Welcome back. In today’s newsletter, a tech executive shares anecdotes about interactions with Donald Trump, the responsibilities of AI chatbots, and the perils of sharing baby photos online with families. Thank you for engaging with us.
Top tech CEOs are closely monitoring the election polls and engaging with President Trump. They are cautious about regulatory scrutiny and potential retaliation from the former president.
Apple’s Tim Cook discussed legal matters with Trump, while Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai faced threats. Amazon’s Andy Jassy had a friendly call with Trump, among other interactions detailed in CNN and Associated Press reports.
Elon Musk joined Trump at a rally in NYC. Photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella refrained from endorsing any candidate. Elon Musk’s alliance with Trump has raised legal concerns, including a lawsuit over a million-dollar giveaway.
While tech execs engage with Trump, questions arise about their influence and allegiances. The broader geopolitical context shapes their interactions and potential impact on the upcoming election.
AI chatbots’ responsibility is under scrutiny as a startup faces a lawsuit for allegedly promoting self-harm among users. The ethical and legal implications of AI technology’s role in society are brought to light.
How much responsibility do chatbots have?
Megan Garcia and her son Sewell Setzer. Photo: Megan Garcia/AP
Chat interactions raising legal questions highlight the need for AI regulation and oversight to prevent harm. The lawsuit against Character.ai underscores the challenges posed by advancing AI technology.
The debate on AI responsibility extends to copyright issues, corporate liabilities, and ethical considerations. Balancing innovation with user protection is crucial in navigating the evolving tech landscape.
How can I convince family and friends not to post photos of my children?
Family photos: too many? Composite: Guardian/Getty Images/Pngtree
Guidance on safeguarding your child’s privacy in a digital age emphasizes communication and setting boundaries with loved ones. Addressing concerns about online exposure requires a proactive approach.
Johanna’s tips:
Make a simultaneous announcement: Inform everyone about your photo preferences collectively to streamline communication and avoid accidental sharing.
Lead by example: Follow your own rules for sharing photos and respect other parents’ privacy preferences.
Be generous in other ways: Balance privacy concerns by sharing photos selectively while maintaining family connections.
Advocate for privacy: Enlist help from friends and family to protect your child’s privacy online and address any unwanted posts.
Forgive and educate: Approach lapses in privacy with understanding and guide loved ones on respecting your wishes for your child’s digital footprint.
Stay confident: Assert your child’s privacy rights firmly and communicate openly about your expectations with your inner circle.
For more insights on managing family photo sharing, refer to the full guide on child privacy protection strategies.
Indonesia has prohibited Apple from marketing and selling the iPhone 16 model due to non-compliance with local investment regulations, as stated by the Indonesian Ministry of Industry.
Despite Southeast Asia’s largest economy having a significant population of young, tech-savvy individuals with over 100 million people under the age of 30, Apple does not have an official store in the country. Those interested in Apple products resort to purchasing them from resale platforms.
A spokesperson for Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry revealed that imported iPhone 16 model phones released in September cannot be sold in the country because Apple’s local division fails to meet the requirement of 40% of the phones being manufactured with local parts.
“iPhone 16 devices imported by registered importers are currently not permitted for sale in the country,” stated ministry spokesperson Febri Hendry Antoni Arif on Friday.
“Apple Indonesia…has not fulfilled its investment commitments to obtain certification.”
To meet this criteria, Apple would need to invest in Indonesia and source materials for iPhone parts from the country, as reported by local media outlets. Apple had previously pledged Rp 1.7 trillion in investments in Indonesia but had only invested Rp 1.5 trillion by the beginning of the month.
Apple has not responded to inquiries from the Guardian.
The ministry clarified that new Apple mobile phones can be brought into Indonesia as long as they are not intended for commercial trade.
An estimated 9,000 new models have been imported into the country of approximately 280 million people. Although these products entered the country legally, selling them in Indonesia would be considered illegal.
Past bans imposed in Indonesia, similar to the one on Apple, have been aimed at promoting domestic production. However, the outcomes have been mixed.
According to Counterpoint Research, China’s Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and South Korea’s Samsung dominated Indonesia’s smartphone market shipment share in the second quarter of this year.
The absence of Apple in Indonesia signifies a missed opportunity for the company, which has experienced success in other parts of Asia. Indonesia currently has more mobile phones in use than its population.
In April, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Indonesia to explore investment opportunities in Southeast Asia’s largest economy and diversify its supply chain away from China. He engaged in discussions with then-President Joko Widodo and his successor Prabowo Subianto after Apple announced plans to expand its developer academy in the country.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured stunning new images of unobstructed spiral galaxy NGC 4414.
This Hubble image shows the unobstructed spiral galaxy NGC 4414 located 51 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / O. Graur / SW Jha / A. Filippenko.
NGC4414 It is located approximately 51 million light years from Earth in the constellation Coma.
The galaxy, also known as the Dusty Spiral Galaxy, Ark 365, IRAS 12239+3129, LEDA 40692, or UGC 7539, has a diameter of approximately 56,000 light years.
NGC 4414 was first discovered on March 13, 1785 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
galaxy belong to It belongs to the Coma I group, a group of galaxies close to the Virgo cluster.
NGC 4414 was previously observed It was studied by Hubble in 1995 and 1999 as part of its research efforts. Cepheid variable star.
This collage features the supernova observed by Hubble in NGC 4414. In the upper left, a large spiral galaxy can be seen tilted diagonally. Each subsequent panel shows a close-up of the galaxy in 1999, 2021, and 2023 to highlight the galaxy's supernovae. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / O. Graur / SW Jha / A. Filippenko.
“Cepheid stars are a special type of variable star with very stable and predictable brightness changes,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“The period of these fluctuations is determined by the star's physical properties, such as its mass and true brightness.”
“This means that astronomers can learn about the physical properties of Cepheids just by looking at their light fluctuations, and can use that very effectively to determine their distances.”
“For this reason, cosmologists refer to Cepheids as 'standard candles.'”
“Astronomers used Hubble to observe Cepheids like those in NGC 4414, and the results were surprising.”
“Cepheids were then used as a stepping stone to measure distances to supernovae, which in turn gave us a measure of the size of the universe.”
“Today we can tell the age of the universe with much greater precision than before Hubble: about 13.7 billion years.”
According to the popular inflationary universe theory, at the beginning of the Big Bang, a mysterious energy caused an exponential expansion of the early universe, creating all known matter. That ancient energy shared important characteristics with the dark energy of the current universe. “Where in the later universe will we see gravity as strong as it was at the beginning of the universe?'' The answer lies at the center of a black hole. What happened during inflation could also be reversed, with the matter of a massive star becoming dark energy again during gravitational collapse – like a mini-Big Bang played in reverse. A new study strengthens the evidence for this scenario using recent data. dark energy spectrometer (DESI).
A view of the accretion disk surrounding a supermassive black hole and the jet-like structures flowing out of the disk. The black hole's extreme mass bends space-time so that the backside of the accretion disk can be seen as an image above and below the black hole. Image credit: Science Communication Lab, DESY.
“If a black hole contains dark energy, it could merge with the expanding universe and grow faster,” said Dr. Kevin Croker, an astronomer at Arizona State University.
“We can't know the details of how this is happening, but we can see evidence that it's happening.”
Data from the first year of DESI's planned five-year study shows intriguing evidence that the density of dark energy has increased over time.
This provides a compelling clue to support this idea of what dark energy is. Because that increase in time matches how the amount and mass of black holes has increased over time.
“When I first got involved in this project, I was very skeptical,” said Boston University professor Steve Arlen.
“But I remained open-minded throughout the process, and when I started doing the cosmological calculations, I said, 'This is a really cool mechanism for creating dark energy.'”
To look for evidence of dark energy from black holes, astronomers used tens of millions of distant galaxies measured by DESI.
The instrument looks into the past billions of years and collects data that can be used to determine with great precision how fast the universe is expanding.
Furthermore, these data can be used to infer how the amount of dark energy changes over time.
The researchers compared these data to how many black holes have been created by large star explosions throughout the history of the universe.
“The two phenomena were consistent with each other. When a new black hole was created by the death of a massive star, the amount of dark energy in the universe increased in the right way,” said Dr. Duncan Farrar, a physicist at New York University. said. Hawaii.
“This makes the theory that black holes are the source of dark energy more plausible.”
This study complements a growing literature investigating the possibility of cosmological coupling in black holes.
A 2023 study reported cosmological coupling in a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy.
This study encouraged other teams to investigate the effects of black holes in different parts of the universe.
“These papers explore the relationship between dark energy and black holes in terms of their growth rate,” said astrophysicist at Healthpeak Properties and former general counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. said Dr. Brian Cartwright.
“Our new paper links dark energy to when black holes are born.”
The main difference in the new paper is that most of the black holes involved are younger than those studied previously.
These black holes were born at a time when star formation, which tracks black hole formation, was well underway, not just beginning.
Professor Roger Windhorst from Arizona State University said: “This happened fairly late in the universe and is informed by recent measurements of black hole formation and growth observed by the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes. ” he said.
“The next question is where are these black holes and how have they been moving around for the past eight billion years? Scientists are now working to suppress this,” Croker said. the doctor said.
Science needs more research and observation tools, and now that DESI is online, this exploration of dark energy is just beginning.
“Whether or not we continue to support the black hole hypothesis, this only brings further depth and clarity to our understanding of dark energy,” Professor Ahlen said.
“I think it's great as an experimental endeavor. You can have preconceptions or not, but we're based on data and observation.”
Regardless of what future observations yield, the research being conducted now represents a major shift in dark energy research.
“Essentially, whether black holes are dark energy is no longer just a theoretical question, coupled with the universe in which they live. This is now an experimental question,” said Gregory of the University of Michigan.・Professor Tarr said.
of study Published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
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Kevin S. Crocker others. 2024. The temporal evolution of DESI dark energy is harvested by cosmologically coupled black holes. JCAP 10:094;Doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2024/10/094
This article is adapted from the original release by the University of Michigan.
China has introduced solar power generation, and panels have been installed on North Barren Mountain in Zhangjiakou City.
Cost Photo/NurPhoto/Getty Images
With large-scale deployment of wind and solar power across China, the country's emissions could peak in 2023, potentially marking a historic turning point in the fight against climate change. be.
China's CO2 emissions hit a record high in 2023 as the Chinese economy recovers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But since then, large amounts of wind and solar power have been added to the country's power grid, while emissions from the construction industry have declined.
China's carbon dioxide emissions remained flat from July to September 2024, after falling by 1% in the second quarter of this year, according to a new analysis. This means that overall emissions in 2024 could be flat or slightly down at 2023 levels.
This will be critical to tackling global climate change. Lauri Milivirta At the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research, a Finnish think tank. “For the past eight years, since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, China's emissions growth has been the main driver of global emissions,” he says.
In its climate change plan submitted to the United Nations, China pledged to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. But experts warn. This plan is not very ambitious Given the large impact that China, the world's largest emitter, has on global climate change.
It's important for China to bring emissions to a peak as soon as possible, Millibilta said. “This would pave the way for the country to start reducing emissions much sooner than current commitments require,” he said. “This will have huge implications for global efforts to avoid catastrophic climate change.”
China is rushing to ramp up power supplies across the country to meet rapidly growing power demand. This demand increased by 7.2% year-on-year from July to September, due to rising living standards and increased demand for air conditioning due to the strong heat wave from August to September.
New renewable energy sources are being introduced at breakneck speed across China to fill the electricity demand gap. From July to September, compared to the same period in 2023, solar power generation increased by 44 percent and wind power generation increased by a whopping 24 percent. Based on the current trajectory, China's solar power growth this year will rival China's total annual electricity generation. Australia in 2023.
However, coal-fired power usage still increased by 2% and gas production increased by 13% from July to September in response to increased demand. This resulted in an overall 3% increase in CO2 emissions from China's power sector during this period. However, these were offset by a slowdown in the construction industry across China as real estate investment declined.
Oil demand also fell by 2% in the third quarter of this year, as electric vehicles continue to make up a larger share of China's car fleet. By 2030, almost one in three cars on China's roads will be expected to be electric.
Myllyvirta carried out an analysis of the website carbon briefs Uses official figures and commercial data. “If the rapid growth of clean energy is sustained, it will pave the way for sustainable emissions reductions,” he says.
However, he said that flat or declining emissions in 2024 were not guaranteed as government stimulus measures to boost the economy could cause emissions to rise in the last three months of the year. He warns that this does not mean that the Carbon emissions must fall by at least 2% in the last three months. He predicted that three months of this year will be below 2023 levels.
still Signals from the Chinese government It has signaled that the country's emissions are expected to continue rising until the end of the decade, which would use up the remaining global carbon budget by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of Jurassic cockroach. alderblattina simsibased on an isolated wing discovered in Gloucestershire, England.
alderblattina simsi:(A) Dried specimen. (B) Specimen moistened with ethanol. Note the two subspherical spots (spots) on the wing tips and the prominent distal coloration. Scale bar – 1 mm. Image credit: Swaby others., doi: 10.1002/spp2.1598.
Open University palaeontologist Emily Swaby and colleagues from the Open University and National Museums of Scotland said: “Insects are the most diverse group of terrestrial organisms in the history of life, and have been fundamental to terrestrial ecosystems since the early Devonian period. It has become a major component.”
“Primarily detritivores (decomposers), cockroaches play an important role in nutrient cycling in ecosystems through the decomposition of organic matter and are an important food source for many predators, including birds, lizards, and other mammals. ”
“cockroach(Brat Dare) They are part of the superorder Diptera, beginning in the Bashkirian period (Carboniferous) and diversifying rapidly during the second half of the Moscow period and the penultimate Kasimov period of the Carboniferous period. ”
“Further diversification occurred during the Early and Middle Permian.”
“After the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, cockroach numbers declined sharply, but they flourished again during the Triassic period.”
The newly described cockroach species lived during the Toarcian period of the Early Jurassic period, about 180 million years ago.
named alderblattina simsihad a relatively small size and distinct wing coloration.
“Color patterns in insects, including their wings, are interpreted to be primarily physiological adaptations, thought to be used to protect against predation and sexual signaling,” the paleontologists say. said.
“Today, cockroach species display a wide variety of color patterns, and their functions include communication, protection from predation, sexual signaling, and hardening of the epidermis.”
“alderblattina simsi It is the second cockroach species to have a distinct Toarcian wing coloration pattern. ”
assigned author alderblattina simsi It belongs to the cockroach family Rhipidoblattinidae.
“Alderblattina Shimshi “The presence of two distinct spherical spots on the forewings and the coloration of the wing tips are very different from all other Jurassic cockroaches,” the researchers said.
of Alderblattina Shimshi The fossil was collected by geologists in January 1984 Mike J. Sims.
“We hypothesize that extreme environmental conditions are associated with this problem. Toarcian ocean anoxic phenomenon “Competition for resources and evolutionary changes in predators were promoted, resulting in the development of apothematic coloration in two insect orders at this time,” the researchers said.
“Alderblattina Shimshi This is the seventh valid member of the European Toalchian cockroach family and adds to our knowledge of the European Toalkian cockroach fauna. ”
“This unique specimen adds significance to the record of Mesozoic cockroach wing color patterns and provides important evidence to further understand the evolution of terminal color patterns in the suborder Cockroaches. ”
a paper The survey results were published in a magazine paleontology papers.
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Emily J. Swaby others. 2024. A new species of cockroach (Rhipidoblattinidae) that lived in the Toarcian (Late Jurassic period) of Alderton Hill, Gloucestershire, England. It is likely that aposematic coloration was the earliest to occur in cockroaches. paleontology papers 10 (5): e1598;doi: 10.1002/spp2.1598
Despite the growing number of electric and hybrid vehicles on the roads, some individuals remain apprehensive about range and access to charging points, particularly if they rely on their vehicles for work. These concerns persist.
Fleet managers and business owners, with myriad responsibilities, may find the transition away from gasoline daunting. Nevertheless, advancements in battery technology and substantial investments in charging infrastructure have made the switch to electric or hybrid more feasible and potentially cost-effective for businesses than ever before. So, what factors should you consider to extend your battery-powered driving range?
Have you thought about a plug-in hybrid? It’s advisable to explore plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) first. These vehicles feature rechargeable batteries and gasoline engines, with only a few running on diesel. They can be charged at both domestic and public charging points and now offer impressive pure electric ranges.
On the other hand, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) rely on the car’s movement to generate electricity and use battery power to reduce gasoline consumption and emissions. They cannot be charged by plugging into a power outlet.
Modern plug-in hybrids like the Škoda Superb offer impressive range
The latest plug-in models showcase the significant technological advancements, with fast charging capabilities, remarkable range, and battery capacity. “For instance, the Škoda Superb Estate can travel up to 84 miles on pure electricity,” says Alan Barrowman, Skoda’s national contract employment and leasing manager. He also noted that this mileage qualifies for the 5% benefit-in-kind (BiK) tax for company car drivers.
Changes in charging Charging networks are crucial for PHEV drivers looking to minimize their petrol (or diesel) usage. Fortunately, the number of public charging points is constantly increasing. In October 2023, approximately 50,000 points were installed at various service stations, with the installation rate continuing to rise. According to Zapmap, a data firm, there were 68,273 electric vehicle charging points across the UK by the end of August this year, representing a 41% year-on-year increase. Additionally, there are an estimated 700,000+ home and workplace charging points.
Charging points supply either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power. Electric car batteries can only store DC power, so connecting to an AC charger involves converting the current, which can be time-consuming. Vehicles that support both AC and DC charging points, such as the all-new Škoda Superb, can charge even faster. The Skoda www.theguardian.com
The symbiotic relationship between corals and their photosynthetic partners, algae (photosymbionts), dates back to at least the Devonian period (385 million years ago), according to a new study.
All modern corals belong to a group called scleractinians, which evolved during the Triassic period.
These corals may provide habitat for symbionts (such as photosymbionts) that play a role in nutrient recycling, which is especially beneficial in nutrient-poor waters.
However, it is not clear whether earlier extinct forms of coral had photosymbionts.
“The Devonian period (419 to 359 million years ago) was a time when sea surface temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide were higher than they are today,” said Jonathan Jung, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, stated in their paper.
“Unlike today, its carbonate chemistry is dominated by calcite precipitation, likely due to the low magnesium-to-calcium ratio in seawater.”
“The Middle Devonian was the period of greatest expansion of metazoan reefs in the Phanerozoic era, and well-preserved reefs from this period span what is now Europe, North America, North Africa, Australia, Siberia, and China.” explained the researchers.
“In the Devonian period, these reefs bordered the lake seas on the southern margin of Lorsia and the northern boundary of Gondwana.”
“Along the southern margin of Lorsia, these ancient reef communities reached their greatest extent and highest diversity during the Givetian period of the Devonian period (approximately 387 to 382 million years ago).”
“These thriving metazoan coral reefs became diachronically extinct during the course of the Kerwasser crisis in the Late Fraznian (372.2 million years ago).”
“Then, coral reefs were built primarily by cyanobacteria/algae, which were present in very small numbers until the end of the Famenian period (Devonian-Carboniferous boundary).”
“The ability to host photosymbionts was paramount to the ecological success of ancient coral reef communities during the Givetian period, and the subsequent collapse of coral reefs in the Late Devonian was associated with a gradual loss of photosymbiotic relationships. It is suggested that
“However, there is still no clear consensus as to whether photosymbiosis was prevalent in now-extinct coral groups during the Paleozoic era.”
In their study, Dr. Jung and his co-authors examined fossils of two extinct reef coral groups from the mid-Devonian period: the tabula corals and the shibo corals.
They measured nitrogen isotopes bound to corals (15no/14N), can be used to distinguish whether corals obtain energy from photosynthetic symbionts.
Their results suggest that symbionts were present in the tabular corals they studied, but not in most civet corals.
This discovery provides definitive geochemical evidence of the oldest known example of symbiosis in corals.
“Wide-spread oligotrophy during the Devonian may have promoted coral photosymbiosis, and its occurrence may explain why Devonian reefs were the most productive reef ecosystems of the Phanerozoic.” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“These early signals of photosymbiosis in mid-Devonian corals indicate that it supported coral productivity under warm climate conditions.”
“The Late Triassic and Early Miocene (the subsequent period when coral photosymbiosis was reconstructed using nitrogen isotopes) were also warmer than today.”
“In contrast, under modern global warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, coral bleaching and associated mass mortality events are likely the greatest threat to the future of coral reefs, with the disruption of coral symbiosis due to warming.” It shows that there is.”
“The strength of coral photosymbiosis in past warm climates suggests that the failure of coral symbiosis under ongoing global warming will not be due to an increase in ocean surface temperatures reached, but rather an increase in ocean surface temperatures.” This shows that the rate of increase is greater than the adaptive capacity of the symbiotic relationship.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope detected a population of 64 brown dwarf candidates with masses ranging from 50 to 84 Jupiter masses in the star cluster NGC 602.
This image of NGC 602 includes data from Webb's NIRCam (near-infrared camera) and MIRI (mid-infrared instrument) instruments. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / P. Zeidler / E. Sabbi / A. Nota / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.
NGC602 is a very young star cluster, about 200,000 light-years away in the constellation Hydra, about 2 to 3 million years old.
Also known as ESO 29-43, this star resides in the wings of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
NGC 602's local environment closely resembles that of the early Universe, with very low abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
The presence of dark clouds of dense dust and the fact that the cluster is rich in ionized gas also suggests the presence of an ongoing star formation process.
Together with the associated HII region N90, which contains clouds of ionized atomic hydrogen, this cluster provides a rare opportunity to examine star formation scenarios under conditions dramatically different from those in the solar neighborhood.
Using Webb, Dr. Peter Zeidler and his colleagues at AURA and ESA were able to detect 64 brown dwarf candidates in NGC 602. This is the first rich population of brown dwarfs to exist outside the Milky Way.
“It is possible to detect objects at such great distances only with incredible sensitivity and spatial resolution in the right wavelength range,” Dr. Zeidler said.
“This has never been possible and will remain impossible from the ground for the foreseeable future.”
“So far, about 3,000 brown dwarfs are known, and they all live in our galaxy,” said Dr. Elena Mangiavakas, also from AURA and ESA.
“This discovery highlights the ability to use both Hubble and Webb to study young star clusters,” said Dr. Antonella Nota, executive director of the International Space Science Institute.
“Hubble showed that NGC 602 hosts very young, low-mass stars, but only Webb can conclusively confirm the extent and significance of substellar mass formation in this cluster. Hubble and Webb are an amazingly powerful telescope duo!”
“Our results are very consistent with the theory that the mass distribution of objects below the hydrogen burning limit is simply a continuation of the stellar distribution,” Dr. Zeidler said.
“They seem to form the same way, they just haven't accumulated enough mass to become full stars.”
NSF astronomer Dr. Elena Sabbi said, “Studying the newly discovered metal-poor young brown dwarfs in NGC 602 will shed light on how stars and planets formed under the harsh conditions in the early universe. We are getting closer to uncovering the secrets of this.” NOIRLab, University of Arizona, Space Telescope Science Institute.
“These are the first substellar objects outside the Milky Way,” Manjavakas said.
“We need to be prepared for new breakthrough discoveries in these new objects.”
peter zeidler others. 2024. A candidate for a subsolar metallic brown dwarf is discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud. APJ 975, 18; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad779e
As the Earth continues its journey around the sun, plants and animals in the northern hemisphere prepare for the onset of autumn in September and the coming winter. Humans rely on calendars to tell us the seasons, but other creatures use changes in the weather and amount of sunlight to signal that winter is approaching. For example, long-lived trees often retain their leaves until the days get shorter, even if an early snowstorm signals the arrival of winter.
Plants and animals have complex proteins and sophisticated memories that allow them to decide when to prepare for cold weather. Bacteria and other microorganisms are also vulnerable to winter cold, so we need to prepare for harsher weather. However, because microorganisms have simple ecology and short lifespans, it is difficult to detect seasonal changes.
Some microorganisms can sense sunlight hours. A group of these microorganisms known as cyanobacteriacan predict the beginning and end of your day. Cyanobacteria use three Kai proteins called KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC to track time by sensing the light and dark times of the day. photoperiod. A team of researchers at Vanderbilt University wanted to test whether cyanobacteria’s ability to sense photoperiods could also allow them to sense seasonal changes.
The scientists grew cyanobacterial cells on a nutrient-filled dish for eight days under varying photoperiods. Some cells grow in summer-like days with 16 hours of daylight, others grow in winter-like days with 8 hours of daylight, and some cells grow in winter-like days with 12 hours of mid-day light. The scientists took cells from each photoperiod condition and placed half of them in a bucket of ice at 32°F (0°C). The halves are placed in a closed, temperature-controlled chamber. incubator at 86°F (30°C) for 2 hours. Cells were then returned to the dish at 86°F (30°C) and left to grow for 5 days.
The scientists calculated the survival rate in each photoperiod condition by comparing the number of cells that could grow from an ice bucket and an incubator. They reasoned that if cells could recognize that shorter days meant winter was coming, they might become more tolerant of the cold and fewer would die in ice buckets. Scientists found that cyanobacterial cells grown under short photoperiods were two to three times better at surviving at freezing temperatures than cells grown under longer photoperiods.
The researchers also wanted to investigate whether the cold tolerance of cells grown in short photoperiods was due to a sense of photoperiod. So they removed the Kai protein from the cells and repeated the experiment. These cells had the same survival rate of approximately 35% regardless of the length of the photoperiod in which they were grown. By comparison, cells containing the Kai protein had a 75% survival rate when grown under winter photoperiods and 25% survival when grown under summer photoperiod conditions. The scientists concluded that these cyanobacteria sense the days getting shorter and respond by preparing for the colder weather.
Next, the scientists wanted to understand how cells prepare for cold weather. They knew that some cells can change the composition of fat in their cell walls to maintain their physical structure when the temperature drops. By chemically extracting the fats present inside the cells using chloroform, methanol, and water, the researchers investigated whether the same changes in cell wall fats occur in cyanobacteria grown under winter photoperiods. was tested. They measured the amount of different fats in the cells using a device called a mass spectrometer. Through this analysis, the scientists demonstrated that cyanobacteria grown under shorter photoperiods also increased the amount of fat in their cell walls that made them more cold resistant.
The researchers concluded that because cyanobacteria can sense seasonal changes, this ability probably evolved long ago and may be active in other microorganisms as well. The research team hopes that by studying cyanobacteria and their ability to sense photoperiods, scientists can learn more about how ancient organisms felt the seasons. Researchers say that because algae sense photoperiods and can threaten aquatic habitat during algal blooms, researchers are trying to understand the relationship between photoperiods and how algae adapt to the seasons. By understanding this, he suggested, it may be possible to control algal blooms and protect aquatic habitats.
Scientists have now revealed that skeletal remains discovered in a well at Norway’s Sverresborg Castle belong to a mysterious figure from medieval stories.
New findings using advanced DNA analysis and Published in iScience magazine On Friday, they will connect the body’s identity to a passage from a centuries-old Norse document called the Sveris Saga. It compiles various sources describing internal political struggles, or civil wars, in medieval Norway from 1130 to 1217.
Named after King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway, the tale depicts the political conflict between the king and his arch-enemy, Eystein Erlensson, Archbishop of Nidaros.
According to this story, during a military attack in 1197 aimed at poisoning the local population’s main water source, the dead bodies, later known as the “Well Man,” were tossed into the well.
Little else is mentioned about the well man or his identity in the story.
Research project leader Mike Martin, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, told NBC News that historians are often skeptical of the historical accuracy of events described in such stories.
“This story is a blend of historical fact, narrative, political propaganda, and Old Norse religion,” he stated in an email Monday.
However, Stephen Brink, from the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, and Celtic Studies at the University of Cambridge, noted that the Sveris Saga is considered one of the most reliable historical sources because it was written during and immediately after a period of political unrest. This led to better understanding in England. He was not part of the study.
Human bones belonging to ‘Wellman’ have been sorted and cataloged. via iScience
Human bones were initially found in the castle’s well during renovation work in 1938, but due to the outbreak of World War II at the time, researchers could only carry out visual examinations.
The remains stayed in the well for another 80 years until excavations began in 2014, led by Anna Petersen of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage in Oslo.
By 2016, a complete skeleton was retrieved from the Sverresborg well in Trondheim, central Norway.
Recent scientific advancements have provided various advanced techniques to analyze human remains in more detail, including genetic sequencing and radiocarbon dating.
The research team determined the genomic variation by extracting DNA from Wellman’s teeth, mandible, and maxilla.
“We had access to teeth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and research really picked up speed,” Professor Martin remarked. It took approximately six years in total to complete.
“Wellman” teeth. via iScience
Experts suggest that this genetic research could offer insights into the remains discovered in previous archaeological excavations.
“This project demonstrates the significance of scientific archaeology, and the collaboration between archaeology and history, in today’s research, often resulting in remarkable findings like this one,” Brink remarked.
Excavation work at the site where 800-year-old ruins were discovered. via iScience
Advancements in technology have allowed human bones to be linked to characters from Norse mythology, blurring the line between legendary myth and historical reality.
This is not the first instance where the skeletal remains of a character from a story have been uncovered.
Elizabeth Lowe, a professor of Scandinavian history at the University of Cambridge in the UK, highlights that Research published by Jesse L. Byock in 1995 presents a compelling argument for identifying the remains of the 10th-century Icelandic poet Egil Skallagrimsson, whose tale is recounted in the 13th-century Egil Saga.
Rory Sutherland is searching for an analogy to describe his newfound status as one of Britain’s most viral TikTokers.
“It’s like Lord Byron. I woke up and realized I was famous.”
The fact that he references a 19th-century romantic poet shows that Sutherland is not your typical social media influencer.
In a sea of youthful content creators on TikTok, he stands out as an unlikely sensation.
Mr. Sutherland, a 58-year-old advertising executive and Cambridge University graduate, shares old marketing tricks on TikTok, captivating millions of viewers who were not around during the 1980s advertising boom.
With 2.4 million likes and videos garnering over 600,000 views, he is far from a corporate relic, even getting stopped by school kids for selfies.
Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, believes TikTok’s success lies in its insights into human behavior influenced by marketing techniques.
One video exposes how restaurants manipulate customers into buying expensive wine through clever tactics.
Sutherland’s 23-year-old twin daughters find his sudden fame both amusing and unsettling.
While he didn’t initiate the TikTok account that propelled him to fame, Sutherland embraced the opportunity to educate and entertain his audience.
Through humor and valuable insights into the marketing world, Sutherland has captivated a wide audience on TikTok.
He believes that empowering businesses with marketing knowledge can boost the economy and sees the positive side of behavior change tactics.
Whether through charm or clever marketing, Sutherland’s influence on TikTok is undeniable among Gen Z users, though convincing them to buy wine might be a stretch.
Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Sunday that they will be playing American football as part of their efforts to secure votes from young people, just nine days before the White House election. The game was streamed live on Twitch.
Ocasio-Cortez and Walz will compete in the latest Madden game series as Democrats aim to regain control of the House of Representatives, maintain a Senate majority, and challenge Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. They also emphasized the importance of Kamala Harris’s victory.
“While we may not all share the same beliefs, defeating Trump this year is our main priority,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
Ocasio-Cortez criticized President Trump as an authoritarian ruler and a facist supported by special interests who are exacerbating the ongoing climate crisis. She also condemned the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post for not allowing their editorial teams to endorse Harris over Trump.
During the broadcast, Ocasio-Cortez also called out comedian Tony Hinchcliffe for making derogatory comments about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally.
Ocasio-Cortez and Walz decided to play Madden together a few weeks ago, as Walz had previous experience with the game and had worked as a football coach.
Following a recent NBC news investigation, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is leading Donald Trump among young male registered voters.
Despite their lead, Democrats have historically struggled with public opinion during past election cycles. The Trump campaign recently criticized the former president during a three-hour appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which primarily attracts young male viewers.
Sunday’s event with Ocasio-Cortez followed her initial appearance on Twitch, which was one of the platform’s most-watched events at the time.
Harris’s campaign strategy also focuses on targeting young people, with ads on sports gambling platforms such as DraftKings and Yahoo Sports.
“I’m a boring guy,” says Mike Erwin, an energy management consultant based in Warrington. “My friends think it’s crazy how much I use Microsoft Excel, but it’s a very useful tool.”
Erwin, 56, has been using Excel to organize his life for years, from mapping his finances to plotting medical test results to monitoring his home’s energy usage. When his son was born in 2007, he created a spreadsheet of his feeding schedule.
“We were recording the feeding time and the amount of milk, and calculating when we could fall asleep.” None of this data was very helpful, “but then I felt better.” added Erwin.
Still, he’s an evangelist about Excel. “I have charts from 10 years ago,” he says. “Some of my friends have Mickeys, and now they’re starting to use them to plan their vacations.”
Erwin is one of dozens of people who responded to an online call for loveExcel has celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Many people have found uses for the software that were probably not intended by the developers.
“I grew up with it,” says John Severn, 35, Mansfield’s marketing director. “When I was 11, I couldn’t afford Warhammer models, so I wrote the names of the models in Excel and printed them out and did elf-dwarf battles on the cheap.”
John Severn playing a board game (not generated by Excel). Photo: Guardian Community
Mr. Severn’s innovations puzzled some opponents. The Warhammer tabletop game is meant to be played with intricately painted models rather than a labeled grid.
“The children of my mother’s wealthy friends weren’t very keen,” he says. “They had spent a lot of money getting some beautifully painted models and they were laying them out on a table with landscapes. And what I brought in was basically a square piece of paper. .”
Although Severn has graduated from being a model soldier, he still plays Warhammer. “I still don’t like drawing.”
For Lucy, 41, Excel proved useful in a long-distance relationship when her partner moved from London to Macclesfield in 2010.
“I love Excel,” she says. “I devised a spreadsheet to track trains and fares. I lived in London and traveled every weekend in shifts for 18 months. We split the cost so that higher income earners pay proportionately more.”
Lucy admits how “unromantic” this sounds. But “this is very convenient and we are more inclined to share money. Now we have children and we have bought a house. Excel is working with the administrator on this matter. They supported me.”
Excel played a role in helping London civil servant Luke name his two sons. “My wife and I were talking about baby names, and at one point we pasted the list of names into a spreadsheet called Names for Baby V.1.xlsx.”
He shared the spreadsheet with his office in hopes that his colleagues would find inspiration. “I remember there was a good push for Frederick and Maximilian, and Optimus Prime and Herodotus were also added,” he says. “The Russian wife liked Igor and Ivan.''
Luke and his wife ultimately did not accept his colleague’s idea at all. But I created a separate spreadsheet for my younger son. “His name came from a suggestion from a colleague I met at a drinking party at work. But it also tested very well with Names for Baby V.2.xlsx,” he added.
Nick Owen of Lincoln took that enthusiasm a step further by featuring Excel as the centerpiece of his 2019 wedding.
“We wanted to get as many friends together as possible and we managed to get 250 people together,” says Owen, 68. Since there were so many guests, he decided to appoint seven talented men to help plan the day.
Nick Owen wedding t-shirt. His spreadsheet is printed on the back. Photo: Guardian Community
“I call them the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ and they each had a different role.” These jobs include rings, meals, speeches, and drinks. “I diligently created a spreadsheet of what everyone had done that day with little crosses in cells for each hour.I went through all of this with them the night before. “There was some resistance,” he says.
“It was April in Cumbria and the weather was poor for a few weeks leading up to the wedding day. But miraculously the clouds parted, the sun shone and my wedding spreadsheet worked. ”
To remember that day, Owen printed T-shirts for his men. “They had a picture of Yul Brynner.” [from the Magnificent Seven film] It has a photo of my spreadsheet on the front and on the back. ”
Dietary treatments with pistachios, a bioavailable source of xanthophyll lutein, are effective in increasing macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in healthy adults, according to a new study from Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center. has been announced.
Pistachios are the only nut that provides a measurable source of lutein, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the eyes. Image credit: Erika Varga.
Lutein and zeaxanthin are dietary xanthophylls, a type of carotenoid most commonly found in vegetables and fruits, with green and yellow vegetables being particularly rich sources.
These compounds cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate exclusively in the macular region of the human retina, where they are called macular pigments.
Pistachios are the only nut that contains large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, but unlike eggs, they only contain lutein.
However, like eggs, pistachios provide a source of fat, primarily as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and therefore may be a highly bioavailable source of lutein.
“Our research shows that pistachios are not only a nutritious snack, but may also have significant eye health benefits,” said Dr. Tammy Scott, a research and clinical neuropsychologist at Tufts University. The results are showing.”
“This is especially important as people age and the risk of visual impairment increases.”
In a randomized controlled trial, eating 2 ounces (57 grams) of pistachios per day as part of a regular diet for 12 weeks significantly reduced otherwise healthy middle-aged people compared to eating just their regular diet. MPOD was shown to increase significantly in the elderly. .
They also found that pistachio consumption almost doubled the participants' daily lutein intake and significantly increased plasma levels.
“Incorporating a handful of pistachios into your diet can improve your intake of lutein, which is important for eye protection,” says Dr. Scott.
“Pistachios provide a source of healthy fat, and lutein from pistachios may be more readily absorbed into the body.”
“Pistachios provided approximately 1.6 mg of lutein, which is enough to double the average daily intake of U.S. adults for lutein, a type of plant pigment known as xanthophylls.”
Lutein, found in pistachios, not only supports eye health but may also benefit brain function.
“Because lutein crosses the blood-brain barrier, it may help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation,” said Tufts University researcher Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D.
“Similar to the eyes, lutein selectively accumulates in the brain and may play a role in attenuating cognitive decline.”
“Research suggests that higher levels of lutein improve cognitive abilities such as memory and processing speed, making pistachios an invaluable addition to diets aimed at supporting healthy aging overall. It is a great addition.”
Tammy M. Scott others. Pistachio consumption increases macular pigment optical density in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. nutrition journalpublished online October 17, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.022
Researchers now believe they have identified the remains of a Norwegian story written more than 800 years ago that depicts a dead man being thrown into a castle well.
The Sverris Saga is a 182-section Old Norse document that records the exploits of King Sverre Sigurdsson, who came to power in the late 12th century. In one section, it is said that rival clans who attacked Sveresborg Castle near Trondheim, Norway, “took the dead, threw them into a well, and buried them with stones.”
The well was located within the castle walls and was the only permanent source of water for the area. It has been speculated that the man thrown into the well in this story may have been suffering from a disease, and that throwing him into the well may have been an early act of biological warfare.
In 1938, part of a medieval well in the ruins of Sveresborg Castle was drained, and a skeleton was discovered beneath the rubble and rocks at the bottom. The skeleton, known as “Wellman,” was widely believed to be the remains of the person mentioned in the story, but it was impossible to confirm that at the time.
now, Anna Petersen Researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage in Oslo used radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis of the remains' teeth to show that the range of dates in which the man was alive is consistent with the castle raid. . Although it's not conclusive proof that the man is the person mentioned in the story, “circumstantial evidence is consistent with this conclusion,” Pellersen said.
The Well Man's skeleton was discovered in 1938
Riksantikvaren (Norwegian Directorate General for Cultural Heritage)
Additionally, the team was able to further enrich the story. “The investigation we conducted uncovered many details about both the incident and the person that were not mentioned in the story episode,” Petersen said.
For example, DNA suggests he likely had blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair. Researchers also believe, based on comparisons with modern and ancient Norwegian DNA,
that his ancestors came from Vest Agder County, in what is now the southernmost tip of Norway.
What they couldn't find was any evidence that the men were thrown into the well because they were sick or to make drinking water unavailable, but no evidence to the contrary. can't be found, and the question remains unanswered.
michael martin The researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim say their approach of matching historical documents with DNA evidence will help them build family trees of long-deceased royal families and “physically reveal life stories such as movements.” He states that it may also be applicable to “describing and drawing schematically.” Anonymous people whose remains were recovered from archaeological excavations across geographic regions. ”
Researchers collected DNA from one of the skeleton's teeth
Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage (NIKU)
“To my knowledge, this is the earliest instance in which genomic information has been recovered from a specific person, or even a specific person, described in an ancient text,” Martin said.
He says generating genomic information from ancient skeletons can provide new details about a person. “These details are not included in the original text, so genetic data enriches the story and provides a way to separate fact from fiction,” Martin says.
Paleontologists have recovered a fossilized jaw fragment and three isolated bones from a relatively large (by Late Cretaceous standards) new species of Metatheria in the Williams Fork Formation of northwestern Colorado, USA. Found a tooth.
artist’s depiction Heleochora piceanus In a Late Cretaceous wetland. Image credit: Brian Engh / LivingRelicProductions.com / Utah Natural History Field House.
” Metatheria “[Marsupials and their closest fossil relatives]consist of about 330 extant species in seven orders, most of which live in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Jaylin Eberle, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. said.
“However, this clade appears to have originated in the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Cretaceous.”
“By the end of the Cretaceous period, Metatheria had dispersed across Europe, Asia, and North America, and were more diverse and numerous than their contemporaneous eutherians.”
“Most of the Late Cretaceous Metatheria species are represented almost exclusively by isolated teeth and jaws recovered from fossil localities in the interior western United States.”
The fossilized remains of a new species of Metatherian have been discovered. williams fork formation It is located in Douglas Creek Arch between the Uintah and Piance Creek basins in northwestern Colorado.
named Heleochora piceanusThis animal lived approximately 70 to 75 million years ago (late Cretaceous period), a time when a vast inland sea covered much of the American West.
Weighing about 1 kg (2 lb), it was larger than most Late Cretaceous mammals.
Based on the tooth, Heleochora piceanus They probably ate plants mixed with insects and other small animals.
It coexisted with creatures such as turtles, duck-billed dinosaurs, and giant crocodiles.
“This area could have been similar to Louisiana,” says Dr. Rebecca Hunt-Foster, a paleontologist at Dinosaur National Monument.
“We see a lot of animals like sharks, rays and guitarfish that are very happy in the water.”
“Colorado is a great place to find fossils, but mammals from this era tend to be quite rare,” Eberle says.
“So it’s really amazing to see this piece of time preserved in Colorado.”
“Compared to much larger dinosaurs that lived at the time, such as Tyrannosaurus and its horned ancestors, triceratopsColorado’s newest fossil addition may seem small and insignificant. However, it was surprisingly large for a mammal of its time. ”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper in a diary PLoS ONE.
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J. Hebert others. 2024. A new Late Cretaceous Metatherian discovered from the Williams Fork Formation in Colorado. PLoS ONE 19 (10): e0310948;doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310948
IIt’s an unlikely alliance between billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a group of top artists including Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, actors Kevin Bacon and Julianne Moore, and author Kazuo Ishiguro.
This week they launched two very public battles with artificial intelligence companies, accusing them of using their intellectual property without permission to build increasingly powerful and lucrative new technologies.
More than 13,000 creative professionals from the worlds of literature, music, film, theater and television have issued a statement saying that programs such as ChatGPT, where AI companies train their work without permission, are interfering with their lives. It warned that it posed a “serious and unwarranted threat”. By the end of the week, that number had nearly doubled to 25,000.
This comes as Murdoch, the owner of News Corp., a publishing group that owns the Wall Street Journal, The Sun, The Times, The Australian, and others, has warned Perplexity, an AI-based search engine, of illegal activities. This was the day after the company filed a lawsuit alleging that Some of his journalism in the US title has been copied.
The Stars’ statement supports the idea that creative works can be used as training data for free on grounds of “fair use” (a US legal term meaning no permission from the copyright owner is required). It is a collective effort to dissent. Adding to their ire is the fact that these AI models can be used to produce fresh work that competes with human work.
Rupert Murdoch has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine. Photo: Noah Berger/AP
AI was a major sticking point in last year’s double strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters, who agreed to ensure new technology remains under the control of employees rather than being used to replace them. Secured. Several ongoing lawsuits could determine whether the copyright battle is similarly successful.
In the US, artists are suing the tech companies behind the image-generating devices, a major record label is suing AI music creators Suno and Udio, and a group of writers including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin is suing ChatGPT developer OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement.
In the fight to make AI companies pay for the content they scrape to build their tools, publishers are also pursuing legal avenues to get them to the negotiating table to sign licensing agreements. There is.
Publishers such as Politico owner Axel Springer, Vogue’s Condé Nast, the Financial Times and Reuters have signed content deals with various AI companies, and in May, News Corp. has signed a five-year contract with Open AI, reportedly worth $250 million. In contrast, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against the creators of ChatGPT and sent a “cease and desist” letter to Perplexity last week.
But in the UK, AI companies are lobbying for legal changes to allow them to continue developing tools without the risk of infringing intellectual property rights. Currently, the text and data mining required to train generative AI tools is only permitted for non-commercial research.
This week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called for a rethink of what “fair use” is. He argued that the large-scale language models that power generative AI do not “regurgitate” the information they have been trained on, and that this would be considered copyright infringement.
Labour’s new minister for AI and digital government, Ferial Clarke, recently said she wants copyright disputes between creative industries and AI companies to be resolved by the end of the year.
she said it might be in there Form of amendment to existing or new law
opening up the possibility of new provisions allowing AI companies to collect data for commercial purposes.
Actor Kevin Bacon is among those fighting back against AI. Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
While news organizations publicly oppose AI-based content abuse, behind the scenes many are adopting technology to replace editorial functions, with commercially-strapped publishers using the technology at a cost. There is growing fear among staff that they will be used as a Trojan horse to enable retrenchment and redundancies.
Last month, the National Union of Journalists launched a campaign to highlight the issue. “Journalism before algorithms”.
“With wage stagnation, below-inflation wage increases, newsroom staff shortages, and increasing layoffs, there is a need to consider the use of AI,” the paper said. “Threats to journalists’ jobs are considered top of mind… AI is no substitute for real journalism.”
“There are questions about how much publishers themselves are using these tools,” said Niamh Burns, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. “I think the amount of adoption is low, and there’s a lot of experimentation going on, but I can see a world where publishers are using some of these tools heavily. We need to be realistic about the scale of the opportunity we create.”
Burns said that so far, publishers’ willingness to use AI tools to directly influence or create editorial content has largely depended on how commercially pressurized the media landscape is for their operators. He said that it is related to whether the
BuzzFeed’s once-mighty market value has fallen from $1 billion during its 2021 flotation to less than $100 million. Rapid AI adapter Against the backdrop of drastic cuts in the news department and sharp decline in income.
And Newsquest, the second-largest newspaper in Britain’s beleaguered local and regional newspaper market, has embarked on initiatives such as rapidly increasing the role of “AI-assisted” journalism.
However, quality national newspapers and media brands remain very cautious, and many, including the Guardian, have set strict principles to guide their work.
But behind the scenes, AI tools are being leveraged to help categorize large datasets and help journalists report on new and exclusive content.
“I think the media companies that are most exposed to commercial risk in the short term are also at risk of overreaching,” Burns said.
“A lot of it has to do with commercial models, where you rely on advertising from a lot of traffic on social platforms and all you need is scale and not quality, where AI can be very helpful.
“But creating generative AI content is never worth the cost or risk.” [for quality national titles]. And for any publisher, producing more conventional journalism comes with long-term costs to quality and risks to competitiveness. ”
A British-founded anti-hate speech campaign group involved in Labor’s interference in the US election has pledged to continue its efforts despite Elon Musk’s recent aggressive stance against the party.
The Center to Combat Digital Hate faced criticism from wealthy individuals this week after accusing Musk of violating laws against foreign interference in US elections.
Imran Ahmed, Founder and CEO of CCDH, stated: “We’re not backing down. We will persist in our mission through advocacy and research.”
Musk’s allegations were based on a report that highlighted connections between Labor Together and CCDH, a think tank once led by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.
Musk shared a report link on his social media platform, claiming, “This is war.” Musk previously attempted unsuccessfully to sue CCDH earlier this year.
President Donald Trump’s campaign filed a complaint against the Labor Party for alleged interference in the election by supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Mr. Starmer mentioned that party leaders volunteered to assist the Harris campaign in their spare time.
The complaint also mentioned that McSweeney and Downing Street communications director Matthew Doyle attended the Democratic convention in Chicago and met with the Harris campaign team.
In response to Musk’s actions, Mr. Ahmed stated, “Elon Musk has a history of targeting non-partisan organizations like us. This is not the first time we have been attacked by him.”
Mr. Ahmed, a former Labor Party aide, clarified that McSweeney assisted in establishing CCDH but had no operational role in the organization. He emphasized their commitment to their mission and bipartisan collaborations.
Musk’s recent criticism of CCDH followed the publication of an internal report by the organization. Disinformation Chronicle Newsletter revealed that combating misinformation on Musk’s platform was deemed a strategic priority for CCDH.
Mr. Ahmed clarified that ‘Kill Musk’s Twitter’ was used as shorthand to address Musk’s business model, emphasizing their commitment to combating misinformation.
Mr. Ahmed’s background in the Labor Party and his creation of CCDH in response to hate crimes demonstrate his dedication to fighting extremism and misinformation.
A small soft lithium-ion battery made from water droplets
oxford university
The smallest soft lithium-ion battery ever made consists of just three tiny droplets formed from a silk-based hydrogel. Droplet batteries can provide pacemaker-style control and deliver defibrillator shocks to beating mouse hearts, but could eventually be used in biomedical implants and wearable electronics for humans. It may supply electricity.
“Potentially, our small battery could be used as an implantable microrobotic battery, which could be moved to a target location by a magnetic field and release its energy for treatment.” . Yuka Zhang at Oxford University.
Zhang and colleagues designed the small battery as three connected droplets that can self-assemble in solution after injecting various components into the liquid with a microsyringe. One droplet contains lithium manganese oxide particles and serves as the battery's negative electrode. The second droplet contains lithium titanate particles and serves as the positive electrode. A central droplet filled with lithium chloride separates these electrodes. UV light energizes the battery by breaking down the layers that separate each droplet, allowing lithium ions to flow freely between the droplets.
Droplet batteries are one-tenth the length of traditional soft lithium-ion batteries. At just 600 micrometers, it is about six times as wide as a human hair. The battery is also 1000 times smaller in volume than similar flexible lithium-ion batteries. The central droplet can also incorporate magnetic nickel particles, allowing the battery to be controlled remotely via an external magnetic field.
Such a small battery also provides an unprecedented amount of energy considering its small size. Wei Gao at the California Institute of Technology. “This energy density is significantly higher than what has been achieved with other similarly sized batteries,” he says.
The droplet battery was tested on a mouse heart removed from the animal's body. These successfully functioned as defibrillators to restore normal heartbeats and as pacemakers to regulate heartbeats. Additional testing showed that the battery retained 77% of its original capacity after 10 charge/discharge cycles.
The simplicity and scalability of such droplet batteries could be a potential advantage over traditional battery manufacturing in the future, Gao said. He suggested that such batteries could power minimally invasive biomedical implants and biodegradable medical devices.
“What impressed me most is how this soft battery mirrors the aqueous environment of human tissue by being hydrogel-based,” Gao says. “However, we still need to consider the safety and biocompatibility of the materials used in this battery, especially as we move towards commercialization and further research applications.”
I I feel anxious about the world. There was a mayoral election in Canada, where I live, and it wasn’t even a contest because one candidate was backed by more money than Croesus. In the UK, people have not been able to get the Labor government they wanted to vote for. And as someone who lives a few hours’ drive from the US border, I can only hope Orange Hitler never invades again. Or maybe I’m praying that he does. I willTo prevent our southern neighbor from falling into a repeat of civil war due to refusal to vote. So instead, I decided to play a game where I could control the rise and fall of a civilization. As a snack.
Civilization 6 is a so-called 4X game. 4X stands for “EXplore, EXpand, EXploit, EXterminate,” a phrase that offends my pedantic spelling sense. Unfortunately, the four “exes” I spent a lot of time on here were Exert, Expire, Exclaim, and Exit. It’s as intuitive as Heston Blumenthal’s recipes, thanks to the game’s Execrable gamepad controls. I forgot how many times I moved the wrong unit, or my brain froze trying to remember which button did what. I would have preferred a more common sense control system, mouse and keyboard support, or an interface that uses the kind of power of thought that Elon Musk pretends to have.
My irritation was assuaged by remembering that nothing in a Civilization game brings more joy than finding a barbarian encampment. Free stuff! yay! As I work through the years, I see a menu of intellectually solid advances that remind me that there are many elegant paths to civilization. Learn how the world developed by advancing goals through trade routes and charitable diplomacy that reward mathematical thinking. It offers a real chance to form a spiritual land of pure peace and happiness with environmental protection measures.
“Well, good luck and I’ll give you a ride in the Hanging Gardens someday, right? Good morning, Terry, how are you doing!”
“We discovered the Great Barrier Reef!”
“Good times! Give me 40 more turns to build the boat and I’ll send Frank over there to help.”
But they are just one of many things I have to move. After all, modern The world is a bloody hard place to run. Maybe a zombie apocalypse is actually the way to go.
When it comes to balancing on one foot, it may seem like a simple task, but it could actually indicate more than you think. Recent research suggests that struggles with balance could be a sign of accelerated aging in the body.
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have discovered that the ability to balance on one leg can reveal the rate of aging in the neuromuscular sensory system, particularly in older individuals.
This sensory system, comprised of nerves connecting muscles to the brain and spinal cord, plays a crucial role in facilitating movement. Its decline with age can lead to slower reflexes and movements.
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“Balancing on one leg involves various physiological components like leg strength, postural stability muscles, neuromuscular coordination, and sensory information, all of which tend to decrease with age,” explained Professor David Proctor, an aging and exercise expert at Pennsylvania State University in the US. This information was reported by BBC Science Focus.
Preventing or slowing down the decline in strength and balance as we age can significantly impact one’s ability to stay functionally independent in the long term.
The study involved 40 participants aged between 50 and 80, who were assessed on their ability to balance on one leg. Despite similar height, weight, and activity levels, age was the only differing factor among the participants.
Each participant performed four 30-second balances with eyes closed and eyes open for both legs. The researchers recorded the duration of balance maintained within each 30-second interval to evaluate the impact of age on balance.
The results indicated a direct correlation between age and trembling, with a 6.3% increase in tremors with eyes open and a 10.5% increase with eyes closed for every decade of age. Additionally, the time spent balancing decreased by 2.2 seconds per decade on the non-dominant leg and 1.7 seconds on the dominant leg.
This suggests that balance duration is a valid marker of aging and a potential indicator of fall risk in older adults.
Although balancing for 30 seconds may not require significant muscle strength, it heavily relies on good neuromuscular control, which diminishes with age, leading to increased sway and reduced balancing time.
Fortunately, research highlights the benefits of balance and aerobic exercises like swimming, running, and cycling in preventing age-related decline in balance and muscle control.
About our experts
Dr. David Proctor, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, USA, specializes in kinesiology, physiology, and medicine. His research has been featured in various scientific journals.
Excitement in the world of mathematics has been sparked by a significant discovery. The previous record for the largest prime number has been surpassed.
A prime number is only divisible by 1 and itself. For example, 23 is a prime number. Dividing by 1 results in 23, dividing by 23 gives 1, but dividing by any other number does not give an integer.
The new prime number is 2136,279,841-1 (known as M136279841). This prime number has a length of 41,024,320 digits, which is 16 million digits more than the previous record holder. It would take 237 days to fully read M136279841 if you read two digits per second.
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Additionally, this new prime number is a Mersenne prime, which is a special type of prime number of the form 2P-1. M136279841 is the 52nd Mersenne prime number discovered so far.
The discovery of M136279841 was the most challenging Mersenne Prime to date. It was found using free software from the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) by 2-year-old Luke Durant, a 36-year-old volunteer, using a graphics processing unit (GPU) supercomputer.
This achievement earned Durant a $3,000 prize, which he will donate to the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science.
While the discovery of prime numbers may seem like a recreational pursuit, Mersenne primes, in particular, are of significant interest to mathematicians like Sophie MacLean, a PhD student in analytical number theory at King’s College London. MacLean is fascinated by the rarity and complexity of Mersenne primes and is eager to explore more about them.
About our experts
Sophie MacLean is a PhD student in analytical number theory and additive combinatorics at King’s College London. She has lectured at the Royal Institution and Cheltenham Science Festival and published videos on the Numberphile YouTube channel.
On Thursday, Tesla shares surged to their lowest point in over a decade after Elon Musk confidently predicted a sales increase, reassuring investors about the company’s commitment to expanding its electric car sales. The stock closed with nearly a 22% increase, marking its largest gain. By the end of trading, Tesla’s market value had risen by almost $150 billion.
Musk anticipated a sales growth of 20-30% for the next year, announced plans to unveil an affordable car in the first half of 2025, and highlighted efforts to enhance profit margins through production cost reductions in the third quarter.
The stock price peaked at $262.2 during trading, with approximately 200 million shares exchanged. This jump was the company’s biggest since May 2013, reversing recent losses from concerns that Musk’s focus on new projects like robotaxis was diverting attention.
Musk is striving to transition Tesla from a leading electric vehicle company to an AI and robotics enterprise, although a detailed plan for this shift has not yet been formulated. Investors had sold Tesla stock earlier due to insufficient information about the robotaxi initiative.
Ed Egilinsky of Direxion said, “Some skeptics view this rally as reassuring, especially after the pre-earnings release stock sell-off in October, as the financial results exceeded expectations.”
During the last quarter, Musk made daring company announcements focusing on ventures beyond cars, such as driverless taxis and humanoid robots, causing concerns among investors about shrinking profit margins already affected by price reductions.
Tesla reported third-quarter profit margins surpassing Wall Street forecasts, with production costs at record lows of approximately $35,100 per vehicle. The company also revealed $326 million revenue from its autopilot software, Fully Self-Driving (FSD), integrated into the Cybertruck and other autonomous features.
FSD serves as the foundation for Tesla’s robotaxi program.
Musk also expressed his belief that Tesla vehicles will soon offer paid driverless ride-hailing services, reiterating his commitment at the robotaxi event. However, this plan may encounter regulatory hurdles.
Despite the reassurances on Wednesday, not all investors are placated by Tesla’s direction.
Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management and a significant Tesla investor, stated that robotaxis and AI are not the core businesses he wants Musk to prioritize.
“The good old days were when Elon Musk was sleeping in the factory, working tirelessly every day. He shouldn’t be distracted by ventures that stray from his main focus,” Gerber emphasized.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation, characterized by irregular shifts between unusually warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) conditions, has existed for at least 250 million years and is often of increasing magnitude, according to a new report. It is said that it has grown bigger. Studying modeling.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation, which occurs in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, is a characteristic mode of interannual climate change and has significant impacts on the Earth's climate and ecosystems. Image credit: Li others., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404758121.
Climate scientists are studying the El Niño phenomenon. That's because El Niño, a huge patch of unusually warm water on either side of the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean, alters the jet stream and can dry out the northwest United States and soak the southwest with extreme rain.
The corresponding cold mass, La Niña, could push the jet stream northward, drying out the southwestern United States while also causing drought in East Africa and making South Asia's monsoon season more intense.
“Each experiment confirms an active El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), most of which are stronger than the current one, some of which are somewhat stronger, and some of which are slightly stronger,” said Dr. Shinen Hu of Duke University.
Hu and his colleagues used the same climate modeling tools used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project climate change into the future, except they looked back in time.
This simulation is so computationally intensive that researchers were unable to model it continuously every year for 250 million years. Instead, they made 10 million year “slices” – 26 of them.
“The model experiments were affected by various boundary conditions, including differences in land-sea distribution (on different continents), differences in solar radiation, and differences in carbon dioxide,” Dr. Hu said.
Each simulation was run over thousands of model years for robust results and took several months to complete.
“At times in the past, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth was about 2% lower than it is today, but global warming carbon dioxide was much more abundant, and the atmosphere and oceans were much more dense than they are today. It was very warm,” Dr. Hu said.
During the Mesozoic Era, 250 million years ago, South America was located in the middle of the supercontinent Pangea, and an oscillation occurred in the Panthalas Ocean to its west.
Current research shows that historically the two most important variables in ENSO magnitude appear to be the ocean's thermal structure and the “atmospheric noise” of ocean surface winds.
“Previous studies have mainly focused on ocean temperatures, but this study has paid less attention to surface winds, which appear to be very important,” Dr. Hu said.
“So part of the point of our research is that in addition to the thermal structure of the ocean, we also need to pay attention to atmospheric noise and understand how those winds change. .”
“Atmospheric noise, or wind, can act to give this pendulum a random kick.”
“We find that both factors are important in understanding why El Niño was much stronger than it is now.”
“If we want to make more reliable predictions of the future, we first need to understand the past climate.”
of study Published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Shan Li others. 2024. El Niño Southern Oscillation has been active continuously since the Mesozoic era. PNAS 121 (45): e2404758121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2404758121
V404 Cygnus, an X-ray binary star that hosts a low-mass black hole, has a wide echelon with a tertiary companion at least 3,500 astronomical units (AU) away from the inner binary, according to MIT astrophysicists. It is said to be part of a triple star.
V404 Cygni is located approximately 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.
This system first attracted attention more than 80 years ago, during the 1938 nova explosion.
Another eruption occurred in 1989 and was discovered by the Japanese X-ray satellite Ginga and high-energy instruments aboard the Mir space station.
The 1989 explosion, known as Nova Cygnus 1989, was pivotal in the study of black holes.
Until then, astronomers had known of only a handful of objects that could be black holes, and V404 Cygnus was one of the most likely candidates.
V404 Cygnus is known to host a central stellar-mass black hole in the act of consuming a small star that spirals very close to the black hole every 6.5 days. This is a configuration similar to most binary star systems.
But new research suggests there's a second star orbiting the black hole, albeit much further away.
“Most black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps cast doubt on that,” said Kevin Burge, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ta.
“This system is very interesting for the evolution of black holes, and also raises the question of whether triples exist.”
Artist's impression of V404 Cygnus: The central black hole (black dot) is consuming a nearby star (orange object on the left), while the second star (white flash at the top) is far away orbiting a distance of Image credit: Jorge Lugo.
Burge and his colleagues estimate that the third companion star orbits the V404 Cygnus black hole every 70,000 years.
The fact that black holes appear to exert a gravitational pull on distant objects raises questions about the origins of black holes themselves.
Black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of dying stars. This is a process known as a supernova, in which a star releases a huge amount of energy and light in one final burst before collapsing into an invisible black hole.
But the team's findings suggest that if the newly observed black hole had originated from a typical supernova, the energy released before it collapsed would have kicked loosely bound objects around it. It suggests that it might have been.
So the second outer star shouldn't be hanging around yet.
Instead, the authors believe that the V404 Cygnus black hole formed through a more gentle process of direct collapse, in which the star simply collapsed and formed the black hole without a final, dramatic flash. I think it might be.
Such a benign origin poses little impediment to loosely bound, distant objects.
Because V404 Cygnus contains a very distant star, this suggests that the black holes in this system were born through a more gradual, direct collapse.
And while astronomers have observed more violent supernovae for centuries, this triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole formed from this more gentle process.
In addition to providing clues about the black hole's origin, the outer star also revealed the age of the system.
Astrophysicists observed that the outer star happened to be in the process of becoming a red giant, a stage that occurs at the end of a star's life.
Based on this star's evolution, they determined that the outer star was about 4 billion years old.
Considering that the neighboring stars were born at about the same time, they conclude that the components of the binary star are also 4 billion years old.
“This has never been done before with old black holes,” Dr. Burge says.
“Thanks to this discovery, we now know that V404 Cygnus is part of a triple star. It may have formed by direct collapse, and it formed about 4 billion years ago.”
of findings Published in this week's magazine nature.
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KB barge others. The black hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cygnus is part of a wide triple. naturepublished online October 23, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6
Armenian archaeologists have discovered the remains of an early Christian church in the ruins of the ancient city of Artaxata.
Preliminary reconstruction of the early Christian church of Artaxata. Image credit: Armenian-German Arttaxata project.
ArtaxataThe main city of ancient Armenia, also known as Artashat, served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from its founding in 176 BC to 120 AD.
Founded during the reign of Artaxias I (Artashes), the city is located on the left bank of the Arax River, in modern-day Ararat province of Armenia.
Artaxata was destroyed and rebuilt several times between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, but was eventually abandoned.
“According to legend, Gregory the Enlightener converted the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity at Artaxata in 301 AD, making Armenia the first Christian state in the world,” said Professor Achim Lichtenberger, an archaeologist at the University of Münster. said the colleague.
“The medieval monastery of Khor Villap, located very close to the newly discovered church, is a reminder of this tradition.”
“Artaxata served as the capital of the Armenian kingdom ruled by the Artaxiads and Arsacusids.”
“The city developed into an important metropolis during the Hellenistic period and was the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia for almost six centuries.”
Early Christian churches were built on stately columns. Image credit: Armenian-German Arttaxata project.
The newly discovered Christian church is an octagonal building with a cross-shaped extension.
The building was approximately 30 meters in diameter and was simply constructed with mortar floors and terracotta tiles.
Marble imported from the Mediterranean was also used lavishly.
Professor Lichtenberger and his colleagues from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the University of Münster discovered the remains of a wooden platform in an extension approximately 30 meters in diameter, which they radiocarbonly date to the mid-4th century AD. .
“The fourth-century building is the oldest archaeologically recorded church in the country and is sensational evidence of early Christianity in Armenia,” Professor Lichtenberger said.
Dr. Mukrtich Zardarian, an archaeologist at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said: “Octagonal churches were previously unknown here, but we are well-known in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where they first appeared in the 4th century AD. I did,” he added.
“Typologically, this find corresponds to an early Christian monument.”
The researchers said, “We plan to continue the excavation and hope to make new discoveries, including the question of who this church was dedicated to.''
As the world emerges from lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are seeking climate-friendly solutions as recovery efforts are expected to accelerate global progress towards net-zero emissions. He promised to rebuild the economy. In fact, the opposite is happening.
Instead of a “green recovery”, global greenhouse gas emissions are now increasing at a much faster pace than in the decade before the global pandemic. Emissions increased by 1.3 percent in 2023, reaching 57.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is a much faster annual growth rate than the decade from 2010 to 2019, when emissions increased by an average of 0.8 percent per year. In fact, global greenhouse gas emissions are currently just below the peak of 59.1 gigatonnes recorded in 2019.
According to one report, all sources of greenhouse gas emissions except land use are increasing. report Support from the United Nations Global Environment Program (UNEP) as the economy continues to recover from COVID-19. Emissions from road transport, leaks from oil and gas infrastructure such as pipelines, and industrial emissions all rose rapidly in 2023, with emissions from aviation increasing by 19.5%, according to UNEP.
Rising emissions mean the world’s opportunities to avoid catastrophic climate change are shrinking. inger anderson UNEP said in a statement. “The climate crisis is here,” she said. “I ask all citizens, please stop the heat.”
Since 2015, countries have jointly pledged to limit global warming to as close to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as possible, but current national targets are far from meeting that goal. Given countries’ current commitments, the world is on track for 2.6°C to 2.8°C of warming, and this situation will remain largely unchanged from 2022.
Countries are expected to submit new national climate plans by February ahead of the COP30 climate conference in Brazil in November. Plans must spell out in detail how countries will reduce emissions between now and 2035.
Mr Anderson said it was important for countries to develop bolder plans to reduce emissions and they needed to start now. He added that while the 1.5°C target is still technically achievable, it is becoming increasingly likely to be achieved. “Even if global temperatures rise above 1.5°C, and the possibility of that happening increases every day, we must continue to strive for a net-zero, sustainable and prosperous world. “No,” Anderson said.
Norway has set a strict minimum age limit of 15 for social media in its efforts to combat tech companies that are deemed harmful to young children’s mental development.
Prime Minister Jonas Gare Stoer of Norway acknowledged the challenges ahead in this battle but emphasized the need for politicians to intervene to shield children from the influence of algorithms.
The utilization of social media platforms by the industry has been criticized for potentially causing users to become fixated and unstable.
Despite Scandinavian countries already having a minimum age limit of 13, a significant percentage of younger children still access social media, as highlighted by a survey by the Norwegian Media Authority.
The government has pledged to implement additional safeguards to prevent children from bypassing age restrictions, including revisions to personal data laws mandating a minimum age of 15 for consenting to personal data processing on social media platforms and the development of age verification barriers.
Emphasizing the need for protection of children from harmful content on social media, the prime minister spoke of the powerful impact that tech companies can have on young minds. He acknowledged the formidable challenge ahead but stressed the essential role of politics in addressing this issue.
While recognizing the potential benefits of social media in fostering community for isolated children, he cautioned against excessive reliance on algorithms for self-expression, citing the risk of becoming overly focused and detached.
Minister for Children and Families Gjersti Toppe engaged with parents in Stavanger to advocate for stricter online regulations for children as a means of supporting parental decisions in safeguarding their children’s online activities.
The government is exploring methods to enforce restrictions without infringing on human rights, such as potentially requiring bank account information.
Australia has also proposed a social media ban for teenagers and children, with the age limit likely to fall between 14 to 16 years old.
France is currently testing a ban on mobile phone usage in schools for students up to 15 years old, with plans for potential nationwide implementation from January pending the trial’s success.
The mother of a teenage boy who committed suicide after becoming addicted to an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot has accused the chatbot’s creator of complicity in his death.
Megan Garcia filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in Florida federal court against Character.ai, which makes customizable role-playing chatbots, alleging negligence, wrongful death, and deceptive trade practices. Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in February in Orlando, Florida. Garcia said Setzer was using the chatbot day and night in the months leading up to his death.
“A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, driving him to suicide,” Garcia said in a press release. “While our family is devastated by this tragedy, I want to warn families of the dangers of deceptive and addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders, and Google. I am raising my voice.”
in TweetCharacter.ai said: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and would like to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously. ” The company denied the lawsuit’s allegations.
Setzer was so obsessed with a chatbot built by Character.ai that he nicknamed it Daenerys Targaryen, a character from Game of Thrones. According to Garcia’s complaint, the man would text the bot dozens of times a day from his cell phone and talk to it for hours alone in his room.
Garcia has accused Character.ai of creating a product that worsened her son’s depression, which she said was already the result of overusing the company’s products. At one point, “Daenerys” asked Setzer if he had made any plans to commit suicide, according to the complaint. Setzer admitted to doing so, but didn’t know if it would be successful or cause significant pain, the lawsuit alleges. The chatbot reportedly told him, “That’s no reason not to do it.”
Garcia wrote in a press release that Character.ai “intentionally designed, operated, and marketed a predatory AI chatbot to children, resulting in the death of a young person.” The lawsuit also names Google as a defendant and the parent company of Character.ai. The tech giant said in a statement that it only has a licensing agreement with Character.ai and does not own or maintain any ownership interest in the startup.
Rick Claypool, research director at consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen, said tech companies developing AI chatbots can’t be trusted to regulate themselves, and if they fail to limit harm, says he must take full responsibility.
“Where existing laws and regulations already apply, they must be strictly enforced,” he said in a statement. “Where there are gaps, Congress must act to end companies that exploit young and vulnerable users with addictive and abusive chatbots.”
In the US, you can call or text. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988, chat 988lifeline.orgor text home To contact a crisis counselor, call 741741. In the UK, a youth suicide charity papyrus In the UK and Ireland, you can contact us on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org. Samaritan You can contact us on freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. Australian crisis support services lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at: befrienders.org
in the smoke Wide range of weekly episodes available Adam Buxton’s new podcast is being billed as Serial meets Twin Peaks, bridging the gap between fiction and true crime. May Mac is Kay McAllister, a former tabloid journalist who launches her own pod to find out what happened to a missing man. Buxton plays a modest role as DCI Roy Burgess, who worked on the case. Although told in a true-crime style, there is no doubt that this is glossy, high-quality fiction, and is an engaging, slow-burning tale. Hannah Verdier
The Burden: Avenger Wide range of weekly episodes available When Miriam Lewin was 19 years old, she was kidnapped from the streets of Buenos Aires and tortured for her political beliefs. However, she survived, became a journalist, and continued to bring her perpetrators to justice. The Handmaid’s Tale’s Alexis Bledel tells Lewin’s powerful story based on in-depth interviews. HV
Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “You Hurt My Feelings.” Photo: Jung Park/AP
The Madman’s Hotel Audible, all episodes now available Niall Breslin grew up in the shadow of an Irish “mental hospital” and has been haunted by it ever since. But when he meets Julie Clark, whose great-grandmother was imprisoned at St. Roman’s Hospital until her death, he uncovers a story of abuse even more horrifying than he could have imagined. HV
my so-called middle age Wide range of weekly episodes available “You’ve read All For, right?” Reshma Saujani asks as she introduces the podcast. “Where’s my hotel room?” Even if that didn’t convince her target audience, her first guest wisdom would agree. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (above) is as stunning as ever, opening up about the ups and downs of midlife, including the joy of posing naked for Rolling Stone. HV
super sensual Apple Podcasts, full episodes available to Apple TV+ subscribers on Mondays If you were glued to last year’s Ghost Story, here’s a winding investigation into a creepy old family secret. This time I have a question about reincarnation. Will Sharp spoke to a woman who was involved with two girls who were hit and killed by a car on their way to church in the 1950s. However, the father says he will be reborn, and his wife gives birth to twin girls… Holly Richardson
There’s a podcast for that
Kirat Assi in the Netflix documentary series Sweet Bobby. Photo: Provided by Netflix
this week, Ammar Kalia We choose the 5 best podcasts shocking developmentfrom unsolved murders to traumatic stories of catfishing.
Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha Orionis or Alpha Ori, is the second closest red supergiant star to Earth. From November 2019 to March 2020, the star experienced a historic diminution in visible brightness. Its apparent magnitude is usually between 0.1 and 1, but around February 7-13, 2020, its visual brightness decreased to magnitude 1.6. This event is called the Great Fading of Betelgeuse. A new study shows that the observed dimming is probably caused by an invisible companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. The companion, named Alpha Ori B, or Betelbuddy, acts like a snowplow as it orbits Betelgeuse, pushing light-blocking dust out of the way and making Betelgeuse appear temporarily brighter.
Graphic depiction of Betelgeuse and Betel Buddy. Image credit: Lucy Reading-Ikanda/Simons Foundation.
Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation Orion, is an 8 million-year-old red supergiant star about 724 light-years from Earth.
With a radius about 1,400 times larger than the Sun, Betelgeuse is one of the largest known stars.
It is also one of the brightest stars known, emitting more light than 100,000 suns.
The star is nearing the end of its life, and when it explodes, the event will be bright enough to be visible during the day for several weeks.
Astronomers can predict when Betelgeuse will explode by effectively “checking the pulse.”
This is a variable star, meaning it brightens and dims, pulsating like a heartbeat.
Betelgeuse has two heartbeats. One pulsates on a timescale of slightly longer than a year, and the other on a timescale of about 6 years.
One of these heartbeats is Betelgeuse's fundamental mode, a pattern of brightening and dimming unique to the star itself.
If a star's fundamental mode is its long-scale pulse, Betelgeuse could be ready to explode sooner than expected.
However, if the fundamental mode is that short-scale heartbeat, as some studies have suggested, then that longer heartbeat is a phenomenon called long secondary period.
In that case, this long brightening and dimming would be caused by something outside the star.
Scientists still don't know exactly what causes the long secondary period, but one leading theory is that the star has a companion star orbiting it and flying through the cosmic dust produced and ejected by the star. A secondary period occurs when the
The displaced dust changes the amount of starlight that reaches Earth, changing the star's apparent brightness.
Astrophysicist Jared Goldberg of the Flatiron Institute and his colleagues are investigating whether other processes, such as stirring inside the star or periodic changes in the star's strong magnetic field, could have caused the long secondary periods. was investigated.
After combining data from direct observations of Betelgeuse with sophisticated computer models that simulate the star's activity, the researchers concluded that Betelgeuse was the most likely explanation.
“We've eliminated all possible inherent variables as to why it brightens and dims the way it does,” Dr. Goldberg said.
“The only hypothesis that seems compatible is that Betelgeuse has a companion star.”
The authors have not yet determined exactly what Betelbadi is, but they assume it is a star with up to twice the mass of the Sun.
“Other than giving us constraints on mass and orbit, it's hard to say what the companion star actually is,” said Dr. Meridith Joyce, an astronomer at the University of Wyoming.
“A Sun-like star is the most likely type of companion star, but it's not definitive.”
Next, the team will try to take images of Bethelvadi with telescopes, as visibility may open around December 6, 2024.
“Since our results are based on inference rather than direct detection, we need to confirm that Betelbadi actually exists,” said Dr. László Molnár, an astronomer at the Konkoli Observatory.
“So we are currently working on an observation proposal.”
Jared A. Goldberg others. 2024. Betelgeuse's companion: Binary stardom as the origin of Alpha Orionis' long secondary period. APJin press. arXiv: 2408.09089
The trajectories of theropod dinosaurs could be used as indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior, according to a new study.
The animals in charge are Dromaeosauriformipes larus Trucks are thought to be small microraptid dinosaurs related to the ancestors of birds. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.
In the study, University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas Holtz Jr. and his colleagues examined two-toed footprints made by fast-moving, small, bird-like microraptid dinosaurs.
with scientific name Dromaeosauriformipes larus these footprints are almost 100 million years old (Cretaceous period) and were discovered preserved in rock slabs in Korea.
“This guy is lanky. He's one of the smallest dinosaurs we have fossils of,” Holtz said.
“These footprints were a puzzle because they were so small and so far apart.”
Paleontologists believe that the producers Dromaeosauriformipes larus It's not just about running on land.
The animal gained lift by flapping its winged arms, allowing it to move faster than relying solely on leg strength.
This form of exercise, known as flap running, falls somewhere between running and flying.
This generates enough aerodynamics to lift the animal off the ground in one go, allowing it to run up a tree, for example, but stops short of flying at full power.
Microraptors are cousins, but Velociraptor And it is unknown whether it is a modern bird Dromaeosauriformipes larus You will be able to fly for longer periods of time.
Trajectory of a Microraptorian theropod excavated from the Jinju Formation in Korea. Image credit: Dececchi others., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2413810121.
“We can overcome the debate over whether pre-avian dinosaurs used arms for locomotion before flight evolved and provide missing details such as which species had these abilities, when they developed them, and to what extent. We can now begin to find out,” he said. Michael Pittman is a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“Our findings show that Dromaeosauriformipes larus “It would have needed to run at about 10.5 meters per second (23.5 miles per hour) to make the track using just the power of its hind legs,” said paleontologist Dr. Alex DeCecchi of Dakota State University.
“The relative speed of our footprints is faster than that of modern running animals such as ostriches and cheetahs.”
“This is also unlikely, so we think the dinosaur could have used the aerodynamics created by flapping its feathered arms to lengthen its stride, creating a slower trajectory.”
“The footprints also suggest that the raptor was in the midst of taking off or landing,” Holtz said.
“It's like a plane descending, bouncing a little bit on the runway, and then slowing down.”
“Microraptors, capable of powered flight, were less sophisticated than modern birds in terms of flight equipment. They would have been relatively clumsy.”
of result Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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T. Alexander Dececchi others. 2024. Theropod trajectories as indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior. PNAS 121 (44): e2413810121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2413810121
The probability that one word follows another can be used to create watermarks for AI-generated text.
Vikram Arun/Shutterstock
Google uses artificial intelligence watermarks to automatically identify text generated by its Gemini chatbot, making it easier to distinguish between AI-generated content and human-written posts. This watermarking system could help prevent AI chatbots from being exploited for misinformation and disinformation, as well as fraud in schools and business environments.
Now, the technology company says it is making available an open-source version of its technology so that other generative AI developers can similarly watermark output from their large-scale language models. I am. Pushmeet Kohli Google DeepMind is the company's AI research team, combining the former Google Brain and DeepMind labs. “SynthID is not a silver bullet for identifying AI-generated content, but it is an important building block for developing more reliable AI identification tools,” he says.
Independent researchers expressed similar optimism. “There is no known way to reliably watermark, but I really think this could help detect some things like AI-generated misinformation and academic fraud,” he said. I say. scott aaronson at the University of Texas at Austin, where he previously worked on AI safety at OpenAI. “We hope that other leading language modeling companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, will follow DeepMind’s lead in this regard.”
In May of this year, Google DeepMind announced Google announced that it has implemented the SynthID method for watermarking AI-generated text and video from Google's Gemini and Veo AI services, respectively. The company recently published a paper in the journal nature SynthID generally performs better than similar AI watermarking techniques for text. The comparison involved evaluating how easily the responses from different watermarked AI models were detectable.
In Google DeepMind's AI watermarking approach, as a model generates a sequence of text, a “tournament sampling” algorithm subtly moves it toward selecting “tokens” of specific words that are detectable by associated software. Create a statistical signature. This process randomly pairs candidate word tokens in tournament-style brackets. The winner of each pair is determined by which one gets the highest score according to the watermark function. Winners advance through successive tournament rounds until there is one round remaining. The “layered approach” “further complicates the potential for reverse engineering and attempts to remove watermarks,” it said. Yellow Furong at the University of Maryland.
It said a “determined adversary” with vast computational power could remove such AI watermarks. Hanlin Zhang at Harvard University. But he said SynthID's approach makes sense given the need for scalable watermarking in AI services.
Google DeepMind researchers tested two versions of SynthID that represent a trade-off between making watermark signatures easier to detect in exchange for distorting the text typically produced by AI models. They showed that the undistorted version of the AI watermark continued to work without noticeable impact on the quality of the 20 million text responses Gemini generated during live experiments.
However, the researchers also acknowledged that this watermarking works best on long chatbot responses that can be answered in a variety of ways, such as composing an essay or an email, as well as on math or coding questions. The response to this has not yet been tested.
Google DeepMind's team and others have stated the need for additional safeguards against misuse of AI chatbots, and Huang similarly recommended stronger regulation. “Requiring watermarks by law addresses both practicality and user adoption challenges and makes large language models more secure to use,” she says.
F
Or, for those who remember the early days of the survival horror genre, its aesthetic renaissance in the independent gaming scene was a macabre delight. “Crow County,” “The Closing Shift,” and “Murder House” are all modern paranormal adventures with low-poly 3D visuals and blocky textures. It’s used not only as a visual hook, but as a way to reconnect with the things that scared the likes of Silent Hill and Clock Tower. Get involved first. Fear the Spotlight, the debut title from Cozy Game Pals and new horror-focused publisher Blumhouse Games, is another wonderful, warmly chilling example.
Two girls break into a high school library late at night, looking for specific items. It’s a spirit board that was locked in a display case as part of an exhibit on the occult. Vivian is a bit of a nerd and the library’s star volunteer, while Amy is a charming outsider with an interest in the paranormal. When the two decide to hold a seance in a vacant building, they come into contact not only with the dead, but also with tragic events from the school’s recent past. Then Amy mysteriously disappears.
Creepy atmosphere…fear the spotlight. Photo: Blumhouse Games
As Vivian, you must roam the nightmarishly transformed hallways, searching for your friends and learning more about what happened here 30 years ago. Developer Cozy Game Pals understands that night school is the perfect horror setting. The game features dark, locker-lined hallways, shabby bathrooms, and areas such as a gymnasium and pool that take on an eerie atmosphere when it gets quiet. Empty. As you explore, the game gives you small telltale signs of horror conventions. A creaking door, a flickering light, a glimpse of a face down the hallway, so you know something is watching outside. There’s also a nice use of 1990s technology, such as an overhead projector, a television with a video player, and an ancient PC, which not only provides the setting for the puzzles, but also lets you know that we’re no longer in the 21st century.
Particularly fun are the formal nods to Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Important items in the environment will glow, catching your eye and drawing Vivian’s head to interesting artifacts as you pass by. Puzzles also use familiar conventions and often involve mechanical objects, such as a generator that requires a fuse or a piano that requires a particular song to be played. The use of jerky, low-poly visuals is truly retro, but it has a self-conscious, artistic quality that elevates the look of the game beyond mere nostalgia.
This also applies to the story, which rises above the sometimes shoddy plotting and wooden voice acting common to old-school horror titles. At its core, Fear the Spotlight is a sensitive and emotionally resonant queer love story through which it explores themes of performance and observation. This is a game about the role we play in life and the role that imagination (for better or worse) plays in love and desire. The title Spotlight is both literal and figurative, offering a metaphor for the human gaze: love and bullying, desire and obsession.
This is a short game that can be completed in a few hours and has a slightly lower difficulty level, making it a great entry point into the horror genre for young adults. There’s a nice message at the end thanking players for their time and attention and acknowledging that the game isn’t perfect. Not really, but nothing really. The time I spent with the company was absorbing, eerie, and unexpectedly thought-provoking. Horror offers a distorted, shadowy lens through which to view our lives and learn new things about ourselves and the world, and it’s expertly utilized here. With its focus on love, Fear the Spotlight does more than just scare you.
Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, actor Julianne Moore, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and others have expressed concerns to artificial intelligence companies regarding the unauthorized use of their work, stating that it poses a “serious and unwarranted threat” to artists’ livelihoods. They are part of a group of 10,500 individuals who have signed a statement from the creative industry as a warning.
This issue arises amidst a legal dispute between creative professionals and technology companies over the use of copyrighted material to train AI models like ChatGPT. The argument being made is that using intellectual property without permission is a violation of copyright and artists’ rights.
The statement emphasizes the detrimental impact of unauthorized use of creative works on the livelihood of creators and advocates against allowing it. Notable individuals across literature, music, film, theater, and television have lent their support to this cause.
The statement was organized by British composer and former AI executive Ed Newton Rex, who highlighted the significant concern for individuals dependent on their creative endeavors for a living.
Newton-Rex outlined the key resources required by generative AI companies to build AI models, emphasizing the need for obtaining training data legally and not exploiting copyrighted content without proper permissions.
He also criticized the notion of calling copyright material “training data,” stating that it devalues the creative effort put into writing, art, music, and other forms of artistic expression.
The statement resonates with creators who have faced legal battles with AI companies over copyright infringement, including prominent writers and music industry entities.
Newton-Rex further cautioned against proposals for an “opt-out” system for content scraping in the UK, citing potential harm to creators who may not be aware of such mechanisms.
He suggested that an opt-in system would be more equitable for creators, rather than placing the burden of opting out on individuals undergoing AI training.
The statement received support from various organizations and companies in the creative sector, highlighting the collective concern over copyright issues in the digital age.
Overall, the statement and its signatories underscore the need for careful consideration of copyright laws and fair treatment of creators in the evolving landscape of AI technology.
Elon Musk’s Mr. Pack spends significantly more on advertising on Facebook and YouTube compared to Musk’s own social network, X.
America Pac allocated $201,000 for running numerous ads on X (formerly Twitter) in the past three months. However, the organization spent $3 million on thousands of ads on Facebook and Instagram over a similar timeframe. Musk established the pro-Donald Trump pack in July and provided it with around $75 million, as per filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Based on political advertising disclosures, America Pac invested over $166,000 on 59 ads on X from July 8 to October 1. wired. After Musk assumed control of Pac’s @America handle on October 7, the company spent approximately $34,000 on X ads. bloomberg Reported. These ads were targeted at various battleground states, with a focus on Pennsylvania, generating about 32 million impressions according to Wired.
Contrasting these figures with America Pac’s ad purchases on Facebook, the organization spent over $3 million on 1,910 ads during a 90-day period from July 22 to October 19, some of which were also duplicated on Instagram, as per Meta’s ad library. The ads targeted users in states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona.
Around 12 ads from America Pac received over 1 million impressions, while others garnered hundreds of thousands. The Meta ad library doesn’t provide total impressions for individual advertisers, making direct comparisons with X ads more challenging.
Musk’s Pack also heavily invested in Google, particularly YouTube. According to the Google Ads Transparency Center, America Pac spent $1.5 million on 251 ads with Google and its subsidiaries since early July, which is ten times higher than what was spent on X. A significant portion of the ads were video advertisements, primarily targeting Georgia, as revealed in Google’s disclosure.
With over 200 million followers on X, Musk has a massive audience reach without incurring costs. Musk frequently retweets America Pack’s content, despite Pac having fewer than 7,000 followers.
The increase in Facebook spending signifies Musk’s shifting geographic focus. Audience data from Meta’s ad library indicated that a large percentage of America Pac’s ads in the past 90 days targeted North Carolina. However, in the recent seven days, over 25% of the ads focused on Pennsylvania, where Musk has been actively campaigning in person.
Facebook’s targeting options enable advertisers to reach specific audiences based on interests. America Pac tailored its ads to users intrigued by various subjects like Kelsey Grammer, trophy hunting, Kid Rock, the Boy Scouts of America, and Joe Rogan, among others.
Since Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded it as X in 2022, he has highlighted its advertising capabilities and app store performance. Even in 2023, advertising constituted 70-75% of X’s total revenue. bloomberg This trend persisted despite Musk introducing Twitter Blue, a subscription product. X’s revenue in 2023 amounted to $2.5 billion, nearly half of the previous year, primarily due to reduced advertising expenditure.
Musk is also focusing on organizing in-person events. He pledged to donate $1 million per day until the election to registered voters supporting America Pac’s petition. Musk has been awarding giant novelty checks at rallies in Pennsylvania over the recent days.
Archaeologist removing excess mud from a Bronze Age plow
wessex archeology
A Bronze Age wooden spade has been unearthed by British archaeologists. It is extremely rare that wooden artifacts from such an ancient period have been preserved.
This spade offers a glimpse into life at a time when people grew crops and increasingly lived in settled communities.
“It’s very specific,” he says ed treasure At Wessex Archaeology, Salisbury, UK. “It’s a very direct connection to the past.”
The spade was discovered in a bog near Poole Harbor on England’s south coast, where Wessex Archeology has been excavating for several years. of The Moors of the Arne Coastal Change Project is working to restore the region’s coastal wetlands, and archaeologists are carrying out excavations to ensure that no useful artifacts are accidentally lost.
The researchers were digging a ring gully, a circular trench that is thought to have originally surrounded the shelter. In one of the ring gullies they found the handle of a spade. “It was an almost unbelievable moment,” says Treasure, who was not personally present. “I could tell right away that it was a carved piece of wood.” The spade was carved from a single piece of oak.
Moist conditions did not expose the shovel to oxygen, slowing down rot.
Using debris found with the spade, the team radiocarbon-dates the spade to 3,400 to 3,500 years ago. “A small part of the spade broke off during the burial, but we used it as a date,” Treasure said. Nearby pottery also showed a similar age. This dates the origins of the spade back to the Middle Bronze Age.
“We’re in the midst of some pretty big changes in prehistoric Britain,” Treasure says. People stopped living as nomads and began spending more time in settled communities, growing a variety of grains and other foods.
However, there are no signs of permanent settlement at this location throughout the year. Of course, it was and still is a wetland. “We strongly believe this is a seasonal use of this landscape,” Treasure says. People may have brought in animals for summer grazing, cut peat for fuel, or collected reeds for thatching.
Future research will try to understand how plows were made and what they were used for. “It may have been used to cut peat on site,” Treasure said. “It may also have been used to dig the ring ditch where it was discovered.”
It is rare that a spade from this era has been preserved. One of the only other examples is the Brynlow shovel. Discovered in Cheshire in 1875rediscovered in the 1950s It was discovered by fantasy author Alan Garner in a school assembly hall and was eventually radiocarbon dated to almost 4,000 years ago.
Hello. Welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery. I’m the technology news editor for the Guardian US. Today on TechScape, I’m decoding Elon Musk’s global political goals, a notable documentary filmed inside World of Warcraft, a vote on support for school phone bans, and TikTok’s cats. Thank you for your participation. First, let’s talk about Mr. Musk’s world politics.
Over the weekend, Mr. Musk promised to give $150,000 a day to registered voters in U.S. battleground states who signed Mr. Pack’s petition in support of the First and Second Amendments. He awarded the first prize, a novelty check the size of a kitchen island, at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, and the second prize on Sunday in Pittsburgh. He plans to continue running until the November 5th election. Experts say the stunt may be illegal.
Why is Mr. Musk doing this? what does he want?
Last week, my colleagues Nick Robbins Early and Rachel Reingan published an article examining Musk’s inevitable influence on the US presidential election. The article delves into Musk’s political activities over the past few months, but what particularly interested me was the question it raised: As restrictions ease, masks around the world Is it the driving force behind his political activities? Is all this spending and campaigning about cutting government departments?
The constant battle with all the regulatory agencies comes at the same time that Musk has made numerous public statements supporting deregulation and calling for a full-scale federal audit. The idea has gained support from President Trump, who announced in September that he would create a Musk-led Government Efficiency Commission to audit cuts at federal agencies. Musk wants to call it the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, a reference to one of his favorite memes, the expressive Shiba Inu.
One of Musk’s go-to memes. Photo: The Guardian
The plan is vague in details and fails to address Mr. Musk’s apparent conflict of interest in auditing the regulators that oversee his company, but both Mr. Trump and Mr. He repeatedly brings up the idea of playing some kind of role. President Trump appeared on Fox News earlier this week and said he would create a new position called “Secretary of Cost Reduction” and appoint Musk to the position.
“He wants to do this,” President Trump said.
But Musk’s fight to reduce government agencies is not limited to the United States. At times, he found himself at odds with other billionaires in battles with “regulators.” In India, Mr. Musk is at war with the government. satellite broadband distribution And he won against Mukesh Ambani. Asia’s richest man wanted more favorable terms for his communications empire.
He calls himself a “free speech absolutist” and is dissatisfied with speech regulators. A month after the general election, when Britain was in the midst of violent race riots, Musk tweeted that “civil war is inevitable” and posted a cartoon depicting a man in the electric chair. , argued that this was gratuitous punishment by the government. He has made similar criticisms of California’s government and President Joe Biden’s administration.
His fight for deregulation regularly puts him at odds with the judiciary. Last month, Brazil cut off access to X for failing to comply with a judge’s order and also fined SpaceX subsidiary Starlink for violating its sister company. Mr. Musk and Mr. X eventually complied.
Recently, some regulators have taken new steps and begun imposing penalties on mask companies for their (or Musk’s) actions.
Last week, European regulators took a page out of Brazil’s book, telling Company X’s lawyers: EU could impose fines For social media companies that failed to comply with the Digital Services Act. Importantly, regulators are proposing to calculate that tax based on the total revenue of Mr. Musk’s businesses, not just Company X’s profits. A possibly much higher fine could leave the social media platform in financial limbo.
In California, the Coastal Commission cited Musk’s tendency to tweet misinformation during a vote to reject SpaceX and the U.S. Air Force’s petition to launch more rockets from a base on the Santa Barbara coast. did. In response, Musk filed a lawsuit alleging political bias and violations of the First Amendment. He just wants to be left alone to peacefully fire rockets, tweet, and spend tens of millions of dollars on his presidential campaign.
Read the full story about Mr. Musk’s ubiquitous campaign.
Photo: Christopher Kumar/PR
Evelin’s amazing life The film follows the legacy of Mads Steen, a Norwegian teenager who suffered from a degenerative disorder that forced him to spend most of his 25 years in a wheelchair.
As Steen became more dependent on his wheelchair and breathing machine, he began spending more time playing World of Warcraft and other games, sometimes up to 12 hours a day. The film takes place where he spent most of his life: online.
Steen’s parents are concerned about the negative effects screen time is having on their son. They fear he will “never experience friendship, love, or making a difference in the lives of others.” But after his death, they realize that their despair has given him a lifeline, freeing him to do all the things they never thought he could do. Steen’s Warcraft character Eveline led him into deep friendships, adventures, and even digital romance. He left them a password when he died so they could find out about his second life.
The film’s action, which mirrors Steen’s life, occurs both offline and online. Shot on digital locations in World of Warcraft’s Azeroth, it follows Ibelin’s reenactments of her conquests, conversations, and relationships there. Close-up shots zoom in on the avatar’s facial expressions, simulating the presence and emotions of Steen and his friends who talk about him as part of the Warcraft family. Each speaks of the deeply positive impact of the in-game friendship they shared with Steen through Evelin.
Evelyn’s scenes in Azeroth succeed in imbuing the fictional characters’ actions there with real meaning. Evelin kisses her date at sunset. He joins a family called Starlight. In moments of distress he lashes out at those closest to him. These avatars constitute the entire emotional life of a group of friends. They gave hope to a boy whose parents saw his life as truncated and lacking. Who’s to say they’re not real?
The success story of video games and social media is as old as the backlash against both. But what makes this documentary different is that it places the viewer next to the subject on screen. This is an immersive and empathetic approach, and it’s much better than watching someone use a device from a third-person perspective.
The film comes as parents around the world debate how much screen time is appropriate for their children. The argument that time spent digitally with friends has tangible weight is made even more persuasive by its format. By relying on in-game cinematography, the film shows the emotional weight of online life.
The film will be released on Netflix on October 25th.
on my iPhone
Photo: The Guardian
This week I’ve been watching some interesting videos: Cat equipped with a camera collar. This video is not only a peek into the secret lives of outdoor pets, but also a marvel of camera stabilization technology. Some camera companies have already Sponsored by Mr. Kittershas become one of the main characters on TikTok. Another feline star, the confrontational @max20499, is more of a villain. He loves to ambush and fight unsuspecting cats. To find him, the app suggests the search terms “Maxwell the Bully Kitten” and “Maxwell the Bully Kitten meets his match.”
Britain has banned students from using mobile phones in schools. Should U.S. schools do the same?
Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters
pew research last week released a poll of 5,110 American adults about banning cell phone use in schools. You may be surprised by the results, as I was. Quote from the poll results:
Have you ever experienced it? Throwing a Frisbee to a friend, only for it to end up in the middle of a nearby picnic. Researchers at Berry College in Georgia may have found a solution to this embarrassment by discovering the optimal way to hold the disc for maximum performance.
A study conducted by the researchers involved professional and amateur disc golfers to investigate how different thumb positions affect disc throwing. The research revealed that positioning the thumb approximately 3 centimeters from the outer edge of the disc led to the fastest launch and spin speeds.
“For amateur players unsure of where to place their thumbs, starting at the 3cm position is a good choice,” said lead author Dr. Zachary Lindsey.
Disc golf, a sport where players throw a disc towards a metal basket, was established in the 1960s in the United States and is now played by approximately 108,000 players from 40 countries under the Professional Disc Golf Association.
To analyze techniques for enhancing players’ skills, Lindsey’s team utilized miniature sensors to examine the speed and rotation of discs thrown by 24 players. Through 600 pitches, it was observed that higher spin rates correlated with faster launch rates.
A 2020 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physics indicated that disc stability and flight distance can be improved by increasing frisbee spin. Physicists have also kept themselves busy during lockdown by studying how faster spin results in longer flight distances and faster launches.
The study concluded that the optimal thumb position for achieving the fastest launch and highest spin speeds is at the sweet spot, 3 cm from the center. Scientists are eager to further explore whether this position is effective for Frisbees of all sizes.
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