The primary suspect in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, believed to be Saudi Arabia’s prime suspect, has reinstated his account following its permanent suspension by the previous owner of Elon Musk’s social media company X. Ta.
Saud al-Qahtani, a former key advisor to Mohammed bin Salman, was directly implicated in Khashoggi’s murder, according to US intelligence assessments released by the Biden administration in 2021.
It has been revealed that the crown prince had sanctioned Operation Grizzly in Turkey, resulting in the death of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The US assessment also identified a 15-member Saudi team involved in the murder, including employees of the Saudi Center for Research and Media Affairs (CSMARC) headed by Qahtani, known as the “Lord of the Flies” among Saudi dissidents.
Qahtani and his subordinate Maher Mutreb were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2018 for their roles in Khashoggi’s murder. Despite earlier sanctions, no evidence linking Qahtani to the crime has been presented.
The reactivation of Qahtani’s account remains unexplained, with speculation suggesting it could be part of Musk’s broader efforts to reinstate suspended users or a technical glitch.
Saudi Arabia, a major investor in X through Kingdom Holding, has had ties with the platform since 2011.
Formerly known as Twitter, X suspended Qahtani’s account in 2019, citing policy violations, shortly after he was reportedly removed from his advisory role. Saudi state media institutions were also targeted for amplifying pro-Saudi messages on social media networks.
After being suspended, Qahtani’s account, with 1.2 million followers, displayed a “suspended” message before going blank. The account is now active again, without new posts.
Qahtani visited New York before Khashoggi’s murder, as indicated by past tweets. Musk’s involvement in reinstating Qahtani’s account remains unclear.
An investigation revealed a network of pro-Saudi X accounts coordinating efforts to reinstate Qahtani’s account, possibly influenced by Saudi stakes in X.
Musk has reinstated other controversial figures on X, raising concerns about the platform’s policies and potential for manipulation. Company X’s media outlet did not provide a comment on the matter.
As the UK prepares for the clocks to change, two major shifts are on the horizon. Unfortunately, summer is coming to an end, but on the bright side, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep when the clocks go back in October.
But when exactly will this happen? And why do we turn the clocks back to March? Here’s everything you need to know.
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When will the clocks change in October 2024?
The clocks will go back to 2am on Sunday, October 27, 2024, marking the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) or British Summer Time (BST) and the switch to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
This adjustment means that the sun will set an hour earlier in London at 4:41pm on Sunday. However, the sunrise in London will also move back an hour from 7:45am to 6:45am, so you can expect a brighter morning.
Your smartphone will automatically update the time while you sleep, but get ready to reset your car, wall, and oven clocks the next day.
I hope this year I won’t have to keep pressing the minute button repeatedly to reset the time…
Why do the clocks change?
The practice of changing the clocks is more practical than scientific, allowing people to maximize daylight. Turning back the clocks in autumn means the sun sets earlier, giving us a head start on winter.
Where did daylight saving time originate?
The concept of daylight saving time can be traced back to George Hudson in New Zealand in 1895. He proposed adjusting the clocks to have more sunlight for activities. The idea was later supported by William Willett in the UK in 1907 to make better use of daylight hours.
Britain implemented daylight saving time in 1916 for energy conservation during World War I.
Why do some people want to end daylight saving time?
While many enjoy an extra hour in the fall, the spring clock change can disrupt sleep patterns and impact health. Studies have shown an increased risk of heart attack and decreased sleep quality during time transitions.
Experts suggest soaking up natural light and avoiding hitting the snooze button to adjust to the time change.
Are there benefits to abolishing daylight saving time?
Research has shown that serious traffic accidents decrease and crime rates lower with the adjustment of daylight saving time. Countries differ in their adoption of this practice.
Which countries do not use daylight saving time?
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time, including many in Africa. The EU is undecided on abolishing daylight saving time, while countries near the equator enjoy stable daylight hours.
Early galaxies are dominated by bright galaxy clusters, which are larger and more massive than the local Universe. Star formation activity can be strongly influenced and even halted by many processes that are directly related to the environment in which galaxies exist. Ram pressure stripping, the removal of interstellar gas from the disk of star-forming galaxies by hydrodynamic interaction with the hot intergalactic medium, is one such process that It is thought to have a strong influence on the galaxy population. Groups, especially clusters.
This Hubble image shows spiral galaxy IC 3225 with Ram pressure removed. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.
IC 3225 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 100 million light years away in the constellation Virgo.
Also known as LEDA 40111 or UGC 7441, discovered It was announced on November 4, 1899 by German astronomer Arnold Schwassmann.
“IC 3225 looks strikingly like it was fired from a cannon, hurtling through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from the disk behind it,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“IC 3225 is one of more than 1,300 members of the Virgo cluster, so the galaxy's location suggests several causes for this active scene.”
“While the density of galaxies within the Virgo cluster creates a rich field of hot gas between them, the so-called intracluster medium, the extreme mass of this cluster also allows for some extremely There are galaxies that orbit around the center in fast orbits.”
“Collision into thick intracluster material, especially near the center of a galaxy cluster, places enormous collision pressures on the moving galaxy, stripping the gas from the moving galaxy.”
“Although IC 3225 is currently not very close to the center of the cluster, astronomers suspect that it has undergone such ram pressure removal in the past,” the researchers noted.
“This galaxy looks as if it has been affected by this. One side of the galaxy is compressed and there is significantly more star formation at this leading edge, while the other end is misshapen. Masu.”
“Being in such a crowded region, a close call with another galaxy may have pulled IC 3225 and created this shape.”
“The sight of this distorted galaxy is a reminder of the incredible forces at work on an astronomical scale that move and reshape entire galaxies.”
This new image of IC 3225 consists of observations from. Hubble's advanced survey camera (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical portions of the spectrum.
Two filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
Weighted blankets can help improve sleep in adults with insomnia and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, but results are mixed in children, one researcher says. new review paper Published in American Occupational Therapy Journal.
dawson others. We suggest that occupational therapists should consider offering or recommending weighted blankets as a sleep intervention option for all age groups, taking into account individual preferences. Image credit: Martin de Arriba.
“Sleep is a basic human need, and not getting enough sleep can increase or worsen the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and mental health problems, as well as It can cause health problems.” Dr Suzanne Dawson, researcher at Flinders University.
“In occupational therapy, weighted blankets are becoming common among many age groups as an assistive technology, but there are no current clinical guidelines for their use.”
In a review study, Dr. Dawson and fellow authors considered 18 existing studies that investigated the overnight use of weighted blankets.
They found significant evidence supporting the use of weighted blankets to improve sleep in adults.
“Weighted blankets appear to offer a specific, non-drug intervention to improve sleep quality,” says Dr. Dawson.
“Adults who used the blanket reported improved sleep, reduced use of sleeping pills, and even improved mood and pain management.”
Despite strong evidence for use in adults, research on the use of weighted blankets in children is mixed, and there are limits to their ability to improve sleep in children with conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorders.
“However, some parents report positive results with the use of weighted blankets, and some studies have shown that children’s daily functioning improves after using weighted blankets.”
“Parents often reported that when using blankets, their children seemed more relaxed, less anxious, and more focused in their daily lives. This has been shown to improve children’s overall health can have long-term effects,” Dr. Dawson said.
The authors note that for children and adults with cognitive impairments, the blankets used should be easy to remove on their own.
Although the findings indicate that overnight use of weighted blankets is recommended for adults and can be continued for children, the next step is to develop clear clinical guidelines for blanket use.
“This scoping study was conducted to inform change in practice and its findings were used to change state-wide protocols for the use of weighted blankets across South Australia’s public mental health services. I’m very happy about that,” Dr. Dawson said.
“Blankets come in many different types, including those with beads and chains, and those of varying weights, but there are still no standardized recommendations including type, weight, frequency of use, and duration. .”
“More rigorous research is needed to find out how best to use them, but the practical use of weighted blankets requires further research.”
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Suzanne Dawson others. 2024. Weighted Blankets as a Sleep Intervention: A Scope Review. American Occupational Therapy Journal 78 (5): 7805205160;doi: 10.5014/ajot.2024.050676
Archaeologists from the University of Granada have announced the discovery of the remains of an ancient Roman forum in Ubrique, Spain’s Andalusia region.
Ruins of Ubrique, Andalusia, Spain. Image credit: University of Granada.
“The main purpose of the excavations was to confirm the hypothesis proposed by local scholar Juan Vegaso at the end of the 18th century that the central terrace of the hill, known as Cerro de la Mora, was the site of a Roman forum. City”, University of Granada. Professor Macarena Bustamante Alvarez her colleagues said in a statement.
At the site, archaeologists unearthed what appears to be a wall surrounding the central plaza, about 1 meter (3.3 feet) high and 16 meters (52.5 feet) long.
They also discovered a series of architectural elements indicating large, clearly public buildings dating back to Roman times.
“We confirmed the presence of a monumental altar with decorative architectural remains,” the archaeologists said.
“These include the bases and axes of columns, as well as other evidence of statue plinths and column remains scattered throughout the city.”
“We were also able to re-examine some of the buildings at the site and outline an area that shows Roman religious practices, especially those related to water.”
Ruins of an ancient Roman forum in Ubrique, Andalusia, Spain. Image credit: University of Granada.
According to researchers, the ruins continued to be inhabited until the end of the 4th century AD.
“This is confirmed by coins found in the area, one of which bears a christogram, the first example of Christian iconography found at the site,” they said. Ta.
“Additionally, North African pottery allowed us to extend the period of occupation of this site, which was previously thought to last until the third century AD.
“It also helped us understand the trade routes that are closely connected to the Campo de Gibraltar region.”
In addition, scientists have unearthed the possible basis of a medieval defensive structure.
“This building would have provided a visual link between this site and other surrounding fortifications that would have been used to monitor this mountainous area of Cadiz,” they said. Ta.
“This excavation provides an overview of a space important for understanding the arrival and settlement of the Romans in the southern Iberian Peninsula and their intermixture with communities already settled in the area.”
These forest-dwelling birds live in pairs or small groups, feed on fruits and arthropods, and regularly feed on swarms of army ants.
These are common in the Atlantic Forest and are bold, conspicuous, and easy to observe. However, it is less conspicuous in the Andes Mountains, since its main habitat is drier forests than in the Atlantic region.
“Trichotraupis is a single-species genus found in two separate populations, one in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil (from southern Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul), northeastern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay, at an altitude of 1,200 m above sea level. In the range of up to meters. ” Dr. Wagner Cavalzel from Paulista University and its colleagues.
“It is usually associated with the Atlantic Forest, but some isolated populations also exist in the Gallery Forest of the southern Pantanal and eastern Chaco.”
“The second population is found on the eastern slopes of the Andes from northern Peru to extreme northwestern Argentina, primarily at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,700 meters.”
recent research proven The people of the Atlantic Ocean and the Andes Trichotraupis melanops Because they are genetically isolated, their current classification as monotypic species should be reconsidered.
In the new study, Cavalzere and his co-authors evaluated the morphology, plumage, and vocalizations of Atlantic and Andean populations.
The researchers examined a total of 581 skin specimens housed in museums around the world.
“Our feather studies revealed full diagnostic potential between the two populations. Trichotraupis” they said.
“Both populations are also differentiated by tarsal length, with the Atlantic population having longer tarsals on average.”
“Furthermore, the taxa live in different types of vegetation (Atlantic Forest and Tucumano-Boliviano Forest and Yungas Mountain Forest).”
named Trichotraupis griseonota (common name: Andean black swan), this new species is found on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina, at altitudes ranging from 400 meters to 1,700 meters.
“Trichotraupis griseonota “It is restricted to the eastern slopes of the Andes in south-central Peru, Bolivia and northwestern Argentina,” the scientists said.
“It inhabits the seasonally dry Tucumano-Boliviano forest, which is restricted to the Andean forests of northwestern Argentina and the foothills of north-central Bolivia.”
“This species also occurs in the narrow Yungas woodlands at the foothills of the Andes in northern Bolivia and Peru.”
“These montane forests exhibit higher moisture levels compared to the Tucumano-Boliviano forests.”
According to the research team, the fact that these different lineages were previously unrecognized is somewhat interesting, given that: Trichotraupis It is a common species and is abundant in collections.
“Given that museum specimens have played the most important role since their birth several centuries ago, in addition to being a very important and relatively new paradigm in describing new species discovered in museum cabinets. “We emphasize that it is particularly important in the era of genomes and supercomputers; it is fundamental to avian taxonomy,” the authors concluded.
“By documenting and organizing variations and enabling these insights, Trichotraupis griseonota This should serve as a reminder for ornithologists to never underestimate the potential for exciting new discoveries in a seemingly common set of bird skin specimens. ”
Wagner Cavalzere others. 2024. A new species of golden butterfly (species: Traupidae) that lives on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains. zoo animals 5468 (3): 541-556;doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5468.3.7
Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) may drink you under the table
Vladimir Kazachikov/Shutterstock
One species of wasp, which often eats alcohol-containing foods, can retain alcohol at levels that other known animals cannot tolerate without causing side effects.
‘This is crazy,’ says study author Sofia Bucebuti at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel.
Oriental wasp diet (vespa orientalis) consists of ripe fruit containing nectar and grapes. This fruit contains sugar, which is converted to ethanol through natural fermentation over time.
While ethanol is highly nutritious for animals, it is also highly intoxicating. Even animals that routinely eat fermented fruit, such as fruit flies and shrews, cannot have more than 4% ethanol in their diet, Bucebuti and his colleagues say.
But when Bucebuti’s team fed the hornets nothing for a week other than various sugar solutions containing varying amounts of ethanol from 1 to 80 percent, the hornets seemed unaffected. Neither their behavior nor their lifespans changed. What makes this particularly surprising is that a solution containing 80% ethanol contains four times the alcohol content of what occurs in nature.
“We initially experimented with only 20%. [ethanol] And we are already surprised,” say study authors Elan Levin At Tel Aviv University, Israel. The 80% ethanol figure is “even more incredible.”
Analysis of the genomes of several wasp species suggests that the insects have two to four copies of the gene that produces NADP+, which helps break down alcohol. Researchers think this may help explain why the oriental hornet, and perhaps other wasp species, can process such large amounts of alcohol.
These findings “remind us that we’re not the only ones who like alcohol.” james fry at the University of Rochester in New York. However, because data from other animal studies are difficult to compare, researchers are not convinced that wasps are the only organisms that can process such large amounts of alcohol.
Wasps’ love of alcohol may give them a competitive advantage when it comes to eating nutritious, highly fermented foods, researchers say. Irene Stefanini At the University of Turin, Italy. She believes that the wasp’s resistance is probably related to the mutualistic relationship between the animal and fermenting brewer’s yeast. budding yeastWhich her study They have been shown to live in the intestines of wasps, survive, and even mate. Perhaps the wasp helps the yeast move from fruit to fruit, and the yeast helps the wasp find energy-rich food.
Two ecological species Helicobacter pylori. The bacteria, named ‘Hardy’ and ‘Ubiquitous’, coexisted in the stomachs of modern humans before they left Africa, and were dispersed around the world as humans migrated, new research shows. Ta.
Tourette’s others. They discovered that indigenous peoples in Siberia and the Americas were infected with two different types of viruses. Helicobacter pylori. Image credit: sjs.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.
First discovered in 1983, Helicobacter pylori. During long-term colonization of human hosts, it disturbs the stomach lining and causes sequelae such as ulcers and gastric cancer.
Numerous Helicobacter pylori. Virulence factors have been identified and show wide geographic variation.
In the new study, Dr. Elise Tourette and colleagues at the Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection used an unprecedented collection of 6,864 individuals. Helicobacter pylori. Genomes from around the world to investigate the prevalence of bacteria.
They unexpectedly discovered a very distinct variant. Helicobacter pylori. They named it the Hardy species, which originated hundreds of thousands of years ago and spread around the world with humans.
They proposed that this species is specialized to live in the stomachs of carnivores whose diet consists mainly of meat and fish.
Therefore, genetic variations found in the bacteria in our stomachs today can tell us what our ancestors ate.
“Our diverse global sample has allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of world history. Helicobacter. This confirmed previous findings that these bacteria were already passengers in our stomachs when we left Africa more than 50,000 years ago,” said Dr. Tourette. .
“But we also identified something surprising, in the form of a new ecological species. Helicobacter. We called it Hardy.”
“It differs by more than 100 genes from the common type we called ubiquitous.”
“Hardy’s ecospecies turned out to be very informative about what bacteria need to do to survive in our stomachs, but more fundamentally, bacterial diversity How it was maintained also turned out to be very informative.”
“Most humans alive today are omnivores or vegetarians, meaning a significant portion of our diet consists of plant material,” said Dr. Daniel Farash, also of the Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection. said.
“However, in some parts of the world, plant material was historically unavailable for large parts of the year, and people relied heavily on fish and meat for food.”
“So far, the Hardy ecospecies has only been identified in humans from indigenous populations such as Siberia and northern Canada.”
“Due to ancient host jumps, this virus has also been found in tigers and cheetahs in zoos, with important genetic differences that allow it to adapt to gastric conditions in carnivores.”
“This association is particularly interesting because our analysis also suggests that both ecological species have accompanied humans since our species’ emergence in Africa more than 200,000 years ago.” Because there is.”
“If this species is indeed adapted to being a carnivore, it means that humans who spread around the world often did not eat plants, even if plants were available. .”
By analyzing Helicobacter pylori. By analyzing genomes from around the world, researchers discovered that the first modern humans were infected with two different types of bacteria: M. hardyi and M. ubiquitous.
Both species spread from Africa during early human migrations, reaching as far as South America.
The ubiquitous ecospecies has been found in every human population sampled to date, whereas the Hardy ecospecies has only been sampled from a small number of indigenous populations and may have become extinct at many points along its migratory routes. It suggests that.
However, one strain of the African Hardy strain has shifted hosts to big cats and has been isolated from cheetahs, lions, and tigers in zoos.
Understanding why these species can coexist in some populations but not in others will help us understand the profound implications of our prehistory and the gastric diseases we still suffer from today. It is hoped that this will shed light on the burden.
“Our results also show that very different adaptive strategies can arise and be stably maintained within bacterial populations, even in the presence of continuous genetic exchange between strains.” said the scientists.
The slogan “the personal is political” was influential in the 1960s, highlighting power dynamics in marriage. Today, a slogan like “technology is political” is equally relevant, showing how a few global corporations hold political sway in liberal democracies. Elon Musk’s recent appearance alongside Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally underscored technology’s prominent role in American politics. Despite Musk’s reluctance to tweet, his company provides internet to Ukrainian troops and his rocket was selected to land the next American on the moon.
In the past, tech giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple flourished in a lenient political climate. Democratic governments overlooked technology’s influence, and antitrust regulators were hampered by legal restrictions. The University of Chicago Law School promoted the idea that corporate dominance was permissible unless it harmed consumers. However, recent regulatory actions led by the DOJ and FTC show a shift towards addressing tech monopolies like Google facing antitrust allegations.
The tech industry’s political awakening is evident in the substantial financial support crypto companies provide to political campaigns. Rather than aiming to sway election results, this money is directed towards influencing the composition of Congress. This contrasts with the tech pioneers of the past who shunned politics, highlighting the current intertwining of technology and politics.
John Norton is a Professor of Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University.
a The warrior and his wolf traverse a stunning landscape in a video game like no other. Cranes soar from a sparkling pond, while wild boars and stags wander in the background. The camera pans out to reveal a vast plain with yellow flowers spreading in all directions and cracked mountains in the distance. However, corruption lurks in this beautiful world. Birds fall from the sky, and black flowers emerge as a masked demon preys on them. These are the enemies that the warrior, armed with a thin blade, must defeat. But the task is daunting, as there are many foes to face, and the warrior is accompanied only by his faithful wolf companion.
Neva does not rely on words to embellish its setting. The game immerses players in a visually stunning world brought to life by developer Nomada Studio’s animation and accompanied by evocative music from Barcelona-based Berlinist. While many games prioritize style over substance, Neva excels on all fronts. The emotional impact of watching the world deteriorate and creatures succumb to darkness is profound, leaving players moved by the experience.
The journey begins with a small wolf pup that grows alongside the player, relying on their protection in the face of darkness. Players must utilize various abilities such as dashes, double jumps, and a rapier to combat the encroaching evil and safeguard their companion. The bond between the warrior and the wolf forms the heart of the game, evolving as the seasons change and the characters face new challenges.
“The bond between you and this wolf is the emotional center of this game.” Photo provided by: Nomada Studio
As the wolf matures, it gains new abilities and forms a crucial partnership with the player, aiding in combat and offering protection. The growth and development of the wolf symbolize the evolving relationship between player and companion, adding depth to the gameplay experience.
Neva seamlessly blends nature with changing architecture, creating diverse challenges that test players’ skills. The puzzles and combat scenarios are well-crafted, providing a balance of difficulty and consequence. The game’s visual design and atmospheric storytelling draw players into a captivating world where choices matter and dangers lurk at every turn.
Reminiscent of critically acclaimed games like Journey, Neva offers a compelling and emotionally resonant experience that lingers long after the credits roll. The journey towards the distant mountain, fraught with challenges and revelations, culminates in a poignant conclusion that leaves players reflecting on the profound impact of their adventure.
BBorn in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1987, Yael van der Woeden is a writer and teacher of creative writing and comparative literature in the Netherlands. Her work has appeared in publications such as LitHub, Electric Literature, and Elle.com, and she writes the David Attenborough-themed advice column “Dear David” for the online literary magazine Longleaf Review. Her essay on Dutch identity and Jewishness, “Reading (Not) Anne Frank,” received a notable mention in the 2018 Best American Essays collection. safepublished by Viking earlier this year, is van der Woden’s debut novel and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
A friend gave this to me and said, “Your genetic makeup has changed.” You might think that a novel given with the promise of a life-changing experience would only disappoint, but still! intention idol wild Will it disturb the mental equilibrium of all readers? Not likely. Does this send some of us into a survival spiral for about a week? surely. This novel is at once a well-known and well-written three-act Bildungsroman, and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I’ve pitched this to people: Imagine a teenage love triangle. Instead of love, the three axes are obsession, sexuality, and gender envy. A scary and fun ride.
Mid-century renovation by Dashner Design & Restoration.
During vacation this summer, my girlfriend peeked over my shoulder in bed, saw me watching my wardrobe repair job for 45 minutes, and started teasing me badly. That’s what grandma does, she said. Surely grandma wouldn’t restore the entire wardrobe, I said. It is very physically demanding and requires years of study. I didn’t convince her, but I’ve been trying to convince her. There’s a sense in craftsmanship of doing something very well and applying that skill to undoing entropy that people do know things and mistakes can be undone. It will remain. Or maybe I just couldn’t get over my surprise at the successful transformation.
3. Music
Fountain Baby by Amaarae
“Addiction and anxiety”: Amarase. Photo: Sonya Horsman
The last few years have been great for pop. And my favorite genre to come out of it is the weird, naughty side of queer hyperpop. The great Chapel Lawn was brewed in these waters, but also consider Peach PRC, Ashnikko, Cobra and Lil Marico. I’ve been obsessed with Amaarae’s latest album for a while now. fountain babyespecially the song antisocial dance queen. A pop-creepy, devilish dance club hit with a Minogueian refrain of “Touch, touch, touch!” Lyrics include “I buried all the bodies in the pool.'' It’s addictive and anxiety-provoking.
4. Interior design
pottery fish
Photo: shoppingiro.com
Two things are tied together in this piece. The fact that I’m moving soon and the fact that I’m fully engaged in researching the former Zuiderzee (‘southern sea’), which is now the IJsselmeer. Water cascading down like a big thumb in the middle of the Netherlands. I’ve been researching what types of fish survived the transition from salty to sweet water, and how that affected coastal life and people’s relationships with water. . Actually, I’ve been thinking about fish lately. So when I started looking for things to put in my new home, I just kept being drawn to fish. Fish plates, fish art, fish shower curtains. I’ve been staring blankly at fish and found most of them to be terrifying, but I believe this collection of Italian ceramic fish is perfect in every way. Especially the anchovies and sardines, the cool blue color and big eyes. they make me happy. I have come to understand that this is not a universal opinion. However, I ended up buying 6 of them. Will probably buy more.
“For lovers of oak, honey and baked apples…” Photo: Amazon.De
5. Drinks
Calvados Dauphin Fine
I have recently been writing in Giethoorn, perhaps the most picturesque town in the Netherlands. Canals, bridges and thatched roofs. My hosts were a wonderful couple who took me sightseeing and boating. And most importantly, he emailed me at the end of every other day of writing. Question mark on wine glass emoji? And when I got off, there was food and wine and laughter, and on my last night there I had a glass of Calvados Dauphin Fine. It had a story. When they were young, an older couple allowed them to try the drink, and then they kept saving up for months to buy their own bottles. From then on, they made sure to always have them on hand. I was skeptical, took a sip, and have been planning to buy one for myself ever since. Not too sweet, not too spicy. For those who love oak, honey, baked apples, and the fantasy of a life that welcomes a weary writer in his spare room.
Zuiderzee Museum in the Netherlands. Photo: Christophe Cappelli/Alamy
This is one of the most impressive heritage museums I’ve ever seen. Its history is as follows. In 1932, the Ahu Water Embankment, a weir dam that effectively cut off the Zuiderzee and turned it into a large, shallow, sweet-water lake, was completed. As traditional marine life dwindled along the coast and on the islands, the museum served as a living archive, with abandoned homes being transported en masse to the museum grounds. Desks, beds, chairs, fishing nets, sheets, the entire store. The museum is a large village with original and recreated houses. You can go inside these houses and touch objects, and historians dressed in traditional costumes will tell you the stories. It’s both magical and tragic. The fact that we are witnessing traces of life being carefully selected and contained also means that it has disappeared. Web only:
7. Podcast
death, sex, money
Hugh and Crystal Hefner at the Playboy Mansion in 2014. Photo: Charlie Galley/Getty Images
Anna Sale is one of my favorite interviewers. I listened to almost every episode before heading to my first hosting gig. death, sex, moneyjust to see if there’s something about her inquisitive attitude with other people that might affect me. I wish I could laugh like her. One of my favorite recent episodes is the one about life at the Playboy Mansion. Crystal Hefner talks about life in the claustrophobic house and under Hefner’s control, his childish tyranny. She tells the story of living there as a young woman, then marrying Hefner as an adult, and how she sought and found agency in small, secret ways. A gorgeous interview.
Scientists in the United States and Australia are working on bringing back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a century after their extinction. They believe that with new DNA technology and Tasmanian tiger fossils, the animal could be reintroduced into the wild.
Researchers are collaborating with Colossal Biosciences to develop a plan to revive the Tasmanian tiger. They aim to address ecological issues and consider the potential impact of resurrecting an extinct species.
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What was the Tasmanian Tiger?
The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the Tasmanian possum, resembled dogs and wolves in many ways. Its official name, Thylacine, means “dog-headed pouched animal” when translated. Despite its dog-like appearance, the marsupial was comparable in size to a golden retriever, including its long tail.
However, human misunderstanding and hunting led to the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, with the last known species dying in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936.
Why would they want it back…?
Colossal Biosciences believes that reintroducing the Tasmanian tiger could have positive impacts on the ecosystem. Predators like the Tasmanian tiger could help control population levels of other species and prevent diseases from spreading.
Researchers suggest that the presence of Tasmanian tigers could have prevented the decline of the Tasmanian devil population, which is currently facing extinction due to facial tumor disease.
…and how?
Scientists are using DNA technology to recreate the genetic structure of the Tasmanian tiger using samples from related species. By comparing DNA sequences and making genetic edits, they hope to reconstruct the Tasmanian tiger’s genome and potentially bring it back to life.
While challenges remain in transitioning revived species from the lab to the wild, researchers are optimistic about the project’s progress.
Are we all doomed?
The implications of reintroducing extinct species like the Tasmanian tiger are still unknown. Scientists are cautious about the potential consequences on existing ecosystems and the behavior of revived animals in the wild.
Further research and monitoring will be crucial to understanding the impact of reviving extinct species and reintroducing them to their natural habitats.
What animals might come back next?
Colossal Biosciences is also working on reviving other extinct species, such as the dodo and woolly mammoth. These projects pose similar ethical and ecological challenges, but researchers are hopeful about the potential benefits of bringing back these ancient creatures.
Paleontologists have identified a species of medium-sized iguanodont ornithopod dinosaur from two specimens found in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.
Reconstruction of the life of early rhabdodontomorph dinosaurs Iani Smitty. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.
Emilia Saura Alessandri They lived in what is now Patagonia during the Valanginian period of the Early Cretaceous period, about 138 million years ago.
“Knowing early Cretaceous dinosaurs is crucial for gaining insight into the evolution of the clade characteristic of younger Cretaceous fauna,” said lead author Dr. Rodolfo Coria, Argentina, Canada , said a European colleague.
“Dinosaur diversity around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary represents a unique chapter characterized by the establishment of several major lineages.”
“However, knowledge of the diversity of dinosaurs during the Early Cretaceous period is poor, especially in South America.”
Emilia Saura Alessandri belongs to rhabdodontomorphaa group of early Iguanodon dinosaurs within the clade ornithopoda.
This dinosaur group consists of small to large plant-eating animals that live in Europe and Gondwana.
“Emilia Saura Alessandri “This is the first South American record of the family Rhabdodontomorphinae, and is currently the oldest and more primitive member of this clade,” the paleontologists said.
“This new species formed part of a diverse Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) dinosaur assemblage that also included diplodocids, sauropods of the dicraeosauridae, and theropods of the carcharodontosauridae.”
Emilia Saura Alessandri It is represented by two fossil specimens collected from different locations and stratigraphic levels. Murichinko formation.
“The holotype specimen includes the coracoid, proximal scapula, humerus, and complete right hindlimb, whereas the paratype specimen preserves vertebral elements, haemarchus, incomplete pelvis, and nearly complete hindlimb. “, the researchers said.
“The new species has an anteroposteriorly elongated ilium with an S-shaped dorsal margin and a broad short shelf, a femoral shaft with a proximally located broad fourth trochanter, and a short, stout diaphysis similar to that of the new species. It has a second toe with a blunt claw phalanx.” tonic ataxia ornithopod”
of findings Published in this week's magazine Cretaceous research.
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RA Korea others. The first Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) ornithopods (order Dinosauria, order Ornithischian) from Patagonia. Cretaceous researchpublished online October 16, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.106027
According to one researcher, daily consumption of strawberries (1-4 cups per day) improves lipid metabolism and inflammatory outcomes in people at high cardiovascular risk. new review paper Published in a magazine Critical reviews in food science and nutrition.
Strawberries are a natural and delicious way to support heart health and manage cholesterol. Image credit: D. Сroisy.
“Strawberries contain a number of potentially health-promoting phytonutrients, including phenols, polyphenols, fiber, micronutrients, and vitamins,” said Roberta Holt, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, and colleagues.
“The purpose of our review is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent human studies on the effects of strawberry and strawberry phytonutrient intake on human health.”
For the review, the authors conducted a literature search through the PubMed and Cochrane databases.
They combined results from 60 papers (47 clinical trials and 13 observational studies) published from 2000 to 2023.
They found that strawberries are rich in beneficial phytonutrients such as polyphenols and fiber, which help lower LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels while reducing inflammation.
The result is improved overall heart health and better management of cardiovascular risk factors.
Daily consumption of strawberries, whether in fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried form, can have a significant impact on cardiometabolic health, especially in those at high risk for heart disease.
Strawberries can help lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by improving lipid metabolism and reducing systemic inflammation.
“Our research shows that regular consumption of strawberries not only lowers cholesterol, but also helps reduce inflammation, a major contributing factor to heart disease,” Dr. Holt said.
“This means that simply adding a cup of strawberries to your daily routine can significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular events.”
Beyond heart health, the team's review revealed exciting benefits for brain health.
The findings suggest that strawberries are rich in flavonoids, which may help slow cognitive decline and prevent dementia.
The researchers said, “Strawberries may support cognitive function and fight oxidative stress, which is an important factor in keeping the brain sharp as we age.”
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Phrae Charonwoodhipon others. strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) Intake on human health and disease outcomes: a comprehensive literature review. Critical reviews in food science and nutritionpublished online on September 11, 2024. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2024.2398634
The U.S. government’s National Traffic Safety Administration has initiated an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles that are equipped with the company’s fully self-driving software following reports of four crashes, some of which were fatal.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it has launched a preliminary review after receiving reports of four incidents involving fully autonomous driving in conditions with reduced road visibility like sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
One of the accidents involved a Tesla vehicle hitting a pedestrian, resulting in a fatal outcome. Another accident under similar circumstances led to injuries, according to NHTSA.
The investigation covers Model S and X vehicles from 2016-2024, Model 3 from 2017-2024, Model Y from 2020-2024, and Cybertruck vehicles from 2023-2024 with optional systems.
A preliminary evaluation is the initial step before a vehicle recall is required if the agency determines that the vehicle poses an unreasonable safety risk.
Tesla states on its website that its “full self-driving” software for on-road vehicles necessitates active supervision from the driver and does not render the vehicle completely autonomous.
NHTSA is assessing the engineering controls of FSD to detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions.
The agency will investigate if other similar FSD accidents have occurred in conditions of low road visibility and if Tesla has made any updates to its FSD system that could impact such conditions.
“This review will also examine Tesla’s assessment of the timing, purpose, functionality, and safety implications of these updates,” NHTSA mentioned.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is focusing on self-driving technology and robotaxis amidst competition and subdued demand in the automotive industry.
The company did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla’s shares were down 0.5% before the market opened.
Musk recently unveiled a concept for Tesla’s “CyberCab” robotaxi, which is a two-seat, two-door vehicle that uses cameras and AI for navigation, eliminating the need for a steering wheel or pedals. NHTSA approval would be necessary for deploying these vehicles without human control.
Tesla’s FSD technology has been in development for years aiming for high automation levels, enabling the vehicle to manage most driving tasks without human intervention.
However, there have been at least two fatalities associated with the technology, leading to legal scrutiny. Some experts are concerned about Tesla’s reliance on a “camera-only” approach for self-driving systems in low visibility conditions due to the absence of backup sensors.
Industry experts like Jeff Schuster, Vice President of GlobalData, suggest that weather conditions can affect the camera’s functionality and regulatory requirements may impact the technology’s progress.
“This could be a significant obstacle in the near-term launch of this technology and product,” Schuster added.
Tesla’s competitors in the robotaxi space use costly sensors like lidar and radar for environment detection while operating.
In a December recall, Tesla called back over 2 million vehicles in the U.S. to incorporate new safety features in its Autopilot advanced driver assistance system. NHTSA is still reviewing the appropriateness of this recall.
Company X, owned by Elon Musk, has recently updated its terms of service. These changes redirect disputes from users of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to federal court in Texas. Federal judges in Texas have a reputation for favoring conservative litigants in political cases.
The updated terms state that any legal action against Company X must be filed exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or the state court in Tarrant County, Texas. This venue clause is a common practice for companies, but it is notable that Company X is located in Bastrop, Texas, which falls under the Western District of Texas.
It is speculated that this choice of venue is related to the political leanings of judges in the Northern District of Texas, which has fewer Republican-appointed judges compared to the Western District. This district is known for conservative activism and has become a preferred destination for lawsuits challenging Joe Biden’s policies, leading some to criticize the tactic as “judge shopping.”
Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, suggested that the new language in the terms of service may be connected to Company X’s recent legal strategy. Elon Musk, known as the world’s richest man, has shown support for conservative causes and was a significant financial backer of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Company X has already filed two lawsuits in the Northern District of Texas, including one against Media Matters for allegedly defaming the platform. Additionally, an antitrust lawsuit has been filed against multiple advertisers for conspiring to boycott and causing revenue loss. These cases are assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, known for controversial rulings on healthcare and gun control.
Despite concerns over potential conflicts of interest, Judge O’Connor has refused to recuse himself from the cases involving Company X. The federal court in Fort Worth, where the cases are being heard, has only two active judges, with the other judge, Mark Pittman, appointed by President Trump.
FSeventeen seconds. According to , this was the average amount of time adults could focus on a screen in 2021. Research by Gloria Mark, Professor of Information Studies at the University of California. Twenty years ago, in 2004, this number was two and a half minutes.
Our attention spans, or the amount of time we can focus without distraction, are shrinking. Our focus, how intensely we can think about things, also suffers. The cause: Technology designed to demand our attention. We have endless tools for procrastination at our fingertips. Increased stress and anxiety disorders. And the quality of sleep is poor. But there is a solution. From quick-hit hacks to big lifestyle changes, we asked experts for tips on how to think seriously for the long term.
Find your “why”
Author and psychotherapist Eloise Skinner says that a strong sense of purpose “focuses our attention” and helps us avoid distractions. To find that purpose, Skinner recommends trying the “Five Whys” exercise developed by Japanese businessman and inventor Sakichi Toyoda in the 1930s. In this exercise, you consider why you want to do something until you find the core reason.
For example, at first you may wonder why you fill out a spreadsheet. The answer may be because your boss told you to do it. why? Because it’s part of your job. Ultimately, you get to your core “why,” which in this case might be “this job supports my family.” Write it down so you can get back to it when you feel like you’ve lost focus.
Let’s go for a morning walk
Exposure to natural light in the morning tells our brains to stop producing the sleep hormone melatonin and starts releasing hormones like cortisol, which increases our alertness.
In short, a morning walk can help you focus for the day, says Marian Taylor, sleep consultant and founder of Sleep Works. Taking these walks regularly can improve your concentration in the long run and establish a rhythm in which melatonin is released at the right time of the night, making it easier to fall asleep. “During sleep, our brains consolidate memories and process emotions,” Taylor says. “This ‘cognitive housekeeping’ allows us to wake up with a clearer mind each day.”
IImagine someone driving a high-end sports car to a pub. £1.5 million Koenigsegg Regerapark and saunter out of your car to pick one at random. They come to the pub where you’re drinking, start walking around the patrons, slip their hands into their visible pockets, and smile at you as they pull out your wallet and empty it of cash and cards.
Not-so-sophisticated pickpockets will stop if you ask out loud, “What the hell are you doing?” “We apologize for the inconvenience,” says Suri. “It’s an opt-out system, dude.”
It sounds ridiculous. But this appears to be the approach the government is pursuing to appease AI companies. A consultation meeting will be held soon, Financial Times coverageThis will allow AI companies to scrape content from individuals and organizations unless they explicitly opt out of having their data used.
The AI revolution is both rapid and comprehensive. Even if you’re not one of them, 200 million people If you log on to ChatGPT every week or dabble in generative AI competitors like Claude or Gemini, you’ve undoubtedly interacted with an AI system, knowingly or not. But to keep the AI fire from burning out, we need two constantly replenishing sources. One is energy. This is why AI companies are getting into the nuclear power plant acquisition business. And the other thing is data.
Data is essential to AI systems because it helps them recreate how we interact. If the AI has any “knowledge”, which is highly disputed given that it is actually a fancy pattern matching machine, it comes from the data used to train it. .
In some studies, large-scale language models such as ChatGPT Training data is missing By 2026, that appetite will be huge. But without that data, the AI revolution could stall. Tech companies know this, which is why they license content from left, right, and center. But it has created friction, and an unofficial mantra has continued in the sector over the past decade.move fast and break things” causes no friction.
This is why they are already trying to steer us towards an opt-out approach to copyright, rather than an opt-in regime, where everything we type, post and share is locked in until we say no. It is destined to become AI training data by default. Companies must ask us to use their data. We can already see how companies are nudging us towards this reality. This week, X began notifying users of changes to its terms of service that will allow all posts to be used for the following purposes: train grokElon Musk’s AI model designed to compete with ChatGPT. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, then made similar changes, resulting in the widespread urban legend of “Goodbye Meta AI,” which purportedly invalidates legal agreements.
It’s clear why AI companies want an opt-out system. If you ask most people if they want to use something in the books they write, the music they produce, or the posts and photos they share on social networks to train an AI, they’ll probably say no. And the gears of the AI revolution will turn off. Why the government would want to enable such a change to the concept of copyright ownership that has existed to date. over 300 yearsis stipulated by law. 100 or moreit’s not so obvious. But like many things, it seems to come down to money.
The government faces lobbying from big tech companies suggesting this is a requirement for the country to be considered as a place to invest in AI innovation and share the spoils. A lobbying document prepared by Google suggests support for its approach to an opt-out copyright regime.guarantee uk In the future, it could become a competitive arena for developing and training AI models. ”So the government’s discussion of how to frame the issue, with opt-out options already on the table as a countermeasure, is a major victory for big tech lobbyists.
With so much money flowing into the tech industry and high levels of investment going into AI projects, Keir Starmer understandably doesn’t want to miss out on the potential benefits. It would be remiss of the Government not to consider how to appease the tech companies developing world-changing technology and help turn the UK into an AI powerhouse.
But this is not the answer. To be clear, the copyright system in question in the UK means that companies effectively own every post we make, every book we write, every book we create. This means it will be possible to add nicknames to songs and to our data without being penalized. That requires us to sign up to every individual service and say, “No, we don’t want you to chop up our data and spit out a poor composite image of us.” The number can number in the hundreds, from large technology companies to small research institutes.
Lest we forget, OpenAI – now Over $150 billion – The company plans to abandon its original nonprofit principles and become a for-profit company. Rather than relying on the charity of the general public, we have enough funds in our coffers to pay for our training data. Surely such companies can afford to line their pockets, not ours. So please let go.
Questio Sympsonorum is one of more than 100 multicellular organisms during the Ediacaran period (635 to 538 million years ago), when the first complex macroscopic animals appeared on Earth.
The creature was up to 8 centimeters (3.1 inches) wide and likely moved along what was once the ocean floor.
Animals that burrowed into the sediment had not yet evolved, so this ocean floor was covered with a layer of microorganisms that formed a slimy organic mat.
“Questio Sympsonorum “It had some interesting characteristics that set it apart from other Ediacaran species,” said Mary Droser, a professor at the University of California.
“What's really interesting about this fossil is that it's essentially symmetrical, meaning the right side mirrors the left side, but there's also an asymmetrical element that forms an inverted question mark shape.”
“This kind of symmetry indicates some level of genetic complexity.”
“Humans are bilaterally symmetrical, but they have many asymmetries, such as the position of the heart and appendix.”
“Many other asymmetries like this have been found throughout the animal kingdom, and this appears to be one of the first organisms to organize it this way.”
Reconstructed by artists Questio Sympsonorum. Image credit: Walker C. Weiland.
more than a dozen specimens Questio Sympsonorum It was discovered in the Nilpena-Ediacaran National Park in South Australia.
“The unique trace evidence our team has discovered suggests that: Questio Sympsonorum “They ate ancient organic mats while on the move,” said Scott Evans, a professor at Florida State University.
“That the fossils are preserved directly alongside evidence of their behavior really speaks to the unprecedented nature of the fossil record at Nilpena. We can see how these animals got their food.”
“Nilpena is a site of great international importance, and there is no other place in the world like it,” said Stuart Paul, regional operations director for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
“In addition to learning about these amazing fossils located within the park, tourists can also visit a former blacksmith shop, where they learn what these creatures look like and how they were formed. One of the fossil beds is brought to life by an impressive audio-visual recreation of the story.
of findings Published in a magazine evolution and development.
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Scott D. Evans others. A new motile animal that influenced the evolution of axial polarity lived during the Ediacaran period of South Australia. evolution and developmentpublished online on September 3, 2024. doi: 10.1111/ede.12491
On Earth, solar radiation can travel up to several meters into the ice, depending on its optical properties. Organisms in the ice can harness the energy from photosynthetically active radiation while being protected from harmful ultraviolet radiation. On Mars, there is no effective ozone shield, so about 30% more harmful ultraviolet radiation reaches the surface compared to Earth. However, a new study shows that despite strong surface UV radiation, mid-latitude ice on Mars contains 0.01-0.1% dust, ranging from a few centimeters deep to several centimeters deep. It has been shown that a radioactive habitable zone exists with a range of up to 3000 m. Cleaner ice.
The white edges along these canyons on Mars' Terra Sirenum are thought to be dusty water ice. cooler others. It is thought that melt water could form beneath the surface of this type of ice, providing a potential site for photosynthesis. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.
“Today, if we are trying to find life anywhere in the universe, the icy outcrops on Mars are probably one of the most accessible places we should look,” said a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. said Dr. Aditya Kuler.
Mars has two types of ice: frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.
Dr. Cooler and his colleagues investigated water ice. The ice masses were formed from snow mixed with dust that fell on Mars during a series of ice ages over the past million years.
That ancient snow has since solidified into ice and is still dusted with dust.
Dust particles can block light in deeper layers of ice, but they are the key to explaining how underground pools of water form within the ice when exposed to the sun.
The black dust absorbs more sunlight than the surrounding ice, causing the ice to warm and potentially melt several feet below the surface.
Mars scientists are divided on whether ice actually melts when exposed to the Martian surface.
It's thought to be caused by the planet's thin, dry atmosphere, where water ice sublimates and turns directly into gas, similar to dry ice on Earth.
But the atmospheric effects that make melting difficult on Mars' surface don't apply beneath the surface of dusty snowpack and glaciers.
On Earth, dust in ice can create what are called cryoconite holes. This is a small cavity that forms in the ice when windblown dust particles (called cryoconite) land there, absorb sunlight, and melt deep into the ice each summer. is.
Eventually, these dust particles stop sinking as they move away from the sun's rays, but they still generate enough heat to create pockets of melted water around them.
This pocket can foster a thriving ecosystem of simple organisms.
“This is a common phenomenon on Earth,” says Arizona State University researcher Phil Christensen.
“Rather than melting from the top down, thick snow and ice melts from the inside out, letting in sunlight that warms it like a greenhouse.”
In 2021, the authors discovered powdery water ice exposed inside canyons on Mars and proposed that many canyons on Mars are formed by erosion as ice melts into liquid water.
Their new paper suggests that powdery ice lets in enough light for photosynthesis to occur as deep as 3 meters (9 feet) below the surface.
In this scenario, the upper layer of ice prevents shallow underground pools of water from evaporating, while also protecting them from harmful radiation.
This is important because, unlike Earth, Mars does not have a protective magnetic field to protect it from both the Sun and radioactive cosmic ray particles flying through space.
“Water ice most likely to form underground pools would exist in tropical regions of Mars between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, in both the northern and southern hemispheres,” the researchers said.
of paper appear in the diary Communication Earth and Environment.
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AR cruller others. 2024. Possibility of photosynthesis on Mars in snow and ice. common global environment 5,583;doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01730-y
This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.
The veil of mystery surrounding the Treasury Monument in Petra, Jordan has been lifted once again.
Beneath an ancient building carved out of rock, archaeologists discovered a hidden tomb containing 12 relatively well-preserved human bones and a vast array of grave offerings.
A similar tomb was discovered more than 20 years ago opposite the famous Treasury Building, also known as Al-Khazneh, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Earlier this year, a team of researchers received permission from Jordanian authorities to conduct a week of remote sensing in and around the Treasury, a city center hand-carved into the walls of a desert canyon by the Nabatean people.
“There was always the idea that there might be more graves, but no one has yet been found,” Richard Bates, a geophysicist and professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said in an email. “The hope was to find an intact grave.”
A joint Jordanian-American team, which also included the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Amman-based nonprofit American Research Center, used ground-penetrating radar to detect the cavity and pinpoint its location and depth. Instead of digging straight through, which would have cut through solid rock and damaged parts of the building, Bates said they carefully dug by hand into the cavity from the outside.
Richard Bates. Excavation at the Treasury. Kindly provided by Professor Richard Bates, University of St Andrews
Inside, in the original burial site, are 12 human bones, one of which is clutching the top of a broken pitcher, most likely dating from the 1st century BC. Bates said the bodies likely included both men and women and ranged in age from children to adults. Although that is not confirmed yet.
“No complete burial has ever been found here before, so this discovery could potentially tell us more about the Nabataean kingdom,” Bates said.
The discovery could also provide new insights into the Treasury itself, whose purpose is still unknown.
“Despite its fame, the Treasury Department remains a mystery to us in many ways,” Pierce Paul Creesman, director of the Center for American Studies, said in an email. “Anything we can do to understand it more deeply is important.”
Visited by more than 1 million visitors a year, the Treasury is the most famous of Petra’s iconic monuments. In Steven Spielberg’s 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it was featured as the resting place of the Holy Grail in the film.
The newly uncovered tomb excavation was featured in a two-part episode of the American reality television series Expedition Unknown, which aired on the Discovery Channel.
Bates said there are signs of other cavities in the area that could be graves.
“It’s very likely that more will be discovered, so we need to get the funding back and continue the research,” he said.
The National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Britain has initiated a consultation process that may result in the redundancy of 440 employees.
In a memo sent to staff this month, the Alan Turing Institute announced an update on its new strategy, which involves focusing on a smaller number of projects.
Addressed to “affected employees,” the letter mentioned that government-backed labs might have to reduce their workforce. Unofficial estimates suggest that the memo could have been sent to about 140 individuals.
The institute collaborates with universities, private companies, and government agencies on 111 active projects. An internal document states that they will need to scale back their involvement in some projects.
Last year, the institute introduced a new strategy called “Turing 2.0,” with a focus on health, environment, defense, and security. However, due to lower core funding, they are considering restructuring and potentially closing certain projects.
The institute is evaluating which projects align with their new strategy and could lead to staff reductions. They aim to minimize layoffs and will involve employee representatives in the decision-making process.
Dr. Jean Innes, the institute’s CEO, mentioned that they are entering a new ambitious phase to address societal challenges using technology.
Named after the renowned mathematician, the institute was initially focused on data science before including AI in its mission in 2017. Its objectives include conducting top-notch research to tackle global issues and fostering informed discussions about AI.
With upcoming government announcements on technology, the institute is gearing up for potential changes. This includes launching an “AI Action Plan” led by Technology Entrepreneur Matt Clifford, focusing on economic growth and public service enhancement.
Additionally, there are plans to establish a legally binding AI model testing agreement with tech companies, separate the UK AI Safety Institute from the Turing Institute, and introduce a consultation on the proposed AI bill.
start again Wide range of weekly episodes available There’s nothing more inducing an existential crisis than a ’90s icon being a midlife expert, but Davina McCall is the genre’s OG. Introducing a new podcast about new starts, turning points, and the “curving lines” of life. McCall, as always, is a bundle of empathy and isn’t afraid to cry with his guests. The first person is Fearne Cotton, who talks about her challenges. This isn’t your average celebrity chat podcast, as McCall listens intently and digs into his guests’ answers. Hannah Verdier
hyperfix Wide range of weekly episodes available This peppy podcast bills itself as a help desk for life’s most intractable problems. An “overconfident moron” (his words), Alex Goldman spends as much time on the gram as he does America’s Cup trying to create the perfect cake as he does investigating why driving in New York is so bad. It’s just as interesting as helping women who are trying to convert. HV
X marks the place… New podcast questions Elon Musk’s use of surveillance. Photo: David Swanson/Reuters
not too extreme Wide range of weekly episodes available Dr. Bernie Fisher played a pivotal role in improving the way breast cancer patients are treated. Without his work, women might still undergo disfiguring surgeries. Here, Dr. Stacey Wentworth takes us from the operating room to the White House and explains how Fisher, the women’s movement, and science have fundamentally changed breast cancer treatment. Holly Richardson
elon’s spy Widely available, all episodes now available Is Elon Musk using secret agents to gather information on the people he has his ax to grind with? That’s the allegation this series explores, featuring an extensive interview with a British diver whom he called a “pedo bastard” after making a remarkable rescue of a team of trapped young Thai soccer players in an underwater cave. I am doing it. Alexi Duggins
Lost Notes: Groupies – From Pills to Punks, the Women of the Sunset Strip Wide range of weekly episodes available The podcast begins with a group of teenage girls being chased by the likes of Led Zeppelin and David Bowie in the ’70s. That’s amazing, but shallow. There’s no shortage of wild party stories – and they’re worth hearing – but judging by the first episode, it’s supposed to do much more to interrogate the ethics of power and age dynamics. advertisement
There’s a podcast for that
Fail upwards…Elizabeth Day, host of the hugely successful How to Fail. Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images
this week, Rachel Aroesti choose the best five listen comfortablyfrom a viral wedding mystery to Elizabeth Day’s seminal show about failure.
A perfect day with Jessica Knappett There are many “perfect” podcasts out there covering everything from dreamy meals (off-menu) to ideal vacations (life is on the beach) to fantasy funerals (where there’s a will and where there’s a wake). A relatively recent addition to the genre, it’s definitely one of the most comforting. That’s partly because of the subject matter – it’s quite a meditative experience to hear all the lovely, relaxing things our guests incorporate into their perfect day schedules – and partly because of the energy of our friends. Thanks to our hilarious host for venting (it helps that she’s actually friends with guests like Tim Key and Emerald Fennell), she lets us veer off into weird stories. Fearlessly leading meandering conversations.
Who squatted on the floor at my wedding? The rise of podcasting and the rise in actual involvement in crime go hand in hand, and it’s no wonder. Immersive, detailed, and cliffhanger-heavy investigations are the perfect fuel for the audio format. But what if you want the satisfaction of crime-solving but don’t want any of the depressing violence or global corruption? This podcast is your answer. In this podcast, amateur detective Lauren Kilby tries to figure out who was responsible for the defecation incident at her friends Karen and Helen’s wedding on a boat. The resulting pod is a highly entertaining and pleasantly low-stakes addition to the true crime genre. Even better, the team recently returned with another delightfully fun mystery titled The Case of The Tiny suit/Case.
how fail Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast isn’t exactly an exercise in schadenfreude, but by inviting celebrities (including Kate Winslet, Bonnie Tyler, and Richard Osman) to reveal their top three mistakes, Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast to Fail” certainly helps listeners feel a little better about their failures. We did something wrong in our lives. The show often serves as a reminder that no one has a perfectly great life, a necessary corrective in the Instagram era, but the show also features guests with stories of shocking adversity. Bringing in also provides evidence that success is possible even through periods of turmoil.
Green Wing: Resurrection Comfort is often closely tied to nostalgia. That’s why shows like Friends have made a comeback during the pandemic. In fact, there’s something about 2000s television that looms especially large in our collective comfort zones. For comedy fans of a certain age, the hospital comedy Green Wing definitely fits this concise description. And for those who have completed a simple trip down memory lane, the return of this podcast will be gratefully received. Green Wings: Resurrection is faithful to the original story, starring Stephen Mangan (as the pathetic surgeon Guy Secretan), Julian Lind-Tutt (as the swoon-worthy Mac), and Michelle Gomez (as the Cracker Stuff liaison). The majority of cast members will return, including Sue (Sue). . Note the familiar strangeness and uncompromising stupidity.
See What Crappens For anyone in need of peace of mind, reality shows should be very high on their agenda. In particular, the Real Housewives series is a non-stop festival of bickering and petty drama. This podcast is brought to you and released by enthusiasts Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam Five Once a week – We recap all 11 US Housewives programs (and others from reality network Bravo). It’s your in-depth guide to every character, storyline, and feud, plus your chance to gossip, joke, and vent your grievances about your most infuriating cast members. All delivered with the kind of growing hysteria that such a relentless schedule inevitably produces.
Why not try it…
How to saveis a hopeful series about conservation campaigns that are getting results, from protecting manatees to restoring Papua New Guinea’s coral reefs.
Holiday with Woody and PierceIn this article, two indie musicians tell fans about the trials and rewards of following a team across the country (or the world, really).
Reports suggest that Mehta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, terminated approximately 24 employees at the Los Angeles office for misusing $25 meal credits to purchase items like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and wine glasses.
The tech giant, with a market capitalization of £1.2 trillion and ownership of WhatsApp, took action after an investigation revealed unauthorized food deliveries to employees’ homes. One employee allegedly fired was earning $400,000 and admitted to using meal credits for non-food items and groceries.
On Blind, an anonymous platform, the individual wrote about using meal credits only on days they did not eat at the office, leading to their termination upon admission during an HR probe. Some employees were also found to have used credits for personal items like acne pads, with consequences varying based on the severity of the violation.
Free meals have been a common perk at tech companies, including Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, which offers free meals in large offices but provides daily food credits for smaller sites. These credits include $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner.
In 2022, Meta made changes to its Silicon Valley campus, delaying the free dinner service by 30 minutes to 6:30 p.m. as part of broader cutbacks. This decision sparked discontent among employees as fewer could dine on campus, affecting access to leftover food to take home.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a compact system of at least seven exoplanets that are similar in size to Earth. Astronomers from Pennsylvania State University and the SETI Institute spent 28 hours scanning the system for signs of alien radio technology using the Allen Telescope Array. This project marks the longest single-target search for radio signals from TRAPPIST-1. Although astronomers found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology, their work introduced new ways to search for wireless techno-signatures in the future.
This artist's impression shows a surface view of one of the exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Spaceengine.org.
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
This star is barely larger than Jupiter and has only 8% the mass of the Sun. It rotates rapidly and produces an energetic flare of ultraviolet light.
TRAPPIST-1 is the home planet of seven transit planets named TRAPPIST-1b, c, d, e, f, g, and h.
All of these planets are the same size or slightly smaller than Earth and Venus, and have very short orbital periods of 1.51, 2.42, 4.04, 6.06, 9.21, 12.35, and 20 days, respectively.
Presumably they are all tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces the star, just as the same side of the moon always points towards the Earth. This creates a persistent night side and a persistent day side for each planet in TRAPPIST-1.
Three of the planets, TRAPPIST-1e, f, and g, are located in the star's habitable zone, meaning they may have an environment suitable for life.
“The TRAPPIST-1 system is relatively close to Earth and has detailed information about the planet's orbit, making it an excellent natural laboratory for testing these technologies,” said Penn State graduate student Nick Tasei said.
“The methods and algorithms we developed for this project could eventually be applied to other star systems, increasing the likelihood of finding regular communications between planets beyond our solar system (if they exist). ).
Tusay and his colleagues focused on a phenomenon called interplanetary occultations.
These occultations occur when one planet moves in front of another. If intelligent life exists in that star system, it is possible that radio signals sent between the planets could leak and be detected from Earth.
Astronomers used the upgraded Allen Telescope Array to scan a wide range of frequencies, looking for narrowband signals that could be a possible sign of alien technology.
They filtered through millions of potential signals and narrowed it down to about 11,000 candidates for further analysis.
They detected 2,264 of these signals during the predicted interplanetary occultation period. However, none of the signals were of non-human origin.
New features of the Allen Telescope Array include advanced software to filter signals, helping researchers separate possible alien signals from those on Earth.
They believe that improving these techniques and focusing on phenomena such as interplanetary occultations could increase the chances of detecting alien signals in the future.
Although scientists did not find any alien signals this time, they plan to continue refining their search techniques and exploring other star systems.
Future explorations using larger and more powerful telescopes could help scientists detect even fainter signals and expand our understanding of the universe.
“This study shows that we are getting closer to detecting radio signals similar to those we send into space,” Tusey said.
“Most searches assume some kind of intent, such as a beacon, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to the minimum transmit power above what we transmit unintentionally.”
“But with better instruments, such as the upcoming Square Kilometer Array, we may soon be able to detect signals from alien civilizations communicating with our spacecraft.”
The possum, or Tasmanian tiger, became extinct in 1936
huge life science
The genome of the extinct possum has been almost completely sequenced, the company that brought it back from extinction, Colossal, has announced. The group says the genome is more than 99.9 percent complete and that just 45 gaps will soon be filled, but it has not provided any evidence to support that claim.
“It's quite difficult to obtain the complete genome of almost any organism,” says Emilio Marmol Sánchez of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, whose team first extracted RNA from preserved quolls. For example, the last few holdouts of the human genome have only been fully sequenced in the past few years.
Quosos, also known as Tasmanian tigers, were once carnivorous marsupials found throughout Australia, but by the time European explorers arrived they were restricted to Tasmania. The last known possum died in a zoo in 1936.
The conserved quoll genome is First sequenced in 2017 The tissue used was from a 108-year-old bag of quolls that had been preserved in alcohol. However, this genome was far from complete and had many gaps. Colossal, which is also currently aiming to recreate the woolly mammoth, says it has nearly completed the genome with the help of additional DNA from a 120-year-old tooth.
“While our genome is not as complete as the most complete human genome, we were able to take advantage of some of the same technologies,” said Andrew of the University of Melbourne in Australia, a member of Colossal's scientific advisory board. Pask said.
Completely deciphering the genomes of plants and animals is difficult because they contain large sections of the same sequence that repeat over and over again. Standard techniques for sequencing small segments of DNA at a time do not work for these parts. This is like trying to reconstruct a book from a list of words in the book.
New, long-read techniques can sequence much larger segments of DNA, equivalent to entire pages of a book. However, these methods are not very useful because old DNA is usually split into many small pieces.
“Most ancient samples preserve DNA fragments that are a few dozen or, if we're lucky, a few hundred bases long,” Pask says. “The samples we had access to were so well preserved that we were able to recover DNA fragments several thousand bases long.”
There is no direct way to know how complete it is, given that there are no other possum genomes to compare it to. Instead, Pask says Colossal uses other closely related species in the same family to make this estimate.
But even if the genome were as complete as Colossal thinks and could indeed fill in the remaining gaps, there is currently no feasible way to generate living cells containing this genome. Instead, Colossal plans to genetically modify a living marsupial called a fat-tailed dunnart to resemble a possum.
“This is rather a reproduction of some characteristics,” says Marmol Sánchez. “It would not be an extinct animal, but a very strange and modified version of a modern animal, similar to our image of an extinct animal.”
Colossal announces record 300 gene editsIt affects the genome of Dunnart cells growing in culture. So far, the changes have been small, but Pask says the team plans to swap out tens of thousands of base pairs of thylacine DNA in the near future. He says it's not yet clear how much editing will be needed to achieve the company's goal of recreating the sugar glider.
When asked why Colossal did not provide any evidence to support its claims, the company's CEO, Ben Lamb, said that the company's sole focus was eradicating extinction and that the scientific literature He said it was not writing. “We are not an academic lab whose primary focus is papers,” Lamb said. “We will continue to make progress much faster than the process of writing a scientific paper.”
A new study shows that about 70% of meteorites originate from at least three recent breakups of giant asteroids.
This is the artist's impression of the asteroid as it breaks apart. Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology.
A type of meteorite, commonly called a chondrite, accounts for about 80% of all meteorites that hit Earth, including those that were involved in the violent impact period about 466 million years ago that is thought to have started the Ice Age. Included.
Previous studies have demonstrated that approximately 70% of meteorites on Earth have compositions known as H and L chondrites.
Argon-argon dating of L-chondrite meteorites on Earth suggests that these samples may have originated from the catastrophic destruction of a single asteroid that experienced a supersonic impact approximately 470 million years ago. It turned out to be high.
in new researchESO and MIT researcher Dr. Michael Marcet and colleagues have compiled spectroscopic data from asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.
They found that a group of asteroids known as the Massalia family is very similar in composition to L-chondrite meteorites on Earth.
Through computer modeling, they propose that an impact event about 450 million years ago destroyed an L-chondrite asteroid, forming the Massalia family and providing debris that fueled the influx of meteorites.
in second studyCharles University researcher Miroslav Broz and his colleagues found that the current influx of H and L chondrite meteorites was likely caused by three recent breakups.
These events occurred about 5.8, 7.6 and 40 million years ago and involved the destruction of asteroids over 30 km (18.6 miles) in diameter.
More specifically, they suggest that the impact formation of the relatively young Karin and Coronis asteroid families and a second impact event (about 40 million years ago) in the older Massalia asteroids are currently falling to Earth. I guessed that explained most of the meteorites.
in Third, follow-upDr. Brož and his co-authors extended their approach to the entire meteorite family, revealing the major origins of carbonaceous chondrites and achondrites, in addition to those from the Moon, Mars, and Vesta.
“Our discovery provides insight into the mystery of where the most common meteorites that have ever hit Earth came from and how those impacts shaped Earth's history.” ,” the researchers said.
Forecasts for hurricanes Helen and Milton were very accurate.
Meteorologists say they are facing unprecedented skepticism and vitriol despite the strong information they have released.
Some blame pre-election political tensions, while others point to climate change denial and the spread of misinformation on social media.
Nearly five days before Hurricane Milton hit Florida, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predicted its path to within 19 miles of where the storm would later make landfall.
The forecast for Hurricane Helen was similarly accurate. Long before the storm reached the coast, the National Weather Service said “record flooding” in North Carolina, about 400 miles from the coast, was “one of the most significant weather events” in the state’s history. I warned you it would happen.
“The forecast was very accurate and I don’t think anyone was surprised by the landfall location and strength of this storm,” said NBC 6 South Florida meteorologist and hurricane expert John Morales.
But some meteorologists say this is the first time they’ve faced so much skepticism, hatred and conspiratorial backlash at a time when hurricane forecasts are at their most accurate.
They have been unfairly accused, primarily on social media, of steering the hurricane toward Florida or Appalachia. Some people have reported threats of violence online, while others say they have been personally attacked.
“Conspiracy theories have increased tremendously over the past two months, especially on social media, and it’s hurting our ability to do our jobs effectively,” said Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist at Mailer Weather and The Washington Post. ” he said. “People will see false signals on radar and think we’re having a hurricane. Some people will think we can lead a hurricane into red states.”
Capucci said social media commenters criticized his Harvard education and said he should be fired. Cappucci added that he was recently interrupted at a bar in Louisiana by a man who noticed his MyRadar shirt and claimed that Cappucci worked for Bill Gates.
“He continued to harass me for the next 14 minutes about weather modification,” Capucci said.
Bradley Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the messages are “getting more personal, meaner and more persistent.”
“It also takes time and effort away from the job of predicting the weather,” he added.
The wave of opposition and attacks comes as climate change intensifies and meteorologists grapple with the psychological toll of more severe and damaging hurricanes.
“Losing someone to a weather disaster is like losing a patient to a doctor on the operating table,” said Kim Klokow McClain, a senior social scientist supporting the National Weather Service. “Forecasters feel like they can save everyone. They take it personally.”
Hurricane forecasts are now more accurate
Hurricane forecasting has improved dramatically over the past 50 years.
Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at the nonprofit research group Climate Central, said that advances in computing power and a better understanding of storm physics have allowed the National Hurricane Center to develop forecast cones (forecast forecasts) before tropical cyclones develop. He said that he is now able to announce his future career path.
“Our cone is leaner,” Winkley said, meaning forecasters have more confidence in the hurricane’s path.
The National Hurricane Center annually releases data on how its forecasts match reality, and the trend shows tracking errors have been decreasing since the 1970s. At the time, storm forecasts issued 36 hours in advance could be off by about 230 miles. According to NOAA. So far in the 2020s, that margin of error is approximately 57 miles.
Capucci said the center’s predictions for Hurricane Milton were “almost prescient” and among the best in the center’s history.
K. Miller, R. Hart/California Institute of Technology/IPAC
A strange star that has confused researchers for decades now makes sense. It turns out that it is not a single star, but two companion stars.
“Previously, it was thought that this brown dwarf was meaningless. We wondered if we were doing something horribly wrong, or if our models were horribly wrong. I was worried. But no, everything is fine. I just have friends.” timothy blunt at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland.
Now, two research teams have used instruments from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile to solve the mystery of the first brown dwarf.
Brown dwarfs are “failed stars” in that they have too little material and are too hot to sustain nuclear fusion. Instead of shining brightly for thousands of years, they dim in the night sky like planets. The first brown dwarf, called Gliese 229B, was discovered in 1995 and had an inexplicably large mass. Jerry Xuan I worked on one of the studies at the California Institute of Technology.
Gliese 229B is estimated to have about 71 times the mass of Jupiter, and a star born at that size, even if it were as old as the universe, would cool down and become faint enough to see us. That would have never happened, said participant Brandt. One of the research team. This has led some researchers to suggest that Gliese 22B is a very faint pair of stars, but until now there has been no conclusive evidence.
Xuan said this was because two fellow brown dwarfs, Gliese 229Ba and Bb, were unusually close together, and very precise observations were needed to see them both. However, observations by both teams confirmed that they exist separately, orbiting each other every 12 days, and are always about 16 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
He says that revealing the dual identity of Gliese 229B may be the start of a trend. samuel white book He was part of a research team at the California Institute of Technology. “There are probably a lot of binary systems that have been hiding in front of us all this time,” he says.
Xuan said he has already selected several other brown dwarfs to study more precisely. Brown dwarfs resemble both exoplanets and stars, so understanding how many of them are actually twins could shed light on the formation of these other objects as well. Maybe.
Neuroscience seems like an unlikely place to find fundamental truths that might apply to everything in the universe. The brain is a special object that does things that few other objects in the universe are expected to be able to do. they recognize. they act. They read magazine articles. Usually they are the exception, not the rule.
Perhaps this is why the free energy principle (FEP) has attracted so much attention. In the early 2000s, what began as a tool to explain cognitive processes such as perception and behavior began to be presented as a “unified brain theory.” FEP was then put forward as the definition of life beyond the brain and, inevitably, as the basis for a new kind of artificial intelligence capable of reasoning. Today, some proponents argue that FEP even encapsulates what it means for something to exist in the universe. “The free energy principle can be read as the physics of self-organization,” says its founder. carl friston At University College London. “It's a description of what lasts.”
But some researchers, frustrated by the changes in scope, are skeptical that the FEP can deliver on many of its loftiest promises. “It was a moving target,” he says Mateo Colomboa philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.
All of this makes FEP a source of both fascination and frustration. While notoriously difficult to understand, its dizzying breadth is key to its enduring appeal. Therefore, given the claim that it can be used to explain…
Aquaculture sustainability claims are greatly exaggerated
VIKEN KANTARCI/AFP via Getty Images
It has been argued that fish farming is a sustainable food source that helps feed the growing world population while protecting wild fish populations, but this is not true.
“Aquaculture is not a substitute for catching wild fish from the ocean,” he says. matthew hayek at New York University. “In fact, it relies on catching wild fish from the ocean.”
Hayek and colleagues showed that the amount of wild fish killed to feed farmed fish is 27 to 307 percent higher than previous estimates.
According to Hayek, farmed carnivorous fish eat wild fish caught in the ocean at several times the weight that would be obtained in aquaculture. For example, producing 1 kilogram of salmon may require 4 to 5 kilograms of wild fish.
However, while the demand for farmed fish is increasing, the amount of wild fish caught is not increasing. “In multiple fisheries, we are moving towards a scarcity of fish in the ocean,” Hayek says.
As a result, as the aquaculture industry expands, an increasing proportion of the world's wild fish catch is used as feed for farmed fish.
This means people in places like Southeast Asia and West Africa can no longer afford to buy fish. The fish is highly valuable as a source of farmed fishmeal and fish oil, team members say. Patricia Majolf At the conservation organization Oceana.
Increasing the proportion of plant-based products in the diet of carnivorous fish, or raising omnivorous or herbivorous fish such as tilapia, carp, or catfish, creates another set of problems. Feeding fish with human-edible plant-based food requires more land and water to produce fish food, leading to problems such as deforestation.
“These sectors are growing so rapidly that we are now supplying them with many times more crops from land than before,” says Hayek.
“As long as you're eating animals, you're not immune to some kind of shock somewhere,” he says. “Raising animals requires more resources to nurture and grow their bodies than can be obtained by eating them. It's a basic fact of biology.”
But farmed shellfish, such as mussels, which are eaten by filtering seawater, are far more sustainable, he says.
There are several reasons why Hayek's team's estimate of the amount of wild fish needed to produce a given amount of farmed fish is much higher than past estimates. For one thing, Hayek said the team used a wider range of sources than previous studies, meaning there is less chance of statistical bias.
The researchers also counted all the fish used to produce fishmeal and fish oil, as well as those caught as feed for farmed fish.
Finally, the researchers also estimated the number of fish that were killed but not brought to market. Unwanted species are often discarded from fishing vessels, but usually do not survive. Sometimes they leave the seine slightly open to let unwanted fish escape, but they often get injured and die.
Even ignoring these additional deaths, the conclusion remains that the amount of wild fish killed to feed farmed fish is higher than previously estimated, Hayek said. But counting them adds 20 to 50 percent to the total, he says.
“They show that the use of fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture is more complex than many industry analysts estimate.” Stefano Longo at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. “Fishmeal and fish oil inputs in aquaculture systems are probably underestimated, and possibly significantly underestimated.”
Wearing a crisp blue shirt and speaking with a soft American accent, this well-dressed young man is an unlikely supporter of the military junta leader of the West African nation of Burkina Faso.
“We must…support President Ibrahim Traore…Homeland or death, we must overcome!” he said in a video that began circulating on Telegram in early 2023. Ta. This was just a few months after the dictator took power in a military coup.
Another video starring another person with a similar professional appearance and repeating the exact same script in front of the Burkina Faso flag was released around the same time.
A few days later, on X’s verified account, the same young man in the same blue shirt claimed to be Archie, the CEO of a new cryptocurrency platform.
These videos are fake. These were generated by artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a start-up based in east London. A company called Synthesia has made waves in an industry competing to perfect lifelike AI videos. Investors poured in cash, propelling the company to “unicorn” status, or the status of a privately held company valued at more than $1 billion.
Synthesia’s technology is aimed at clients looking to create marketing materials and internal presentations, and any deepfakes violate its terms of service. But this means little for models whose digital “puppet” has a similar model behind it.Used in propaganda videos apparently supporting the Burkina Faso dictator. The Guardian tracked down five of them.
“I am in shock and have no words right now. [creative] “I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years and I’ve never felt so violated and vulnerable,” said Mark Torres, a London-based creative director who appears in the fake video wearing a blue shirt. spoke.
“I don’t want anyone to look at me that way. Just the fact that my image is out there, the fact that I’m promoting a military regime in a country I didn’t even know about, says something. People will think I’m involved in a coup,'' Torres added after being shown the video for the first time by the Guardian.
of shoot
In the summer of 2022, Connor Yates received a call from an agent offering him the chance to be one of the first AI models at a new company.
Yeates had never heard of the company, but he had just moved to London and was sleeping on a friend’s couch. An offer of nearly £4,000 for a day’s shoot and three years of use of the images felt like a ‘good opportunity’.
“I’ve been modeling since university and that’s been my main income since I graduated. Then I moved to London to start doing stand-up,” said Yates, who grew up in Bath.
Filming took place at Synthesia studios in east London. First, I received hair and makeup instruction. Thirty minutes later, he entered the recording room where a small staff member was waiting.
Yates wore a variety of costumes, including a white coat, a construction high-vis vest and helmet, and a corporate suit, and was asked to read his lines while looking directly into the camera.
“I have a teleprompter in front of me with lines written on it, and when I say it, I can capture the gestures and reproduce the movements. They’ll be more enthusiastic, smiling, grimacing, angry, I would say,” Yates said.
It took 3 hours in total. A few days later, he received a contract and a link to his AI avatar.
“They paid right away. I didn’t have wealthy parents, so I needed the money,” Yates said, but she didn’t think much about it after that.
Like Torres, Yates’ portrait was used in propaganda by Burkina Faso’s current leader.
A Synthesia spokesperson said the company will ban accounts that create videos in 2023, strengthen its content review process, and “employ more content moderators and increase moderation to better detect and prevent abuse of our technology.” “We have improved our automation capabilities and automation systems.” ”.
But neither Torres nor Yates were told about the video until they were contacted by the Guardian a few months ago.
…
“unicorn”
Synthesia was founded in 2017 by Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild, and two academics from London and Munich.
A year later, the company released a dubbing tool that allows production companies to use AI to translate audio and automatically sync actors’ lips.
This was featured on a BBC program where an English-only news presenter was magically made to appear to speak Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish.
It was the company’s pivot to mass-market digital avatar products that are now available that earned it the coveted “unicorn” status. This allows businesses or individuals to create presenter-led videos in minutes for just £23 per month. Choose from dozens of characters with different genders, ages, ethnicities, and appearances. Once selected, the digital doll can be placed in almost any environment, given a script, and read that script in over 120 languages and accents.
Synthesia currently commands a dominant market share, with customers including Ernst & Young (EY), Zoom, Xerox, and Microsoft.
The product’s advancements led Time magazine to include Lipalberg among the 100 most influential people in AI in September.
But the technology has also been used to create videos related to adversaries such as Russia, China, and others to spread misinformation and disinformation. Sources suggested to the Guardian that the Burkina Faso video, which circulated in 2023, was also likely produced by Russian state actors.
personal influence
Around the same time that the Burkina Faso video began circulating online, two pro-Venezuelan videos featuring fake news segments provided by Synthesia avatars also appeared on YouTube and Facebook. In one article, a blond male presenter in a white shirt denounced “Western media claims” about economic insecurity and poverty, instead painting a highly misleading picture of the country’s financial situation.
London-based actor and Synthesia model Dan Dewhurst, whose likeness was used in the video, told the Guardian: He quietly judged me. You may have lost a customer. But that’s not me, it’s just my face. But they would think I agreed with it. ”
“I was furious. It really, really took a toll on my mental health. [It caused] “It’s an overwhelming feeling of anxiety,” he added.
A Synthesia spokesperson said the company is in contact with some of the actors whose likenesses were used. “I sincerely regret that these historic events have had a negative personal or professional impact on the people you spoke to,” he said.
However, once the damage caused by deepfakes has spread, it is difficult to reverse it.
Mr Dewhurst said seeing one’s face used to spread propaganda was the worst-case scenario, adding: “When we’re worried, our brains often go into a catastrophic state. It was really scary to see my fears come true.”
“Roller coaster”
Last year, more than 100,000 unionized actors and performers went on strike in the United States to protest the use of AI in the creative arts. The strike was called off last November after the studios agreed to contractual safeguards, including informed consent before digital reproduction and fair compensation for such use. Video game performers continue to strike over the same issue.
…
Last month, a bipartisan bill, the NO FAKES Act, was introduced in the United States and aims to make companies and individuals liable for damages for violations involving digital replicas.
However, other than AI-generated sexual content, there is virtually no practical mechanism for helping artists themselves.
“These AI companies are taking people on a really dangerous roller coaster,” said Kelsey Farish, a London-based media and entertainment lawyer who specializes in generative AI and intellectual property. “And guess what? People have been on this roller coaster and now people are starting to get hurt.”
Under the GDPR, models can technically request that Synthesia delete data that includes their likeness or image. In reality this is very difficult.
A former Synthesia employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, explained that AI cannot “unlearn” or remove what it may have gleaned from a model’s body language. To do so, the entire AI model must be replaced.
A Synthesia spokesperson said: “Many of the actors we work with re-engage with us for new shoots… At the beginning of the collaboration, we explain to them the terms of use and how our technology works. We explain how it works and help you understand what the platform can do and the safeguards we have in place. ”
He said the company does not allow “stock avatars to be used for political content, including content that is factually accurate but potentially polarizing,” and that the company’s policy is that avatars are “manipulated.” It said it was designed to prevent it from being used for “competence, deception, impersonation, etc.” False association.”
“Our processes and systems may not be perfect, but our founders are committed to continually improving them.”
When the Guardian tested Synthesia’s technology using various disinformation scripts, attempts to use any of the avatars were blocked, but by recreating Burkina Faso’s propaganda videos with personally created avatars. It was possible to download it, but neither should have been allowed. According to Synthesia’s policies. Synthesia said this was not a violation of its terms, as it respects the right of individuals to express their political views, but later blocked the account.
The Guardian also produced a clip from the audio-only avatar saying “Long live Hitler” in several languages and another audio clip saying “Kamala Harris rigged the election” in an American accent. I was also able to download it.
Synthesia suspended its free AI audio service after being contacted by the Guardian, stating that the technology behind the product was a third-party service.
aftermath
The experience of learning about his likeness was used in a propaganda video.Mr. Torres was left with a deep feeling of betrayal. “It makes me so angry to know that this company that I trusted in my image would get away with something like this. It could cost me my life.”
Torres was invited to do another shoot with Synthesia this year, but he declined. His contract ends in a few months and his Synthesia avatar is removed. But what will his avatar look like in the Burkina Faso video?It’s unclear even to him.
“Now I understand why it’s so dangerous to expose your face to them. It’s a shame that we took part in this,” he said.
YouTube has since removed the propaganda video featuring Dewhurst, but it remains available on Facebook.
Both Torres and Yates remain on the front page of Synthesia’s video ads.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have created a unique time-lapse of R Aquari's dynamic behavior from observations spanning 2014 to 2023.
The two stars in the R Aquarii binary system are approximately 1.6 billion miles apart. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Matthias Stute / Margarita Karovska / Davide De Martin / Mahdi Zamani / N. Bartmann, ESA, Hubble.
Located 650 light years away, R Aquary is a so-called symbiotic binary, consisting of two stars surrounded by a large, dynamic cloud of gas.
Such binaries contain two stars in an unequal and complex relationship: a white dwarf and a red giant.
In a disturbing act of stellar cannibalism, white dwarfs are stripping material from their larger companions.
Suffering red giants and unstable white dwarfs occasionally eject material in strange eruptions, loops, and trajectories.
“The twisted outflow of stars makes the region look like an out-of-control lawn sprinkler,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“This dramatically shows how the universe redistributes the products of nuclear energy that form deep inside stars and are jetted out into space.”
“Aquarius R belongs to a class of double stars called symbiotic stars,” they added.
“The host star is an aging red giant star, and its companion star is a compact, burnt-out star known as a white dwarf.”
“The red giant star is mira variable It is more than 400 times larger than the Sun. ”
“The expanded monster star pulsates, changes temperature, and changes brightness by a factor of 750 over a period of approximately 390 days.”
“At its peak, the star is blindingly bright, about 5,000 times brighter than the Sun.”
“When the white dwarf comes closest to the red giant star during its 44-year orbit, it gravitationally sucks out hydrogen gas.”
“This material accumulates on the surface of the dwarf star until spontaneous nuclear fusion occurs, causing the surface to explode like a giant hydrogen bomb.”
“After the explosion, the fueling cycle begins again.”
“This explosion causes geyser-like filaments to erupt from the core, forming strange loops and trajectories as the plasma emerges as a streamer.”
“The plasma is twisted by the force of the explosion and guided upwards and outwards by a strong magnetic field.”
“The outflow appears to be folded into a spiral pattern.”
“Plasma is ejecting into space at more than 1.6 million km (1 million miles) per hour, which is fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 15 minutes.”
“The filament glows in visible light because it is energized by intense radiation from the star.”
RJust before last week's newsletter was published, a short selling firm called Hindenburg Research issued the following report. Highly critical report on Roblox. In it, they accuse public companies of inflating their metrics (and thus their valuations), and even more worryingly for the parents of the millions of children who use Roblox. He also called it a “pedophile's hellscape.'’ The report claims that there were some gruesome discoveries within the game. Researchers found chat rooms of people purporting to exchange images and videos of children, and users claiming to be children or teens offering such material in exchange for Robux, an in-game currency. I discovered it. roblox I strongly refuse The claims made by Hindenburg in his report.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Roblox is more of a platform than a game (or, as corporate communicators like to think of it, a metaverse). It claims 80 million daily users (though Hindenburg says this figure is inflated). Log in, customize your avatar, and from there you can dive into thousands of different “experiences” created by other users. From role-playing cities to pizza delivery mini-games to cops-and-robbers games to cops-and-robbers games and, unfortunately, much less, Public Bathroom Simulator (which the creators say was 12 years old before they realized bad people existed) It is a delicious dish that looks like the one that he made at the time of his death. Roblox games are created by players, so the site must be constantly moderated. The company's moderation team handles a huge amount of content every day.
It's important to recognize that Hindenburg has a vested interest in making Roblox a stock tank. Hindenburg has a short position in the company (meaning it stands to profit if the stock price falls). Several other companies I've seen their stocks crater after releasing a report on them. However, it is also possible to independently verify some of the claims made in the report. A very quick search of the platform reveals that these in-game chat groups that appear to be soliciting and trading images do indeed exist and are active. And the accounts with questionable usernames that reference child abuse and Jeffrey Epstein are genuine. Some of the specific games and accounts mentioned in Hindenburg's report last week have been removed by the company.
Roblox defended itself in a statement posted online, saying, “Every day, tens of millions of users of all ages have safe and positive experiences on Roblox, and we adhere to our community standards.” said. But any safety incident is terrifying. We take content and conduct that does not adhere to our standards on our platform very seriously. ” The company further added: “We are continually evolving and enhancing our safety approach to catch and prevent malicious and harmful activity, including text chat filters that block inappropriate words and phrases; , which includes disallowing image sharing between users on Roblox” (as further reported in this article in the Guardian).
If your kids are playing on a platform like Roblox, triple-check their settings. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Of course, this isn't the first sensational report about Roblox. In recent years, articles in CNN, the Observer, Wired, and many other publications have found that there is a large amount of inappropriate content on the platform, and that child predators are There are also some proven cases of using Roblox for crafting. Last July, More from Bloomberg In one such case, a man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for grooming a minor and having her cross state lines to perform sex acts as part of a broader investigation into the platform's apparent flaws in moderation and child safety. He was sentenced in 2018.
Many parents are worried about what to do. Roblox is part of the daily online lives of millions of children, even if the figure of around 80 million daily users is inflated, as Hindenberg claims. Anyone who has children of school age knows that it is very widely used. Is Roblox dangerous for kids? Should they stop playing it immediately?
Despite everything presented in this and other reports over the past few years, I believe it is entirely possible for children to play Roblox safely. Appropriate parental controls are in place to limit or eliminate the extent to which strangers can contact your child. When used correctly. If I had kids playing Roblox, I'd be checking all of these settings over and over again to make sure the “friends list” feature was set to include only real-life friends. We also recommend supervising young children to minimize the likelihood that they will encounter or actually seek out the many inappropriate games that seem to regularly elude Roblox's management efforts. I'm very reluctant to let you play this game without it.
Basic online safety education is critical for all children who use the Internet. Given the multiple convictions of child predators who used Roblox to access children, it is impossible to deny the presence of pedophiles on the platform, but it is difficult to objectively assess the extent of it. It's difficult. Some of what Hindenburg highlights in his report seems to me more likely to be the product of an adolescent fringe master than an actual child predator. Roblox is full of teenagers who have grown up with the game. When you see 900 variations of the username Jeffrey Epstein, you don't necessarily see 900 active child abusers, you see 900 stupid 14-year-olds trying to be funny. .
Full disclosure: I don't let my kids play Roblox, and I have no intention of starting them. I don't believe that a publicly traded company can be trusted to put the interests and safety of children ahead of profits. Moderation is expensive and difficult. No one in the big tech industry is any closer to building a system to prevent harmful material from appearing on these types of open platforms, or to prevent people from exploiting harmful material for their own purposes. No. Legitimate safety concerns aside, rather than trying to squeeze money out of kids to pay for endless in-game cosmetics and “experiences,” it's simply better to serve kids' imaginations and curiosity. There are hundreds of great games.
Only offline games can completely eliminate this risk of children being exposed to inappropriate content. After just a few hours of exploring Roblox, one thing is abundantly clear. It's not hard to find something very problematic.
what to play
The wolf in the game Neva grows into a magnificent creature crowned with horns that protects you.
Neva, a game about a warrior and a she-wolf, surprised me. I've played so many beautiful, artistic indie platformers that it’s hard to find one that really makes me feel something. But there I was ugly crying in front of the TV after a few nights with Neva. It takes place over four seasons. The wolf starts out as a cub that you have to protect, but later grows into a magnificent creature with horns that can protect you. Use an elegant combination of jumps, double jumps, dashes, and strikes to explore an incredibly beautiful but horribly corrupt natural world and make multiple attempts to conquer the demons that poison it. Worth a few hours of anyone's life.
Available: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Approximate play time: 3-4 hours
The cause of the Alamo…Nintendo's new clock. Photo: Nintendo
On Friday, a group of people who worked on highly acclaimed psychology and political science research RPG Disco Elysium announced the creation of a new studio to work on the game's spiritual successor. Then, confusingly, another new studio was announced same thingThis time it comes with a trailer. And on the same day, a third group announced another spiritual successor. as one viral tweet “Disco Elysium splitting into three unions claiming succession is more of a commentary on communism than the game wanted.”
A premium book/magazine hybrid about video games. above, Released today. Guardian games correspondent Keith Stuart and I feature in issue one. Naturally, his article is about Sega arcade boards and mine is about Nintendo details.
game freakThe developer of Pokemon suffered a hack of almost unprecedented scale.: Details about unreleased Pokemon game and movie projects, employee information, source code, and details about the series' development. decades I'm there now.
To cap off a truly bizarre week of video game news: nintendo We have announced an alarm clock that watches over you while you are sleeping. It's called “Alarmo,” and it wakes you up with the not-so-gentle sounds of Mario, Splatoon, or Zelda, synchronized with your groggy morning movements. the available now For those willing to jump through a few hoops (and pay £90).
Our planet’s new small satellite, 2024 PT5, arrived in Earth’s orbit on September 29, 2024.
2024 PT5 is scheduled to capture a temporary flyby from September 29th to November 25th in 2024. Image credit: University of Colorado.
2024 PT5 was discovered by the Asteroid Earth Impact Final Warning System in Sutherland, South Africa on August 7, 2024.
This near-Earth asteroid is about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and follows an orbit similar to that of 2022 NX1.
2024 PT5 will become a mini-Earth satellite on September 29 and return to heliocentric orbit 56.6 days later on November 25.
“Near-Earth objects like this offer a glimpse into the formation process of the solar system,” said astrophysicist Dr. Nico Cappellutti. University of Miami.
“Most asteroids in our solar system are rocky remnants left over from the formation of our solar system.”
2024 PT5 is part of Arjuna, an asteroid belt made up of space rocks that follow an orbit around the sun very similar to Earth’s orbit.
“So sometimes they can remain temporarily trapped in our gravitational field,” Dr. Cappellutti said.
“Bringing them this close is a fascinating opportunity.”
“The asteroid, the size of a school bus, is too faint and small to be seen with the naked eye or with amateur telescopes, but its two-month stay around Earth has reinforced our intense interest in space rocks. It helps maintain.”
Two years ago, in what was called the first test of the planetary defense system, NASA crashed a spacecraft into the giant space rock Dimorphos, which could change direction if the asteroid was on a collision course with Earth. proved something.
Private companies also want to send spacecraft to asteroids in hopes of mining the precious metals they contain.
“Asteroids are classified based on their orbits and their contents,” said Dr. Bertrand Dano, also from the University of Miami.
“Some are made entirely of stone, while others contain high concentrations of rare metals, such as platinum and gold for electronics, nickel and cobalt for catalysts and fuel cell technology, and, of course, iron.”
“Mining asteroids is not far off. There are currently millions of asteroids in our solar system, about 2 million of which are larger than 1 km.”
“The resources it contains are a new dream for El Dorado, and there are several companies currently betting on it.”
“Recent missions to rendezvous with, orbit and land on asteroids have proven that space mining may be only a matter of time.”
“However, proceeding with asteroid mining will require huge investments, from the mining equipment that needs to operate in a vacuum to the technology needed to transport the extracted minerals to Earth.”
“And then there’s the spacecraft itself. A dedicated ship that would travel to an asteroid for the purpose of extracting minerals from the asteroid would probably be a robotic ship.”
“A trip to Mars would take about eight months under the best conditions. The space and equipment needed to support life would be put to good use as storage for backup equipment and resources.”
“Because it takes a lot of energy to leave Earth’s gravity, mining missions are better launched from space or from low-gravity bodies such as the Moon, Mars, or Titan, one of Saturn’s natural moons. Sho.”
“Returning to Earth is relatively easy, but dangerous for the material. It would be a shame if all the prizes disappeared. Refining will take place in space, and purified products can be shipped regularly. As far as I know, no one is thinking that far.”
“Yet, asteroid mining could have a 100-fold or more return.”
“Mining platinum or gold from an asteroid and returning it could make you a trillionaire overnight, potentially upending entire economies, trade and markets.”
“Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, ‘The first billionaire in history was the one who exploited the natural resources of asteroids.'”
Amazon.com has recently signed three agreements to collaborate on the development of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power technology. This cutting-edge technology aims to address the increasing demand for power, particularly from data centers. Amazon has solidified its position as a major player in the high-tech industry.
One of the agreements involves Amazon funding a feasibility study for an SMR project near its Northwest Energy site in Washington state. X-Energy will be responsible for developing the SMR, with financial specifics remaining undisclosed.
As per the agreement, Amazon will have the option to procure power from four modules. Energy Northwest, a group of state utilities, may also include up to 80 MW modules, resulting in a total capacity of up to 960 MW. This power will be able to supply over 770,000 US homes, with excess energy being allocated to Amazon and utility companies for residential and commercial usage.
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, expressed, “Our agreement will expedite the advancement of new nuclear technologies that will provide energy for years to come.”
SMR leverages factory assembly of components to reduce construction expenses, a departure from the conventional on-site assembly of large nuclear reactors. While some critics argue that achieving economies of scale with SMR technology may be costly, it remains a promising development.
Nuclear power, known for its near-zero greenhouse gas emissions and creation of high-wage union jobs, garners bipartisan support in the US. Despite this, the country is yet to have a working SMR. NuScale was the lone US entity to secure an SMR design license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently.
Furthermore, SMRs produce lasting radioactive waste, and the US lacks a definitive disposal site for such byproducts. Scott Burnell, a representative from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stated that regulators still await detailed information about planned SMR implementations.
“I have to show you this – it’s going to change your life!” is the very Imogen Heap way of greeting.
She smiled at me and showed off a mysterious black device. The musician and technologist is an evocative and eccentric presence even on video calls, speaking with passion and changing his mind like a rally driver turning a corner. She swivels me from the kitchen floor to the living room of her parents’ home in Havering, near London. It’s familiar to the thousands of fans (aka Heapsters) who tune in to watch her improvise on the grand piano on livestreams. “By the way, that’s the tent I’ve been sleeping in,” she laughed, enjoying the surprise, pointing to an attractive white tent at the edge of the manicured lawn.
Her fans use the term “Imogeneration” to describe someone who changed the course of pop music. Heap’s theatrically layered vocals and expressive production on the albums Speak for Yourself (2005) and Ellipse (2009) have inspired the likes of Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Casey. It influenced chart giants such as Musgraves and popularized the use of the vocoder (later heard in the works of Kanye West and Bon Iver). She has been widely sampled, especially by hip-hop and ambient musicians, and in 2010 became the first woman to win a Grammy Award in the engineering category.
Since then, Heap has dedicated his career to shaping music through technology, and shaping technology through music. Her fast-paced projects include The Creative Passport, which envisions a more accessible way for musicians to store and share personal data, and a pioneering project that lets you record loops of sound and add details like vibrato and reverb. These include the MiMU glove, a wearable instrument. In real time just by moving your wrist.
But she didn’t create the black device she’s brandishing at me. Plaud Note is a voice recorder that uses ChatGPT. She laughed and explained that this converts our conversations into text and generates a summary of our thoughts. Recording interviews is typically the job of journalists, but for the past two years, Heap has been collecting data about herself for a new project: a comprehensive AI assistant called Mogen (pronounced like Imogen). Our interviews become training data. The text prepares Morgen to answer questions about Heep’s life and work, and the audio trains Morgen to reproduce her voice. “Everything I’ve ever said or done, I want Morgen to have access to,” Heap says.
Heap performance in 2010. Photo: Samir Hussain/Getty Images
Mogen was born as a premium feature of Heap’s fan app, theoretically giving Heapsters a way to access Heap’s sentiments and opinions on certain topics. Anything Mogen can’t answer is forwarded to Heap’s (human) assistant. “I don’t want to repeat myself. I want to make sure people have the information they need, when they need it,” Heap says. “In a way, I have been working on [her] For the rest of my life.”
But Heep’s ambitions for Morgen are rapidly expanding. Beyond its role as a kind of living autobiography, Heap hopes to become a point of “omniscient connection” that can streamline workflow and deepen the creative process in the studio and on stage. Future versions of Mogen will explore how Heap can improvise live, become a live collaborator, process fan musical suggestions in real time, and feed biometric and atmospheric data to create You’ll be able to create performances that feel “realistic.”
“I want to [be able to] “Right now, we can create broad orchestral pieces and angular drums with a variety, richness, and tenderness that you just can’t get in real time with off-the-shelf equipment,” says Heap.
All of this data collection was inspired by a series of life-changing experiences that convinced Heap of his current power. Heap, who discovered she had ADHD during the pandemic and shortly after her sister’s death, said: “We’re using our most precious resource, our time, to do these mundane things.” He explains what he noticed. She hired a studio assistant to reduce distractions and improve focus, and to understand the sense of presence, or what she poetically calls “an immaterial bubble without time and space.” I concentrated.
The journey included an introduction to Wim Hof breathing techniques by fellow music experimenter John Hopkins and a visceral response to music by noise artist Pullian, which left her shocked on her kitchen floor. Ta. She likens the latter to childbirth. “That was the only time in my life that I felt like I wasn’t in control of my body.”
The result of this new focus, which she will discuss in more detail this week at London’s Southbank Center, is a worldview that sees technology as both a problem and a solution. On the other hand, the capitalist system and attention economy make us “greedy.” “We have become desensitized,” she says, but in the meantime, we might be able to invent new tools that foster creativity and connection over profit. “I want to dedicate my life to it,” she says seriously.
Her vision isn’t exactly utopian. She speculates that we “will go through this period of running away” from dangerous AI. But she firmly believes there is a bright future on the other side of this potential disaster. Even so, Heap remains perplexingly sour about the possible risks. “You can’t stop progress,” she shrugs, dismissing widespread concerns about the ethics of scraping other people’s data to build profitable AI systems and the environmental costs of all that processing power as “very simple.” “I scoff. It’s based on fear.”
The most direct result of her recent soul-searching will be a 14-minute track released in three parts via a new site called The Living Song. The first part, “What Have You Done to Me,” will be available at the end of October and will allow users to chat with Mogen and remix or sample the song. The idea is to demonstrate that ethical and compensatory collaboration between artists, AI, and fans is possible, with one-third of all profits going to Brian Eno’s climate change foundation Earth%. Masu. “This song gives you the tools to collaborate and love with different people,” she emphasizes. “I don’t want to be kept in a basement. I’ve never felt protective or possessive. [my music]”
The new song, which tells the story of Heap and her relationship with herself and Morgen, also reimagines the melody of “Hide and Seek,” her first big hit and a song that has had a remarkable life in its own right. After being used as the soundtrack for The O.C.’s dramatic second season finale in 2005, the scene was parodied in a Saturday Night Live sketch that looped her “Um, what are you talking about?” It went viral. lyrics. Two years later, Jason Derulo sampled the same elements in his debut single “Whatcha Say,” which topped the US charts. Heap himself included the song in his score for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Palestinian singer Nemasis used the opening bars of a video about the devastation in Gaza.
AI optimists see similarities between this sampling (using parts of someone else’s work to create something new) and generative AI, which processes vast amounts of existing material to create music. I claim that there is. But major labels Sony, Universal and Warner are suing two AI startups for processing their copyrighted music without their permission.
Ms Heap said her project was trying to move on from the days when “people were always trying something and not evaluating it”. For example, an unreleased demo called “A New Kind of Love” cut from her band Frou Frou’s 2002 album somehow ended up on the desk of Australian drum and bass musician Veerre Cloud. His loose remix, released in 2019, has since been streamed over 400 million times on Spotify. After researching, Heap’s team discovered that there are more than 60 other tracks that use the song without credit. “We had to say: Hello, we’re glad you put it out there, but could we have some?”
This is why The Living Song project is so important, she says. Treating each song as a separate entity allows Heap to set and work around its own rules for interaction and collaboration, as it has throughout its career. It’s like labels and artists fighting over AI services.
Previously, I asked what happens if I don’t want my data (my words in the conversation) to be part of Mogen’s training set. Heap said that for data protection reasons, Morgen would only incorporate her answers, not my questions, and the same would be true for fan submissions. She hypothesizes that in the future, my own AI assistant will negotiate with Morgen and inform me of my preferences in advance. She then added with a wry smile that if we didn’t like the data, “I’d probably leave it alone.” [the interview] short”.
But certainly, conversation is also a type of collaboration. What is the answer to a question without context? As I was thinking about this, Heap sent me a summary of the call that Plaud had generated. One line reads: “Katie Hawthorn shares feelings of paranoia, while Imogen Heap expresses excitement.”
This mission to form her own archive through a cleverly automated digital twin, rooted in the past but designed to extend and even predict Heap’s present, is a battle with the music industry over ownership. It makes sense in the context of a career spent in . But it also raises bigger, more difficult questions about heritage, voice, creativity, and control, and Heap aims to fundamentally reshape music, and perhaps life, as we know it. Given her outpouring of persuasion and deep cultural influence, it’s hard to resist her. “I’m not a guru,” she jokes. “still!”
Marine biologists identify new species of skate Leucolaja It lurks in the deep waters of the southwestern Indian Ocean.
brown long nose skates (Leucolaya longirostris), holotype of an adult male viewed from the dorsal side. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Weigman others., doi: 10.3390/biology13060405.
members of the genus Leucolaja A small to medium sized skate, usually with a short, obtuse snout.
To date, 14 valid species of this genus have been identified, primarily in the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the Indian Ocean.
“The 14 species currently described are Leucolaja It reaches a maximum size of 30-120 cm and is found in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. ” Dr Simon Weigman by the Leibniz Institute for Biodiversity Change Analysis and colleagues.
“Of these 12 species, Leucolaja Compagnoi and Leucolaja wallasei They also live outside the Atlantic Ocean, in continental waters in the southwestern Indian Ocean. ”
The newly discovered Leucolaja This species is the fourth known species of this genus from the western Indian Ocean.
named Leucolaya longirostris (common name is Brown Longnose Skate), apparently endemic to the Madagascar Ridge in Walters Shoals.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers working on the Madagascar Ridge, a raised area of the ocean floor in the southwestern Indian Ocean, collected a total of eight rare skate specimens at depths of 750 to 1,050 meters.” biologists said.
“Despite the long snout, this specimen could definitely be assigned to the genus. Leucolaja This is due to the typical characteristics of claspers. ”
“It can be easily distinguished from all 14 congeners by its long, sharply pointed snout,” the researchers said.
“Furthermore, it appears to occur only on the Madagascar Ridge, away from the known distribution areas of all congeners, and its clasper morphology exhibits several unique aspects.”
brown long nose skates (Leucolaya longirostris), holotype of an adult male viewed from the ventral side. Scale bar – 5 cm. Image credit: Weigman others., doi: 10.3390/biology13060405.
Leucolaya longirostris These are medium-sized skates with a total length of 71.1 cm or more.
Males mature at about 60 cm. The largest known female is 70cm long. The smallest known specimen is a young female with a total length of 27.6 cm.
recognition of Leucolaya longirostris Provide new insights into morphological variation within the genus Leucolaja “This constitutes a very unusual and noteworthy addition to this genus Sketchi,” the researchers said.
“Nevertheless, the very limited distribution of this new species raises concerns about its ability to sustain fisheries, and it may be susceptible to capture in longline fisheries, particularly deep-sea trawl fisheries.”
“Although little information is available about fisheries operating in the region of the Madagascar Ridge, this deep-sea skate tolerates intensive fishing pressure, potentially due to its slow-life history characteristics and low productivity. You may not be able to.”
“Walter's Shoal has had good catches in the past and this pressure may return in the future,” they added.
“As a fishery targeting orange roughy (Hoplostessus atlanticus) and Kinmedai (Belix Decactylus) have typically used mesophoric trawls on the ocean floor, but new species may have benthic refugia. ”
“However, further research is needed to investigate its distribution, life history, population size and trends, and threats.”
“This is essential to improving data collection and research and making more effective conservation and management policy decisions.”
a paper Report findings published in journals biology.
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Simon Weigman others. 2024. Description of a noteworthy new type of skate shoe Leucolaja Malm of the southwestern Indian Ocean, 1877 (Radidae, Radidae): Introducing 3D modeling as an innovative tool for visualization of clasper characters. biology 13 (6): 405;doi: 10.3390/Biology 13060405
Named after the otherworldly sounds these tree frogs make, Boufis The rainforests of Madagascar are expanses, some of which remind us of the sounds of technological equipment from fictional works. Star Trek Scientists have named seven new species in honor of the fictional captain of a spaceship. Bufis Khaki, bofis picardi, Bofis Siskoi, Boufis Janeyae, bofis archery, bofis pickay and bofis barnamae.
bofis picardi a male paratype from Anara, Madagascar. Image credit: Vences others., doi: 10.3897/vz.74.e121110.
There are currently 80 described species. Boufis It is the most unique genus of the Malagasy Comoran endemic family. Mantelidae.
Members of this genus are tree frogs with relatively generalized reproductive behavior, usually laying eggs in stream or pond water where tadpoles develop.
Many Boufis species are very vocal, with males emitting loud and clear advertising calls.
“Seven newly discovered species of Hyla genus” Boufis “Frogs, which are found throughout the rainforests of Madagascar, use a special bird-like whistle to communicate with other frogs,” said Professor Miguel Wences of the Technical University of Braunschweig and colleagues.
“The sound of these whistles reminded our team: Star Trek similar whistle-like sound effects are frequently used. ”
“That’s why we named our frogs after Kirk, Picard, Cisco, Janeway, Archer, Burnham and Pike – seven of the most iconic captains of science fiction.”
“These frog calls don’t just sound like movie sound effects. Star Trek But finding them often requires quite a trek,” said Dr. Mark Schaerts, a researcher at the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen.
“While some species are found in areas accessible to tourists, finding some of these species requires extensive expeditions to remote forest fragments and mountain peaks. It was.”
“We believe that here lies the true meaning of scientific discovery and exploration, and that it is based in the spirit of: Star Trek”
For fans of Star Trek, Boufis The call may remind you of the so-called “Boardsman’s Whistle” or the sound from a device called a “tricorder.” To others, it may sound like a bird or an insect.
Dr. Jörn Köhler, senior curator of vertebrate zoology at the Hesse State Museum in Darmstadt, said: “If the frog is just croaking like the European frogs we’re familiar with, it’s likely that it’s coming from a nearby river. “It might not have been audible over the sound of the rushing water.”
“Their high-pitched trills and whistles stand out above all the noise.”
“Due to their appearance, these frogs have traditionally been confused with similar species, but each species produces a distinctive high-pitched whistle, which helps distinguish them from each other and from other frogs. I did.”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper in diary vertebrate zoology.
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M. Vances others. 2024. The Communicator’s Whistle: A Journey Through Taxonomy Bufis mallogesensis This complex reveals seven new morphologically enigmatic tree frogs (Amphibians: Anura: Mantelidae) from Madagascar. vertebrate zoology 74: 643-681;doi: 10.3897/vz.74.e121110
When I think about the members of my social network, I am almost filled with feelings of pure love and warmth. I can't wait to see them again, knowing we can bask in each other's love and support.
But for some, it evokes a completely different emotion: a mixture of enthusiasm and fear. In terms of conversation, encounters like Russian roulette are guaranteed. If I'm in a good mood, these guys will give me a fun night, but if I catch them at the wrong time, they can suck all my goodwill. I have no idea what will happen.
If this sounds familiar, it means you have a frenemy too. Psychologists call them “ambivalent relationships,” and not only can they ruin a good party, but they can also have surprising consequences for your happiness. A wealth of research shows that love-hate relationships like this are often more stressful than interacting with people who are constantly mean. It can harm your mental and physical health. They can also cause you to age prematurely.
Knowing this, the easy solution seems to be to cut ties with these people. However, our relationship with frenemies is not simple, and it is not always possible or desirable to abandon them. However, gaining deeper insight into your own ambiguous relationships can help you cope more effectively. You might even become better friends that way. Because if you know the signs to look out for, you may realize that the frenemy in some relationships is you.
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