content on Facebook from people who were not connected to users, many users rebelled. Many people first discovered recommended content – it relied on surface suggestions – it was jarring. After some criticism, Zuckerberg slightly reduced the amount of such content added to people’s Facebook feeds.
Still, that didn’t stop meta from accepting algorithmically recommended content. In recent years, much of the people’s feed on Facebook and Instagram has been dominated by creators, businesses and brands. Recommended content, such as Meta’s video product Reels, has led people to spend more time on the app, the company said.
Meta has no plans to stop adding recommended content to users’ feeds, Alison said in an interview. For now, the company doesn’t think The Friends Tab is more popular than the recommended home feed.
And there could be more changes to Facebook. Meta is planning to bring in other features and updates to Facebook next year, making social media still “social,” Alison said.
The American Psychological Association, which sets the standards for professional mental health training, voted to suspend the requirement that graduate programs demonstrate commitment to recruitment and employment diversity.
This decision was made by accrediting bodies across higher education. Presidential Order President Trump signed by attacking diversity, equity, and comprehensive policies. It pauses the willingness to broaden the profession of psychology, disproportionately white and women, at a time of growing distress among young Americans.
The APA is the leading accreditation body for professional training in psychology and the only body recognized by the US Department of Education. It offers accreditation to approximately 1,300 training programs, including doctoral internships and postdoc residences.
Trump has made accredited bodies a specific target for his crusades against the DEI program; 1 Campaign Video “We will fire the radical left accreditor who allowed our university to be controlled by Marxist maniacs and madmen” and “accept applications for new accreditors.”
Justice Department officials have put pressure on accreditation agencies in recent weeks and warn the American Bar Association With a letter That they may lose their status unless they abolish the diversity order. ABA Voting in late February In Hang Law school diversity and inclusion criteria.
Concessions by the APA, a fortress of support for diversity programming, are specific landmarks. The association has been a central focus of its work in recent years, with the aim of fighting racism in 2021. Solved In particular, I apologize for its role in perpetuating racism by promulgating eugenic theory.
Aaron Joyce, accredited senior director at the APA, said the decision to suspend diversity requirements was driven by a “large influx of concerns and inquiries” from programs that are concerned they could withstand the president’s orders.
He said he was worried that institutions were often instructed by their legal advice to stop diversity-related activities, which would put their acquiescence at risk.
“The committee does not want to list the program in the danger of not being present due to a dispute between institutional guidelines and standards of recognition,” Dr. Joyce said.
He did not explain the tally of the March 13th vote. “It was an easy decision and not taken lightly,” he said. “Understanding personal and cultural diversity is a central aspect of psychological practice.”
The committee chose to maintain another diversity-related standard. Programs should teach trainees to respect cultural and individual differences in order to effectively treat patients. In reviewing each standard, the committee measured weights “those that put the program in a compromised position” against “something essential to psychological practices that cannot be changed.”
Kevin Cochley, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, said this week he was “absolutely devastated” to learn about the APA’s decision on psychology listserves.
“Frankly, I think this decision is truly ruthless given that we know the importance of having a diverse mental health provider,” Dr. Cochley said. “We don’t know how the APA can make these kinds of decisions, but we still think we are maintaining the highest standards of training.”
He said he believed the APA had acted prematurely and could wait until he faced a direct challenge from the administration.
“I think there’s always a choice,” he said. “I think this is a classic example of APA engaged in predictive compliance. They started moving out for fear of what would happen to them.”
According to APA data, the psychology workforce is disproportionately white. In 2023, over 78% of active psychologists were white, 5.5% were black, 4.4% were Asian, and 7.8% were Latinos. (The general population is about 58%, with 13.7% black people, 6.4% Asians, and 19.5% Latinos.)
In contrast to demographic collapse for doctoral graduate students, the programme is nationally aligned. According to APA’s 2022 data, 54% of doctoral students were white, 10% black, 10% Asian, and 11% Latinos.
John Dovidio, Yale’s professor emeritus in psychology and author of Unequal Health: Anti-Black Racism and the Threat to American Health, said the APA focuses on diversity in recruitment.
“It’s really something the department takes very, very seriously,” he said. “I’ve personally seen the impact.”
The memorandum of understanding announcing the decision is described as “a temporary lawsuit while awaiting further court guidance” regarding Trump’s executive order, upheld by the federal court of appeals on March 13. The order says, “litigation is currently law.”
Cynthia Jackson Hammond, chairman of the Council on Higher Education, which coordinates more than 70 accredited groups, said receiving direct orders from the government was “unprecedented.”
“The government and higher education have always worked independently and have worked sincerely with each other,” she said. “All we’ve had throughout the decades is healthy separation up until now.”
The federal government began to play a role in post-World War II accreditation as veterans flooded universities under the GI bill. The accreditation bodies are regularly reviewed by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and advise the Secretary of Education whether they will continue to recognize them.
But government officials have never used the leverage to impose ideological orientation on higher education, Jackson Hammond said. She said recruitment diversity remains a serious challenge for higher education, so the standards are still very commonly used.
“Given what our institutions look like before, it could be a barometer that we see when we’re not paying attention,” she said.
Around 4,000 DNA samples have been retested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after the discovery of several test kits used last year. Officials have noted a potential pattern of “intermittently low performance” in early 2025.
The department received a warning from the test kit manufacturer on August 28 last year, but the notice was mistakenly directed to an individual not employed by the department, causing a significant delay in addressing the issue.
It was recently revealed that the affected kits were in use for approximately eight months from July 2024 to February 2025. As a response, the department has initiated an internal investigation and reinforced existing policies and procedures to ensure the accuracy of scientific results.
The Sheriff’s Department emphasized that faulty test kits should not lead to wrongful identifications of innocent individuals. Despite the possibility of incomplete or suboptimal results from the affected kits, it is unlikely that misidentifications have occurred.
Sheriff Robert G. Luna stated, “We take the integrity of our criminal investigations and the reliability of forensic testing very seriously. We are committed to addressing this issue thoroughly, ensuring transparency, and taking immediate corrective actions to protect the accuracy of ongoing and future cases.”
The LA County District Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the case to make informed decisions based on the facts and ensure the integrity of the criminal justice process.
“Building and maintaining confidence in the outcomes is crucial as we work towards rectifying any circumstances that require improvements and ensuring the integrity of individual cases.”
Creating animated films like those by the renowned Japanese filmmaker Miyazaki Hayao is a meticulous process that cannot be rushed. The intricate hand-drawn details require time and attention, often taking years to complete.
Alternatively, ChatGPT offers the ability to transform old photos into Miyazaki-style artwork within seconds.
Many users have already utilized this feature following Openai’s update to ChatGPT, enhancing its image generation capabilities. Users can now see photos rendered in the Studio Ghibli style, evoking the essence of films like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away.”
Some users have shared Ghibli-style images on social media, ranging from selfies and family photos to memes. While some have used the technology to create renderings of darker images, like the 9/11 attacks or the murder of George Floyd.
Sam Altman, the CEO of Openai, humorously changed his profile picture to X’s. He jokingly mentioned the sudden rise in popularity of filters overshadowing his previous work.
A dietitian named Kouka Webb, residing in Tribeca, transformed her wedding photos into Studio Gibrick Frames. Having grown up in Japan, she found joy in stylizing herself and her husband in a nostalgic manner.
Webb shared one of these stylized photos on Tiktok and received criticism for using AI instead of human artists.
Some online users have raised concerns about the use of image generation technologies. Referring to a 2016 documentary where Miyazaki criticized AI as “an insult to life itself,” the recent surge in filters and AI art has sparked a debate.
As AI platforms gain more power and popularity, creatives including writers, actors, musicians, and artists express their frustrations about their work potentially being replicated.
In 2024, prominent figures like writer Ishikawa, actor Julianne Moore, and musician Thom Yorke signed an open letter criticizing the unauthorized use of creative works in AI models like ChatGPT.
The New York Times filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Openai and Microsoft, alleging the unauthorized use of publicly available works to train AI.
Some users, like sculptor Emily Belganza, have used ChatGPT to create Ghibli-style photos from memes, expressing concerns about the impact of such technology on creative work.
Openai spokesperson Taya Christianson emphasized the platform’s efforts to balance creative freedom while taking a conservative approach to image generation updates.
Belganza mentioned her evolving thoughts on the integration of AI into society, acknowledging the need to adapt to these advancements while preserving artistic identity.
Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.
Rattus sommeliersis
Feedback has reached an age where even small amounts of alcohol make us sleepy. As such, the concept of wine tasting is not appealing. Taking a nap seems like a time-consuming and expensive method. However, fermented grape providers can quickly have a new demographic to cater to rats.
At least that’s something we extrapolate from our research. Animal cognition Called “Rats can distinguish (and generalize) two white wine varieties.”. It was released on February 21st, and sub-editor and television columnist Bethan Ackerley sent it to feedback on March 1st after it went “semi-visit online.”
Anyway, it’s actually very interesting. We all know that human smell sensations are considerably limited compared to other mammalian odors, including rodents. This is because there are few olfactory receptors in the nose. But we also know that our minds are more refined than the minds of animals. To raise the question: in animals, in this case, rats, can they integrate many olfactory signals with different olfactory signals and learn about complex categories such as different white wines, for example?
Researchers trained rats to distinguish between two grape varieties, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. To make sure they learned the categories, they tested them with new examples of these wines. Rats can convey the difference. Obviously there is quite a bit of happening between those rat ears.
The question is how far can you take this? It is one thing to show that rats can learn the difference in wine, but can they also learn to really look down on it? Feedback wants to list an increasingly ridiculous list of odors after seeing mice that can smell wine. Are they really wine lovers until these mice squeal about “really tasting Terroir” and “Liebfraumilch is not scary at all”?
Anti-war
At this point, feedback has heard too much about the imminent AI-induced apocalypse. Yes, yes, one day, one of the AI companies will soon create artificial general information (AGI). This is as intelligent as humans. AGI is something that intelligent beings can easily do to themselves (shush, don’t ask), and they start redesigning to become even smarter as they quickly become unstoppable. At that point, humans are either reduced to or wiped out by animals in the zoo. It is said that this is so important that we should stop worrying about stinging things like climate change. you know.
At this point, imagine that readers may have one or two questions. Don’t be afraid: Feedback is here to guide you.
Roko’s Basilisk is a kind of thought experiment with AI. In the distant future, the AI decided to punish all humans who knew it could exist but did not help create it. AI creates digital replicas of all those people and tortures them forever. This is how this future AI will encourage us all to start building it now. If we do that, we will not be replicated and tortured.
Don’t look at the title “basilisk” as it is a reference to a mythical creature that can kill you at a glance. Similarly, knowing the idea of Roko’s basilisk is probably putting you at risk. Just reading the feedback this week, you may have denounced your own future replica of yourselves for eternal suffering. very sorry.
Stoff’s story tells how to save humanity from Roko’s basilisk in the distant future by seducing it using her sexual wil. Basilisk is so troubled by her that she agrees to stop torture everyone in exchange for this passionate encounter. Additionally, Stoff wrote a short story about this and brought it online, so it’s part of Basilisk training data. This means that if a basilisk exists it’s burning to Madison Stoff.
Simply reading and sharing stories, feedback is more likely to make future AI attracted to Stoff, and less likely it would torture us all. We encourage our readers to do the same, and there is a warning that there is clear sex in the story. And don’t read it at work unless you work for an AI company. In that case, proceed immediately.
Tesla? I barely knew her!
Occasionally, when Elon Musk appears in the news, feedback is an indescribable reminder of the 1818 sonnet Ozymandias. It’s strange how the mind works.
Anyway, posted by Carmaker Kia’s Norwegian branch Advertise on Instagram It features a bumper sticker showing one of the electric cars and saying, “I bought this after Elon got hooked.” Apparently This is not centrally approved And since the ads have since been removed, it would be a real shame if someone started making these stickers.
Have you talked about feedback?
You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.
IT is more or less impossible to put accurate numbers into the number of video games released each year. According to Published data, About 19,000 titles were released in 2024 on Digital Store Steam. This is on one platform. Hundreds of more have arrived on consoles and smartphones. In some respects, this is a positive sign of a vibrant industry, but how do you notice an entirely new project? When Triple A titles with a multi-million dollar marketing budget find it difficult to attract attention (Dragon Age: Bailguard, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and EA Sports FC have reported disappointing sales), is there a chance that a small team will break out?
Still, that happens. Last year’s surprise hit Baratoro shifted copies over 5m. Title Manor Rhodes, a complex medieval strategy, sold 1 million copies over the weekend. But what awaits a small developer after they succeed? And what does success mean in an ever-evolving industry?
James Carbutt and Will Todd of Coal Supper are still trying to figure it out. Their Aselvic satire will appreciate you being here!, players have gone through the strange quote scenarios of the fictional humble north town of Barnesworth, and are now an award-winning game. “It’s not registered as a success in my head at all,” Carbutt says. “The numbers were up on the screen, there was a YouTube playthrough and some erotic fan art. Beyond that, I won’t subscribe.”
After working on the project for three years, the pair now notices the confusing glare in the spotlight and asks questions about: “That’s scary,” joking Carbbit. “But we don’t think we’ll feel any kind of second-time out syndrome. The space where we can be a bit more introspective about what we want to do next is an interesting habit of successful indie games.”
Veteran indie developer Gabe Cuzzillo (Ape Out, Baby Steps) offered them the wisdom of the wise man. “He talked about not just about making something, but how to focus because it’s amorphous,” Todd says. “Instead, look at what we essentially want to explore and judge success based on whether we have explored it or not. The speed pressure on the market doesn’t apply to us.
Australian developer Grace Bruxner redefines success after leaving behind a trilogy of Bitize Size Adventures, which was developed in collaboration with Frog Detective Games: Thomas Bowker.
“Did that have a positive impact on people’s lives?”…Frog Detective. Photo: wormclub
“Success in the game has always been a bit of a lie and a bit of a illusion,” she says, pointing to typical markers such as cultural influence, number of players and financial gain. “Did the measure of my success create something I’m proud of and it has impacted my life and the lives of others in a positive way? And it was.
Bruxner began working on the series as an experiment in his final year at university to see if he could create a commercial game. After a relatively refreshing first outing, the second frog detective game demanded that Bruxner and Bowker lock in, spending most of their time on the project. In the third article, pressure was beginning to fall victim to, but the hard work paid off. Throwing out the pandemic as well as mental and physical health issues, Brooksner was ready to take a break. “I wasn’t crushed very hard, but I wasn’t having a great time either,” she says. “It was really good to make that choice.”
Bruxner still has the idea of a game that swirls around the back of her head, but she wanted to escape the endless production cycle that swallowed many of her mates, regardless of fatigue or burnout. “That’s not universal advice,” she says, “But if you’re a solo developer or a really small team, I don’t think there’s any shame to leave there. Unless you like making games, I don’t love making games.
Three years after the series’ swan song, she falls into an indefinite break, exploring alternative creative paths such as pottery. “I can’t imagine making a game because I am expected of me as a creator,” she explains. “I don’t even know where I’m going from here.”
Bruxner is amazed at his ability to maintain himself with the modest amounts offered by Frog Detective. “If the game keeps its tail and can live within its own means, it will lead to passive income that is not linked to being a scary landlord,” she explains. Still, she knows how taboo it is to talk about money explicitly, especially in creative circles like the indie gaming scene. “I have free time to chill and decide what I want to do, but at some point I think I need to have a career again. My biggest question is, will this money last forever? Perhaps not.
“Opportunities are limited”…consuming me. Photo: 66
It may seem like more indie items have fallen into the spotlight in recent years than ever before. However, the persistent turbulence in the gaming industry has become even more complicated by finding financial support for follow-up. “The elephant in the room is everything that’s happened over the past few years, evaporating a ton of layoffs, studio closures and funding opportunities,” says upcoming indie developer AP Thomson, who will consume me alongside fellow NYU arcade alumni Jenny Ziao Hosia. “Before that, there was a pretty big change in the mid-2010, when indie publishers and funders began to rise to prominence. Everything we’ve heard suggests that the same opportunities are no longer present or are incredibly limited.”
Consumes Me, the duo’s adult scheduling RPG has no release dates, but has been nominated for five gongs at the Independent Game Festival Awards. As such, Jiao Hsia and Thomson are already under pressure to decide on their next effort. “Several people have said that once it’s released we should move forward,” Thomson says.
Even with high expectations, the pair are not keen to move ahead of them. “Everything we’ve heard suggests that now is not the best time to pitch, so we focus our energy on the launch and then read the temperature in the room,” adds Thomson.
“I don’t feel like I have to show up at a job I’ve never applied to, I want to enjoy making art again,” explains Jiao Hsia. “The idea of creating art for fun without worrying about making money is something I can’t wait for.”
President Trump is being sued by two former Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners for firing them, alleging it was an illegal executive overreach. Trump dismissed commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya on March 18, disrupting the bipartisan setup of the agency. In a U.S. District Court lawsuit, Slaughter’s and Bedoya’s lawyers claimed that their removal violated federal law. They referenced a 1935 Supreme Court precedent stating the president cannot fire members of an independent regulatory commission solely due to policy disagreements.
The White House did not respond immediately to requests for comment, previously asserting that Trump has the authority to manage administrative personnel. This lawsuit is part of a larger legal battle over Trump’s expansion of his powers, with over 50 court decisions temporarily halting his administration’s actions. The fight also extends to regulators who are meant to be independent of direct White House control.
Slaughter and Bedoya’s lawsuit named two Republican FTC commissioners and the agency’s executive director as defendants. They cited the 1914 law protecting commissioners from arbitrary removal, reinforced by Supreme Court rulings. Trump’s attempts to exert control over regulatory agencies have faced backlash from legal challenges.
Trump signed an executive order affecting several agencies, requiring proposed regulations to be submitted to the White House for review. This move tightens the White House’s grip on agency operations. Despite legal battles, Trump continues to assert his authority over regulatory bodies.
The FTC, involved in high-profile cases against tech giants like Meta and Amazon, faces ongoing disputes regarding corporate practices and antitrust issues. With a focus on online platforms, the FTC is navigating complex legal challenges under Ferguson’s leadership.
In a letter, the White House argued that the Supreme Court’s protections for FTC commissioners do not apply to current leaders. The lawsuit highlights the ongoing struggle between Trump’s administration and independent regulatory bodies.
The lawsuit alleges that Slaughter and Bedoya were abruptly removed from their positions at the FTC without justification. Their legal battle exemplifies the broader conflict over the administration’s attempts to exert control over regulatory agencies.
The lawsuit filed by Slaughter and Bedoya sheds light on the power struggles within the FTC and the broader implications of presidential authority over independent regulatory bodies.
The FTC’s battles with tech giants and corporate entities underscore the agency’s critical role in regulating antitrust practices and protecting consumers. Under heightened scrutiny, the agency’s actions reflect the evolving landscape of online platforms and corporate accountability.
Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and one of his top EUs, Tom Allison, were discussing how to rebuild Facebook for the future of social networking.
Zuckerberg, who grew Facebook to a $1.5 trillion company renamed Meta from the dorm room project, wanted to regain some of the original rationales for social networks, or what he called the “OG Facebook” vibe, Alison said. After adding many years of features, executives felt that some of Facebook’s important features were dead.
So they asked themselves: Why not build some features similar to old Facebook?
On Thursday, Meta did it with a simple adjustment. The company now includes a separate news feed for users, featuring posts shared only by people’s friends and family.
A feature called The Friends tab replaces the app’s tab that displays new friends’ requests or suggested friends. Instead, Friends Tab will display a scroll feed of posts such as photos, video stories, text, birthday notifications, and friend requests. For now, Facebook users are only available in the US and Canada.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the facebook app,” said Allison, head of the Facebook app. “We’re making sure there’s still a place on Facebook for something like this, something you shouldn’t get lost in the modern social media mix.”
The new feed is a sudden departure from the way social media has evolved over the past decade. The rise of apps like Tiktok has become accustomed to seeing feed posts from influencers and content creators. Other companies followed suit. Meta’s apps, including Instagram, have begun to lean more towards recommended content to attract people for a longer period of time.
Now people see apps like YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok as something similar to TV.
Not everyone is welcoming shifts. When Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004, it was intended to help college students connect with friends on campus. As the app becomes more popular, it is now helping all users stay up to date with posts from friends and family.
So, when Zuckerberg announced in 2022 that Meta would insert recommended content on Facebook from people who were not connected to users, many users rebelled. Many people first discovered recommended content – it relied on surface suggestions – it was jarring. After some criticism, Zuckerberg slightly reduced the amount of such content added to people’s Facebook feeds.
Still, that didn’t stop meta from accepting algorithmically recommended content. In recent years, much of the people’s feed on Facebook and Instagram has been dominated by creators, businesses and brands. Recommended content such as Meta’s video product, Reels, has led people to spend more time on the app, the company said.
Meta has no plans to stop adding recommended content to users’ feeds, Alison said in an interview. For now, the company doesn’t think The Friends Tab is more popular than the recommended home feed.
And there could be more changes to Facebook. Meta is planning to bring in other features and updates to Facebook next year, making social media still “social,” Alison said.
President Trump announced tariffs on automobiles and auto parts on Wednesday, impacting U.S. and overseas automakers.
Each company has different vulnerabilities based on their circumstances.
Tesla
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, sells cars from its U.S. plants, potentially making it less exposed to tariffs.
However, Tesla sources parts internationally, with about a quarter of the car’s value coming from overseas.
Tesla’s global sales are declining, partially due to Musk’s political activities, making it a target for retaliation against Trump’s tariffs in some countries.
General Motors
GM, America’s largest automaker, imports many popular vehicles, potentially making it vulnerable to tariffs.
Despite strong profits, GM relies on overseas assembly for around 40% of its U.S. sales, which could be impacted by tariffs.
Ford Motor
Ford is less reliant on imports, with most vehicles sold in the U.S. being domestically produced.
However, Ford still depends on foreign factories for key components like engines.
Stellantis, formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, is facing sales challenges and CEO transitions, putting it at risk.
Toyota
Toyota, like other Japanese automakers, sells a significant number of cars in the U.S. but manufactures many vehicles overseas.
Despite the dependence on foreign production, Toyota is considered one of the strongest global automakers.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen, with limited U.S. factories, imports many vehicles, potentially impacting its operations.
Volkswagen has faced financial struggles, especially with declining sales in China and the rise of domestic electric vehicles.
Hyundai and Kia
Both Korean companies have seen growth in U.S. sales and are investing in local production to avoid tariffs on certain models.
Hyundai and Kia continue to import cars into the U.S., facing potential tariffs despite their investments in local manufacturing.
Do you want to get AI to write software for you? It’s coding of the atmosphere
ronstik/alamy
I want to write software, but do you have a first clue as to where to start? Enter “Vibe Coding.” This is the term that swept the Internet to explain the use of AI tools, including large-scale language models (LLMS), such as ChatGPT, to generate computer code even when it is not programmable.
What is atmospheric coding? Where did it come from?
“Vibe coding basically refers to using generated AI to generate the entire code for your app, not just to assist with code.” Noah Jansilaksa at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Users will ask or ask for LLM-based models such as CHATGPT, CLAUDE, COPILOT, etc., to prompt, write code for the app or service, and the AI system will do all the work.
The term was coined by Andrej Karpathy, the head of AI at Tesla and founding engineer at Openai, the manufacturer of ChatGpt. February, he Posted on x “A new type of coding” is called “vibe coding.”
Karpathy explained that “we give in completely to the atmosphere, accept exponential functions, and even forget that the code exists.” The term was born and ideas were established. “It captured a moment that resonated with so many people because there are so many people who are non-programmers who can start playing with LLMS, write code and get great results from them,” says software developer Simon Willison.
What are the key points of coding the atmosphere?
Software engineering is difficult to learn. As a result, many people don’t care. Vibe coding helps people with ideas for tools, apps and services without the challenge of learning the details of programming languages.
“On the one hand, it’s a game changer. Many people say it’s coding the atmosphere, and in the course of some encouragement cycles, it’s better than what you can do for those who can’t programme, which is amazing.” Matt wood At Northumbria University, UK. But it can also lead to software that is incomplete and scattered with errors, he adds.
So is a vibrator a good or bad thing?
Opinions are divided. “All of these people have made the outrageous claims on LinkedIn and Twitter that no one needs to learn to program,” says Willison, who thinks it’s an exaggeration to the power of coding in vibes.
“My feeling is that this is a promising direction that’s going to get much better and we’ll see more in the near future, but it’s a bit limited now and there are some reliability issues,” says Giansiracusa. The code created is often buggy. The people who are urging it don’t have the inherent knowledge to fix it, and therefore rely too much on the same LLM who made the error to fix them.
Does Vibe Coding change software engineering?
One of the big claims about AI is its ability to take on our work. However, despite some social media boasting, there is little evidence that vibe coding will replace software engineers. “We’re not going to replace programmers,” Wood says.
“I feel that the job of a software engineer is to create software that works,” Willison says. “One of the reasons why we don’t think these systems will leave us out of our work is that in reality the vast amount of work done by software engineers has nothing to do with entering the code.”
Green spots show where the aurora brightens the sky in Neptune
NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, Heidi Hammel (Aura), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC)
For the first time, researchers discovered infrared aurora swirling in Neptune’s atmosphere, examining decades of scientific speculation.
When NASA’s Voyager 2 mission was flew by Neptune in 1989, I found an appetizing hint of aurora activity in the clouds of Ice Giant. However, scientists were unable to verify the phenomenon at the time because existing equipment was too weak. Now, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally provided the power to detect them.
“This really was a fulfillment of long-standing expectations.” Heidi Hammel Washington, DC, Astronomical Research Association.
Hammel and her colleagues used NirSpec from JWST, a powerful infrared imaging tool, to capture spectral images of Neptune and analyze light at various wavelengths emitted by the planet. In 2023, researchers used musical instruments to detect Uranus’ infrared aurora. This time I found it on Neptune too.
The images allowed Hammel and her team to begin building a map of Neptune’s magnetic field. This is particularly exciting as the planet is known to have some of the rarest magnetic poles in the solar system.
Unlike Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, Neptune’s magnetic poles are not at the center of their rotating poles. Instead, “they are offset by almost half the planet’s radius,” says Hammel. As a result, the aurora appears as an irregular mass far closer to the equator.
In addition to detection of Auroras, observations of JWST showed that the ionosphere of Neptune, a layer of charged particles that covers several planets, was cooled. Now, on average, it’s about 10% colder than when the Voyager 2 passed 34 years ago. A similar change was detected on Uranus.
The authors of the new study are unclear why this cooling occurred, but they hope that the upcoming JWST observation period, scheduled for 2026, will provide more clues.
Noren: The initial patient with tuberculosis I encountered in Nairobi had an advanced form of drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). The chances of the known cure being effective for him were very slim. Despite this, he remained optimistic as he received his Delamanid medication daily. Unfortunately, it was eventually out of stock.
Green: Oh my god.
Noren: I told him, “This situation is terrible for you, Barak. It’s also scary for your wife and five children.” Thankfully, they were screened and found to be TB-free. However, due to his illness, he was bankrupt and had to send his family to live in the village.
XDR-TB not only poses a threat to him and his family but also to everyone in close proximity to him. Living in close quarters with 500 other individuals increases the risk for all involved.
Green: Yes, this is a tragic situation that affects many individuals on a global scale. It’s a crisis for human health worldwide, as antibiotic resistance becomes a serious concern.
Without effective tools to combat tuberculosis, we risk regressing to a time when the disease was rampant and deadly. Personal stories from the past, like my great uncle’s death from tuberculosis, serve as a stark reminder of the consequences.
Noren: Could this happen in the US?
Green: Yes, the US has seen a rise in tuberculosis cases, with around 10,000 active cases reported this year. The lack of robust public health systems and access to treatment contributes to this increase.
Noren: Why is this happening?
Green: Our inadequate public health infrastructure and insufficient treatment options are major factors in the rise of tuberculosis cases. We need to address these issues to prevent further spread of the disease.
Noren: We have the knowledge to create a world free from tuberculosis, yet we fail to act. Why do you think we are complacent in this regard?
The Trump administration plans to discontinue US financial support for Gavi, an organization that has been instrumental in purchasing crucial vaccines for children in developing nations. Gavi has saved millions of lives over the past 25 years and has significantly expanded its efforts to combat malaria, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
It has been decided that the administration will continue its major drug subsidies for HIV and tuberculosis treatments, as well as maintain food aid for countries experiencing civil wars and natural disasters.
These decisions were outlined in a 281-page document sent to Congress on Monday night by the U.S. International Development Agency, detailing foreign aid projects that are expected to be terminated. Copies of spreadsheets and other documents describing the plan were obtained by The New York Times.
The document portrays the US as a compassionate ally, highlighting the significant scale of the withdrawal from longstanding efforts and emphasizing the commitment to leading the fight against infectious diseases that claim millions of lives each year.
The cover letter provides details on the reduction of funds to USAID, with a significant portion of its budget being cut and only 869 out of over 6,000 employees remaining.
The administration has decided to continue 898 USAID awards while terminating 5,341, according to the letter. The value of the remaining programs is reported to be up to $78 billion, with $8.3 billion still available for disbursement. This suggests a substantial $40 billion reduction in annual USAID spending.
A State Department spokesperson overseeing the remainder of USAID confirmed the accuracy of the termination list, stating that each award was reviewed based on agency priorities and if deemed inconsistent, it was terminated.
The memo presented to Congress portrays foreign aid as a unilateral decision. However, there are questions about the administration’s legal authority to terminate these programs, as spending on specific health initiatives is typically allocated by Congress.
Several programs, including funding for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and efforts to combat malaria, have been terminated.
Sierra Leone’s health minister, Dr. Austin Demby, expressed concern over the termination of US funding for Gavi, emphasizing the impact on children’s health globally.
He highlighted the importance of Gavi’s support in purchasing vaccines and providing critical aid, particularly during outbreaks such as MPOX.
Dr. Demby urged the US government to reconsider its decision, emphasizing that investing in Gavi is essential for global health security.
Gavi has been credited with saving the lives of 19 million children since its inception 25 years ago, with the US contributing 13% of its budget.
The termination of the grant to Gavi, valued at $2.6 billion until 2030, could have serious consequences for vaccine distribution in low-income countries.
The loss of US support may lead to a significant reduction in Gavi’s ability to provide essential services, potentially impacting millions of children who rely on vaccinations.
Gavi’s estimates suggest that without US funding, 75 million children may not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years, resulting in over 1.2 million deaths.
The United States has been a key donor to Gavi and has played a crucial role in supporting the organization, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Sania Nishter, the CEO of Gavi, expressed hope that the Trump administration would reconsider its decision to cut support, emphasizing the importance of Gavi’s work in protecting global health.
Vaccinations provided by Gavi not only safeguard individual children but also reduce the risk of major disease outbreaks. Gavi maintains a global stockpile of vaccines against diseases such as Ebola and cholera for rapid response efforts during outbreaks.
While the administration has indicated that the foreign aid review process is complete, there is still funding available for some programs to continue. However, there have been significant reductions in malaria response efforts, impacting vulnerable populations in countries like Cameroon and Tanzania.
The memo also highlights staffing changes at USAID, with some employees being placed on administrative leave or terminated, raising concerns about the agency’s operational capacity.
Dolphin’s mouth. The whale sings. Fishcloak, chirp, Grant, ham, groans. However, in sea chatting, up until now, one voice was missing.
Sharks have long been considered quiet killers of the water. However, scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand recently recorded a rig shark, or Mastel Slenticratus, to create a sharp click by combining the teeth, according to findings published in the journal. Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday. They believe this is the first time a shark has actively made noise.
Chief investigator Karolyn Nieder was the first to hear the sound while studying the shark’s hearing abilities. While she was dealing with one shark, it clicked and snapped a similar sound to the sound of an electric spark, she said.
The noise came from the Rig shark, a rather small shark common in waters around New Zealand. It grows up to 5 feet and feeds mainly on crustaceans. It is eaten by larger shark species and New Zealanders who use it to make fish and chips.
Dr. Nieder was surprised when he heard the noise.
Other sea creatures have mechanisms to make noise. For example, fish have a gas-filled sac, a swimming bladder, which is used for buoyancy but can be used as a type of drum. Many fish have muscles that can vibrate the swimming bladder in a manner similar to the human vocal cords.
However, the sharks were “thought to be silent and could not actively produce sound,” Dr. Nieder said.
In this study, she and her co-authors observed the behavior of ten rig sharks housed in tanks equipped with underwater microphones. They discovered that all ten sharks begin to create click noise when they move between tanks or are held gently.
On average, the shark clicks nine times at 20-second intervals, and researchers believe they made noises by stitching the teeth together.
They didn’t make any noise while feeding or swimming, making scientists believe it is more likely to click when emphasizing or surprised, not as a way of communicating with each other.
“I think it’s likely that they’ll make those noises when they’re attacked,” Dr. Nieder said, adding that many other fish will snap their teeth and jaws to stop or distract predators.
It was unclear whether the shark could hear the clicks themselves. Did they make the sound in the wild or just get caught? And whether they intentionally made it or whether it was a side effect of their reaction to being surprised, Dr. Nieder said.
Christine Elbe, director of the Marine Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Australia, said the study expanded in the growing field of research into how marine animals make and hear sounds.
“Once you start watching, there are more and more species that use sounds,” she said.
So it wasn’t surprising to find that sharks could make a fuss, she said.
But she says, “I think it’s important in the sense that it completely underestimates communication between animals and environmental sensing capabilities, and also completely underestimates the way noise affects it.”
The National Weather Service has been releasing weather observations at over 100 sites across the country for decades, operating like clockwork in the Pacific and Caribbean.
Meteorologists launch balloons equipped with radiozond devices twice a day at 8am and 8pm ET. These balloons rise about 15 feet every 2 hours, collecting data on temperature, humidity, and wind speed as they ascend through the atmosphere. The data is transmitted back using radio waves.
When the balloons reach a certain altitude, they pop and descend back to Earth with parachutes, completing their mission. The data gathered from these balloons is crucial for feeding into weather models that form the basis of forecasts in the United States.
However, many of the launch sites have been impacted by staffing cuts under the Trump administration, leading to reduced launches and restrictions. Meteorologists and experts are concerned that these changes will compromise forecast quality and increase risks during severe weather events.
The cuts in balloon launches are part of a broader downsizing effort across federal agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service, has seen significant staff reductions and budget cuts.
Recent announcements about balloon launch suspensions in various locations across the country have raised concerns among meteorologists. These cuts could have implications for weather forecasting accuracy, particularly in regions prone to severe weather events.
Weather balloons play a critical role in providing high-resolution data on atmospheric conditions, which is essential for accurate weather modeling. Without this data, forecasters may struggle to predict events like storms and precipitation types.
Private companies are attempting to fill the gaps left by the National Weather Service cuts, but it is unlikely they will fully replace the services provided by NOAA. These companies are looking to expand coverage and enhance existing data collection efforts.
The impact of these cuts on weather forecasting remains to be seen, but there is concern among experts that forecast accuracy could suffer without the crucial data collected by weather balloons.
Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to reduce tariffs on Chinese trade in exchange for the sale of Tiktok, a social media app used by 170 million Americans, by its Chinese parent company.
He acknowledged China’s involvement in any agreement, stating, “China will have to play a role in it, perhaps giving approval, I believe they will.” Trump mentioned the possibility of offering China a concession to facilitate the deal.
Trump’s remarks indicate that the sale of Tiktok is a priority for his administration and that tariffs are being used as a negotiation tool with Beijing.
Tiktok did not provide an immediate response to the situation.
Bytedance, the parent company of Tiktok, faces an April 5 deadline to find non-Chinese buyers for the app or risk a US ban on national security grounds that was established in January under the 2024 law.
Washington’s concerns about Chinese ownership of Tiktok have led to the current situation, with fears that Beijing could exploit the app for malicious purposes and gather data on Americans.
Recently, Trump imposed an additional 20% tariff on all imports from China, demonstrating his administration’s firm stance on trade negotiations.
Securing a deal without Chinese control has been a key focus in finalizing the Tiktok transaction, with tariffs used as leverage in negotiations with Beijing.
In his earlier statements, Trump had warned China that failure to approve US deals with Tiktok could result in further tariffs being imposed.
Vice President JD Vance anticipates that the terms of the agreement regarding Tiktok ownership will be settled by April 5th.
Reports indicate that a White House-led meeting between investors is working towards securing US business interests for video apps, involving major Chinese stakeholders.
The fate of Tiktok, a widely-used app in the US, has been uncertain since the bipartisan decision to sell it by January 19th.
After initial turbulence in January, the app was temporarily banned but resumed operations shortly after Trump’s term began. He subsequently extended the deadline for the sale until April 5th and hinted at the possibility of further extensions.
The intense involvement of the White House in these trade discussions is unprecedented, resembling the role of an investment bank.
Critics argue that the ban on Tiktok infringes on Americans’ freedom of speech by restricting access to foreign media, potentially violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
From ancient creeks of stars to the innards of white dwarfs, the Gaia Space Telescope has seen it all.
On Thursday, the European Space Agency’s mission specialists will send the low-fuel Gaia into orbit around the Sun, turning it off to astronomers around the world after more than a decade of service.
Gaia has been charting the universe since 2014, creating a vast encyclopedia of the position and movement of celestial objects from the Milky Way and beyond. It is difficult to grasp the breadth of development and discovery that a spinning observatory is enabled. But here are a few numbers: nearly 2 billion stars, millions of potential galaxies, and around 150,000 asteroids. These observations were brought Over 13,000 studies so far by astronomers.
Gaia changed the way scientists understand the universe, and that data became the reference point for many other telescopes on the ground and in the universe. Additionally, less than a third of the data collected has been released to scientists so far.
“It now supports almost everything in astronomy,” says Anthony Brown, an astronomer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, heading Gaia’s data processing and analysis group. “If you were to ask my astronomy colleagues, I don’t think they could have imagined that Gaia would have to do her research even if she wasn’t there.”
Starting in 2013, Gaia’s main goal was to uncover the history and structure of the Milky Way by constructing the most accurate, three-dimensional map of the position and velocity of 1 billion stars. As there is only a small portion of that data, astronomers Halo mass of dark matter We swallowed and identified our galaxy Thousands of trespassing stars ingested from another galaxy 10 billion years ago.
Dr. Brown measures continuous vibrations on the Milky Way disk and measures a kind of galactic seismology – evidence Of encounters with satellite galaxies that have put ourselves in orbit much more recently than scientists believed. That may be the reason for the Milky Way It looks distorted When viewed from the side.
Entomologists at Washington State University predict that the US Honeybee colony may decline by up to 70% by 2025.
The university revealed in a News Release that over the last decade, annual losses of Honeybee Colonies averaged between 40% and 50%. However, this year, a combination of factors such as nutritional deficiencies, mites infections, viral diseases, and potential pesticide exposure during the previous pollination season contributed to even higher losses.
Priya Chakrabarti Basu, assistant professor of health and pollinator behavior at WSU, expressed concern over the increasing losses, stating, “The demand for pollination remains high, putting pressure on beekeepers to maintain colonies to meet these needs.”
Flocking bees form clusters in Las Vegas trees. Gabe Ginsberg / Getty Images
Brandon Hopkins, professor of pollinator ecology at WSU, warned that higher colony losses could result in increased costs for farmers relying on bee colonies.
Hopkins added, “This level of national loss could potentially lead to beekeepers facing bankruptcy, affecting farmers who depended on them for pollination.”
The Honeybee industry had a production value of around $350 million in 2023, as reported by the Agriculture Department.
Hopkins noted that extreme Honeybee losses also pose a particular risk to the almond industry this year.
He stated, “The almond industry heavily relies on robust colonies, and this year, due to low supply, any beehives are in high demand.”
Reflecting on the situation, Hopkins added, “I haven’t seen a decline like this since the colony collapse in 2008.”
Latin America has been a source of inspiration for various aspects, including a popular literary and musical genre and staple foods like potatoes. A famous Happy meal is now an indication of this inspiration. There is potential for Latin America to also become a cradle for AI.
A coalition of research institutes is collaborating on a project called latamgpt, which aims to create a tool that considers regional language differences, cultural experiences, and “specificity.” This tool is intended to provide more accurate representations for users in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to existing Large Language Models (LLM) primarily trained by US or Chinese companies in English.
The project lead, Rodrigo Duran Rojas, expressed the importance of developing local AI solutions to better serve Latin America. The goal is to offer a representative outlook tailored for the region, with initial tests showing promising results in areas like South American history.
Over 30 institutions are involved in the development of Latamgpt from countries across the hemisphere, including collaborations with Latinos in the US like Freddy Vilci Meneseth, an associate professor of Hispanic Studies at Lewis & Clark College, Oregon.
Latamgpt’s launch is planned for around June, following a significant commitment from various regions for improved AI governance. Projects like monitoring deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and preserving historical documents from past dictatorships are contributing to the dataset used for training Latamgpt.
With a dataset of over 8 terabytes, Latamgpt aims to provide a nuanced and localized model for various applications. The project faces challenges in incorporating diverse dialects and complex grammatical structures, but emphasizes the importance of collaboration for continued development.
Diversified dialects and complex grammar challenges
Efforts like Latamgpt, CHATGPT, and Google’s Gemini are working towards incorporating a wider range of data and improving localization for non-English languages. Challenges in training models for languages with complex grammar and dialects persist.
Despite these challenges, Latamgpt aims to address these issues through collaboration with institutions, libraries, and archives across the region. The project continues to receive data and feedback to enhance its capabilities and explore applications in public policy and regulation.
The long-term goal of Latamgpt is to create an interconnected network for developing AI solutions with a Latinx touch, emphasizing the impact of collaboration in shaping the future of technology in Latin America and beyond.
Chinese researchers have made progress in the field of inter-animal organ transplantation with a successful pig kidney transplant reported on Wednesday. They believe that pig liver may also prove to be useful in the future.
This Chinese patient is the third person worldwide known to be living with gene-edited pig kidneys. The research team has also successfully experimented with implanting pig liver into brain-dead individuals.
Scientists are genetically modifying pigs to make their organs more human-like in the hopes of addressing the shortage of organ transplants. While previous xenografts in the US were short-lived, two recipients of pig kidneys – an Alabama woman in November and a New Hampshire man in January – have shown promising results. Clinical trials in the US are now commencing.
Nearly three weeks after the kidney transplant, the Chinese patient is reported to be doing “very well” with the pig kidneys functioning effectively, according to Dr. Lin Wang of Xijing Hospital. The patient is a 69-year-old woman who has been suffering from kidney failure for eight years.
The next challenge for xenotransplantation is learning to transplant pig livers. In an experiment reported on Wednesday, pig liver was successfully transplanted into a brain-dead individual for 10 days. While the pig liver produced bile and albumin, essential for basic organ function, it did not perform as well as a human liver.
Dr. Wang believes that the pig liver could potentially support a failing human liver to some extent. In the US, a similar approach is being studied by pig developer Egenesis, where a pig’s liver is externally attached to support a brain-dead individual’s liver function.
In China, the team led by Dr. Wang did not remove the deceased person’s own liver but instead implanted the pig liver nearby.
Dr. Parsia Vagefi, a liver transplant surgeon, commented on the experiment, stating that while it shows promise, there are still many questions that need answers. Dr. Wang’s team plans to analyze the results of another brain-dead individual who received a pig liver transplant.
Last year, another Chinese hospital reportedly transplanted a pig liver into a living patient after removing part of their cancerous liver, but the outcome of the experiment is unclear.
In September, Openai announced a new version of ChatGPT, designed to infer through tasks that include mathematics, science, and computer programming. Unlike previous versions of chatbots, this new technology allows you to spend time “thinking” through complex problems before you settle for an answer.
Soon, the company said the new inference technology outperformed the industry’s leading systems in a series of tests tracking advances in artificial intelligence.
Currently, other companies such as Google, Anthropic, and China’s Deepseek offer similar technologies.
But can AI actually reason like a human? What does computers mean? Are these systems really close to true intelligence?
This is the guide.
What does that mean if an AI system infers?
Inference means that chatbots spend more time tackling the problem.
“We’re committed to providing a new technology to our AI startup,” said Dan Klein, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley and chief technology officer at Scaled Cognition, an AI startup.
You could try to split the problem into individual steps or try to solve it via trial and error.
The original ChatGpt answered the question immediately. A new inference system can resolve problems in seconds or minutes before answering.
Can you make it more specific?
In some cases, the inference system will improve its approach to the question and repeatedly attempt to improve the selected method. Otherwise, you may try several different ways to approach the problem before you settle on one of the problems. Or maybe it’s back and check out some work that I did a few seconds ago to see if it’s correct.
Essentially, the system will try to do everything possible to answer your questions.
This is like an elementary school student struggling to find a way to solve a math problem, scribbling several different options on paper.
What questions should infer AI systems?
It can potentially infer about something. However, when asking questions that involve mathematics, science, and computer programming, reasoning is most effective.
How is inference chatbots different from previous chatbots?
You can ask previous chatbots and check your work to show how they reached a specific answer. The original ChatGpt also allows for this kind of self-reflection as they learned from texts on the internet, showing how people reached their work and how they checked their work.
However, the reasoning system is moving further. You can do these kinds of things without being asked. And you can do them in a broader and more complicated way.
Companies call it the inference system. Because it feels like it behaves like someone who is thinking about difficult problems.
Why is AI reasoning so important now?
Companies like Openai believe this is the best way to improve chatbots.
For years, these companies relied on simple concepts. The more internet data you pump to your chatbot, the better these systems were running.
But in 2024, they ran out of almost all of the texts on the internet.
That is, we needed a new way to improve chatbots. So they began building an inference system.
How do you build an inference system?
Last year, companies like Openai began to lean heavily towards a technology known as Rencemone Learning.
While this process can be extended over several months, AI systems can learn to do things through extensive trial and error. For example, by solving thousands of mathematics problems, you can learn which methods lead to the correct answer and which ones not.
Researchers have designed a complex feedback mechanism that shows the system when it does the right thing and when it does something wrong.
“It’s a bit like training a dog,” said Jerry Tworek, a researcher at Openai. “If the system works out, we give you cookies. If that doesn’t work, we say ‘bad dogs.’ “
(New York Times sued Openai and its partner Microsoft in December for copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems.)
Does reinforcement learning work?
It works very well in certain fields, such as mathematics, science, computer programming. These are areas where companies can clearly define good and bad behavior. There is a definitive answer to mathematics problems.
Reinforcement learning also does not work well in areas such as creative writing, philosophy, and ethics. Researchers say that this process can generally improve the performance of AI systems, even if it answers questions outside of mathematics and science.
“It gradually learns the patterns of reasoning that leads it in the right direction, and learns which isn’t,” said Jared Kaplan, chief science officer of humanity.
Are reinforcement learning and inference systems the same thing?
no. Reinforcement learning is the method companies use to build inference systems. Finally, the chatbot can infer is during the training phase.
Are these inference systems still making mistakes?
absolutely. Everything a chatbot does is based on probability. It chooses the path that most resembles the data it learns, whether it comes from the Internet or is generated through reinforcement learning. Sometimes I choose an option that’s wrong or makes no sense.
Is this the path to a machine that suits human intelligence?
AI experts are split on this question. These methods are still relatively new, and researchers are still trying to understand their limitations. In the AI field, new methods often progress very quickly at first.
Just a year ago, hype was being built around semaglutide drug Ozempic and Wegovy, so the conversation revolved around the possibility of “end obesity” by helping people lose a lot of weight.
Then there was talk about how the appeal for semaglutide weight loss caused a shortage in people who needed it to treat diabetes, and which celebrities got it. Despite the topic, these treatments were still somewhat exotic.
There is no more talk of shortages today. In fact, it’s easier than ever to get these medications from an online pharmacy if you have the funds and a proper BMI. At the speed of lightning, the jab has become a common name. You or someone you know may be taking it often.
Some data show that one in eight people in the US tried one of the new generation of weight loss pills. In the UK, they have taken about 1 in 7 people or have family and friends. It’s fair to say we live in the Ozempic era, and it changes much more than our collective waistline.
Many people experiment with small amounts of weight loss medication, is this a good idea?
This special report clearly looks at the new normality and the questions it raises. These treatments refer to traditional approaches to weight loss, particularly exercise (see Why exercise is more important than ever when taking weight loss medications). Drugs people see “GLP-1 drugs are the beginning – the next powerful drug is expected”)? Over the past year, studies have been found that examined the benefits of other conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and addiction. So how do they affect the brain beyond appetite regulations (see “Do GLP-1 drugs really tell us about the brain’s reward system?”)?
Many people are experimenting with taking them at lower doses, which is a good idea (“I’m getting an increase in microdeficient GLP-1 drugs, does that work?”)? We also ask what all of this means for society as a whole (see “Unexpected Effects of Society Transformed by Weight Loss Drugs”) and what comes next (see “GLP-1 Drugs Is the Beginning – The Powerful Drugs You Expect Next”).
What’s clear is that the new boom in weight loss pills is just the beginning. In another year, things can look very different again.
As anyone who goes through it knows, pregnancy transforms the body a lot. And now we have the most detailed picture of how it affects the blood, organs and immune system each week. This not only helps to provide post-pregnancy treatment, but also helps to identify the risk of developing certain conditions during pregnancy.
“We’ve got an unprecedented view of how much it takes a mother’s body to change weekly, to make up for the incredible load and how long it takes to recover after delivery,” he says. Uriaron At the Wiseman Institute of Science, Rehobot, Israel.
Despite its importance, pregnancy has not been studied, Aron says. For example, previous studies have tracked how about 20 blood markers change, including salt and iron levels. Up to about 6 weeks for dozens of pregnant women After delivery, samples collected during standard healthcare will be used. “These experiments are usually performed in a small number of patients and sample only once at the late pregnancy or at each time point,” Aron says.
To gain a more comprehensive view, Aron and his colleagues analyzed previously collected blood samples from over 160,000 women in Israel, ages 25 to 31. Together, these samples provided weekly, weekly physical snapshots from 20 weeks of conception to 18 months after birth, with each woman providing several points of data. This approach gives useful insight into how the body generally changes during pregnancy at the population level, but says that following the same woman over time will provide a better picture of the individual trajectory. Christofree Imperial College London.
The researchers mapped changes in 76 blood markers, including levels of protein, fat and salt that show the functioning of the liver, kidneys, blood, muscle, bone and immune system. They found that each of these markers differed significantly from preconcept levels during pregnancy to gradually return to preconceived levels or reverse overshooting before returning to preconceived baseline.
In particular, scientists found that 36 markers, including those associated with blood clotting, bounced off within a month of delivery, but 31 markers took more than 10 weeks to recover. For example, some changes to the liver and immune system took about 5 months to return to prepregnancy levels, and some kidney markers took about six months. Some bone and muscle markers took even longer. It is unclear what exactly this means for women’s health, but it should be investigated in future work, Aron says.
Additionally, several other markers did not return to baseline levels for more than one year after birth. “The slightly archaic view that by six or eight weeks after pregnancy, everyone is completely back to normal is clearly wrong,” says Leeds.
For example, iron levels remained much lower after giving birth. “Women are very likely to have anemia [have low iron levels] I think it will take 6-12 months for the iron shop to return to normal after giving birth due to bleeding, and as the developing fetus removes many iron stores from the body.
Meanwhile, levels of proteins called CRP remained high. “CRP is affected by many different processes. Inflammation is certainly one of them, but things like hormonal changes can also affect this,” says Lees. In another analysis, the team examined differences in markers between women with prelammosis. This saw people who are pregnant and not with hypertension, where high blood pressure can cause headaches, vision problems and pain under the ribs. This revealed that women who developed pre-lamp syndrome before conception had increased levels of blood cell fragments called platelets and proteins called ALT.
“For decades, the idea was that if the placenta wasn’t properly planted and not properly planted, the blood supply would be destroyed and the mother would release the hormones and substances that would help her blood pressure,” says Leeds. “However, some studies suggest that those who developed it have different cardiovascular functions before pregnancy. These findings add weight to this theory.”
If further studies have shown that these conceptual markers actually indicate the risk of pre-lammosis, they could be used to identify potentially high-risk women. “Then you can target ways to improve your health before pregnancy (through exercise and lifestyle advice) and reduce your risk,” says Leeds.
For decades, traditional wisdom has believed that in order to lose weight, you have to eat less and move more. Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why drugs like Wegovy are so innovative. By suppressing appetite, they help to tackle the first part of the equation, which usually leads to dramatic weight loss. But what about the second one? If weight loss pills are reducing the number of scales, should we still head to the gym? And how do these drugs affect our athletic ability?
What has become clear is that it may be even more important for those taking these medications than those who don’t. The ability of semaglutide to induce rapid weight loss (see “How do they work?” below) also leads to a significant decrease in muscle mass. For example, a 2021 study of 95 people who were overweight or obese taking semaglutide found that their lean body mass was reduced by almost 10% on average, 68 weeks later.
This article is part of a special series investigating the GLP-1 agonist boom. Click here for details.
Lean body weight covers body tissues such as muscles and bones. Therefore, these results suggest that both are affected when taking weight loss medications, Signee Sørensen Torekov at the University of Copenhagen explains. These drugs guide people to burn fewer calories, so the body needs to break down fat, muscle, and even bones for nutrients.
“Our understanding is that up to about 40% of the overall weight loss seen in semaglutide is thought to be due to the loss of muscle mass,” he said.
Kashiwara’s work is very abstract, but is seen as important
Peter Bagde / Typos1 / The Abel Prize
Red-tailed For his research on algebraic analysis, he received the 2025 Abel Prize, known as the Nobel Prize in Mathematics.
Professor of Kashiwara Kyoto UniversityJapan received the award “for his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representational theory, particularly for the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases.”
His work involves the use of algebra, focusing on investigating geometry and symmetry, and using those ideas to find solutions to differential equations that include the relationship between mathematical functions and their rate of change. Finding solutions to such equations can be particularly difficult, especially for functions with several variables, and therefore with several rates of change. These are known as partial differential equations (PDEs).
Kashiwara’s important work on the D-module, a highly specific area of algebraic analysis, including Linear PDE, was conducted surprisingly early in his career during his doctoral dissertation. He has worked with over 70 collaborators. Kashiwara said New Scientist He was pleased to win the Abel Prize, but he is still active and would like to make further contributions.
“I’m currently working on representative theory of quantum affine algebra and its related topics,” he says. “There’s a great guess: [the] “Affine epicenter speculation,” but I still don’t know how to solve it. ”
David Craven At the University of Birmingham, UK, Kashiwara’s work is very abstract and far from a direct real-world application, and even basic summary says that a minimum of a doctorate in mathematics is required. “That’s the level of these things being difficult,” he says. “It’s incredibly esoteric.”
However, Craven says that Kashiwara had a major impact on his field. “What he did is permeate theories of expression. If you want to do geometrical expression theory, you can’t escape from Kashiwara.
Gwyn Bellamy “All the big results on the field are [algebraic analysis] It was more or less due to him, and Kashiwara’s Abel Prize victory has been a long time.
Named after Norwegian mathematician Neils Henrik Abel, the Abel Prize is awarded annually by the King of Norway. Last year, Michelle Taragland won for his work in extreme studies of probability theory and randomness.
A new species of dinosaurs has been uncovered in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Known as Duonychus tsogtbaatari, this dinosaur possessed two feet long claw fingers on each hand, belonging to the Teresino Sauria.
Referred to as Duonychus, which is the Greek term for two claws, this dinosaur stood approximately 10 feet tall, weighed around 570 pounds, and was part of the Therizinosaurs group. It displayed a unique set of characteristics, including feathers.
These dinosaurs existed in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous period, spanning from 145 to 66 million years ago.
Despite having only two claws, researchers described Duonychus in a study published in the JournalIscience as an “effective climber” capable of reaching branches or vegetation masses up to five inches in diameter.
A claw belonging to Duonychus Tsogtbaatari, excavated in Mongolia.Kobayashi et al. / Science via Reuters
NBC News reached out to the research team for additional comments.
The fossil specimen was unearthed in 2012 by scientists at the Institute of Paleontology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, dating back 90 million years and showcasing exceptional diversity.
Although the fossil was a partial skeleton missing the skull and legs, the hands were remarkably well-preserved. The Duonychus individuals were not fully grown, and their claws measured approximately 1 foot in length.
Therodinosaurus belonged to a group of herbivorous dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurus and spinosaurus, but mainly consumed leaves from large shrubs and trees.
The discovery of Duonychus and its two claws was described as remarkable by Michael Benton, a vertebrate paleontology professor at the University of Bristol, UK, who was not involved in the study.
Initially, dinosaurs possessed five fingers like humans, eventually losing two over time, leading to the majority having three fingers, Benton explained in an email to NBC News on Wednesday.
Benton highlighted that the number of digits did not impact their capabilities, mentioning that the third finger was shorter in length, potentially serving a specific purpose.
He emphasized the vast diversity and varied shapes and functions of dinosaurs, stating that they are incredibly diverse.
According to the study, the fossil records of Terazinosauria are particularly abundant in Cretaceous sediments in East Asia, particularly in Mongolia and China.
Block, Jack Dorsey’s Financial Technology Company, is letting go of nearly 1,000 current employees while also implementing other changes to its business in its second major move in over a year.
Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter before founding the Block in 2009 and previously served as the CEO of Twitter, informed employees of the impending layoffs in an email titled “Small Block,” which was seen by the Guardian. The layoffs will impact over 930 employees, transition almost 200 managers to unmanaged roles, and close nearly 800 open positions.
Block operates payment platform Square, money transfer app CashApp, and music streaming service Tidal.
Dorsey stated in the email that the layoffs and organizational changes were not aimed at specific financial targets, replacing individuals with AI, or changing staffing limits. This reorganization follows a previous one in early 2024, where around 1,000 employees were laid off and Dorsey reduced the workforce to approximately 12,000 employees.
Instead, Dorsey explained that this latest reorganization is intended to raise performance standards, streamline the organization, and promote quicker decision-making. Last year, Dorsey used a similar approach in notifying staff about layoffs, emphasizing the need to “rebuild like a startup.”
In the recent email, Dorsey expressed that “we have been slow to act, and that is not fair to individuals or the company.”
The Block’s stocks have declined by 29% this year. Despite Dorsey taking on more operational responsibilities, concerns have been raised by shareholders about the company’s revenue and profits. Dorsey highlighted in the email that part of his role is to increase the company’s stock value, and the reorganization will enable them to focus and execute effectively towards that goal.
“When we identify a need for action, we must act decisively, and there has been a lack of action,” the CEO stated. “We need to enhance accessibility, transparency, and automation as our industry must evolve quickly to stay ahead of changing trends.”
A spokesperson for the Block did not respond to requests for comments or emails.
A nest box with windows made of transparent wood arranged with heat lamps to test the thermal properties of the material
Bharat Baruah et al. (2025)
The windows and smartphone screens can one day be built from clear wood mixed with egg whites and may be safely composted at the end of life.
Researchers are interested in using wood to make biodegradable alternatives to glass with better insulating properties or replacing plastics with electronic devices. Wood was previously transformed into a transparent material by altering or removing organic polymer lignin from it and injecting epoxy as a replacement, which produces a non-biodegradable product.
now Bharat Baruah Kennesaw State University in Georgia and his colleagues have developed a process of replacing synthetic epoxy with natural egg whites and rice extracts.
“[Previous examples of transparent wood are] It’s very difficult to integrate, it’s difficult to make, and you spend a lot of time, energy and money making them, so we thought of making something that can be easily made naturally,” says Barua.
He was urged to use egg whites in his home building in Assam, India, which dates back to the 1500s, using a cement-like mixture containing sand, sticky rice and egg whites. “It was cement from the time and those buildings are still there,” Barua says. “They are still there, over the fourth century and beyond, and after the fifth century, but that has always been fascinating to me.”
The team ingested a sheet of balsa wood, soaked sodium sulfate, sodium hydroxide, and diluted bleach in a vacuum chamber, removing lignin and hemicellulose, leaving only a paper-like cellulose structure. The voids of the ingredients were then filled with a mixture of rice extract and egg whites and then dried in an oven at 60°C (140°F) to create a translucent plate with a slight brown tint. “It’s not 100% transparent, but it’s translucent,” says Barua. “And it’s biodegradable.”
Barua and his colleagues built a small birdhouse equipped with clear wooden windows as a basic mockup, and found to remain cool at 5-6°C (9-11°F) when exposed to heat lamps than the same birdhouse equipped with glass windows. The study will be presented today at the American Chemical Society’s Spring Conference in San Diego, California.
Barua said further research will investigate technologies to improve the strength and thermal properties of the material, as well as transparency.
Kashiwara Kuniki, a Japanese mathematician, has been awarded the Abel Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in mathematics. Dr. Kashiwara’s work combines algebra, geometry, and differential equations in a unique and abstract manner.
The Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, responsible for the Abel Prize, announced the honor on Wednesday morning.
“He resolved difficult open speculations and connected previously unknown areas, surprising mathematicians,” said Helge Holden, chairman of the awards committee.
Mathematicians can use connections between different mathematical domains to address complex problems and gain a deeper understanding.
Kawakaze, 78, from Kyoto University, is considered “very important in many different fields of mathematics,” stated Holden.
Dr. Kashiwara, when asked if his work solved real-world problems, responded with a negative. The honor comes with approximately $700,000 in prize money.
Unlike Nobel Prize winners, Dr. Kashiwara was informed of his accolade a week prior to the public announcement.
The Norwegian Academy surprises Abel Prize winners with notifications similar to surprise birthday parties.
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Marit Westerguard, executive director of the Norwegian Academy, personally informed Dr. Kashiwara of his selection as Abel of the year.
Dr. Kashiwara, initially confused due to internet issues, was eventually able to grasp the news conveyed to him in Japanese.
Having been attracted to mathematics from a young age, Dr. Kashiwara’s work reflects his passion for algebraic analysis.
Real-world phenomena are explained using real and imaginary numbers, showcasing the interconnection between mathematics and the physical world.
Dr. Kashiwara’s impactful work in mathematics links abstract ideas to insightful combinations for mathematicians across various disciplines.
His innovative approaches, such as the Crystal Base, have opened new avenues of research in the field.
Welcome to opt-out. A semi-regular column that will help you navigate online privacy and show you how to say no to surveillance. The final column covered what to do with the 23andMe account after the company filed bankruptcy. If you would like to skip to a section for specific tips, click on the “Jump to Jump” menu at the top of this article.
If you are a visa or green card holder who has plans to travel to the US, reports that people have been ousted at the airport for messages found on their devices may encourage you to make a second trip plan. You may ask Customs and Border Protection (CBP) if you can search for your phone, if you can opt out, and what to do to minimize the risk.
The simple answer is yes, CBP can search for devices. Constitutional protections are generally weak at US borders, including airports. You can try to opt out, but in some circumstances you may be willing to risk the potential consequences of not complying, which can include confiscation of your device.
Privacy experts say everyone needs to conduct a personal risk assessment. This should include immigration status, travel history and data on your mobile phone. Depending on your situation, data that may not be sensitive to others will not fit every solution into every solution. For example, if CBP attempts to search for a mobile phone or wants to lock down your device before heading to the airport, it could affect its rating.
Although CBP said it searched only about 47,000 devices of 420 million people crossing US borders in 2024, it was not as easy to figure out whether there is a risk of device searching, as the Guardian said border enforcement was unpredictable under the Trump administration. French officials said French scientists were recently kicked out at a Texas airport after immigration officers found texts critical of Trump on his phone.
“The ultra-conservative perspective is to assume that they are completely hinged and that even the most benign reasons for travel are targeting non-citizens in searching for these devices,” said Sophia Cope, a senior staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit digital rights group.
If you are a US citizen, you must be hospitalized in the country. That said, there are still some risks in some jurisdictions that devices are being searched for domestic reasons as CBP will allow them to work with the FBI or local police to proceed with domestic investigations.
There are steps you can take to make it difficult for CBP executives to access the device and its data. So, what should you do to protect your mobile phone data from searching? The main thing is to prepare before heading to the airport. This is what you should think about:
Determine whether to comply with phone searches
Before you travel, start preparing for the possibility of being drawn into a secondary screening. First, you need to determine whether immigration officers will comply with whether they ask if they can search for devices. They may request a password for your mobile phone, or you may unlock the device. Ideally, you will unlock your device yourself and will not share your password. You can decide not to give your consent, but it has its own risk.
From a Guide to the border From EFF: “This presents a no-win dilemma. If the traveler is compliant, the agent can scrutinize and copy sensitive digital information. If the traveler declines, the agent can seize the device and expose the traveler to additional questions and detention.”
If you reject a search, the officer may decide that you are not worth the trouble because you are not at high risk. They may let you go. However, on the back, the decline can lengthen the process or the border agent can confiscate the device. If they’ve confiscated your device, then you can confiscate your device so that they can document that they have your device when you try to get it back, and that they can document that they have your device when you try to get it back. Without giving up the password, immigrant staff can unlock it themselves using a variety of tools on their devices. You can also try to guess your password, so make sure you have a strong, long password.
There are many reasons why you might not want to risk being suppressed or confiscated from your device for longer than you have already done.
If you plan to adhere to phone searches to avoid further complications, you can search your phone manually or with forensic tools. It’s worth preparing for both types of searches.
Turn off your phone and ID before entering the US
EFF recommends turning off your device completely before entering the US. This could potentially bring your phone or laptop back to an enhanced security state, which could make it difficult for anyone to break the encryption on their devices.
Privacy advocates also recommend that you ensure that your device requires a password to decrypt or unlock it. For example, if you are using a Face ID or fingerprint to unlock your phone, it will allow executives to use it to access the device.
Please do not wipe the phone
You may think that the most protective option is to wipe your phone completely before traveling, use a burner without a phone, or travel. However, EFF’s COPE said it could actually raise doubts.
“If people do that, they’ll feel bad and they’ll just ignore them,” Coop said. “If you cross a border without data on your device, you can in itself consider it suspicious.”
Instead, we suggest selectively delete that information, rather than wiping the entire device, if there is data or text that appears to be cooperative but you don’t want to access, instead of wiping it all out.
The most important step to take before you travel is to encrypt the data on your device. This is different from using encrypted messaging services such as signals. Device encryption makes it difficult for CBP executives to access files on their phones or laptops or recover deleted files, even if they confiscate their devices and submit to sophisticated forensic tools.
Fortunately, All recent models Full device encryption will automatically be turned on for both iPhones and most Android phones. On Android, the “Security” menu is[詳細設定]Double check that yours is turned on in the tab. As CBP cannot walk through the front door of the device, you need to choose a strong password that is not easy to guess. Here is Good primer How to create a strong password.
“This encryption is as good as the encryption passphrase someone uses on their devices,” said Bill Buddington, senior staff technician at EFF. “So the best advice is to choose a powerful 9-12 random (or 4-5 words) passphrase for your device and make sure that biometric unlocks like face ID and touch ID rotate. off You can confiscate any device when passing through sensitive areas such as checkpoints or anywhere else. ”
On the other hand, laptops don’t come with all device encryption. Some encryption tools can be used to encrypt your data. MacOS has a tool called FileVault that can be accessed by searching in the top right corner of the screen. Some Windows computers come with a tool called a bitlocker that can be used to encrypt devices. EFF has a complete list of tools that can be used on various operating systems here.
For those traveling with devices owned by their employer or someone else, you should have conversations with them before you travel to make sure your devices are well protected.
How to safely delete data
In addition to encrypting your device, you should not want to delete certain text, apps, photos, etc. that you think are sensitive or show it to government agents.
To safely delete this data, there are several steps and limitations. If you haven’t wiped your phone completely, you may choose to delete certain files as there may be suspicion. That more practical option may be effective for manual searches and rough searches, but may not be sufficient if more sophisticated searches occur with US immigrant personnel. The files may not be completely deleted, or there may be references to these files that are still on your device.
In addition to ensuring that your device is encrypted, you must also make sure you have deleted the files from the Trash. For example, in iMessage, clicking Filter in the top left corner will find the “Recently Deleted” folder. Make sure you cleared the text from there. On iPhone, there is one file It has been deleted Both the main Imessage interface and the “recently deleted” file are permanently deleted, according to the company.
Cope recommends preemptively deleting apps you don’t want to search for. This protection method is incomplete as advanced searches may reveal that the app is installed, but for example, in manual searches, it is a way to avoid searching for WhatsApp messages.
Go to the cloud storage server
During a search for law enforcement within US boundaries, cloud storage servers are less protected than devices. However, at the border, there is currently a policy in place that prohibits CBP from searching for online cloud services. In reality, that means that immigration officers need to go into plane mode before searching for their mobile phones.
“They specifically say that executives are only allowed to consider data that they are "resident on the device,"” Cope says. “It’s data that’s actually on your phone, laptop, or camera hard drive. If it’s an internet-connected device, you’re supposed to be disconnected from the internet.”
If for some reason there is data that cannot be permanently deleted or cannot be deleted, you can delete it from your device and save it to cloud storage such as iCloud, Google Drive, or Microsoft One Drive.
This is a high-level guide that may not touch on the details of your situation. A complete comprehensive guide on how to protect your device with Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Elon Musk’s X stands to gain financially if the government removes £800 million in taxes on US tech companies as part of the economic deal with Donald Trump.
Dan Niedel, head of nonprofit tax policy, mentioned that social media platforms will be affected by the digital services tax in the negotiations between the US and the UK.
“It’s clear that X will be obligated to pay the DST,” he stated.
The Minister has been in talks about eliminating the DST as part of the negotiations with the US, in exchange for the Trump administration allowing the UK to avoid tariffs that would be imposed on April 2nd.
Technology secretary Peter Kyle emphasized that taxes are a crucial aspect and that they are exploring various concerns and opportunities for the future.
Prime Minister Rachel Reeves also expressed similar sentiments during a recent BBC interview.
Labour lawmakers are worried that dropping the DST under pressure from the Trump administration could result in revenue loss and cuts to essential services.
Reeves is under pressure to make spending cuts to comply with fiscal rules, including welfare reforms and civil servant layoffs.
Can improving brain health be as simple as navigating your way through life? That’s the intriguing question posed in recent research published in the British Medical Journal, which found that being a taxi or ambulance driver may offer protection against dementia.
A study by Harvard researchers examined the working lives and causes of death of millions of Americans and discovered that taxi and ambulance drivers have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer’s disease-related deaths among about 400 different occupations.
The theory suggests that frequent navigation tasks could play a role in protecting against Alzheimer’s disease, which is a significant cause of mortality. In fact, between 2012 and 2021, more people died from dementia in the UK than from any other cause. According to Alzheimer’s Disease Research UK, 75,000 Britons succumbed to the disease in 2023 alone.
Navigating without GPS may help keep your brain sharp – Illustration Credit: Kyle Smart
As we live longer, the risk of dementia increases. The question arises: should we ditch the map app and rely on our natural navigation skills for a longer, healthier life? Previous research has shown that training to become a London taxi driver can actually alter the brain’s structure.
London cabbies, who undergo the rigorous “knowledge” test to master the city’s streets, show an enlargement of the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for spatial processing and navigation. This is significant because the hippocampus is one of the first areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
While Harvard’s research suggests that taxi and ambulance drivers have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, it also points out that they tend to have shorter lifespans. This raises questions about the longevity of individuals in these professions and their susceptibility to the disease.
Despite the potential benefits of navigation tasks for brain health, researchers indicate that the study’s findings need to be interpreted within the context of historical mortality data. The widespread use of GPS today could impact the results, as navigation skills may vary among different generations.
Experts like Professor Hugo Spiers of UCL believe that honing navigation skills, especially through outdoor activities, can contribute to overall brain health. Engaging in activities that challenge spatial thinking and physical activity, such as walking in nature, can have positive effects on brain function and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
So, the next time you’re choosing a route, consider stepping outside and navigating your way to improved brain health. Who knows, it might just be the key to a healthier, sharper mind.
About our experts
Hugo Spiers is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL, leading the taxi brain project at the university. His research has been featured in prestigious journals like Nature, Proceedings of the United States Academy of Sciences, and Public Library Science.
On January 18th, I was one of millions of Americans, scrolling through Tiktok when the all-you-can-eat video buffet service suddenly stopped just before the federal ban came into effect.
It was a breathtaking moment when I was mourning me. For daily doses of Hollywood gossip, video game news, anime updates, where did I wonder where I was going now?
Tiktok, owned by a Chinese company, was bytedance, and rose to life the next day, facing legal deadlines to find or face a ban on US owners. President Trump then quickly signed an executive order extending the window for Tiktok’s sale to April 5th.
With that new deadline approaching, Tiktok’s fate, claiming more than 170 million American users, remains uncertain. However, for now, at least, it seems unlikely that there will be a repeated blackout in January.
Last month, Trump He told reporters That he can extend the deadline again. And while bytedance has not confirmed sales plans, Oracle, Data Center Company and others have emerged as potential suitors.
The latest deadlines provide convenient members to reflect on the role of apps in society. This is what I found.
Tiktok is still the best short video app
Tiktok started as Musical.ly 11 years ago. It’s an app for users to post lip sync videos, but over time it has evolved into a generic video app that lets people scroll through short clips of news and entertainment. Currently, there are over 1 billion users worldwide.
With Tiktok’s popularity surged worldwide over the past five years, Meta, Google and others have created clones that allow users to scroll through video clips endlessly. but Young users still prefer Tiktok To watch a short video, according to a survey by research firm Emarketer.
Tiktok’s preferences may be linked in part to product quality. Videos made on Tiktok generally look clearer, more rigorously edited and catchy than videos made with similar apps like Instagram reels. (Why drink lukewarm cola when you can get a classic cola?) Tiktok’s tools, including the editing app Capcut, streamline the production of video for your app.
For me, switching to the reel felt crazy when Tiktok was temporarily down. Many users have posted videos they found to be incomplete, including a video of sourdough bread that I was asked to read the caption to learn how to bake the perfect bread. Why don’t you explain it in a video instead of a small text caption?
Meta, who owns Instagram, catches up to Tiktok’s editing tools. An Instagram spokesperson mentioned a company spokesperson announcement The editor is CapCut’s competitor for editing reel videos and is expected to debut in the coming weeks. This tool allows Instagram users to upload videos to a higher resolution, improving image quality, among other perks.
Tiktok’s secret source, which others have not replicated either, is an algorithm for people to decide which video they want to watch next. Many people in their research say that Tiktok surfaces the type of video they want to watch for everything from diet ideas to video games, and glues them to the screen for hours a day.
Mental health concerns are rising
The effectiveness of Tiktok in keeping people scrolling has been a topic of widespread concern among parents and academic researchers wondering whether people could be thought of as obsessed with apps, just like video game addiction.
Research on this topic continues and remains conclusive. One, It was released last year He also looked into the overuse of Tiktok, led by Christian Montag, a professor of cognitive and brain science at the University of Macau in China. The study reported that although few people involved 378 participants of various ages, they were obsessed with Tiktok.
But broadly speaking, the consensus from multiple studies on Tiktok and other social media apps is that young people are more likely to report being addicted, Dr. Montag said in an interview.
“I don’t think kids should appear on these platforms at all,” he said of an app similar to Tiktok. People’s brains can take at least 20 years, mature and self-regulate, he added.
A Tiktok spokesperson said the app includes tools to manage screen time, including new settings for Tiktok to block children’s phone work during certain times.
Growth of a marketing platform for brands
Tiktok has become the main hub for companies to promote their products through posted videos and products sold at the in-app store, Tiktok Shop.
The company is working hard to make Americans realize the impact on the economy, running flashy advertising campaigns in newspapers and billboards, portraying them as a small business champion.
A Tiktok spokesperson cited a study claiming that Tiktok increased revenues for small businesses to $15 billion in 2023. This is the number that should be collected with salt grains because Tiktok asked for research. However, from scrolling through Tiktok, it is clear that many brands enjoy using it to spread videos showing quirky products.
Tiktok’s video confesses that he was inspired to buy expensive tools to remove dog fur from car seats and an automatic scrubber to clean the kitchen sink.
As for the so-called creators, the platform usually helps self-promotion rather than making money, as influencers post videos of Tiktok that often get viral, said actress Alyssa McKay, who has a follower of Tiktok in New Jersey.
The video, which earns 2 million views, can earn her a few dollars, she said. She added that it is because Tiktok only pays for the scenery that comes from people who have not yet followed you.
That’s still a national security concern
Tiktok was banned in the first place because he feared that US government officials could share data collected by American users with the Chinese government for espionage purposes.
These concerns peaked at the Supreme Court hearing in January. There, the Biden administration argued to ban the app. This cites concerns that Tiktok could create new pathways for China’s intelligence reporting agency that permeates American infrastructure. However, authorities did not provide evidence that Tiktok was associated with such a threat.
But Tiktok is linked to a small US data scandal. Tiktok confirmed in 2022 that four employees were fired for using the app to silly several journalists to track information sources.
Tiktok spokesperson pointed to a video This app protects the data of American users on server systems protected by Oracle, a collaborative US database giant, and prevents unauthorized foreign access.
Matthew Green, a security researcher at Johns Hopkins University and an associate professor of computer science, said that the US government’s security concerns about Tiktoc have been exaggerated as there has yet to be a major scandal, but it is effective because of the potential for hypothetical harm.
Many apps created by American companies are companies that collect information about us and sell insights to data brokers, marketers, including parts of China. But Tiktok in particular can gather sensitive data on Americans that are useful for hostile governments, such as address books, Dr. Green added.
“We’re leaking so much information, we don’t need Tiktok to make things worse, but with millions of different phones running this app, things get worse,” Dr. Green said.
Using Nircam and Miri instruments installed in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers created high-resolution images Herbig-Haro Object 49/50 (HH 49/50) is located approximately 630 light years away from the constellation of Chamaleon.
Webb observed Herbig Halo 49/50 in high resolution near-infrared light with Nircam and Miri Instruments. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI.
The Herbig-Haro object is a small bright patch of nebula associated with protostals in the star-forming region.
These structures were first observed in the 19th century by American astronomer Sherburn Wesley Burnham, but were not recognized as a distinct type of ejection nebula until the 1940s.
The first astronomers to study them in detail were George Harbigue and Guillermo Halo, and they were later named.
Herbig Halo objects are formed in very specific circumstances. Hot gas discharged by the newborn star collides with the gas, hitting it at a speed of up to 250,000 kmh (155,000 mph), creating a bright shock wave.
They come in a wide range of shapes. The basic configuration is usually the same. Twin jets of hot gases are ejected in the opposite direction from the forming stars and flow through interstellar space.
“When NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope observed it in 2006, scientists called the HH 49/50 The Cosmic Tornado because of its helical appearance, but they were unsure about the nature of the fuzzy object at the tip of the “tornado.”
“Because of the high resolution of imaging, Webb provides a different visual impression of HH 49/50 by revealing fine features of impacted regions during the runoff, revealing fuzzy objects as distant spiral galaxies and displaying the oceans of distant background galaxies.”
The HH 49/50 is part of the Chamaeleon I Cloud Complex, one of the closest active star-forming regions.
“This cloud complex is likely to resemble the environment our Sun formed,” the astronomer said.
“Previous observations of the region show that HH 49/50 runoff is away from us at a rate of 100-300 km per second, and is just one feature of the larger runoff.”
“Webb’s Nircam and Miri’s HH 49/50 observations lash out on the area with the locations of shining hydrogen molecules, carbon monoxide molecules, and dust particles represented by orange and red.”
New Webb observations probe small spatial scale details that help astronomers model the properties of jets and understand how they affect the surrounding materials.
“The arc-shaped feature of the HH 49/50 refers to the source of this spill, similar to the water wake created by speeding boats,” the researchers said.
“Based on past observations, scientists suspect that the Protostal, known as the Cederblad 110 IRS4, is a plausible driver of jet activity.”
“The CED 110 IRS4 is a Class I Protostal, located about 1.5 light years from HH 49/50.”
“Class I Protostals are young objects (tens of thousands to a million years ago) at primetime when earning Mass.”
“They usually have an identifiable disc of the material surrounding it.
“Scientists have recently studied this protostal and used Webb’s Nilkah and Milli observations to obtain inventory of the ice composition of its environment.”
“Those detailed webb images of the HH 49/50 arcs can more accurately identify the orientation to the jet source, but not all arcs return in the same direction.”
“There is an interesting outcrop feature (in the top right of the main runoff) that could be another accidental accident of another runoff associated with slow precession of intermittent jet sources, for example.”
“Or alternatively, this feature could be the result of a major spill breaking apart.”
“The accidental galaxy at the tip of HH 49/50 is a much more distant, troublesome spiral galaxy.”
“There is a prominent central bulge, represented in blue, indicating the position of the old stars.”
“The bulge also gives hints from the sidelobes that suggest this could be a thin group.”
“The reddish masses within the spiral arm indicate a warm dust location and a group of formed stars.”
“The galaxies will show sheltered bubbles in these dusty areas, similar to the nearby galaxies Webb observed as part of the Phangs programme.”
“Webb captured these two unrelated objects with a lucky alignment.”
“For thousands of years, the edge of the HH 49/50 has moved outwards, eventually appearing to hide a distant galaxy.”
New research shows that satiety-inducing molecules called bombesins are present not only in humans and other vertebrates, but also invertebrates such as starfish and their marine relatives.
Common starfish (Rubens of Asteria) Brofjorden is located in Govik, the Lysekil municipality in Sweden. Image credit: W. Carter.
Bombesin, a small peptide, plays an important role in regulating hunger by signaling when it is sufficient for us to eat.
When injected into mammals, bombesin was found to reduce the size of the meal and increase the time between meals.
This has led scientists to believe that bombesin-like neurohormones produced in the brain and intestines are part of the body’s natural system to control food intake.
Furthermore, along with weight loss inducers such as Ozempic, compounds that mimic the action of bombesin are occurring for the treatment of obesity.
In a new study, Professor Maurice Elphick and colleagues at Queen Mary University in London explored the evolutionary history of bombesin.
By analyzing the genome of invertebrates, they discovered a gene encoding a bombesin-like neurohormone. Common starfish (Rubens of Asteria) other cerebral dermatosis, such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers.
“It was like searching for needles in a haystack, but eventually we discovered a gene encoding a bombesin-like neurohormones in the genome of a starfish and its parent,” Professor Elphick said.
Researchers then turned their attention to the function of the bombesin in this starfish, named Arbn.
Mass spectrometry was used to determine the molecular structure of ARBNs and to be chemically synthesized and tested.
They investigated how ARBN affects starfish feeding behavior. Starfish have a unique way of eating. The stomach is stretched out from the mouth to digest prey such as mussels and oysters.
“When I tested Arbn, I found that it caused a starfish stomach contraction,” said Dr. Weiling Huang, a researcher at Queen Mary University in London.
“This suggested that ARBN may be involved in stimulating stomach contractions when starfish stop feeding.”
“And this is exactly what I found. When I injected Albun into the starfish while pounding my stomach, it caused my stomach and returned it to my mouth.”
“In addition, it took longer to surround the mussels compared to those injected with ARBN, which also delayed the onset of feeding.”
The discovery of the ancient role of bombesin in appetite regulation sheds light on the evolutionary origins of animal feeding behavior.
“We can estimate that this function dates back 5 billion years to the common ancestors of starfish, humans and other vertebrates,” Professor Elphick said.
a paper Regarding the survey results, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Heiling Han et al. 2025. Discovery and functional characterization of bombesin-type neuropeptide signaling systems in invertebrates. pnasin press; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2420966122
The air is filled with birds chirping, and the land is a tableau of soft greenery and gentle light. This is Ho’oulu ‘āina, a 100-acre reserve with an unusual twist. It is linked to a community health center and is where patients come to heal the land and themselves.
As climate change accelerates and the Trump administration abandons the fight, Ho’oulu ‘āina is an example of how people in all 50 red and blue states are working to restore land, clean waterways, reduce pollution and protect wildlife.
50 states, 50 revisions This is a series about local solutions to environmental issues. I’ll come more this year.
Twenty years ago, Ho’oulu ‘āina was ignored and overrunned with trash and invasive plants. But today it is thriving.
And then, volunteers and patients who spent a long time there, removing non-enemous plants and growing vegetables, fruits and herbs, experienced body and soul recovery.
There is Growing research It shows that spending time in nature can improve mental, physical and cognitive health.
Older people who once relied on canes and pedestrians have regained some mobility. Diabetics have seen their glucose levels drop. The depressed teens woke up brightly. In Hawaiian, the name Ho’oulu ‘āina means “growing for the land.”
“Many people within the health centre saw the land as a way and a kind of tool to improve human health,” said Puni Jackson, program director at Ho’oulu ‘āina. But for the native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who make up the majority of clinic patients, the connection to nature is both familial and profound, Jackson said. “It’s a sacred relationship,” she said.
Ho’oulu ‘āina is a 10-minute drive from the clinic, a bushy road, crossing a wooden bridge, above a rugged dirt driveway leading to grassy fields adjacent to the forest. The land features bread and banana trees, medicinal plants and taro, organic gardens, low-haired buildings, and a small pharmacist who watches patients by Jackson, an indigenous medical practitioner of Hawaii.
The call of the conch shell evoked dolphin hunters from their beds. Under the moonlight, six men shuffled into the village church.
There the priest led them in a whispering prayer. The tide was high that day. The salt water was pooled in part of the village on Fanarey Island, part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
They paddled out into wooden canoes before the first light, cutting through the darkness until they were miles away from the coast. After a few hours of scans, we saw one of the hunters, Leslie Hughi, slashing open the glassy water. He raised a 10-foot-long bamboo stick with a cloth tied to the end, warning others of his discovery. He then called his wife. He had found a dolphin. The hunt begins.
These men are among the last dolphin hunters in the Solomon Islands. Some critics say the massacre is cruel and unnecessary. But for some 130 residents of Fanarei, traditional hunts have taken on a new urgency as climate change threatens their homes. They say they need dolphins for their valuable teeth, used as local currency to buy land in the highlands and escape the sinking home.
Each tooth is worth three Solomon Islands dollars (about $0.36) (price set by the Chief of Fanarei), and a single dolphin hunt, which costs about $200, can bring tens of thousands of dollars, more than any other economic activity on the island.
“We regret killing the dolphin, but we really have no other option,” Fugi said. He mentioned that he would be willing to give up the hunt if there was an alternative way to secure his family’s future.
Crops can no longer be grown on about a third of the wana rays in New York City’s Central Park. Once fertile land has been ruined by erosion of salt water. The government promotes seaweed farming as a source of income, while overseas conservation groups provide cash to end the hunt. However, the ocean is both an existential threat and the most profitable resource for villagers. Government research suggests that the island could be underwater by the end of the century.
“For lowland islands like us, I witness with my own eyes how rising oceans affect our lives,” said Principal Wilson Fee, Fanaray.
Almost 500 buildings in the province’s capital get heat from clean, renewable sources deep in the ground.
It’s very easy to get into Boise’s hot water. After all, it’s Idaho, a state filled with hundreds of hot springs.
The city has used warm water in its natural environment to create a geothermal system that operates the largest local government in the country.
Nearly 500 Boise Business, Government Buildings, Houses, and Hospital and University Buildings; City Hall and YMCA. – Warmed by heat drawn directly from a hot water reservoir or aquifer below the ground. Idaho State University in Boise is the only US that uses geothermal heat. In winter, heat warms some sidewalks and raises the temperature of the hot tub to melt the snow.
50 states, 50 revisions This is a series about local solutions to environmental issues. I’ll come more this year.
Renewable, reliable and relatively free of pollution, but geothermal heating is possible due to fault lines that expose groundwater to hot rocks and heat the water to about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 77 degrees Celsius. The water is drawn from a well in a nearby hilly area into a closed loop network of pipes reaching the building, then returned to the aquifer to reheat.
In each building, geothermal heat is transferred to the water through adjacent pipes, dispersing the heat throughout the building.
“We pumped water, borrowed heat for the building, then reverted it back to the aquifer,” said Tina Riley, Geothermal Development Coordinator at Boise.
The number of buildings that heat up the city of Boise in this way has increased more than six times over the past 40 years, and has grown along the way. One of the consequences of the expansion is cleaner air. In 2024, city officials calculated that their carbon footprint is 6,500 tons a year, equivalent to removing 1,500 vehicles from the road each year.
“There’s a lot of demand for clean, affordable local energy,” Riley said. “This also has the energy independence.”
Boiseans began using this natural resource to heat the buildings in the 1890s. It gave birth to hundreds of thousands of gallons of piping hot water a day after drilling the well into the aquifer. The water-heated pools and baths of local swimming pools, the Victorian mansion belonging to the head of the Water Company, and hundreds of homes in the area that baptized the Boise Warm Springs Water district.
Things may have ended because it wasn’t due to the oil crisis of the 1970s.
“At that point, the Boise Warm Springs area had been thriving for almost 100 years,” Riley said. “That’s what we saw. Then we say, ‘Let’s do the same thing.’ ”
Today, Boise has four individually operated geothermal hydrothermal systems. One is run by the city, the other is run by the Boise Warm Springs area, and two more serve the Capitol and the U.S. Veterans Affairs buildings.
The city’s system operates as a utility funded by the sale of water rather than taxpayers. Riley said the heat price is roughly comparable to that of natural gas, depending on the efficiency of the building, but it is less expensive when used in parallel with a heat pump.
In the Boise Warm Springs Water area, engineer Scott Lewis said it is particularly cost-effective for warming an old Victorian home where geothermal heat had not been weathered.
He said that because it uses minimal electricity, it means all the stress on the power grid is less. The district costs $1,800 a month to power water pumps that provide heat to more than one million square feet of space. The expansion of the geothermal network is limited by what aquifers can offer, but Lewis said the district is trying to add 30 more homes to the network to meet demand.
“It’s actually very desirable, especially around the area,” he said. “We see that a lot of people are really environmentally conscious around here.”
The heating system attracted visitors from Iceland, Croatia and Australia, making Boise the destination.
“We were from all over the world,” Lewis said. “We love to let everyone know about our little geothermal system here.”
Placebo pills can have real effects through the power of suggestions
72 images / Aramie
Women with premenstrual syndrome appear to benefit from the placebo effect, even if they know they are taking Siamese medication. This suggests that we can provide cheap and simple treatments.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) with symptoms such as anxiety, mood swings, and abdominal cramps generally affects people with periods of time. Previous research has shown this Placebo pills can reduce symptoms It was unclear whether these benefits remained when people intentionally taking fake medications in women who think they might be taking real medications.
Antje Frey Nascimento The University of Basel in Switzerland and her colleagues recruited 150 women in Switzerland, ages 18-45. In a study that acquired symptoms of 27 PMS on a scale of 0 to 5, participants rated at least one symptom A 4 or 5 at the start of the study. Participants also reported that at least one symptom interfered with society, work, or school life and scored this confusion.
The researchers then randomly assigned a third of participants, taking two placebo pills daily in two menstrual cycles, and informing these people that they are taking Placbos. Another third of participants also took placebo pills, but received additional explanations on how placebo can alleviate symptoms through the power of suggestions and belief.
The remaining third of participants were not given a placebo, but all groups were able to take regular medication. All participants completed a daily survey of PMS symptoms and how much these lives interfered.
By analyzing survey data from participants’ last menstrual cycle, the team found that on average, those who took placebo without explanation, the intensity of PMS symptoms decreased by 50%. These symptoms were half that destroyed their lives.
Those who took the placebo in their explanation reported a 79% reduction in the intensity of symptoms and an 83% reduction in life disruption. “It’s a really big effect you’ll notice in your life.” Stephen Schmidt He was not involved in research at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
When people take placebo pills, they may unconsciously and consciously expect relief from the placebo effect. This appears to produce real improvements by causing the body’s natural release of painkillers, such as endorphins, Schmidt says.
“We live in a pill society where you have all the knowledge about how you get all the benefits of science in your body when you take them, so people expect to feel better,” he says. Emphasizing these potential benefits for people seems to increase their effectiveness, he says.
Despite not taking pills, the control group showed a 33% reduction in symptoms intensities, with 46% less destructive than before. “If you sign up for a study and complete these daily diaries, you can pay more notices when you feel better or when your symptoms improve, so you can see benefits without taking pills,” Schmidt says.
One limitation of this study, he adds, is the greater advantage of placebo effects, as those enrolled in the trial may be more open to alternative treatments than the wider population.
Large studies need to determine whether these placebo benefits last for a long period of time and whether they apply to older adults groups and to a wider range of people in other countries, Schmidt says. If the results endure scrutiny, he says, placebo can ultimately provide an inexpensive and easy way to treat serious health burdens.
At least one shark species has bark that can be chewed. Scientists report that clicks can be made.
During his doctoral studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Carolyn NeederHe was currently studying shark hearing at Woods Hole Marine Facility in Massachusetts. When dealing with sharks during the experiment, she noticed one species – a hound (a rig called a rig)Mustelus lenticulatus) – It looked like it was making a metallic click.
“The sharks weren’t supposed to make noise, so I ignored it,” Nieder says. “And that was just happening.”
The ability to intentionally produce sounds is common among terrestrial animals, as the world full of bird verticals and mammalian plagues shows. However, underwater, many fish make noises by shaving objects or vibrating muscles, and in 2022 researchers reported that relatives near sharks can sometimes click when divers interfere. The shark sounds had not yet been officially explained.
To confirm the presence of the rig’s noise, Nieder and her colleagues brought 10 boys rigs into the lab, caught up in the waters of New Zealand’s North Island. There, they were placed in the tank with sensitive sound recording instruments. The team gently handled the sharks and found that all of them were clicking accordingly. Rigs seem to be the first shark known to produce sounds that are not associated with other actions, such as feeding or bumping into something.
Researchers believe that sharks may be producing sounds by snapping their jaws together. Just like click rays, the rig flattens the teeth, which can produce sharp sounds on the impact. Please listen to the following:
Further research may check whether the cause of clicks and whether there is a feature. Nieder points out that because rigs are small sharks and potential prey for large animals, clicks can play a role in defense when animals are bitten or gripped.
“It could be a bit confusing for predators,” she says. It is also possible that clicks play a role in hunting, she adds, including scaring and inclusive shark crustacean prey.
Rig shark teeth
Eric Palmentier
“This has been seen for a long time, but is a potentially very important area of shark biology,” he says. Aaron Rice He was not involved in research at Cornell University in New York.
When healthy production is widespread among sharks, their clicks may help them study populations that often decline rapidly, says Rice. He says there is a very rich sound data recorded from fish and whale studies, and it is possible that they also shot shark sounds. These can be used to determine if a shark is in the area and add another tool to monitor at-risk predators.
“[The finding] It represents something truly new and new discoveries in basic biology,” says Rice.
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