Astrophysicists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration have conducted test observations that achieve the highest resolution ever obtained from Earth’s surface by detecting light emanating from the center of a distant galaxy at a frequency of about 345 GHz. When combined with existing images of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 and the Milky Way galaxy at a lower frequency of 230 GHz, these new results not only produce a 50% sharper picture of the black hole, but also a multi-color image of the region just outside the boundaries of these cosmic monsters.
This artist’s impression shows the locations of radio observatories on Earth that took part in the EHT Collaboration’s pilot experiment to produce the highest-resolution observations from the ground. Image courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser.
In 2019, the EHT Collaboration released images of M87*, the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87, and in 2022, they released images of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
These images were obtained by linking multiple radio observatories around Earth, using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope.
To get higher resolution images, astronomers typically resort to larger telescopes, or greater distances between observatories acting as part of an interferometer.
But because the EHT was already the same size as Earth, a different approach was needed to increase the resolution of ground-based observations.
Another way to increase a telescope’s resolution is to observe shorter wavelengths of light, and that’s exactly what the EHT Collaboration is currently doing.
“The EHT has seen the first image of a black hole at 1.3 millimeter wavelengths, but the bright ring created by the black hole’s gravity bending light still appears blurry because we’ve reached the absolute limit of how sharp an image we can make,” said Dr Alexander Raymond, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“At 0.87mm, the images will be clearer and more detailed, which may reveal new properties, some previously predicted, but also some perhaps not.”
To demonstrate detection at 0.87 mm, EHT researchers carried out test observations of distant, bright galaxies at this wavelength.
Rather than using the entire EHT array, they used two smaller subarrays, including ALMA and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX).
Other facilities that will be used include the IRAM Thirty Meter Telescope in Spain, the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France, and the Greenland Telescope and Submillimeter Array in Hawaii.
In this pilot experiment, scientists achieved measurements down to 19 microarcseconds, the highest resolution ever achieved from the Earth’s surface.
But it hasn’t yet been able to capture an image: Though it has robustly detected light from some distant galaxies, it hasn’t used enough antennas to be able to accurately reconstruct an image from the data.
This technical test opens up new avenues for studying black holes.
With the full array, the EHT can see details as small as 13 microarcseconds, the equivalent of seeing a bottle cap on the Moon from Earth.
This means that at 0.87mm we can obtain images with approximately 50% higher resolution than the previously published M87* and Sagittarius A* 1.3mm images.
What’s more, it may be possible to observe a black hole that is more distant, smaller and fainter than the two black holes imaged so far.
“Observing changes in the surrounding gas at different wavelengths will help us solve the mysteries of how black holes attract and accrete matter, and how they can launch powerful jets that travel across the Milky Way galaxy,” said Dr Shepard Doleman, EHT founding director and astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This is the first time that VLBI technology has been used successfully at a wavelength of 0.87 mm.
“The detection of a VLBI signal at 0.87 mm is groundbreaking as it opens a new observational window into the study of supermassive black holes,” said Dr Thomas Krichbaum, astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
“In the future, the Spanish and French IRAM telescopes in combination with ALMA and APEX will allow us to image smaller and fainter radiation simultaneously at two wavelengths, 1.3 mm and 0.87 mm, which was previously possible.”
Online misinformation has fuelled tensions over immigration, sparking riots in Sunderland and other parts of the UK.
Doric/Getty Images
Last week, Pakistani police Sued the man Cyber terrorism links have been made in relation to a misleading news article that allegedly sparked riots in the UK. The article falsely claimed that an asylum seeker was responsible for the murder of three girls in Southport, UK, and the misinformation spread rapidly on social media, fuelling anger against immigrants.
The threat of online misinformation causing real-world problems is a major concern for governments around the world, particularly…
Throughout the history of cinema, filmmakers have constantly pushed the boundaries of special effects. From early techniques like using puppets to create dramatic scenes to more advanced methods involving animation and computer graphics, the evolution of visual effects has been remarkable.
In the past, creating high-quality computer graphics for films was a time-consuming and expensive process. However, with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), this has changed. AIs like DALL.E, Midjourney, and Firefly have demonstrated the ability to generate stunning visuals from text descriptions almost instantly.
These AI-powered tools not only make it easier to edit images and footage but also offer the potential to create fully computer-generated movies without the need for physical actors. While there has been some resistance from screenwriters and actors, the rapid advancements in AI technology are reshaping the film industry.
Despite some concerns about copyright and the originality of AI-generated content, it is clear that AI is revolutionizing the creation of special effects in movies. While the long-term impact of AI on the film industry remains uncertain, it is certain that visual effects are becoming more accessible and affordable thanks to AI.
Ultimately, AI can be a powerful tool in post-production and help filmmakers focus on storytelling and performance rather than just visual effects. The future of filmmaking may be different, but with the right approach, AI can enhance the creative process and lead to more memorable films.
This article is a response to a question sent via email by Hilda Patterson: “To what extent will AI change the film industry?”
If you have any questions, please send them to the email address below.For further information, please contact:or send us a messageFacebook,XorInstagramPage (be sure to include your name and location).
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B
Missing Myth: Wukong is a video game that focuses on spectacle, but true awe requires confidence. This confidence is often lacking in big-budget games where developers play it safe, concerned about mainstream appeal. Despite its cutting-edge graphics, Black Myth: Wukong stands out as a potential hit, but surprisingly, it’s developed by the Chinese indie studio Game Science. The game’s polished experience is so impressive that it’s hard to believe it’s the studio’s first “premium” game.
Based on the classic 16th-century novel, Journey to the West, Black Myth: Wukong allows players to step into the shoes of the novel’s main character, the stone monkey, Son Goku. Son Goku possesses incredible strength, speed, and the ability to transform into various creatures and objects, manipulate the weather, and even create clones of himself. The game introduces these abilities through an exhilarating tutorial where Wukong faces off against gods and armies, providing a constant adrenaline rush throughout its 40-hour playtime.
Black Myth: Wukong draws inspiration from modern action games, particularly the challenging “Soul-like” genre known for epic boss fights. The game’s combat mechanics feel heavy and swift, with attention to detail like the use of soaking gourds to enhance abilities, immersing players in an authentic world.
Unlike many action games, Wukong isn’t open-world, devoid of mini-maps and quest logs. The lack of handholding encourages exploration and trust in the game’s process, leading players through dangerous terrains and breath-taking landscapes without distractions.
Capturing the allure of exploration…Black Myth: Wukong.
Photo: GameScience
In addition to exploration, Wukong caters to curiosity with hidden areas that only become visible once players acquire specific items or interact with certain characters. These optional sections, called “Attachment,” play into Buddhist themes of attachment leading to suffering, adding depth to the game’s narrative and gameplay.
Black Myth: Wukong’s success is a testament to its captivating gameplay and storytelling. Despite initial surprise at its origin from a country known for mobile games, the game’s accessibility to Chinese audiences has contributed to its massive popularity. It’s a game that transcends market expectations and delivers an exceptional gaming experience.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has alleged that he came under pressure from the US government to censor coronavirus posts on Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic, and said he regrets giving in to it.
Zuckerberg said White House officials under Joe Biden\’s administration “repeatedly pressured” Facebook and Instagram\’s parent company, Meta, throughout the pandemic to “censor certain coronavirus-related content.”
“Over the course of 2021, Biden Administration officials, including from the White House, repeatedly pressured us for months to censor certain COVID-19-related content, including humor and satire, and expressed significant frustration to our team when we did not comply,” the letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said in a statement. “We believe the administration\’s pressure was misguided.”
During the pandemic, Facebook began showing misinformation warnings to users when they commented on or liked posts it deemed contained false information about the coronavirus.
The company also removed posts criticizing COVID-19 vaccines and suggesting the virus was developed in a Chinese lab.
During the 2020 US presidential election campaign, Biden accused social media platforms such as Facebook of “killing people” by allowing the posting of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
“With hindsight and new information, I think we would have made choices that we wouldn\’t have made now,” Zuckerberg said. “I regret not being more vocal about it.”
“As I told my team then, I feel strongly that our content standards should not be compromised due to pressure from the Administration, and we are ready to fight back if something like this happens again.”
Zuckerberg also said Facebook had “temporarily downgraded” a story about the contents of a laptop owned by the president\’s son, Hunter Biden, after the FBI warned that Russia was preparing a disinformation campaign against Biden.
Zuckerberg wrote that it was later revealed that the article was not false, and that “in retrospect, we should not have downgraded this article.”
The White House defended its actions during the pandemic, saying it encouraged “responsible behavior to protect public health and safety.”
“Our position has been clear and consistent,” the company said. “We believe that tech companies and other private actors should consider the impact of their actions on the American people and make their own choices about the information they provide.”
Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Márquez, who spent some of his happiest years documenting life in Caracas, once declared journalism “the best job in the world.”
But that’s not the case when it comes to covering Venezuela today, where journalists are feeling the pressure as the South American country slides toward full-on dictatorship under President Nicolas Maduro.
Four weeks into Venezuela’s disputed elections, local journalists have developed a uniquely 21st century tactic to avoid arrest for covering the election. Socialism in the 21st Century: Using artificial intelligence avatars to report all news that the Maduro regime deems unsuitable for print.
In their daily broadcasts, the AI-created news anchors have updated the world on the president’s post-election crackdown on opponents, activists and the media, without putting reporters at risk.
Directed by Carlos Eduardo Huertas ConnectorsThe Colombia-based Journalism Platform, which is coordinating the effort, said the use of AI is not just a gimmick but a response to “the increasing persecution and repression suffered by our colleagues in Venezuela, where uncertainty grows by the hour regarding the safety of carrying out their work.”
Opposition politicians Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia ride in a truck during mass protests against the Maduro government in Caracas. Photo: Matthias Delacroix/AP
Huertas said that with the increasingly authoritarian atmosphere under Maduro’s government, “it’s no longer wise to be in front of the camera.”The solution was to create virtual journalists to hide the identities of the real reporters reporting the news.
The initiative involves around 20 Venezuelan news and fact-checking media outlets and around 100 journalists who will share content and present it as a daily news show presented by avatars called La Chama and El Pana (roughly translating as “best friend” and “partner”).
in First broadcast This month, Besti, a female presenter, explained that she wants to spread awareness of “what is really going on in Venezuela.”
“But before we go any further, if you haven’t noticed, we’re not real,” the avatar added, before releasing the latest, all-too-real statistics on Maduro’s campaign to eliminate opposition: “In less than two weeks, more than 1,000 people have been detained during protests and at least 23 killed,” Besti said. The number of people detained now stands at more than 1,400.
The name of the AI journalism project, “Operación Retuit” (Operation Retweet), is in part a satirical reference to the name given by the Maduro regime to its harsh crackdown on dissent, “Operation Tun Tun” (Operation Knock Knock).
The prisoners include at least nine journalists, according to Venezuela’s journalists union, SNTP. One of them, 26-year-old sports reporter and photographer Paul Leon, was picked up by police while photographing a peaceful protest and later charged with terrorism offences that carry up to 30 years in prison.
On Sunday, Carmela Longo, a prominent entertainment journalist, was taken by police from her home in Caracas after being fired by the pro-government newspaper Altimas Noticias.
Caracas police detained journalist Carmela Longo after searching her home. Photo: Jesus Medina Ezzane/Reuters
The need for virtual reality news anchors is easy to understand, given the political chill that has prevailed in Venezuela since Maduro was first elected president in 2013 and has only worsened in recent days.
“Sources won’t talk. Journalists are forced to work anonymously, sometimes going into hiding and hiding their identities for fear of government retaliation. Social media accounts are silent… Essential parts of the news ecosystem like X Blocked“The Venezuela-focused website Caracas Chronicles reported last week.”
This month, Vladimir Villegas, former president of state broadcaster VTV, Claimed Around 100 employees of the company were fired after messages deemed hostile to the government were found in WhatsApp chats.
of Episode 2 The retweet campaign tackled an especially dangerous topic given the government’s stringent crackdown: It questioned the government’s attempts to blame many of the post-election deaths on the opposition, which Maduro has accused of plotting a fascist coup.
Contrary to government claims, a collective investigation of Operation Retweet suggested that state security forces were primarily responsible for the increased death toll.
Relatives of people detained during anti-government protests wait outside Tocuito prison for news of their loved ones. Photo: Juan Carlos Hernandez/Reuters
“All of the victims were killed by gunfire and witnesses said the suspects were police officers, soldiers or groups known in Venezuela as paramilitary groups. Colectivos” Buddy, the male avatar, told viewers.
The female presenter said most of the victims were under 30, with some as young as 15 killed. “They came from working-class backgrounds and had normal jobs – barbers, caregivers, students, construction workers, hawkers, motorbike taxi drivers and sports coaches,” the avatar added. “At least 15 children were left orphaned in just a few days.”
Colombian journalist Huertas likened his Venezuelan colleagues to firefighters risking their lives for democracy.
“If there’s a fire, you want to see firefighters on the scene. Well, there’s a fire right now. [in Venezuela] “Many firefighters are also present,” he said, praising Venezuela’s capable and dedicated press corps.
Despite the danger,[they] They are on the front lines doing work that society needs,” Huertas said.
Astronomers have discovered six new worlds that look like planets but formed like stars. These so-called “rogue worlds” are between five and 15 times the mass of Jupiter, and one of them may even host the beginnings of a miniature solar system.
Ray Jayawardene Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and his colleagues discovered these strange worlds in the NGC 1333 star cluster. Despite being planet-sized, none of these worlds orbit a star. This indicates that they likely formed by the collapse of a cloud of dust and gas, similar to how stars like our Sun are born. These objects that form like stars but are not massive enough to sustain the fusion of hydrogen are called brown dwarfs, or failed stars.
“In some ways, the most shocking thing is what we didn't find,” Jayawardene says. “Even though we had the sensitivity to do so, we couldn't find anything with a mass less than five times that of Jupiter.” This may indicate that brown dwarfs can't form at lower masses — that is, they are the smallest objects that can form like stars.
From their observations, the researchers found that about 10 percent of the objects in NGC 1333 are made up of brown dwarfs — a much higher number than expected based on star formation models — and that additional processes, such as turbulence, may be driving the formation of these nomadic planets.
One of the brown dwarfs is particularly unusual, with a ring of dust around it similar to the ones that formed the planets in our solar system. At about five times the mass of Jupiter, it's the smallest planet with such a ring ever found and may mark the beginning of a strange, shrunken planetary system around a dysfunctional star.
“From the miniature world around these objects, [brown dwarf] “It will glow mostly in the infrared, with a very reddish glow, and over hundreds of millions of years it will gradually fade away and become invisible,” Jayawardene says. As the brown dwarf fades, any planets that form around it will freeze out completely, darkening the entire system and making it a less than promising world for searching for life.
vinegarWe've reached a point where the CEO of a major social network is being arrested and detained. This is a big change, and it happened in a way that nobody expected. From Jennifer Rankin in Brussels:
French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of Telegram's Russian-born founder. Pavel DurovHe was arrested at Paris airport on suspicion of misconduct related to the messaging app.
Once this detention phase is over, the judge can decide whether to release the defendant or to charge him or her and detain him further.
French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov's arrest as part of an investigation into charges of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism and cyberbullying.
Durov, who holds French citizenship in addition to the United Arab Emirates, St. Kitts and Nevis and his native Russia, was arrested as he disembarked from a private jet after returning from the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, on Sunday evening. Telegram released a statement::
⚖️ Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, and its moderation is within industry standards and is constantly being improved.
✈️ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently to Europe.
😵💫 It is absurd to claim that the platform or its owners are responsible for misuse of their platform.
French authorities said on Monday that Durov's arrest was part of a cybercrime investigation.
Paris prosecutor Laure Vecuot said the investigation concerns crimes related to illegal trading, child sexual abuse, fraud and refusal to provide information to authorities.
On the surface, the arrests seem decidedly different from previous years. Governments have had tough talk with messaging platform providers in the past, but arrests have been few and far between. Often, when platform operators are arrested, as in the cases of Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht and Megaupload's Kim Dotcom, authorities can argue that the platforms would not have existed without the crimes.
Telegram has long operated as a lightly moderated service, partly because of its roots as a chat app rather than a social network, partly because of Durov's own experience dealing with Russian censors, and partly (as many argue) because it is simply cheaper to have fewer moderators and less direct control over the platform.
But even if a company's moderation team's weaknesses can expose it to fines under laws such as the UK's Online Safety Act or the EU's Digital Services Act, they rarely lead to personal charges, and even less to executives being jailed.
Encryption
But Telegram has one feature that makes it slightly different from its peers, such as WhatsApp and Signal: the service is not end-to-end encrypted.
WhatsApp, Signal and Apple's iMessage are built from the ground up to ensure that content shared on the services cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient, including not only the companies that run the platforms but also law enforcement agencies that may be called upon to cooperate.
This has caused endless friction between the world's largest tech companies and the governments that regulate them, but for now, it seems the tech companies have won the main battle: No one is seriously calling for end-to-end encryption to be banned anymore, and regulators and critics are instead calling for messaging services to be monitored differently, with approaches such as “client-side scanning.”
Telegram is different. The service offers end-to-end encryption through a little-used opt-in feature called “Secret Chats,” but by default, conversations are encrypted only enough to be unreadable by anyone connected to your Wi-Fi network. To Telegram itself, messages sent outside of “Secret Chats” (including all group chats, and all messages and comments in one of the service's broadcast “channels”) are effectively unencrypted.
This product decision sets Telegram apart from the pack, yet oddly enough, the company's marketing suggests that the difference is almost the exact opposite. Cryptography expert Matthew Green:
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to aggressively promote the app as a “secure messenger.” issued a scathing criticism He blocked Signal and WhatsApp in his personal Telegram channel, suggesting that these systems were rigged with US government backdoors and that only Telegram's independent encryption protocol could truly be trusted.
Watching Telegram urge people to forego using a messenger that's encrypted by default while refusing to implement a key feature that would broadly encrypt messages for its own users is no longer amusing. In fact, it's starting to feel a bit sinister.
I can't v won't
Paper planes are placed outside near the French Embassy in Moscow in support of Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France. Photo: Yulia Morozova/Reuters
The result of Telegram's mismatch between technology and marketing is a disappointing one: The company, and Durov personally, are selling the app to people who worry that even the gold standards of secure messengers — WhatsApp and Signal — aren't secure enough for their needs, especially from the U.S. government.
At the same time, if the government were to knock on Telegram's door and ask for information about actual or suspected criminals, Telegram would not have the same security as other services. End-to-end encrypted services could honestly tell law enforcement that they could not cooperate. In the long run, this could easily create a rather hostile atmosphere, but the conversation could also become a general conversation about privacy and policing principles.
Telegram, by contrast, is faced with a choice: cooperate with law enforcement, ignore it, or declare that it will not actively cooperate. This is no different from the choice facing the vast majority of online companies, from Amazon to Zoopla, except that Telegram's user base is the only one that demands security from law enforcement.
Every time Telegram says “yes” to police, it infuriates its user base; every time it says “no,” it plays a game of chicken with law enforcement.
The contours of the differences between France and Telegram will inevitably be swamped in conversations about “content moderation” and supporters will rally around it accordingly (Elon Musk has already weighed in, saying, “#FreePavel“) But the conversations are usually about publicly available material and what X or Facebook should or shouldn't do to moderate the discussion on their sites. Private messaging services and group messaging services are fundamentally different services, which is why mainstream end-to-end encrypted services exist. But by trying to straddle both markets, Telegram may have lost both defenses.
Final Question
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A recent study suggests that living in a neighborhood filled with trees can have similar heart benefits to regular exercise. Researchers at the University of Louisville conducted a clinical trial involving hundreds of people living in six low- to moderate-income neighborhoods in South Louisville, Kentucky. They found that planting thousands of mature trees near people’s homes led to lower levels of blood markers associated with heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.
The Green Heart Louisville Project, part of the HEAL Research, revealed that areas with more trees and shrubs had improved health outcomes compared to areas with fewer trees. This study aimed to reduce the incidence of heart disease in the community under the leadership of Professor Aruni Bhatnagar.
Unlike previous observational research, the HEAL study had a control group and an intervention group, providing clearer insights into the effects of nature. Participants aged 25 to 75 living in South Louisville were recruited for the study, with samples collected before and after the tree-planting intervention.
The results showed a 13% decrease in a blood marker associated with heart disease in individuals living in areas with more trees. This reduction was comparable to the benefits seen from starting a regular exercise routine.
Overall, the study demonstrated a strong link between trees and improved physical health by providing shade, cooling, and noise reduction. Beyond physical health, trees also offer mental health benefits and create spaces for relaxation, exercise, and socialization.
How trees improve your physical health
Trees play a crucial role in mitigating urban heat and air pollution, which can worsen existing health conditions. The project in South Louisville focused on areas with poor air quality to study the impact of tree planting on pollution levels.
As the project continues, researchers plan to expand tree planting to other areas and explore additional benefits such as encouraging outdoor activities and improving overall well-being. The findings highlight the importance of equitable access to green spaces in cities and the essential role of nature in human health.
In conclusion, nature is not just a luxury but a necessity for human well-being, and efforts should be made to ensure everyone has access to green spaces for a healthier future.
THoused inside a glass box in the chapel on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, the “Quantum Chandelier” is the symbolic centerpiece of an ambitious effort to transform upstate New York into a tech hub — something like Silicon Valley for social media or Cambridge, Massachusetts, for biotechnology.
The silvery sci-fi object, named for the internal gold lattice that mounts, cools and isolates the processors, will be the heart of a “quantum computing system” that will herald a new era of computing. It’s the heart of Curtis Prime’s dream, co-founder of Nvidia, a $2.8 trillion artificial intelligence hardware and software company, to transform Rensselaer (RPI) into an advanced computing hub, remaking this part of upstate New York into a new Silicon Valley.
Priem has invested a significant amount of his wealth into building the Curtis Priem Quantum Constellation, a workshop where RPI students can envision the future of quantum computing. Just as his partners at Nvidia, where he served as the company’s first chief technology officer, allowed him to freely imagine the graphics chip architecture that will power the AI revolution, he hopes his investment will spark a new era of computational innovation in the region.
Prime believes the area along the Hudson Valley, from Yorktown Heights, home to IBM’s Quantum Research Institute, to Troy, home to the RPI/SUNY nanotech complex, to Syracuse, where Micron is building a massive $100 billion fab complex, will be the future home of U.S. computer technology.
To that end, he’s thinking beyond concerns about artificial intelligence and the success of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing unit (GPU), which powers 90% of generative AI systems.
There are two RPI students on campus. Photo: Gregory Sherin
Wall Street has become skeptical of technology. AI has caused billions of dollars of losses, and Wall Street is disheartened by the idea that new technology is going to change the world. But the same thing happened with the internet overbuild of the 1990s, which went through booms and busts before eventually paying off.
In theory, quantum technology could solve in seconds problems that take today’s supercomputers decades to solve, unlocking secrets about the behavior of molecules, the genetic code, weather forecasting and, of more recent concern, cracking the encryption systems that underpin the internet.
Bees are winged insects that feed on nectar and pollen from flowers and sometimes produce honey. There are around 20,000 species of honeybees, of which 270 live in the UK. More than 90% of honeybee species are solitary, but the remaining species, such as honeybees and bumblebees, live socially in colonies consisting of a single queen bee, female worker bees and male drones.
The largest wasp, Wallace's giant wasp, can grow up to 4cm in length, while tiny stingless wasp workers are smaller than a grain of rice. Wasps live on every continent except Antarctica, and in all habitats with flowering plants that are pollinated by insects.
Honeybees pollinate many of the plants we rely on for food, but their numbers are declining. Bee species numbers have been declining for decades and bees are now missing from a quarter of the places in the UK where they were found 40 years ago.
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How intelligent are honeybees?
Bees are highly intelligent creatures: they can count, solve puzzles and even use simple tools.
in An experimentIn a study, bees were trained to jump over three identical, evenly spaced landmarks to reach a sugar reward 300 meters away. When the number of landmarks was then reduced, the bees flew much farther; when the number of landmarks was increased, the bees landed a shorter distance away.
This suggests that the bees were counting landmarks to decide where to land.
in Another studyScientists have created a puzzle box that can be opened by twisting the lid to access sugar. Solution: Press the red tab to rotate the lid clockwise. Press the blue tab to rotate it counterclockwise. Not only can bees be trained to solve puzzles, they can also learn to solve problems themselves by watching other bees solve them.
In terms of tool use, Asian honeybees have been known to collect fresh animal waste and smear it around the hive entrance to repel predatory Asian giant hornets. This may smell a bit, but it also counts as tool use.
Scientists have previously shown that honeybees can learn to use tools in the lab. Fecal discovery in 2020 This is the first observation of tool use by wild honeybees.
Honeybee Anatomy
Image credit: Daniel Bright
The head includes:
1. Two compound eyes 2. Three small, lenticular eyespots (called ocelli) 3. Antennae that detect smell, taste, sound, and temperature 4. Chewing jaws, often used as nest building material 5. A proboscis that sucks up nectar, honey, and water
The thorax consists of:
6. Bee body 7. 3 pairs of legs 8. Two pairs of wings
The abdomen contains the following:
9. An esophagus, or honey stomach, for transporting nectar to the nest 10. Stinger – A sharp organ used to inject venom
How do bees communicate?
Honeybees have two primary modes of communication: expressive dance and expressive olfaction.
Honeybees use their famous “wag dance” to guide hive-mates to nectar- and pollen-rich flowers. Returning from a successful scouting mission, a worker bee scurries to one of the hive's vertical combs and begins tracing a figure-eight pattern.
Honeybees doing the “tail dance” – Photo credit: Kim Taylor / naturepl.com
When it reaches the straight center of its shape, it vibrates its abdomen and flaps its wings, a motion that makes the bird's wings wag like a tail.
The length of the tail flick indicates the distance to the flower, with each second increasing the distance traveled by 100 metres.Communicating direction is more complicated but can be done by the bee orienting its body in the direction of the food, relative to the sun.
The intensity of the dance indicates the abundance of food sources, and the dancers also release a cocktail of pheromones that spur nestmates into action: Colony members watch the dance, smell it with their antennae, and then set off in search of flowers.
There are other dances too, such as the “round dance” where the hips are not shaken and is used to indicate the position of flowers. Nearby, forager bees perform their “trembling dance” to gather their swarm members together to collect nectar from worker bees.
How do bees travel?
A honeybee can travel miles to find food in distant flower fields, yet still reliably find its way home – and with a brain the size of a sesame seed! So how does it do this?
First, they use the sun as a compass. Honeybees' eyes are sensitive to polarized light and can penetrate thick clouds, meaning that even on cloudy days, honeybees can “see” the sun and use it as a guide. Combining the position of the sun with the time indications of the animals' internal clocks allows honeybees to figure out both direction and distance.
Bees also monitor how much the sun moves while they are migrating, so that when they return to the hive they can tell their hive-mates where the food is relative to the sun's current position, rather than where it was when they found it.
Finally, honeybees are known to be able to sense magnetic fields through some sort of magnetic structure in their abdomen, so researchers believe they may also use the Earth's magnetic field to help them navigate.
read more:
What does a bumblebee nest look like?
Bumblebees are plump, hairy bees that look like they can't fly. There are 24 species in the UK, of which 6 are parasitic and 18 are social.
Social species, such as garden bumblebees, form colonies and nest in protected places out of direct sunlight – good places include abandoned rodent burrows, compost piles, birdhouses, tree holes and spaces under sheds.
Photo credit: John Waters / naturepl.com
Unlike honeybee nests, which are elaborate structures with hexagonal cells, bumblebee nests are messy structures of cells, often insulated with leaves or animal fur, and designed to house small numbers of bees (about 40 to 400) during one nesting season.
In contrast, a honeybee hive can house up to 40,000 bees and last for many years.
Parasitic bumblebees, such as the giant cuckoo bee, don't build their own nests – instead, the queen invades other bumblebee nests, kills the queen and lays her own eggs, which are then raised by the local worker bees.
When did honeybees evolve?
Hornets are said to be cruel and are universally disliked, while honeybees are seen as benevolent and widely revered, yet honeybees evolved from hornets.
Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes sawflies, ants, and wasps. The oldest Hymenoptera fossils date to the Triassic Period, about 224 million years ago. Wasps appeared in the Jurassic Period, 201 to 145 million years ago, and honeybees appeared in the Cretaceous Period, 145 to 66 million years ago.
Trigona prisca was one of the first species. Stingless bees discovered immortalized in amber in New JerseyThey flew about 85 million years ago, and the key specimens were female, worker bees with small abdomens, indicating that some bee species had already formed complex social structures.
The first animal-pollinated flowers had already evolved by this time and were pollinated by beetles, but the evolution of bees prompted the evolution of flowering plants, which prompted the evolution of bees, and so on.
This is one of the best examples of co-evolution: flowers evolved nectar and a funnel-shaped head, while bees evolved a long tongue to drink the nectar and specialized hairs to transport the pollen.
Can humans survive without bees?
Probably not, but the disappearance of honeybees would pose a serious threat to global food security and nutrition.
One third of the food we eat relies on insects like bees to pollinate the plants they grow, transporting pollen between them – from staples like potatoes and onions to fruits like apples and watermelon to condiments like basil and coriander.
For example, coffee and cocoa trees depend on honeybees for pollination, as do around 80% of Europe's wildflowers.
Bees are also a food source for many birds, mammals and insects, so if they were to disappear, their role in the ecosystem would be lost, with knock-on effects for many other animals and plants.
It's bad news, then, that honeybees are in global decline due to habitat loss, intensive farming, pollution, pesticide use, disease and climate change. Recent studies have found that the global decline of pollinating insects is already causing around 500,000 premature human deaths per year by reducing healthy food supplies.
What should I plant to make my garden bee-friendly?
Bees navigate by their position relative to the sun. – Photo credit: Getty Images
Most bee species aren't too picky about where they get their pollen and nectar from, so plants like lavender, hollyhocks and marigolds attract a variety of bees.
But other species are more specialized and depend on fewer plants. These bees are often rare, and if the plants they need to survive disappear, local bee populations can be at risk.
Raise yellow-flowered bees for yellow-flowered bees. Yellow-flowered bees are medium-sized bees that frequent this plant in search of pollen and aromatic oils. Females use the oils to waterproof their nests, which are often found on the banks of ponds and rivers.
Lamb's ear is an easy-to-grow evergreen perennial that is a favorite of wool-carder wasps. Female wool-carder wasps use the soft, hairy leaf fibers to line their nests, and males defend territories that contain these plants.
Another easy way is to let your grass grow long and embrace the weeds.
Dandelions and related plants like honeysuckle and chickweed are favorites of pantaloon bees, so named because the long hairs on the female's hind legs, covered with pollen, look like clown trousers. Buttercups, in turn, attract large pincer bees and sleepy carpenter bees.
5 Common Myths About Bees…Bullshit
1. Bees are too heavy to fly – This myth dates back to the 1934 publication of Antoine Magnin's “Book of Insects.” Magnin mistakenly believed that bees' wings were too small to generate the lift needed for flight. Obviously, he was wrong.
2. All bees sting – Male honeybees cannot sting; the stinger is a modified egg-laying organ that only females have. There are also about 550 species of stingless bees, but their stingers are too small to be used for defense.
3. If a bee stings, it will die. – Of all the bees that can sting, only the honeybee dies after stinging. The barbs on the bee's stinger get stuck in the victim's skin and when the bee tries to escape, its abdomen bursts, causing a fatal injury.
4. All bees make honey – Most bees don't make honey. In fact, there are only eight species of bees that produce large amounts of sweet nectar. There are hundreds of other species of bees that produce honey, but in much smaller amounts.
5. All bees are hard workers – As busy as honeybees are, aren't they? The queen bee lays up to 1,500 eggs a day. The worker bees forage, feed the larvae, and clean the hive. But the drones don't have as much work to do in a day. Their only role is to mate with the virgin queen bee.
in paper Announced today Astronomical JournalThe astronomers analysed the evolution of giant galaxies at redshifts 4 to 8 selected from the JWST Cosmic Evolution Early Emission Survey (CEERS).
A composite color image of the very red quasar-like object A2744-QSO1. Image courtesy of Furtak. others., doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8.
“We still see more galaxies than expected, but none of them are massive enough to 'break' the universe,” said Katherine Kworowski, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.
Galaxies that appear excessively massive are likely to harbor black holes that are rapidly eating away at gas, according to a new study.
Friction between the fast-moving gas releases heat and light, making these galaxies much brighter than they would be if light were emitted only by stars.
This extra light can make galaxies appear to contain more stars, and therefore more massive, than we would normally assume.
When scientists remove these galaxies, which they call “little red dots,” from their analysis, the remaining early galaxies are not so massive that they fit the predictions of the Standard Model.
“This means there is no crisis with regard to the standard model of cosmology,” Professor Steven Finkelstein said.
“When you have a theory that has stood the test of time for a long time, you need overwhelming evidence to really disprove it, and that's simply not the case.”
They've solved the main dilemma, but a less troubling one remains: there are still about twice as many massive galaxies in the Webb data from the early universe than would be expected from the standard model.
One possible explanation may be that stars formed more quickly in the early universe than they do today.
“Maybe early in the universe, galaxies were better at turning gas into stars,” Kurowski said.
Star formation occurs when hot gas cools enough to succumb to gravity and condense into one or more stars.
But as the gas contracts, it heats up and creates outward pressure.
In our region of the universe, the balance of these opposing forces tends to make the process of star formation very slow.
But some theories suggest that the early universe was denser than it is today, which could have made it harder for gas to escape during star formation, speeding up the process.
At the same time, astronomers are analyzing spectra of the tiny red dots that Webb has spotted, and the CEERS team and others are finding evidence of fast-moving hydrogen gas that is characteristic of black hole accretion disks.
This supports the idea that at least some of the light from these compact red objects comes from gas swirling around black holes rather than from stars, strengthening Kurowski and his colleagues' conclusion that black holes are probably not as massive as astronomers originally thought.
However, further observations of these intriguing objects are underway, which should help solve the mystery of how much light is coming from the star and how much is coming from the gas around the black hole.
In science, answering one question often gives rise to a new one.
Although the authors show that the Standard Model of cosmology is likely not broken down, their work points out the need for new ways of thinking about star formation.
“So there's still curiosity. Not everything is fully understood, which is why this kind of science is fun to do, because if one paper explained everything or there were no more questions to answer, it would be a very boring field,” Kurowski says.
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Katherine Choworowski others2024. Evidence for shallow evolution of bulk density in massive galaxies at z = 4-8 from CEERS. AJ 168, 113;doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad57c1
A SpaceX spacecraft set to carry four civilians on a mission into space is facing a delay due to a helium leak, pushing the launch to later this week.
The crew includes billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Kidd, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. They were all geared up for a mission that would mark the first spacewalk by a civilian crew.
The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, was initially slated for an early Tuesday launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, SpaceX published a statement on X indicating that the helium leak discovery will likely push the launch to Wednesday at the earliest.
“Teams are currently investigating a ground-side helium leak in the quick-disconnect umbilical in detail,” the company reported. “Falcon and Dragon remain in good condition, with crews ready for their multi-day journey to low Earth orbit.”
The helium leak setback comes as a disappointment for SpaceX, which has been responsible for transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station since 2020. In 2021, SpaceX launched its first private citizen into orbit – a mission that was also funded and participated in by Isaacman to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The highlight of the upcoming mission, the spacewalk, is expected to occur on the third day. Two crew members will be tethered out of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with all astronauts equipped in newly designed space suits as the capsule undergoes depressurization to create a vacuum.
Traditionally, only astronauts from government space agencies have ventured into space for tasks such as building or upgrading orbital space stations, satellite repairs, or scientific experiments.
The Crew Dragon capsule is set to reach an altitude of 870 miles above Earth’s surface – surpassing the orbital altitude of the International Space Station by three times. This height will allow the capsule to navigate through the inner region of the Van Allen radiation belts, a zone with high-energy radiation particles trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere.
The Polaris Dawn flight aims to study the effects of space radiation on astronauts and spacecraft, valuable research that could assist SpaceX in planning future missions to the Moon and Mars where astronauts will need to navigate both inside and outside of the Van Allen radiation belts.
Polaris Dawn is just one of three spaceflights that Isaacman is co-sponsoring and organizing with SpaceX. Details regarding the cost of the mission and the objectives of the other upcoming missions remain undisclosed for now.
Astronomers Murchison Widefield Alley Researchers in Western Australia conducted a search for extraterrestrial signals emanating from around 2,800 galaxies pointing towards the Vela supernova remnant with a spectral resolution of 10 kHz.
This diagram shows what a Kardashev Type III civilization might operate like. Containing stellar energy in so-called Dyson spheres is one way to harness the enormous energy on a galactic scale. The resulting waste heat products should be detectable with telescopes. Image by Danielle Futselaar / ASTRON.
“When we think about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, we often consider the age and advancement of technology that could produce signals that we could detect with telescopes,” said Dr Chenoa Tremblay from the SETI Institute and Professor Steven Tingay from Curtin University.
“In popular culture, advanced civilizations are depicted as having interstellar spacecraft and the means to communicate.”
“In the 1960s, astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev proposed a scale for quantifying the degree of technological advancement of extraterrestrial intelligence.”
“The Kardashev scale has three levels. A Type I civilization uses all the energy available on its planet (1016 W); Type II civilizations can consume stellar energy directly (1026 W) and a Type III civilization could consume all the energy emitted by the galaxy (1036 “W)”
“Civilizations at the higher end of the Kardashev scale could generate vast amounts of electromagnetic radiation detectable at galactic distances.”
“Some of the ideas that have been explored in the past have been to harness the light of stars in our galaxy, to colonize the solar system, and to use pulsars as a communications network.”
“Radio waves' ability to penetrate space over long distances and even planetary atmospheres makes them a practical tool for searching for interstellar communications.”
The authors used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), focusing on low radio frequencies (100 MHz), to look for signs of alien technology in galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
They observed about 2,800 galaxies in one observation, and determined the distances to 1,300 of them.
“This research represents a major step forward in efforts to detect signals from advanced extraterrestrial civilizations,” Dr Tremblay said.
“The MWA's wide field of view and low-frequency range make it an ideal tool for this type of study, and the limits we set will guide future research.”
CD Tremblay & SJ Tingay. 2024. An extragalactic wide-field search for technosignatures with the Murchison Wide Field Array. ApJ 972, 76;doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad6b11
It was this mystery that led botanist Kathy Willis on her latest mission. Former scientific director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, and now professor of biodiversity at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, she says the discovery has changed her life. In her new book, Good NatureIn this article, she explores a growing body of research that illuminates what happens to our brains and bodies when we connect with nature. Though we tend to think of ourselves as a visual species, it turns out the benefits we derive from our other senses — smell, hearing, touch, and the mysterious “hidden senses” — are just as impressive, and sometimes even more so. There's still much to discover, but as she says, New ScientistWe have already learned many things that can improve our lives.
Kate Douglas: What happens when you observe nature?
We are able to enjoy music because of our ability to recognize musical boundaries.
NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock
We may finally understand how the brain processes beat drops: People use two distinct brain networks to predict and identify the transitions between musical segments.
Musical boundaries – the moments when one part of a composition ends and another begins – are important to enjoying music, especially in the Western musical tradition. Without them, he says, your favorite hits can sound like a monotonous, random stream of notes, “like reading a text without punctuation.” Ibarra Burnat Perez At the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
To understand how the brain processes musical boundaries, she and her colleagues analyzed brain activity while listening to 36 adults listen to instrumental pieces from three different genres: Adios Nonino Astor Piazzolla, an American progressive metal band Stream of consciousness Dream Theater and Russian Ballet Classics ofSpring Festival Works by Igor Stravinsky. All of the listeners had attended school in Finland, and half of them considered themselves semi-professional or professional musicians.
The researchers found that just before musical boundaries, a brain network they call the early auditory network activates in anticipation of the end of a musical phrase. This network primarily involves auditory regions located in the posterior, or back, outer region of the brain called the cortex.
Another network becomes active during and after musical transitions. This network, called the border-transition network, is characterized by increased activity in auditory areas toward the middle and anterior, or front, parts of the cortex. Perez says that this change in brain activity between the two regions is similar to how the brain understands the difference between sentences in a language.
During and after the musical boundary, several brain regions, including the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive tasks and decision-making, deactivate, suggesting that the brain redirects attention and resources to integrating new musical information as a new segment begins, Perez says.
Musicians and non-musicians also used these two brain networks differently. For example, musicians relied on brain regions important for higher-order auditory processing and integration, which may reflect a more specialized approach to understanding musical boundaries, Perez says. Non-musicians, on the other hand, showed greater connectivity across broader brain regions, indicating a more general approach.
In addition to shedding light on how the brain processes music, Perez says, these findings could also help develop music therapy for people who have difficulty comprehending language. For example, incorporating elements of musical boundaries into speech transitions (such as matching syllables to a melody) might make sentences easier to understand, she says.
Sensor array for the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment in South Dakota
Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility
The latest search for dark matter has so far been fruitless, but the good news is that it has allowed physicists to place the toughest constraints yet on the properties of this mysterious substance. New measurements from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment in South Dakota mean that we are closer than ever to finding dark matter particles, or that we have refuted the most likely explanation.
Dark matter is invisible to the naked eye because it does not interact significantly with normal matter or light. We only know that dark matter exists through its gravitational effects, which tell us that it makes up more than 80 percent of all matter. The leading explanation for dark matter has been that it is composed of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), but searches for these fundamental entities have yet to turn up anything.
LUX-ZEPLIN is a dark matter detector made of seven tonnes of liquid xenon buried 1.5 kilometres underground and is the most sensitive to date, but after 280 days of searching it has yet to find any WIMPs. “We are number one in the world at not finding dark matter,” says an LZ spokesman. Chamkaur Gag At University College London.
While this result may seem disappointing, it allows physicists to place tight constraints on the nature of dark matter, narrowing the range of properties it could have. The constraints are nearly five times tighter than the best known, significantly limiting the possibility of WIMPs. The work was presented at two physics conferences. TeV Particle Astrophysics In the United States lysine It will be held in Brazil on August 26th.
“It’s like they say there’s a magic fish in the ocean, but we don’t know where it is,” Gag says. “You go in and swim around, you get out, you snorkel around, and you still don’t find it, so you use a submarine.” If the magic fish is a WIMP, he says, researchers have explored about 75 percent of the oceans and still haven’t found it.
“This is the next big step forward, one in a long line of such steps.” Dan Hooper “It’s probably fair to say that at any of these steps forward we can’t expect to see anything, but it doesn’t seem unlikely that we’ll see something if we take enough of these steps,” said David G. Schneider, a researcher at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois who was not involved in the study.
At this point, many of the initially popular ideas for possible types of WIMPs have been ruled out. There are still a few left, but LZ isn’t done yet. It plans to observe for a total of 1,000 days before wrapping up in 2028. “If LZ doesn’t detect a WIMP, and our next-generation detector, XLZD, doesn’t detect a WIMP, then WIMPs are over,” Gag says. The XLZD project is still in the planning stages.
If WIMPs don’t constitute dark matter, it would be a major paradigm shift, but physicists aren’t giving up on finding dark matter entirely. “If you’re trying to solve a murder investigation and you have 20 suspects, 10 of them are unaware,” he says. [alibis]”We don’t go, ‘Oh, it looks like it wasn’t a murder.’ We just get a better idea of who the right suspects are,” Hooper said. “We take some suspects off our list, we narrow the scope of the investigation, we narrow the focus. That’s what progress looks like in this field.”
Venus is often called Earth's twin, but its current surface conditions are very different from Earth's and are not suitable for life to exist: not only cannot liquid water exist due to the extreme temperatures and pressures beneath the thick cloud layer, but more importantly, there is almost no water in Venus' atmosphere. Solar Occultation Observatory in Infrared (SOIR) On ESA's Venus Express spacecraftPlanetary researchers have discovered an unexpected increase in the abundance of two variants of the water molecule.2O and HDO, and their ratio HDO/H2O in Venus' mesosphere. This phenomenon calls into question our understanding of Venus' water history and its possible past habitability.
Venus in true colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.
Currently, the temperature on Venus is about 460 degrees Celsius and the pressure is almost 100 times that of Earth.
The atmosphere is extremely dry, covered with thick clouds of sulfuric acid and water droplets, and most of the water resides beneath and within these cloud layers.
However, it is possible that Venus once contained as much water as Earth does.
“Venus is often called Earth's twin planet because its size is similar to Earth's,” says Dr. Hiroki Kario of Tohoku University.
“Despite the similarities between the two planets, their evolutionary processes are different. Unlike Earth, the surface conditions on Venus are extreme.”
Survey of H abundance2O and its deuterated isotope HDO (isotope) reveal insights into the history of water on Venus.
It is generally accepted that Venus and Earth originally had similar HDO/H2O ratio.
However, the ratio observed in Venus' entire atmosphere (below altitude 70 km) was 120 times higher, indicating a significant increase in deuterium over time.
This enrichment occurs primarily when solar radiation breaks down isotopes of water in the upper atmosphere, producing hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) atoms.
Hydrogen atoms have a small mass and are therefore prone to escaping into space, so HDO/H2The O ratio gradually increases.
To understand how much hydrogen and deuterium has been released into space, it is important to measure the amount of isotopes in water at altitudes where hydrogen and deuterium are broken down by sunlight (above the clouds at altitudes of 70 km or more).
Dr. Caryu et al.2O and HDO increase between 70 and 110 km altitude, and HDO/H2In this range, the O ratio increases by an order of magnitude, reaching levels more than 1,500 times higher than in Earth's oceans.
“The proposed mechanism to explain these findings is the reaction of hydrated sulfuric acid (H2So4) aerosols,” the researchers said.
“These aerosols form just above the clouds, where temperatures drop below the dew point of sulfuric acid water, leading to the formation of deuterium-rich aerosols.”
“These particles rise to high altitudes and evaporate due to rising temperatures, releasing a much higher proportion of HDO compared to non-HDO.2“oh.”
“The steam is then conveyed downwards and the cycle begins again.”
“This study highlights two important points,” they added.
“First, altitude changes play an important role in pinpointing the location of deuterium and hydrogen reservoirs.”
“Second, the increase in HDO/H2The O ratio ultimately increases the release of deuterium, influencing the long-term change in the D/H ratio.”
“These findings encourage us to incorporate highly dependent processes into models to make accurate predictions about the evolution of D/H.”
“Understanding the evolution of Venus' habitability and water history can help us understand what makes a planet habitable and inform how to ensure Earth doesn't follow in its twin's footsteps.”
of result Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Arnaud Mahieu others2024. Unexpected increase in deuterium to hydrogen ratio in the Venus mesosphere. PNAS 121 (34): e2401638121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2401638121
Stunning new images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show spiral galaxy UGC 3478 in great detail.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows UGC 3478, a spiral galaxy located 128 million light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Koss / A. Barth.
3478 posts It is located in the constellation Camelopardalis and is approximately 128 million light years away from Earth.
Also known as LEDA 19228, INTREF 304, IRAS 06280+6342, Seyfert galaxyA type of galaxy centered around an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
“If you look at the long, star-filled spiral arms and the dark threads of dust that crisscross them, your eye may be drawn to a bright spot at the center of UGC 3478,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“This spot is the core of a galaxy, and there's something very special about it: it's a growing massive black hole, what astronomers call an AGN.”
“As with other active galaxies, the brightness seen here hides a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's centre,” the researchers added.
“A disk of gas spirals into this black hole, and as the material collides and heats up, it emits extremely intense radiation.”
“The spectrum of this radiation includes hard X-ray emission, which makes it clearly distinguishable from stars in the galaxy.”
“Despite the strong brightness of the compact central region, the surrounding galactic disk is still clearly visible, making it a Seyfert galaxy.”
“Astronomers know that many active galaxies are far away from Earth because their nuclei are so bright that they stand out next to other fainter galaxies.”
“Located 128 million light-years away, UGC 3478 is Earth's very own neighbour,” the astronomers said.
Two filters were used to sample different wavelengths, and color was generated by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“The data used to create this image come from Hubble Space Telescope surveys of nearby powerful AGNs discovered in such relatively high-energy X-rays and are expected to help us understand how galaxies interact with their central supermassive black holes,” the researchers said.
noOstalgia is a strange thing, it can appear out of nowhere like a TIE fighter and hit you in the gut, leaving you confused and in pain. An hour into Star Wars Outlaws, I never expected to be emotionally overwhelmed by a simple quest to buy spare parts from a group of Jawas. But then I got in my speeder and rode out into the Dune Sea, and I saw their vehicles, black and huge, in the low sun. And I saw those little guys running around repairing droids. And I was transported back to when I was 12 years old, watching Star Wars on VHS in the living room, eating Monster Munchies my mom bought me, repeating lines with Luke. Ubisoft’s epic adventure is full of moments like this, and they saved my life many times.
All Pre-release talk You hear a lot about this not being a typical Ubisoft open world game, but Star Wars Outlaws is a lot like a typical Ubisoft open world game. You play as Kay Vess, a city thief who has been living quietly off her cunning until a lucrative heist goes wrong and she steals a spaceship and crashes it on the remote moon of Tshara. From here, she must survive while working for and at odds with the many criminal organizations in the galaxy, building a reputation as a skilled mercenary and thief. From here, it’s a familiar storyline. You’re soon given the main story quest, dozens of optional minor tasks, and the opportunity to take on various smuggler and rogue side jobs, usually traveling somewhere to get or blow things up. It’s like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, or Watch Dogs. It’s Star Wars: Busy Work Strikes Back.
Star Wars Outlaws cleverly weaves in Star Wars culture. Photo: Ubisoft
But there’s also an important difference: here, you’ll be aided by your beloved pet Nix, who you can dispatch to distract guards, fetch useful objects, or crawl through tight spaces to unlock doors. Nix is adorable, and adds emotional depth and danger to Cay’s lonely life. But more importantly, the game expertly weaves Star Wars lore into the mix, with the buildings you invade being beautifully recreated Imperial research facilities, destroyed Republic starships, and vile Hutt fortresses, all filled with intricate visual and narrative details drawn from the original film trilogy. Everywhere you go, fans will find a treat: familiar droids, bits of history, and beloved spaceships. The streets of Mos Eisley are patrolled by Stormtroopers in their monstrous vehicles. Dewback.
The planets you visit aren’t huge explorable territories. Most have big cities and a few square miles of open terrain. But that’s ok. There’s plenty to discover, from Hutt treasure vaults in the valleys of Tatooine to pirate camps in the swampy forests of Akiva. Sadly, the speeder bikes handle badly and are like trying to traverse an alien planet on a beat-up old Honda 125. Equally unwieldy are the space flight sections, which are reminiscent of No Man’s Sky. The planets’ orbits are densely populated with abandoned spaceships, TIEs and pirate fighters that you can loot. You can rescue ships in distress or perform cargo pickup missions, but the flight simulation never quite matches up to the classic LucasArts space combat titles.
So much to discover…Star Wars Outlaws. Photo: Ubisoft
Most of the aboveground quests involve a combination of parkour (climbing pipes and cliffs painted yellow, although you can turn off the paint) and stealth, sneaking through steel corridors, passing walls of flashing buttons and beeping computer displays, destroying alarm panels, and silently taking down enemies. It’s basic, and at times it comes closer to Spider-Man’s Mary Jane missions, which can be frustratingly slow compared to Dishonored’s systemic complexity. As you progress, however, you’ll encounter different experts who can unlock new skills that allow you to move more quietly or use cool stealth toys like smoke grenades, making infiltration much more fun. You also have a very configurable laser gun with different modes that can be unlocked. You can temporarily pick up other weapons, but I like that Kay sticks to a Han Solo-style pistol. You can’t beat a good blaster by your side.
At its core, it’s a cheesy story that’s grown from a myth of street kids making it big into something a bit more interesting. As Kay recruits a raiding party that includes the laser-scarred battle droid ND-5, he forges friendships that both elevate and contrast the heist plan. Clashes with the Rebels also call into question the ethics of their war and their methods. There are great moments where it’s clear the designers took inspiration not only from Star Wars itself, but also from directors George Lucas reveres, John Ford and Akira Kurosawa.
Some may be nostalgic for the legends of the Jedi or EA’s Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor titles. Outlaws is definitely for Solo fans, not Skywalker fans, but it does feature some really compelling new characters. It gives most fans of the movies what they want, and they’ll get to geek out with things like the EG-6 power droid and the X-34 landspeeder. Chadra Fan Sitting at the bar in the cantina 😅 I’ve been wandering around for hours looking for this item and have rarely been disappointed.
If this Was Compared to Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry titles, this one falls into the so-so category: reasonably fun, a little frustrating at times, and chock-full of overused tropes of the open-world genre, but the Star Wars license grabs the game by the Corellian trousers time and time again, dragging it into thrilling territory. For the better part of the 40 or so hours I played, I felt like a 12-year-old again, feeling a little confused and giddy, but also blissfully familiar, enjoying every moment.
The number of planets in our solar system used to be limited to only eight, excluding Pluto. These include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, often remembered by the phrase “My cultured mother served us nachos.” However, with the discovery of exoplanets since 1992, the list has expanded dramatically. These exoplanets, such as PSR B1257+12 b and 51 Pegasus b, have added to the existing planets, making it challenging for students to remember them all.
Scientists have observed a pattern among exoplanets concerning their masses, distances from their stars, compositions, and other factors. Interestingly, there are very few planets with masses similar to Earth and Jupiter orbiting very close to their stars, with less than 5% of Earth’s distance from the Sun.
Research indicates that the scarcity of what they call “Hot Neptunes” might be due to the evolution of large planets. As gas giants grow, they either become comparable in size to Jupiter or lose their outer gas layers, leaving behind a rocky core like Earth’s size. Furthermore, astronomers have recently discovered new exoplanets, TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b, in what they refer to as Neptune’s desert.
These exoplanets stand out due to their proximity to their stars, with TOI-2374 b having a mass 56 times that of Earth and TOI-3071 b being 68 times the Earth’s mass. Despite their extreme surface temperatures, the exoplanets have not evaporated, possibly due to their high metal contents.
The observations of these exoplanets provide valuable insights for future research and exploration, potentially shedding light on unexplored phenomena in Neptune’s desert.
IThe start of term is fast approaching. Parents are starting to worry about packed lunches, uniforms, and textbooks. School leavers heading to university are wondering what welcome week will be like for new students. And some professors, especially in the humanities, are anxiously wondering how to handle students who are already more adept at Large Language Models (LLMs) than they are.
They have good reason to be worried. Ian Bogost, a professor of film and media, said: and He studied Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. it is“If the first year of AI College ended with a sense of disappointment, the situation has now descended into absurdity. Teachers struggle to continue teaching while wondering whether they are grading students or computers. Meanwhile, the arms race in AI cheating and detection continues unabated.”
As expected, the arms race is already intensifying. The Wall Street Journal Recently reported “OpenAI has a way to reliably detect if someone is using ChatGPT to write an essay or research paper, but the company has not disclosed it, despite widespread concerns that students are using artificial intelligence to cheat.” This refusal has infuriated a sector of academia that imagining admirably that there must be a technological solution to this “cheating” problem. Apparently they have not read the Association for Computing Machinery's report on “cheating”. Statement of principles for developing generative AI content detection systemsstates that “reliably detecting the output of a generative AI system without an embedded watermark is beyond the current state of the art and is unlikely to change within any foreseeable timeframe.” Digital watermarks are useful, but they can also cause problems.
The LLM is a particularly pressing problem for the humanities because the essay is a critical pedagogical tool in teaching students how to research, think, and write. Perhaps more importantly, the essay also plays a central role in grading. Unfortunately, the LLM threatens to make this venerable pedagogy unviable. And there is no technological solution in sight.
The good news is that the problem is not insurmountable if educators in these fields are willing to rethink and adapt their teaching methods to fit new realities. Alternative pedagogies are available. But it will require two changes of thinking, if not a change of heart.
First, law graduates, like the well-known psychologist from Berkeley, Alison Gopnik says They are “cultural technologies”, just like writing, printing, libraries, internet searches, etc. In other words, they are tools used by humans. AugmentIt's not an exchange.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, the importance of writing needs to be reinstated in students' minds. processI think E.M. Forster once said that there are two kinds of writers: those who know their ideas and write them, and those who find their ideas by trying to write. The majority of humanity belongs to the latter. That's why the process of writing is so good for the intellect. Writing teaches you the skills to come up with a coherent line of argument, select relevant evidence, find useful sources and inspiration, and most importantly, express yourself in readable, clear prose. For many, that's not easy or natural. That's why students turn to ChatGPT even when they're asked to write 500 words to introduce themselves to their classmates.
Josh Blake, an American scholar, Writes intelligently about our relationship with AI Rather than trying to “integrate” writing into the classroom, I believe it is worth making the value of writing as an intellectual activity fully clear to students. you If you think about it, naturally they would be interested in outsourcing the labor to law students. And if writing (or any other job) is really just about the deliverables, why not? If the means to an end aren't important, why not outsource it?
Ultimately, the problems that LLMs pose to academia can be solved, but it will require new thinking and different approaches to teaching and learning in some areas. The bigger problem is the slow pace at which universities move. I know this from experience. In October 1995, the American scholar Eli Noam published a very insightful article: “The bleak future of electronics and universities” – in ScienceBetween 1998 and 2001, I asked every vice-chancellor and senior university leader I met in the UK what they thought about this.
Still, things have improved since then: at least now everyone knows about ChatGPT.
TRussian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov founded wildly popular social networks and cryptocurrencies, amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune, and found himself at odds with authorities in Russia and around the world.
The man, who is just a few months away from his 40th birthday and has been nicknamed “Russia’s Zuckerberg” after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has now been arrested in France after being detained at a Paris airport this weekend.
The St. Petersburg native rose to fame in Russia in his 20s when he founded VKontakte (VK), a social network that catered to the needs of Russian-speaking users and surpassed Facebook across the former Soviet Union.
After disputes with Russian authorities and an ownership battle, he sold VKontakte and founded a new messaging service called Telegram, which quickly became popular but also became controversial after being criticized for its lack of control over extremist content.
As this drama raged, Durov remained a mercurial and at times enigmatic figure, rarely giving interviews and limiting himself to the occasional cryptic statement on Telegram.
A self-described libertarian, Durov has promoted internet secrecy and message encryption.
He has steadfastly refused to allow moderation of messages on Telegram, where users can post videos, photos, and comments to “channels” that anyone can follow.
Durov, 39, had an arrest warrant out for him in France for allegedly conducting a wide range of criminal activities on Telegram, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and organized crime, including promoting terrorism and fraud.
The investigation has been entrusted to the French national police’s cyber unit and the national anti-fraud office. The suspect was still in police custody on Sunday, according to two sources familiar with the case. He has not been charged with any crime.
In 2006, Durov, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, founded VK, which captivated users despite its mysterious founder.
In an act that epitomized his unpredictable behavior, Durov in 2012 hurled large banknotes at passersby from VK’s headquarters on the roof of a historic bookstore on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg.
While in a bathroom in Paris, Rob Minnick realized he needed help. He had flown 3,700 miles to explore the French capital, but kept disappearing every 10 to 15 minutes.
“People probably thought I had a severe stomach issue,” he recalled of his February 2022 trip. However, it wasn’t his stomach that was the problem – Minnick had developed a gambling addiction.
He found himself constantly searching for quick wins on his phone, dabbling in sports betting, slot-style games, blackjack, and roulette.
After returning home to New Jersey, attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings, and abstaining from gambling for eight months, Minnick relapsed in November 2022. This led to him spending 12 hours in a casino, resulting in six months of debt repayment.
At 23 years old, broke, and in desperate need of assistance, Minnick surrendered control of his bank accounts to his family and returned to GA meetings, a common path for gambling addicts. However, he ultimately discovered a different route to recovery.
Just four months after his last bet, while in a drive-thru at Dunkin’ Donuts, Minnick began sharing his insights on gambling odds through TikTok videos under the username rob_odaat.
By narrating his struggles with addiction and discussing the risks of gambling, Minnick hopes to provide a positive message on the issue and hold individuals accountable through both anonymous meetings and online posts.
Despite the surge in gambling popularity in the US, Minnick believes more people are becoming problem gamblers. He acknowledges that the prevalence of gambling addiction discussions falls into two categories, with many influencers promoting gambling predictions and advice.
Minnick posted questions on TikTok as a warning sign of gambling addiction. He feels outnumbered against production companies and influencers glorifying gambling victories and believes mainstream celebrities should speak out about their gambling struggles.
He draws parallels between the opioid epidemic and responsible gambling messaging, stating that the focus should be on the industry rather than individual gamblers. While he acknowledges the efforts of those promoting responsible gambling, he highlights the need for targeted support for at-risk gamblers.
Minnick believes that responsible gambling is important but should not solely benefit the industry and should focus on reaching and aiding individuals at risk of gambling problems.
A team of paleontologists led by Southern Methodist University has discovered more than 260 dinosaur footprints from the Early Cretaceous period in Brazil and Cameroon, marking a place where land dinosaurs were last able to travel freely between South America and Africa millions of years before the two regions split apart.
Theropod dinosaur footprints discovered in the Souza Basin in northeastern Brazil. Image credit: Ismar de Souza Carvalho/SMU.
Africa and South America began to separate about 140 million years ago, causing fissures in the Earth's crust called rifts to form along pre-existing weaknesses.
As the crustal plates beneath South America and Africa moved apart, magma from the Earth's mantle rose to the surface, forming new oceanic crust as the continents moved away from each other.
And eventually the South Atlantic Ocean filled the gap between these two continents.
Evidence of some of these major events was evident between the two sites, where paleontologists from Southern Methodist University discovered footprints of three-toed theropod, sauropod and ornithischian dinosaurs dating back 120 million years. Louis Jacobs and his colleagues.
“We determined that, in terms of age, the prints are similar,” Dr Jacobs said.
“From a geological and plate tectonic point of view, they are similar. In terms of shape, they are almost identical.”
Theropod dinosaur footprints discovered in the Kum Basin in northern Cameroon. Image by Ismar de Souza Carvalho/SMU.
The researchers found the footprints in the Borborema region of northeastern Brazil and the Kum Basin in northern Cameroon, more than 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) apart.
“Dinosaurs left their mark on a single supercontinent called Gondwana, which separated from Pangaea 120 million years ago,” Dr Jacobs said.
“One of the newest and narrowest geological connections between Africa and South America was an elbow in northeastern Brazil that borders the present-day coast of Cameroon along the Gulf of Guinea.”
“Because the two continents were contiguous along that narrow stretch, animals on either side of the connection could potentially migrate across it.”
“Before the continental connection between Africa and South America was severed, rivers flowed and lakes formed in their drainage basins,” he said.
“The plants provided food for herbivores, supporting the food chain. Muddy deposits left in rivers and lakes contain dinosaur footprints, including those of carnivores, providing evidence that these river valleys may have provided special migration routes for life to cross the continents 120 million years ago.”
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This article is based on a press release provided by Southern Methodist University.
Mushrooms have become a popular health trend, making their way into coffee, supplements, and even beer. Dyson recently unveiled their potential use for taming frizzy hair by utilizing chitosan, a fungus found in oyster mushrooms often used in skincare products.
This innovative ingredient, chitosan, is the key component of Dyson’s new styling cream and serum, both priced at £50 for 100ml and claimed to reduce frizz by up to 50%. It provides a delicate yet strong hold, enabling natural movement while keeping the hair in place.
Dyson’s engineers conducted thorough testing to determine the ideal chitosan percentage for long-lasting flexible hold. The products are packed with the power of up to eight oyster mushrooms, offering a unique approach compared to traditional polymer-based hair products.
James Dyson, the company’s chief engineer, explained that their complex polymers create flexible bonds that enhance the hold, movement, and shine of the hair, setting them apart from competitors. Dyson has a history of successful innovations, including bagless vacuums and bladeless fans, and is now venturing into the beauty market with products like the “supersonic” hair dryer.
While Dyson leads the way in harnessing the benefits of fungi, other companies are also exploring the use of fungal ingredients in various products. The growing popularity of mushrooms has prompted consumer advocacy groups to investigate the true impact and benefits of this trend in the beauty and health industries.
Though mushroom products have potential benefits, consumer advocates warn that there is not enough evidence to support their effectiveness or health benefits, cautioning consumers against assuming their advantages without thorough research.
Do you remember the days when pneumatic tubes were used for fast delivery of packages, mail, and important documents? Despite being touted as the future of delivery technology in shows like Futurama and Star Trek, pneumatic tubes started to disappear with the rise of the Internet, online purchasing, and improved communication methods.
Surprisingly, pneumatic tubes are now making a high-tech comeback, primarily in hospitals where they are used for quick, hygienic, and safe transportation of samples and sensitive information within large buildings.
How did the pneumatic tube come about?
The idea of pneumatic tubes initially included plans for a mass transit system where people would travel through tubes at high speeds using jets of air. While this idea didn’t fully materialize, some unique uses of pneumatic tubes included sending messages across tables in a Berlin bar and transporting various items like money, parts, and even fish in different industries.
Why are they returning?
Even though pneumatic tubes fell out of use in many areas, hospitals have continued to utilize them for efficient internal transfers. The modern version of pneumatic tube systems is highly automated, allowing for quick deliveries of samples and medicines within hospital premises.
Aside from hospitals, pneumatic tubes have found applications in waste disposal systems, such as the one on Roosevelt Island in New York, where these tubes whisk away trash at high speeds, eliminating the need for trucks and crews for garbage collection.
Overall, the pneumatic tubing market is expected to grow in the coming years, with valuations increasing and projects being built worldwide in various industries like dairy farms, cannabis dispensaries, and more.
It’s fascinating to see how technology that originated in the 1850s is making a comeback in the modern world.
As we age, our cognitive abilities, such as memory, language, and attention, tend to decline, and scientists have yet to find a way to prevent this decline.
However, there are steps you can take to slow down this decline, and recent scientific studies suggest that owning a pet could be one of them.
For instance, in a 2022 study conducted by US researchers, they examined the cognitive abilities of 1,369 older individuals covered by Medicare health insurance over a six-year period.
About half of the participants owned pets, and the researchers observed that those who owned pets experienced a slower decline in cognitive abilities compared to non-pet owners.
Furthermore, within the pet-owning group, those who had pets for a longer period performed better on the cognitive tests.
The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) has been tracking the aging process in people over 50 for over 25 years, helping scientists explore the positive effects pets have on the brain.
According to survey results released last year, owning a pet has been linked to slowing down cognitive decline, particularly in individuals who live alone.
Living alone can contribute to a faster decline in cognitive function and a higher risk of dementia, but having a pet appears to help mitigate these risks.
While there is still much to learn about brain health and aging, owning a pet could be a practical approach to maintaining mental sharpness as we grow older.
This article addresses the question posed by George Grainger from Truro: “Can owning a pet really slow down cognitive decline?”
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A warning from Britain’s largest mobile phone operator advises parents against giving smartphones to primary school children. EE recommends supplying children under 11 with old-fashioned or “dumb” mobile phones that only have calling and texting capabilities.
EE suggests using non-smart devices for children under 11 to limit access to social media and inappropriate content, such as feature phones with basic features.
This advice from EE is believed to be the first of its kind from a UK mobile operator and comes as parents face pressure to buy mobile phones for their children as the new school year begins.
Statistics show that by the age of 11, nine out of ten children own a mobile phone, and 60% of 8 to 12-year-olds have social media profiles despite age restrictions on social media platforms. Ofcom reports.
Ofcom’s findings also reveal that three in five secondary school students have faced potentially upsetting online interactions.
Calls for a ban on smartphones for under-16s and restrictions on mobile phone use in schools have been made by education councillors due to the negative effects of excessive screen time on children’s health.
EE also recommends that smartphone users aged 11 to 13 enable parental controls, use family sharing apps, and restrict access to social media.
For children aged 13 to 16, EE’s guidelines state that smartphones are suitable but parental controls should be used to manage and limit access to inappropriate sites, content, and platforms.
Carolyn Bunting, the chief executive of child safety group Internet Matters, acknowledges that parents want to make decisions regarding their children’s technology use but also value guidance to assist them.
The saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” But that’s not true. Criticism and rejection It produces brain activity that is indistinguishable from actual pain. Essentially, insults cause pain.
Insult is a complex concept. Has been studied for a long timeIt turns out that the impact of an insult depends not only on who gives it but also on who receives it.
Thus, when it comes to simple insults (insults that have no social or historical significance), the “target” has a great deal of control over the outcome.
And there are plenty of scientifically-recognized ways to successfully defuse an insult or reverse its effects.
One is to attribute category membership to the insulter, making him or her appear as a lower-status, more vulnerable to ridicule.
Someone says, “Your hair is weird,” and you respond, “OK, grandma, calm down,” and you put them in the “old, unfashionable, out of date” category, making them look even worse, especially if they’re a guy in his 20s and there’s no way they could be your grandma.
Some people recommend finding something the insulter says about themselves and highlighting it.
They say, “I don’t know why. [your attractive partner] If they ask you, “Shall I explain it to you? In crayons?”, they mean to insult you, but their response comes across as an admission that they are easily confused.
And then there is co-constructed critique, which takes the insult and builds on it, which de-fans the insult.
“You’re fat!” they say. You say, “I hope so, I’ve spent enough money to get here.”
There are countless other counter-attacks, but they all revolve around a central theme of not empowering the insulter, not elevating the insulter’s status, and maintaining control of the narrative and the interaction.
This article is a response to a question emailed to me by Archie Fox: “What’s the best way to respond to an insult?”
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NASA announced on Saturday that SpaceX will bring home the two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station since early June due to issues with Boeing’s spacecraft. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft instead of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. This decision follows months of uncertainty within the space agency regarding the safe return of the crew members on a mission initially planned to last eight days.
The problems with the Starliner spacecraft have posed a significant setback for Boeing’s space program, which has been struggling to keep up with SpaceX. The Starliner program was already over budget and behind schedule before the launch of Wilmore and Williams in June.
Top NASA officials, led by Administrator Bill Nelson, held a formal review in Houston and based their decision on the results of tests conducted in orbit and on the ground. The announcement to choose SpaceX for the astronauts’ return was made during a press conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Although the return plans have been finalized, Wilmore and Williams will remain on the space station for approximately six more months before coming back in February. NASA revealed that two seats on SpaceX’s next launch, Crew 9, will be left empty to accommodate the astronauts on their return journey.
The Crew 9 mission is scheduled to launch on September 24 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Meanwhile, the troubled Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth without its crew.
circleWhen Donald Trump posted a series of AI-generated images that falsely portrayed Taylor Swift and her fans as supporters of his presidential campaign, he inadvertently endorsed the efforts of an opaque non-profit organization aiming to fund prominent right-wing media figures and with a track record of disseminating misinformation.
Among the modified images shared by Trump on Truth Social were digitally altered pictures of young women sporting “Swifties for Trump” shirts, created by the John Milton Freedom Foundation. This Texas-based non-profit, established last year, claims to advocate for press freedom while also seeking to “empower independent journalists” and “fortify the pillars of our democracy.”
President Trump posts AI imitation of Taylor Swift and her fans Photo: Nick Robbins Early/Truth Social
Screenshot of @amuse’s “Swifties for Trump” tweet. Photo: Nick Robbins Early/Truth Social/X
The foundation’s operations seem to involve sharing clickbait content on X and collecting substantial donations, with plans for a “fellowship program” chaired by a high school student that intends to grant $100,000 to prominent Twitter figures like Glenn Greenwald, Andy Ngo, and Lara Logan. Despite inquiries into the foundation’s activities and fellowship program through tax records, investor documents, and social media posts, the John Milton Freedom Foundation did not offer any comment.
Having spent months endorsing conservative media figures and echoing Elon Musk’s allegations of free speech suppression from the political left, one of the foundation’s messages eventually reached President Trump and his massive following.
Experts caution about the potential dangers of generative AI in creating deceptive content that could impact election integrity. The proliferation of AI-generated content, including portrayals of Trump, Kamala Harris, and other politicians, has increased since Musk’s xAI introduced the unregulated Grok image generator. The John Milton Freedom Foundation is just one among many groups flooding social media with AI-generated content.
Niche nonprofit’s AI junk reaches President Trump
Amid the spread of AI images on X, the conservative @amuse account shared an AI-generated tweet from Swift fans with its over 300,000 followers. The post was tagged as “Satire,” marked with “Sponsored by the John Milton Freedom Foundation.” Trump then reposted screenshots of these tweets on Truth Social.
The @amuse account, managed by Alexander Muse, enjoys a broad reach with approximately 390,000 followers and frequent daily postings. Muse, indicated as a consultant in the Milton Foundation’s investor prospectus and a writer of right-wing commentary on Substack, has numerous ties to the @amuse account. The AI content includes depictions like Trump vs. Darth Vader and sexualized images of Harris, with the prominent watermark “Sponsored by: John Milton Freedom Foundation.”
aArtificial intelligence (AI) will soon be coming to iPhones in a move that Apple says will completely change how people use the devices. The iPhone maker’s AI tools, branded “Apple Intelligence”, will include an enhanced voice assistant, Siri, in partnership with ChatGPT owner OpenAI.
Apple isn’t the first smartphone maker to adopt AI: the technology is already available in phones like Google’s latest Pixel and Samsung’s Galaxy series.
But the sheer volume of data required for AI raises concerns about data privacy. Apple has built its reputation on privacy. Its advertisements state: Privacy. That’s the iPhone. – so this is an area where the company claims to be different.
What is Apple Intelligence and when is it available?
Apple Intelligence is the iPhone maker’s collective name for its AI features, including the ChatGPT-4o integration that will arrive in the iOS 18 software upgrade.
The first version of iOS 18 will debut alongside Apple’s iPhone 16 models in September, while the AI features will arrive later in the iOS 18.1 update scheduled for mid-to-late October.
The first iOS 18.1 Apple Intelligence features available in the beta include new writing tools, suggested replies in the Messages app, email summaries, transcription of phone calls, and more.
Other features coming later this year or in early 2025 include Image Playground, which lets you create your own animated images within the app, and custom emojis called Genmoji. Meanwhile, long-awaited AI enhancements to Apple’s chatbot, Siri, include ChatGPT integration, richer language understanding, and more. Deeper integration Within individual apps, Siri will be able to look at your calendar, photos and messages and improve responses to texts — for example, if you ask when your mom’s flight is going to land, Siri will make an inference based on recent messages and emails, Apple said.
Apple Intelligence is set to roll out globally, but regulatory concerns are expected to mean significant delays in the EU and China.
Because AI requires powerful hardware, the feature won’t be compatible with older devices: Apple says that to access all the features, you’ll need an iPhone 15 or later, or an Apple device with an M1 or M2 chip.
How will it change the way you use your iPhone?
The feature is being rolled out gradually, so you won’t see any dramatic changes right away. But with Apple Intelligence enabled, you’ll notice your interactions become more personalized and your tasks get done faster. For example, using the summary tool to write emails on the go can help. Call recording and transcription “After you’ve asked for permission, of course.”It can make everyday tasks easier and more enjoyable to perform, says Adam Biddlecombe, co-founder of AI newsletter Mindstream.
Similar to ChatGPT, Apple’s intelligent assistant will develop the ability to provide contextual responses, i.e. remember the threads of previous Siri conversations. On the privacy front, a new visual indicator around the Siri icon will let you know if Siri is listening.
But it’s worth noting that, like any shiny new technology, Apple’s AI may have some hiccups at launch. AI models need data to work, and while the technology is improving, even Apple’s CEO Tim Cook admits he’s “not 100% sure” Apple’s minds don’t hallucinate“I’m confident it’s going to be very high quality,” he said in a recent interview, “but to be honest with you, I’m nowhere near 100 percent. I would never say I’m 100 percent.”
So unless you have full confidence in the chatbot’s accuracy, we recommend double-checking the airline’s website to see when your mom’s flight will land.
How is ChatGPT on iPhone different from using the ChatGTP app?
Apple uses ChatGPT as a backup to perform functions it can’t control itself: Users ask Siri questions, but when Apple’s chatbot can’t answer more complex requests, it hands the baton over to ChatGPT.
The same thing Creating text and creating imagesWhile Apple Intelligence offers these features, and ChatGPT can write text and create images from scratch, Apple still isn’t that good at them.
Camden Woolven, head of the AI group at consulting firm GRC International Group, said the main difference between the app and ChatGPT on the iPhone is how it handles data: “When you use ChatGPT directly, your queries go directly to OpenAI’s servers. There’s no middleman.”
But when using Siri’s ChatGPT integration, Apple acts as a “privacy-focused intermediary,” he says.
“Siri will attempt to fulfill your request directly on your device, but if it can’t, it will send some data to Apple servers in an encrypted and anonymized form,” he explains.
If both your device and Apple’s servers can’t process the request, Siri will contact ChatGPT, “but even in that case, the request still goes to Apple first, where it’s anonymized and encrypted before being sent to OpenAI,” Woollven says. “This means that when you use Siri, your data gets an extra layer of privacy protection that you don’t get when using ChatGPT directly.”
Users can access the GPT-4o-powered Siri for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their account to access paid features, including larger message limits and access to enhanced features like a new voice mode that lets you communicate with ChatGPT over real-time video.
Are my conversations tracked or stored anywhere? If so, by whom?
Apple says that there are built-in privacy protections for users who access ChatGPT, and most of the processing is done on-device, so your data never leaves your iPhone.
IP addresses are hidden, OpenAI does not store your requests, and users who choose to connect their accounts are subject to ChatGPT’s data usage policy.
For more complex queries that require the cloud, Apple says it anonymizes and encrypts the data end-to-end before sending it to its servers or to ChatGPT. “This means that neither Apple nor even OpenAI can see the contents of your request, only the encrypted and anonymized version,” Woollven said.
But even anonymized data can still be linked to you if it’s specific enough, Woolven warns: “So while Apple isn’t directly storing your conversations in a way that can be linked to you, there is still a small risk that very specific queries could potentially be linked to you.”
More broadly, all Apple Intelligence requests that need to be processed off-device are sent to the company’s private cloud. Private Cloud Computing claims to protect your data from external sources.
Apple says it will be transparent about when it uses your data, providing a detailed on-device report called the Apple Intelligence Report that shows how your Siri requests were processed, so you can see for yourself what data was used and where it was sent.
But AI needs a lot of information to function, and to perform these functions, Apple will need access to more of your data: “Apple will be able to read your messages, monitor your calendar, track your maps and location, record your calls, view your photos, and understand other personal information,” Moore said.
I’m not sure about this, can I opt out?
Yes, you must turn on Apple Intelligence in Settings, so even if you’re concerned about data privacy or have doubts about the accuracy or usefulness of these features, you’re under no obligation to use them.
Two rows of rundown, dirt-smothered caravan parks line either side of the road near the motorway that winds into Bristol’s city center. Rats dart between water-filled concrete sluices and piles of rubbish-strewn vegetation. Drug users stumble out of a nearby underpass as trucks roar overhead.
It’s a dreary camp where around 30 Brazilian delivery drivers for big companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats are forced to scrape by to make ends meet.
Celia Campos, 45, has been living in a caravan next to the lock for a year. “We left Brazil to look for a better place,” she says in rapid Portuguese. “But most of us don’t achieve our dreams. We come back in a worse state than when we left.”
Delivery drivers claim their income is not keeping up with rising prices, making it extremely difficult to make a living from delivering food.
The national minimum wage is £11.44 an hour, but food delivery companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats do not formally employ their drivers – they are gig economy workers who are paid per delivery, meaning they can earn much less than the minimum wage.
Campos says she works long hours for both companies, working 333 hours in July and earning the equivalent of £6.27 an hour. Her pay records show she was paid around £1.20 for some Uber Eats deliveries. “We spend as much time as we can on the streets. I work from 8am until I’m tired, usually until midnight,” she says. “Delivery work is not good anymore. You have to be a slave to make enough money.”
She cannot afford Bristol’s soaring rents, which have risen faster than anywhere else in the country and have resulted in an increase in the number of people living in their cars in the West Country city.
Harsh living conditions, long hours and low wages have led to mental health issues in the camps. “I had depression for a year. It was awful,” Campos said. “I don’t want anyone to go through that. If you just work, work, work, work and you have no life… that’s what causes depression.”
Deliveroo, which recently survived a seven-year legal battle over greater rights for gig economy delivery workers, posted its first profit this month and reported a net profit of £1.3m for the first half of 2024.
Uber, which provides taxi and food delivery services, said it expects its pre-tax profits in the UK to rise to £32 million in 2022 from £5 million in 2021, with the delivery arm of its UK business generating revenue of £700 million.
The Labour government promised a new employment rights bill that would ban zero-hours contracts and provide sick pay from day one, but plans to introduce a single status for all employees – which would give gig economy workers the same rights as employed staff – have been replaced with a promise to consult on a simpler employment framework.
Some Labour MPs have raised concerns about Deliveroo’s relationship with the party after the company sponsored a series of Labour events, and its chief executive Will Thew was invited to a drinks party hosted by Keir Starmer last month. Shu appears in the video It was recorded at the event and shared on the PM’s official X account.
Another of the three women living in the caravan is preparing to work for Uber Eats. Lorena, 28, has been living in the caravan for a year and a half. She says she works 12-hour days and earns £600 a week, which works out to £7.14 an hour. “When I got here it wasn’t so bad but now I feel like a dehumanised person,” she says.
Riders say they get little support from the platforms they log into every day, so they look out for one another. They protect their mopeds, fix each other’s punctures, raise money for injured or sick workers. One person likens the road community to a labor union or “syndicate,” while another says Favela – A working-class slum in Brazil.
Some still feel vulnerable to street violence: Lorena fears that anti-immigrant protesters will burn down their house. “We feel threatened,” she says.
Her neighbour, Lucas, 25, is staying in a rundown caravan, its window seams covered with black duct tape and undersides covered with a tarpaulin, his double bed taking up most of the living space, just five metres by two metres.
The wall above the small camping stove is covered in black mold, making it dangerous to use in an enclosed space. “There is no comfort here. [in the caravan]”I just have a bed to sleep in and that’s it. Sometimes I lose motivation,” he says.
On the other side of the road, another rider prepares to head out on his moped. Freitas, 32, is a qualified pharmacist in Brazil but delivers takeaways in the UK, earning an average of £3.43 per delivery, according to figures from his Uber Eats app. “I studied for five years. I don’t want to tell my family what’s going on here,” he says.
He desperately wants to move because his caravan has no electricity, no heating and no place to cook. When it rains, the windows leak into his bed. “It’s hard to live like this. At night you have to wrap yourself up in a blanket,” he explains. “Many of the people who stay here develop mental problems because they live in a small box.”
Heather Mack, deputy leader of Bristol city council, said: “Most of us strive to treat others how we would like to be treated but shamefully this is not the case for companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats in our city. People who work for a living should be able to live a life that provides the essentials we all need – safety, hygiene and food.”
Mack also called on the government to end “cruel and hostile environment” policies to give immigrants a path to legal work.
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which led an unsuccessful legal campaign to secure employment rights for delivery drivers, said the Bristol camp was “emblematic of the mass misery that the gig economy is producing”. Maritza Castillo Calle, vice-chairman of IWGB, accused delivery companies of slashing driver pay to boost profits. “We should not be mistaken in thinking that Deliveroo’s first-ever profit last week is a direct result of workers facing unprecedented hardship,” she said.
Deliveroo said it was “very concerned” that delivery drivers were living in unsuitable conditions and would contact Bristol City Council. A spokesman added: “Deliveroo offers protections to its delivery drivers, including the flexible working they want, attractive income opportunities, free insurance, sickness cover, financial support for delivery drivers who become new parents and a range of training opportunities.”
Uber said Uber Eats offers thousands of delivery workers flexible ways to earn money. “When delivery workers work with us, they have a range of protections, including insurance for their journey, and we regularly work with them to see how we can improve their experience.”
Back in Bristol, Campos gets on his scooter. He’s exhausted after a long night’s shift, but he says he has to go back to work. “If you’re only getting paid £1, £2 or £3 per delivery, you have to make a lot of deliveries. The owners of these companies don’t think about us, the couriers who make their money, they only think about themselves.”
IIf you’re considering trading up to an electric vehicle but think it’s too costly, think again. Used Tesla Model 3 or Kia e-Niros, capable of 250-300 miles on a single charge, can now be purchased for just £14,000.
Last year, prices for used electric vehicles dropped significantly, making previously unattainable models now accessible to many families.
In fact, Autotrader reported that EVs are now almost as affordable as petrol cars, with the average price of a three- to five-year-old EV in July being £18,964, compared to £18,076 for a petrol car of the same model year.
Ground-breaking ultra-efficient models from three to four years ago are now available on the second-hand market at much more affordable prices, despite initially costing between £40,000 and £50,000 new.
According to David Smith of Cleveleys Electric Vehicles, there are some incredible deals available, with cars offering nearly the same driving range as new models, proven reliability, and warranties still intact, all at a fraction of the price.
One EV specialist highly recommends the Kia e-Niro, especially with its 64kWh battery. Photo: Sue Thatcher/Alamy
Smith also recommended the Kia e-Niro with its 64kWh battery for families under £15,000, citing its efficiency, range, and reliability.
Another model to consider is the MG5, which has proven to be extremely reliable according to Cleveleys Electric Vehicles.
Smith mentioned that longer-range EVs are not as risky as perceived, with many cars maintaining their mileage even after extensive use.
Buying a used, fuel-efficient EV eliminates the issues that new electric vehicles may face, making them a practical choice for many buyers.
For those looking to purchase, there are several affordable options available, like the Kia e-Niro and Tesla Model 3, both offering long-distance capabilities at competitive prices.
Charging at home is much cheaper than using public charging points, making EVs even more cost-effective in the long run.
The Tesla Model 3 has proven to be capable of long distance driving. Photo: Taina Sohlman/Alamy
Consider the warranties, charging options, and overall cost before making a decision on purchasing a used EV.
Charging at home is much cheaper than using a public charging point. Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Consider the charging infrastructure, insurance costs, and warranty coverage when buying a used EV to ensure a wise investment.
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is facing increasing challenges due to wildfires and their aftermaths, making sections of the trail hazardous and leading to sudden road closures. Long-distance hikers are experiencing significant environmental transformations as wildfires ravage the area, while rural communities near the trail are stepping up to assist hikers during wildfire emergencies.
According to Riley, wildfires are becoming more frequent and unpredictable, affecting a larger number of trails, users, and communities. The PCT, which traverses diverse terrains like the Mojave Desert, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Cascade Mountains, attracts thousands of long-distance hikers and hundreds of thousands of day hikers annually.
However, the combination of global warming-induced extreme temperatures and decades of aggressive fire suppression has led to intense wildfire seasons altering the landscape along the PCT. Climate change effects are noticeable along the trail, with local weather scientist John O’Brien remarking, “This is an extended tour of climate history.”
Trail crews on the Pacific Crest Trail pass through burned areas of the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge near Portland, Oregon, in 2018.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian via The Associated Press
Apart from fire risks, climate change is intensifying water scarcity along the trail and affecting wildlife populations. Glacial retreat in higher elevations is exposing more slippery rock, while river levels are peaking earlier in the season, leading to hazardous crossings.
Hikers like Karen Altergott have faced extreme weather conditions, from heavy late-season snowfall to intense heat waves, prompting concerns about the impact on health. Altergott emphasized the need for preparedness and flexibility when dealing with changing trail conditions.
Karen Altergott.Courtesy of Karen Altergott
The PCT community is coming together to tackle these challenges, with the Pacific Crest Trail Association releasing a smartphone app to help hikers navigate wildfire closures. Local “trail angels” are also stepping up to provide aid, transport, and support to stranded hikers during emergencies.
Becky Wade and her partner Jeff McCabe.Courtesy of Becky Wade
Becky Wade and Jeff McCabe, who have experienced evacuations due to wildfires, exemplify the importance of community support. Their efforts in assisting hikers around fire-affected areas highlight the crucial role of local residents in ensuring hiker safety along the PCT.
Although wildfires and their aftermath present challenges, hikers like Will Geolis attest to the enduring value of the PCT experience. While adapting to changing trail conditions is necessary, the trail’s community and scenic beauty remain priceless.
Joris aptly sums up the essence of the PCT experience, emphasizing that it’s the people and the journey that truly matter, rather than completing a continuous hike along the trail.
The Royal Society is facing pressure to remove technology mogul Elon Musk from its membership due to concerns about his behavior.
As reported by The Guardian, Musk, known for owning the social media platform X, was elected to the British Academy of Sciences in 2018. Some view him as a contemporary innovator comparable to Brunel for his contributions to the aerospace and electric vehicle sectors.
Musk, a co-founder of SpaceX and the CEO of Tesla, has been commended for advancing reusable rocket technology and promoting sustainable energy sources.
Nevertheless, concerns have been raised by several Royal Society fellows regarding Musk’s membership status, citing his provocative comments, particularly following recent riots in the UK.
Critics fear that Musk’s statements could tarnish the reputation of his companies. In response to inquiries, Musk’s companies, including X, provided comments.
Musk’s social media posts during the unrest were widely condemned, with Downing Street rebuking his remarks about civil war and false claims about UK authorities.
The concerns around potentially revoking Musk’s membership focus on his ability to promote his beliefs responsibly and not on his personal views.
The Royal Society’s Code of Conduct emphasizes that fellowship entails upholding certain standards of behavior, even in personal communications, to safeguard the organization’s reputation.
The Code stipulates that breaching conduct rules may result in disciplinary measures, such as temporary or permanent suspension. Specific procedures are outlined if misconduct allegations are raised against a Fellow or Foreign Member.
Expelling a member from the Royal Society is rare, with no records of such action in over a century. Previous controversies included a dean resigning over remarks about teaching creationism in schools.
A Royal Society spokesperson assured that any concerns regarding individual Fellows would be handled confidentially.
Water is a key component of exoplanets, and its distribution – on the surface or deep inside – has a fundamental impact on the planet’s properties. A new study suggests that for Earth-sized planets and planets with more than six times Earth’s mass, the majority of water resides deep within the planet’s core.
Most of the water isn’t stored on the surface of exoplanets, but deep within their cores and mantles. Image courtesy of Sci.News.
“Most of the exoplanets known to date are located close to their stars,” said Professor Caroline Dohn of ETH Zurich.
“That means they consist mainly of hot worlds with oceans of molten magma that haven’t yet cooled enough to form a solid mantle of silicate rock like Earth’s.”
“Water is very soluble in these magma oceans, unlike, say, carbon dioxide, which quickly outgasssssssssssss and rises into the atmosphere.”
“The iron core is beneath a molten silicate mantle. So how does water partition between the silicates and the iron?”
“It takes time for the iron core to form. Most of the iron is initially contained in the hot magma soup in the form of droplets.”
“The water trapped in this soup binds to these iron droplets and together they sink to the center. The iron droplets act like a lift force, being carried downward by the water.”
Until now, such phenomena were known to occur only under moderate pressures, which also exist on Earth.
It was not known what would happen on larger planets with higher internal pressures.
“This is one of the key findings of our study,” Professor Dorn said.
“The larger and more massive the planet, the more likely the water is to be integrated into the core, together with the iron droplets.”
“Under certain circumstances, iron can absorb up to 70 times more water than silicates.”
“But because of the enormous pressure at the core, the water no longer exists in the form of water molecules, but in the form of hydrogen and oxygen.”
The research was sparked by an investigation into the Earth’s water content, which four years ago led to a startling result: the Earth’s surface oceans contain only a tiny fraction of the planet’s total water.
More than 80 of Earth’s oceans may be hidden within it.
This is shown by simulations that calculate how water would have behaved under conditions when the Earth was young, so experiments and seismological measurements are compatible.
New discoveries about the distribution of water within planets will have a dramatic impact on the interpretation of astronomical observational data.
Astronomers can use telescopes in space and on Earth to measure the weight and size of exoplanets under certain conditions.
They use these calculations to create mass-radius diagrams that allow them to draw conclusions about the planet’s composition.
“Ignoring water solubility and distribution, as has been done in the past, can lead to a massive underestimation of the water volume, by up to a factor of ten,” Prof Doern said.
“There’s a lot more water on the planet than we previously thought.”
The distribution of water is also important if we want to understand how planets form and develop: any water that sinks to the core will remain trapped there forever.
However, dissolved water in the mantle’s magma ocean can degas and rise to the surface as the mantle cools.
“So if we find water in a planet’s atmosphere, there’s probably even more water in its interior,” Prof Dorn said.
Water is one of the prerequisites for life to develop, and there has long been speculation as to whether water-rich super-Earths could support life.
Calculations have since suggested that too much water could be detrimental to life, arguing that on such a watery world, an alien layer of high-pressure ice would prevent vital exchange of materials at the interface between the ocean and the planet’s mantle.
Current research has come to a different conclusion: Most of the water on super-Earths is locked away in their cores, rather than on their surfaces as previously assumed, so planets with deep aqueous layers are probably rare.
This has led astronomers to speculate that planets with relatively high water content could potentially form habitable environments like Earth.
“Their study sheds new light on the possibility that worlds rich enough in water to support life may exist,” the authors said.
of study Published in the journal Natural Astronomy.
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H. Luo othersThe interior as the main water reservoir of Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes. Nat AstronPublished online August 20, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02347-z
Tardigrades are a diverse group of microinvertebrates widely known for their remarkable ability to survive. Molecular clocks suggest that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropods (arthropods, tardigrades, velvet worms, and lobopods) before the Cambrian, but the fossil record is extremely poor. Now, paleontologists have described a new species of tardigrade and redescribed previously known species. readBoth are from Canadian Cretaceous amber.
Artistic Restoration read (Top) and Aerobius dactylus (Bottom) A hypothetical fossilization environment. Image courtesy of Franz Anthony.
First discovered in 1773, tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates best known for their ability to survive in extreme environments.
Also known as tardigrades or moss pigs, these creatures can live up to 60 years and grow to a size of up to 0.5mm. They are best seen under a microscope.
They can survive up to 30 years without food or water, and can survive temperatures as low as -272°C and as high as 150°C for a few minutes, and as low as -20°C for decades.
Tardigrades can withstand pressures ranging from nearly zero atmospheres in outer space to 1,200 atmospheres at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and can also tolerate radiation levels of up to 5,000-6,200 Gy.
They survive by entering a state of suspended animation called biostasis, using proteins that form a gel inside the cells and slow down vital processes.
“Tardigrades are microscopic invertebrates characterized by a compact body shape with lobopod legs with four pairs of claws, and are closely related to the clawed pterygota and euarthropods. Panarthropods“Harvard doctoral student Mark Mapalo and his colleagues said:
“Tardigrades are widely known for having several species with cryptobiotic capabilities that allow them to survive extreme conditions such as the vacuum of space, ionizing radiation and freezing temperatures. Tardigrades are also found in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats around the world.”
“Despite their ubiquity in the modern biosphere, tardigrades have a notoriously poor fossil record, and research into their macroevolution, such as the origin of their body shape, the timing of their terrestrialization, and the acquisition of their cryptic abilities, is limited.”
“Currently, only four fossil crown-group tardigrades are known, all preserved as amber inclusions, but only two of these have an established taxonomic position relative to extant tardigrades.”
For the study, the authors looked at a piece of amber containing a tardigrade fossil that was discovered in Canada in the 1960s. read and what was presumed to be another tardigrade, which was virtually unexplained at the time.
Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, a technique commonly used to study cell biology, the researchers were able to examine the microscopic structure of the tardigrade fossils in astonishing detail.
This study read It has been identified as a new species in the Tardigrade family tree, Aerobius dactylus.
“Both were found in the same Cretaceous amber, which means that these tardigrades coexisted with dinosaurs,” said Dr Javier Ortega-Hernández of Harvard University.
” read The seven claws are well preserved, and those that curve towards the body are smaller than those that curve away from it, a pattern seen in modern tardigrades.”
“The second, previously unidentified specimen had claws of equal length on each of the first three pairs of legs, but the outer claws on the fourth leg were longer.”
Both species serve as important calibration points for an analysis called a molecular clock analysis, which helps scientists estimate important evolutionary timing.
For example, new research suggests that modern tardigrades likely branched off during the Cambrian period, more than 500 million years ago.
The study also sheds light on the origins of tardigrades' remarkable ability to survive extreme environments by entering a state of torpor.
“This study estimates that this survival mechanism likely evolved during the middle to late Palaeozoic and may have played a key role in helping tardigrades survive the end-Permian mass extinction, one of the most severe extinction events in Earth's history,” Dr Ortega-Hernández said.
of result Published in a journal Communication Biology.
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MA Mapalo others2024. Inclusions in Cretaceous amber shed light on evolutionary origins of tardigrades. Communication Violet 7, 953; doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2
Despite warm ocean temperatures, hurricane season is on a lull.
This season is expected to be much more active than usual and is off to a record-breaking start.
Still, the unofficial peak of hurricane season is on September 10, so scientists wouldn’t be surprised if cyclonic activity picks up again soon.
The Gulf of Mexico is scorching hot, but hurricane season is on a lull (at least temporarily) — a surprise to researchers who say there’s a lot brewing in the Atlantic, but no storms are showing up on radar.
“Nothing is happening, which is extremely quiet and odd given the warm temperatures in the Atlantic and the La Niña climate pattern,” said Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University who specializes in seasonal hurricane forecasting in the Atlantic basin. “It’s a head-scratching situation right now.”
The La Niña weather phenomenon that scientists are predicting will develop this fall is closely linked to hurricanes, as is warming water in the Atlantic Ocean, with ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico at its highest since 2013, according to data from the University of Miami.
Warmer oceans increase hurricane energy through heat, increasing the risk of storms intensifying rapidly.
“We have plenty of fuel. It’s not going to hinder our season,” Klotzbach said.
Hurricane season begins on June 1 and ends on November 30. Hurricane scientists had predicted this year’s hurricane season would be record-breaking, but it got off to a record-breaking start in June with Hurricane Beryl being the first Category 4 storm to form in the Atlantic. Then, the slow-moving Hurricane Debbie dumped incredible rain on several southeastern states in early August. But since then, it’s been relatively quiet.
Steve Bowen, chief scientific officer at global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, said weather trends off the coast of West Africa, including a strengthening monsoon, may have prevented tropical storms from developing in the Atlantic basin.
But that may not last long: The unofficial peak of hurricane season is September 10.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we get what’s called a backloading season with pretty good activity through September, October, and possibly November,” Bowen said.
Although things have calmed down recently, scientists believe this season has been quite active so far.
“We’ve already had two landfalls in the United States,” Bowen said. “Typically, the first major hurricane doesn’t form until August 31st. … Just looking at the statistics, we’re well ahead of normal.”
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